Arianwyn Sylvian P.O.V

I couldn’t help but feel a little bad as I watched Firandel lose. I knew I was our best chance to win this tournament but even so, him being forced into wasting so much of his mana just for my sake left a bad taste in my mouth.I hadn’t really gotten to know him but he was friendly the few times we did talk.

As I watched the arena take the form of an open grassland I felt a lot better about Elara’s chances. Unlike Firandel, Elara was actively working towards forming a domain of her own, she might not have gotten to that point yet but with her Wind, Water and Lightning mana affinity skills she was all set to form [Storm Domain].

“Have we found out anything about this Ajax?” I ask for what had to have been the fifth time today.

“Nothing more than what we knew before.” Aranor answers me. “He has some capacity for magic, be that as a hybrid or an all out mage. He is barely above level fifty but he is around the same level of power as a level eighty elite. He has delved into at least nine dungeons, three of them being capital dungeons.”

We knew the most barebone information. This upcoming fight was going to be eye opening but I simply felt bad sending Elara into it blind even if she should be on even footing at the very least.

Both of them entered the arena. I recognised Elara’s armor, her robes and staff all enchanted to provide different types of shields so she could focus on offense. She had more options than even I did when it came to offense as she used her wind for light slashing attack, her lightning for armor penetration and her water for control.

Baron Ajax Hearthbound on the other side of the field was covered in a full suit of enchanted leather armor. Oddly enough the armor seemed at the same time too heavy for him and a perfect fit, his legs clearly straining too much for him to move into position. Why wouldn’t they give him better armor even if only as a loan for the tournament?

“What can you see?” Father asked the royal treasurer.

It was one of the few loopholes that could be used during the tournament. Having anyone use an inspection skill on the human would have caused a political shitstorm but there was nothing wrong with us inspecting the gear he was using.

“Enchanted leather. Good for level seventies I would guess, he is clearly some form of hybrid fighter. The gear looks too heavy for him but I can’t be sure it’s not an act.” the treasurer responded. “The defensive enchantments seem focused on flat damage mitigation, I can’t make anything else out past the privacy enchantments.”

That is so contradictory, he is slow in his armor but it's almost as if he is only worried about smaller hits. Does he really think he can dodge the stronger ones? Especially against a lightning user?

The starting stone is tossed into the air and I see the human take an odd defensive stance. What could he be thinking showing that side profile while wielding a sword and a hammer. He should know he has a few moments at the start to close the distance while Elara releases her domain mimic.

The stone lands on the grass and Elara begins her casting. I feel my eyelids pop however as the hammer and sword disappear into a spacial ring to be replaced by a bow and arrow. His stance makes a lot more sense now and it takes everything I have for my jaw not to drop as I feel him channel mana into the arrow before he releases it.

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The arrow disappears from my sight the moment he releases it. “Shadow mana.” Elara’s father spits out while I see Elara’s eyes widen for a moment as she loses sight of the arrow. It is only a moment later that I see the enchantment on her staff light up as the arrow slams into the shield that springs up.

I have to give Elara credit, despite the surprise and despite the somewhat slow dash the human is making towards her she managed to keep her cool and maintain the chant perfectly. He isn’t even halfway across the ring when she releases a decent amount of wind, lightning and water mana that spreads itself around the arena.

“Let’s see how you do on the defensive.” I can hear a small amount of malevolence in Elara’s father’s voice. It is odd since the duke is usually a lot more composed but I can’t say I blame him after that starting shadow arrow.

The human is barely past the halfway mark as Elara finishes her second chant and I feel the wind mana circulate around the arena as it picks up speed, that leather won’t be enough to stop those slashes, when it comes to Wind mana she has better control than I do.

Looking at the human however I see him smirk as the spell starts, what could he be planning that wind covers a large area so he won’t be able to simply dodge it like he would be able to with devastating lightning strike. The next moment however is when I feel something very bad is happening.

Something is wrong with Elara’s spells. I can feel the mana weakening, it's happening uniformly all over the ring, her spells are gradually losing mana density and power but I don’t feel anything interfering with it. Turning my eyes back to the human he is flying across the second half of the field.

“He was holding back” Elara’s father growls in outrage. “What a dirty trick, human’s and their honorless fighting.”

I don’t agree with the racist part of his comment and while I agree with the strategy I don’t think it belongs in a tournament for resources like this one. “He wasn’t holding back.” Aranor's voice is frigid. Looking at him I see he isn’t looking at the fight right now but across to Gryndor’s royal family.

“How can you say he wasn’t holding back when he just sped up like that!” Elana’s father argues back. He hasn’t taken his eyes off the fight and is too focused on it to pick up the oddities in Aranor’s behavior. Looking at Gryndor’s balcony however I can see their champion is looking straight towards us. The prince in fact seems to be staring Aranor straight in the eyes, but where I had seen a playful grin throughout the ball a few days ago there is now a smug challenging grin.

“Because he was always moving as fast as his body could.” Aranor explained. “His body just got a boost in what it could do.”

“And how did he do that?” the duke asked with sarcasm. “I would have felt a stamina boosting skill and he hasn’t gathered any mana or taken any potion.”

The human is now in range of Elara but she is clearly unsettled by whatever is weakening her spells, she quickly slams her staff into the ground and I can see all the remaining mana power the enchantment as a strong wild bubble forces the human to retreat for a moment. Even that bubble is weaker than it should be however.

“Because he is using Elara’s mana for his power increase.” It takes me a moment to process what Aranor said but I feel my jaw drop as everything clicks in my mind.

I am not the only one taken by surprise as I can see everyone else has a similar reaction as everyone in the privacy bubble slowly turns to look at Aranor, looks back at the human and then turns to look at Aranor again. Not everyone is showing the surprise on their faces as their social skills manage to suppress it but there are plenty of open mouths beside my own.

A cold shiver descends down my spine as I look towards Gryndor’s prince once more to find him openly laughing. He clearly knew about all of this and while he is polite enough not to point he was clearly looking forward to our realization of what the young Baron could do.

Turning back to the fight I spot Elara finally managing to get a spell to connect with the human. The wind blade however is far too weak to leave more than a small scratch on the leather after the enchantments activate. Those enchantments make so much more sense to me now.

“How is he doing it?” My father asks as the human is closing in on Elara once more, not only that but I also feel him imbuing his weapons with two more mana types. More than that he is using two Epic types as Magma and Metal mana infuse each weapon.

“It’s a Legendary skill.” Aranor whispers softly, yet all of us hear it all the same. “It looks like their prince has taken up a disciple, another hybrid fighter that will surely surpass his master as a mage killer.”

I can’t help but agree with that description as I watch Elara flail about as not only her spells but even her enchantments fail her. The human however has no issue throwing magic around not only with his weapons but even freely channeling it through the earth at his feet.

Schee. I hear Aranor’s sword click from its sheath slightly as the fight is called. For a moment there the human had even been draining the protection spell but he quickly stopped once he realized what it was. Elara has a burnt and shattered elbow as the molten hammer had crushed it straight through her enchantment’s protection before the fight was called.

“He’s the real deal.” Father says as we all watch the young human walk away to the cheers of the crowd. “It’s a good thing you know what you are up against Arianwyn.” I couldn’t agree with him more, fighting him in the first round would have been devastating for me but at least now I can prepare. I look forward to returning the favor for my friend, before that however there is a beastkin I have to take down.