AFTER the lunch break, the third round of the Combat Tournament began.
They’d redrawn the lines in the arena to have one big ring. The fights happened one at a time, and the first match was Vern against Raymond.
“My good friend,” Vern said to me. “I plan to use up everything in me.”
Then he went down to the arena. I didn’t want to call it before they fought, but with where Vern was at, I thought it would be a serious struggle for him to win. I’d acknowledge Vern had gotten stronger, but Raymond was in a different league.
“Prince Vern, shall we get right to it?” Raymond began. “As the upperclassman here, I will allow you to make the first attack.”
Raymond wore a white surcoat so you couldn’t tell what sort of armor he had on underneath. It didn’t look like it was heavy armor, and his sword with a straight guard had a blade that was over three feet long.
“You seem confident. Well, if you’re offering. Fireball!” Vern immediately cast the most powerful spell he could use.
Raymond jumped to avoid the Fireball, then rushed diagonally down toward Vern to attack. He’d silently cast Fly and Haste.
Vern tried to circle around to the right to avoid the attack, but Raymond changed direction to follow him. Raymond struck out with a horizontal slash, which Vern just about managed to block with his shield, but Raymond’s attack was so powerful that it sent Vern flying backward. He tumbled across the ground as 100 damage points appeared above his head.
“I’d expect no less of someone expected to take the championship,” Vern spat. “But I’m not done yet. Shattering Blade!”
But as Vern activated his skill, Raymond avoided Vern’s blade and ruthlessly struck again. He hadn’t used any skills or offensive spells, but Vern’s Special Barrier was rapidly accumulating damage points.
Raymond wielded his longsword with ease and kept Vern from getting a moment to attack. Even when Vern jumped backward to try to put distance between them, Raymond was faster and wouldn’t let him get away.
However, Vern didn’t give up. He kept attacking, though he couldn’t land a hit. Eventually, the accumulation of damage made Vern’s Special Barrier shatter audibly.
“Arius, I’m not strong enough to stand a chance against him yet,” Vern fumed, frustrated when he returned to his seat. There had been an obvious difference in power between him and Raymond, but Vern wasn’t going to let that get him down.
“Vern, if you continue to take your training seriously, you will get stronger,” I confided. “Once the tournament is over, I’ll teach you about mana manipulation like I promised. But it’s not something you can easily improve at. Be ready.”
“I understand. I’ll do anything to get stronger.”
Later, Eric and I won our third-round matches, and it was time for Milia’s.
Milia was against Cecile Chromia, a saber user specializing in close combat who utilized the power of her tall form. She could also use Sever Magic, which meant she’d be a formidable opponent for Milia.
“It’s quite impressive for a commoner to make it this far,” she sneered. “But unfortunately, going against me means you’re going to lose.”
“I don’t intend to lose. I’m not exactly going to seek revenge for you taking out my friend, but I do have a lot of people cheering me on, and so I’m going to give this my all.”
The moment the match started, both Milia and Cecile cast Strengthen and Haste. Cecile, who specialized in close combat, immediately moved to close the distance between her and Milia.
“Shining Arrow!”
But Milia cast a tier-two Light spell, creating six arrows of light.
“Sever Magic!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Cecile activated her magic-slashing skill and leapt to the side. She couldn’t handle slashing all six arrows at once, so she was probably aiming to only slash the ones she couldn’t dodge.
“What?!”
But she was shocked to find the arrows changed trajectory to match her movements. The six bolts of light arched through the air toward her. Her intuition and ability to read the battle allowed her to cut down two of the arrows with one strike, but the other four were a direct hit. More than 100 points of damage appeared over her head.
Milia could also use the tier-three Light spell Holy Spear, but she likely focused on using Shining Arrow because of how much more proficient she was with it.
Since a spell’s power could be totally different depending on the precision of the user’s mana manipulation, it didn’t always mean that a higher-tier spell was stronger. Milia’s mana manipulation was precise enough that she could control the movements of her Shining Arrows after she’d released them.
“I’ll apologize for underestimating you for being a first year, but now I’m getting serious!” Cecile cried as she sped up, rushing toward Milia.
“Shining Arrow!”
Milia met Cecile’s charge with another firing of her spell. Perhaps it was easier for Cecile to read the arrows’ trajectories when meeting them head-on because she was able to cut down three this time, but the other three hit their mark. The Special Barrier’s display of damage was ticking up, but Cecile didn’t seem to care. She cast Moonlight Blade, an intermediate one-handed sword skill that pumped up your damage, as she continued her charge. Cecile was athletic and had cast Haste, but so had Milia. Milia’s sword was quicker—and that wasn’t all.
“Flashing Blade!”
In comparison, Milia’s skill allowed her to increase the number of attacks.
“No way! I can’t lose in strength!”
Not only was Milia holding her ground in terms of strength, but she was also very clearly overpowering her. Her skill had grown even more powerful. Her mana manipulation influenced the skill’s power with no upper limit. She had the advantage in speed and strength, and her movements were precise. Cecile stood no chance.
The damage points above Cecile’s head grew to the point that her Special Barrier shattered.
Part of the reason the crowd was going so wild was that a commoner like Milia had won in the third round, but also because that meant three of the top eight competitors were first years.
After an hour and a half, all the third-round matches were wrapped up, and then we were on to the fourth round.
“Shocking Chain!”
I was fighting a magic-using second year named Curt Axel. The reason he’d made it to the top eight despite magic users being bad at close combat was because he could use Shocking Chain, a powerful tier-five offensive combined elemental spell that both bound and damaged its target. He was very good at using it.
I used Dispel to get rid of the Shocking Chain, then cast the tier-one combined-elemental spell Ice Bullet. A bullet of compacted ice the size of a pebble rotated like a drill as it punched through the sound barrier.
It struck Curt, and his Special Barrier broke before it could even display any damage.
“A-Arius’s Ice Bullet is really p-powerful,” stammered Marth, taken aback.
I was reminded of when I used Ice Bullet on him in our magic practice class. The Special Barrier in class hadn’t been able to handle it, so I Dispelled it right before it hit him so that he was only hit with the shockwave.