Aida was waiting in the wings with the rest of the Water cohort as the Metal cohort finished their matches. She had wedged herself between Levan Bota and Lyn Trippe, their small group in mutual agreement not to discuss their upcoming match - or anything at all, really. Levi had tried to follow her down, nominally to offer her encouragement, but she had been so snappish with him that he opted to stay in his seat with Sue.
Finally, Healer Luk opened the gate, letting the two cohorts swap places in the combat ring. Ezra gave a brief nod to Aida as they passed each other, giving her a small boost of confidence. Professor Havi was the boots-on-ground match supervisor today, and he immediately dismissed them to their combat rings. Aida and Lara Lorr were in the ring closest to the third-year class’s seats, and Aida could hear Sue’s bright cheers rising above the cacophony.
Lara was a serious girl. Her skin was smooth as porcelain, face a stiff mask, with no smile lines around her angular nose. Knowing that Lara and Dev were cousins, Aida could somewhat see the family resemblance. Lara glanced at Aida, a grudging look of respect in her eyes. “I never got to thank you for humbling Dev the other day. But be sure I won’t make the same mistake of underestimating you.”
“Appreciate the warning,” Aida replied. Dev’s request from earlier in the morning swirled through her thoughts. She hated to admit it, but maybe she should reconcile with Levi - enough to at least be able to ask questions about the social side of Maglica.
“Combatants ready,” Professor Havi’s voice warbled through. Aida raised her wand, while Lara raised her two hands to her face, elbows out, bending over her hips. Wandless. That doesn’t look standard. “Begin!”
Lara charged at Aida. Too late, Aida realized Lara had no intention of creating any water at all this match - maybe she intended to avoid using mana entirely. Lara was going to get physical. Flooding her own body with mana, Aida grasped for her adolescent mana surging ability. She managed to barely dodge Lara’s tackle, her fingers latching onto Aida’s jacket enough to send Aida into a tailspin. Panicking, Aida kicked out with her foot, which didn’t do much to dissuade Lara from entering her personal space. Lara lunged at her, catching her around the waist and bringing her down to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.
Trapped on the ground, Aida began lashing out with her elbows and knees, striking ineffectually at Lara’s back and head. She was making contact, but she could tell that she wasn’t hurting Lara at all. Below her flailing limbs, she could feel Lara charging her mana. Aida tried disrupting her flow, but Lara easily blocked her attempt, turning her away like a stony-faced guard calmly removing a drunkard from store premises. With one firm stroke, Lara launched her fist into Aida’s ribs. Aida heard the crack before she felt the pain. Screaming just intensified the agony, which made her scream harder. Lara stood over her. “Stay down.”
Through her pain-induced haze, Aida almost decided to take her advice. She saw all the third-years’ shocked faces in full clarity. Pritchard looked triumphant. Ezra was grim. Caleb looked resigned and sympathetic, and Levi had the courtesy to wince. Sue had leapt out of her seat and was moving her lips, fire raging in her eyes. She was so incensed her hair was lifting around her, surrounding her in an ethereal halo. Sue’s casual words from yesterday floated through her mind. Mental fortitude in battle is more important than physical fortitude.
HEAL!
Slowly, painstakingly, Aida’s mana realigned her broken ribs, sealing everything together. She knew she had a massive bruise over and around it, but she couldn’t afford to spend the rest of her mana fixing those. She rolled over, climbing to her knees.
“Miss Loreh, stay down if you would like the match to end. If you stand up, I will have to let the match continue.” Professor Havi had arrived at their ring. Aida stayed on her elbows and knees, still wheezing heavily. “Good. On the count of three—“
“Wait,” she rasped. She dragged one knee under her, propping her hand on it as she pushed herself up. She heard Lara scoff out an “are you serious?” behind her. Ignoring her, Aida slowly pushed herself to standing. She turned slowly, wincing at the throbbing pain in her torso. Fortunately, it was more of a dull pain, rather than the sharp pain from earlier.
Taking shallow breaths - that seemed to aggravate her internal bruising less - Aida nodded at Professor Havi, who was looking faintly impressed underneath his usual disapproving stare. “Very well. Resuming match.” He stepped back.
“Aida, don’t be stupid,” Lara said softly. Her hands were slowly rising again. “You don’t have enough mana in you to keep going.”
“If not now, when?” Aida returned. She activated her Mana Surge again. Now that she was prepared for it, Lara’s incoming charges were easier to anticipate. Unfortunately, Lara was right. Aida didn’t have the endurance or mana to do much against Lara’s onslaught, let alone counter.
Despite the inevitable outcome, Aida focused on reading Lara’s body and mana, seeking to predict her every move. She knew she couldn’t outright win the match, and likely was unable to score a point on her, but Aida set a more modest goal for herself. She was going to get better at observing how people used their mana in conjunction with their bodies. She didn’t have the power to control the stage, but she was going to anticipate their moves before they executed them.
Lara wasn’t surging. Perhaps she felt she didn’t need to, but Aida was grateful for the reprieve. Aida watched Lara’s back foot push on the ground, launching herself forward - she was obviously coming towards her, but Aida didn’t know exactly where she would go, let alone where her airborne foot would land. Lara’s mana control was excellent; she didn’t let any of it leak through, so Aida couldn’t tell where, when, or if she was planning on using any mana.
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Aida’s focus moved to Lara’s hips and shoulders. There was a bit more of a tell there. The way Lara balanced herself gave some indication of what her next move was. Even the slightest tilt backwards indicated Lara was going to slow down. But it still wasn’t enough.
Aida met Lara’s eyes. This. This was where Aida was able to consolidate all the information. Lara’s eyes were fixed on Aida’s, but there was no true desire to hurt her, the way Pritchard so wished to. Lara’s eyes were focused on only one impersonal objective: win the match. Her face turned as she leapt into the air, her long hair streaming behind her like a cape. Her fist pulled back to prime a devastating punch, but her eyes continued tracking Aida’s. She knew she won. She knew Aida was too exhausted to avoid her strike. Her eyelids lowered in a blink.
And Aida blasted her with the rest of her mana.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Aida woke up in the healing ward. It smelled faintly of burnt herbs or incense. It was dim, with only stars and moonlight streaming through the window. The room was silent, and the curtains were drawn around her bed. Aida flexed various parts of her body, feeling no pain; just heavy. Too exhausted to try to deduce what happened to her, Aida opened up her notification boxes.
Congratulations! You have improved the following attributes:
FOC: 8 [+5 RP]
Congratulations! You have leveled the following skills:
Heal (Lv4) [+6 RP]
Mana Surge (Lv2) [+3 RP]
You have enough RP to learn a new Skill. Please select from the following:
1. Detox (Lv1) [5 RP]
2. Water Cage (Lv1) [110 RP]
Total RP: 78
Too tired to be pleased about the chunk of RP she earned, she closed out of that notification box to look at the attack logs.
You cast Heal (Lv2) on Self. You have repaired major damage. You have earned 50 EXP in Heal (Lv2).
Congratulations! You have reached Heal (Lv3)!
You have repaired major damage. You have earned 100 EXP in Heal (Lv3).
Congratulations! You have reached Heal (Lv4)!
Warning: You are below 30% mana.
You cast Mana Surge (Lv1). Your reflexes have increased 170%.
Warning: You are below 25% mana.
You cast Mana Blast (Lv3).
Warning: You are at 0% mana. You have fainted.
Closing out of the battle logs, Aida shifted her head to look out the window. The stars were beautiful, bright and twinkling. They were large, due to the school being in the mountains, Aida supposed. A small draft from the open window at the ceiling made a paper on the end table rustle. She saw her name written across the top of the note.
Laboriously pushing herself to a sitting position, she reached for the note with a shaking hand.
Aida,
You were amazing! I’m so proud of you. You pushed through a really challenging fight, and knocked yourself out to do it. You’re a blitz! Rest up, and I’ll come see you tomorrow.
This is your year! I feel it in my bones.
Talk soon,
Suelina Sue <3
P.S. Don’t worry, at least your next two matches aren’t going to be as tough as Lara and Dev :)
Finally feeling regret for her recklessness in fighting Lara to the end, Aida sank back into her pillows. She still had two more matches to go. She had no idea what kind of shape she would be in by the time morning rolled around. She cursed herself for her ambition. Try to predict an opponent? When she couldn’t do anything about what they planned to do? What a foolish delusion. Especially against a top-10 student like Lara. She would have been better off staying down like Lara warned her to, and saving her energy against the two remaining Water classmates. She wasn’t even certain the professors would grant her a single point in the match against Lara, so the risk wasn’t even worth it. Would they consider it admirable to stand her ground, or short-sighted to waste all of her mana on one fight everyone already knew she would lose? She probably hobbled herself with this match, and was now on track to lose against Weyn Bure and Lyn Trippe.
Depressed anew, she checked her mana levels, and was pleasantly surprised to see they were close to midpoint instead of near empty. Perhaps they were untouched since Lara didn’t use any elemental abilities.
Well, I’m already here. No point in beating myself up for something I can’t change. Deciding to make the most of the rest of her night in the healing ward, she settled down to do some Mana Cycling.