“Let the match begin!”
The commentator’s voice reached him almost at the same time as a bullet of solid earth.
“Whoa?!”
The surprise attack just narrowly missed hitting him as he ducked it in alarm, the motion causing him to stumble a few steps to the side. As he steadied himself, he braced for a follow-up attack, but it never came. Nervously, he peeked through his upheld arms at her.
“Unforgivable...” Shaking with rage, she fixed him with a teary glare. “I was looking forward to this match so much... But while I was spending all my time preparing, so I’d be a worthy opponent... You were busy flirting with your attendant!”
“What are you even talking about?!”
There had clearly been a terrible misunderstanding, but she didn’t give him any chance to explain.
“Crucible of swirling mud, swallow the sinking earth — Mud Grail! ”
She pressed her hands to the ground, and the earth below Sain suddenly liquefied. It was the same spell she’d used during the field exercises.
“If you’re not fully invested in this match, then you’ve got no chance of winning!”
He began to sink as the swamp underfoot threatened to swallow him whole, and he had to fight down a wave of panic, forcing himself to stay calm as he pointed an open palm downwards.
“If you think I’m not fully invested, then it’s you who has to think again!” he yelled, casting Darku Shot in the process.
A mass of jet black projectiles slammed into the swampy tendrils and ripped them off his legs, allowing him to escape.
If I’ve seen it, I can deal with it. I’ve got countermeasures prepared for every spell she used during the field exercises.
He’d always considered Yuria a formidable opponent, so as soon as the brackets had been posted, he’d been preparing for this eventuality. Before the battle expo even started, he’d already been wracking his brains on a daily basis trying to figure out how to beat her. If that wasn’t being fully invested, then he didn’t know what was.
“Mud Shot! ”
Lumps of mud flew at him in a scattershot pattern. He rushed to evade, but the mud still clinging to his shoes caused him to slip. Before he could get his feet back under him, heavy globs of fast-moving mud hit him in the shoulders, side, and shins.
“Ugh!”
He barely felt the impact, but what it lacked in pain, it made up for in immobilization. It was an approach to battle that was reminiscent of Melia. The mud — formed through compound magic of water and earth — clung to him, restricting his mobility.
“Grundia! ”
It was immediately followed up by a hard-hitting projectile to take advantage of his impairment. Compared to Melia, who used mist magic to obscure enemy vision and create openings for close range dagger strikes, Yuria’s approach differed in its implementation but was fundamentally identical in concept. He managed to extend his arm at the oncoming chunk of earth just in time to cast a spell.
“Dardia! ”
An orb of darkness collided with the earthen sphere. Unlike Yuria’s well-formed spell, his was hastily conjured and lacked the power to push hers back.
“I’m not going to lose like this!”
As the earthy boulder pushed through his orb, he quickly pulled out his sword and sliced at it. Weakened by its prior impact, the sphere was severed clean in two.
“So...” A soft utterance escaped Yuria’s lips as she watched the scene unfold, thoroughly mesmerized by Sain’s performance. “So dreamy...”
Her cheeks immediately flushed with color.
“...Say what?”
Sain gave her a perplexed look.
Is it just me, or did she just call me dreamy?
“Huh? What— Ah!” She gasped as though being jostled out of a dream. “You trickster! Stop trying to get in my head!”
“Say what ?” he said, bewildered by the fact that he seemed to have provoked her outrage by doing nothing at all. “Okay, there’s clearly some horrible misunderstanding here, so let me just straighten out the rec—”
“Shush, you despicable womanizer!”
“I’m— What?! I’m no womanizer!”
Paying no attention to his protest, she held out both hands in front of her.
“Great torrent of mud, swallow the fiends that tread the miry sea — Velle Swamp! ”
A massive mudslide roared into existence before Sain’s eyes. This wasn’t something he could just sidestep. With a grunt of effort, he broke into a sprint, committing Yuria’s position to memory before she disappeared behind the raging wave of earthly muck. It surged toward him with thunderous force, but he’d run far enough for it to roll safely past him. He didn’t stop there, though. He kept running, steadily closing in on the spot where he remembered Yuria standing. A second wave, larger and more powerful, came on the heels of the first, but rather than continue his evasive maneuver, he stopped in place. If his spatial memory was correct, she should have been right in front of him.
“Dark Ray! ”
A spear of darkness shot into the wave of mud, boring a hole straight through it and coming out the other side on a perfect collision course with Yuria.
“Eek!”
The mudslide weakened as soon as she shrieked, signaling that her concentration had been broken. With the spell unraveling, Sain saw his chance.
“I’ve got you now!”
“Ugh! Alchemia !”
True to his original plan, he brought the fight to her, closing in for melee combat. She rushed to create an earthen sword in response. Their blades ground against each other, locking them into a clash. As they each pushed against the other, their eyes met.
“You’re stronger than you were during the field exercises. I see you’ve improved,” she said.