As the sun set, both Helen and Vivien were in intensive care for their freezing bodies, flesh wounds and essence exhaustion. The key difference was that Vivien was out cold— which may be an advantage considering she was not in as much pain as Helen.
Triss and Meer visited their close friend.
"Way to go vice-pres! Didn't you use the president's favourite move? That spear and then the punch— it was so like Markus! Guess he's rubbed off on you." Triss said as she giggled
"Right! I mean even I thought you were done for when that massive ice block was made but nope— you adapted quickly and turned the tide! Quite literally at one point— Vivien literally tried to sweep you and you just pushed back her tide like it was nothing!" Meer said with great excitement
"Girls— stop shouting in my ear—" Helen said weakly
If nothing else, depleting so much of her essence wore her down substantially. That said, she did her job. Securing the first competition gave Tuatri a strong start.
"When Amy wins tomorrow… we'll win this entire thing. No matter what happens in two days." Helen said
"Yes! We are so on! But uh- we should probably let you rest right?" Triss asked
Helen nodded as she went to sleep in her infirmary bed.
As the next day came, Serrie, the representative of the student council came by the chambers which also had a sleeping area. She waited in the lobby for everyone to wake up before announcing the next day's champion.
"Today, our elected champion will be Leo Rilan. We can choose another if your secretary does not wish to participate. Yesterday, you obliged us. Today we are willing to accommodate you in return and for the rest of the event." Serrie said
Everyone turned to look at Amy.
The young lady did not have her uniform on. Instead she wore a black combat suit.
"No. I will fight my brother. When do we start?" Amy asked
"Noon." Serrie said before leaving
Amy and the rest went to get breakfast and paid a visit to Helen.
"You're fighting Leo." Helen said
"I am. I… need to." Amy replied, her gaze stuck to the floor like glue
"Remember that your close range combat has improved but you are a better construct caster than anyone I've ever seen. Use your strengths. And when in a bad spot— use WWMD. It works wonders as you saw." Helen said with a chuckle at the end
"I did…" Amy replied with a chuckle
"What the hell is WWMD?" June asked
"… huh— what would Markus do?" James asked
"Yep—" Helen and Amy responded in laughter
"We came up with it last year after the Gallion victory. What outrageous trick or method would our crazy president use? It works well to think like a madman in a tough spot." Helen said
"He'd be proud. By the way, how do you think he's holding down the fort by himself?" Spence asked
"He's probably drowning and roped in some people to help him out—" Meer said
They all looked at her
"What! It's probably true!" She exclaimed
They all tried not to laugh
Meanwhile Markus, in a death zone filled with deadly beasts and apparently vegetation, was making progress toward the centre. He somehow ran into another bear—
Unfortunately it was a papa bear.
A few whirlwind blasts later however, he was now the proud owner of a bear-pelt outfit that he used to replace his tattered clothes.
'Weirdly enough I think the bear outfit is more durable than my regular combat suit. This thing is technically imbued with rank 5 flame essence.' Markus thought as he moved forward
The one downside was that he was sweating more so he had to travel close to the river.
And naturally there was a swordfish-like creature lurking in the damn river.
Markus jumped backward and parried the swordfish creature's sword with his own wind blade. When the fish landed on the ground, the ground itself froze and the fish slipped back into the river!
'Don't tell me I'm going to get ambushed every time I go get water—' Markus said inwardly with a groan
Unfortunately for him— he was right.
After his bear and fish encounter, he had covered a good amount of ground by noon.
Back in The Capital, Amy was stepping into the colosseum.
"If it isn't the dropout. I do find it funny how you leave the royal academy only to return as its opponent eight months later." Leo said
"Life has a funny way of bringing people back to their past." Amy said
"If you surrender now, you can avoid embarrassing yourself, the family and the royal academy. They may even take you back!" Leo said with a smug expression
"If I return it will be on my own terms." Amy said as he used her essence to make a shell and platform.
"Fine. Do whatever you want and let the family pick up the mess like you always do." Leo said as his shell activated
The administrator put up the barrier and shouted: Begin!
Leo shared Amy's black hair and green eyes but he was taller and older! Leo was 181 cm and 17 years old!
As the fight began, Amy flew to the skies and calling on whirlwind, she shot forth several whirlwind bullets.
Leo jumped upward and created three blades of whirlwind, two in his hands and one at his back. With a swing from both his swords, he sent out two massive and powerful whirlwind slashes in a x-cross shape across the space between himself and his younger sister.
Conjuring barriers, Amy tried to defend but these were wind barriers and were torn through instantly!
She ducked under them but with a click of his tongue, Leo detonated the slashes, turning them into whirlwind blasts!
The shockwave sent her falling into the ground. Amy quickly recovered by rolling on her back forward and sending forth two shuriken like constructs.
Leo threw his sword at her through the constructs, displacing them and aiming right for her chest.
The sword was flying at such a speed that Amy couldn't have dodged it unless she used the Wind's Path. And seeing that she was a Rilan and not a Windbourne, no mysterious white paths of wind would appear to let her change location almost instantly.
Instead she created a whirlwind blast right in front of her to send the blade flying away.
She got up and raised herself back to the sky before noticing something.
'Leo is not using a platform… he's controlling his essence shell and lets himself get carried in the shell. So if I break the focus needed to control the shell, I can cause him to fall and strike him whilst he's falling!'
Instantly a legion of wind bullets and constructs flew toward Leo
He grabbed the blade at his back to dual wield once more and recalled the blade he threw to replace it. As the blade came back, he unleashed more slashes to displace the incoming projectiles and attacks.
Everything Amy threw at him was perfectly and all too easily countered.
'If I want to distract him— I need to use whirlwind… dammit I really don't like using it. Unlike a certain someone I'm still risking backlash quite often… but I suppose just like that certain someone I need to be focused on the success, not the failure.' She thought as she drew on her environment
Particles of whirlwind surged all around Leo. Amy was charging the entire area with everything she had.
Leo could either focus his attention on disturbing her influence or running away— but conceding his position as king of the airspace was almost as bad as taking the hit!
Amy called on whirlwind and swirled the airspace before releasing a massive shockwave that shook the very barrier protecting the students and spectators!
From the shockwave, Leo stood there unphased
"It occurred to me. I can just create a blast against your blast and avoid the damage. If you had used something nasty like the spear your president uses, I would've had to actually move. But blunt attacks can be negated by other blunt attacks. And if I recall, between you and I, it is me who has more essence sister. If I am halfway drained already, then you've only got a third of your usual essence left. Meaning you will run out before I do." Leo said with a smirk
Amy flew to the skies in a fury.
Leo was taken aback but slashes down at her. Expecting the slash, she pre-emptively dodged. Seeing that his attack would miss, Leo clicked his tongue again and turned the slashes into explosions. Amy however expected that too and made barriers below her which turned the explosion into a propelling force of her. Getting up close to her brother's face, she created an essence zone and gave a command.
"All whirlwind in this area is to consume my essence." She said
Instantly all her essence was consumed and she began to fall to the ground
Leo meanwhile, had three active bombs on his person
His blades became overcharged with essence and unstable— turning them into explosions in mere moments
As Amy fell, she only heard a BOOOOOMMM
She fell hard into the ground, taking a 20 metre fall but at least her shell was still on.
Leo meanwhile had managed to throw away the two bombs in his hands— but the one on his back did not respond to his commands so by the time he reached for it— it had already gone off
The whirlwind tore into his back and mangled his shell and flesh like a chainsaw hacked into his body.
His spine was still intact— only if barely— but the exposed flesh and nerves caused him unimaginable agony.
As he fell to the ground, Amy got up and turned her shell into a wind blade. She walked over to her brother pointed her sword at him.
"I win." She asserted
With a banshee scream he instantly turned and let out a whip of whirlwind that sent her flying back, crashing into the barrier.
"Referee! That's a cheap attack! He is beaten already— she could have finished it but did not!" James shouted
"Silence! The battle is not over until one party is incapacitated!" The administrator shouted
Amy and Leo's bodies were being equally ravaged by whirlwinds although they were both trying to resist it.
After a few moments, neither could continue.
"… neither party is capable of finishing the other. The verdict therefore is a draw." He said as he snapped his fingers and let the barrier dissolve, allowing medical staff to immediately attend to the two siblings
Tuatri's council clenched their jaws as they knew protesting wouldn't lead to anything. As Amy's battle ended, Markus had just gotten into another fight with the damned river swordfish.
"Oh come on! Just give up on me already—" Markus said as he parried the fish and it slid down
"At least stop reinforcing your scales so I can spear you on your way out!" He shouted after the fish as it dove into the river again
Moving away from the river once more, Markus saw that there was no actual beast nearby.
'Did they all run toward me when I was in the cave? But where are they? They should've returned— right?' Markus thought
"Have you considered that they weren't running to you— but rather away from something?" Anax asked
'Uhhh— what the hell could they run away from? All of them at that!' Markus asked, confused
"Nothing good… and as your luck will have it, it is close to the centre of the forest… right where your destination is…" Anax said with a sigh
'Say— it can't be the thing Bailey talked about right?' Markus asked
"The lesser spirit? If it is… you are dead. Even elites can only hope to run for their lives away from such beings. Masters can hold it back and with a group of them, perhaps even kill a lesser spirit. The only people capable of subjugating lesser spirits are elemental lords or emperors." Anax said
"Just great…" Markus said as he sighed and moved forward until nightfall
In the evening, Helen and Amy were catching up next to each other.
"A draw..? What a cheap way to draw at that… but I do have an idea. What if we use a cheap tactic of our own— Kal and Latham are here. What if we use them!" Helen said
"Wait— you're onto something. The royal academy does not bother to teach combat techniques until rank 3!" Amy said
"So they should be able to use the stuff they learned from Tuatri here!" Helen exclaimed
"Kal should probably do it. Fire is more versatile and he has worked closely with Triss. We have an actual chance at winning this— and even if he loses, it is still a draw against the most prestigious academy in the land. Next year we can beat them!" Amy said
"I agree. Let's do it then." Helen said as she nodded
The two ladies relayed the plan onto the rest.
"If you think that's our best way to win— I'll do it!" Kal said
"That's the way!" James said
"Let's win this!" They all said