“I knew about that skill, so it won’t work on me,” smiled Eric.
He was always well prepared; there was no way he hadn’t already investigated what skills and spells Keith could use. And if he’d investigated them, he’d obviously prepared countermeasures.
Keith quickly jumped backward to escape the sudden Wall of Fire he’d found himself in, but there were already damage points over his head. Eric scored first. Wall of Fire was a duration skill, meaning these flames weren’t going to disappear right away.
“Don’t think you’ve got me! Ice Tempest!”
Ice Tempest was a tier-four combined elemental spell. It was an area of attack spell, which could damage Eric despite him being inside the Wall of Fire. Or so Keith thought. The next moment, Keith was sent flying by an attack from behind. Eric had used Short Teleport and unleashed a series of blows.
Keith regained his stance a short distance from Eric and raised his sword. The damage points over Keith’s head had already passed 300.
“How’d you get out of the Wall of Fire? Did you use Invisibility? Stop your underhanded tactics!”
Short Teleport was a tier-five Space-element spell and challenging to learn, a possibility Keith hadn’t even considered. Eric’s victory was guaranteed the moment Keith underestimated him.
“It looks like you can’t keep up with my attacks at all, Keith.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about! Ice Tempest!”
Keith probably didn’t use Ice Sword Dance Flurry because he was wary of Wall of Fire. He also assumed he could handle Invisibility with an area attack.
But the moment Ice Tempest came for him, Eric used Short Teleport again to appear behind Keith, using the spell’s massive form to impair Keith’s field of view. Eric focused mana into his sword and attacked with a flurry of rapid, precise strikes. The damage piled up until the Special Barrier audibly shattered.
“And the winner is Prince Eric Stallion!”
The students in the spectator seats burst into a roar as they watched a first year utterly crush last year’s champion. In contrast, the nobles of the anti-royalist faction looked at Keith with cool disdain.
“Wh-What in the…? What happened?”
Keith cradled his head in his hands, utterly dumbfounded. He was head and shoulders above the other students in terms of power, and his Ice Sword Flurry had, in fact, dominated at last year’s tournament. He must have been having a hard time accepting his defeat. But that was just how much stronger Eric was.
“Maybe you’re the one who needs to open his eyes to reality, Keith. This is the difference in strength between us,” Eric replied with an uplifting smile, goading Keith.
“What did you say?” Keith glared aggressively at Eric. “You bastard, you cheated somehow! There’s no other way I could have lost to someone like you!”
Keith’s emotions got the better of him as he slung a series of insults and tried to grab Eric, a prince, but the teachers quickly surrounded and restrained him before he could.
“Keith, I’ll have to ask you to stop with such vulgar language. You need to accept this is all you amount to,” Eric denounced with a cool gaze.
“Damn you! Hey, let go of me, you moronic teachers! If you’d just check, you’d see Eric cheated, you’ll find something right away!”
Keith continued to spew insults until the teachers dragged him away.
In the VIP booths, Duke Jordan was frantically bowing his head to King Albert to apologize for his son’s unacceptable behavior. Insulting and accosting a prince could very well be considered a crime of defaming the dignity of a royal. There would be no talking his way out of that since he did it in front of the many spectators.
“That fight seemed like it wasn’t your usual style, Eric. I’m guessing that was all to get him riled up,” I suggested to Eric once he’d returned to our seats. Considering how strong Eric was, he should have been able to finish that fight much more quickly.
Eric grinned fiercely and whispered, “I know Keith’s personality, though I didn’t think it would go quite that well. It is rather easy to manipulate morons.”
It looked like King Albert had accepted Duke Jordan’s apology for the time being because the duke had returned to his seat in the VIP box, though I imagined he was itching to get away from that uncomfortable situation. He was glaring at Eric in fury. If he attempted to retaliate, everything would be going according to Eric’s plan.
✦ ✦ ✦
KEITH was dealt with, but I remained on guard since Duke Jordan might try something. The Combat Tournament had only just started, after all.
My fight was decided to be in the second set of matches. I entered the third ring in my half plate armor and was using a longsword that I had been using for our morning practices, which I had bought in the market for the tournament. They said going in just your uniform was seen as belittling the tournament, and I didn’t want to deal with that mess. I was still wearing my glasses, though.
My opponent was a second-year student named Rod Scarlet. He was the son of Count Scarlet, who was an anti-royalist, and he was one of the participants whom people thought could take the championship.
People who had a chance of being a champion in the Combat Tournament were generally higher than level 50, the equivalent of a B-rank adventurer, so they were strong. Seeing Keith’s failure seemed to only make Rod more eager. Maybe he thought that if he performed well here, he could gain power within the anti-royalist faction.
“You’re Arius Gilberto, huh? You might stand out from the other first years, but I’ll show you that that’s all you are! Great Wheel!”
Rod wore full plate armor and used a halberd. He quickly activated an intermediate skill that rapidly spun a polearm around in a circle the moment the match started, and rushed at me.
“You think you can stop my attack with that pathetic sword?!”
Great Wheel wasn’t a bad skill. It combined both offense and defense into one, but I struck once right into the center of his rotating circle and sent him flying backward.
“M-My halberd…”
It shattered into tiny fragments, and the Special Barrier went down before it could even display the damage points. The only reason Rod was uninjured despite that was because I’d held back.
“Master Arius!” shrieked the students in the seats. Normally, it was only the girls who would’ve supported me while the boys looked on with jealousy, but there were also some male voices in there since I’d defeated one of the potential champions.
“A showy win in your first match, I see. That’s very like you,” teased Milia when I got back to the contestant seats.
“Prince Eric’s win was already perfect, but I’m not surprised to see you win. You’re so powerful your opponent couldn’t even get close to you,” said Sophia with a soft smile. She’d complimented Eric after he’d defeated Keith as well. Sophia appeared worried she was going to damage his reputation if she, his fiancée, performed poorly, but she seemed like she was going to do fine to me.
“I can’t allow myself to lose now. Next is my turn. I’ll be back soon, Arius,” vowed Vern as he stood and went down to the rings.
There were thirty-two matches total in the first round, comprising eight sets of matches held in each of the four rings. I still wanted to see Milia and Sophia’s matches, so I decided I might as well join them in watching Vern.
Vern’s opponent was a second year named Jeff Roswalt. He was the son of Baron Roswalt, a royalist. He looked small compared to Vern’s massive height, but he was only just under six feet tall. His combat style used plate armor and a great sword.
“Apologies, but I’m going to win this match,” Vern said, facing Jeff in the ring.
“Your Highness. I’m a second year. I will not be losing against a first year.”
Milia’s expression was serious as she fixed her eyes on the ring. “Hey, Arius. Do you think Prince Vern can win?”
“Probably. With how far Vern has come, Jeff isn’t an opponent Vern can’t beat.”
Vern had reevaluated his fighting style and gotten stronger these past two weeks. The contestants rushed forward the moment the match started for a head-on collision. At first, it looked like a match of might against might, but Vern’s new style wasn’t taking all the hits. He was dodging the ones he could, and his movements had become less wasteful thanks to sparring with others.
Jeff was good too, steadfast with cautious movements, but the Special Barrier showed he had more damage points—Vern was completely overpowering him.
“Great Furious Slash!”
Jeff activated an intermediate skill that used a rapid downward vertical slash of his great sword. It was fast and powerful, but moved in a straight line, meaning it wasn’t impossible to evade.
Vern remained unflappable as he analyzed Jeff’s moves and dodged. When Jeff lost his footing from the recoil of his skill, Vern activated his own, showering Jeff with attacks.
“Shattering Blade!”
Vern had come to understand how best to use his skills.
The damage points above Jeff rose rapidly, and the Special Barrier shattered with an audible crack.
“Arius, I won!” he yelled to me with an overbearing grin once he got back.
“I saw. It was a good match.” I wasn’t going to nitpick today; Vern worked hard.
“Next is me,” announced Milia. “I’ll be back soon.”