The second bout of the Aurora Constellations Tournament had begun, and I walked into the arena.
Although I was there physically, I wasn't there mentally as my mind was fixated on the kiss I'd just shared with Jess. I must have looked like a giddy teenager, but I didn't care. My smile since that moment hadn't left my face, and my opponent, a skinny, redheaded girl, looked at me with either confusion or disgust. Likely the latter.
A wooden staff, with a curled top and a red gem embedded in the shaft where her hand held the staff, appeared in the girls hand, whereas my hands remained in my pockets.
"Second bout, third fight, Lough Freed, versus, Luna Grant... let this match... Begin!"
At the sound of the buzzer, the girl, clearly named Luna, shot at me with surprising speed. My eyes never left her form, and I tracked every movement she made as she darted around me, waiting for an opening.
I grinned madly and cast {Elemental Body: Fire}, causing my body to burst into a flurry of raging and roaring red flames. I felt a surge of physical strength and a mild boost in aggression. Noting the side effects of using this skill, I spun and faced Luna. Thanks to the rogue mage with the axe, I already had the passive skill {Stalker} active. One step was all it took for me to clear the distance between me and Luna at a startling rate. The passive {Stalker} skill combined with the physical boost from {Elemental Body}, created a powerful burst in speed if mana was applied correctly and efficiently.
Luna's eyes widened, and I heard the crowd gasp at my speed. Ignoring everyone and letting the skill's boosted aggression fuel me, I uppercutted Luna's sternum and sent her flying and skidding across the arena floor, kicking up clouds of dust as she skimmed across the floor before coming to rest about 40 or 50 yards away.
I watched as she tried to get up and sighed before clearing the 50 yards in seconds and stomping my foot, still coated in red flames, next to her body to let her know I was there.
"The third fight has ended... Lough Freed is the Victor by the condition that his opponent is no longer able to fight!"
The crowd erupted into a cacophony of cheers, jeers, and complaints. Some cheered me on while some complained that I was cheating and using a secretly powerful artefact. It was true. However, I thought that was a petty excuse since a lot of the students in this competition had artefacts ranging anywhere between A-rank to C-rank, which was considered quite powerful for the average mage.
I had another 2 fights before the top 4 free for all battle, and I wanted to get them done as quickly as possible. That said... I wasn't against waiting and spending time with Jess. The crowd continued their mix of shouts as I walked away and into the calming and cool room, away from everyone else.
Jess was there, waiting for me, and she ran and gave me a hug. "H-Hold on..." I stuttered before giving up and hugging her back. "There a problem?"
"No. I just felt like giving you a hug." She said in a quiet voice right next to my ear. The level of compassion this girl showed was way beyond anything I'd ever experienced before, except for my old friends... but even that was friendliness and not true love. A tear slid down my cheek and dripped to the floor.
"Thanks... I appreciate that." I replied, burying my head into her shoulder and long hair. She held me close, and we stayed like that for a few minutes before we sat down, and I began to finally look at who my opponents were in the next couple of matches.
The next match was against a girl named 'Lila White'.
"Wait, I know her..." I muttered.
"You know someone? Who?" Jess asked me, leaning close to me to see the match pairings. I couldn't focus properly with her so close. Her head was right beside mine, and her chest was almost touching my arm. I cast my thoughts aside for another moment and focused on the person I was facing in the third bout.
"She's in my class. She was fighting a boy with auburn hair during the first ever class." I pointed out, remembering their mock duel.
"Think you can beat her?" Jess asked with a serious and partly sarcastic tone. I looked at her deadpan, and she nodded with a grin as she knew my response already. Although I didn't know her artefact or skills, that didn't matter. From what I'd seen during that duel, her combat techniques were diamond in the rough category, and I knew my martial techniques would be more refined than most people's in this competition. Of course, it had been a month since then...
I continued to stare at the sheet that offered up my opponent's names. Then the crowd cheered, and it was time for the next fight.
I stood up and stretched, then walked to the door. Before exiting into the arena to begin my battle, I turned to face Jess. "When this tournament is over and I've won, we can out somewhere if you want."
"Are you asking me out on a date?" She grinned at me with a childish look.
"Take it however you want," I replied, shrugging with a nonchalant look on my face.
"Just hurry up with the tournament then," she urged as the crowd beckoned me. I nodded in response and walked out into the arena.
I felt the wash of light warm me as I heard the crowd calling to me. People were giving me thumbs ups, encouragement, and the likes. Others, however, were jeering, backing away or giving me looks of suspicion. I didn't blame them, but it was a little infuriating that they suspected me of being something to fear.
My opponent, Lila White, stood opposite me, a calm and focused look in her eyes and on her face. Like usual, I kept my hands in my pockets. They were oddly uncomfortable in there, and I sensed I would have to take them out during the fight.
The headmaster did his usual speech and sounded the buzzer, which indicated the start of the third bout.
Lila brandished a thin rapier, the hilt shaped like a cross. My eyes narrowed, and I thought about the possible skills she could have. Likely {Restoration} path skills, holy magic, healing, resist undead, anything like that.
Her blade glowed yellow, and I could see it heating up slightly. But it wasn't the same kind of heat that my flames produced. It was a warm and comforting heat as opposed to my raging and monstrous flames.
That's {Sun Flare}! I thought silently.
She blitzed towards me with impressive speed, and I unleashed my skill, {Elemental Body: Fire}, bursting my body into a storm of red flames. Her speed was incredible, likely able to match my speed when using {Muffled Footsteps}.
The rapier blurred and was so fast that it created 4 after images. I quickly scanned each one and smiled.
Finally. A challenge! I cried out in my head.
Stepping fluently, I avoided each strike, including their afterimages, and parried with my flaming palms. After slapping away a thrust from the rapier, I looked around momentarily and spotted everyone watching our match, even in the matches that had already ended, the combatants were watching us.
I threw a punch of fire, focusing my mana on the flames, which expanded them, right at her head. She avoided with the same look of tranquillity on her face and swept for my legs. I used the physical boost from my skill and grounded my feet to the floor.
Her leg tried sweeping my own, but all that occurred was a light kick. In response, I unleashed a powerful burst of flames in my knee, which impacted into her chest.
Lila was sent crashing along the floor, and she skidded on her toes before standing up straight away. "That's... a real kick you got there..." she said in a laboured voice.
"Well, more like a knee," I replied casually. I responded casually since I was no longer paying attention to the fight, but to the skill I just copied off her, thanks to my attack, {Sun Flare}.
"Funny," she answered back before rushing at me again. This time, her rapier glowed with a soft white light. She threw it at me, and it chased me down like a homing missile. My eyes widened as it raced towards me with speed, and I twisted my head to the side.
It wasn't enough, however, and I felt a warm liquid trickle down my neck. My blood. She'd drawn blood off me. I smiled.
"Alright then. You took my blood. Time to get serious," I muttered to myself as a surge of mana and fire began to swell within and around me.
My senses sharpened, and I noted everyone's looks as I began to create a swirl of fire around me. The headmaster is saying something to another official and barking orders that I couldn't hear.
My eyes shone visibly red, and I saw the world through a fiery, orange lens.
I activated {Elemental Vortex: Fire}.
The ground around me blackened, and a circle of fire appeared around me, encircling me. Just as Lila was about to back away, the circle exploded and rose to a tornado that stood over 10 metres tall. My smile widened to a crazy degree, and I felt my sanity slipping.
Crap, what's going on? Is this a side effect of using the fire element? I thought frantically about how to stop my sanity from being lost to the flames. My mind cast back to the insight I'd received when claiming the skills. I get it... the stronger the skill... and depending on the element, the greater the side effect.
I reigned in my mind and cancelled the spell, dispersing all the fire in a column of flames that shrank in diameter until it was nothing but a thin line, then it sparked out of existence and I took heavy and laboured breaths as my throat longed for the cold air.
When I looked up, sweat dripping down my face, my eyes shook, and my breath caught in my throat at the shocking scene before me.
The ground in a 10 metre radius had been scorched beyond recognition. Blackened from the flames. There were little fires being put out by ice mages, and Lila sat on the floor with a terrified look on her face. Her true terror reached her eyes as she looked at me, face pale. The crowd was in a panic at my burst of fire power, and similar panic began to rise as I thought about the possibility that I hurt someone. Even more so if the person was Jess.
I tried to move towards the crowd to help settle the calm, but some mages stopped my path. "It's best if you left the crowd alone for now," one of the mages said in a professional but still shaky voice. If the guards were getting involved, I knew I was in trouble.
The headmaster, a skilled, powerful, and grand man named Raymond Kirk, approached me, and I could feel the power he exuded just through his presence. He had an S-rank artefact for sure.
"Headmaster Kirk..." I began, but I was cut off by him.
"Lough Freed... you have violated the rules," he said in a stern and purely matter-of-fact tone.
"What...? The rules? There weren't any rules about not using our skills..." I stammered as I tried to explain myself.
"Mr Freed... it is not that you could not use your skills... it is just that the skill you used just now was much too powerful and I doubt there is a student capable of beating you," he replied calmly, "it's for that reason that I ask you forbid yourself from using that skill in order to keep it a bit fair for everyone else." He smiled a little as he said, in a roundabout way, that I was too strong for everyone.
"Oh... in that case, yeah, I'll prohibit that skill," I answered in an equally calm tone. Headmaster Kirk offered a hand to shake. I took it.
As soon as our hands connected, I felt the spark of a power struggle between us. I enabled {Miracle Eye} for the first time, the knowledge of how to use it filling my mind, and I almost had to let go of his hand out of pure primal instinct at what I saw.
{Miracle Eye} was a skill that enabled me to see the flow of mana within people. However, it was only limited to people. I couldn't see mana itself, just the flow of it within a person and their artefact.
The headmaster had a flood of mana coursing through him. His mana flow raged like a powerful dam being unleashed, while at the same time, it was restricted and controlled. This kind of precision wasn't easily mastered by just anybody. He was the real deal.
"Sir..." I started, but I didn't need to finish as he nodded at me with a crazy smile.
"Change of plans, everybody... the final battle will be between me and Lough Freed!"
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