by Brent Tyman
Juliana and Clarissa tended to do the same, though their outfits were often significantly more revealing than the standard uniform. Besides, they had mostly worn their own dresses during our grinding in the Dungeon, though they typically stuck to their spectrum of the RGB color scheme, even with their dresses.
These students wore green uniforms, which signified that they represented Hoganna. They were the only Hogannan party to have won their quarterfinal bout in this final stage, if I had that right.
Two of them had chain mail under their uniforms, and the others had robes that suggested to me that they were probably mages.
I didn’t really see anything of concern about them, but as soon as they saw us, most of them seemed very apprehensive all of a sudden.
“Uhh, please forgive me, My Lady,” one of the female students called out to Clarissa. “The Head Commissioner wishes for our victory in this battle, over you and yours.”
One of them was halfway into a bow before catching an elbow from the teammate standing next to him; this student glared at him. Oh right, I had forgotten how much the Academy students just loved bowing to their respective heirs.
“Of course, he does,” Clarissa said as she placed her hands on her hips. “Where is my esteemed Father, anyway?”
All of them looked to our left and, sure enough, over that way near where the obsidian walls of Tringall met the Arena, stood several figures I recognized. There weren’t really any spectator stands over on that side, but it did have a massive wooden platform built right in front of the city’s black walls, where quite a few well-dressed people stood.
I noticed there was also an absolutely massive gate under this platform, but I couldn’t understand why it was there. Did it lead outside of the city?
Clarissa’s father was the first I recognized; beside him were a slew of green armored guards. When my eyes drifted to the other side of the platform, I noted Juliana’s father was there too, and just as well protected. Since this platform was huge, there was quite a bit of distance between the two rulers.
Somehow, I doubted they wanted to sit together and talk about how their daughters came to know each other so well.
There was also a crowd of blue armored soldiers protecting a third man. I had never seen him before, but I did recognize the woman beside him.
Stephania.
Given her presence at his side, I could only assume that this was the ruler of Yunissa, Stephania’s father. He had her silvery hair, cropped rather short. I couldn’t quite make out his features in any real detail, but from what I could see from here, he certainly seemed to have the same overbearing flair as Juliana’s father.
He wore full plate armor as if he was ready to go into battle in any moment.
What had those soldiers in the Dungeon called him again… The Chief Chancellor?
There were also a few people on the platform surrounded by guards who didn’t sport the RGB color scheme. I could only assume they were part of the city state council.
“I didn’t realize my father would be watching,” Juliana said.
“Mine is probably here watching in the hopes we’ll be defeated so that he can lecture me about it later,” Clarissa said, shaking her head. A smirk appeared on pretty face. “Looks like Stephania is just there to watch us closely, in case we end up fighting her in the finals.”
I was pretty sure that, since Clarissa’s father had come up with the tournament idea to begin with, he’d stick around to watch it. And despite what Juliana thought of her father, I’m sure he was here not only to see that the Sovereignty got at least one team into the finals, but to support his daughter.
Another cheer reverberated from the crowd, and I tried to tune in to hear what they were saying.
“Go Hoganna!”
“May the Sovereignty last!”
“Do something. Fight already!”
“Ahh,” Anny said, covering her ears. “I hope it gets quieter.”
The announcer began to speak, but I still had zero clue what he was saying. His voice must have been amplified with some kind of magic; the end result was a truly awful series of screeches and buzzing to my ears.
“We must await the signal from the city state council to begin our fight,” Juliana said.
“Wait, you can understand that?” I asked, and she shrugged.
“Remember, my retinue already fought in the Arena yesterday. They told me this through a Clan message. My father protested right after their message, saying I shouldn’t clog up the Clan Chat, as I would learn everything once we arrived here.”
If the ‘learn everything’ part meant we would be subjected to Tovar reading off some parchment, then yeah… it was great that they had let us know to wait on the signal to start the fight.
I wondered if they were in the stands somewhere…
The announcer garbled out a few more lines, which quieted the crowd. Finally, I could hear what he was saying.
“Contestants, ready yourselves for the signal,” the announcer said, his voice booming in every direction. At least I could actually understand him, now that the crowd had settled down.
The Hogannan students drew their weapons, and we did the same.
It was time to see how my spells stacked up against human opponents.
Up on the large wooden platform, someone from the city state council summoned a fireball that arced up through the air. That was apparently our signal to get to it, as the announcer shouted for us to begin as well.
We’d figured it would be prudent to stick to our regular strategy of splitting our opponents between me and Aurielle to see how it would go. Aurielle dashed forward towards one of the chain mail wearing students while I opted to cast my Icy Clouds spell.
As I needed to be careful with these matches, I figured now would be the time to see if I could morph the Blast Currents spell a little more. Imagining the wind curling back into itself, I cast the spell and watched as, instead of spikes hurtling out of the Icy Cloud, they resembled small spheres instead.
Ever since our fight with the Shock Bird, I didn’t feel fatigued after casting a few spells. It had definitely gotten more manageable, but there was still a tingle that grew after each cast.
As my ice spheres flew through the air, Aurielle reached the first Hogannan student, a man equipped with a sword and wearing chain mail.
Clash!
His sword struck Aurielle’s, but the Academy student didn’t manage to pull back for another strike. Aurielle pushed forward on her sword with her rather overpowered advantage in Strength, causing the man to stumble backwards. He left himself wide open, allowing Aurielle to strike at his side.
I wasn’t entirely sure how much of an effect dampening magic had, though, as the man went flying right into one of the student mages, causing both of them to tumble to the ground in a pile of arms and legs.
Jeez…
Meanwhile, my ice spheres smashed into the other chain mail clad student’s torso. Four of the five spheres struck him, with one going wide as it tried to arc its trajectory in the air a little too late, ending up harmlessly smacking into the ground and shattering.
I was clearly able to do plenty of damage, as the man stumbled from my attack. His chain mail looked visibly weakened, and his uniform tattered in places, but he quickly recovered and dashed forward to meet me.
My sword skills had improved a little since the fight with the Ogres, but if I had to be honest, they still left a lot to be desired. He raised his sword to strike at me with a downward swing. I managed to meet it with my own, but by the time I was ready to strike back, he was already mid swing into another attack.
I tried to dodge, or even parry his strikes, while trying as best as I could to land my own, but this guy was fast. When he landed a strike on my side, I hissed, but there was barely any pain. Heck, my armor barely showed a dent and the student’s eyes widened in surprise.
It seemed my high Defense stat was doing its job, but it was hard to create an opening against this guy. I won
dered if rushing forward to land a strike was a valid strategy. It just might work…
Clarissa’s magic coursed through my body, healing what little injury I had. It did feel like I had slightly more energy when I parried his next strike.
A fireball slammed into the man’s side, causing him to stagger. That had no doubt been Juliana, and her attack had slightly penetrated his defenses, leaving some of his chain mail charred.
Anny also blurred into existence just as he recovered and, to my surprise, kicked the guy in the shin. She actually managed to dent his greave, the metal cracking from her blow.
The man swung wildly at Anny, but she had already blurred away, leaving him nothing to hit at all. This left him wide open, and I grinned as I put as much energy as I could into a two-handed swing into his side.
Smash!
Just as Aurielle had sent her opponent flying, the dampening magic didn’t seem to help this guy all that much. His armor caved in before my blow and he went sailing through the air. It hadn’t been as flashy as Aurielle’s attack, but he did plough into the ground and continued rolling for a good while. The Hogannan student clutched his side and didn’t seem to be in the mood to get back up.
The healers I had heard about from Tovar had been standing at the ready near both ends of the fighting pit. They quickly rushed in to heal the Hogannan student. I thought that was a bit strange—surely they weren’t supposed to do that until the fight was over.
A cheer erupted from the crowd and I looked around for my next opponent, only to see Aurielle standing tall with her sword already sheathed and her shield held loosely in her off hand.
The other Hogannan students lay still in the sand, knocked out all around her.
Jeez…
The announcer's voice was impossible to understand once again as the crowd roared, but I could only assume he was declaring our victory.
“We did it, Alex!” Anny said, grinning as she jumped for joy.
“Well done, everyone,” Juliana said, smiling.
“Ha! My father won’t be happy,” Clarissa smirked. “This was his one and only chance at winning the tournament, after all.”
Oh yeah, Clarissa’s father was the one who’d come up with the tournament idea in the first place, too. He would definitely not be happy.
I looked over that the wooden platform and saw that all three of the rulers had already gotten up to leave. The guards for each ended up blocking my view of them, though, so I wasn’t able to see any reactions.
“I hope my performance was satisfactory, Alex,” Aurielle said softly
I turned my head to look at her, jaw dropping. “You ended that fight really quick, Aurielle,” I said. I shook my head, grinning. “I can’t remember if any of their mages even got a spell off. Do you need any healing?”
“I believe one of them cast a close-range lightning spell, but it did not affect me,” she admitted. “But I am honored at your concern.” Aurielle blushed slightly.
She had been doing that more and more lately from what I had noticed. In any case, we had won our first match and the finals would be tomorrow evening. As the healers rushed to heal the rest of the defeated Hogannan students, I couldn’t imagine what kind of threat would give Aurielle a good challenge.
Her stats were truly overpowered. With her at our side, our chances of winning the tournament were looking very promising.
I couldn’t wait to see what the final match would bring.
Heck, maybe it would even be over just as fast as this one was…
28
On the next day, we waited for our final match to start, but there had been some troubling developments. Juliana’s retinue had been knocked out of the tournament by Stephania’s party, of all things.
Apparently, Stephania and her group worked really well together, despite having one of her retinue replaced by Oliver.
When we had met with Juliana’s retinue, the conversation was mostly Daiver complaining that Stephania was too fast for him and that she could cast spells mid sword fight as well. She was able to imbue her sword with lightning, which I thought was pretty cool. I kind of wished we had gone to see the match in person, but we’d been very focused on grinding in the Dungeon during the morning and afternoon, since our match wasn’t until the evening.
Juliana probably wouldn’t have liked watching her retinue being beaten in the first place… I hoped. She hadn’t protested, when I’d suggested we maximize our grinding to squeeze out every bit of gains we could in Magical Capacity before our final fight. At least I remembered to ask, this time. I still owed her two one-on-one dates for missing their first match.
It seemed that having only Karl and Daiver as the primary damage dealers was a problem. While Karl could hold his own, Daiver was really meant to be a Tank. Once those two had been knocked out by Stephania’s retinue, there wasn’t much Kesara and Vencia could do.
Kesara was able to provide buffs to the party, but I still didn’t quite understand exactly what they did. Would I need something like that for my own Clan? It might be something to consider, once the Tournament was over.
In any case, their defeat served as a reminder that Stephania’s party seemed to be quite formidable. This final match to win the tournament should prove to be more of a challenge.
I couldn’t wait to see what she could do.
“Hmm, this is strange,” Juliana mused. We all looked at the pretty brunette, only to see her eyes glazed over—a sure sign that she was looking at her Clan messages.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Juliana shook her head. “Kesara just messaged me. She claims that Stephania has left the city.”
“Is that a problem? We leave the city all the time to go to the Dungeon,” I said.
“Yes, but this is different,” Juliana replied. “Kesara has quite a few students… contacts, that report to her. Stephania reportedly left in a carriage, with a huge ensemble of soldiers.”
“What?! What direction did that thief go?” Clarissa asked, crossing her arms under her bountiful breasts.
“North,” Juliana replied.
“She’s going back to Yunissa? Normally, I wouldn’t pay that artifact thief any mind, but all of this seems very suspicious right before our match,” Clarissa said.
“Does this Stephania not intend to finish the tournament?” Aurielle asked curiously.
“It… just does not make sense,” Juliana said, her head tilted to the side in confusion. “I cannot think of a single valid reason why she would leave. She is expected to fight in the Arena in mere moments.”
“Wait,” Clarissa said, a smirk forming on her face. “Does this mean that if she doesn’t show up, we win by default?”
“Perhaps they will simply reschedule the tournament’s final match,” Aurielle said.
Anny suddenly shivered, and we all looked to see her staring at the gate leading to the fighting grounds.
“What’s wrong, Anny?” I asked.
“Ahh,” she said. “A new aura just appeared. It keeps shifting from red to black, amongst everything else.”
“Where?” Clarissa asked.
“Next to the Tringall walls. I… I don’t know what it is.”
“Hmm, the walls of Tringall are well known to be heavily charged with magical energy,” Juliana said. “Could it possibly be that?”
It wasn’t something I knew very much about. Then again, I didn’t know much at all about how magic operated in this world, other than the spells I could already cast.
“Well, we should keep our guard up until we leave the Arena,” I said. “I guess we will find out pretty soon what will happen, with Stephania gone.”
The women nodded just as the wooden gates leading to the Arena opened on their own once again. I really wanted to know how they did that…
The crowd’s roar deafened us as we stepped through the exit and into the fighting pit. It was once again impossible to understand the announcer. The Arena remained largely unchanged since yesterday, other than
the sand looking much smoother. Perhaps they had cleaned it all up for the final match? There were a few healers stationed on either end of the fighting pit, but fewer than the day before.
We waited in the middle of the Arena, watching the entrance at the other end for its wooden gates to open. After a few moments, when no one came out to challenge us, the crowd gradually quieted in confusion.
“So…” Clarissa wondered out loud as we waited in the center of the Arena. “Should we raise our arms in triumph?”
I looked around and saw that Clarissa’s father and Juliana’s father were in the same spot as last time. Stephania’s father was suspiciously absent. Had he gone back to Yunissa with his daughter?
“Hey! Start the match already!”
“Go Sovereignty!”
“Why is it taking so long!”
The longer they had to wait, the more restless the crowd became. I wasn’t entirely sure what we were supposed to do now. The announcer also wasn’t helping.
“I’m sure the match will begin soon,” he said. “The final match of the tournament is sure to be a spectacle.”
That was assuming Stephania was even in the city to do the match…
“Alex, look,” Aurielle said, pointing towards the giant gate under the platform in front of the obsidian walls.
It slowly opened and the crowd cheered as something was finally happening. It wasn’t the place where our opponents were expected to emerge from, but maybe this meant that someone from the city state council was coming out to meet us? Or Stephania had returned…
Instead, a low rumble filled the air, and a flash of red eyes appeared in the darkness beyond the gate. I watched as that pair of eyes became many. A giant claw emerged from the darkness, digging into the sand of the fighting pit.
The crowd grew silent as a monster entered the Arena. It had bright white scales that shimmered in the light, and muscular legs that ended with sharp claws. It featured needle-like teeth in its jaws with eyes that seemed only to glare. And instead of just one head, it had five.
