“I must say I was really surprised to see you participate in the tournament,” Ileena spoke to her next opponent. Out of the five of them, Ileena and Growly were the lucky ones to be called out to fight first when round three started.

“Hello, Ileena. How have you been?” Sorilani greeted her.

“I apologize. Hello, Sorilani. I’ve been well. How about you?” Ileena remembered her manners.

“Oh, you know, school, work at the library. The usual stuff,” Sorilani answered with a smile on her face.

“Forgive me for saying this, but I would’ve never expected to see you participating in any events, Sorilani,” Ileena commented. The other participants were still arriving, so they had a short while to talk.

“You can’t just sit in the library and read books all the time,” Sorilani responded, tilting her head to the side, smile not leaving her face. “Besides, it’s my third year now. I’m ought to see what I am capable of too, you know.”

“Humph, best of luck, Sorilani,” Ileena added, a mild smile entering her lips.

“Best of luck to you too, Ileena,” Sorilani said, getting ready to fight.

“Alright! Let’s get round three matches started! Ready?!” Ranga’s voice echoed through the arena, with the spectators cheering and the current participants preparing to give it their all. “Begin!”

“Lightning Strike,” Ileena instantly cast her spell.

“Stone Spikes,” Sorilani responded with her own spell.

Ileena had to jump away to not get hit by Sorilani’s spell, but Sorilani stood firm, letting Ileena’s Lightning Strike reach her.

“Huh?” Ileena was slightly surprised to see her spell did nothing to her opponent when she turned to see what happened after evading Sorilani’s spell. “Oh, I see.”

“What? You’re figured it out already? You’re no fun, Ileena,” Sorilani exclaimed, pouting her lips.

“Earth Magic can be very powerful... if you know how to use it,” Ileena commented, adjusting her glasses. “You’ve used... huh?”

- ‘Crack!’ – The ground cracked under Ileena’s feet all of a sudden, and just like the last time, several stone spikes shot out of it from below.

“Humph,” Ileena was just in time to shift her body and jump away, so she wouldn’t get hit by any of them.

“What? How did you do that?” Sorilani was surprised to see how swiftly Ileena moved to avoid her spell.

“Lightning Bolt,” instead of answering her, Ileena shot a spell of her own, a bolt of lightning shooting from above and down directly at Sorilani.

“Is that the best you can do, Ileena?” Sorilani chuckled, a type of protective layer, made out of earth and stones, forming above Sorilani’s head. It didn’t have any particular shape, but was wide enough, maybe just above one foot in diameter, which was more than enough to absorb the impact of Ileena’s Lightning Bolt spell. “See? Your spell did nothi-”

“Chained Lightning Strikes,” this time, it was Ileena who didn’t let Sorilani finish her sentence, unleashing multiple Lightning Strikes at her.

“Stone Wall,” Sorilani was quick to create a not very wide, but tall enough wall made of stones in front of her to stop Ileena’s Lightning Strikes from hitting her. The Lightning Strikes were smashing themselves at Sorilani’s Stone Wall, damaging it and it almost looked like the wall would crumble and fall apart. Ileena’s spells made several sizable holes inside the stone wall, but couldn’t penetrate it in the end. “Wow, that’s some impressive spell you have learned there, Ileena.” Sorilani spoke after the last Lightning Strike of Ileena’s chained spell hit her Stone Wall.

“Humph,” Ileena let out a mild sigh, dropping her head down.

“My turn again. Rock Volley!” After seeing Ileena dropped her guard, Sorilani went on the offensive again. She created several fist sized rocks in front of her extended palm before releasing them at Ileena. However, Ileena easily dodged the rocks, jumping to her left, but Sorilani wasn’t done yet. “Not so fast, Earth Grab!”

As Sorilani cast her next spell, the ground trembled and shifted, the soil and the dirt raising up and catching Ileena by her feet, the earth solidifying into solid rocks and locking her in place. Ileena’s legs were trapped almost up to her knees, the small heap of earth holding Ileena tight in one spot.

“Sorry, but it looks like it’s my win, Ileena,” Sorilani spoke after Ileena tried to move but couldn’t. “Knowing you, you’d probably have a trick up your sleeve, so... bye, bye. Stone Boulder!” Sorilani extended both of her hands in front of her, creating a sizable, about three feet in size stone boulder in front of her before shooting it at immobilized Ileena. Sorilani couldn’t exactly see at that moment, but for some reason Ileena stopped struggling in order to break free, but was calmly waiting for Sorilani’s spell to reach her.

“Lightning Crush!” Even though Ileena couldn’t move, she could still use her magic. The lightning claw that she created sliced through the Stone Boulder easily, smashing it to bits and never reaching her.

“Wha...” Sorilani exclaimed, not expecting for that to happen.

“Ok...” Ileena tilted her head to the side, giving a glance at her hand that she used to cast her Lightning Crush spell just now, squeezing her palm a few times.

“Huh?” Ileena’s nonchalant attitude made Sorilani feel confused.

“I believe it is my win, Sorilani,” Ileena told her after lifting her head to look at her.

“You really think so? Well, I for one think it is too early for you to say you will win, Ileena,” Sorilani smiled, finding Ileena’s words amusing.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t say I will win. I can confidently say that I had won already,” Ileena said with a calm expression on her face.

“Now that’s an interesting thing to say and here I thought you were much smarter, Ileena. After all, you’re still trapped and can’t move and that’s why... I will win. Stone Boulder!” Sorilani didn’t wait for Ileena to respond, but cast another spell again. This time however, Sorilani created another Stone Boulder to throw it at Ileena from behind. “You can’t really use that lightning claw spell from behind, can you, Ileena?” Sorilani taunted her, feeling confident her spell would definitely hit Ileena before releasing it.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Humph,” a cheeky smirk appeared on Ileena lips before purple lightning flickered in her eyes. “Lightning Feet!” Right before Sorilani’s Stone Boulder reached her, the heap of earth that kept Ileena’s feet trapped cracked and crumbled, purple lightning blasting all if the solidified dirt to dust from within, Ileena jumping away in the next half a second so fast it almost looked like she teleported a short distance. Sorilani’s Stone Boulder flew past the spot where Ileena was standing just a second ago, smashing itself on the ground further away.

“What?!” Sorilani was in shock to see Ileena escape with such an ease.

“It’s over,” Ileena spoke before leaping forward, charging directly towards Sorilani.

“Ah? Not so fast! Stone Wall!” Sorilani snapped out of it, creating a stone wall in front of her which was much bigger and thicker than the first one she had created earlier.

“Twin Lightning Crush!” Ileena’s eyes released a purple lightning discharge, the lightning flowing through her body and into her hands, forming a wide sharp lightning claw as she swung with her right hand.

- ‘Swipe! Smash!’ – The stone wall crumbled.

“Wha..!” Sorilani exclaimed when Ileena swiped her Stone Wall with her lightning claw, smashing it to pieces. However, it didn’t look like Ileena was yet done with her spell. The moment Ileena destroyed Sorilani’s Stone Wall with her Lightning Crush spell using her right hand, another lightning claw was formed by Ileena’s left hand, swiping forward at Sorilani herself. “Earth Barr- Aahhh!”

The earth started to gather and form a protective layer on Sorilani’s right side, but unfortunately for Sorilani, it couldn’t withstand Ileena’s lightning claw which smashed through it, blowing Sorilani away. Sorilani fell on the ground, her body sliding and rolling several meters further to the side. However, the blow wasn’t strong enough to have Sorilani lose her consciousness, nor Sorilani’s protective magic belt activated upon impact.

“Ugh... Ouch...” Sorilani pushed herself to stand up, but managed to only sit up instead. She slumped on the ground, staying to sit on it with her knees placed under her bum. “Wow, you’re really strong, Ileena. And here I thought I had a chance against you.”

“Do you still want to continue, Sorilani?” Ileena spoke to her without moving from her spot.

“Of course not. I can’t even stand up. I give up,” Sorilani said, throwing her hands to the sides, but she didn’t look to be upset about her loss at all.

“Number thirty two surrendered! Winner – number fifteen!” The corresponding judge announced after hearing it.

“Here, let me help you,” Ileena came to help Sorilani stand up.

“How nice of you. Thank you, Ileena,” Sorilani took her hand, standing up with her help. “Ouch...” But it didn’t look like Sorilani could walk on her own.

“I’ll help you walk to where the medics are, so you can get healed,” Ileena offered, staying by her side.

“Sigh... I suppose I was thinking too high about myself, after all,” Sorilani spoke while they walked.

“You were very efficient with using your Earth Magic,” Ileena complimented Sorilani.

“That’s so nice of you to say that. Thank you,” Sorilani said playfully.

“But it was too weak,” Ileena added point blank.

“Boo... Now that actually hurts more than the injuries on my body,” Sorilani said, still having a smile on her face.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You were very efficient in using your magic. You timed your Earth Grab spell perfectly to catch and trap me in one spot, and if it was stronger, I definitely would’ve had trouble defending against the second Stone Boulder you cast at me,” Ileena gave an honest explanation.

“I thought I had a good plan, but it didn’t work in the end. That spell that you used to break free out of my Earth Grab was something else. What was that spell anyway?” Sorilani wanted to know.

“It’s called Lightning Feet, but I can’t use it effectively yet. The best I can do is create a lightning blast under my feet which helps me make a single step in a certain direction,” Ileena said, sounding like she was disappointed with herself.

“It was more than enough to get away from my spell,” Sorilani added, letting out a defeating sigh.

“Thank you. We’ll take over from here,” a man said after coming to get Sorilani from Ileena.

“Ok. Careful,” Ileena let go of Sorilani. “I’ll go back to my seat now. Take care, Sorilani.”

“Thank you, Ileena. By the way,” Sorilani spoke, making Ileena stop and turn around to face her again. “I’ve been thinking... I’m looking to join a student club. Do you have any openings in your club?”

“You’ll have to fill out an application form,” Ileena told her in a somewhat cold voice.

“Great. I’ll see you after the tournaments are over, Ileena,” Sorilani added, showing a smile.

“Humph,” Ileena simply turned around and walked away.

“Welcome back, Ileena. Congratulations on your win,” Narias was happy for her.

“Thank you, Narias,” Ileena smiled, feeling happy.

“You kicked ass, Ileena. That was awesome,” Flavia cheered for her.

“Thank you, Flavia,” said Ileena before asking. “What about Growly?”

“Growly finished his fight only a moment ago and he won of course. Growly’s on his way back now,” Flavia told her.

“As expected,” Ileena said before sitting down. “Now we just need to wait and see who will fight next.”

The fights continued, with many more students entering the four designated fields to fight it out and see who would come out as a winner. There were a lot of participants and the matches had no time limit, so some of them lasted much longer. They had to wait, but it was finally Flamiris’ turn to fight. Obviously, Flamiris was pumped to show off what she could do after watching Ileena and Growly win their fights. The moment her match started, she unleashed the fury of her Fire Magic, but her opponent was able to hold his own against her. The boy student was an Ice Magic user which also made it more difficult for Flamiris’ spells to reach him.

Since it was the third round now, everyone had two wins under their name already, which meant the remaining participating students were stronger too. Still, Flamiris had no intention of losing her match. In the end, it came down to who was more aggressive and being aggressive could’ve been Flamiris’ second name. The boy student simply couldn’t keep up, and after Flamiris landed a hit on him, it was all over. Once Flamiris saw she could overpower her opponent, she unleashed the fiery flames of hell on him, securing herself another victory. As an added bonus, the spectators loved the fight and Flamiris received a lot of cheers, especially from the boys. However, Flamiris openly ignored all the cheers, walking back to her seat and looking like she neither saw her newly acquired boy fans nor heard their cheers.

“Congratulations on your win, Flamiris,” but she was very happy to hear Narias congratulate her after she returned to her seat.

“Thanks, humph,” Flamiris said, brushing her floating hair to the side, some redness jumping on her cheeks, but then she slumped on her chair, showing she might’ve been more than slightly tired.

“Try to get some rest, ok? We’ll be encountering stronger opponents with each new round,” Narias told her.

“Narias is right. We need to use the time that we have wisely,” Ileena seconded his words.

“I’m fine,” Flamiris tried to act tough.

“Yahoo!” Flavia jumped from her seat, cheering louder than any spectator had been before her.

“Hey, I’m trying to get some rest here,” Flamiris complained, raising her voice.

“Finally, it’s payback time, partner,” Flavia declared, lifting her hand in front of her, her fist clenched tight.

“Huh? What?” Narias asked, himself, as well as, Ileena and Flamiris looking confused.

“New matches are starting. Narias and Flavia got paired up,” Growly said. Since Narias, Ileena and Flamiris were talking they missed the announcement of who are to fight next.

“Really? Wow, ok. I guess we should be going now then,” Narias said, standing up to go.

“Let’s go, partner,” Flavia said, jumping to hug Narias around his arm.

“Hey, why are you clinging to him like that when the two of you are going to fight?” Flamiris complained, feeling jealous.

“Why not? Narias is my boyfriend and I’m his girlfriend, and we’re going the same way anyway,” Flavia stated, showing a happy grin. “Come on, partner, let’s go.”

“Ok, we’ll be... off now,” Narias managed to add before Flavia pulled him away to go down the stairs with her.

“Tss... lucky,” Flamiris said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms in front of her.

“It will be interesting to see who of them will win,” Ileena said, adjusting her seating position, so she could see the arena better.

“I’m obviously cheering for Narias and he better win or else,” Flamiris added, squinting her eyes to see better too.