Felix's group was almost done the shopping till they stumbled upon what looked like a brawl going on.
“ Hey Mr Felix, it looks like something interesting is going on. Let's go check it out.”- Sakura
As they got a good view of the fight, they could see that a big, bald guy, was fighting a dark-skinned muscular guy. The crowd was going wild with excitement. The dark-skinned guy clearly had the overwhelming advantage as the bald guy get single hit on him. The fight came to its conclusion when the dark-skinned guy did a back kick to the other guy's face. The bald guy was out cold and the crowd's cheering increased. Felix decided to get some answers.
“ Excuse me sir, am I to understand that this is normal here.”- Felix
“ Hmm? Oh you must be new to this town young man. Otherwise, you would know about the tournament.”- old man
“ Good guess. What is this tournament you speak of?”- Felix
It's a sacred tournament that King Oscar the 3rd hosts every five years. Fighters from all over come this way to prove their worth. Not to mention the rewards include a ton of money and a chance to meet the king himself.”- old man
“ And I suppose these street brawls are a means to gain approval?”- Felix
“ You're quite sharp kid. These street fights are more or less the official registration. It's a 1-on-1 fight done in crowded areas to allow fairness. Whoever wins enters the tournament and whoever loses drops out. At the start of the tournament, we want the best.”- old man
“ Interesting.”- Felix
“ So this is treated as a festival of sorts. Anyway, the town favorite is Luther Strode over there. Just look at those muscles, he's the strongest fighter here. If anyone has a chance of winning, it's him.”- old man.
Afterwards, the old man went up to cheer Luther on. Meanwhile, this tournament really peaked Felix's interest.
“ Hah, this martial arts tournament sounds like it will be quite a spectacle to see.”- Felix
“ It should be. After all, the military might of the North kingdom is on par with the South kingdom. Not to mention it's next to the ocean, which allows countless fighters to enter from all across the world. Most of them should already be here. Ahh, I wonder what useful guys are here. I really want to see the competition.”- Nina
“ Well I wouldn't mind seeing it myself.”- Felix
“ Mr Felix, do you like these kind of things?”- Sakura
“ Of course. As fellow fighter I always like seeing a good show of combat. Though, I'm not really interested in entering these kind of things, I like watching them.”- Felix
“ Ohhh. Then let's stay and watch them.”- Sakura
“ Yeah that's a good idea. We've been moving around for so long, we haven't had a moment to relax.”- Nina
“ Are you sure about that? The competition is in two days. We have a serious mission and let's not forget Alicia.”- Felix
“ Don't worry about it. Alicia loves these kind of things, she'll definitely approve of some time off.”- Nina
“ Let's stay, let's stay!”- Sakura
With some persuasion, Felix agreed to going into the the tournament. Nina and Sakura were so excited, they had an extra skip in their step. Unfortunately, it ended when they forgot to get some of their supplies. Felix and Sakura decided to go back and buy them, though it was already dark by the time they went back out.
“ Sorry about forgetting the herbs Mr Felix.”
“ It's alright. At least there's not really a crowd anymore.”- Felix
“ You didn't have to come. I could've done this myself.”- Sakura
“ Like I would let a young girl walk out here in the middle of the night. Hey what's with the red face?”- Felix
“ It's nothing!( He really thinks of me as a girl)”- Sakura
They were taken out of their musings when they heard a sudden scream.
“ Mr Felix!”
“ So you heard it to huh!”
“ Indeed, us homunculus have much keener senses than the average human. I'm surprised you were able to hear it.”
“ I didn't spend all that time training for nothing. Come on!”
Felix and Sakura traced sound to a dark alley. When they turned the corner, they see a man being thrown against the wall surrounded by cloaked figures.
“ That appearance. It's the magi dem-!”
“ SHHH!”
( This aura, it can't be!)
Felix quickly silenced Sakura. The were without a doubt demons from the aura they were giving off. The thing that concerned him the most though, was that the one in the lead was giving off a different aura. An aura that was demonic, but was to his best description,otherwordly.
“ We will be borrowing your body Luther Strode. In the name of the great Clarion.”- cloaked figure
( So that's Luther Strode.)- Felix
“ You! Who sent you! What are you after!”- Luther
“ Those who are about to die needn't concern themselves with such things.”- cloaked figure
“ And you expect me to say ‘ oh that's fine’ and just die? DREAM ON!”- Luther
Luther goes for a quick jab for one of the cloaked figures. Unfortunately, this proved fruitless since the cloaked figure vanished before his fist made contact.
“ What?”- Luther
“ I'll be be taking your place in the the tournament and will win to gain an audience with king Oscar. After that, he and the North kingdom will fall.”- second cloaked figure
“ M- monster!”- Luther
The figure removed his cloak revealing his true form. It then struck out pushing his fist through Luther's body. Luther didn't even time to scream as the life vanished from his eyes. The demon then removed Luther from his hand then shapeshifted into Luther's form. Felix and Sakura saw the hole thing unfold. They realized that the influence of Sylvania had finally reached the North Kingdom. Silently, they retreated back to the inn they stayed at. They found everyone eating dinner.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“ A demon in the Windrad port huh?”- Alicia
“ Indeed. You seem to be really carefree considering the seriousness of the situation. A demon just killed someone and took his place as a competitor. This means that Sylvania is about to make their influence cover the entire North Kingdom.”- Felix
“ I see. Alright then, let's take him out.”- Alicia
“ ….. Alicia, a word.”- Felix
“ Mmmm?”- Alicia
“ TAKE THIS MORE SERIOUSLY!”- Felix
“ YEOWCH! What was that for Felix? Now my ears are ringing!”- Alicia
“ This isn't a game we're playing here. A champion contender was just killed by a demon and their trying to meet up with King Oscar. Meaning, if we kill one,they'll continue killing contenders for an easy win in the tournament. Furthermore, King Oscar is good friends with queen Elena. If anything happens to him, it would be catastrophic.”- Felix
“ Sacred tournament, what's that?”- Alicia
“ Miss Nina, I thought you told her.”- Felix
“ Sorry, I was going to mention it after dinner. This tournament is a fighting competition started by the king.”- Nina
“ Ohhh, a fighting competition.”- Alicia
“ Many contestants including mages, swordsmen, and dualists from across the world compete in a tournament to show off their skills. Whoever wins gets a lot of money and a chance to meet King Oscar. Clearly, the demons are exploiting this to get close to the king and kill him.”- Nina
“ So what? You want me to go out of my way and save this king.”- Alicia
“ That would be nice.”- Felix
“ Why do I have to go out of the way for a random king. I'm not interested.”- Alicia
That brought out a bit of killing intent from Felix.
“ Aaalicciaaaa!”- Felix
“ Calm down Felix! It's not like I said I won't help at all! Geez, if you really insist on this Felix, then I'll help.”- Alicia
“ If it's decided, then why don't we enter into the tournament ourselves.”- Nina
“ Why bother?”- Alicia
“ If we enter the tournament, then there's a good chance for us to intercept anymore demons that want to enter and take them out.”- Nina
“ Good idea Nina, only problem is we don't have any reputation since we're only just entering. So they might not notice us.”- Felix
“ NO REPUTATION! DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT THERE'S NO ONE WHO DOESN'T NO THE NAME ALICIA RAND PHILISTINE!”- Alicia
“ “ A thousand years ago maybe.””
“ AAARGHH! NINA, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS THAT YOUR NOT THAT FAMOUS!”- Alicia
“ EXCUSE ME? EVERYONE KNOWS OF THE SCARLET WITCH!”- Nina
“ THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE FIGHTING!”- Felix
“ If it's a matter of reputation, it isn't hard to increase it.”- majin
And so they decided to get involved in street fights to build their reputation. Alicia started by fighting another mage.
“ Gigas lightning”
“ Gyaaah”
“ Unbelievable. Lares is supposed to be the strongest mage in the south region.” “ Yet that woman is pushing him back.” “ I've never seen lightning magic, incredible.”
“ Come on terran, use more power.”- Alicia
“ UGH! How can this woman have so much mana?”- Lares
Alicia was treating the fight like child's play like it was so boring. The civilians though were in total awe as they've never seen an incredible display. Felix and everyone else though didn't look all that shocked.
“ Well this isn't surprising.”- Felix
“ Of course, Alicia's magic alone is at least a thousand times higher than average.”- Nina
“ Sounds about right.”- Felix
Lares could see he was being looked down on. He knew he needed to quickly turn this around. While blocking Alicia with one hand, he summoned magic with his other.
“ I refuse to let you underestimate me.”- Lares
“ Ohhh?”- Alicia
“ Interesting, he's a dual class mage.”- Nina
“ Duel class that means has two elements right?”- Felix
“ Indeed, it's very hard to master one magical element, but to master two to a high decree shows some skill. From the looks of his magic, it should be the wind cross spell.”- Nina
“ Crosswind”
True to Nina's hunch, he did indeed unleashed a cross shaped wind. Alicia though simply looked bemused. She simply raised her finger.
“ Windshell”
Using her own wind she completely nullified that guy's attack.
“ W-w-w-what! But how! That was a high level spell! With just a simple block, how did you?”- Lares
“ Heh, even though you're not that powerful, your magic is pretty decent. So allow me to show you something nice.”- Alicia
Alicia began drawing in a massive amount of mana which began forming to a ball of flame. The look of shock could be seen on everyone's face, including Lares. They couldn't stop commenting.
“ I don't see why this is shocking.”- Felix
“ It's because infernal blaze consumes a massive amount of magic on top of being very hard to use. Wind and earth elements are easy to use because one is practically surrounded by it. Whereas, fire and water are harder to use because one would need something like a catalyst. To do it without one is a show of skill.”- Nina
“ Is that right?”- Felix
“ Wait, I give up! I've lost!”- Lares
“ Yes, you have.”- Alicia
“ Infernal blaze”
“ ALICIA, NOO!”- nina
Alicia finished drawing in her magic and unleashed her spell. A giant pillar of fire could be seen throughout the entire town. What was left was a smoked crater.
“ Alicia you idiot! You killed him! This is going well beyond gathering fame!”- Nina
“ B- but, I was sure he could block it. I even held back.”- Alicia
“ YOU CALL THAT HOLDING BACK?”- Nina
( That idiot!)- Felix
“ M-MONSTER” “ SHE'S A MONSTER” “ RUN AWAY”
Needless to say, everyone was scared senseless by the display. The all ran for dear life.
“ Great, instead of going on the tournament list, we could end up on the wanted list.”- Nina
“ Oh please, it's fine. No one can capture me.”- Alicia
“ To treat life so carelessly. What a cold-hearted mage.”- unknown mage
Felix and his crew were surprised by the voice that appeared out of nowhere. What appeared before them was a young girl. She covered in a hooded cloak, her hair was reddish brown and to the side of her head. She held a staff that was a head taller than she was.
“ To use blaze on a terran, what is wrong with you! Don't you value life at all?”- mage
“ Ah, so it was you who saved that mage, little girl?”- Alicia
“ I am not a kid! Call me that again and I'll make you regret it! I can't stand people who treat life so carelessly!”- mage
“ You! Make me regret it? You must have a screw loose you little washboard! “- Alicia
“ Just say that again you cow!”- mage
“ Hmph, you must seem pretty confident after blocking my infernal blaze you flat-chested adult! But was only a small one so don't get cocky!”- Alicia
“ What did you just call me? You're just asking for death you cow!”- mage
“ Um excuse me, are you……?”- Nina
“ I ain't telling my name to the likes of you people!”- mage
“ I'm still trying to figure out how you're gonna make me regret it, flat-chested adult!”-
“ Uuuuuuuuu, THAT'S IT OLD LADY! I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!”- mage
“ WHAT! WHO'S AN OLD LADY?”- Alicia
The tension in the air was enormous. What was supposed to be a simple brawl became a full on death match.
“ How did things come to this?”- Felix
“ You may be able to use blaze but I'm pretty sure it drained most of your mana! Using it again will just be for decoration!”- mage
“ Decoration, huh? Let's test that out!”- Alicia
Alicia began mana to herself again so she could produce another blaze.
“ Alicia, stop!”- Nina
“ This has gone on long enough!”- Felix
“ Heh, the same spell again? Time to show you they'll always be someone better!”- mage
The mage began her own chant which took the form of a circle appearing on the ground.
“ What the?”- Alicia
“ Nina, that spell.”- felix
“ It's a summoning type spell. That girl is a summoner! I knew it, she's-!”- Nina”
“ Infernal blaze”
Alicia quickly finishes her spells and unleashes it before the mage can attack.
“ Too late, it's already complete!”- summoner
“ Come, Aedus”
The minute she finished her spell, what came from the circle looked like a giant minotaur wrapped in flames. It grabbed the flame ball and began to consume it.
“ What?”- Alicia