Azura was surprised at the end result, and honestly a little concerned. It was a good showing for both of them, but Cynthia hadn’t been able to complete her finisher. After she lost consciousness the cocoon slowly dispersed leaving her opponent drained and tired, but conscious and thus the victor. It was a good tactic against an opponent she didn’t match up well against, he hoped it was enough to get her into the academy.
Roran had paled when she started falling and tried to rise from his seat to go after the medics carrying her out of the arena in a stretcher. However Lily put her hand on his shoulder. “You haven’t fought yet, you may still be called up. I’ll go check on her.” For the first time since Azura had met him he looked visibly shaken. He didn’t respond verbally and just nodded at Lily who proceeded to walk away.
Azura was knocked out of his thoughts by the announcers calling the next fighters. He stood, and walked to the edge of the colosseum seats. If he was going to fight Gareth, he figured it should be suitably dramatic. Apparently Gareth had the same idea, because Azura saw him on the opposite side of the colosseum making a whole in the invisible barrier. After both of them made their whole they jumped into the arena, both of them ignoring the 20 ft drop as they stood confidently staring each other down.
“I was hoping I’d get to fight you. You strike me as the kind of person that can make a fight entertaining.” Gareth wasn’t as cocky as Azura had hoped. He was confident, no doubt about that, but he wasn’t taking this lightly. He was tense and focused.
“Not me, I was hoping for someone a little easier to deal with.” Gareth really wasn’t his first choice of opponent. He was going to have to pull out a lot more stops than he had wanted to. That became exceedingly clear when he had to dodge a fireball, block a lightning bolt, and tank a wind blade less than 5 seconds after the bell rang. “Woah you’re pulling out some pretty big moves right off the bat aren’t you?”
“Oh this? I’m just getting warmed up, don’t worry I still have plenty to show off.” Well Gareth definitely got points for bantering, but frankly he would rather him start out a little slower.
Regardless he didn’t have the time to be playing around as he desperately dodged, blocked, and countered the rapidfire magical attacks. He activated his body enchantments to give him a boost, but he didn’t need to draw any mana from them yet. He slid back as he put his shield between himself and hurricane level winds looking to cut him to pieces. He had to abandon the effort and slide to his left as lightning struck the spot he had just been.
Even with the physical boosts his enchantments brought him he had a hard time keeping track of Gareth in the wild storm of spells being flung at him. He just needed a bit of leeway. He ducked under a rock spike and jumped into a roll to avoid the fire pillar that rose to meet him. He put his shield up to block a spear of water that pushed him back a bit. “This is just ridiculous, how much mana do you have?!” He made it sound snarky, but he was genuinely starting to get a little concerned. He couldn’t keep this up forever, he would tire eventually.
“Enough.” Man Gareth was a smug jerk. Not that Azura could really blame him. Frankly he had the right to be a little smug, the amount of magic he was casually tossing around was ridiculous. Azura needed to do something to shift the status quo or he was going to lose.
He swung his sword at Gareth, the interlocking blades separating as a string of mana held them together. The runes glowed silver as a crater formed where the furthest blade hit, Gareth had dodged it rather handily, but it stopped him from casting for a moment. Azura didn’t waste his chance, his sword retracted as his shield glowed with an ice light as he slammed it into the ground creating a thick ice half dome between him and Gareth. He just needed a second to think.
“I wasn’t really expecting such a defensive strategy from you, but I suppose you did say you were a support specialist.” His voice was full of open derision, but Azura knew that he was just looking to throw him off balance.
“Well sorry, not all of us can just spam spells until our opponents die. Some of us actually have brains we have to use.” Unfortunately for Gareth no one was better at making people angry than he was. He figured Gareth had lost his temper a little when a gout of fire slammed into his icy shield, sublimating it almost instantly, and enveloping the field in steam. That had been his goal, he imagined even Gareth wouldn’t waste his powerful spells if he couldn’t see his enemy to aim, and a spell with a big enough area of effect would waste way too much mana.
He had a couple different ideas on how to end this, but he was going to have to get a better idea of what Gareth could really do before deciding which one was best. He couldn’t afford to be reckless here.
***
“Oh come on, no fair I can’t see anything now!” Katy was a little relieved to see Roran recover some energy, but it was offset a little by how tense she was. Azura’s opponent was no joke, he had talked some to her about his first trial, and as per usual his worst case scenario was the one he got stuck with. If any of Gareth's attacks hit him head on before he has a chance to make a mana shield he was going to be seriously injured. That left him with little margin for error, especially because Gareth could apparently afford to casually throw around high level spells.
“Yeah if it helps though, that lack of visibility is a major boon for Azura.” Luna’s comment was immediately followed by a strong wind blowing all the vapor out of the arena. “Or not.” She chuckled, but she could tell Luna was concerned. Luckily it looked like the vapor did its job and Azura was able to close the distance, which meant him and Gareth were now locked in a fierce melee that Gareth was clearly losing.
“Looks like Gareth didn’t put much practice in physical combat, but he’s pretty quick on his feet to be able to dodge like that.” She almost choked on her words as Gareth used the wind to do a set of ridiculously complex maneuvers to dodge Azura's blade even as the pieces separated to increase range. Unfortunately for Azura that little bit of distance was enough for Gareth to regain his composure, and it was Azura’s turn to frantically dodge the spells Gareth was once again rapid firing.
“He hardly has to with that level of control. That sword looks like it’s more of a spell catalyst than an actual weapon anyway.” Looks like Roran was watching this fight rather intently. She was honestly a little uncomfortable with him of all people being that still and focused, but she couldn’t blame him this fight was easily the most intense so far.
“It’s kind of fun watching them take turns like this though, it almost makes it feel like a game.” Luna’s comment was spurred as Azura had managed to go on the defensive by charging through one of Gareth’s wind attacks with his shield. As Luna stated it was Gareth’s turn to frantically avoid Azura’s attacks. He narrowly managed to roll out of the way as the blade slid through the air a mere inch from his head.
She frowned, Azura wasn’t holding back per se, but she figured his bow would let him compete with Gareth in terms of spell power and he had enough mana stored away that it shouldn’t be possible for any human on the planet to outlast him in a battle of attrition. Yet despite that he hadn’t even tried to grab his bow. She really hoped he wasn’t being too overconfident, because whatever he was doing it definitely wasn’t playing it safe.
***
Azura was not happy. Gareth had managed to escape his onslaught and take back the initiative… again. He was once again frantically dodging and blocking powerful spells left and right. He made an ice wall between him to refract the lightning bolt and then had to dive sideways to avoid sinking in the mud that the ground under him had suddenly shifted to.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Man you sure are slippery, I’ve never met a noble so skilled at running away.” Azura had to admit, that was a pretty good jab. If he cared about his nobility anyway.
“I’d say I’ve never met a noble so skilled at uselessly flapping their gums, but sadly you aren’t the first noble I’ve ever talked to.” He was a little surprised that Gareth actually laughed at that one. Aside from his strength and skill he had given off standard nobility vibes, but the laugh sounded genuine so maybe he wasn’t a complete lost cause.
“If you were as good at magic as you are at scathing retorts, this fight might actually be a bit challenging.” The bastard stopped him from retorting with a loud thunderclap. His ears were ringing from the loud sound, but otherwise he was fine. Which was good, because the bird shaped fire spell he was now dodging seemed to be able to move like an actual bird, and staying out of its way was a little tricky.
A quick water spell from him extinguished the flaming bird, but Gareth was undeterred and continued sending his much more mobile spells. He decapitated a rock snake, an icy tiger shattered against an explosive response from his shield, and a stream of water from his sword caused the lightning lizard to destabilize. These animated spells had to take more of Gareth’s focus, but he also couldn’t just dodge them anymore, he actively had to counter. He was burning through energy even faster than before, and it had already been an uphill battle.
“Geez, just send the whole zoo at me why don’t you.”
“So impatient, but if you insist I think that can be arranged.” Apparently Gareth decided that what he really needed was something durable and devastating, So his next spell was a giant rhino made from rock and metal.
“I think I liked the smaller ones better, this one doesn’t seem as cuddly.” His blithe response belied the panic that was coursing through him. Dodging something with telegraphed movements like that was easy, but the dodges had to be pretty wide which meant more energy expended and worse taking something that big and tough down wasn’t exactly his specialty. “Didn’t you say you were a Leone? Shouldn’t you be making Lions or something?”
Gareth chuckled. “Aren’t you a Silver? Shouldn’t you be making dragons?”
“Touché.” Not like he particularly wanted to deal with another big creature while he was playing dodge the Rhino. He jumped on top of the rhino hoping to rest for a second to think, but he had to jump off when its back erupted with spikes. “Enough with the spikes.” He grumbled.
***
Luna wasn’t particularly worried Azura would pass. This bout has easily been the most intense so far, and even if he lost she was confident he had already made a good enough showing to warrant a pass to the next trial. Even still she bit her lip with worry as he continued to burn energy avoiding the rhino. He made a lunge for Gareth anytime he had an opening, but Gareth would just make a rock wall that the rhino charged through, forcing Azura to dodge away from Gareth every time.
“This fight is starting to feel a little tedious.” Katy looked even more nervous than Luna felt, and that was saying something. “Honestly part of me just wants it to end already, but I get the feeling the ending is going to be spectacular.”
“Oh? What makes you say that?” For the first time since the match began Roran looked away from the fight. She didn’t say anything, but she was a little curious too.
“He’s not dealing with Gareth in the way that would be easiest for him, which means he has some stupid melodramatic finisher in mind that he’s trying to set up for.” Oh Azura hadn’t really struck her as the type to go out of his way for an aesthetic finish.
“Is that something he does often?”
Katy’s nervous expression shifted to a small smirk at her question. “Not really, but only because he doesn’t get an opportunity to show off very much. I don’t know exactly what he’s going to do, but I bet it’s going to look super cool.”
They winced a little as Azura didn’t get out of the way fast enough and had to put his shield between himself and the rhino. It only softened the blow so much though, and he was still sent flying hitting the arena wall hard enough to crack it. He jumped to the side as the rampaging beast slammed into the wall with enough force to shake that whole section.
“Well whatever it is, I hope he does it soon. I don’t think he can take much more of this.” It was a little hard to watch him struggling like this. She owed him her life and yet she couldn’t even help him out while he was struggling.
“Even aside from the dramatic finisher he no doubt has planned, he’s not out of new tricks quite yet.” Roran and her raised their eyebrows at Katy, but she didn’t expand on her statement other than her smirk growing just a little bigger.
***
Ok Azura was done with the rhino. He was hoping to use this set up for the finisher, but he guessed it was going to be finisher number two then. He ran to the center of the arena and then stopped on a dime waiting for the rhino to charge him. It didn’t keep him waiting running at him full tilt.
“What the-” Gareth’s strangled yell of surprise came from the magic circle that covered a big area with him at the center. The rhino stopped all movement the second it had fully entered the circle. Markings began to cover the rhino glowing silver and blue as they covered the rocky skin, and metal veins of the behemoth creature.
“You know sending your pets after me wasn’t very nice, so I think I’m going to give you a taste of your own medicine.” Was he taking a bit too much pleasure in stealing control of his enemy’s spell? Probably, but he couldn’t bring himself to care much as the markings fully enveloped the rhino and the magic circle below them faded.
Gareth’s confusion turned to shock as his spell suddenly charged at him full tilt. Azura would admit to perhaps cackling like a villain when Gareth dove out of the way of the giant beast. “What, don’t you get along with your pets?”
Some of his smugness vanished when Gareth used an extremely powerful lightning strike to blow his rhino to pieces, but that served him just fine. Gareth was catching his breath, he probably couldn’t afford too many more big spells like that. Azura hadn’t used up all that much magic in the fight so far, but he was starting to tire so it was about time to try and wrap this up.
***
Gareth was surprisingly actually enjoying this fight. Support or not he had to admit that Azura was if nothing else a suitably interesting opponent. He hadn’t even noticed him leaving a few of his sword blades around the arena to make that magic circle, but even if he had he wouldn’t have suspected that his own spell would be used against him.
He had used up a lot of magic in this fight, but he wasn’t close enough to empty to really worry yet. He probably couldn’t afford to spam spells like he did at the start, so he would have to make his spells really count now.
He realized he wasn’t the only one changing tactics when a thick black smoke completely surrounded his opponent. He tensed ready to react to whatever came shooting out of the smoke. Azura shooting out of the smoke from both the left and the right at the same time was beyond his expectations. However the potent mana being gathered in the beautiful bows they each held was enough to snap him out of his shock.
He frantically sent a spell at each of them, dropping his body enhancements to make sure he could stop both of his bodies from firing. He was a little surprised when both of them exploded in a wave of mana pressure blowing away the smoke from where Azura originally stood. Gareth’s eyes widened when he realized he had been fooled.
The real one hadn’t left the smoke, and worse his arrow was already charged. Gareth barely managed to get a mana shield up before the powerful lightning shot from his enemies bow and shaped briefly into a wolf baring its fangs before slamming into him.
His shield hadn’t been enough to fully block the attack, and he was slammed into the wall of the arena. He spasmed as the electricity coursed through his body, disrupting his nerves and hurting worse than anything he had ever experienced. His vision blurred and he couldn’t even look at the man who was causing him this pain.
Despite all the pain wracking through his body he slowly managed to lift himself from the crumbled heap he had fallen into after hitting the wall.
“Wow, I can’t… believe you can still stand after that.” Azura’s voice sounded exhausted. The words coming out between pants for air. He had won though. They both knew it, standing or not Gareth wasn’t in any shape to continue the fight.
Gareth struggled to choke out some words of his own before he lost consciousness. “That.. trick..won’t work… next time.” He managed to grind out the words just before darkness overtook him.