Eli POV

________________________________

There comes a point when success becomes too successful and ends up looping around back into the negative. It was in the middle of the fight with Jeff that this point came, as no matter how hard I prayed or willed, the wind and fire wouldn't deign to touch my items. The moment when Jeff flew through the air caked in mud is the moment that it all went wrong. There was the faint hope that the soldier had been exaggerating the parents' ferocity, but that hope was dashed when they almost rioted at Jeffs' defeat.

What I wanted was to have my inventions beat one or even two casters, something rarely if ever done. It would provide a light upset to get noticed but not enough to upset the whole ranking. Then I could move into the good graces of the academy while hiding behind the secrecy of the guilds 'consultation' to explain away any questions about how I managed to make something so grand. Which would help spread out the glory, or revenge, depending on who was being asked.

But trying to obscure who was responsible for this wouldn't work now. My fellow students and their backers would scour under every rock and scrap of paper to find what talent could have possibly produced such an amazing result, whether they were in the academy or guild. If I don't somehow fob this off on someone else every bitter shrew and peaked at 16 parent here is going to make it their mission in life to bring me misery.

Well no. I'm probably overestimating my ability to cover this up. I have a solid trail for how I made them so I can't disown it. Just one or two conversations with the leatherworker would lay to rest any doubts about where it came from. 

Maybe I could put this all off on some mysterious helper at the guild? Some rouge mage in the shadows they could point towards when they directed their anger. It's a pain in the ass but I may have to resort to using magic in combat and having a gun as a last resort if I want to sell the idea that there is a really powerful rogue mage running around out here. Not the walking, talking technological revolution I wanted but me constantly looking over my shoulders for some aggrieved parents schemes would be a far bigger obstacle. 

My combatant and Ryan were facing off now that Tansen had given his speech and the prerequisite 5-minute break had passed. Frankly, I couldn't believe I would have such shit luck in this match up.

The gong sounded and Ryan summoned a big stone club as he dashed towards the soldier. The soldier just waited until the last possible moment and then used his near inhuman speed to dash past him and smack Ryan in one of his legs with the hammer. The living boulder yelped in pain but managed to keep it together long enough to throw out a human head-sized boulder towards his enemy. 

Forcing the soldier away Ryan carefully moved his leg and apparently nothing was broken because he summoned a plain shield of smooth grey stone and used his club to smack against it in a challenge to his competitor. The soldier hadn't suffered any damage aside from a rough bruising on his left shoulder but he seemed to still be in the fight.

As Ryan charged again the soldier met him head-on. The crowd gasped at his audacity as he ran headfirst into the sprinting mountain. But a tortured scream of air pierced the arena as a tongue of flame sprang out of the backside of the hammer. Ryan had too much momentum behind him to stop now as the soldiers' hammer slammed into his shield. The round piece of stone cracked and shattered with a tremendous crunch as a whole section of the rock was pulverized to dust. A loud thud soon followed as Ryan was knocked to the ground.

The soldier gave him no breathing room this time as he brought the hammer down on the club shattering it as well. Ryan tried to throw some sand based spell to take out the craft but his movements were too obvious. The soldier saw through his intentions and quickly moved to the side as he also slammed the hammerhead against Ryan's left breast piece.

With another tortured scream the hammer was brought down and crushed the wide boulder-like pad on Ryan's left shoulder. 

"I yield" Ryan yelled, as I hung my head.

This whole match had played out more or less as I predicted.

Ryans' earth affinity was the worst element to put up against my equipment. While the flowing water and flames wouldn't be hurt by the hammer, any stone structures made by Ryan would shatter like glass when the hammers rocket function engaged. The principles behind it were the same as a needle puncturing a much softer material. With all of the energy used to summon the stone concentrated in the relatively small area of my hammerhead, the stone summoned would be much harder to break. That's also before you consider that all of its kinetic energy in the strike would be concentrated on a single point as opposed to spreading out over a stone structure potentially several feet wide.

There was also a mobility disadvantage as well. With any of his limbs completely immobilized, there would be no way to effectively counter the wasp-like movements of the soldier, which was something my combatant clearly intended to use to the fullest effect. The only thing I didn't see coming was that he would still charge at the soldier again. It seems Ryan needs a lot more practice in the field if he wants to be a fighter of any worth.

The silence pressed down on everyone like a physical weight. While some people were willing to cheer on the defeat of a caster, tangling with what could be the wounded pride of a scion was another matter entirely. Beyond all expectations, Ryan stood up with a delighted expression on his face.

Once he got up on his feet, he took off his gloves and put out his hands. The soldier obliged him and Ryan looked at the hammer with all the wonder of a child. After a few quick gestures from the soldier, Ryan pressed the hammer in the correct sequence. His swing of the hammer went wild with a blaring scream of flame and the hammer was ripped straight out of his hand into the dirt.

Ryan looked at the hammer with reverence as he picked it up, then he seemed to remember where he was. After handing it back he shook the soldier's hand, which was accompanied by booming applause from the onlookers as the two went off to the entrance of one of the gates that had a few tables of refreshments laid out. 

Now Andrew and Veronica made their way to the main stage. Andrew had his sword leaning against his shoulder as Veronica blew kisses to the crowd and basked in their adoration. But what I was paying attention to was the tortured scream coming from the VIP section.

Thankfully the gong sounded as the bout began. Andrew threw out a quick fireball, followed up with a slash of flame from his sword. Veronica quickly used a water jet to move behind a pillar but she also used it to shoot a quick jab at Andrew. He managed to save his sword from having its enchantment broken but the spell wrought water slamming into the armor overloaded any aid he could get from it, aside from the metal's protection. Apparently, there was some something he had on it because his face suddenly became red with anger.

He threw out a long whip of red flame tinted with blue on the edges which curled around the back of the pillar. Veronica tried to dodge but midway the whip suddenly turned jerked towards her new position and left a burn along her right arm. She threw out a whip of her own and smacked it aside with a loud explosion of steam. This left the battlefield temporarily invisible in a white mist.

A wide spiral of flame washed over the arena and around the pillars to reveal a red suit of armor in the middle of the square. Veronica summoned three water balls and shot them towards Andrew. The first two got consumed by a stream of flame but the third managed to get through which knocked him on his ass and slammed his back into a pillar.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Veronica exploited the opening and surrounded Andrew in a coffin of water. He struggled for a while but his sword got knocked out of his hands and he was panicking as he tried to get out for some air. When his movements slowed the gong sounded again. As the blue prison disintegrated, Veronica threw up her hands as the crowd cheered her name. There was also some clapping from the table that the soldier and Ryan were eating at as well. 

The contenders cleared out of the arena as a troupe of performers came out in red and purple livery to entertain the crowd as the final rounds contestants recharged. Their entrance signaled the surrounding lights to dim even more, adding to the mystique of their show. It was an interesting display full of fire and exotic animals but I was too busy trying to decide on my next move.

I think something with animal bones for my 'helper'. My main force will have to be spells and maybe a sidearm pistol? No, it would be the best weapon that I could have here and would instantly put me above anything they could throw at me. But any chemical-based weaponry had a major obstacle.

There were innumerable chemical combinations for explosions with classic gunpowder being the main contender for my circumstances, but going forward it would be wise to assume I will be watched. If they discover what I'm doing with all of these minerals for the explosives they'll drag me into their most secure torture rooms as they twist the blueprint for the most powerful weapon of their lifetime out of me.

Maybe an overpowered air gun? Well, that would circumvent the chemical limitations and if I used enough pressure it would get within a range of power close to a chemical-based weapon. Then again, having a tank on my arm or back holding in such pressure would shred me to ribbons if it took a fireball or heavy enough bolt. Regardless of this problem this was still a last resort weapon and making something so cumbersome would be a pain in the ass to carry around everywhere. And if I can't take it everywhere then it's not really a last resort weapon. This was hardly my biggest problem at the moment so I just had to shelve it for now.

The main problem was where I was going to make these future weapons. I had no faith in my ability to keep intruders out. How about an underground basement, leading in from the stone lisp on the water? The second floor was obviously no good as it wouldn't hide anything to a determined intruder.

Come to think of it, would making this alternate persona so directly connected to me be a good idea? It might hold off the heat for now but in the future, someone is bound to notice that they only appear when I'm not in public.

As I chewed on this problem the show came to an end. Then the soldier and Veronica came up from the table. Before the gate closed I saw Andrew sitting to the side of the table clearly uncomfortable as he looked at the winners with a bitter expression as his helmet lay in his lap. 

The soldier raised his hammer and Veronica was obviously loving the attention. When they got to the stone center a tense moment reigned as silence hung over the air. The brass clang rang out and Veronica was off in the blink of an eye. She seemed to have learned from her observation and had decided to not give him any breathing room.

A massive wall of 15 feet high water came in from all sides of the soldier.

"A scion spell!" someone gasped breathlessly beside me. So that was why I hadn't seen it before. The spells of scions were special and far more powerful than caster spells if you had the stamina and mana to use them. They were also kept to a special section only scions could use. Which is why I hadn't seen this one in any of the spell books I read.

The soldier looked around and took a running leap towards the wave close to Veronica. This would have been a laughable attempt if not for his gear, which helped push his jump clear over the peak. Veronica looked at him stunned as he landed on one of the pillar heads and quickly launched a stone head at her. 

Veronica managed to gather her wits quickly enough to move but that precious fraction of a second cost her as the head clipped her shoulder, leaving behind a bloody patch of skin and the sound of breaking bone. She clung to her shoulder in pain but when she saw him preparing another missile she launched a large tube of water at him which took the missile head-on. It stopped the stone head but that effort must have expended its mana energy because the deluge of water dissipated. 

Veronica surrounded herself in a sphere of water with a few holes in the back leading up to her mouth to allow air around her mouth. She then slapped a strip of leather on her inner left thigh. I could barely make out the skin slowly closing and the bloody exterior of her wound receding. 

The soldier jumped down next to her and braced against the column.  A huge tongue of flame came out over the shimmering surface causing the thing to quickly boil. Veronica, of course, didn't know about the flame thrower function that I had installed. She had a moment of panic as the shield in front of her boiled and the turbulent wave of superheated water made it's way to her through the sphere. She decided to summon another massive wave but only from her side.

He saw this and jumped back up on to the pillar. He stopped the flame halfway up but when he went to remake the head only the lower portion reformed. All of these spells Veronica was using must have been soaking up mana like a sponge.

Fortunately, she wasn't in any shape to press her advantage. Her arms and bits of her face had scalding burns but the healing strap had apparently run through its reserve of mana after a few seconds, having only healed her hands and arms before it stopped. She laid in the dirt for a long moment panting as she stared at her opponent with determination. 

He apparently didn't feel confident in pressing the attack so he stood by waiting for the head to reform. The head completed its reconstruction after a few seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, the advantage of my crafts low mana costs coming into play. Healing effects function with a much higher level of mana usage, so Veronica hadn't fully healed as he swooped down to finish off his prey, apparently realizing this was the last head he would be getting this fight.

She desperately dodged to the side and weaved around the columns as he tried to finish the job. After several elaborate ducks and weaves, she threw up a water wall that zipped behind her. The timing was perfect as the wall only showed the dirt behind it on this turn, leaving the film thin wall nearly invisible. It hit him and all three pieces of my equipment at once.

The look of triumph on her face was remarkably beautiful despite the burns but it came with a heavy price. She was ignorant of the fact that the head doesn't immediately disappear with the enchantment and took a hard thrust to the gut. At this last blow, she threw out a solid ball of water that slammed him into the side of a pillar.

Veronica landed on the cold stone and didn't get up to gloat about her victory. But neither did my combatant. A long second passed before a flurry of white robes flooded the field. The whole arena buzzed with chatter before the medical head stepped forward into the VIP section and whispered a report. The blond-haired woman in the VIP section looked like she wanted to either explode or cry and was deciding on who she should deliver the verdict too. 

Tansen stepped forward and the assistant remade the wind spell. 

"It appears we are treated to one last upheaval in today's event.  The head of the medical team says both gladiators are down and out cold but the observers can't decide on who was rendered unconscious first. So for the first time, the final match for this year will be considered a draw. Thank you for your attendance." 

The uproar from the crowd was deafening. I was concerned that there might be a riot but the reaction was so varied that the crowd couldn't come to a consensus. Some of the casters' parents were yelling or silently hysteric, while others just sat numbly staring off into space. Most of the peasants were just grateful to be here witnessing this upset first hand and couldn't wait to regale their fellows in the taverns and family tables about the sure to be legendary bouts.

I just sat there trying to decide  what I should do next. But it was getting dark and I was going to need to get moving if I wanted to get home at a reasonable hour 

Eventually, the lights slightly dimmed and the people shuffled out of the stadium. I followed suit and made my way back home. It was a pretty bright night with the stars and all the heavens lit up in a tapestry of stars which I couldn't help but look up at every now and then. The next several days should have some downtime from the classes as all the teachers went over their evaluations. Whatever fall out from this will be what it will be, I just need to maximize the free time I have now.

As I walked in the dark I eventually decided it would probably be better to take the coming storm on the chin and try to find another solution. They won't kill me, I think, and trying to lay the blame on some mysterious mage would just make it more obvious that it's me when the coincidences of appearances and disappearances start piling up. That wasn't even considering any problems such a story might make at the guild. But if the bullied crafter kid spends all his time alone at his house to avoid the mean kids and a powerful mage turns up far away, how likely are people to connect those two? Not very. 

At least, I can still affect change this way.