Chapter 159.

PART 1.

The first match is now done. The new opponents are selected, and the names of Daphne and Shin show up on the screen. Both of them stepped up into the arena, and everyone got ready to watch this battle. Most of them are certain that this won’t be a one-sided affair like the first duel, but Hatori and Raven are not so sure.

Daphne observes her opponent. Whereas she is in a serious stance with her foci out, ready to cast spells at a moment’s notice, Shin is in a relaxed pose. He still has those bells in his hair, and no tension on his face. ‘Hmph. With that attitude, he will never beat me.’ she thought.

“Begin!” the referee yantra declared, and the duel begins.

Daphne whipped out her foci in an arc and cast her first spell. She thought it connected, and for a moment, she was horrified. She does not wish to turn Hatori’s friend’s blood into acid and melt him inside out. but that did not happen.

The method of defense that Shin used is very interesting. He did not use any foci. His arms are still hanging by his side. He just sang one note and a shimmering shield appeared in front of him, and Daphne’s spell splashed on it harmlessly. Daphne gaped in shock, and Shin took this moment to attack.

He starts to play on his harp-like foci, and Daphne has to move to avoid the stones coming her way, conjured by Shin and then fired at her. She deflected some of them, hoping to harm Shin with his own conjuration, but all those stones just swerved around him. many people thought that they were enchanted, but Hatori did not sense any magic from them.

“How is he doing that?” whispered Josh.

“He’s using wind.” Answered Hatori softly, to not give away his friend’s secrets.

Daphne prepares another spell, but Shin sees something which she fails to observe. She was standing on the edge of the ring. Therefore, a gust launches her, and Daphne finds herself outside of the ring, still wondering what’s going on, while Shin is declared a winner.

After the fog of the battle clears up, and she plays the moment back in her mind, Daphne realizes what she did. ‘I shouldn’t have underestimated him.’ she berated herself for that mistake.

Daphne takes her place on the bench, as Ravina is called to face Tom. ‘This should be an interesting match.’ she thought. ‘Let’s see whether she can come up with a way to counter his brute strength.’

There is a size difference between these two, and Tom decides to show that that difference carries over to the magic. he started with hard-hitting and energy-consuming spells, but he is using them freely as if he has no concerns about his stamina.

Ravina returns the fire. “She is playing right into his hands,” predicted Raven.

“Yes, she is no match for him in the brute strength.” Josh agreed. Hatori nodded in agreement.

One spell struck Ravina, breaking through her defenses, and sent her flying outside of the ring unconscious. She was about to land on her head, but Tom used a levitating spell to bring her to the ground safely. For that, he earned applause from everyone present there.

Josh and Ranveer are selected next. The slow exchange between them looked like a boring battle, but Hatori spotted what Ranveer was trying to do. “He is pushing him slowly to the corner, trying to box him,” he said to Raven. “He wishes to pressure him and make some mistakes, so he can put him out of the ring.”

Raven shook his head. He didn’t see that tactic coming. He is good at planning for an army, but dueling requires an entirely different mindset. Which is why he is not competing; he is just here as a support.

“Do you think Josh can get out of this?” asked Shin.

“Maybe. If he recognizes what is happening on time,” said Hatori, once more focusing on the duel.

Josh blocked the spell of Ranveer, and it caused him to take a step back. He looked behind himself for a moment and realized how close he was to the outside. by contrast, Ranveer is still in the safer position, since he is barely moving from his starting position.

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‘I need to attack him overwhelmingly.’ He thought. So, he started to cast spells aggressively. But that didn’t work, Ranveer has erected defenses around himself by raising walls and conjuring large boulders.

“If he is using the elements, then I will too.” He smirked, and with a large slash, flooded the ring with water.

“He is not winded.” Noted Nandan.

“Indeed. Most impressive for a boy of his age.” Agreed Dimitri.

Ranveer finds himself on a backfoot this time, as the water is not just spilled across the ring. It is in the control of Josh, and he is using its overwhelming quantity and force to its fullest. It does not take long for Josh to make Ranveer step outside of his defenses, or risk drowning, and once that happens, he quickly attacks him with the flowing water, dropping him outside of the ring shivering and soaked. Surprisingly, both fighters came out mostly undamaged from this duel, aside from some bruises and cuts.

“I got the idea from my brother.” Said Josh. “Remember that brawl in the garden?”

“Yeah.” nodded Hatori. “It is good that we left him on your mother’s mercy.”

They laughed, as the next fighters were selected. The names of Avinash and Yatharth come up. Yatharth is not using conventional foci like a sword or a staff. Instead, he is using a bow of all things. Avinash does not see any arrows on him. but once the duel starts, and he pulls on the string, Avinash sees an arrow being conjured by the bow, which is coming fast his way.

It exploded in the air with such force that he was thrown to the ground. Things do not get any better from there, as more such exploding arrows rained down upon him. the referee Yantra had to intervene, and James was called to treat Avinash’s concussion.

As the pain and dizziness slowly start to fade under James’s spell, Avinash is disappointed with himself. He should not have let that foci distract him, he could have easily taken advantage of the small pause when he pulled on that bow or just ripped it out of his hands. but he did nothing of the sort.

The names of Hatori and Aditya come up on the screen quite fast, since they are the only remaining fighters who have not fought today. Both of them approach the ring, ready for anything. From his stance, Hatori deduces that this guy is an experienced fighter. So, he decides that he won’t play around, and finish the duel as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Aditya knew that Hatori was a student of Zeko. He decides to poke him with small spells and see how he reacts to formulate a strategy. The duel begins, and Aditya moves to follow up on his plan.

At first, things were going nicely for him. but somewhere along the line, Hatori realized what Aditya was doing. As a result, he upped the intensity, and Aditya was unable to match him in the raw magical power. this results in him waking up outside of the ring, having been knocked out by a spell.

The matches are done for the day. The teens who fail to get a victory today are thinking about what could they do tomorrow to improve their odds. Ravina thinks that maybe she should focus more on her defense, while Avinash is still stewing in his disappointment, having no plan for tomorrow at all.

Meanwhile, the winners of today are thinking of keeping their domination the next day.

PART 2.

Dimitri watches the students leave. Now that he has seen them fight, he has an idea of who can make the team, and who wouldn’t. he is glad that he took the idea of Dhiraj to use a magical filter for this. He does not want to manage a large school-wide tournament, it would be a nightmare to plan, not to mention, how long it would take.

They can’t waste all their time in the selection tournament alone. he has to train the team as well, once they qualify.