The Inheritance

Chapter Thirteen

The air in the dining hall seems to be almost electrified and everyone is talking to each other with a look of excitement on their face. Well, everyone except for Richard.

After I defeated him, he has gone from an arrogant jerk to a silent and brooding type. One could almost feel sorry for him had he not been such an ass before the fight.

Due to people stopping to chat with each other and the length of the line, it takes a couple of minutes before I am finally able to get my food. Even worse, it takes almost as long to sit at the table that the others are sitting at. Finding them was easy, but it was waiting for people to finish talking and move out of the way that was time consuming.

“So, the two of you seem happy,” I say towards Eridel and Lily.

“Yup, while you may have to fight, we don’t,” says Lily.

“What? Why?”

“The top eight ranked students don’t need to take part in the beginning because it would be unfair to the other students if they had to face us so early on. In addition, our participation would also put too many people in a rank higher or lower than they deserve. How these tournaments are set up is a one on one battle, first one to get an actual hit wins. This keeps going until eight people remain. At which point, those eight people and the top eight will be separated into four groups. From here on out, the goal is to knock your opponents unconscious. Last person standing is the victor. From there, it’s a one on one battle for the semi-final’s and the finals itself is a one on one between those victors. Just remember, you always have the option of surrendering if you want to drop out of the tournament.”

“That’s so unfair though because that means that the both of you will be able to scout ahead.”

“Yes, but it also means that we will be going in cold. You guys will be hot, which means that most of the pressure will be on us.”

“True. So when will you start scouting your potential opponents?”

“I don’t need to. As it is now, there is only one person who has a chance of beating me, aside from Eridel of course.

“I see...”

It takes me a few seconds to realize that Lily was probably referring to me when she said that and a quick glance at her face confirms that thought.

“Just how do you know if I have a chance at beating you when you haven’t seen me fight yet?”

“Your aura, it’s much more defined now. It’s almost as clear as Eridel’s which means that you are around my level or just below hers. Considering everything, I have a definite advantage over you but you still have a chance at beating me.”

“Right, well thanks for the info.”

I start to eat my breakfast, my mind working as fast as it can to create a strategy with the little information I know.

By the time I have finished eating breakfast, I have went through a list of different options and after weighing each one, I decide to restrict myself to only arcane, earth, fire and air. I could also use incantations to help manipulate my magic however it would be best to use only my mind so that I can get used to using it in the middle of a fight. Even though it may tip off the others to how strong I am, this will prepare me for future fights.

“Right well, we should probably get to the Coliseum before everyone else does. See you later,” I say to Lily and Eridel.

“Good luck,” says the two of them, a small smile on Eridel’s face.

The rest of us drop off our plates at the rack before heading towards the magnificent building that will decide our ranking for the next term.

Since we are leaving ahead of everyone else, there isn’t a lot of traffic. This of course will change towards the end of the tournament when the citizens of the town also come to watch.