“Ah… Such a morning… A perfect morning for the competition!” the principal, Carmela Chaikin, said while smoothly breathing in the fresh air.

“You say so, but I feel a lot of tension in the air…” Lakshman said as he looked down at the arena.

“Indeed. The students are fired up! Their teams are seriously pumped up with fighting energy!”

“Which makes me wonder if that’s a good thing.”

Three days passed since Lakshman met with Sevedant and it was time for the competition. It was the one named Joint Lesson which was written on the timetable. Today was the day two teams with girls will be fighting each other to determine the best of them.

“Seven days of school and four days of break, yet we have to do this right before that break…” Lakshman muttered unhappily.

Carmila laughed and said “Why are you feeling so down? Are you sick or something?”

“No, but… looking at the stares the girls are giving each other, I’m not feeling happy at all…” Lakshman said and he gulped nervously.

The two teams were called Surds and Raids. Each of the two teams had evenly placed students which were selected the previous day. Lakshman had been present when the principal had gathered all of them at the hall and called out each name representing a team.

It had alarmed him that Ondine and Emilia ended up in team Surds while Tetra and Cantia joined the Raids. He was worried what the girls would do, but he was confident they will fight as part of their teams.

“Do you remember what I told you yesterday?” Carmila asked him curiously.

Lakshman nodded at her and said “Yes, I remember. Each teams have a king to represent them. A team can only win if that king is either defeated or if they are the last ones standing. Players that take damage beyond their limit will automatically transported out of the field to appear here. Is there anything else I missed?”

“No. You got it right,” Carmila said and she smiled at him.

“Right, but I think they should be named queens since they are all females.”

“Did you say something?” Carmila asked with a glint in her eyes which made him change topics quickly.

“Anyway, I’m very impressed you were able to use the Emperor ranked Barrier Magic Spell called Damegeton.”

Carmila chuckled and said “Actually, I couldn’t. I wanted Felix to help, but he appeared to be busy. So I worked together with the other teachers to use it.”

She gestured towards the teachers sitting next to them. Lakshman nodded his head at them in recognition and they nodded back.

“This is going to be fun!” said a familiar voice from next to him.

Lakshman turned and looked at Spectra sitting next to him. She was grinning broadly while fidgeting with her hands.

“Easy for you to say. I’m the one who’s stuck with job of having to take care of things if they get out of control!” he said in an annoyed voice.

“Don’t worry! I’m confident you can handle it. After all, the Death Titan has confidence in you…” Spectra said and she smiled at him.

“Ugh… Whatever,” Lakshman said with a sigh.

Just then, the referee stood up and spoke. Her voice could be heard loud and clear throughout the entire stadium.

“Now the first week is about to end which is the time for the very first competition of the year!”

The students and teachers clapped.

She gestured towards each team and said “To our left, we have the team Surds and their king, princess Venezuela Sargold!”

When their team name was called out, the students let out a resounding cheer and the other team glared at them. Then they suddenly looked really happy when princess Venezuela smiled at them.

“To our right, we have the team Raids and their king, Sammy Lagram!”

It was the other team’s turn to cheer at being called out and their opponents glared at them. Their king, Sammy Lagram winked at them while waving around.

“And now, let us have a word from our principal!”

Motioned by the referee, Carmila stood up. She cleared her throat and said “To all of my students! Today is a brilliant day to show off what you’ve learnt in this week! Make your best efforts and may the best team win!”

As she finished, there were claps and cheers. Both students and teachers clapped at such amazing words.

The referee nodded at her and said “Thank you, principal for such strong words of wisdom! Now in the count of ten, we will begin… 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…”

“This is going to be insane…” Lakshman muttered and Spectra nodded beside him.

“4… 3… 2… 1… Begin!”

At the moment the referee called out, there was a violent blast. A fast fired energy ball flew through the air and exploded near the Surds team.

“Wow…!” Lakshman said in a shocked voice as he watched the massive explosion occur on the Surds side of the field.

He quickly turned to look at the stands on the other side. Sure enough, students kept materialising with a depressed expressions on their faces. He turned to the principle and gestured towards the students that just appeared out of the field.

“Principle! More than half the Surds have been take out with that one blast!”

“Yes. That’s quite the wonderful quick attack the Raids pulled,” Carmila said with a smile.

Lakshman’s mouth hung open as he could not believe what he just heard. Then he asked “You’re okay with it? That firing attack just as the command was given?”

“Of course, it is. It’s the fault of the Surds for not putting up a barrier in case this exact thing happened.”

“Uh… This is so wrong…” Lakshman said and he turned back to watching the battle.

Both sides were firing energy blasts at each other. With more than half of their numbers gone, the Surds were in a pinch. He could see Emilia constantly casting Healing Magic Spells on the other students who are constantly firing energy attacks to keep their attacks at bay.

Then he heard a familiar voice shout “Slicing Cannon!”

He turned his head and saw Ondine send a wave of energy towards the attacks. The Raids tried to cut off the attack, but they underestimated Ondine. Being a Sage ranked in the North Sword Style, her attacks are very strong and she easily took our more than a dozen girls.

Just then, Tetra shouted “Swords of Infinity!”

A circular shifting divide opened in front of her. Then a wave of swords kept pouring out of it and they flew towards Ondine.

“Damn, Tetra!” Ondine said as she backed away.

As the swords came at her, she began moving at incredible speeds as she dodged and cut at the incoming swords. Then a wave of energy came to her rescue from behind. It destroyed all the swords and caused Tetra to dive out of the way while taking out several other Raids.

“Thanks, Stasha!” Ondine said as she fell back to where her friend stood.

“You’re welcome, but geez… This is one wild turn of events!” Stasha said as she blasted several more energy attacks at them.

Tetra pointed at Ondine and said “You’re going down today, Ondine!”

“Oh really?  Then bring it!” Ondine said and she held her swords at the ready.

Tetra aimed her hand at her and said “Stab Swords!”

Daggers were sent flying towards Ondine at high speed. Ondine charged forward and deflected them away from her. Deflecting them away from her, Ondine reached Tetra and they faced off.

“AAAAAAAAH!!” Ondine screamed as she brought her sword down.

Tetra suddenly smiled which surprised Ondine. She was even more surprised when two swords suddenly materialised out of thin air. Tetra grabbed the swords and blocked Ondine’s sword strike.

As the two began clashing swords, Ondine said “So you can also fight with the sword?”

Tetra chuckled and said “I’m usually the blade of my master, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wield the sword!”

“You’re so full of surprises!” Ondine said and the two of them began laughing as they fought fiercely.

Their clashes were sending shockwaves everywhere and bursts of lighting kept erupting. The girls screamed as they got buffeted by the wild wind and the energy the two of them released.

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“Damn! What are those two thinking?!” Lakshman exclaimed when he watched them fiercely attacking each other.

“This is getting so exciting!” Spectra said as she floated around in excitement.

“Wow…! Those two really are going at it!”

“Really interesting!”

“Um… Is it just me or do they have some sort of grudge against one another?”

“No. I think it’s most likely rivalry.”

“Whatever it is, it’s good! Turn it up!”

Lakshman looked amazed at how energetic all the teachers were. Even the referee forgot her role and kept encouraging the students. He sighed and turned back to watch the action.

The king of Raids, Sammy Lagram, was annoyed as she watched Ondine and Tetra fight each other with immense power. Because of their battle, they are taking heavy losses. On the other hand, the Surds are finally getting their momentum on attacking them.

“Those two are the cause of all this…!” she said in a frustrated voice.

“Yes, but what should we do? Tetra is on our side, but it looks as if she is helping them!” her nearest attendant said angrily.

“Yes, she is. Let’s destroy her along with everyone else we don’t need! “Prepare to fire the Mega Cannon!” Sammy ordered them.

“Yes!” her followers said in unison.

One of them immediately clapped their hands together and said “Dust Veil!”

In an instant, dust covered the entire field and made it difficult for everyone to see what was ahead. This caused the Surds to back retreat back to their side.

“Wow! Where did the dust come in?” Lakshman asked of nobody as it covered the field.

“I don’t know, but it’s annoying! Now I can’t see what’s going on!” Spectra complained unhappily.

Noticing the large clouds of dust floating around, Ondine and Tetra decided to stop their battle. They landed on the ground and looked around. Everything around them surrounded by dust, but strangely it did not hurt their eyes.

“Maybe this is illusion spell someone used,” Ondine said while looking around.

“Yes, but I doubt anyone will make any moves until it disappears,” Tetra said in agreement with Ondine.

Just then, Cantia reached them and said “You two are insane! What were you thinking, fighting like that all of a sudden?!”

“Ah… Well you see… It’s been a while since we fought so we… uh… got carried away…” Tetra said slowly which caused Ondine to chuckle.

“It’s not funny, Tetra! The two of you attacking each other was causing us, the Raids, to lose our numbers! Even our king was upset about it!” Cantia said in an annoyed voice.

“Yeah… Sorry about that…” Tetra said and she looked sad.

“Right! Anyway, where did everyone go?” Cantia asked and she looked around.

At that moment, the clouds of dust began to clear when they suddenly felt something. It was a powerful surge of energy coming from the Raids side of the field. Ondine widened her eyes when she felt how dangerously powerful it was.

“What are your side doing?!” Ondine demanded with a shocked expression on her face.

“I-I don’t know! Do you, Cantia?” Tetra asked.

Cantia instantly shook her head and said “No! I have no clue!”

Back at the stands and watching the clouded field, Lakshman’s eyes widened slightly. He also felt the surge of power coming from the Raids side of the field. He did not know what it was, but it was dangerously powerful.

Then, just like that, the dust vanished as if it was just an illusion. Everyone turned to look in at the side of the Raids field. They were stunned to see almost all the members gathered there as they prepared to fire a very large energy cannon.

“Preparations complete!” one of the Raids said and the king nodded.

“Good. Now fire! Show them hell!” the king ordered them in a loud voice.

With a great surge of power, the energy cannon was unleashed. It dug a groove as it rocketed towards them while destroying everything in its path. Ondine, Tetra and Cantia were the first to get swallowed by the large energy attack and soon followed by the remaining Surds.

Princess Venezuela saw the attack soaring straight towards them and felt it was all over. At that moment, her attendants gathered around and created powerful barriers to protect their king.

“Stop it… It’s no use…” princess Venezuela said in a sad voice.

At that moment, Emilia suddenly appeared in front of her and said “No, princess… I mean, our king! We’re not giving up no matter what! I swore to my master I will fight to the very end and I will keep the promise!”

With that, she gripped her staff firmly with her hands. It was the staff that Lakshman’s magic tutor, Sumara Manjuvad, had given him as a parting gift. After mastering the use of Voiceless Incantations, he had found he no longer needed it, but he did not want to throw it away. So he gave it to Emilia who needed it because of her inability to use Voiceless Incantations.

Emilia raised her staff into the air and chanted a Barrier Magic Spell.

“Spirits of the wind, gather and form a protective shield with the last of my power! Hurricane Wall!”

 In an instant, a powerful wall of wind formed around and rose into the air. It kept rotating round and round to protect the occupants inside it. Emilia, however, stayed outside and smiled as the wave of energy reached them. She was satisfied with doing her best at protecting their king as her final act of courage.

There was a violent explosion which caused dust and wind to fly in all directions. For a few seconds, everything got foggy due to the amount of dust floating around. Then they soon settled and brought the view back to normal.

“Did we get them?” Sammy, the king of the Raids, asked.

At that moment, the dust cleared and they could see the field again. They were stunned to see a rising wall of wind on the side of the Surds. Then the wall of wind dissipated and revealed their king and a handful of members still remaining.

“Damn! Destroy them!” Sammy ordered the girls around and they moved forward to take them down.

Lakshman had watched Ondine, Tetra, Cantia and Emilia get take out by that energy blast. He had already seen them appear at that seats with annoyed expressions on their faces. They were fine and unhurt, but that was not what made him feel so angry. The Raids had sacrificed some of their own members to take down the majority of the Surds.

“No…!” Lakshman said quietly.

He remembered Emilia’s last valiant effort to protect her comrades. She had put so much effort into healing her comrades and providing support fire only to go out while defending her comrades. That was when he finally realised he had influenced her greatly because of the way he fought.

That was when he made up his mind and decided to act. He turned to the principal and asked “Principal! Please let me enter!”

Carmila looked surprised as she looked at him. Then she asked “You know that this is a battle between women, right?”

“Yes, but my comrades were taken out unnecessarily! Additionally, I feel the Surds are at a vast disadvantage. Their numbers are little compared to the numbers the Raids got. So please… Let me help them.”

Carmila looked at him intently for a moment in silence. Then she asked “Can one man make the difference?”

Lakshman looked directly at her and fiercely said “One man can make a difference!”

One of her eyebrows got lifted by his response. She took note of the determination in his eyes and the firmness in his expression. There was no other way around it and she also wanted to see what else he could do other than release massive amounts of energy and restore destroyed equipment.

She finally nodded her head at him and said “Very well. I’ll allow you to join the Surds.”

Lakshman smiled in happiness and bowed deeply before he said “Thank you very much!”

When he straightened up, Spectra said “Good luck!”

Lakshman chuckled and said “I don’t luck because my nickname is Lucky!”

With a cheerful wave, he ran off towards where the referee was standing so that she will send him into the field.