My next opponent was named Tina. Tina was far more normal than my first two opponents. In fact she was the one to initiate the handshake. Her fingers were delicate, and the palms of her hands were smooth to the touch. In a meek voice she made her introduction. “I am Tina. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” With her kind words I also wanted to respond in a polite manner. I nod my head. “I am Sylphire, lets have a great match.

“Begin!” As the battle began, I made the first move. Twelve fireballs formed in front of me. They did not give off as much heat as the Shadow dragon I was brought down by, but still five balls of fire would be enough to make anyone sweat. My sweat dropping down tickled my toes. Even though Tina was startled by the amount of fireballs created, an ice wall had been created by her.

“Oh knight of frost, grant me your power. Ice blade.” A sharp blade of ice swung down towards my face. I quickly backed away. I looked at the strand of my hair that fell to the ground. I was baffled for a moment. (Well at least it was only my hair.) I have had worst things cut off. My hand for example. At least I was lucky enough not to have the other thing cut off.

I needed to deal with Tina. It seemed she was an ice user. I sent nine jets of water towards her. Again she blocked with the ice wall. (Dammit. At this rate we will only have a stalemate.) Ice on ice did not work to well. In fact it was a really bad idea on my part. After being embedded into the wall, Tina sent the wall forwards like an oceans wave. I felt a slight burning in my stomach, as it was pierced by the butt of all thirteen ice lances.

Tina kept moving the wall closer and closer. The closer the wall got, the deeper the lances embed themselves. Lucky for Tina, none of those heavy lances were anywhere near my heart. It would be a shame if such a meek girl had killed someone. (How do I get out of this situation?) My fireballs were not enough to melt the ice wall. What was the solution? I only knew basic spells.

I thought back to my earlier battle. Shadow Void had made a dragon from shadows. Could I do something similar here? Even though I did not know anything other than basic spells, based on what I understood about magic, I should be able to make anything out of mana. I began to focus on an image. Thinking about how the fireball spell worked, I used that as the core for the spell I was trying to form.

Waves of heat melded together. Balls of fire converged. In their wake, a tiger was born. Razor sharp claws made of flames, smooth fangs pouring out smoke, and a tail lashing back and forth. The wall of ice became nothing but a puddle. My wounds sealed shut.

Tina

(What is that monster?) I have never seen anything like this before. A huge cat made out of flames. If it was anything other than a cat that size I would not be freaking out right now. “Cats are not that big!” I shouted out. “Huh? Cat?” The man known as Sylphire looked puzzled. “Any way you look at it, this is clearly a tiger.” I have heard that term only once before.

My brother was in the process of forming a network of magic. It was something similar to a library, only it could be used by everyone throughout the world. That is when a strange person holding a metal contraption showed up. I heard a loud sound, and then blood was gushing out from my brother. “It would be unwise to let a tiger out of its cage!” At the time I had yet to learn magic, and for some reason my brother was unable to call forth mana. That person vanished as quickly as they appeared. Since we were in a deep alleyway, no rescue was able to come. In the years to come anyone trying to bring my brother’s efforts to fruit were met with the same fate.

Sylphire

For some reason when I said the word tiger Tina backed away in a daze. “Did you say tiger?!” Tina seemed furious. Frost started to drift around her, the earth beneath our feet began to turn white. The only place that remained normally was around the flame tiger.

I could hear the heavy beating of Tina’s heart. It slowed down with the chilled temperature, but would start up again soon after. It was some how unsettling hearing a persons angry heart beat. How do I calm her down? If I can not, then I guess I will have to finish this fight quickly.

I directed the tiger to leap forwards. Its fangs met with Tina’s face. As it bit down on Tina’s check, she fainted. There were actually bite marks on her check. Well in reality they were burn marks, but close enough. With that I tasted my first victory.

After creating the flame tiger, my matches would be much easier than before.

“They call me Blaze!” Blaze winked at me. Heat poured off his body, as our hands made contact with one another. He just burnt my hand from merely shaking it. Blaze had silver hair, and eyes like fire. The pupils were yellow, while the outside was an intense orange.

“Begin!” At the start of the match, Blaze created a forest of fire. If it had not been for my newly constructed spell, I likely would not have stood a chance. My tiger sucked in all the flames, growing much larger the more in consumed. Blaze looked on mesmerized. “What a wonderful flame.” He walked up to it, poked it a few times. (What is he thinking?) “I withdraw!” He told the judge.

The reason for his withdrawal was obvious. No matter what action he took, his flames would be consumed by my tiger. With that I gained my second victory.

“They call me the Aqua Mirror!” When I sent out my hand, he did the same. When I say he did the same, he literally took the same action as me in the same instant. He was even breathing in rhythm with me. It was very disturbing. It gave the impression he was a living breathing reflection.

“Begin!” I immediately created my flaming tiger, he did the same, only with water. When my tiger leaped to his, their collision made both existences cease from being. (Well that did not work!) I tried ice lance. Thirteen ice lances were stopped by thirteen water lances. The water had enough force to shatter them, but not enough to remain formed.

I was at a loss. This was a dead stalemate, and I could not think of a way to end it. Well there was one way, but I was reluctant to do so. After a while I over came that reluctance.

My palms and finger became tingly. Purple streams of light danced from finger to finger. Then my lightning blast flew towards Aqua Mirror. My head began to spin soon afterwards.

Aqua Mirror

(So far so good!) While I was thinking this I noticed what my opponent was doing. (Shit!) Not only would I not be able to copy that, but that was also a huge disadvantage to me. In my second round I lost to Roaming Thunder in an instant. She quickly cast triple lightning. I had just started to form my spell , when the bolts hit my body all at once. There force magnified by the ball of water in my hand. This was a far worst situation. Water was everywhere from earlier.

Sylphire

Being amplified by the water, the electric current engulfed the two of us. Aqua Mirror passed out instantly. I on the other hand was once again feeling the numbness. I was screaming once more. It was not as intense as the time Roaming Thunder used her spells on me, but the mental shock was still there as well. Like that my third victory came to pass.

It took me a while to recover from the dizziness, but in the mean time I won my next three matches. After Aqua Mirror was Abby. Abby created metal spikes from the earth. My flaming tiger quickly turned them to liquid metal. After Abby was Derick. Derick caused massive trees to grow from the earth. Trees kept falling everywhere. If it was not for magic and or my nanobots I would have been squashed. My flaming tiger turned those trees to ash. Luna was my last opponent. She created gravity-wells. A normal person would not be able to escape these forces of pressure. Maybe there was some sort of counter with magic, but at the time I could not think of anything.

"My Name is Aura.” Aura waved at me. (Are you not getting a little ahead of your self?) My battle with Aura did not end so well. Based on the judges ruling I won, but we had to have several matches. Three in total. Each one ending in a draw. Three was the limit to rematches apparently. Since I had more total victories than Aura I was declared the winner. That seemed stupid to me, but how could I refute someone else long traditions. Aura used an elegant light magic. It was like watching a fairy dance.