In keeping with their informal tradition, all the students lined up in front of the two arenas. The gauntlet returned back to normal so none of the students would be directly reminded of their injuries and fatigue. Nevertheless, they were excited to get on with the fights.

The other group was just laying on the dirt with dead-pan stares towards the sky.

It did not seem like they would be having any matches any time soon. In fact, they were dragged off by the two students who opted to use the lower portion of the training field to instruct them in their use of weapons.

Even Mr. Shields mercilessly dragged Eldrich - the lone male of the group - towards Elise. The others tiredly picked up their feet only after seeing their dead-weight was no salvation when they fell behind in the class.

No one wanted to fall behind in class. No, not anymore. They did not want to before, but even if the first 'punishment' was 'corrective', this one was 'preventive'. They would be prevented from wasting any time if they could conceivably be called out.

The cake-meeting's agenda became more pragmatic.

Even so, they did not want to dwell on things that gave them a bad taste in their mouths. As such Erik shouted, "let's go! Anyone who's in my group, follow me!"

"Yeah! Anyone in my group - let's go! The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can take a bath - and eat cake!"

"Yay!"

"Woo!"

"Tanner and Jack! To the arena please!" Erik shouted, proudly pointing his wind-covered blade to the arena's center.

The two looked at each other, laughed, and drew their own weapons. They were the first to pass as a pair in Elise's first stage. They spent quite a bit of time sparring so they were confident in their understanding of the opponent.

While their swordsmanship left something to be desired, they were young; it was just compared to those that excelled far beyond their years. And both did it more as a hobby prior to rather than a lifestyle so they were actually more proficient with the basics than the others - even if advanced techniques weren't as firmly in their grasps. Both were armed with long-swords, but their main attack power came from their spells. Tanner, with the wind, and Jack, with the earth.

And both took their positions.

"Okay! We'll be opening up the betting pool! I'm putting ten gold on Tanner!" Erik shouted, somewhat loose with his bet since he wanted to raise the antes.

"Ten on Jack! Yeah!" Jill shouted, apparently siding with her brother-in-arms in the training.

Stacy picked Tanner. "Mhmm, my money's on Tanner! Ten gold!" They, too, worked side-by-side with Erik and Ayla.

Jenna came over to whisper her bet to the Hunter, securing his status with Eldrich as the designated joint-accountant for all things money and information.

Others called their bids and the opening round ended up with 80 gold in the hat. They almost ran out of enough betting chips, having split them with the other group. Just the one match alone pitched four gold to the class, meaning they almost added another cake per person.

It was a good turn-out.

"Okay! All bets are closed! Jack, Tanner: are you ready?!"

""Yeah.""

"Okay! And we'll be starting in... three! Two! One! Go!"

As if to put into practice what they were just learning, Tanner mimicked the wind sword spell and condensed it. Rough clay intermixed with sediment to appear to wrap around Jack's blade weakly, but it showed no sign of falling.

"Here I come!" Tanner shouted, charging forward with his reinforced blade.

Jack laughed and nodded good-naturedly as he prepared himself.

Jack stood back and parried the vertical slash, as the wind and clay were sent scattering onto the ground. In their place, a slight lustre appeared on the blades and Jack stepped back, slashed, and then stabbed forward when Tanner was made to guard.

"Gust!"

Jack was blown back and Tanner pressed the advantage.

"Earth Wall!" The wall, once little more than dirt and gravel at the beginning of the day, seemed to be shifting to dense clay, intermixed with fist-sized cobblestones.

Tanner kept pace with his slash, shouting, "Wind Sword!", as he followed through.

The wind rapidly condensed, cutting a two-foot long gash into its surface, before Tanner added, "Release!"

The wind pierced through the wall completely.

Jack, however, was not there.

He stabbed forward, using the wall as a shield, and clipped Tanner's arm. Blood flowed out, but Tanner jumped back.

The match continued in a riveting back-and-forth, between swords and spells, even going on for ten minutes without a clear winner. Ultimately Jack was the first to fall due to exhaustion. He was responsible for helping in three of the four original formations, building walls or bridges or ramps, he was considerably more spent than Tanner who was responsible for two, plus his own escape from the last two erupting formations.

They paid out the winners - Jenna included - and the match concluded peacefully. It was a good one that none had any issue with. And since so many things happened, hindsight memories were easily used to justify the result for those who sided with Jack and bolstered his perception by those who bet against him. Of course, Tanner was recognized as well, but it was a mutually amicable result.

"Okay! The next match is between Jill and Stacy! Another earth and wind combination! Contestants, please enter the arena!"

Once Jill and Stacy entered into the arena, carrying their own weapons in hand, they stood side-by-side and waved to the on-lookers.

"Bets are now open!" Erik won some extra gold so he added, "Ten gold on Stacy! Don't disappoint me - we wind mages need to stick together!"

"Five on Stacy!" Tanner shouted, not being too concerned with effectively betting a single gold coin on the match from his winnings.

"Ten on Jill...!" Alfred, a water mage, murmured quietly.

"Ten on Stacy!" Hana, the other water mage, who did not answer Mr. Shields' question to his satisfaction this morning, added.

Both were fighting against one another, so it seemed that they even levelled their bets in such a way.

Well, unintentionally - or one provoked by the other who panicked a little at the combative glare sent his way.

The bets, once more, were fairly close. Jenna cast hers in, doubling-down. She had yet to lose, after all. Even so, the healers who were finished with the other group's injuries came to watch the spectacle and added their own bets.

"And... the betting pool is closed!" Sixty gold was in the hat. It was a better result than expected since neither particularly stood out. "Now! Jill! Stacy! Are you two ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Mhmm!"

"Perfect! We'll be starting in three! Two! One! And go!"

Jill immediately launched a pre-emptive attack. "Earth Bullet!"

A fist-sized pale-white stone was launched half-way across the room as Stacy called out, "Wind Blade!"

She cut the stone in two, splitting each section to fall on either side of her face. With a broad smile, she cast a wind blade again, but it was stopped by an earthen shield.

The shield seemed a little different than Jack's; it was a loose collection of pale-white stones, stuck together through sediment and gravel. With earth mages, it was fairly clear to tell which direction their preferences and talents led them towards, as well as the stage upon which they acted.

It was much different than the generic sediment wall most cast before they got here.

Even when it was flying forward with an "Erupt."

However, Stacy's wind was by no means excluded from improvement. Having cast Air Wall dozens of times in a single day, there was a thin screen of light. The shine of manifested mana was so strong, if so ungodly thin, that it clearly stopped the inertia of the white-stones as they were fired her way.

Both had yet to even take a single step.

They just launched another attack in perfect synchronization. "[Earth/Wind] Bullet!"

Both clashed in midair, sending fragments back to Jill and a gust towards Stacy.

Another volley came.

And another.

Sometimes they were switch between attack and defence, but there was a clear-stalemate

There was an electric feeling in the air as the two looked at one another. They spoke with their eyes and each nodded knowingly.

"Three..." Jill started.

"Two..." Stacy followed.

"One..."

""Go!""

"Earth Wall! Earth Lance! Earth Lance! Earth Lance!"

"Wind Blade! Wind Blade! Wind Blade! Wind Wall!"

Before the wall could completely manifest, three stone javelins shot towards Stacy in rapid succession. However, three wind blades already cut near Jill's face, shattering the first earthen lance to pieces just away from Jill's body.

As Jill struggled to keep her eyes open from both sediment and wind assailing her, she finally raised her staff to beat back the wind blade that both clipped the top of the rising wall and missed another earthen spear.

The staff was knocked out of Jill's hands and Stacy, on the other side, was sent sprawling back as a cloud of dust appeared in front of her.

Jill collapsed onto one knee, as she saw the wood of the staff cut nearly a third of the way through, and light scratches appeared. Stacy, on the other hand, was sent onto the ground as she held her arm and stomach.

Despite her spells typically being much faster to activate, her shield was not raised in time and even though she dodged, her more methodically-created wind blade cut through the lance instead of typically countering it entirely.

She did not expect for it to do that, expecting the explosion of wind from the collapsing spell that always changed its trajectory. Her stomach and arm ached as she pressed her head into the earth.

"Match! Jill is the winner!" Erik called it. "Okay, good match, you two! Now for next one... Hana and Alfred! Two water mages! Please come up to the arena! The betting will commence in... now!"

"Five on Hana." Synthy started.

"Five on Hana!"

"Ten on Hana!"

"Five on Hana!"

And others followed. It seemed even a few of her fans ran over to see who Synthy was betting on since she had not done so yet. And by fans, it included others that wandered over.

Since the male water mage was a kindred soul who feared the undine, Mathias hesitantly walked to Hunter who took the bets. He left a single gold coin in his pocket in the event he would be interested in betting, but it was little more than charity.

Since he was ahead, he did not care about losing the gold coin that much. His allowance from his parents would be sufficient if he won a match every other week, assuming his need for new boots stalled at a pair a week.

"Uh, one gold on... Alfred?"

"Okay," Hunter said easily, if quietly.

It seemed he assumed Mathias wanted to keep his bet secret so he did not pry as he stealthfully passed the painted blue-chip marked with a '1'.

He knew nothing about either of them, and he just learned the boy's name in the calling of the fight. However, he felt obligated to at least believe in his fellow rationalist.

Jenna and the healers placed their own bets, too. Three of the four were moaning about how the last fight shouldn't have gone the way it did, but one stayed silent with a pleasing smile. That one was paid out.

Since Synthy's fans were raising the ante, Erik saw no reason to stop them. Rather, he let them increase their bets when they began to bicker if it was enough. Synthy did not touch hers and cooly ignored the girls' stares asking for clarification.

The odds were ten-to-one for Hana, after the cuts. And since it grew to 120 gold, it meant that their potential cake in-take more than doubled from just these matches. The healers alone sunk more than fifty gold into the matches thus far; since they were well-paid, it would hurt if they lost it all, but it was not the end of the world.

Erik explained it accordingly, "we've almost doubled the funds for tonight just on our side!"

The girls cheered especially loudly, aside from Synthy who seemed indifferent.

"We'll be starting then! Are you two ready?!"

Hana glared caustically at Alfred, but no one understood what their deal was. Especially as Alfred did not seem particularly bad. He even tried to placate Hana in the beginning, when she whisper-yelling at him.

Mathias was concerned, not because he might lose his bet, but because one of the few rational water mages was silenced by fear; it would be bad for the rest of them that knew the terror of the undine. In practical effect, that was the reason he wanted - if only at a distance - to support the one whom he knew nothing about. It arguably had a little to do with his dissatisfaction with being man-handled and dismissed by Synthy, too, which was of, if nothing else, an added benefit.

"Yes! Let's get this over with!"

"Alfred?"

"Y.. yes..."

"Okay! We'll be starting in three! Two! One! Go!"

It seemed like a close call, but Hana shouted, "Water Bullet!" just as the signal was finishing. Since they had not dealt with it before, they let the first infraction slide. In fact, it almost seemed like Alfred expected it as he was already running to the side.

More like fleeing, admittedly.

"Water Bullet! Water Bullet!" She shouted hoarsely.

Fist-sized orbs of water bore down on Alfred who ran around completely frantically. He ducked and dodged the water by narrow margins as Hana's rage grew.

"Water Pillar!"

He was launched into the air by the geyser that burst forth just under his feet.

"Water Bullet! Water Bullet! Water Bullet!"

He was struck two times in his ascent in the air and another time as he was descending. He landed hard on the ground but immediately got up ran when he saw her twitching nose.

"Water Bolt!"

A blade of water cut through the air and he crossed his arms, taking the blow.

"Wa-water Re-recovery...!" He cried as his forearms were covered in a gel-like layer of glimmering liquid.

"Again?! Damn it! Why do always do that?! Water Bolt! Water Bolt! Water Bolt!"

She lashed him thrice as he crouched to cover his head with the gel-membrane-covered limbs.

No one expected a fight like this so even Erik was not sure how to call it. However, since Alfred was very much alert, it would be presumptuous to assume he was unable to fight - if, of course, they were even wrong.

Alfred ran to another side of the arena, casting the recovery spell on his chest again this time, and narrowly dodged a water bullet to his head.

Hana was panting heavily as she prepared a new spell. "Wa-Water Cannon!"

Mathias reeled back at the name. He expected the meter-plus wide cannonball that nearly took him out. However, Hana's manifested differently. It was a seemingly inexhaustible stream that missed the nimble Alfred at first, but soon locked onto his chest.

He cried out, half gargling, as water jets pounded into his crossed arms and chest.

His feet were being pushed ever further back.

And soon his heels hit the white stone marker.

"Forfeit already!" Hana shouted.

"N-no...!"

"Just do it!"

"N-no..."

Alfred used whatever bodyweight he had - which was not much - to lean into the attack as the water started to slow. However, once he stepped to the side, he heard, "Water Bolt! Water Bolt! Water Bolt!"

And ran from the attacks. One missed, another was dodged, but he took a full-force attack to the head.

His neck snapped back, but he brought it back, shook his head, and wiped the water from his eyes.

"... I-is... is he indestructible...?"

"... Didn't he just get physically thrown out of the ring yesterday in three seconds last time...?"

If only judging by their appearance and demeanour, it was clear that Hana had the upper hand in the beginning. However, what shocked them more was that Alfred ran up Hana in the middle of the fight as she collapsed to a single knee.

"Are, are... are y-you o-okay?" He said, pacifyingly lifting her bruised forearms and palms.

She smacked them away. "Get away! Wat-" She coughed.

Alfred's eyes fogged for a moment. His tone was completely different as he said clearly, "you should rest."

He struck the back of her neck and she collapsed in his arms. The haze cleared. "Wah?! She's hurt! S-someone... someone help! Wa-water Recovery! Someone!" His voice cracked in terror as he looked around for help - no one moved.

"... Match?" Jenna said, scratching her cheek. Where she would normally offer advice to the two and collect her bet, she scratched her cheek instead. "... I expected he'd be able to deal with attacks, but... this is not how I imagined it'd play out."

Erik dully nodded. "Uh... match?" He shook his head. "Okay! Alfred wins! Our next match will be between me and Hunter! As I'm still the announcer, I'll be calling for bets! Hunter will still be taking them so please don't be shy to if you still want to bet on either of us!"

"... I don't know if I should bet anymore," one of the healers muttered, but another grabbed his shoulder.

"It's fine. We'll get paid next week anyway and I'm pretty sure the quiet guy will win - just look what happened in the last fight!"

"Y-yeah, maybe you're right."

Hunter took bets for and against himself and paid out those who came to redeem their chips, as per the recorded odds, feeling somewhat odd in the scenario, but still maintained their privacy as they seemed to want. Jenna refrained from betting this round, but they all suspected she was just a little too shocked about the last round and wanted to recenter themselves.

They all did. Especially those that lost a lot. So while there was still some thirty-odd gold in the hat, it was not an unreasonable situation.

Mathias was looking at the ten gold coins in his palm. He did not expect it. Alfred finally managed to get one of the healers, the contrarian in the group, and he assured Alfred that it was just mana exhaustion (and a swift strike cutting off her blood flow, but he did not specify that since there would be no lingering damage) and it would be better before he knew it.

"Okay, I think that's it for the bets. Jenna, do you mind watching it for us?"

"No problem."

She stood in the front row, just behind the hat.

Hunter thanked her and the two went into the arena.

"Okay, just so it's fair... let's having everyone count us down: I'll start! Three!"

"Two," The crowd shouted.

"One!"

"Go!"

There were some personal variants, a 'hoo-rah', and other such modifications on the 'go' signal, but they shouted out in unison.

Erik casted, "Wind Sword!" and Hunter wrapped his blade in scarlet flames.

The flicker of winds and flames dulled as each charged forward. Erik struck first, a hard-and-fast blow towards Hunter's shoulder using the superior reach of the long crescent-moon blade. Hunter's short-sword took the attack, and he staggered back.

Erik pressed the advantage. He slashed again, originally a horizontally, but curved the blade upwards to the still unsecured sword. Hunter was forced to hastily block the attack again and jumped back as the sword was sent out of his hands.

"Fire Lance!"

"Wind Blade!"

Erik pushed forward, cutting through the remanents of the flames he failed to scatter completely. His sword did not meet another nor flesh; rather, he cut through the air as Hunter appeared and pointed his hand forward.

Erik side-stepped and steadied himself once he saw the motion.

"Fire Pillar!"

"Air Step!"

Erik rose his right foot, pushed off a shallow air step a foot above the ground, and jumped back using its leverage.

Flames scorched his left leg that was forced to react too slowly since it was his supporting leg, but Erik landed a flip and pointed his blade at Hunter's throat from the side.

Hunter stiffened. It took him a second to realize what happened. And another still to recognize that Erik was not immediately adjacent to him in his lapse of concentration. He was still in the match.

"Nice! That was a good one, man!" Erik said cheerfully. He was expecting a projectile attack, not the pillar.

"Yeah, well, you can't win 'em all. Anyways, Fire Bullet!"

Hunter repeated the attack many times. Yet, Erik began getting used to the once-unwieldy sword. His head shifted from left-to-right like a boxer, shoulders still squared, and he blocked one fire bullet, rotated his body for the other, and cast gust to push the last one off-course.

The winds were still coiled tightly around Erik's blade as he waited patiently to respond to Hunter's next attack. Hunter started to circle to the side.

Erik grinned at the sight. "Go ahead," he said, catching Hunter off-guard as he nodded towards the blade. "I'll wait."

Hunter scowled at the provocation, but grabbed it all-the-same. True to his word, Erik waited. However, the moment Hunter gripped the blade properly, he struck.

"Fire Wall!"

"Gust!"

The forming veil of flames dispersed for long-enough for Erik to jump through. He raised the sword high overhead to build momentum and hacked straight down to the sword Hunter hastily brought to block before he even landed.

Howling winds erupted from the blade and Erik used his body-weight to force the locked sword down further. Once his feet hit the ground, he grinned as saw Hunter forced to one knee in the corner of the arena.

He slowly released the wind that wrapped itself around his blade to force Hunter down. Making sure to keep the sharpened blades of wind just beside Hunter's head intentionally, he kicked Hunter in the chest.

And out of the arena.

"Match!" Erik declared for himself before receiving a nod from Jenna. "Right! Match! Good job Hunter. That Fire Pillar almost got me!" Erik went down and out of the arena to help Hunter to his feet. After clasping his hand and shoulder, Erik went back to the crowd.

"Now before we go onto the main event of the evening! Let's go over the contestants' achievements, shall we?"

He took the crowd's cheer as a go-ahead. Ayla, Lisanna, Fara, and the others appeared as well.

"We're not too late, right?!" Ayla shouted excitedly and jumped onto the stage beside Erik. "Achievements? Right! I'll start with Synthy! Synthy Rettih is a third-child of a knight family, but since she always works hard in whatever she's doing, she has since become the top candidate to take her father's place!

"She's quiet, hard-working, and love's the intellectual types! So don't be an idiot and she won't hit you!" Synthy nodded at the declaration. "Anyways, she has since punched entire legions of troops into submission, starting as early as eight-years-old with a retired knight who tried to hit on her dear mother, Lady Rettih! Taken by her mother's performance in pummeling the man, she joined in! And she hasn't looked back once!"

Synthy nodded again. There were resounding cheers from Synthy's fans. It seemed common knowledge for some reason. Ayla stepped back and Erik continued.

"Okay! Since we know a little bit more about Synthy, let's move onto Mathias! Mathias Vandiese is the son of the owner of one of the top parlours in Majin City! His mother is so skilled that she only looks a few years older than us!" There were collective whispers between both girls and guys. It was a strange introduction, but Erik continued, "and despite humble beginnings, he has made it here into Majin Academy! He fought both me and Lisanna to a tie, helped formed the duelling system-"

"I didn't."

"Ahem, we all formed the duelling system! In it, he beat Jennifer Ghast, the most over-and-above-unreasonably-strong first-year that I know of! But, that's not all! He side-by-side with me to take on the rock gorilla, and took on the...?"

"... Undine." Mathias gulped as he was forced to supply the name.

"And he took on the Undine himself!"

Alfred and the other water mage boy, quite a bit worse for wear after his fight with Ayla, sighed in admiration.

Ayla took over from this point on. "Looking at it objectively, it's hard to say who'll win: they both predominately use chantless magic - with Mathias unable to use chanted spells at all, I'm pretty sure at least! It'll be hard to tell who'll win, but just imagine how much you'll get if you're right! We're opening the betting pools now!"

Even Synthy's fans were a little hesitant to disregard Mathias. He beat Jennifer who the strongest first-year in raw power alone. Of course, if he could tie with Erik, who just had a good showing, then it was more difficult to put money on the fight.

Jenna was the first to talk to Hunter.

"Hmm... five gold on Synthy."

"Yeah, me too."

"Count me in."

"I'll put ten gold on Mathias!

"No! Ten gold on Synthy!"

"Hey?! What're you thinking?! It's Mathias!"

The normally peaceful betting procedure got very rowdy as the crowd's perceptions were split. Were it not for her loss to James, her reputation alone would have shifted the scales in her favour. However, neither really seemed to be bothered by the others getting heated over them.

"To a good fight," Synthy said and extended her hand.

He took it and they shook. When they turned around, he saw the seven students, exhausted as they were, added to the crowd. Elise and Robert talked to another student, went up, and place small bets. Mr. Shields stood in the back and spoke when he attracted the group's attention.

"It's a good experience for them, too. They're finished with their training so we'll be starting battles after this."

It seemed like the bets were finally done. Hunter apologized as he passed Eldrich several small chips. They had two one-gold chips left. Which had suggested there to be currently two hundred coins worth in the pot.

As they had the whole class here, and several on-lookers, Erik and Ayla accepted each other's presence a little more than normal. Had it just been the class (and even Jenna) they would have the shouted the interloper back to their stage. Or at least to follow whatever order they had set prior.

"Okay!" Ayla began. "We've collected the bets so..."

"Contestants, are you ready!?" Said Erik.

""Yeah.""

Neither really cared much about the attention of some thirty-odd people here. What they were more concerned about the other person across from them.

Ayla took a deep breath and said, "We'll be starting in three..."

Ayla was speaking slower than normal, but both took the opportunity to grasp their weapons tightly and draw their element to their body. Mathias reached for water to add to his split-staves and Synthy took fire to build on the embers on her palm.

"Two..."

Synthy closed her eyes, breathed in, and cracked her neck. Flames covered up to her wrist as they seemed to harden with metallic flakes peeking through under Mr. Shields' approving eye. The ice on the staves grew wide around the center, and transparent spikes blossomed like flowers on the stem.

"One..."

Synthy opened her eyes, scarlet embers seemingly born in her sudden, predatory glare, and flames seeped from her mouth. Her entire right arm looked like an iron brand and her boots glowed scarlet in the midday sun. Mathias breathed out frosty air, held his breath, and his waist was covered in dangling, transparent spikes atop an icy belt.

"Go!"

Synthy moved first. Mathias dug his heels in and raised the staff in his left hand to meet the rocked shoulder. Synthy's shoulder shifted forward and the glowing fist smashed into the staff. He pushed the fist back as steam burst in-between them both. The staves were forcibly split apart and Mathias awkwardly recovered one, overextending his arm.

Mathias stepped to the side, loosened the force with his left arm and let the fist push forward as she struck down at the incoming wrist.

He jumped away and pointed the left half-stave at Synthy.

Ice shot towards her as she corrected her balance. She swept her glowing palm across the spikes of ice, sending them scattering, and appeared in front of Mathias again. Mathias' right half-stave recovered enough for a quick, impulsive slash in front of him.

With her back and head leaning back, Mathias' slash to her head met the empty air; however, a fiery boot rocketed to his flank by way of a rising kick.

He reversed his grip on the staff and dropped it lower to block the attack.

The kick was not deterred. It pushed through his block and fell into his waist.

The icy belt held, but a third of the spikes attached to it were sent off.

Mathias' own body did not hold; he fell back, forced by the blow, a foot away.

Mathias' missed strike turned into an opportunity. He over-extended his reach and clubbed Synthy's knee with the baton.

Both hobbled back. Synthy and Mathias exchanged dark glances as they braced their own bodies. Mathias managed it with ice, or as much as he could without ruining his mobility; Synthy did so with magic and flames that seemed to shoulder some of the burdens on her knee.

Both were walking normally despite the pain.

Synthy pre-emptively launched a fire lance. Mathias struck it down with his staff.

He launched an ice spike. Synthy swatted out of the air with open palm.

Both took a deep breath and the flames on Synthy's body condensed to her hands and boots. Mathias' staves reformed into twin blades. He would prefer using a spear any day. However, if she got into his guard, he would be done. He had to use the swords, despite his relative dislike for them.

Synthy seemed to be waiting for him.

He tested it out. They were balanced well-enough. He charged this time.

Synthy brought both hands to her chest and placed her right foot back. Mathias read her plan from her stance; he kept charging, sticking on her right side, and he used his outside sword to cut inwards to her. She snapped her foot forward.

Mathias' leg, battered as they were from the day, did not react as quickly as he told his body. He pivoted on one foot, and saw a half-stabilizing, quick jab just behind the kick, as he lowered the blade in his right hand.

His stomach was pushed on its side and if he did not already pivot, he would have been forced to by her kick. Because of this, his sword only cut across her flank, not even breaking the training cloth, and he was struck back before he could press the advantage.

Synthy pulled back and then darted forward around him. She ran in a tight circle around him, and he forced himself from keeping his body from following her position. There was no escaping getting dizzy and she was running far enough away that he could react in time.

"Fire Bullet!"

He turned and cut the attack. It burst into a scatter of sparks and embers and disappeared almost instantly. It was too weak.

Synthy appeared beside him, grabbed his shoulder, and threw him into the air. As he was upside-down, he could only vaguely see Synthy's body dart over again. He felt the staff in his left hand slowly leave his grip and pass over Synthy's head. In the time it took him to realize it, it was already behind her back.

He clasped his hand vainly, but it did not come back. He reached for in his mind.

It exploded.

Countless shards of ice pierced into her unprotected back and she stumbled while Mathias hit the ground. His back howled, apparently reliving the incident with the rock gorilla, but the glare of the sun was worse.

The sun, even as it began its descent, was too harsh on his eyes. He rolled over, dragged himself to his feet and saw Synthy do the same.

"... That hurt," he said impulsively, leaning down to grab his remaining sword.

"... No kidding."

He stole a little too much from the sword as he sent it to circle around his back. It was just a simple baton now with a thin layer of ice.

He sensed the remnants of the ice from the other one on the far side of the arena. At least that which did not break. Except Synthy was moving. Stumbling at first with a grimace, but soon she filtered the pain out, ran and swung her fist.

Mathias stepped back and batted the fist away. He side-stepped, lowered his head, and kept the baton carefully set in front of him. Whenever Synthy moved to punch, he would just strike at her joints; if her hips moved to kick, he would back away and hit her red-hot shin.

It was easier to concentrate without the second staff. And it was a lot easier to fight if she did not use spells. Mathias was nimbly weaving around the arena, keeping himself a set distance from the white stones, until he saw Synthy stop.

"..."

He was not really doing any damage, but since he wasn't before either, if he fought purely defensively, it was manageable.

She looked at one of her fans - ahem, friends in the crowd. "Mina, give me your knife."

"Yes! Uh, wait...?!"

Mina already ran inside to carefully give her knife to Synthy.

"Mathias?" Erik asked, a moment too slow as he blinked seeing Mina freeze in the middle of the active arena.

"... It's fine."

"So it is!" Ayla exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever heard of Synthy using a weapon! This'll be interesting! Mina, please get out of the arena though."

"Uh... okay!" She ran back, starry-eyed at her idol requesting her help.

"Okay, now that's settled- gah!? So fast!" Erik was interrupted by Synthy kicking off the ground and bolting towards Mathias.

He kept the baton forward defensively as he hit the blade of the knife. Synthy held onto it, locked her hand in place, and rolled. She hammered her fist out towards Mathias' head.

He ducked and pushed the over-reached knife away, while Synthy span again, and pounced on him. Her arm was stretched forward with the blade belching flames calming to a red lull. He stepped back and jumped to the side as she passed by him quickly.

He felt three different cauterized lines appeared on his shoulder.

The crowd hooted and hollered, but he steadied himself. She preferred battles of speed and he preferred defensive contests - if only as a consequence it being less painful that the alternative when he lacked the talent.

Synthy skidded to a halt, paused, and shouted, "Fire Bullet!"

He lowered himself and focused the blade.

Mathias forced himself to keep his eyes open as the flames enveloped his chest, but he swatted Synthy's wrist and diverted the knife to fly inches from his neck. It was a necessary sacrifice as he smelt burnt hair and fabric in a scarlet glow in front of his eyes.

He started to swipe out at her, but she already moved to his side, jabbing the blade towards the back of his neck, while he jumped away and struck her hand again.

His baton felt a crack.

He did not have time to register the sensation as Synthy struck out with her fist. He maneuvered the baton to receive and stepped to the side. She was already crouching low and pounced up and under his shoulder.

A searing line appeared on his chest.

He turned the towards the way she fled and smashed his baton into the wrist that pressed metal against his back.

It cut another line in uniform, but he avoided the paralyzing blow to his spine.

And there was another crack.

A scarlet, plated arm and blade cut left and right, and be barely blocked one and dodged the other.

She just tucked her small body into the gap underneath his shoulder.

His hip was cut this time.

He jumped forward, feeling heat singe the back of his neck, and skidded and turned around to see Synthy standing there stationary.

The gauntlet of molten iron up to her wrist was dripping off her blade. There were two clear spider-webbed fractures on her wrist and hand, and another on the blade. Even though there was a vein of scarlet light feeding from her left arm to her right, it did not stem the tide that spontaneously ignited the ground with each drip.

Drip.

Drip.

They stood in place for three clear seconds. Before Synthy ran to the side, cut in, across, and then dove into Mathias' chest. He pressed the baton forward, following her movements into the knife and pushed with both hands.

She gave in to the force, leaned on her back foot, and flipped.

Her boot took the baton far into the air.

Mathias' eyes widened, but the girl just stood back in position as the molten core dripped.

Dripped.

And dripped.

Ice was already returning from the arena, the air, and he even pulled some unnecessary parts from the braces on his back and hip. He stole away the free-ranging stream that soothed the burnt cuts all over his body, but the target was gone.

He dove forward.

"Fire Bullet."

He used the ice in his palm to block the attack and jumped away from the slash to his chest. Synthy kept to the front as she pushed left, right, and back powerfully, each time driving the knife a little closer to his skin as he hurriedly fled.

The replacement was half-formed.

Mathias used the foot-long baton timidly with his left, only keeping it in front as bait, as he felt the ice on his back harden.

She drew the dagger back to her hip, leaned her shoulders forward, and stepped drunkenly.

Mathias pointed the half-formed rod forward. She stepped to the side; except, it fractured into thirty pieces - one for each cut he remembered - and they shot towards her right arm and chest from three feet away.

Now she stepped to her left - and his right.

Mathias grabbed the baton he formed purely of ice and struck Synthy's shoulder hard.

So hard that his own rod shattered, she was pushed into the stream of thirty ice shards that stalled before moving again, and she was sent to the ground.

He fell to his knees as his back and hip roared in pain - his entire brace was completely gone. Especially his back.

If his back was any less tense, he would have collapsed on the spot. Instead, he was just kneeling as he saw the last vestige of the scarlet, liquid flame disperse from Synthy's body and Mina's knife.

"Match!"