“Well folks, we have seen some impressive… and terrifying fights,” Harry began before shuddering.

“Who would’ve thought that children could be so dangerous? Anyways are we ready for round six?!!!” The audience all cheered and whooped in response to his question.

“Awh shucks Linky… It seems that the audience is all tuckered out watching the fights guess we should end the tournament here and now… because I asked ARE YOU READY FOR ROUND SIX?!!!” The arena began to shake at the sheer volume of the audience shouting and cheering in response.

“Much better; first, our next contestant requires no introduction, but I will give her one anyway. She is the lady's man, who is also a lady. She is the one who can capture all our hearts while leaving them beating in our chests… ladies and gentlemen… GENTLEMAN JACK!!!”

As Harry gestured to the right-hand tunnel, an explosion of colourful smoke burst on either side of the tunnel exit, while above the arena, fireworks began to burst, lighting up the dimming sky with a rain of colourful sparks.

As the sparks fell to the ground, they all began to warp and take the shapes of woodland animals. Everything from deer to little rabbits. All the animals began to hop and scamp around the arena before stopping on either side of the tunnel exit.

“Uh, ah, ah, ahhhh…” a melodic voice rang out of the tunnel. The little illusionary animals all tweeted, whistled or responded to the tune.

“Uh, ah, ah, ah, ahhhhh,” once again, a melodic voice echoed out somehow even more angelic than the first time. As with before, the animals all chorused in response as if beckoning the owner of the voice to step out into the light.

Out of the tunnel exit in a beautiful ballgown that flowed like it was made of clouds and dreams glided Jack—smoothly moving between the crowd of now bowing illusionary animals.

“I thank you, little creatures, for your lovely voices awoke me from my millennia-long slumber,” Jack said lovingly to the illusionary creatures that looked visibly bashful as they began to dissipate. The audience watching this show before them were left speechless as they watched Jack glide towards her starting position.

As soon as Jack reached the halfway point between the tunnel exit and her mark, she hopped on the spot and did a kick-flip on a skateboard concealed beneath her skirt before skidding to a halt in front of Harry and Lincoln.

“What-up old farts?” Jack said, giving a friendly wave to the duo. Harry, however, gave a big double barrel thumbs up to Jack, fully approving of such a showy entrance.

“Our next contestant is such that I feel I must introduce her in a unique way, So I will begin!! Brilliance before baffle-fields… bringing beautiful bright butterflies behind boastful beasts because best brings bountiful blocks of bold bullion bet on boundless bounties… BAH!!! Bastards bemoan… beg… bow… before BEA!!!”

With his oratorial assault on the second letter of the alphabet, Bea began walking out of the left-hand tunnel flanked by six cloaked figures in dark robes.

Unlike Jack, she didn’t enter with fanfare and fireworks. She just walked with purpose, accompanied by her companions, whoever they were—stopping at her mark Lincoln looked expectantly at her companions.

“Uh… Bea, this is only a fight between you and Jack… Your friends will need to-” Harry began before all six figures flung off their robes, revealing they were each a pair of Bea’s standing on each other's shoulders.

“I know the rules, don’t worry, I am the only one here,” one of the Beas standing on a set of shoulders replied.

“Indeed we may Bea many… but we are still only Bea!” another declared as they circled around the core Bea.

Looking at all thirteen, Beas, Jack, Harry, and Lincoln could see each had a pair of pupils, and all seemed to have a second voice overlaying her normal voice.

“I must protest, ref,” Jack said, stepping forward, unwilling to surrender the spotlight to Bea.

“This is unfair; she has clearly been casting preparatory spells before entering. Just look at her magical clones!!”

“Indeed I did; we are currently buffed such that we could defeat our dear Gunter in a straight-up fight… But please, good Gentleman Jack, tell me this… where in the rules does it say we cannot do this?”

“Buh-it-Guh!” Jack began to sputter as she looked at Lincoln. Lincoln, however, just nodded his head and gestured to Bea.

“Hear that, folks?!!!” Harry shouted down his device; unfortunately, while Harry was a quick study in stoic, the audience wasn’t. So they didn’t hear what was being implied.

“Bea here is correct; despite no rule explicitly stating it was forbidden, every combatant so far has not pre-buffed themselves nor cast spells to their advantage with one exception.”

“But I am sure there is a rule about casting spells before the fights begin!!”

“Indeed, there is one... The combatants aren’t allowed to cast attack spells before the round officially begins… these are not attack spells.” Harry and Jack looked to Lincoln, who once again nodded, confirming Bea was correct. Lincoln then leant down and whispered something to Harry.

“Folks, I have just been informed Kline the Worderer had six high-level defensive spells imprinted on his back prior to entering,” Harry’s declaration sent a stir through the arena’s audience.

“Any more objections?” Bea asked.

“None,” Jack replied through gritted teeth.

“Perfect, Gentleman Jack. Do you have any words to say to your opponent before we begin?”

“I do,” Jack said as she took the device from harry. “I hope your stature is the only thing small about you because… I don’t look down that often, and you are a tad too short to be worth my time,” Jack taunted before handing the device back to Harry.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Ok, Bea, do you have anything to say?” Bea nodded and took the device from Harry, and held it between her and her twelve other copies. All twelve took in a deep breath as they harmonised one phrase.

“Jack is a biiiiiitcccchhhh!!”

With her harmonics completed, she handed the device back to Harry, who was getting increasingly disconcerted by these kids he was acting as an announcer for.

With the provocations given and any potential rule breaks dealt with, the duo retreated to their usual booth and rang the gong to signal the start of the round. Jack, the moment this happened, clicked her heels together and began waltzing up into the sky.

“I am the real New Year's Fairy Waltz… see me glide through the air effortlessly,” Jack declared as she continued to dance higher and higher out of Bea’s reach.

As she did this, Jack looked up to the glowing dim, signalling the start of the evening’s approach. She couldn’t help but admire the view from way up high. Her view, however, was interrupted as a net made of light energy began to form above her.

Looking down to the arena, she could see that all thirteen Beas had formed a ritual circle and were casting the spell mananet. A spell that required a minimum of a duo of casters working together to cast it. But with thirteen Beas all working together, it was cast in one-sixth the time it usually would take.

Now thoroughly trapped in a net, Jack watched in horror as all thirteen Beas yanked on the ropes connected to the net, dragging her to the floor. Groaning as she stood up, she looked down and checked herself. That's when she saw it…

“MY DRESS!!!! YOU GOT MY DRESS DIRTY!!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO MADE THIS?!!!” Jack roared in unrestrained fury as she put her arms out wide, transforming her bracelets into a silvery shield and falchion.

“I would say I’m going to cut you to size, but I guess bite size would be more accurate,” Jack said as she began approaching the Beas.

The Beas, however, weren’t content to stand still and began running around Jack from every direction. Every so often, slapping a hand coated in an elemental attack. Slowly but surely, more of Jack’s fancy dress began to get torn and burnt up. With parts covered in a green ichor.

To make matters worse, Bea had mastered a skill that Mimi had taught her—concealed mana thread. Previously when Bea controlled her other selves, there would be visible mana threads. She knew how to create a depot body to keep control from a different body. But now, the threads were invisible to the naked eye. Only people with mana sight would know which Bea was the real one now.

“STAY STILL AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!!”

“We are both girls, though?”

“SHUT UP AND FIGHT FAIR THEN!!!!”

“My teacher taught me that there is no such thing as fair in a real fight, and only an idiot will follow the rules when fighting,” Bea replied as it appeared more and more of her were manoeuvring around Jack.

“ENOUGH!!!” Jack roared as she took out three reagent packets and began to mutter a spell under her breath. When she completed the spell, she slammed a fist into the ground causing the area floor to warp and change shape.

Much like Daisy had done against Maelsteez, Jack had altered the terrain and stopped the Beas ability to manouver freely. While from the audience’s perspective, Jack now stood in the centre of a large stone flower. Even when retaliating, Jack had to do it in a showy manner.

“Finally got you,” Jack muttered, seeing some of the Beas rubbing fresh bruises where they had been hit by the spell.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha,” much to Jack's chagrin, all thirteen Beas began to laugh as one.

“What’s so funny?!!” Jack demanded, not being fond of being made the centre of a joke she herself hadn’t made.

“You are incredibly dumb… you know that, right?”

“You little… I’ll have you know I am one of the highest-graded students in this academy’s history. I HAVE BROKEN RECORDS!!! That is why I am permitted to behave the way I do!!”

“Oh, I know all that; part of my preparation was to study up on all my opponents. The only rest I got from Mimi hitting all thirteen of me from a dozen angles simultaneously. But it is knowing about that that will let me beat you. I even had my sparring partners use each of your team's preferred methods of fighting to get experience.”

“What has any of this got to do with me being dumb? Get to the point already!!”

“Simple, you have a big weakness,” Bea replied as all her copies began walking in a circle around Jack.

“I don’t have any weaknesses.”

“You’re fooling yourself if you think that's true. But your weakness is a good one… it is a strength under the right circumstances.”

“What is it then, pray tell?”

“You are highly adaptable, and due to your intelligence, you can actually adopt other spells by only seeing them once,” Bea replied.

“And you say that is a weakness?”

“Yep, it is also a strength… but here, against me, it is a weakness. You see, you used the method Daisy used to beat Maelsteez, warp the terrain to stop an agile foe.”

“Exactly, I stopped you, and you call this a weakness?”

“Well, the thing is, I was watching the fights as intently as you were… I was also watching you and keeping close watch of the parts that especially caught your attention.”

“Does this spiel have a point?”

“Simple; what if I set my plan into motion with the intent of you warping the arena floor?”

“Hah… That would be…” Jack’s voice trailed off as she pondered Bea’s meaning.

“And of course, as you said at the start… you don’t look down unless you have to,” Bea added.

Jack realising her meaning, looked down and could now see it. A magical circle that had been carved into the arena floor. One that her own warping of the floor had fully connected. What had once been nothing but a fragmented circle was whole thanks to her using a technique she had seen in an earlier round.

“You see, Lady Jack… we weren’t even playing the same game… Something you learn when facing a real speedster is to aim where they are going to be, not where they are. All the better if you can force them to be where you aim,” As Bea said this, all thirteen Beas stopped walking and stomped on the floor.

All at once, lines they had been carving since the beginning began to light up with Jack at the spell's focal point. Before she could react, Jack had magically conjured chains begin to wrap around her arms, legs and torso. All of which were dragging her down to the floor.

“Jack, it doesn’t matter how fast, strong or even insane you are. If your opponent can predict your movements, you are nothing but a game piece,” the Beas explained in unison as they approached the now fully restrained Jack.

“Concede,” Bea demanded as she slapped the ground and drew out a stone dagger.

“I won’t!” Jack shouted back, refusing.

“Concede, or your pretty face will become less pretty,” Bea warned as she held the knife to Jack’s cheek.

“I won’t!!!” Jack continued to refuse till the moment she felt a prick pierce the skin on her cheek.

“FINE, I CONCEDE!!!... You win…”

With her words, Harry and Lincoln stepped out into the arena from their booth and approached the group of Beas.

“Ladies and Gentlemen… By forfeit, we have a winner… BEA BLACKGATE!!!!” The crowd screamed and cheered for Bea’s victory.