The last round of the preliminaries for group A soon came. Raphael had passed to the semi-finals as expected. Carol, meanwhile, stood on the field. It would be the last match for her group. Some delays caused group A’s match time to be pushed back, but no matter. She would be winning regardless.

Standing on the other side of the field was none other than Tania Sunadi, the very person who threatened her relationship.

“I told you I’m not interested in him!” Tania yelled, probably feeling the death glare Carol was giving her. Her sudden yell naturally caused confusion among the spectators. Some commented, but none of their words reached Carol’s ears. Carol, instead, waited for the words. She took up her fighting stance, her right foot in front. She focused all her thoughts on it.

“Begin!”

Like a cheetah, she leaped forward the second the match began. Going as fast as she can. She concentrated, using all the magic at her disposal. Like a jet fighter, she pierced the air, her sword straight for her opponent.

“EH!?”

Her opponent skipped to the side, dodging the attack.

She’s agile!

Tania discarded her coat, throwing it toward Carol. The turbulence from Carol's strike caused the coat to fly away. She now wore the magic clothing that covered all parts of her body. She dodged to the side and targeted Carol’s back, pulling her short sword out. She stepped forward. Carol twisted her body, dodging the attack, before pulling down her sword on her. The two metal swords clashed, sending a shockwave around them.

“Eh… you’re strong!” Tania admitted, holding down the attack. Carol pushed the strength to her arms.

“I won’t let you lay a finger on him!”

“I told you, I’m not interested!” Tania jumped back, but Carol pushed forward. Like a hungry lion, she pounded on her victim. She swung her sword forward, slashing and cutting. Tania tried her best to defend, using her agility to deflect each strike. She failed to find an opening.

She dashed backward, trying to distance herself, but Carol gave chase. She caught up in an instant, not giving any room to her opponent. She focused all her attention on Tania. Her fast strikes overwhelmed her. Tania’s eyes darted from one spot to the next, trying her best to follow Carol’s movement.

Carol let her left hand go, swinging the sword with only her right hand. Her strikes became flimsy. Tania's eyes widened. She jabbed her short sword. She gasped in the next moment when Carol not only dodged her attack, but grabbed her arm.

“Eh!?” She was unable to move her right arm, her hand and sword stuck in that position. Carol lifted up her sword and hammered Tania’s head with the sword’s pommel.

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

The shield negated most of the pain caused by clashing in the arena, but that didn’t mean there was absolutely no pain.

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Please, use some other method!”

Yet Carol ignored her cries. She held Tania in her position, her grip refusing to let go, endlessly hammering down on her until her shield shattered.

“I give up! I give up! I’m sorry!” Tania cried out, seated on the ground, holding her head, tears in her eyes.

“Promise me you will never use that technique on him,” she said coldly, ignoring the cheers from the crowd surrounding her.

“I promise! Besides, I tried it before, but it didn't work! He literally had zero interest! He even scolded me! Please, I won’t do that to him ever again!”

“If you say so." Carol extended her hand. Tania looked at it before reaching for Carol’s stretched hand.

“I’ll tell him you want to spar with him.”

“Thank you, Miss Kaski.”

“No problem.” Carol caressed Tania’s head, the very same head she had just hammered her sword onto.

* ••

Both Raphael and Carol managed to go through the preliminaries without a hitch.

“That was impressive, Sir!” Koski said as Raphael climbed onto his back. Both the semifinals and finals would be held next Saturday on Mount Moluart, so they had no more things to do in Orotta.

“Thank you very much.”

He opened his phone, receiving several congratulations from friends and family alike. He started replying to them one by one, before arriving at Carol’s.

‘It isn’t over yet.’

“Hm?”

That was all she said. It felt like something obvious to say.

‘Of course not. I’ll continue doing my best.’

‘That’s the spirit!’

“Today was exciting,” Koski said.

“Couldn’t deny that.”

Most of the matches last between five to ten minutes, depending on the skills of the fighters. It was intense, those minutes passing by in an instant. The only exception was Raphael’s, which tended to end in less than one. He only struggled against the first one. The next three matches faced him up against strength-based fighters, one human and two dragons. The human didn’t have the speed to dodge his machine gun that appeared out of nowhere and fell without much of a fight. The dragon, meanwhile, used their flight to escape the opening shots, but they couldn’t really do much else. They, too, fall without much of a fight.

“By the way, Sir, are we ready to depart?”

“I’m ready.”

“Alright, please hold on tight,” Koski flapped his large wings, bringing himself airborne. The dragon traveled west, heading home for Kaleya. Raphael may be able to travel faster than Koski, and he could hold himself against the wind, but the flight to Kaleya would take some time. He could survive sprinting all around the place for a couple of minutes, but it felt tiring on longer trips.

“So, what are your plans now, Sir? Are you intending on training some more?”

“I definitely will… but…”

The last two days had left him busy with the tournament. Even if he spent most of the day waiting for others, he didn’t have much time to sit down and make medicine. He didn’t want to make the same mistake, so he watched and paid attention to all his opponents. Most of the information ended up being useless, with Raphael knocking his opponents out before they could even begin their signature move, but he did feel like he learned a thing or two.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

With that said, he ended up making very little medicine. He intended to use the next four days to make medicine, with the Friday before the match for training. He did well enough so far, it should be enough to restore Koski’s family name.

“Sir?”

“I think I’ll take some rest.”

“A wise choice. There’s no reason to push your body too far if it ends up too exhausted for a fight.”

That isn’t exactly the thing I had in mind.

He would still reduce the amount of medicine he made, but he wouldn’t stop entirely. Someone out there needed them. He would make sure that he didn’t go too far, though.

“To think two humans managed to somehow make it through…” Koski muttered all of a sudden. His sound was covered by the wind surrounding them, making it hard for Raphael to hear what exactly he said.

“Make it through?” Raphael asked, confirming what he had just heard.

“Ah, sorry about that, Sir. I mean, two humans managed to make it through to the semi-finals. This is the first time in decades that a human managed to make it through preliminaries. I couldn’t remember when the last time that happened.”

“I see.”

Who is this other one?

Was it a Ranger? Raphael knew that the Rangers tended to send representatives to fight.

Or maybe it was one of his fans, looking forward to meeting and fighting him?

“Do you know who that is?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Yes, Sir. Her name is Carol Priya.”

Raphael’s eyes widened at the mention of her name.

Is that…?

“She’s a representative for the Kaleyan Rangers.”

Raphael pulled out his phone, searching for her messages.

So that’s what she meant.

‘It isn’t over yet.’

The message made sense now. Carol wasn’t congratulating him because she expected them to meet eventually.

… So it’s her… why didn’t she tell me?

Carol rarely ever hides anything from him. With that said, there wasn’t a particular reason why she needed to tell him, either.

But, he did say that he would be participating in the tournament. Was it something he wasn’t supposed to know? If she didn’t want to tell him, then he wouldn’t pry. He was still curious nonetheless.

“Sir?”

“Ah, yes?”

“You’ve been silent. Is there any chance you know this person?”

“Yes. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Girl- EH!?” Koski screamed, shaking his body. Raphael held on for dear life. They were so high up now that Raphael would rather not risk falling down. If he failed his wind magic, he would be dead.

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry, Sir. I’m just so surprised.”

“I’m surprised as well.”

“You do not know of her entering?”

“No.”

Had Koski not mentioned it, Raphael wouldn’t have known until they met in the arena. He typed in a message for Carol, before sending it.

* ••

Carol received numerous congratulations from friends and family alike. The Rangers celebrated her success in going to the semi-finals. She was the first Ranger in decades to be able to go past the preliminaries. The people in Kaleya’s branch were particularly proud of how someone from their little town could defeat other branches, although to be fair, none of the opponents Carol fought came from the other branches.

Both the representative from Orotta’s branch and Giunisnae, a town south of Mount Moluart, were defeated by other opponents. Carol giggled seeing how happy her fellow Rangers were.

She replied to the messages, before remembering something. She searched for Raphael’s name and typed in a message.

‘It isn’t over yet.’

It wasn’t a congratulatory message. This was still far from over. Raphael successfully went past the preliminaries and like her, would be heading into the semi-finals. She didn’t hope to meet him there. She wanted them both to be in the finals, to be the strongest in the area.

Considering that the tournament wasn’t exclusive to Moluart Island, but received participants from other surrounding regions as well, Raphael and Carol’s strengths were undeniable. Thinking about it filled her with motivation. Raphael’s ticket to the finals was almost guaranteed, especially since he defeated the strongest contestant, the victor from the previous year's match, within a minute.

It was a stunning feat, one performed by a person known as a great mage. Carol was nowhere close to his level. If she wanted to stand there before him, she needed to train.

A reply came from Raphael.

‘Of course not. I’ll continue doing my best.’

‘That’s the spirit!’

She wondered if Raphael truly knew nothing about her participation. It wouldn’t be long before someone talked about it, though. Martus, her teacher, literally told her that they were reserving a spot on the local television for her, regardless of whether she passed the semi-finals or not. She practically screamed on the phone call after that, forcing him to cancel. She disliked the idea of putting on a show before the end of the tournament. She still had something to fight for, a first place to reach. She wasn’t going to settle for the ‘semi-finalist’ title

Another notification appeared on her phone screen, this time from the scar-faced lady herself.

“I’ve sent all the recordings available of Raphael’s fight. I’ll send you more if I can find them.” Lerus said as she approached.

“Thanks a lot.”

Lerus sat down beside her, looking at the trainee Ranger who at this point, surpassed even the most senior members of the branch.

“I’m surprised you even asked for them. I thought your head would be above the clouds at this point. No use lying, I definitely will.” Lerus patted Carol’s shoulder. Carol replied with a chuckle before shaking her head.

“Unfortunately, I know Raphael well. He’ll do everything he can to stop me.”

“Isn’t he your boyfriend? Couldn’t you beg him to go easy or something?”

“I could.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I could. It’s easy, actually." Had she called now and asked Raphael to go easy on her, she guaranteed that he would do as said. He didn’t care all that much about winning, she knew that. Whether it was making medicine or dueling others, he would do what made other people happy. He didn’t care about honor, nor money. He didn’t mind losing on purpose if it meant preserving the other’s dream.

“But, I won’t do that. I, too, have my honor. My dreams.” Carol came here to defeat powerful enemies. Enemies that have their own dreams and goals as well. She took the dreams from them, she must take responsibility by giving it her all.

Except regarding Tania. She gladly took Tania's chance any day. That reminded her. She was about to type the spar request from Tania when she received a notification.

‘You’re participating in the tournament?’

The message came as a surprise.

So he doesn’t know?

‘Yes, I am.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

Carol gulped. Was he disappointed? But Raphael wasn’t the type to be disappointed by things like this.

‘Sorry.’

‘Is the reason a secret? Sensitive information?’

‘No. It’s just, I don’t want you to hold back against me.’

‘You bet I won’t. If anything, knowing that I’ll be fighting you fired me up. Don’t disappoint me, Carol.’

‘I won’t.’

‘See you in the finals, take care.’

Carol let out a sigh of relief. Reading his words, knowing his confidence in her, she felt her energy renewed.

We will meet in the finals.

‘Oh, by the way, I met Tania.’

‘The underwear-wearing Tania?’

‘... Is that what you call her in university?’

‘My friends call her that. I don’t. It’s enchanted armor, though, boosts the wearer's agility, or so she said.’

Tania did move surprisingly fast for a human, comparable to her. Had Carol's hold wavered for just a second, she would easily take the upper hand.

‘No wonder.’

‘Let me guess, you dispatch her easily.’

‘I wouldn’t really call it easy. She said she wanted to spar with you.’

‘I have no choice, do I? Why not join me when we spar.’

‘That sounds nice.’

Carol smiled.

Guess he’s not building a harem after all.