Emil

Emil crouched behind a set of craggy outcrops by the edge of the desert quadrant. He was lurking atop of an elevated ridge. The sloped rock formation was layered with jagged and serrated surfaces, providing him with ample pockets of space that served as excellent hiding spots. The mountainous terrain was a pain to traverse, but the solid earth was a much-needed reprieve from crawling through the soft and treacherous sands.

He grimaced as he leaned against the rough surfaces. In the background, beneath the stony ridge, the sounds of combat continued to rage. The desert quadrant had suddenly become a hotbed of activity as contestants from across the Nautilus were converging into the area.

That damn commentator.

The reason, of course, was due to Melody’s obnoxious commentary of his performance.

Inadvertently, he somehow became the center of attention for the preliminaries. In this event, students usurped the points of the opponents that they eliminated. Emil, being the current number one ranked contestant with twenty eliminations, had suddenly found himself with a huge bounty on his head. Not only did he monopolize the spotlight, but his point allocation alone was an attractive incentive for someone who wanted to steal a spot into the top eight. Melody’s insistence on announcing his “exhaustion” and “fatigue” only added to the fuel.

It was a self-perpetrating cycle. As news of his feats continued to echo across the Nautilus, more and more contestants arrived to fight him. The more opponents he eliminated, the more attention he received, and the more contestants became compelled to join the fray.

Thankfully, as the battles in the desert quadrant grew more chaotic, Emil managed to find an opportunity to slip away.

How much time is left?

He glanced skyward at the giant clock overseeing the Nautilus. Forty minutes had passed since the beginning of the preliminaries. There was another twenty minutes to go.

I really wished I could speed up time somehow.

He let out an exhausted sigh, relieved that his burning lungs finally had a chance to rest after being relentlessly pursued. His entire body was mauled with injuries. The skin on his back was smeared with acid burns from Castric—the first male student he encountered at the start. His chest and limbs were littered in cuts and bruises. The left side of his arm especially suffered from a nasty gash. Blood still dripped. The adrenaline rushing through his veins ensured that he felt no more that a dull, pulsating buzz. Still, the gruesome sight made him wince.

Emil tore off a chunk of his dusty uniform and wrapped it around the open wound. He pulled the makeshift bandage tight with the front of his teeth. The fabric instantly stained red.

Now what?

He peeked over the outcrop. Sporadic battles continued below by the sand dunes. It would be nice if he could spend the remainder of the preliminaries hiding up here. His spot in the top eight was effectively guaranteed at this point. The number of contestants still standing had diminished significantly.

But I highly doubt Melody would give me that luxury—

His thought was cut short. Emil rose to his feet. It was faint, but he heard it. A single step echoed to his left by a set of troughs near the edge of the ridge. It was unmistakable.

“Who is it?!” he yelled, trying to bait his opponent into revealing themselves. His eyes jumped around while his ears remained alert for any semblance of movement.

Soon enough, a figure sheepishly emerged from the trenches in front of him.

…Charlotte?

The bespectacled brunette crawled to the surface with a wary expression. Emil frowned, unsure how to respond. Charlotte was his friend thanks to Anna’s introduction, but they weren’t exactly friendly enough to overlooking each other in the preliminaries. Still, Emil was not lacking points right now. If she wasn’t willing to fight—

Wait.

He narrowed his eyes. His instincts screamed that something was off. The girl’s movements seemed unnatural. He couldn’t quite pinpoint his discomfort, but an uncanny feeling crawled up his spine as he watched her approach. It was strange how she hasn’t spoken a single word either.

Without warning, “Charlotte” suddenly melted into an effusion of water. Emil froze, his mind hesitated as he struggled to comprehend the disturbing sight. He was slow to react when the outpour of water exploded into a forest of needles.

“Bastion!”

A stone wall shot up between him and exploding projectiles. The water needles pelted the construct with violent patters, leaving behind vicious marks etched in the stone.

Emil suddenly felt a presence behind him.

“Ngh!”

His right shoulder flared with agony before he could even move out of the way. Blood poured from his flank as he felt a deep slash cleaved into his back. There was no time to dwell on the pain. He tossed himself to the side, trying to create some distance between his assailant. The student pursued, not willing to yield a single ounce of space. Not given a chance to breathe, Emil was forced on the defensive.

Water in the form of knives and shivs rained down upon him with all directions. He ducked and weaved, delegating the non-vital areas of his body take the hits. His body was immediately decorated in a fresh layer of cuts and grazes. The wounds were swallow, but the injuries rapidly piled. Mists of blood sprayed into the air from every strike that landed.

I have to create an opening!

Crossing his arms above his chest, he allowed the oncoming shivs to tear into his limbs. He clenched his teeth, enduring the pain as he used the opportunity to manifest gauntlets around his hands. With his fists fortified, he began to swat away at the watery projectiles. His resistance seemed to work—bit by bit, the momentum of the fight began to shift.

“Ha!”

Emil stomped the ground, creating a hole in the earth beneath his opponent’s feet. His foe staggered, caught off guard by the sudden dip in elevation. Emil wasted no time. He lashed out with a quick empowered hook. To his surprise, his opponent reacted by bending backwards. With their unnatural flexibility, they leaned below his attack. Carrying their momentum, his opponent flipped backwards to create separation. Emil tried to pursue, but his advance was instantly halted by another barrage of water needles.

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A mad giggle escaped his opponent’s mouth.

“Good grief, I swear I ambushed you perfectly and yet you still refuse to go down.” They shook their head with visible exasperation. “Honestly, what kind of monster are you?”

Emil realized his assailant was Kai. The half-Gharian wore his characteristic sneer. A pair of water shivs hovered by his waist, bopping up and down with a hypnotic cadence.

“Hello, Emil. Are you enjoying your time in preliminaries? Don’t tell me you thought I would let you go just because you refused my proposal.”

“Not at all. I should thank you for spreading rumors to build my infamy before the event. Want a job as my publicist after I win the Clash of Dawn?”

“Hahaha! There’ll be no need for that!” Kai exclaimed with joy. His scheming eyes suddenly turned murderous. “All I’ve been hearing for the past thirty minutes is how amazing you are. Tell me, aren’t you tired yet? Don’t you want to take a break? You’ve proved your point—you’ve shown our audience exactly what you’re capable of. You’ve exceeded expectations. Just think about all the elites that’ll be waiting in line to speak to you. Why continue this vain struggle? Vanity? Pride?”

Emil wiped the blood leaking from his lips. He’s trying to buy time to let the injuries he dealt earlier take effect. He was starting to feel it now—the dull buzz across his body began to burn with a light scald. Blood flowed down the length of his arms over the folds of his ragged uniform. His head was beginning to feel faint as the adrenaline from the ambush wore off.

What a cunning snake.

He smirked, slightly impressed by his opponent’s schemes. After his ambush failed, Kai elected to take this fight slowly, letting Emil gradually weakened from blood loss. As long as he guaranteed Emil’s elimination, he could secure himself a top place in the knockout rounds of the Clash of Dawn.

It was a despicable strategy, but Emil didn’t hate it. Frankly, it was well thought out. Everything from his illusion of Charlotte and his backup strategy if his ambush didn’t work was planned out meticulously. It would have worked too—if Emil wasn’t trained excessively in close combat.

“I feel alright actually.”

It was refreshing. It’s been a while since he faced a despicable opponent that used their heads.

“Really? You sure you’re not just putting up a show?”

“No. I’m a little disappointed actually.” Emil put on his most conniving smile. “It seemed the rumors were wrong. I thought Gharians hit harder than this.”

Kai’s composure vanished.

“Oh wait, right. You’re a half.” Emil sneered. “Ah. Now it makes sense.”

He twisted his body to the side. A water shiv whizzed by his face. Kai was glaring at him, absolutely livid. His eyes were bloodshot.

“…I changed my mind,” he hissed, his shrill voice lowered to a guttural range, “Watching you bleed out slowly isn’t enough. I’m going to kill you! Right now!”

Water spilled from his earlier attacks suddenly surged, merging to create an array of shivs spiraling around him.

Emil scoffed, raising a stone wall as the shivs stabbed into the obstacle in vicious clanks. He suddenly felt the air pressure change as he noticed a massive stream of mana gather near Kai. His palms glowed a brilliant blue, illuminating the craggy outcrops with an ominous glare.

“Torrent!” Kai roared with visceral fury.

Sensing danger, Emil immediately dove out of the way. The stone wall he created earlier was instantly tore apart by a huge volume of water. Condensed into a large beam, the high-pressured torrent effortlessly smashed through any rock constructs that stood in its way. Emil stared at the aftermath in disbelief. A massive hole, about eight inches in diameter, was etched in the rock formations behind them. Anything that was in the path of the attack had been seemingly erased.

…Was he serious about trying to kill me?

It felt like the intent was there. Not that the Academy will do anything about it—not in the preliminaries at least. The Clash of Dawn was apparently no stranger to the occasional casualty every year. It became common enough that there were even unofficial bets happening amongst the elites about the number of deaths that they might see.

Emil winced. The witch’s words echoed in his head, “Most Exalted have a few screws in their heads loose. You’ll fit right in.” He didn’t believe her at the time, but now he was starting to think that she understated their insanity.

Kai’s assault didn’t stop there. The aftermath of the attack left the grounds of the ridge drenched in water. With a lift of his hands, the water rose, agglomerating into the form of colossal tendrils. Emil groaned at the sight, regretting his decision to taunt the half-Gharian.

“Strike!”

The tendrils swung downwards. Emil narrowed his eyes to trace the trajectory of the swings. He hopped to the side as one of the water tendrils slammed into the earth beside him. The ground beneath his feet rattled from the heavy impact. Stone and debris were flung into the air. A horrifying incision was left in the spot where he had been just a second ago.

Seriously?! Who the hell is this guy?!

Kai’s name wasn’t in any of the Academy rankings nor were there rumors of his talents. And yet, the skills he displayed with his Gift was nothing short of astonishing.

Emil activated Bulwark. The stone fragments flung into air from Kai’s attack suddenly changed trajectories. Bent to his will, they shot straight at the water construct. Loud splashes echoed as the stone projectiles ripped through the watery tendrils. But given their liquid nature, the tendrils immediately regained their original forms.

Not good. Those things are bad news and I have no easy way of removing them. I’m also severely outmatched at range.

He needed to bring the fight back into melee somehow. An idea came to mind as Emil replayed his encounter against Louis von Langford during the beginning of the preliminaries.

“Rise!”

He slammed his palms against the ground. An array of stone protrusions burst from the ground towards Kai’s general direction.

***

KAI

Is that all?

Kai snorted at Emil’s pathetic attempt of a counterattack. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the vicinity for any surprise assaults. None. His acute sensitivity to mana found nothing out of the ordinary.

I’m disappointed.

He reprimanded himself for getting worked up over Emil’s obvious provocations. Part of it was his own excitement. He was ecstatic at the prospect of a challenging fight against the enigmatic Emil Milligan. The delinquent student who became a sudden celebrity due to his clash with Anna Seibert on the opening day. A student who later caught the attention of the Ice Maiden.

Leveraging that fact, Kai spread rumors to build up the hype and infamy around Emil. To his surprise, Emil rose to that occasion perfectly to become the protagonist of the Clash of Dawn. The attention on him, the demand for his appearance, and the spotlight—all of it had grew far greater than Kai could have anticipated. Emil had transformed into a golden fruit waiting to be harvested.

In his head, Kai pictured himself battered after a grueling battle, towering over the unconscious body of Emil who held everyone’s attention. His hard-earned victory over the protagonist of the Clash of Dawn preliminaries would allow him to steal the spotlight blazing down on his delinquent classmate. The ensuing spectacle would elevate his name to new heights.

Everything had been building up to a perfect climax.

Instead, he found his opponent weaker than expected. His excitement had risen to a feverish pitch when his initial ambush had failed. Emil passed his first test spectacularly. But everything went downhill once Kai decided to get serious.

I suppose it’s my fault for getting provoked.

Emil lost his interest when he couldn’t put up a compelling fight. The encounter lacked the suspense. It didn’t have the tension he desired. Kai didn’t feel threatened at all.

He wanted to be the villain who took down the hero in a jaw-dropping twist.

I guess I’ll have to settle for a dominating victory instead.

He could already feel the languidness of the crowd growing. Kai waved his hand. The watery tendrils moved in accompaniment, lashing out against the array of stone protrusions with unmatched brutality. Emil’s stone constructs fractured without resistance, shattering into innumerable fragments.

Kai shook his head in disappointment. Even the stone protrusions didn’t pose a single threat. He decided to end the fight before it dragged any longer.

Hmm?

He realized he suddenly couldn’t see Emil. A dense veil of sand and debris lingered in the space between the two from the aftermath of their exchange, cutting off their line of sight. Kai narrowed his eyes, trying to search for signs of mana use. He found nothing.

…Did he run away?!

He didn’t want to believe it, but it wasn’t impossible—Emil technically had no reason to fight him since he was guaranteed a spot in the top eight with his current rank. In hindsight, the stone protrusions that Emil shot at him had been broken far too easily.

Damn coward! He played me!

Kai let out a frustrated cry.

Just as he was about to pursue, he overheard a faint clattering of footsteps. Out of the dense veil of sand, Emil suddenly burst forth.