An hour later, the first fighters were called out to the arena, the call itself almost drowned by the crowd's cheers. Avo opened his eyes, feeling refreshed from meditation. When Sala saw him raise his head, she sighed with relief before getting worked up :

“Finally ! I was getting bored to death, here ! Damn it, Avo ! You know I don't like sitting on my ass like you do !”

The namekian smiled while getting up. He told her with nonchalance :

“I'm sure you've found something to spend your time...” He looked at the two fighters crossing the threshold leading outside. The light of day shone on them, revealing the tension between the two adversaries. “Should we... No.” Avo thought of watching their match but realized they didn't seem strong at all. If they had more power than his impression would let on, he'd prefer it to be a surprise...

In order to ease his friend's own anxiety, he idly chatted about the courses they'd study at the academy. On this subject, Sala declared :

“As long as I can study in their engineering department, I don't really care about anything else... Even how well I do in those fights.”

“Yeah, well... Apparently, we don't really have a choice about what we study unless we win a few fights... Personally, I don't know if I should go for the first place. I already have a master. However, the prospect of studying anything I want... That's interesting !”

“There's also the unrestricted access to the library and resources... The things I could make with those ! I'd probably finish my MGP project in a jiffy. Who knows... I could even work on a few other ideas I had...”

And... Now she was excited ! Forgotten was her nervousness. She also pumped herself up for winning. With a stark gaze, she looked into Avo's eyes and proclaimed :

“If we reach the final, I'm not going easy on you ! I'll use my equipment to the best of my abilities !”

An enthusiastic smile slowly stretching his lips, Avo returned a stare as serious as his friend's, nodded calmly and retorted :

“I won't either, then ! We'll see whose training was the better one !”

“Yes, we will !” Sala nodded in turn.

Applause suddenly rang out through the walls around them and the voice of the commentator announced the winner :

“Hawk Wood, after this fantastic match, will continue for his next in the tournament !”

A few minutes later, the man named Hawk Wood came back to the waiting room and the commentator's voice rose once more over the ruckus of the crowd :

“Our next two contestants have both received favorable comments from their referees during the prelims. Now we'll see if they were deserved... Kuro VS Avo Cado !”

Avo headed for the door with a last confident smile directed to Sala. From the corner of his eyes, he saw one of the siblings with opposing skin colors nodding to each other. He was facing the boy this time. It would be a good fight !

The smile on his face stretched even wider, almost making him look like a predator baring his teeth at a prey. Seeing his assured smile, Kuro frowned deeply. Inwardly, he thought that this fight would be a difficult one... If only he could fight with the help of his sister... They didn't expect the number of freaks this year. Perhaps he wouldn't be able to have a better standing in the college after this... At least, not right away. He and his sister knew how this military college worked : the might of a person determined his standing. But a tournament wasn't really the best way to judge someone's strength, since their luck impacted heavily on it. After all, if you were unlucky to face someone way stronger than you on the first fight, you wouldn't be able to show your worth ! Still, he would do his utmost !

Avo and Kuro exited the room shoulder to shoulder. As the cries of the crowd welcomed them excitedly, Kuro timidly raised his hand in a waving motion. The namekian, on the other hand, just ignored them... Or rather would have liked to. Actually, he found them insufferably noisy ! Couldn't they just shut up ?! It was torture on his sensitive ears...

There was no ring this time, just a flat terrain covered in dirt and sand, with a few pillars jutting here and there all around. The public sat in the grandstand some ten meters above their heads, able to watch everything they did in the arena... Especially since a gigantic transparent screen reproduced their every move in high quality definition. On a porch, lower in the stands stood the woman from earlier : the commentator.

Her voice reverberated loudly once more when she announced the start of the second fight, and as the crowd cheered a thundering sound resounded from all around, almost making the ground and walls vibrate from the intensity.

Instantly, both fighters went on guard. Avo erected a mental barrier around him, supposed to protect him both from telepathic attacks and more conventional ones. On the other end, Kuro just... disappeared. Rather, it seemed to the namekian as if he was sucked in the ground, transforming into darkness.

It wasn't just him that disappeared, either : he couldn't feel his magic power. Avo stepped forward to inspect the place the kid disappeared from... Meanwhile, he could still hear the comments from the woman :

“Contestant Kuro just made use of his signature move : shadow walk ! It's a very advanced application of dark elemental magic and Avo doesn't seem to know where to look for his foe !”

So, that's dark elemental magic ? The namekian thought. So cool !

Still, he was wondering why he couldn't feel any magic power coming from this spell. He should have been able to... Especially if it was an advanced application like the woman said...

Suddenly, he felt his movements get slower, heavier... As if someone was trying to restrict him or several people were pressing down on him. Once again, he felt no magic. Yet, he knew it was Kuro's doing. Avo scanned the arena around him in search of his opponent... And spotted him, hiding behind a pillar and arming what he presumed was a dark elemental based attack : several dagger-like black shapes were hovering and appearing from behind him, all directed at him.

Then... he launched them with a 'Yaaaah !'

The namekian watched as the daggers flew at high speed toward him, still puzzled that he couldn't feel anything from them or his opponent. His movements were too slow at the moment, so... although he usually would have just avoided it all, he chose to make use of something else...

From his bag, vines swiftly came out, growing and posing themselves as a shield for the namekian. They formed a spiraling green shield in front of him, protecting him from the damage in front. At the same time as the daggers penetrated the vines, however, he pumped them full of healing and nature magic. The first to reinforce and heal them once they were cut, the second was to continue to make them grow as well as heal them more naturally... Well... Naturally in the sense that a tree or a vine usually recovered after some time from a cut branch or leaves. He just forced and compacted this process in a short time frame !

“Shit !” Kuro swore and disappeared again.

Avo looked around once more, a slight smile tracing the edges of his mouth. Inwardly, he thought that this match was even more interesting that he thought it would be ! For a while now, he was trying to fight off the effects of whatever was weighing him down with his mental abilities... or at least, understand what was happening. Finally, he found... something.

Down on the ground, where his own shadow was, Avo could feel something moving, something that was trying to keep his shadow pinned. The namekian didn't really understand what it was : there was no magic power he could feel, nothing he could see... Yet, for some reason, he knew something was there !

As he was pondering on this conundrum, Kuro came at him from two different sides ! He came running from his left, while daggers were thrown at him from his right. The vine-shield moved to protect him from the dagger (slower than earlier : apparently, whatever was holding him down now held his shield, too !) while he prepared to defend against whatever his opponent had planned...

An instant later, he realized that it wasn't really Kuro... It was black like he was and didn't exude any magic like Kuro after the match started. But, the eyes weren't white. Actually, there were no eyes, or features whatsoever on this silhouette that was coming at him ! It was like... Kuro's shadow just got up from the ground and was now coming to fight him !

From the corner of his eyes, he realized his opponent was still charging and launching shadow-daggers his way ! Once Shadow-Kuro was in range of his arms (which was still pretty far considering he could extend them almost at will), the namekian quickly transformed his arm into a bony blade and struck him with it...

At least, that was his intent. The blade just went through the shadow seemingly without damage. Meanwhile, it continued its course and reached him ! When it did, it dove in the ground next to him... Avo watched as the shadow-kuro tried to restrain his own shadow.

“So, that's what it was...” he whispered.

As his movement slowed even further, Avo swung his blade once more... But this time, he tried to have his shadow cut his opponent's instead of his body. When the dark blade on the ground stabbed it, Kuro yelled in pain ! On the ground, Shadow-Kuro started to blink in and out, like it wasn't stable anymore. Around his own shadow, Avo could also see feelers or rope-like black things loosening and dissolving.

“If my shadow can hurt you...” Avo said louder. Then, he erected bone spikes and blades all over his body. An instant later, he felt the burden on him disappear. Again, Kuro yelled but from a different place this time, as the spikes punctured his shadow-body : after a few blinks, it disappeared too.

The namekian rose in the air slowly, his shadow getting smaller as his body flew higher. Of course, he used his higher position to locate his opponent. He knew that, although he may have taken a bit of damage, it was more of mana rebound than anything else : the destruction of his shadow construct had acted a backlash on his mind when the connection was disrupted then broken. Sure, it was painful... But he would recover with enough time !

Just when Avo finally spotted Kuro, the latter used another spell... A black fog came out of his mouth, swiftly spreading to the surroundings. Soon, he, too, disappeared (again !) and the fog hadn't finished its job. After half a minute maybe, it covered the arena, entirely hiding the ground, his opponent and even a few pillars from his view.

“You can use flight spells, huh ?” Kuro's voice echoed from the fog. “That was a good idea : without shadow, I can't attack you as easily. But... Did you think it was the only thing I could do ?”

The namekian's smile came back when he heard that.There was more ? He thought excitedly. Finally, he could confront his own training against another worthy mage ! Vaguely, he recalled the animosity the siblings seemed to manifest earlier, wondering what it was about... However, he shook his head and focused on his current battle. Maybe it was just their nerves, or the fact that they felt threatened by him at the time... It didn't matter right now !

Besides, he had another problem... He was currently lacking in ranged attack ! And getting close to his adversary under the current circumstances didn't seem like a good idea... He opened his bag and retrieved a handful of seeds, then he sprayed them around him like he did in the past to feed pigeons.

On the ground underneath, Kuro was watching him warily as he was weaving a new spell... His most destructive one !

“What a fight, ladie and gentlemen ! I don't even have time to comment ! These two mages are really something ! Avo Cado used a flight spell to evade Kuro's dark elemental magic... A spectacular and seemingly effortless feat for the namekian ! Meanwhile, Kuro is using the black fog to hide himself from his opponent's sight ! The fact that he covered the entire arena shows that he, too, possesses extreme proficiency and a deep mana pool.”

When she saw Avo throwing the seeds, the commentator continued :

“I think the namekian plans to use his nature magic to track and restrain his opponent... Will this work ? Meanwhile, how will Kuro react ?”

Suddenly, the fog underneath seemed to contract before exploding in numerous black spears aimed at Avo from different directions. The namekian dropped a few meters to avoid the closest ones, then he contorted his body to pass between the next ones. At the same time, he used both his nature magic to manipulate the plants he raised earlier, as well as his mental magic to track Kuro's mind.

The plants were really more of a distraction... How was he supposed to catch a shadow with it ? The real attack came from his telepathy !

Finally, Avo felt his mind come in contact with his opponent's... The thoughts in his head flashed at high-speed : his next move, the chants from an incantation and how annoyed he was at the commentator for some reason... Then, Kuro saw Avo right in front of him !

As he tried to retreat in his shadow however... he realized that he couldn't ! He was stuck ! The namekian transformed into something terrifying... A mass of flesh ready to erupt like a boil composed of teeth and round disgusting eyes... As it loomed closer, Kuro knew that it was the end... that he would die today...