Once my adrenalin had subsided, I felt the throbbing pain from my half sealed abdominal wound. I raised my smelly leather shirt after wiping away some of my blood with it, revealing a bleeding incision. I turned away from the other contenders waiting just outside the arena before properly healing it up.
After the servants had cleared out the bodies and brushed some of the reddened sand to the side, we the contenders were allowed to re-enter the arena. As we did, I wondered why they hadn’t simply let us fight till we were even fewer, earlier. That was when Lea came over to me and simply said:
“They do this part of the qualifier to drag out the entertainment; the all-out battle earlier is actually far too short for their tastes. I can’t complain though, more fun this way” I invented a personal mantra there and then. It consisted of the phrase “mind reading is not real”, and was mean to be repeated until Lea was no longer in sight. Then loud voice man appeared yet again in front of the two important figures on the big chairs.
“Honored challengers! You have braved two of the three qualifiers, and arrived at the final one alive! This alone is a formidable feat in itself, and now there is only one trial left before you have the honor of entering the arena, fighting against the champions of our great cities! There, you will have the unique chance to earn a comfortable titles and the land that comes with! And as if that weren’t enough, if you have what it takes to win and the gods on your side too, you will get to request a desire from the holy Emperor himself! With this noble cause in mind, the royal family approves of this 5th and final qualifier to begin!”
The crowd applauded and shouted as the spirits were high and rising. I could hear the occasional male outburst of “and the ladies! Don’t forget the beautiful ladies you’ll land!” or “money is really the noblest of causes! Amen to that!” There were several people in the audience that were obnoxiously selling beverages and leveraging illegal wagers between such men. Even in here the security was growing lax.
“I will now explain the final round and its rules! The qualifier will be one fight for each of you ten fighters, pitted once again against each other. Any kind of injury is permitted in these fights, including those resulting in immediate death. However, unlike the previous round you have the opportunity to surrender, sparing your life. Additionally, once the opponent can no longer put up a fight, further injuring them will disqualify you. We will now be selecting matches, the ones not fighting will have to exit the arena an may watch from behind a closed gate” I was not among the first two picked, neither was Lea so we both along with six others left the arena.
The fight now taking place there was between an older man and a younger one was on a higher level than any of the ones I had seen in the previous rounds. The old man was using earth magic to create and fling large rocks at the fully plated warrior. Countering this, the warrior seemed to be using enchanted equipment, as some of the inscription on his raised shield was glowing in a fiery red, taking the stones head on. Upon impact, the rock shattered as if struck by a force of equal size, sending pieces and dust everywhere.
This confirmed the reasoning why magicians did not participate in these matches. The skilled ones were typically held in high esteem, and received luxurious positions within the church or the academic world, and simply did not want nor need to risk their lives further. The few magicians that were struggling to prove their worth, had a hard time beating the warriors that could afford powerful artifacts, especially the champions in the later rounds. There were other magicians that were capable of competing on such a high level, but they had more often than not signed with adventurer or mercenary guilds, which had rules against entering the qualifiers. Hence the stiff competition for championships of the larger cities.
The current duel ended on a rather dull note, as when the plated warrior had finally reached the retreating magician, the old man surrendered. Magicians were wise after all.
To me, though, this meant I could use magic to some degree without making myself too suspicious. Until I saw their fight, I was hesitant to use flashy spells that even commoners would pick up on. Following this display though, I be just another contender. After the applause and the occasional boo that followed the conclusion of their fight, the same voice rang throughout the stadium once again.
“Participants number 1541 and… 1542! Next match is Alfred versus Lea!” The announcer announced to the audience. Lea looked at me with an evil grin, as she unsheathed a dagger from her hip. The gates slowly rose and we passed the winner and the loser on either side as we stepped into the arena, greeted by roars and cheers. Male comments about Lea’s tight fitting leather armor on her fit physique weren’t few or original. I could even hear some that cursed me, simply for being allowed to fight her or some such.
As I was approaching my designated starting spot, I thought of Lea’s fighting style. If there was one recurring theme, it was that she hadn’t been serious, however apart from that she had won the first qualifier by surprising and outsmarting her opponent. During the second qualifier I had not seen her fight, but was that because I wasn’t near her or simply because she didn’t? Her armor was unsullied at the end of it all, had she cartwheeled her way out of everything?
In order to prepare for the unexpected and surprising, I materialized a thin spiritual barrier. It still couldn’t be seen, and within the spirit I already had around my body, it was close to invisible for a seer. Looking over at Lea, she too was at this point ready, so I turned my attention to the announcer.
“Begin!” I turned to face Lea again.
Twang! Something hit my head so hard and fast I was forced to take three steps back in order not to fall over. The whiplash I suffered from the impact caused there to be a moment where my eyes were not on Lea.
“WHAT THE FU-“ I began, before I was interrupted by lea, a mere inch away from my face.
“If you don’t take this fight more seriously, Al, it will end with you in terrible amounts of pain” Smiling, she casually slid her dagger through my barrier and into my healed abdominal wound. She then proceeded to twist it, jump up and push away from me by kicking at the dagger, burying parts of the hilt inside me. Even through adrenalin and confusion I felt the searing pain and gave out a little yelp. Before any more damage could be done, I raised my barrier to the same thickness as my spirit and pulled out the dagger while sealing and healing the wound instantly with strenuous amounts of life magic.
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The speed of which Lea had just moved, even though I had not seen the technique with my own eyes I knew, it was not human. Or if it was, it was beyond reckless, and considering Lea’s character, this was entirely plausible.
Lea had taken a second to land from the flip, but she now continued her assault. Now I saw the technique; she first used a combination of earth and fire magic to fire a pebble aimed at my head. This time however, my barrier was strengthened, and when hit I deflected the force and the pebble to the side. Next, she used her technique for speed. Again, she used a combination of fire and earth, only this time the pebble was her. The earth magic was used between the explosion and the air around her, concentrating the blast and further boosting her speed.
Because explosions were occurring so concentrated and directly on her body, she took considerable damage, sending pieces of flesh flying here and there and even scorching parts of her body completely. Before the damage could affect her movement, it was all healed by life magic. All of these processes happened in a flash, quite literally, as her body seemed to disappear in the light of the explosions. I would not have been able to catch on to what was happening had I not encountered this move before. In fact, I only knew of one person who had been capable and willing to perfect the technique.
“You’re fucking Leo!” I spat at her, before dodging one of her blitz-kicks.
“And you’re fucking Alfrey, though these are not presently our preferred names, are they?” She smiled, disappearing in a flash and reappearing behind me, with one leg raised.
“I’m not letting that go all that simply, what the fuck happened to your dick!?” Dodging out of the way, her axe kick shattered the ground behind me, leaving cracks in the ground and raising a dust cloud. She was not one to lose on speed though; I all too soon found a pair of rocket pebbles fired at my face at close range.
“Oh dear, are you missing my penis?” A sly grin spread on top of her normal smile. I grabbed the pebbles with my spirit as they entered it, forcing them away and towards the arena wall where they embedded themselves. Lea used the time to propel herself backwards, pelting my barrier with rock splinters from the explosion. I cased my fists in jagged rock.
“Don’t play coy, it doesn’t fit you” It was my turn to respond, and I replicated her technique to a smaller degree, launching myself towards her mid-air. She only grinned and vanished in flash; the technique worked just as well while airborne.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, darling” The voice came from below me, where several pebbles were being aimed at my manhood.
“Please don’t be so disgusting” Forming a rock slab beneath my feet, I rapidly sank on her location.
“Your feedback is appreciated, though it has also been entirely ignored” She rolled backwards, away from the approaching slab. As the rock landed, she dove at me with a dagger pointed at my abdomen again.
“Why are you even in the human capital? Don’t you have sinister affairs to attend, far from here?” I met her dagger with one jagged rock fist, the other closing in on her head.
“I have a better question Al, why are you in the human capital?” She blew herself backwards once again, out of range of the strike.
“Why do you think?” Expecting her to jump back, I blew up the stone on my fist with fire magic, sending splinters flying in her direction.
“I think you’re the one with sinister affairs to attend to” Raising a small spiritual barrier, the splinters caused her no damage. Though she was constantly blowing herself up and growing the pieces back, her attire seemed to have no extra holes. Was the leather armor enchanted?
“Of which are none of your business” Punching my remaining jagged fist at her location, I blew it off in one piece.
“Does this business that is none of my concern include winning the tournament?” Childish curiosity manifested itself in her smile. Pure, unrefined evil intent manifested itself in her eyes. The jagged fist I sent her way she blew away with a concentrated explosion from her palm.
“Like I fucking said” Finally I drew my sword, only to instantly throw it at her.
“I have a proposal for you, Al dearest” She dodged the sword by blowing her body away. It embedded itself in the arena wall, between the two pebbles from earlier.
“Consider it rejected” Encasing my fists once again in jagged rock, I rushed her.
“Don’t be so hasty, it benefits the both of us” She took my charge head on, preparing two more daggers.
“I doubt that, but how so?” I swung at her torso with my left, then right as she weaved and dodged out of the way.
“I don’t tell the grand Marshall of the inquisitor branch who you really are” Having dodge, she moved in to strike with both daggers at the same time.
“And how will you support your claim?” I blew up my rock gauntlets from the top, propelling my hands into hers on the way down and grabbing them.
“You don’t know?” Close as she was now, I could see no hint of trickery in her genuinely surprised expression. Then her forehead hit my nose with a wrath. Loosening my grip on her arms with explosions she broke free and cartwheeled backwards. The mental strain on her from using too much magic must be getting heavy.
“Your eyes, Al. No natural born human has such striking blue eyes” I didn’t need to see her expression to know it was true. Now that I thought about it, all the humans I had met had had brown or green eyes, with the exception of two.
“Anyway, the agreement Al, I don’t tell on you, and you bring me along for your plans. Purely as an observer of course” She had stopped her assault, as had I.
“Figures. The reason you’re here, female, found me and now make me this deal is the same as always, isn’t it?” I glared at her.
“Maybe it is. Then again, how could anyone not want to join you on an adventure? After all, it truly sound like fun” She returned my glare with her sinister smile.
“I don’t really have much of a choice at this point though, do I?”
“I’ll take that as a yes”
“You’ll take whatever I say as whatever you want it to be”
“Always” At this she turned around and addressed the announcer.
“I surrender”