Chapter 168.

PART 1.

Hatori runs to the arena and arrives just when the screen is selecting the fighters. “Was I too late?” he asked the others.

“Nah, you’re just in time,” answered Josh. “Also, you’re first to fight today. Congratulation.”

Hatori just shook his head and walked to the ring. Though so far he has performed great in this tournament, and physically he is fine, but mentally he is straining to keep up. while yesterday he was happy to have won against Josh, that happiness fled away in the night, and he really did not get much sleep.

He overslept slightly as a result today and arrived late in the arena. ‘I dodged a bullet there. I would have lost if I did not show up on time.’ thinks Hatori.

Praduman is Hatori’s opponent. He remembered that small fight he had all those years ago when Professor Bali made them fight in class. Praduman lost to Hatori, and now he wishes to take revenge for that loss.

‘You seem to have reached your limit. You won’t beat me today.’ Thinks Praduman, while glaring at Hatori.

“Begin!” the referee Yantra declares the start of the match, and Praduman sends a stream of fire at Hatori, which is blocked by a wall of water.

Taking advantage of the steam, Hatori conjures the chains, but Praduman manages to evade them. he then taps the ground with his staff, and the floor comes to life, and Hatori has to move constantly to avoid getting trapped in the sticky mud.

Though it is a great maneuver, Praduman is unable to take advantage of this. Because despite his movement, Hatori does not stop attacking him. Hatori is moving his foci constantly to attack Praduman with the small and fast spells, while he charges his big attack behind his back, using his other hand for this. Focusing on the two spells like this is difficult, but Hatori manages to do this.

Unfortunately, the water blast lands to the right of Praduman, so the damage is not what Hatori was hoping for. Still, he took advantage of this, as Praduman was flailing to get out of the explosive wave of water. Hatori turns the water into ice and prepares to blast the encased Praduman, but he surrenders before he can do that.

“Good fight.” he goes to shake hands with him, and Praduman receives this gesture.

After that, he leaves to get warmed up, since getting trapped in the ice is not good for the temperature of one’s body.

Shin is facing Avinash. The duel so is lopsided. Shin is trying his best, but his wind element is neutralized by the stone walls of Avinash, and the sound spells do not have much of an effect due to his conjured enchanted earmuffs. He tried to do the same spell that he pulled on Hatori, but Avinash saw it coming and disrupted the spell before Shin could complete it.

After that, Shin finds himself on the back foot. His defense is broken, he does not have many chances of attacking, and Avinash manages to hit him with one final spell to defeat him, gaining a victory in the process.

Josh wins his match by default since Vivek has not shown up today after he lost to Shin yesterday. Though Josh is happy about this win, he is not happy with the way it has come. ‘I should beat someone strong for this, not win by default because some idiot is too cowardly to show up.’ he thought.

Tom has the next match with Ranveer. In the opinion of this narrator, you should know how that one went already, so let’s not waste words on it, and increase the page count. Save digital trees, people!

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Ravina and Daphne are selected next. Ravina is confident that she will win because of her defense. Sure, she lost to Hatori. but he is a freak of nature, trained by another freak of nature. In her opinion, he does not count.

Daphne, on the other hand, does not look at Ravina with pity, but anger. A strong girl who is afraid of losing so much that she is putting all of her faith in just one style of dueling, and the style is not even that good.

The match starts, and Ravina predictably shields against the initial volley of Daphne. But there are shield breaker spells in this volley, and once her shields are broken, Ravina is hit by the remaining spells quite hard. Daphne then summons her foci into her hands and stands tall above her, another spell ready should she refuse to give in.

“I surrender.” She said bitterly.

Daphne has proven her point. She doesn’t have to lord it over her like this when everyone is watching.

“Is it me or there was more to that fight?” asked Hatori to Josh.

“Yeah. probably. Daphne has told her multiple times not to over-rely on defense so much in front of us, remember?” reminds Josh.

“Oh yeah. I remember now,” muttered Hatori.

He gets up with everyone, as they start to leave. He will not do any training today. As far as he’s concerned, all the battles he has so far are counted as training at this point. instead, he will go take a shower, eat something, and take a long nap. Hopefully, he will have a peaceful sleep today, and he will not come late tomorrow.

PART 2.

Mira is interviewing Aditya. So far, apart from Vivek who was a no-show here as well, all the duelists have spoken openly with her, and have answered her questions calmly, even if she asked them difficult questions such as about their skill or their rank in the ongoing tournament.

“So, tell me, you have participated in the school tournament before. Do you plan to pursue this career beyond school?” she asked.

“Not for now. my goal is to go into law enforcement, dueling is a skill which I feel would help me in that career.”

“But the altercations are different compared to the rules-based fights in the arena. How would that help you then?” asked Mira.

“By building my instincts, and getting my body used to moving under the stress of combat. Besides, the police won’t accept me as I am, there will be a training period.”

“What about your performance in this tournament?” Asked Mira, “Are you bitter due to your losses?”

“I’m not bitter. These are a fine crop of duelists, and losing to them is no shame. True, I would like to win more matches, but I am not bitter about it. but I am sad, it is clear to me by this point that I won’t make it in the team.” Said Aditya.

The interview ends, and Aditya leaves. Mira then starts to write the introduction and conclusion of this article, putting the questions and the answers of Aditya in the middle. It will be published in the school tomorrow.

PART 3.

Vivek is brooding alone in his room. his father told him how once their clan was great, dealing in gold and other luxury goods. But now they are in decline, and he brought further shame upon his name by losing to two nameless nobodies, and a crippled mage.

‘I must regain my pride. But how?’

He falls asleep thinking about this question, but no answer comes to him.