After feeling those two presences arrive nearby, Enrico was the first to move out, beginning to fight the four at the same time.
"But what is this? They didn't bring one of the only two third-circle members from their continent here?"
"You shouldn't underestimate us."
"That's right — the two of us are a team that reaches the level of a Circle Two."
Seeing only four, he couldn't help but be interested in the words of the two twins in front of him. In their continent there were only two Circle Three members called total prodigies, which in the original story had only one, so it showed that their continent's power had helped develop at least two.
"Really? So while those two stay occupied, I'll fight you."
"Occupied?"
Both Caelan and Elian attack the other two, dragging them away while Enrico looked at them with a certain excitement.
"I hope you're not lying."
The two boys began to sweat nervously seeing Enrico approach with a smile that was frightening them.
"Brother, I think we picked up a madman."
"You think so, brother? I'm certain we did."
With Elian, he dragged his opponent with difficulty while Caelan on the other side defended against a counterattack from a blade hidden under his sleeve.
"Tsk, I missed."
"Of course you'd miss — I trained a lot so no one could hit me, so for you to land a blow you'd need speed—"
"You talk too much."
His blade darkened as his speed increased, moving around Caelan; in his land he was called one of the fastest Circle Two first-years, ranked 7: Tariq Mahzen from the best academy in Zandorah called Dawn. Seeing that movement, Caelan remembered Enrico for a moment, especially when he saw three of Tariq.
"Even so—"
With a whisper Caelan turned, delivering a slap to Tariq's stomach and sending him back. Spinning with force, a whirlpool of water formed in his palm.
"Enrico is much faster."
Tariq didn't seem as strong as the guy fighting Elian; he was someone who could fight with confidence and certainty, and he didn't compare to the many times Caelan had to deal with that abnormal body of Enrico and his speed, even without the fire steps.
"Wind cut."
A wind-cut launched from Elian's dagger attempted to slice his opponent, who defended with a wall of earth; that opponent was Khalid Ben Oro, rank 4 of Dawn, who wielded a living obsidian spear.
Swinging his spear, Khalid sliced a pillar behind Elian. Having ducked to dodge, Elian concentrated his mana in the dagger, strengthening and creating a green blade made of wind.
"Wind cut."
This time the cut came from his blade faster, but to Elian's despair he only managed to make a superficial cut on his opponent's earth protection.
"Gahh."
With a cut opening in his stomach, Khalid pushed forward; Elian received a kick to the chest and coughed up blood.
'Shit, I can't deal any damage to him with that protection.'
He was at a total disadvantage in that fight; Khalid literally had abilities that nullified all of his in every sense.
'No, I still have the advantage in speed.'
When he tried to move he felt his feet heavy and realized there was earth around his foot increasing his weight — he was at least thirty kilos heavier.
"Aaaahhh."
Several cuts appeared on his body; trying to defend against the next cut he raised his hand and felt his fingers being sliced off. The next attack came straight for his face, aiming to finish the fight.
"Hold on, don't eliminate my companion."
Enrico grabbed Khalid's spear with his hand; noticing that his two companions were on the verge of defeat, he retreated quickly to gain distance. Elian, seeing that he had been saved again, bit his lip; he felt he was getting stronger, but a sense of uselessness had appeared since the fight against that minotaur.
'He seems disappointed.'
Indeed Enrico had a disappointed expression, but it wasn't because of Elian; the two brothers had lied to him about being Circle Three together, so he was in a bad mood.
'It feels like I'm a useless joke… but at least I wanted to win—'
"What are you doing, Elian? Don't you want to continue the fight?"
"What? I…"
Enrico nodded toward Khalid with his head turned to the side; he looked confused, which confused Elian himself, who looked down and clenched his fists.
"Aren't you here to take up the fight as usual?"
"I only stepped in because you were about to be eliminated. If you want to continue fighting until the end next time, I won't interfere, because you must win."
Lifting his head, he was surprised to see Enrico quite calm while looking at Khalid preparing a new spell to throw.
"Why do you trust me so much?"
"Because you're close to reaching Circle Three."
'How— no, I shouldn't be surprised by that.'
Smiling, Elian stood up with determined eyes and took a few steps forward past Enrico; it seems the right-hand man of their leader has absolute confidence in him.
"Be careful not to injure yourself too much; losing your pretty fingers is already too much for me — luckily they'll recover later."
"Stop saying that, idiot."
Even saying that, Elian was smiling while looking at Khalid. Noting that Enrico didn't seem likely to intervene further, Khalid grew more confident.
'It seems I might even lose this fight, but at least I'll eliminate one.'
His team's mission was to eliminate the weaker members and at least one of the stronger ones while their leader executed his plan to remove the other two, but it seems the plan went totally wrong; still, at least he will fulfill part of it.