The power, which covered their bodies like a thin film, protected the three of them from physical attacks.
“Can you see that, Amy?” Isabelle asked.
“Yes.”
There were individual differences when it came to magic power. Generally, many aristocrats had magical aptitude, but whether they could use it was another matter entirely.
In the same vein, while Amy and Isabelle could see the flow of magical power, Joshua unfortunately couldn’t pick up on it without a measuring tool.
Isabelle started commentating on what was going on for Joshua’s sake, and Joshua nodded along and chattered back. As Amy absently listened to this, she looked at Edward’s magic for the first time.
It’s incredible.
She had heard that Edward excelled at defensive magic, but she had only ever seen the basics of it before in class. His current defensive barrier was protecting not only himself, but several other people, who were moving around, for an extended period of time.
It was very complex magic and required incredible casting stability and absolutely zero magic power waste. Amy was impressed on all counts.
“So this is the reason they haven’t gotten injured in their previous matches,” she said.
“That’s right. The three of them barely have a scratch!”
Edward had often praised Amy’s healing magic, but what he was doing was unbelievable! Perhaps his massive magic supply was a hereditary trait of the royal family. But even so, Amy had never seen such a beautiful flow of magic power.
It’s a gentle, strong magic.
Sir Dion’s magic power was extraordinary, of course, and Amy thought the clever way Finneas composed his magic was amazing. But in Amy’s eyes, Edward’s defensive magic had a special glimmer.
As Amy gazed, transfixed, the magic power Yasmine had imbued the arrows with ran out, and the iron bars that had surrounded them returned to their original size with a woosh.
Edward’s team went on the offensive the moment the barriers disappeared. Still surrounded by Edward’s defensive magic, Alexander and Kevin launched themselves forward with impressive speed.
Kevin got in range to attack, but Gilbert just managed to stop Kevin’s sword with the handle of his spear. Nicholas, who had swapped his crossbow for his short sword, rushed to Gilbert’s aid as Alexander gleefully approached Harold.
Edward’s team seemed to have a slight advantage when it came to short-range blows with swords.
But these were adventurers, after all. There was nothing typical or standard about the way they fought, even when on the defensive, and Kevin and Alexander were struggling to adapt.
Harold had been fighting with one sword initially, but Alexander was managing to push him back with his attacks, so Harold finally reached for his second blade. Alexander suddenly saw one of the swords coming at him from the corner of his eye, but the defensive barrier blocked the attack with a dull thud.
Though his surprise attack had been thwarted, Harold smirked in amusement.
“Harold looks quite composed, don’t you think?” asked Joshua.
“Yes, and Alec looks like he’s having a blast, too!” Isabelle replied.
How can they possibly watch this so calmly?! They’re acting like they’re watching baseball or soccer or something!
No matter how fascinated she was by Edward’s magic, it didn’t erase her anxiety. She was so tense she saw dots of light flashing before her eyes.
Amy knew that serious accidents were very rare. They fought for real in the tournament, but they weren’t at war with each other—they were matches.
Moreover, they were matches held in the presence of the king.
And the participants were nearly all knights and adventurers—people that directly had an impact on the kingdom’s military power. Although it would be disrespectful to the king if they didn’t fight with everything they had, for the sake of the kingdom’s defenses, it was imperative that they not fight till the point of death or bodily injury that would make them incapable of fighting in the future.
That was why those in charge of the tournament always arranged for skilled healing magicians to wait on standby and crafted the rules with a very strict hand.
For weapons in particular, participants were allowed to use their own personal weapons as long as they complied with the tournament rules and passed inspections for unfair tampering beforehand. The magical attacks that could be used on another person were severely limited, as well.
Even in regular sports, players can get hurt if they are hit by the ball—even injured.
Amy, who had seen many injured people in the first aid room, knew very well that you couldn’t call the tournament perfectly safe.
Harold gradually started to push back against Alexander with his dual blades until finally, Alexander fell to one knee.
With his arm slightly raised, Alexander managed to keep his sword at the ready, but Harold used his magic to jump high in the air, and as he came down with magically amplified acceleration, his dual blades flashed brilliantly in the sunlight.
Amy squeezed Tigger and squinted her eyes as far as she could while still being able to see Edward running over to Alec.
As Edward had concentrated his defensive magic in front of him, he slid in front of Alexander while effortlessly drawing his sword.
Edward heard Amy shouting his name, drowned out by the loud, clanging noise of metal hitting metal.
Even though he’d deflected most of the power behind Harold’s attack, his pivot leg had been pushed back by the sheer force, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process, and numbness spread down his arm all the way to his shoulder.
Even in the midst of the chaos around him, Edward suddenly realized that, contrary to the sounds they made, Harold’s swords were quite heavy.
It was a different kind of swordsmanship and power than those General Riley and Kevin utilized. Edward was able to experience firsthand that neither style was objectively superior—they were simply different.
“You’ll be fighting me now,” Edward told Harold.
“Well done! I was so sure it was all over,” he replied.
As Edward and Harold exchanged blows, they moved away from Alexander, who was still panting hard.
Harold spoke casually even as he unleashed consecutive dual-blade techniques with his twin blades without any restraint.
✦ ✦ ✦
Because Edward and Harold were locked in a fierce fight at point-blank range, Yasmine was unable to shoot her arrows. She tried to join the fight to help, but Harold kept her at bay with a look, so she had no choice but to stop some distance away and wait for an opportunity.
The whole while, Kevin had been tirelessly taking on Nicholas and Gilbert simultaneously. His battle was the first to reach a conclusion.
With his sword knocked out of his hands, Kevin blocked Gilbert’s spear attack with his bare hands. At that moment, Nicholas placed his short sword against Kevin’s neck.
“I think that’s finally checkmate, Kevin,” said Nicholas.
“Nick, Gil… I wouldn’t expect anything less from you two.”
“Oh! Kevin just gave us a compliment!” Gilbert cheered.
“Good grief… Don’t look so happy with yourselves,” Kevin sighed heavily. “I’m exhausted!”
The three young men wiped the sweat from their brows, transforming from rivals to old classmates once again, and they looked on at Edward and Harold, still locked in battle.
Just then, Edward’s sword finally fell from his hands.