Chapter 6

As I return to my seat I feel the usual tingle of the eyes of others on my back, however, one pair seems to bore into the back of my head. I feel hints of danger and something else… intrigue possibly. Despite this, there isn’t much to do about it except deal with it, so I just try my hardest to ignore it. As I return to my seat, Gwen is smiling at me, switching her focus from me to her hand over and over again. I simply have no option but to begin swinging my hand as fast as possible watching her face scrunch up in preparation for pain yet leaving the hand up, gently I slow down to leave her with a crisp high five. The smile on her face just can’t be ignored, but what can be are the other matches as I sink back into my chair to relax for the remainder of the battles.

The short period of rest concludes as the third round of matches begins, It seems I’m going first, I know that some people hate the feeling of going first, but I like it just gets stuff out the way quicker, get that pressure off your back. Either way, Gwen is going second to last, can’t wait to see her fight, her fighting style is so cool. It really makes me want to refine one of my own.

The Official once again begins the silent ritual of tapping me on my back and leading me to the ring. It is odd how they move so quietly, but my rule is if you don’t know it’s magic. I’m led into the ring and in front of me is my first heavy hitter of the night the elf boy. He glares at me like I’m trash or something, honestly who does this twink bastard think he is. As the official begins the match I begin to size up the opponent.

“I’ll tell you this so you can tell your parents who beat you when you go home, my name is Elias Grundwood,” He says pompously, continuing his glare, somehow looking down on me despite being similar heights. “ As a word of advice giving up is the best plan of action a commoner like you has no ch-”

A buzz fills my ear deafening to me, the words of my opponent are lost to the void.

-Elias-

“A commoner like you has no chance” I yell out towards the boy. He begins to stare at me oddly, swaying ever so gently, I feel a tingle down my spine. It’s clear to me that he has some sort of weak eye based ability, truly useless. He slowly begins to move forward a gentle walk towards me, a clear challenge. Not to be outdone I begin moving towards him, I would draw my sword but that’s hardly necessary for an opponent of this caliber.

As we reach each other I test him with a straight jab. He turns his chest to dodge the strike lashing out at me with a left hook. Stepping back out of its way I attempt to throw a kick at his exposed left hip. He takes the hip only to grab my leg and throw me to the ground. I take my leg back and scramble to my feet, like a fucking loser!

“Who the hell do you think you are, I’m gonna fucking ruin you!” I say as I begin gathering the latent nature essence around me. I pull the seeds from my pocket and chuck them to the ground. Quickly they rise without dirt or water, simply from my will and energy, forming sharp rods of living wood they bend and curve to my every command. Now it was time to really fight, I willed my plants to shoot towards the commoner. I see him weave and bend at disgusting angles to dodge the wood spears. He begins rushing towards me swaying like a sapling in a storm. Quickly I throw more seeds down attempting to overwhelm him with the sheer amount. The new wood spears quickly join the onslaught. The increased number seems to prove just slightly too much as he is forced to take some hits eventually knocking him back. As he is sent flying I begin to gather essence and recharge to prepare for the next onslaught. Suddenly I hear tons of sharp zapping noises and as I look over I see the commoner on his hands and knees with lighting snaking all over him his body shivering and shaking as if he's being electrocuted, It's quite an odd way of mana manifestation normal mana does no harm to its user, as it is in essence yourself. This, however, seems to harm him, is that why he didn’t use mana in the past two fights? No, he possesses two other mana types there is no way, the odds are to low. Either way, he still can’t beat me. He slowly stands up as the small shocks cause his body to twitch, moving like a puppet on a string he begins making his way towards me at first somewhat uncomfortable, slowly however he moves faster this time much more so than before. I shoot my spears towards him as he sidesteps a cluster then using another few to launch himself upwards. Thinking I have him I launch one I had in reserve towards him. Flying into the air the spear nears his body, suddenly he catches the side of the spear and pulls himself downward flying at me rapidly, soon he begins spinning gathering momentum. Seeing the incoming attack I raise spears as a pseudo shield. With a sickening crack, I see a knee pierce through my shield followed by the rest of the knee smacking me backward towards the edge of the ring. Gathering myself I grab my sword that had flown away towards me. It seems if I don’t go hard I may go home. While the edges are blunt it should still hurt enough to keep him at bay, he can probably only take a slash or two before giving up. As I gather my spear around me for my next assault. I see him standing there twitching, small zaps popping off of him like he is shorting out. He begins to move his gait unnatural, and his eyes glowing purple. I feel uncomfortable so much more so than before, but still, I must fight. I need to bring pride to my bloodline. As I gather myself for the next exchange, an official comes down to the stage.

“This fight is over, The winner is Elias” The official announces loudly, before teleporting behind the commoner and knocking him out with a blow to the head.