Chapter 165.

PART 1.

The day starts with Aditya versus Yatharth. Dimitri is not interested in this match. their win/loss records are terrible. At this point, they have no hope of making it on the team. It is a shame that Yatharth was unable to deal with other mages. Dimitri has seen archers in the past in the arena. Yatharth is also an example of why it is so hard for them to actually rise up in the ranks. They are just not versatile enough. As soon as the range is shortened, they are unable to deal with fast spells.

Avinash versus Vivek is a total squash in Avinash’s favor. Dimitri is not clear why that boy is even here in the first place. ‘Doesn’t he have any pride?’ he thought.

Shin versus Hatori however, is a great match to watch for the retired duelist. Though Shin still does not have any destructive wind spells, he is causing a lot of problems with his current knowledge for Hatori. he is not letting him create streams for using the current in his lightning, and of course, cutting the fire by depriving it of oxygen.

The greatest surprise, however, is when he uses his music. Though it is clear to Dimitri that Hatori has protected himself against the effects of sound through his hearing, he forgets that sound can affect a human through many means. Judging by the panic and stampede in the audience, it looks like others also forgot about this. Dimitri and Nandan are the only ones sitting peacefully in the entire arena.

“Urg!” Hatori throws up, as his chest thumps loudly. then his hair caught fire. ‘It pours when it rains.’ He grumbles in his head. His defenses are the only reason why he is managing to have a clear-thinking mind. Otherwise, he would have been running around like the others.

Of course, Shin was able to find this weakness. He helped him in testing his defenses. Once he is done with this match, he must modify himself to get rid of this weakness. But for now, Hatori tries to attack Shin to end this spell, but his accuracy is badly affected. None of his attacks reached Shin.

‘I should put him out of his misery.’ Thinks Shin. One of the bells on his hair then collides with Hatori’s head, and he falls to the ground knocked out. Shin then ends his spell, and the bell in his hair comes back and attaches itself to its former position.

“Shin wins.” Declared the yantra, showing the subtitles due to hearing damage in the audience. The fighters are safe, however, since the competitor’s area is protected.

‘I bet this is going to become an issue after this. I can already imagine the outrage.’ He thinks, thinking of the headlines like, “Why competitors are protected, but the audience is not?”

Truth to be told, this narrator would like to know that as well. putting your audience in danger seems a bad way to advertise your sport.

Josh and Daphne are face-to-face. The match starts with two spells colliding. This was followed by two conjurations, where Daphne rises in the air with the pillar below her, while Josh tries to drown her. Josh then freezes the water, and the ice explodes with a blasting spell, and Daphne has to defend herself from the fragments.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

While she was busy doing so, Josh exploded the pillar. Daphne conjured some animals to attack Josh, and Josh did the same. Josh is pinned down with the conjured dogs, and his foci are lost, so he surrenders.

But the animals escape in the audience, causing more panic. “This day isn’t going to end well for you,” said Nandan, as Dimitri had his head in his hands.

Why must these kids make his job harder?

The excitement comes down when Ravina is facing Ranveer. This is a peaceful and normal duel, confined to the ring. Dimitri is furious, however, since Ravina is not showing any improvement after losing to Hatori despite her defensive style. He is enraged further when Ranveer loses, unable to exploit the weaknesses and opening she left for him.

“So much for a strategic mind.” He scoffed.

“Come on now, you said it yourself. He is not used to fighting in the ring.” Said Nandan.

“Whatever.” Sulked the retired duelist, as Tom gained a victory of his own, putting the miserable day to an end.

“Please excuse me, I have to listen to a bunch of hypocritical academics complain.” Dimitri marches off as if he is walking to his own death.

Meanwhile, Hatori has lost his winning streak. ‘I must fill these gaps in my defenses immediately.’ He looks in the audience with his eyes behind the illusion. ‘These people won’t hesitate to take advantage of it.’

Shin is giddy. He has gotten one over Hatori. ‘I must keep this streak going if I am going to qualify.’

PART 2.

Mira is writing an article on the proceedings of the day, and what happened in the tournament. She is interviewing Hatori, and she is rather apprehensive about it since she did not get along with him in the past.

“Let’s start with your performance in the tournament so far. Are you happy with it?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am. True, I have experienced a loss today, and that too a competitor which a lot of people think is quite weak. The thing is, in a tournament this long, it was bound to happen that I would lose some matches. The fact that I have won so many times is the testament to master Zeko’s training.” Said Hatori.

“What about the team? Do you know who can make it, and who can’t?” she asked next.

“I think it is clear by this point by looking at the tournament rankings. Still, it has not ended. But some people have no chance at all by this point because they are just too behind.” Said Hatori.

“The audience was endangered multiple times in this tournament. What do you say to that?” she asked the final question in her list.

“First, that is not my responsibility. I’m not running this tournament. Second, we’re mages, I have been told from a very early age that we walk with death all the time. if the audience can watch us fighting in the ring, then they should not complain if they experience the fallout of those battles from time to time.” said Hatori.

“Thanks for giving me your time,” she said, and Hatori nodded and left.

Mira breathes a sigh of relief. That went better than she expected.