ERINA TINSEL

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King Arthureus didn’t even have to pull a name for everyone to figure out who was fighting next. By process of elimination, Roswaal and I would be going up against each other.

If I was asked who I didn’t want to fight, I’d have two answers depending on the context of the question.

The first was that I didn’t want to fight Ilias or Thaddeus. Not because I didn’t think I’d stand a chance against them, but because we’d been so close these last few weeks that going against them would be difficult. I wouldn't have been able to get myself to attack them all out.

The second was that I didn’t want to fight against Roswaal because he was the most dangerous foe here.

Zwergin told me that it was Roswaal that outsmarted Jay Geils and got them their peggy. It was Roswaal who kept Bad Attitude and Earth, Wind, And Fire safe during the last two days of phase one. Roswaal was confident in his abilities—he didn’t hesitate to show us what they were.

I’d been so anxious the moment I knew I was going up against him that I wasn’t even paying attention to Ilias and Asher’s fight. In my head, I was trying to figure out ways I could defeat an opponent that was clearly far above my level.

During the second fight, he had a calm smile on his face as if he was enjoying the battle and not worrying about our upcoming fight. That terrified me even more.

Is he that strong that he doesn’t even consider me a threat to fret about?

After taking the gympie fruit, Asher didn’t want to watch the final fight and exited through Gluttony’s portal.

“I don’t think it’s a mystery trying to figure out who the last fight will feature.” Ivan looked at us. “Let’s get this over with, you two.”

Ilias lent me his wand as I headed to the middle of the shattered arena. There were divots in the ground, shattered earth, and pools of water in certain areas.

Roswaal, who was on the opposite side, smiled at me. “Let’s both do our best, shall we?”

“Yeah…”

“Begin!” Ivan announced.

The moment the fight began, I hopped backwards, enlarging the distance between my opponent and me. Roswaal didn’t bother to move at all. He simply stayed still, observing me with that creepy smile.

“Are you trying to say you’re better than me? Are you trying to say that I’m so weak that I’m not worth moving away from?” I asked.

“You’ve got it all wrong. I’m simply observing you to see what type of person you are. You’re the cautious type that won’t let me go near you. And since you know I’m a Familiar User, there’s no way I can just attack you head-on. Especially at this distance.”

“But you can,” I corrected. “Just because you’re a Familiar User doesn’t mean you can’t attack me from afar. We all just witnessed Asher do that to Ilias. I’ve only seen one of your abilities. For all I know, you could be hiding more.”

“Clever girl.”

Let’s see how fast his reactions are.

I pointed the wand straight at Roswaal, casting six different Fire Balls to come from different heights and speeds.

“White Stripes,” Roswaal giggled.

His Familiar manifested in front of him, the cloud clown punching my Fireballs into nothing as it cried. “Durarararararararara!”

Familiars were bound to their users and I knew that the balls of flame were hot. If White Stripes punched them, Roswaal’s hands would’ve been burnt—skin should be bubbling and melting off. And since Familiar Users couldn’t perform spells, it meant that Roswaal would have no way of healing himself.

The jester kept his hands inside his pockets so I couldn’t see how bad they were. As long his Familiar didn’t have the ability to heal, this battle was winnable.

Hurting Roswaal himself would be impossible, but I wager I could hurt him through White Stripes.

“Are we testing each other’s reaction times now?” Roswaal asked. “I guess it’s my turn.”

White Stripes extended both of its hands as smoke exited from its cloudy body. The smoke settled on the ground before splitting off into five even balls that reshaped themselves into knights made of cloud.

“I call these guys Cloud Troopers. Think of them as my stringless puppets.”

The Cloud Troopers split off, all heading towards me. It was clear all five were trying to attack from different angles.

I managed to shoot one down, but the others were too fast and calculated. As two of them attacked simultaneously I murmured an incantation under my breath and stomped on the ground.

“My Apocalypse!”

The two that were about to strike me were engulfed in flame, their cloudy smoke dispelling. There were two more, but I couldn’t find either.

My blindspot!

I pointed the wand above me and shot a Fire Ball. The Cloud Trooper from above winced as it dissolved.

I spun on my heel to confront the shadow approaching from behind, prepared to shoot a Fire Ball.

But the shadow belonged to Thaddeus, who had his hands raised. “Woah, Erina, relax! Try not to burn down the forest.”

“Why are you in the arena?”

Thaddeus balled a fist and punched me in the nose, knocking me down. The hit was surprisingly light but still had force. He then grabbed my ankle and began spinning as if building up momentum to throw me.

Before he could, I shot him with a Fire Ball. The Cloud Trooper transformed back into smoke and winced in Thaddeus’ voice before dissolving.

So not only can Roswaal’s Cloud Trooper shapeshift, but they can mimic voices too?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

From the looks of it, the maximum he could summon was five. Though there was a good chance he could summon more—but was only hiding the real number to surprise me.

His Cloud Troopers were the definition of quantity over quality. Their hits were light and could be taken down easily. The tricky part about them was their ability to shapeshift and mimic someone’s voice. If he needed to escape, Roswaal could always summon all of his Cloud Troopers and have them shapeshift into him to cause confusion.

“Strategizing in your head, are you?” Roswaal asked before flicking his finger. “I won’t let you.”

Something around my ankle tightened, yanking on my foot and causing me to fall off balance. It was like an invisible rope was tied to my ankle and pulling me towards Roswaal. The rope was tight, but it was light just like the Cloud Troopers.

“Fire Ball!”

The Fire Ball revealed smoke that was fashioned into a rope hugging my ankle. It was camouflaged with the ground.

When did that wrap around my foot? He can’t control his smoke from this far. If he could, he could’ve made a bunch of tentacles attack me.

It must’ve been when the Cloud Trooper disguised as Thaddeus picked me up by the ankle.

I shot several more Fire Balls at the smoke rope, but it was to no avail.

“I can shape the smoke I summon from White Stripes,” Roswaal said. “I can also control their density.”

I’m done being toyed with by him.

Familiars are bound to their users. If I can’t defeat Roswaal because his Familiar is protecting him, then I will attack his Familiar instead.

I shot several Fire Balls at Roswaal, causing White Stripes to defend him with a barrage of punches.

“Durarararararararara!” White Stripes cried as it deflected the Fire Balls.

As the Familiar was busy protecting its user, I spoke an incantation while pointing the wand at the sky and whipping it at the jester. “Ride The Lightning!”

If Roswaal unsummons White Stripes, the Fire Balls would hit him. If he keeps it summoned to protect himself from the Fire Balls, the lightning bolt would hit it. And since Familiars are bound to their users, he would be electrocuted as well.

Roswaal hopped away from the lightning while White Stripes continued to protect him from my earlier spells.

“Durarararararararara!”

The lightning struck the Familiar, dissolving it into smoke. But Roswaal stood where he was unfazed, grinning as he walked back to where his Familiar was struck. The hovering smoke pooled together and reformed back into an undamaged White Stripes.

“How?”

Roswaal giggled and revealed his unburnt hands. “Familiar Users are bound to their Familiars which means if a Familiar gets its right arm chopped off, the same will happen to its user. The same rules apply to White Stripes. But you overlooked one detail: White Stripes is made out of smoke. Physical damage doesn’t work on it because you can’t physically damage smoke.”

This clown is too slippery. He has too many tricks up his sleeve and it seems he enjoys playing with me.

“Do you think I’m some kind of joke?”

“No, I respect you. If I thought of you as a joke, I would’ve knocked you out.”

“There it is! You’re not taking me seriously!”

I wasn’t much of a runner, but I began running laps around Roswaal, sending Fire Balls in all directions which meant White Stripes had to constantly adjust itself to protect its user from my spells.

The smoke around my ankle began to wrap around the jester. He dispelled it before it could tie him up.

Roswaal tried to run after me, but I kept using Ride The Lightning to keep him standing where he was. In between the lightning strikes, I would hold an open hand, sending a heatwave in his direction with Lord Summer—a spell that can cause a man heatstroke in a matter of seconds.

I have to keep him in the same place and get him so weak that he’ll collapse to the ground unable to move. That should get him to surrender.

If by then he still doesn’t, I might just have to do it. But if I do, it has to be the winning blow. I won’t get another chance after and if he recovers, it’ll be my defeat.

Roswaal began to sweat heavy beads of water. He tried to get away from Lord Summer, but lightning kept striking to make sure he couldn’t move from his spot. He panted before dropping to the floor, exhausted from the heat. His Familiar continued to punch away my Fire Balls.

I pointed the wand at Roswaal. “Surrender now!.”

“I can’t attack you like this,” he gasped. “But White Stripes can still defend me from your attacks.”

“Do you remember what happened to the lake back in phase one? We both know who did it.”

“You wouldn’t. You can’t kill me, remember? And the entire royal court along with important military figures are here.”

“I know, but I can hurt you over and over and over until you surrender. Fire is the worst pain that could ever exist. And don’t worry, everyone watching will be fine.” I raised the wand. “I am Erina Tinsel of Frieren and I am a fire mage!”

“You wouldn’t dare, you’ll be powerless if you cast that spell.”

“Yeah, but you’ll be human charcoal. I wouldn’t be able to help you even if I wanted to. So surrendering is the only way to get healed. This is your last chance.”

Roswaal chuckled before making White Stripes extend its hands.

I pointed the wand deep into the forest behind Roswaal. “Though I’m a taboo in the laws of nature, I am destruction incarnate in accordance with the principles of all creation. Let the hammer of eternity descend and let me commit the worst sin of all! Explosion!”

The giant incantation circle summoned right above a deep part of the forest. A beam of light from the sky crashed into the circle, focusing all of its energy into the middle. The light crashed into the forest floor and exploded into a giant fiery mushroom, its flames approaching us.

Roswaal pointed his fingers at the audience. “Jailhouse Rock!”

The indestructible smoke dome he used to protect us back in phase one enveloped the bleachers.

I knew how far my Explosion could reach and I angled it in a way so that the audience wouldn’t be caught in the blast.

I was worried that either Roswaal would use that spell to protect himself or that someone in the audience would get hurt. It seemed as if luck was by my side as I didn’t have to worry about either.

The fires engulfed Roswaal and his Familiar, who remained where they were. The flames roared before stopping inches away from me. Once it died down, the smokey dome around the audience faded away.

Roswaal’s body was charred black, his clothes had been burnt away—his hair too. He was a shadow. But he coughed and groaned.

White Stripes was standing as if it were an empty suit of armour.

“I angled it in a way so that you wouldn't die.” My body soon started to feel numb as my bones turned limp and sensation started to disappear. “Surrender Roswaal, it’s the only way for you to stop the pain.”

Roswaal’s burnt body crashed to the ground and took its last breath before dispelling into smoke.

“Huh?”

Before I fell to the floor, a hand from behind gripped my shoulder and prevented me from falling. This wasn’t a Cloud Trooper. Its strength was all I needed to confirm that.

“Checkmate,” the man behind me said, his voice familiar.

No, it can't be…

“It can,” the Roswaal behind me said. “I’m the real one.”

“How?”

“You passed phase two without cheating so it means you’re very smart. I’ll give you a clue to figure it out yourself: Jailhouse Rock only works when I’m in it.”

Everything clicked.

“The Roswaal I was fighting was one of your Cloud Troopers, wasn’t it?” I confirmed. “The White Stripes it summoned was another one of your Cloud Troopers. You never stepped foot in the arena. You were hiding within the audience this entire time.”

“As I said, you’re a clever girl.”

“So the maximum number of Cloud Troopers you can summon is seven?”

“That is correct.”

“You’re a sneaky clown.”

“Of course, a clown plays tricks. And all tricks are just ways of misdirecting attention. I was able to direct yours away from me. Say the words, Erina.”

I sighed, accepting the defeat. “I surrender.”