The first round of five matches only took a little over half an hour to complete. Near the end, there were more and more unknown faces that had appeared, as quite a few professionals had already been eliminated in earlier rounds. However, most of these civilians were swiftly eliminated, only a few able to put up a proper fight.
In the end, the final list of sixty-four people who would progress to the semifinals was released. There was a ten minute rest period for the combatants to relax and prepare themselves for the next round. During this time, I had the girls explain the identities of the current participants as best as they could.
The Impaler had been eliminated in the final of her five matches by another of the Chromatic Mages, this one the Silver Mage. The Silver Mage’s magic seemed to revolve around both spiritual attacks and manipulating metal.
Among all sixty-four of the semifinalists, there were two ‘dark horse’ characters. These were civilians whose identities that none of us were aware of. One was a halfling male with black hair and red eyes, wielding a deck that contained a large number of restraining spells. The other was an Ursa woman who reminded me a lot of Keliope. Her skin was dark, and she wore an almost manic smile on her face in battle. Her deck focused on enhancing her powerful body, which allowed her to fight in melee combat to her fullest potential.
There were those who said that she was undermining the spirit of the tournament, using brute force in a battle of magic. However, she was abiding by the rules as they were set. Any mage who wanted to be successful in their adventurers would inevitably need to fight enemies like her that specialized in close-quarters engagement.
Once the brief rest period was over, the fights began anew. From now on, it was no longer a race to the finish, as only two people would be able to secure all five victories now.
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Cass Neil cracked her knuckles as she entered her next match, able to practically see the victory before her. Just a few more opponents, and she would come face to face with the Keeper. So far, none of her opponents had shown her anything that she found too exciting. They had impressive magic, sure, but their own strength was lacking by far.
“Physical Enhancement - All.” She said as she saw her opponent, a middle-aged kitsune woman. Cass watched as dozens of monsters were summoned in unison, some towering over the stage. The largest was a two-headed dragon that had once plagued the southern continent. “Ki Enhancement - Strength. Magic Shield - Maximum.” Cass grinned, feeling her body becoming stronger by the moment.
Her opponent did not utter a word, but her horde of monsters swept in for the attack. The fastest were a pair of leopards with lightning arcing off their body. They were on Cass before she could advance herself. Her body twisted to avoid their claws, feet coming up off the ground to flip over them. As they passed beneath her, her hands reached out, gripping their necks and squeezing hard enough that she felt the bones shatter. “Ki Property - Absorb!” She shouted with a laugh, the lightning from the monsters flowing into her skin.
As soon as her feet hit the ground again, her figure flickered forward. Despite the overwhelming speed increase that came with absorbing the power of lightning, she seemed in full control of herself. The next set of creatures to reach her were a small pack of wolves, their bodies made entirely of stone. Cass could tell that they were some form of golem, so she did not even try to aim for their weak points.
Circulating her ki, Cass created a giant hand that superimposed itself over her own. She formed her hand into a fist, and launched out a series of rapid punches, shattering the stone wolves as she continued her charge.
At this point, she could see the light gathering above her, and knew that the dragon’s breath was imminent. However, this only made her more excited. She could easily reach the summoner long before her own defeat, but she jumped into the air instead. She wanted to crush everything the woman had summoned as a show of power.
What she wanted from this tournament was no grand prize, no lofty riches or a mark in history. Had it not been for the final announcement before the tournament, she would not bother participating. What she wanted was an opportunity. She wanted a chance to have the Keeper train her personally.
It was well known that all of the Keeper’s servants were powerhouses that had been able to display godlike strength long before mortals had begun ascending to godhood. In the eyes of many, this was due to the Keeper imparting them with some special teachings that unlocked their full potential.
It was this teaching that Cass wanted as she dodged the beam of light from the left dragon head, noting how the dragon originally had an ice element. If she could prove herself in this competition, she believed that she could ask for the Keeper to guide her in her path to become stronger.
Cass spun her body, creating a foothold beneath her with ki as her leg lashed out at the dragon’s head, shattering it in a visceral burst. The second head cried out in pain, reaching over to devour her body in its entirety. “Whoops, big guy! Sorry, but I’m no snack!” She laughed, channeling the lightning that she had absorbed from the leopards previously.
Her hand sliced through the air, forming a blade of crackling energy that spit the top half of the dragon’s head. Looking down at the ground, there were only two summons left, a pair of angelic figures standing guard near their summoner. Finding the prospect of fighting them rather boring, she kicked off the air, shooting downwards to aim herself at the summoner.
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Roughly halfway down, Cass suddenly felt pain ripping through her entire body, crying out as both of her arms were cut from their shoulders. She flipped in the air, stopping herself with another ki foothold. Looking back, she saw her arms suspended in the air above her, as if hanging from something.
Blood dripped down from the arms, landing on what looked like an invisible thread. However, the blood was incapable of sticking for long, and seemed to be absorbed into nothingness. Cass’s eyes went wide as she realized what she was facing, looking down at the summoner in shock.
Her eyes darted all around her, looking for the smallest anomaly, the tiniest flicker of light. It was no coincidence that her arms had been cut cleanly during her charge. If she had to guess, this monster had been spinning its web while she was fighting the other summoned creatures. Now, she had entered the spider’s web, and had to try to figure out which direction the monster would attack from.
Soon, she realized that the threads seemed completely invisible when they were not physically interacted with. Gritting her teeth, she exerted her ki outwards in all directions, kicking up a storm in her surroundings and pushing her senses to the limits.
In doing so, she was able to see it. A massive spider twenty meters long and standing directly in front of her, its mouth already descending towards her…
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I gave a shudder as I watched the end of the match with Cass. That was… truly not a good way to go. While she was a powerful combatant, she seemed too focused on the thrill of fighting and displaying her strength, which her opponent used against her by laying down her own trap.
That said, I did not think that the Ursa woman had much chance of winning the final battle either way. Her fighting style was too straightforward to last in a battle against exceptional casters.
While I was thinking that, the next round had already begun, and so I turned my attention towards the display once again. As I did so, I felt something stirring within my shadow, a smile tugging at my lips.
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“And this is it, everyone! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! The final battle of the King of Mages tournament shall now commence!” The announcer’s voice echoed in the arena, the two combatants staring at one another.
“Defending his position from the previous tournament, we have Luciel Lux! The Mage of Light whose radiance shines over all!” A spotlight appeared over a blonde kitsune, who stood tall with a proud expression, wearing a silver robe and holding a pair of magic pistols.
“And our challenger, appearing in these tournaments for the first time! He may be small, but don’t let that fool you! This guy’s proven his worth against all comers! Markus Tralen!” Another spotlight appeared over the black-haired halfling, his red eyes staring forward. Instead of a magic pistol, he simply held a standard card case in one hand. This was typically seen as the mark of a novice, but he had already defeated several veteran adventurers and former champions.
“Will Luciel’s light secure him the win, or will Markus’s chains drag down the sun?! Let the final match… begin!” She shouted, and the two acted immediately. Neither appeared arrogant once the battle started, both taking this seriously. After all, this was a battle of life and death, even if it was just within a virtual environment. The pain was entirely real.
Luciel’s pistols extended forward, and two beams of light shot out towards Markus, who simply remained in place. His hand gripped his card case as he focused on the card he wanted to activate. “Restrict Projectile.”
The two beams twisted as they arrived in front of Markus, turning at unnatural angles to launch into the sky. Luciel’s brow furrowed as he realized that this was a spell which distorted the angles within space. With this type of spell in place, typical projectiles truly would be restrained. “Let’s see how long you can keep this up.” He smiled, flicking his thumbs over the sliders for his pistols.
With another pull of the trigger, two more beams shot out. This time, the two beams curved around Markus, clearly hitting the different folds in space. However, they seemed to navigate through them, showing that they were homing projectiles.
In the end, Markus was not able to avoid getting hit, letting out a hiss of pain as the beams scorched his back, forcing him to slump forward. The announcer’s voice rang out. “The first strike goes to Luciel! But will we see another comeback from our little challenger?”
Markus stood fully upright again, focusing on his cards again. “Restrict Distance. Restrict Light. Restrict Space. Restrict Sound.” He called out, four cards activating in unison. The first made the two appear as if they were standing directly in front of each other. The second caused the light in the stage to dim, a dome of darkness appearing. The third card’s effects were hard to discern through the twisted space, but silence fell after the fourth.
Within the sphere of darkness, Luciel closed his eyes. Light had been sealed, eliminating a good portion of his arsenal. While he was unsure how strong this sealing effect was, he was certain that it would weaken any spell he cast with this element.
He took a deep breath, opening his eyes and flicking the sliders again. He could still see the glowing red eyes before him, but he could not discern just how far away their owner was. In the absence of light, there is darkness. He thought to himself, pulling the triggers.
This was his penultimate spell, which he had created not for a tournament, but in case a true monster appeared before him. He called this spell Dark Erasure, as it was a swathe of darkness that consumed all in its path. He was only able to use this spell card due to the current environment.
Unfortunately, he had no idea if it had worked or not. There was no sense of his mana striking anything with his attack. For all he knew, his opponent was activating more and more restrictions as time passed. In fact, he became certain of it when his body felt heavy. Thick iron chains appeared to wrap around his body, slowing his movement.
Part of him wondered just how the halfling was able to handle this. He had seen in the previous matches that the restrictions put in place were not just on one party. Anything that the halfling had casted affected both sides equally. Thus, his opponent was also blind, deaf, and shackled. However, he had still managed to come this far. Just what was the secret behind that?
Luciel felt the floor tremble, the vibrations of sound carried through the surface instead of the air. Clearly, the other party was making his move. The last thing Luciel saw before the match ended was two red eyes appearing in front of him. The halfling’s face was relaxed, as if used to the restrictions. Half of his face was marred by the shadows from Dark Erasure, but his lips still moved, Luciel able to read them to know what he was saying. Restrict Soul.