Chapter 8: Solo battles.

The sound of the morning. OH the cute birds chirping and voice of all different animals moving about

. Even a river flowing would be heard, If only the loud noise from the filled to the brim arena could be muted.

The arena was changed overnight.

Yesterday it was a rectangular large space but today it is a rounded platform circular and positioned high above the ground. With stairs leading up to it.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, the second and final day of the grand tournament has begun.”

Yep that is him the lord of this region and the announcer of the tournament the guy with the weird haircut.

“I will now tell you how the fights will be handled. Every school right now has 5 remaining competitors. Lottery will decide which schools will fight each other. This year we have an unprecedented happening as the vast difference between the school’s points has made it almost difficult for other schools to compete. As you can all see the score board shows that the first position is for Astarte with their whooping 44 points followed by Alsa that has 26 points. Next is Alikh with 6 points and Astora with 4 points.”

It is true what he said I never noticed the vast difference between our schools…the best part is that I believe that Astarte was taught to be the underdogs as they were the only country that fully focused on using weapons instead of magic.

The announcer added

“The rules are simple, fight until you drop. Each contender is worth five points and if the same participant is able to defeat multiple fighters they will gain bonus points that will be added to their score.

+2 for 2 victories 4 for three victories, 8 if he won four matches and 16 if the contender was able to defeat the entire enemy team alone. These points will be added to the final score.”

The screen showed a that we were going to face against Astarte while Alikh will face against Astora

I am starting to doubt that this competition is rigged as this is almost the same assortment we had the game before. Amazingly almost as if the commentator heard me thinking that he said

“Well, well, well I never taught this would happen…so we get the chance to see a rematch between Astarte and Alsa the same is for Alikh and Astora. Will the results change now after seeing what happened yesterday??...and now without further ado LET THE FIGHTS BEGIN”

So we get to fight first…Alright this should be interesting enough.

A guy walked up the stairs of the platform.

He had a well-proportioned body with well-developed muscles he also had a rapier on his left.

His brown short hair showed no resistance to the blowing wind as it fluttered making him look like some type of a prince from bedtime stories.

He carried himself confidently yet in elegance at the same time.

Vessma chose the Mohawk guy to be the first of our team followed by the girl from the second year, and Yuna. I was left with Shiki for last to handle any unknown variables.

“I will be the judge of this event. There is no restriction on the type of spells in this game. All kind of abilities will be tolerated any who gets out of boundary is eliminated air suspension is allowed if you do not touch the ground and maintain yourself airborne. The barrier will negate all the physical damage and will translate it to the brain. Death is impossible inside this barrier so you can all let loose…Now let the two champions stand in front of each other and let the fight begins.”

The Mohawk guy took the stairs of the arena and got up. He clearly was nothing like his adversary.

The judge announce the start of the game with the loudest “FIGHT START” I have ever heard.”

The Mohawk guy or as the screen showed his name to be Yadil Giird.

The other guy’s name was Jibi. He didn’t have a family name added to him so I taught it to be weird.

The second the fight begun the rapier wielder Jibi took a pose.

His right leg forward and left hand behind his back his other hand was elegantly holding his blade.

A total opposite from the guy who was not even giving a damn about the dress code.

Yadil begun running toward his enemy closing the gap at a fast rate.

Yadil extended his arms to the sides and brought them together. That exaggerated clap created a deafening sound that made the blade wielder cringe for a second. An apparent shock was drawn on the face of Yadil probably because his attack did not work as he expected it to yet he still kept going.

He stretched his hand forward in a fist like motion making the air around it vibrate for a second. At max extension a bubble like pop was heard then another deafening explosion emitted from the guy’s fist.

The aftereffects of that attack was a shockwave that headed toward the guy named Jibi.

If I was him I would have sidestepped it and charged forward. Yet this guy was crazy. He stood forward and made a vertical slicing motion clearly disrupting the wave’s rhythm. It was as if he had cut it in half

The waves lost their strength and at the same time. The expressions on Yadil’s face turned dark.

The man in front of him did not wait for Yadil to regain his composure as he almost instantly appeared in front of him. Not losing any momentum he used his sword to slash at Yadil’s hand. He yelped from pain yet he could not see the coming leg sweep that knocked him down.

Another slash at his abdomen area was enough to make the downed guy cringe from pain. He tried to put his hands together probably to cast another spell but before he could even gather enough mana he was stopped by a devastating blow from Jibi’s left hand that made a small crater on the floor behind Yadil.

Seeing the white of his eyes the judge concluded the fight with the victory of Astarte.

The guy named Jibi failed to even drop a sweat or show any signs of exhaustion as he took back his old posture demanding for the next challenger.

Next was the girl from our school the second year tournament winner.

She walked in properly carrying herself unlike the guy before she was a daughter of manners as she bowed slightly before her adversary.

Her name was Hanna Vendi…

Must be related to Zeles and the principal….

The other gestured the same and the round begun.

Like the last time Jibi did nothing to initiate the fight and patiently waited for the girl to make the first move

As for Hanna she had smoke coming from her hands…purple smoke, clearly toxic.

It rapidly filled the stage shaping like a dome above the platform.

The visibility of the stage became really low with only sounds of a blade whipping and slashing through air, nothing was able to satiate the thirst of the audience from knowing what is happening inside.

“FIGHT OVER” said the judge.

The smoke started dissipating and a silhouette of a person was apparent in the middle of the platform

It was Jibi standing strong in front of the unconscious Hanna’s body.

He was coughing a bit but he still remained standing. The poison clearly was not enough to bring him down…I am quite surprised to see how he was able to exactly pinpoint her position inside that thick smoke screen. He must have enhanced senses that enabled him of that feat.

Yet what a monster…the fact that he is not even showing his true strength is what is frightening…he managed to bring down two of our members before they could even cast any of their A tire spells…

This is what I was talking about that time…I wonder how Yuna will be able to handle this guy. However if she could apply what I have been teaching her all those times when I was sparring with her, I believe she can work something out.

Vessma was unable to contain her anger with apparent discomfort from the fact that we were losing the game. She then started pouring her frustration at the docile looking Shiki who was trying to calm her down but to no avail.

Yuna got up on stage walking with unwavering will, she stood in front of the man that was taking his posture like always.

The moment the judge shouted the beginning of the match. The temperature dropped significantly.

Yuna who was closing her eyes for a second opened them making a surge of frost cover the entire platform in matter of moments.

Before the wave of cold even touch Jibi he jumped upward evading it as if it was plague.

Falling feet first on the now frozen floor proved not to be a hindrance to the swordsmen.

The look on his face showed prudence as it was obvious to anyone who saw that a girl was able of that feat in such a short time with apparently no incantations is a monster.

She walked confidently toward the swordsman. Two small Mahojins appeared on each of her hands. Muttering a muffled incantation two small dragons were summoned beside her.

They looked at her then looked forward. As if understanding the reason of their summoning they charged ahead.

I remember that in our sparring time she never summoned these things as it was forbidden to use A class offensive spells at school yet she did use them when facing off against the metal mage.

Our spares would have probably had a different outcome if she was able to use more of her power.

The hound like dragons had reached the man in no time.

They too were able to cast their own magic as whenever they howled a bolt of ice was propelled from a small white Mahojin that appears in front of their snouts.

The man started by parrying one of the bolts and evading the other.

This should have been a fatal mistake as the ice would cling to the blade and would dull it. Yet the bolt was sliced in half while the blade maintained its luster and sharpness.

This metal seems weird as it is almost the same type the twin blade user used yesterday to dispel the spells from Zeles and Bella.

The apparent shock on the face of Yuna when she saw how Jibi easily dispelled her summons’ attack was proof enough that she was not expecting that turn of events…this could turn badly if she does not change her view of the match.

Like I expected Yuna withdrew her summons as they slowly walked back into a more of a defensive posture protecting her.

Jibi had a wide grin on his face when he noticed that Yuna started chanting an obviously powerful spell.

Damn it…he figured it out

Dashing toward her, Jibi infused his weapon with spiritual energy. The two dragon hounds growled and jumped at him trying to rip off his head with the widest motion their jaw could stretch with.

Simple beasts…

It only took him the simplest of movements to finish one off as he side-stepped to the left piercing the beast with the tip of his blade three times in almost an instant. Not waiting to lose more time he kicked the second one and dashed forward. He reached Yuna in no time, he thrusts with his rapier that now glowed golden from the intensity of the spiritual energy that is enveloping it.

Yuna who had her eyes closed for a second felt his approach. Usually she would jump backwards but it seems that she remembers our last lesson

She sidestepped at the last second feeling that her magic was ready she pushed her hands forward. A Mahojin was created in front of her hands.

She then whispered a spell

“Ruin king’s tomb.”

What happened next was a sight to behold.

The atmosphere that was already cold became freezing. Her very words were spoken with white vapor coming from her mouth.

Jibi looked like he was panicking as he poised himself in a defending position only to make his situation grimmer.

The ice that was already on the ground instantly latched onto his feet. He noticed and started hacking at it with his blade only to realize that the ice was forming too fast. He was unable to do anything to slow down the persisting rise of the ice that right now climbed to his knees.

A square ice platform that he was the center of begun to grow in size.

The hands of Yuna were still held forward channeling more mana to create this thing.

Noticing his inability to do anything he charged his sword with as much spiritual energy that he could and made a wide thrusting motion aimed at Yuna.

Jibi grinned as he taught that his attack would connect and cancel the channeled spell but to his surprise a shadow jumped in front of the attack blocking it from reaching her.

It was the second wolf that he neglected.

Right now the ice formed all the way up to his chest area and the square platform was turning into a pyramid like structure with Jibi in its center.

Before it could reach his face he looked directly into Yuna’s direction making a nod.

The creating of the 4 meter ice pyramid ended as it was almost crystal clear Jibi was still inside it.

This should probably mean that he lost but seeing that the judge said nothing the game was still not over.

To my surprise Yuna was still chanting even if her spell was successful I think she wants to finish things her way.

This time four ice spears almost 3 meters tall were created on each of the pyramid’s sides all hovering in air pointed at its center.

In another whisper she said

“Heaven’s impaling javelin”

In a moment the four spikes whirled and spun then rushed toward the boy in the center penetrating trough the four sides of the pyramid crushing the trapped guy. This time however the judge stopped the matched declaring victory for Yuna as he noticed the fluctuations of the barrier when the spears landed accompanied by the screen showing that the HP score of Jibi hit 0.

A smile appeared on the obviously drained Yuna’s face a smile that could wash away a sad man’s pains.

Whit this our school…no our country scored the first victory this year against Astarte. This marks the beginning of our comeback.

===========================================================================

(Osfor POV)

Well I think I should stop playing with ‘them’ I already had all I need I should probably go back and enjoy whatever is left from the tournament.

For the last 24 hours I was ‘trapped’ in this laboratory as I found some interesting specimens to work on and test my new theories on the increasing threats from the so called gores… to my surprise the facilities here in Quietus are astonishingly more developed and better equipped this made my work easier compared to back home.

Even though I know I am being ‘used’…I just can’t help my curiosity.

I was first lead here by a short female researcher she invited me to this lab telling me that she had something interesting to show me…and indeed it was…I mean when can you even find such a vast amount of gores in once place…they have here more than 200 gore fully imprisoned and sealed. Used for experimentation…this is better than what I had back in my lab as I was only allowed to have one at a time.

I gathered more data in these 24 hours than I would have in a year. Copulated with the advanced machinery I think I am on the verge of a breakthrough concerning my thesis around the purification of the blight and corruption syndromes that are inflicted by the gores.

Yet I just can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen…my pinky finger was twitching all day long and this never was a good singe…damn it, I think I should go back to the stadium I want to see my students…

By the moment I finished packing all the paperwork I needed to complete my theory I started casting my usual teleportation spell as this is supposed to be the quickest way to leave this building as I feel like I would encounter some ‘trouble’ from the ones who are keeping watch over this lab if I leave normally.

Yet to my expectations this room has a teleportation block mechanism. “Should I blow up the wall?” I taught. Then I considered against it as this would do more harm than good…so I should probably just walk out the door.

What was truly surprising is the fact that the door out of this lab is locked now…I was sure I left It open.

Yet before I could do anything I heard the voice of someone I didn’t believe to be here of all places. Asilis

He spoke trough a magnifying voice emitter that was installed somewhere inside this room.

“I see that you were a bit busy…did you like it here? Having all those toys for yourself should be quite satisfactory for you isn’t it Osfor?”

Toys? He is speaking about the gores…well I can’t blame him it really was satisfying hehe-hehe

I answered him almost instantly “It really was, however you know that clan head Ryoka gas can’t wait to see you again? He will be delighted to know that you are here.”

I could almost feel the tension that is now in his voice after what I said, he spoke

“h-huh well he can look all he want, I now have the backing of the Organization and with you here we are almost done and we can proceed to the next step. Trapping you here was too easy…you always seem to think yourself smarter than anyone else but the fact that you were captured here proves otherwise…I would advise that you don’t try and use any of your destructive spells there. It will activate the emergency defense mechanism, I have no qualms about you surviving the explosion, however many innocent lives will be lost if you try to forcefully leave…so I suggest that you stay put until an agent comes and get you.”

I figured as mush, they are using the lives of other people to twist my hands…although I can leave using ‘that method’…let’s just see what they have to offer first.

To be continued…