B4 - Chapter 48 - Thrilling Performances

"The winner is Veyrion Duskmare!"

Hana shook her head, but other than that, she didn't look too upset, or perhaps she managed to control her emotions, as after giving Veyrion a moment to recover, she even shook his hand before departing the stage. When she returned to the Regarth group, her mask slipped a fraction, revealing her true feelings.

"I can't believe his Ward wasn't triggered; he must have been cheating!" Arthur shouted. "He looks like shit; no way he didn't get hurt by your attack. I bet he turned it off or something."

"Thanks, Arthur, but it's fine," Hana replied. "At least I made him spend almost all his Mana, so he should no longer be a threat to whoever faces him in the next round."

"If I get him, I'll beat him black and blue," Arthur declared.

"I really didn't expect his shadow to be able to do that…" Clarissa admitted. "The Duskmares have really been keeping their cards hidden. That's the problem with these old noble houses, and the fact that he's a male heir only complicates things further. Any info we have about the Duskmares might only apply to their daughters."

"I swear I've already replayed the fight a dozen times in my head. If only I used a big blinding flash rather than a beam," Hana sighed, shaking her head.

"You really couldn't have known," Lily said, trying to reassure her friend. "And Arthur is right; he had to throw everything he had, so there's probably no way he will win his next match."

"Next up is Arthur representing Regarth versus Rex of House Vulkane representing Kalway!" the announcer's voice echoed.

"Great! I finally get to vent!" Arthur said, punching his fist into his palm as he made his way to the exit.

"Be careful!" Hana shouted. "We don't know who he is since his opponent forfeited."

"House Vulkane is known for their fire mages, so he was probably adopted because of that!" Clarissa added, shouting to his back.

Whether Arthur heard the two girls was unclear; he might have been too blinded by anger to listen to reason. Lily just hoped he was clear-headed enough to remain calm in the duel. Not only was this boy a mystery, but he was also from Kalway, which had so far put up a strong front and was the only school with all five students in the second round.

The pair reached the arena, and no matter how much they looked at Rex, they had no idea who he was. He almost looked human, and the only notable physical characteristic he was showing was ghostly pale skin. Despite that, Clarissa insisted he must have been a demi to attract House Vulkane's attention, which meant his bloodline was very well hidden.

Then, to everyone's surprise, right before the match was about to begin, Rex unloaded a bunch of rubble from his pouch. If he were an earth mage, he could do this, but he had kept it until the last moment to keep his opponents from gathering information.

"An earth mage!?" Clarissa gasped. "Why would House Vulkane ever adopt an earth mage?"

"Maybe he is a human with fire and earth?" Hana suggested.

"Maybe…" Clarissa murmured, her final words drowned out by the announcer as the match began.

Arthur immediately attacked, summoning wind blades to strike his opponent, but they weren't simple; he formed a pair that spread out in a pincer maneuver. Arthur had really good control over his wind magic, and while the blades were being manipulated, he took the opportunity to summon a shield of wind as well. This was almost at the level of tri-casting, so the audience was extremely impressed.

Rex took the opportunity to remove the rocks holding his feet to the ground and repurposed them as shields to block the wind blades. He barely made it, and to the audience's surprise, the rock was nearly cut in half, as Arthur had put in more magical power than they imagined.

Not deterred in the slightest, Arthur moved as he fired a gust and another blade of wind, the first spell meant to disturb his opponent rather than knock him out. Rex managed to stay calm and block it, despite stumbling from the gust, but Arthur was already moving to his next attack.

From the audience's perspective, Arthur was controlling this fight, with Rex constantly on the back foot. Which was why, when the ground beneath Arthur suddenly exploded into flame, literally nobody had seen it coming.

"Arthur!" Hana cried out in a panic, moments before the sound of a Ward being triggered screeched out.

"What just happened!?" Clarissa demanded.

"I didn't see anything!" Thomas shouted.

Lily was also wide-eyed as she hadn't caught what Rex had done. When the smoke cleared and they saw Arthur lying on his side, slowly getting up, they saw that where he had previously been was a crater. This was extremely shocking, as so far the arena had barely been damaged, but now a very visible chunk of it was missing, and from fire magic of all things.

Arthur punched the arena floor, then left, and his opponent made no move to stop him. No, his opponent actually seemed to be catching his breath, and one hand was visibly shaking, so he grabbed it to steady it.

"I don't know what he did, but his Mana plummeted," Lily finally said, shaking her head.

"That's way beyond the normal level for a duel…" Clarissa said, frowning. "Is this why his opponent forfeited so he could conserve his Mana?"

"Isn't that cheating?" Thomas asked.

"It's certainly against the spirit of dueling, but sadly most people only see the victory at the end of the day," Clarissa sighed.

They waited, but when the next round was announced, they still saw no sign of their friend.

"Arthur…" Hana whispered, clearly concerned.

"Why don't you go look for him?" Clarissa suggested.

Hana was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "I'll do that. Good luck with your match, Clarissa. You too, Lily; hopefully I'll be back with Arthur before the quarter-finals so I can see who you face."

Lily smiled and nodded, waving as her friend left to look for Arthur. When she was gone, Clarissa clicked her tongue before biting her thumb.

"What is going on with this year… Why are there so many prodigies?"

"I thought bloodlines were common among the nobles?" Lily asked.

"They are, but not to this extent, and need I remind you that two of them are adopted nobles."

Lily nodded, but she couldn't help wondering if Arakil had something to do with it, as if the world were trying to fix itself now that he was awake. If next year's students were just as much, it might hint at some regrowth; otherwise, it might have been a strange flare-up that happened to coincide with Lily's generation.

"And the winner, Julian Aldervane!" the announcer shouted.

"What? It's over?" Lily blinked in surprise, not realizing she had been in one of her moments without Arakil to knock her out of it.

"Hm. It was pretty short," Clarissa confirmed. "But that's to be expected from the Aldervanes; they are always decent performers for Stremweth."

"What did he do?" Lily asked. "How did he win?"

"His opponent from Kalway was pushed against the barrier, and his Ward triggered," Thomas answered.

"Wow, Kalway actually lost for a change…" Lily marveled.

"They aren't normally this good," Clarissa clarified. "But maybe that's just the Aldervane advantage. They are force mages, so they are more dangerous than your average wind mage."

"It's like our telekinesis, except way better from what I saw," Thomas further explained.

Lily nodded, although it sounded a bit like a weakened version of arcane force just from the way they said it. She slightly regretted not paying attention to the match, but the next round was about to begin.

"For the next round, we have Clarissa Viremont from Regarth versus Luka from Kalway!"

"Well, thank goodness it wasn't the ice witch," Clarissa sighed with relief. "Good news, Lily, it looks like you won't be alone in the quarter-finals."

Lily managed to smile, albeit a little awkwardly. "Good luck with your match."

"It should be fine, since Luka was the water mage and he used a lot of his Mana against the fire mage in the first round," Thomas said, turning to Clarissa. "Still, be careful."

"Don't worry, I will end this quickly," Clarissa said confidently as she strolled to the arena.

As the pair faced each other, Clarissa pulled out her other bag and scattered seeds and dirt onto the floor, not rubble. This took her opponent by surprise as he seemed to rapidly calculate what it meant. Lily hadn't expected Clarissa to pull out her floramancy so soon, but maybe the previous three losses had damaged her confidence.

Or maybe plants are just better to counter water than earth?

When the match began, Lily's earlier thought was immediately proven correct as rapidly growing vines formed a barrier that easily soaked up the water bullet Luka shot at her. Then that same barrier instantly shifted from defense to offense, lashing out at the unsuspecting boy.

Luka yelled in shock and threw out another water bullet, but it wasn't enough to stop the vines, and one of them snuck along the ground, away from the group, and grabbed him by the leg. Without his Ward being triggered, it had reached him and hoisted him up before flinging him at the barrier, his short body unceremoniously crashing against it and triggering his Ward.

"Huh… She did say she was going to end it quickly," Thomas chuckled.

"I'm just glad my cloak stops her vines from grabbing me," Lily admitted. "You didn't see all the students she tied up during the festival."

"Clarissa Viremont has won the match for Regarth!"

The crowd cheered, and the pair of duelists shook hands after the match, although it was a little awkward as Luka was comically short compared to the tall Equinia girl. Clarissa returned to their booth with a confident smile still plastered to her face.

"I told you it would be simple."

"Congrats," Lily replied.

"Yeah, that was really impressive; you completely caught him off guard," Thomas said.

"It's unfortunate I had to reveal my plants so soon, but better to be safe than sorry. Besides, if my next opponent was from Stremweth, my secret wouldn't have mattered."

Lily realized Clarissa was definitely right, as the quarter-finals already had two Stremweth students. At the same time, she had secured the defeat of a Kalway student, preventing the current point leaders from getting the guaranteed two points just from reaching there.

I wonder if she thought that far ahead, or if it's just a coincidence? Either way, if Clarissa and I make it to the semi-finals, Regarth still has a chance to overtake Kalway.

The final match for this round was Helia versus Abwany, the frost witch against the holy flames of Piety. Lily would normally have said the fire mage had an advantage, but Clarissa had said holy fire was weaker than normal fire magic, so now it was anyone's guess. Both students were the last hope for their respective schools, so they had a lot riding on the line and no doubt put up a good fight.

"For our final match this round, we have Selene Silverpeak from Helia versus Piety's Trith from Abwany!"

"Another new introduction…" Lily grumbled.

"And not a common one, I'm afraid," Clarissa revealed. "It seems the church of Piety is already honing him to be a future key figure. I wonder what he did to catch their eye?"

"What does that mean?" Thomas asked.

"Well, it means that I thought the Silverpeak girl would win, but now I'm not so sure," Clarissa elaborated. "The Silverpeaks have a formidable snow leopard bloodline, which is why their ice magic is always so good."

"I wouldn't have guessed she was a Felinia," Thomas replied. "The witch hat certainly doesn't help."

"She's probably hiding her ears and tail, not just for the duel, but to avoid any potential suitors," Clarissa answered. "For whatever reason, the Felinia demis are quite highly regarded as partners, especially one with exotic-looking tails."

Thomas blushed at Clarissa's explanation, which nearly made Lily giggle, but thankfully, with the match about to begin, she held it. The match started abruptly, with both sides going on the offensive as an ice javelin met a golden ball of flame.

The clashing spells exploded in the center of the arena, and then a heavy clang rang out as a sneaky shard was blocked by a golden shield formed behind Trith. He smiled at Selene, who clearly hoped her sneak attack would work again.

From there, the two continued trading spells, with Selene trying to sneak in hidden ice shards when Trith wasn't looking. Unfortunately for her, Trith's golden shield kept blocking her attempts, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

Their back-and-forth continued, but as the fight went on, the golden flames grew stronger while the ice began to melt. Eventually, Trith landed a winning blow with a particularly volatile ball of golden flame that, even when blocked by an ice formation, still caught Selene in the blast.

"The winner of the final match is Piety's Trith!"

The crowd cheered, though the Helia booth looked quite disheartened, having lost not only their star player but also their only remaining one. The Abany students, on the other hand, were ecstatic, as they had reached the quarter-finals and might go further, depending on Trith's next match-up.

"We will be taking a short break before moving on to the quarter-finals, which I'm sure you're all excited for. This first year has been extremely exciting, and who knows what other surprises these kids have been hiding?"

After the announcer's statement, the current point totals were revealed. Kalway led with twenty-four, Regarth followed with eighteen, and Stremweth was breathing down their neck at fifteen. Abwany was next with six, Helia with three, and Tresnia finished last with an embarrassing zero.