-"The battles rage, but only one shall reign victorious!"
*Vermeil*
"Now, let's begin the second match," Koukyuu said. "Eien, if you would please do us the honors."
Prince Eien of Kyuu Seishin stood up with a tablet in hand and took his aunt's mic. "The next match is Hal versus Vermeil!"
Ms. Key sighed. "You need to work on your announcements, kid."
Eien leaned back on his seat, pensively.
"Wish me luck," I said, grinning as I rose from my seat.
"Good luck," Hal said, chuckling as he got up.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Not you!" Hmph, he clearly knew who I was directing my comment at.
"Hope that both of you enjoy your match," An said cheerfully.
My face warmed. "I'm sure that I will." I turned away and ran to join Hal in the center of the arena. The guy had gone ahead of me.
Eien had transformed the ring into a mountainous area reminiscent of the mountain range between Sera and Xian— forest included.
"I'm here," I said, taking a couple of breaths.
Hal summoned his needles and grinned impishly. "Again, good luck."
I formed crystals in my hands. "I don't need your 'good luck' to win. Crystal Shield!" A cube of bright orange-gold crystal encased me. Needles from above rained down on the barrier at breakneck speeds.
My eyes shifted upward. Hal hung from the ceiling of the arena's barrier.
'He's faster than before,' I thought.
My Hoinian friend chuckled as he jumped down from the ceiling like a ninja. "I was right to reassess this match!"
I snapped my fingers. My barrier exploded, sending chunks of orange-gold crystal flinging in all directions. The stones sliced through the rock and crushed others into powder for those misfortunate to be struck head on.
Hal grimaced, touching his leg as a piece of crystal flew past. Fresh blood covered his hands. He swallowed back the desire to scream, instead releasing his needles.
He landed on the ground and tore the sleeve of his gray shirt, using it to wrap up the wound as quickly as he could.
I dodged the needles as he tended to his wound, and threw a crystal at him. Somehow I ended up missing. He hadn't even tried to dodge.
'Did he figure that I would miss? After all, he had always been good with predictions. Still, it isn't like my aim is the worst in the world. He had to be hiding something.'
"Electri," I said, raising my hands in front of me. The shards and dust from my shattered barrier grew in size. The tallest one being the one on the ceiling of the ring's barrier.
Hal stared at the crystals as they flew down at him. He laughed. All of them had missed. A couple had even gotten sliced by an invisible force, with a few even remaining suspended in the air.
"Hmph, your aim is still as bad as the mook armies in sci-fi dramas!" His eyes widened as the crystals came crashing around him in a circle. "W-what?"
I narrowed my eyes at the web of thin strings that increasingly became visible as the sliced shards of crystal covered them in resin. "I was right."
Hal snickered. "So it seems you discovered my trap." He sighed. "Stupid resin."
Resin continued to bubble out of the cut-down crystals. Tendrils of liquid amber jolted toward him. Hal stood his ground and raised his needles in front of him as if he were in a boxing ring. He flicked his needles into the air once the resin came a foot from touching him. "Venanum in eo est." The resin tendrils stopped. And the crystals they originated from stopped bubbling. The entire crystal structure dissolved into an amber-colored liquid.
I closed my eyes. "Great Heavenly Firmament, manifest before me— Metalum Angellum!" A male metal angel— like the ones that Hikaru and Adela had formed— shielded me as needles came flying at me from all directions. The wings opened once the needles had bounced back, this time releasing a wave of small blades.
Hal recalled his needles and casted another 'Venanum in eo est' spell on them before throwing them into the space in-between the feathers. The angel's wings quickly came apart as a pool of metallic acid ran down the spell's body.
"What are those weapons made out of?" Lei asked in a rather loud voice.
"They're made of a special metal alloy that resists virtually all known acids," Sarah responded, loud enough for even me to hear. Her eyes were on me as I tried to avoid the still intact wires as well as the newly formed pool of acid. "It's an alloy that can only be controlled by the most experienced metal mages. That fact makes it a good material for making houses, vehicles, and weapons, like those Hal uses."
Indeed. Most rare and strong metals could not be controlled by novices such as myself.
Hal smiled at me as my angel's wings collapsed. "It's over." He slammed his hands against my chest, sending me flying against the barrier. Blood rolled down the side of my mouth.
I dug my heels into the dirt to slow me down and formed a fist. "Amber Shot!" A dozen amber shards flew out of the palm of my hand as soon as I opened my fist.
"Your aim still sucks," Hal said, touching the new scar on his face. He winced a little. Touching it was not his brightest idea.
I grimaced and fell to one knee. He walked over to me once the needles and strings had vanished completely.
I glared at him as he extended his hand out to me.
"Sorry, did I use too much force?" he asked with a shy smile.
I took his hand. "No." I smiled. "So, you finally used your full power."
"Whatever do you mean?" he asked with a grin. "I've always used my full power against you!"
I scoffed. "Yeah, sure." My smile vanished. No, this probably wasn't even his full strength. Hal could've beat me within the first minute or even the first seconds of this match if he really wanted to. This tournament was merely fun and games for him. "Hey, Hal..."
He tilted his head. "Yeah?"
"What's your true strength?"
My eyes widened.
I stood up. "I've known you since we were kids. This is merely a fraction of your power, isn't it?"
He grinned. "You know me well." He raised his arms. "But are you sure you want to see it? You might regret it!"
The ground under us shook violently before I could even respond.
"What's that?" Alto yelled, jumping out of his seat.
"The ground is unstable. Hal, Vermeil, move away from there!" Xue yelled as she pulled her sword an inch out of its sheath.
Hal looked down at the various holes he had formed in the rock with his acid. The ground had become an acidic puddle. He raised the acid toward himself, contracting it in his hands. Summoning a small circular sphere, he sealed the liquid within it. "There. Can't have this stuff making the ground more unstable." The rock under him gave in. The metal sphere vanished like a ghost as he fell back.
"Hal!" I screamed. I reached my hand out for him, but the rock under my feet gave in too. I tried to keep it from sinking with my fledgling earth magic, but it kept going.
The majority of the crowd just cheered while our fellow first-years looked on in horror. What was wrong with these people? Did they wish to see us die?
Hal stared at me, gritting his teeth. If I weren't falling with him, he could've used his metal strings to save himself. But with me here, he couldn't risk slicing me.
I gritted my teeth too. Unfortunately, my prana was too low to cast another Metallum Angelus. All I could hope for was to soften the ground to give us a soft landing. But at the rate of descent, it probably would be anything but soft.
Xue jumped after us. Rock came out of the side of the pseudo-mountain and a hand of sand grabbed Hal and me.
"Can you get up, Vermeil?" Xue said as the sand hand brought us down to the platform.
I took her hand and nodded. "Thanks for saving us, again."
Hal, who sat only a few inches from falling over the edge, moved back. The forest was still quite the distance away. "That was a close one. It's a good thing that you decided to jump in, Xue."
Xue glanced up as a grumbling sound filled the ring. Boulders rolled down the face of the illusionary mountain, threatening to send us over the edge.
"Just how deep did your poison go?" She reached for her sword, but the rocks were destroyed by soundwaves before she could slice them.
How much confidence did she have in her sword skills and blade? Her magic was far safer to use against those boulders!
"Are you kids alright?" Ms. Key said, landing on the platform.
"Yeah," Hal said, smiling at her. "We owe you two, and not just once but twice."
"This really did turn out to be a replica of the Xian-Sera Mountains," I said, shaking as Xue lowered us back to the forest.
I blinked as the place reverted back to a simple white-tiled ring. Although, several of the tiles had melted away on the side where the mountain had been. Was that really only an illusion? It felt so real.
"Good, everything turned out well," Xue said, putting her sword away.
Hal snickered as we made our way out of the ring. "You really are a strange girl, Xue!"
I nodded. "You really planned to slice those boulders with your sword?"
Xue glanced up at our relieved classmates. "Yes. I have done it before, so I know I can."
I stared at her in awe. Was that even possible? Wouldn't the sliced chunks just hit her? She would have to cut them with such force that the resulting parts would go flying off in divergent directions.
Hal swung his hands behind his hand and chuckled. "You truly are an interesting one, Xue. Makes me glad I got paired with you and An."
"What about Sarah?" I asked.
"Her too! But I know her pretty well, so she's less interesting of a mage to me. Xue and An though are basically big question marks at the moment."
Xue smiled slightly as she touched the hilt of her sword. Was she glad to hear that Hal lacked info on her?
Eien chuckled as we marched back to our seats.
"You should've stopped your illusion," Koukyuu said.
"Yeah, he should have," I said, glaring at Eien.
"That would've been worse," Eien said, shrugging. "You would have fallen without any platform to stop you."
She nodded. "True. At least Sonata and Xue saved them in the nick of time."
Eien shrugged and glanced down at the remaining ten. He smirked. "Now, who shall battle next?"
I sighed. Something was seriously wrong with him and the audience. It was fine to like a good, rousing battle, but they were a tad extreme. I could not help but ponder what kind of culture gave rise to such bloodthirstiness.
**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**