After one hour reviewing their opponents' previous fights, they went to the stadium. The second day of the tournament was in full throttle. The time limit for the fights increased to twenty minutes.
"We had only five deaths yesterday," Noah said. "It was a stroke of luck for the Academy."
Robert missed a breath and coughed hard. "Did the blood robot guy survive?"
"No. He used all of his blood to make that armor and perished before the healers could fix the damage."
"What? Really?" Robert choked on his own stomach acids.
Noah stopped and faced Robert with that big blue painted eye. "Yes. He didn't resist his wounds. I heard his soul was weakened."
Robert trembled. "I didn't take that much essence from him."
Noah was unreadable. His body language and voice were completely neutral and muted. "But you did. Thanks for telling me, I was wondering how long you'd keep that a secret."
Which was already a tell. Robert felt very guilty.
"The nature of the void is to devour, consume, and make what it eats its own. That spell of yours is a lethal weapon. Especially with the upgrade you picked. Can you imagine if you let that loose on a densely populated area?"
"I'll... keep that in mind."
"You better. Robert, power always comes at a cost. You are the strongest student in your year. If we let you use all of your powers, you'd win the round of sixteen even if every other contestant focused their attacks on you. You are stronger than most three-stars seniors enrolled in this institution. What you need to remain among society is not more power, it's restraint. That said, you can use your Mental spells in this next fight. The Academy already knows you have that affinity because of the incident with Pablo so it's not a big secret. They also know you have the Void affinity but I'd keep that from the general public if I were you."
"Okay."
"And don't blame yourself for that student's death. His teacher should've called the fight the moment you started dismembering him. And so did the referee."
Robert and Amanda went to the dressing rooms to change into their tournament uniform.
*
*
Robert felt nervous as he climbed the two steps to the platform. His opponent seemed confident and he knew it would be a tough fight. The shield hummed into existence. He left out a puff of Life essence, making the circle behind him blink pink. Then Time, pale yellow. Next, Mental, and it was silver. His opponent didn't return the courtesy. Robert activated haste at its normal setting, earning fifty-two percent time dilation, and accelerate thought.
The horn sounded. The referee shouted. "Begin!"
The guy on the other side vanished as the circle around him flashed light green for Wind. His talent was similar to Freddy's but it wasn't absolute. Robert could still get a fuzzy reading from life sense. Drawing his blade, Robert walked to the middle of the arena and closed his eyes.
Prescience told him of the kamaitachi blades coming his way. He deftly dodged. If he had his eyes open, he would see the shield denouncing the opponent's use of Wind essence. The fuzzy ping from his opponent moved quickly across the arena, leaving no disturbance on the packed earth floor.
Wind blades came his way. Forewarned, Robert evaded them with minimal effort. The next volley changed its pattern a bit but unless his enemy could fool time itself, Robert would know.
On the fourth clash, the circle above the adversary's corner flashed so strongly Robert could see the green through his eyelids. Wind blades came at him from all directions, making escape inevitable. Robert attempted to dodge but caught several blades on his legs and arms. Suddenly, his foresight blared like a foghorn inside his mind. An attack that shouldn't appear came fast, breaking the sound barrier.
It connected to Robert's neck and went clean through it. His head rolled down and hung upside down by the chest, tied to the body by black strings. The bleeding was minimal. A burst of pure pink Life essence erupted from Robert's body and wrapped around it, taking control of his muscles without going through the nervous system. The body picked the head and placed it on the neck. Reconstruction, powered by his two stars, quickly sealed the wound, starting with the spinal cord.
Robert opened his eyes. He stared at the referee and tapped his feet. The referee shrugged. He should've called out a lethal attack.
All the guilt for killing the blood robot guy vanished from his heart. If that's how they wanted to play, then he would oblige.
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Robert stared at his adversary's general location. Just like Amanda's druidic attunement, sense life wouldn't pick up the signal if they weren't alone and isolated by the shield. He swapped haste for two-star haste, more than doubling the essence upkeep costs. He was now at seventy-seven percent time dilation.
Wind blades came out of nowhere, one after the other. Robert zipped over the arena, his feet digging furrows every time he stomped the ground. Robert wove Life essence around his left hand, hardening the bones and turning the skin into toughened gray leather like that of a rhinoceros. The wind blades he couldn't dodge he parried with his grotesque hand, using Reconstruction to mend any wounds it received. As he chased the blimp in his sense life spell, he swung his sword.
"Get over here," Robert shouted. "I want to repay the favor and give you a steel neck rearranging therapy."
The chase was on. Even though his Wind essence made the adversary fast, it didn't make him faster than Robert. His sword connected with flesh and cloth, ripping open a gash and causing the adversary to bleed. The wind barrier that was keeping him almost undetectable sprayed the blood onto the shield and everywhere else, creating a pink mist.
Robert didn't care. He went through the mist, chasing the almost-visible gash in his adversary's back. The wind blades were sparse now, the other student clearly lacking the concentration or mental focus to keep casting while he ran for his life.
He focused on his opponent's life signature and decided to gamble. He released a good burst of Life essence into the air while he used sap stamina at the same time. Both Life and Fairy essences were shades of pink and he wanted to fool the detector. The pink circle flashed with a black X for a moment before returning to pink. The X came exactly at the same moment he cast sap stamina. The crowd seemed as surprised as Robert. Then they erupted with cheers.
The chase went on for five more minutes. Then his opponent stumbled, decloaked, and fell to the ground unconscious. Robert's sword was inches from his neck when the horn blared.
"Winner!" The referee shouted.
Robert glared at the referee, sheathed his blade into his hand (actually sending it to his storage ring), restored his left hand, and walked out.
He found Noah on his corner. "What was that X?"
"It's the indicator for a unknown unique affinity," Noah replied. "Congratulations. The world now thinks you have a unique Life-derived affinity."
"Damn."
"Don't you worry. It's better that way. Now you can use that affinity as you wish. I bet you can come up with some novel tactics."
Robert nodded. "Sure."
"And welcome back to life. You are among the few who survived full decapitation." They both laughed. Noah put an arm around Robert's shoulders, ignoring the blood on his neck. "Come, let's cheer on Amanda's fight."
*
*
Amanda's opponent was a pure Blood Arch who specialized in the crimson mercury weaponry. These weapons made out of metallicized blood were among the deadliest an Arch could create. And the man across her seemed to know that, as he confidently smirked.
She placed a plant pot on the ground, an alien tree from a deep realm. the toughest wood known to humanity. Its resilience was several times higher than any tree native to Earth. Amanda cast Plant Growth on the tree and shaped the wood to flow over her body. Her talent made the tree's qualities increase more than twofold. It was tougher, healthier, stronger, and grew faster. The wood became solid plates, covering her body like Gothic armor, leaving not even a slit for her eyes or holes for her ears. She shaped a beautiful face in front of the helmet. When it finished, she stored the pot back.
"Begin!" The referee shouted.
Spears of blood shoot toward the wooden behemoth, carving shallow grooves in the wood and clattering to the side. A judicious use of Nature essence repaired the minor damage. Amanda moved forward at a normal pace. The blood Arch created a great axe and slashed down to hack at the wood. It dug an inch into the armor. Vines grew out of the wood and wrapped themselves around the axe, seeking the man's hand. He gave up on the weapon, sacrificing more than half a gallon of blood.
The ax moved to Amanda's back. Roots grew over the axe and pierced the metallicized blood. The tree wrapping the girl started to drink on the blood, converting it into energy and nutrients to repair itself with.
Next, the Blood arch created a thin needle. he lunged and struck, piercing the wood but finding Amanda's skin harder than the bark. it still drew blood, though. Once again, the wood grew over the needle, the vines desperate to get to the man's hand.
Amanda felt her blood drain through the needle. The Blood Arch grinned. That was his plan all along. With a single wound, he could exsanguinate his enemies thoroughly.
The water in Amanda's body, including her blood, lurched forward. Propelled by her flowing river tempering and a recently developed hydraulic flex, she used a flowing strike to clench her abdominal muscles and shatter the tip of the needle.
His greed was his downfall. The vines reached the hand that held the needle and wrapped around it. Some grew roots while others kept moving, grabbing the forearm, piercing the Academy uniform, and affixing roots over the flesh. They kept moving over the shoulder and across his chest.
The vines around the broken needle grew thick and joined each other, solidifying as wood. Then the hand. The tree wrapping Amanda drank the Blood Arch's blood and body fluids, drying the skin and leaving behind mummified flesh. the hand became entombed in wood. Then the arm. The Arch was hacking the vines that attempted to reach over to claim his head and heart.
Then a spike of wood erupted from the ground, carving through the man's crotch, and ravaging his family jewels. The Blood Arch cried in pain. The tree started to grow inside his bowels, devouring nutrients, offal, flesh, organs, and everything else.
"YIELD!" The Blood Arch's teacher shouted.
The wooden armor opened in the back and Amanda walked out of it. The shield came down and the healers in standby rushed to attend the blood Arch before he expired and became tree food.
Once the healers separated the Blood Arch from the humanoid tree, they carried him away, missing an arm and most organs in his lower abdomen, Amanda cut off the portions that contained human flesh and stored the rest. She was sure her granny would love the gift and display this armor in her office. As a last gesture, she willed rot to spread on the organic matter lying around on the arena. The wood, blood, and human flesh quickly grew moldy and vanished under supernaturally hungry fungi.
The Samson heiress bowed to the crowd and walked down to receive the cheers of her team.
"That was amazing!" Robert gushed as he hugged her.
"All thanks to the upgrades to my abilities," Amanda revealed. "Without them, it wouldn't be possible."
"Do you guys want to watch the rest of the morning fights or should we go back to the gym and discuss the afternoon strategy?" Noah asked.
Team Actus left the stadium, Invicta.
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