Emeric Cole.

***

While the Initiates were eating and recovering underground, the many guests and spectators either watched in awe or waited impatiently for His Imperial Majesty to expand the arena by a couple of hundred meters on each axis and do away with the stands in favor of filling in the dome with igneous rock and iron, closing off the environment that had since been left open to the eastern ocean views. With the rearrangement and installation of a few enchantments, the arena had been transformed into a proper coliseum. Complete with a labyrinth of corridors, service rooms, and interlinked viewing booths to safely observe the second-most anticipated event of the evening.

Though it was rather uneventful, Rosso's fight went by without a hitch. He completed all the conditions for his assessment, including slaying his opponent. Which was more than what was expected of him by many of us, with him being in the non-combative role that he was in. Still, it went without saying that the spectators voted for him to be the first undercard for a reason. Naturally, that extended to Maurice Harris, Toka Eyer, as well as their master, Prince Abulot, all of whom failed to properly finish off their opponent, unlike Rosso.

Much to no one's surprise or dismay, might I add.

"Next up, Lucia Pike!" Law announced, triggering a wave of adjusted seats and hushed conversations to travel throughout our booth while Lucia took to the floor like a prideful snow lioness. Her eyes remained forward; focused, yet distant like the look of a hardened veteran.

Quite unexpectedly, the Emperor seemed particularly eager to see her prowess in action. Magnitudes more so than what was displayed in the previous engagements, at least. It was a sight that resonated with me to my core. As I too was eager to see what my son's knight was capable of after so many years of training.

As before, her opponent was an entity of my Grandfather's and the Emperor's creation. It was an instance of Collaborative Fusion Magic. A golem of iron, tar, and lava that was mirrored in size, strength, and magical might to that of its opponent; Lucia, in this case, and then given a soul. Yet the only difference between her and it; the Emperor assured us, was the superior durability granted from its iron body and the natural aspects of its 'flesh.'

As it had been explained to us, the golem had orders to remain idle as Lucia first showcased her sword magic's offensive abilities by impaling the golem through the belly with a glowing mana blade, followed by a bronze polearm, and a rain of feathers that attempted much the same, only to fail without so much as scratching the golem's skin. With that, Law gave Lucia the same instructions he'd given to the others, spurring the Golem to attack with a triage of easily readable bullet spells made from lava, iron, and tar.

Without pause, the young royal knight used her sword magic to either cut apart or deflect the spells. Then went on to successfully defend and deflect against the same wave of attacks with a bronze shield and strong gusts of wind born from but a few free-floating feathers.

With the formalities done, the main event proceeded with Granddad merging the soul of an orc with the golem's body and issuing the agreed-upon set of instructions. And the moment Granddad stepped back through the shadows, the golem went on to rush Lucia at its highest attainable speed.

While she was noticeably caught off guard, Lucia aptly responded with her own instance of fusion magic; though, it was facilitated through the use of an enchantment. A bronze sheen grew to cover the entirety of her body in armor made of bladed feathers; some of which detached and lashed out at the golem from unpredictable angles. Still, however, the golem persisted with an underhanded swing of its clubbed fist.

Almost as if she anticipated it, Lucia released another spell. Spawning what appeared to be hundreds of feathers that began cascading onto her back to form an angelic pair of wings. With her now airborne, the golem was forced to fling spell after bullet spell her way while she rained mana blades down on the golem. Yet her opponent was unrelenting and quickly switched tactics by spreading a lava domain across the ground. Coating the place in a blistering heat that naturally weakened Lucia's Wing Magic. The final blow to her advantage came when a second, smaller domain of tar was spread over the lava and subsequently vaporized, forming a thick layer of toxic smog in the air.

Being properly blinded, Lucia had no chance at dodging the bullet spells the golem started spitting out at random. So, she simply countered with a domain of her own. Spawning a sea of glowing, milk-white mana daggers, swords, and spears that either cut through the lava, the tar, or the golem itself with the utmost ease; if they didn't shatter into countless motes of brilliant light.

Regardless of the fate of the individual blades, the golem was ripped apart from head to toe, leaving its torn remains to unceremoniously fall to the floor. Thus finalizing her victory.

After a brief moment of shock from seeing the first eye-catching win of the evening, everyone erupted in cheer. I caught myself a moment too late and hurriedly rose from my seat to erupt in a furious round of applause alongside the others, cheering: "A magnificent display!"

"Roheisa has a fine knight!" Grandfather bellowed in his signature laugh.

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The initiate in question took a polite bow to the stands before exiting the floor. Prompting Law to resume his post on the catwalk while His Imperial Majesty worked to reform the golem.

"Jaimess A. Corey!" Came the announcement once they were finished.

After settling back into his seat, His Imperial Majesty turned to me with raised brows to boastfully say. "Corey is one of your boy's vassals, is he not? I hear Amun has taught them quite well."

"Extensively, Your Imperial Majesty." I chortled in dismay in the face of the memories flooding to mind. "They all started training under his tutelage in earnest shortly after they entered his service if you can believe it. And they rarely missed a day. I can't recall how many times I've seen them sparring with Amun's doppelgangers."

"One could hardly call it sparring." Granddad subtly bellowed.

"Oh, I can believe it." The Emperor chuckled in turn. "I only hope Sir Corey doesn't disappoint."

"Well." I humbly chuckled. "With Lucia's display, it'll be hard to top. My Lord, could she use her abilities well."

The Emperor said nothing in response to my words and instead leaned forward to focus on Jaimess placidly settling into place. I too turned to my front and peered through the large windows afforded by the booth in which we sat to see that, like Lucia before him, Jaimess was undeterred. Donned in his armor, he held a mace in his right hand while a black bar attached to a strange brace was placed along his left forearm. An item that served as quite the conversation piece to those seated around us.

At Law's mark, much the same procedure as before ensued. Jaimess conjured a single sheet of paper and swept it across the golem's belly, leaving a deep gash in its hardened flesh. Next, he conjured two dissimilar bullets and launched them at the golem one at a time.

The first, made from a black, powdery material listed as carbon, dug into the magma-filled groove that distinguished the golem's shoulder from the rest of its arm and quickly grew red hot, yet remained in place as if it were made of iron. The second one was similarly made of a grainy material, albeit one of an off-white color that hardened into a stony material of a similar color. Again, the spell found purchase in the golem's shoulder and quickly began glowing red hot.

Much to everyone's surprise, however, the grainy substance morphed into an all-too-familiar substance after being heated. A substance that many of us recognized at a glance, causing the same two words to be repeated over and over again within our booth alone. Even from me.

"Glass?" I gasped. "Or... perhaps quartz?"

Even as Jaimess impaled the golem with a shard of obsidian, my shock persisted. I could only set it aside when I felt the demanding presence of death coming from my Granddad, bringing me to see the ghostly visage of a high-orc soul assimilating into the golem's flesh.

As before, it rushed Jaimess the moment the floor was clear. Yet Jaimess acted with no hesitation, bracing himself while gathering mana in his arm. In turn conjuring countless sheets of paper that repeatedly folded around his brace to form a shield just before the golem's overhead swing impacted.

Naturally, Jaimess was forced down to a knee from the blow, but the shield remained intact nevertheless. Causing a rightful eruption of cheer to rattle the walls of the coliseum that I unwaveringly contributed to. It was the first successful blocked rush of the night, after all.

As the golem reeled back for another blow, Jaimess lunged backward and seemed to spawn a growth of paper from his back. Much to everyone's amazement and amusement, the growth expanded with the steady addition of more folded sheets until it took the form of a rather large and comical… crab. A crab made of paper and covered in an armor of obsidian plates

If Jaimess could hear the laughs and cheers from the many booths above and around him, he placidly paid them no mind as he mounted the paper crab. Naturally, the golem was unamused and resorted to flinging a barrage of bullets at Jaimess, who in turn swayed madly as a result of the crab deftly dodging from side to side.

Curious, I prompted my portion of the viewing glass to enhance the picture, bringing into view a crude paper belt Jaimess was attaching to the crab's back. What was more interesting, however, was the menagerie of smaller, obsidian-armored creatures shuffling around him. Birds, rats, rabbits, and even larger creatures like wolves, a tiger, and even a damned dragon were grouped around him, lurching in tune with the crab's motions while they seemingly fed on something.

It took the paper stampede to lose a few members to the golem's domain and the subsequent rain of bullets for me to realize it was Jaimess' other magics they were feeding on. Some exploded into clouds of inflammable black dust while others charged their opponents and sometimes struck true, resulting in powdered patches and glowing chunks of glass decorating the golem's husk.

A particularly dense cone of the sand-like material spewing from the paper dragon's maw served as the proper turning point of the battle. With a single pass, a thick sheet of the stuff covered the entirety of the golem's domain and more. Melting the powder into a coat of molten glass that, more or less, immobilized the golem entirely. Allowing Jaimess to withdraw a significant portion of his mana reserves and form a massive pike of the black inflammable powder overhead.

With the passing seconds, however, the material began to condense, harden and change its luster into a form that we knew all too well.

"Is that diamond!?!" His Imperial Majesty spat before anyone else could. Yet, none could answer him, as we were too awestruck at the crystalline pike being grasped by the paper dragon's talons while Jaimess' crab turned to the side and lunged.

With the dragon on a rapid descent and Jaimess imbuing the same crystals into his mace as he rocketed away from the crab, the golem's fate was all but assured. The glass-encased aggregation of tar, lava, and iron shattered into chunks soon after it was impaled by the paper dragon. Leaving a sea of molten glass and a cloud of shredded paper in its place with Jaimess floating triumphantly atop two pillars of manipulated fire spawned from the soles of his boots. A sight that made everyone, myself included, erupt with voracious applause at the sight.

"A flawless execution!" Granddad immediately bellowed.

Followed in turn by His Imperial Majesty's not-so-subtle boasting. "And an excellent display of impromptu strategizing."

The applause and praise continued while Jaimess left the ring and lasted up until Law called the next opponent to the stage. Prompting the cheer to rise to an all-time high and conversely serving to slow the steps of the young lad meekly strolling onto the floor.

"Ah!" His Imperial Majesty grinned wide as he leaned forward on his throne. "Another one of your boy's vassals, Emeric?" He deviously chortled. "We'll have to up the ante on this one."