Humph. And this is why delayed spells are useless. Once again, physical strength triumphs.
“This time, stay down,” I said, flicking my hair out of my face as she landed on the ground.
“Winner: El,” the wolf announced.
I could tell by the silence that’d fallen on the area that the few gathered were impressed with how easily I’d disposed of the beastkin.
I strode off the arena toward the wolf while eyeing the magic circle the beastkin had cast as a delayed spell for Reset. It was an interesting spell, so I decided to commit the magic circle’s structure to memory in light of its novelty.
In the meantime, the succubus doctor rushed to the arena and excitedly carried away the body of the beastkin. “I’ll take her to the infirmary! Don’t get hurt until I get back, okay?” Then she proceeded to jet off toward the school, leaving just the vampire, the wolf, my next opponent, and me.
One down. One more to go before the Blade Saint.
“So? When’s the next fight?” I asked the wolf.
“Very eager, aren’t you? You may start the next match immediately if you’d like. Although, I’d suggest you take a moment to center yourself before jumping into the next one.”
“No need. I’m warmed up and want to stay that way.” The fight with the beastkin was a good way to get the blood flowing and regain my combat instincts. I’m not expecting much, but I do hope that the next opponent is more of a challenge before I get to the main course. Speaking of which... I began scanning the area but saw no sign of the human or anyone who resembled the Blade Saint.
“Are you looking for someone? Do you perhaps miss Karen?” the vampire teased from underneath her parasol.
“What gave you that ridiculous idea?”
“No need to get so defensive,” she giggled. “Besides, you should be focusing on your next match instead.”
“Why’s that?”
“I understand the extent of your current capabilities based on how you fought in the last battle. I can confidently say that you’ll find your next opponent, Rhand, to be a difficult match.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I remember the human saying something similar.
“I’m not at liberty to disclose information that would give you an unfair advantage. However, be careful not to get too burned.”
Before I could press her for details, the wolf called out to me. “El, you may return to the arena. Your opponent is waiting.”
“Best of luck. You’ll need it.” The vampire smiled cryptically.
I scoffed and walked back to the center of the arena, where a familiar boy was standing with a smug expression.
“Well, well. Here we meet again,” he said, crossing his arms. “Despite your rude treatment yesterday, I’m not so cruel as to not give you some valuable advice. Forfeit now, and you’ll save yourself from the embarrassment that so many before you have endured.”
“Why would I forfeit from certain victory? Perhaps you should take your own advice before I do the world a service and wipe that smug smile from your face.”
His eyebrow twitched, but his smile didn’t fade. “Fine. Suit yourself. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”
Analyzing him, I didn’t see anything noteworthy in regard to both his physical abilities and mana levels. The beastkin from earlier was much more of a threat than him. This begged the question though: Why is he ranked above her? Could it be that they’d made a mistake, and the second level was actually easier than the first one?
“I suppose we’ll forgo the introductions since you two already seem to know each other. But remember, respect, okay?” Neither of us nodded though, making the wolf sigh. “Get ready.”
The next thing that happened was something I’d never seen before. The Magic Breaker boy rolled back his sleeve, revealing a strange device on his wrist. He then held his arm horizontally against his chest, and in the next moment, a metallic crest popped out of the device, which he promptly caught with his other hand.
“Know what this is?” he asked, proudly showing it to me.
“Rhand...” The wolf groaned.
“I’ll make it quick, Professor. I promise,” he said to the wolf before turning back to me. “So, you do know what this is, don’t you?”
“Not a clue. Participation medal?” I shrugged.
“It’s a symbol of my conviction to the noble mission of my order of Magic Breakers—a testament to their acknowledgment of my strength. Take a careful look and let its visage burn into your eyes. This is a magnificent device that can only be created by the power of science. Welcome to the future of science supremacy,” he declared.
“Rhand. How many times have we been through this? No need for the preambles. Just get on with it,” the wolf growled.
“Sure thing.” Then he stuck the medal out in front of him and promptly let go. To my surprise, it hung in the air and began to glow a myriad of different colors. He proceeded to cross his arms into an X in front of him, pulled them back to his waist, and then turned his body sideways and extended his hand toward the medal. In the next moment, the light from the medal grew stronger and radiated from his hand down his arm and across his body. The light slowly faded, revealing a red suit with white gloves, black boots, and a red helmet with a black visor. “Welcome to the future of science supremacy,” he repeated.
Is that some kind of catchphrase of his? I hate it.
“Begin...” the wolf said solemnly as if his head hurt.
I’d been so distracted by whatever ridiculous performance he’d forced me to witness that I’d forgotten to take a stance.
“What is that foolish outfit you have on?”
It was one thing for me to make light of this battle but another for him to mock me with his strange moves and even stranger garb that the strange crest had endowed him with. Stranger still was that Cognitive Advantage didn’t seem to understand what it was either. It registered the outfit as a strange uniform for crime-fighting teams or something.
“‘Foolish outfit’?” He sounded offended. “Why don’t I show you the strength of what you’re mocking?”
“By all means.”
He crossed his arms against his chest and clenched his fists. In the next moment, two bright blue halos formed around them, and they sent out sparks when he touched them together. He then began to slowly approach me, arms still crossed.
What kind of stance is this? He has to be mocking me. In that case, I’ll finish this quickly. It’s a shame that I won’t get a quality battle before fighting the Blade Saint, but I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that this is the best they have in a world without elder dragons.
I lunged at him and threw a simple punch. I made sure to hold back slightly for fear of shattering him into a million pieces and thus losing my chance to fight the Blade Saint. I doubt they’ll take kindly to one of their own dying after all.
“Mana Void,” he said nonchalantly before I made contact.
Though my fist had found a target, it hadn’t been the one I’d expected. This human equivalent of a dressed-up twig had caught my fist in his surprisingly tiny hand. Even more surprising, he hadn’t even so much as flinched.
“Was that supposed to be a punch? Oh, how embarrassing for you,” he snickered.
I followed up my attack with a swift kick to his head, but it felt like I’d kicked the base of a mountain. Only, this time, it didn’t crumble or even shake at all.
“Correction: That’s embarrassing.” His grip tightened around my fist as he cocked his arm back. “Warning: This is gonna hurt.”
I could tell instinctively that even with my reinforced scales, the strange halos on the back of his hands were dangerous. I twisted my way out of his hold and avoided his strike, just barely ducking past it. I jumped into the air and swung my leg down, reinforcing its speed and force with my flames.
Just as I felt assured of my victory, I saw his lips move once more. Before I knew it, my flames disappeared. Not only that, I also couldn’t produce any flames at all. It was as if my mana had vanished or something was separating me from it. I couldn’t sense it at all.
My opponent didn’t seem to want to give me a chance to process what’d happened. He swiftly dodged my kick and then followed it up with another punch. This time, I couldn’t dodge. I took the attack head-on and immediately realized why I’d felt danger from it.
A burning pain shot from the spot on my arm where the halo had passed through. It felt like an unbearable blaze was spreading across my body as if my mana vessels were exploding. I fell to the ground and rolled away to avoid enduring that strange attack any further. Once I gained enough of a distance, I could sense my mana again, so I immediately used my flames to propel myself further back.
“What’s wrong? You’re running?” He chuckled. “My blades only hurt those with impurities within them. The more impurities, the more intense the pain. You’ve been a naughty girl if it’s hurt you that much, haven’t you?”
I ignored his words and instead focused my eyes on his outfit. What...is this? It was already strange that Cognitive Advantage didn’t immediately recognize its components, but now I can’t even use analysis magic to examine it. Something about it is preventing me from doing so. All I can tell is that there’s some kind of strange aura radiating from his left hand. The only thing I could think of that would have such effect was runic armor. Runes had natural mana absorption properties, which allowed them to negate all sorts of magic. Back in my realm, they’d been crafted into armor to combat magic. But could what he was wearing truly be runic armor? The ones I knew of had been incredibly bulky and heavy, but his outfit was lean and almost skintight. Is this what he’s yapping about when he says “science supremacy”? Is that ridiculous suit just a more efficient form of runic armor?