Chapter Forty: One On One

Ash walked into the next room with will Lilith behind him. This room was a large stone chamber with many gray slate seats that led down to an arena below. There was a walkway in the middle that led down.

So far, there were maybe twenty applicants. That sat in those seats, including the silver haired elf woman that had been in front of him in line in the entrance hall.

A bald headed man with brown eyes and dressed in a master's black robe stood at the very edge of the arena. He had a hawkish nose, and otherwise smooth features and pale skin. Ash looked at his label and saw then a vial pin was there.

The arena itself was covered with black padding. It may have been leather or some other material.

The bald headed man spoke up. His voice was rich, deeper than a lakes depths.

“Have a seat anywhere. The rules will be explained shortly after all have arrived.”

Ash did as he suggested with Lilith sitting beside him. The dragon girl was looking around curiously, her green eyes alight with curiosity.

“I didn't realize children could be applicants,” an elvish boy nearby him said.

His hair was cut short, a deep, mossy, green and his features were handsome and dangerous like a knife's edge.

He war robes that reminded Ash of a great oak tree. His staff was elegant, an eagles head carved at its top.

“She isn't an applicant,” Ash replied.

“Also, she can hear you, so we shouldn't talk about her as if she's not here.”

The elf's sneering at him, but ignored him otherwise.

Great, making lots of friends today, Ash thought.

Applicant, after applicant began piling in taking their seats as the bald man gave them the same instructions he had given Ash.

Ash saw many different races, including a few dwarves, more elves, some he thought were half elves, and even a couple of visenium.

Nearly, all of dominion is represented here, Ash mused.

Now all we need is more dragons, he directed the thought at Lilith, who snorted in response. He half expected smoke to come out of her nose as it did when she was in dragon form. Thankfully, no smoke was forthcoming.

After what seemed like a long time, but was really less than an hour, the bald man spoke up.

“ Congratulations! You have all passed the hunting portion of of this exam. If any of you have more than a few brain cells to put together, you may have guessed that this is the duel portion of your exam. I am Delvin, Master Alchemist.”

He hooked a thumb at the arena behind him.

“When a pair of names is called, you will go down to this arena, where you will begin your duel at my signal.”

He held up a single finger for all to see,

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“You'll be using wooden practice weapons. You may choose any weapon and you may use techniques. Deliberately Killing your opponent is not permitted and if it is thought that you have done so, you will not only be disqualified, but possibly imprisoned in the dungeon. That said, accidents do happen.”

As he spoke, he flicked up another finger for each rule he mentioned.

“The duel lasts ten minutes, or until you can no longer fight. Whichever comes first. If both applicants last ten minutes, the duel will be decided by myself and Master Swordswoman. Try and keep your duel contained to the arena, spillage is allowed, but you will be stopped if it is deemed that you are a danger to observers.”

“Now, let us begin.”

______

More than half of the applicants had been eliminated just in the monster hunter exam alone. However, in this exam, no one was immediately eliminated, as there was still the exam of potential to go.

Even with that Ash was still worried. Unless he became a bronze ranked adventurer, Amalia would not tell him anything.

While it was possible he could achieve bronze rank without attending Wyrmhaven. He had no doubt that it would be much harder.

There were many talented people here as duel after duel, went on, Ash watched. His observations did nothing to lessen his worry. Some had powerful techniques, while others were nearly as good with a blade as he was.

“Ash Locab and Mina Dawnblade, you're up.”

Ash and the silver haired elf woman from before, Mina, made their way down to the arena. Lillith stayed in her seat as she could not fight with him.

Hey, don't call out warnings with this fight, Ash thought at her.

Lilith's response was quizzical.

Ash frowned, thinking of how he could explain the concept of cheating to her.

I'll explain later, just don't, okay?

The dragon girl rolled her eyes but nodded.

Ash and Mina faced each other on opposite sides some feet away.

Mina's face was set in a neutral expressionless mask. She drew her blade and Ash did the same.

As the clarity of focus he always felt when wielding a sword fell over him. He immersed himself in his elan, getting ready to draw his elar.

Mina's green Gold eyes watched him and ash knew then that she could see. He shifted his form into the heart of winter.

“Begin!” The master alchemist called out.

Ash was expecting Mina to launch herself at him, to go for a full blown offensive attackThat's what her stance indicated she would do anyway.

Mina Dawnblade did none of that.

Silver light, like crushed pearls and pale moonlight, gathered around her blade in an ethereal cloud. With a horizontal slash, she sent this ethereal power blazing toward him.

Ash had already drawn his elar, so it was an easy enough thing to roll out of the way.

Mina calmly continued her assault with her technique sending the same silver moonlight slashes towards him in deadly arcs.

With every roll Ash tried to get closer to her. If he could just close the gap, he could at least attack, disrupt her technique, maybe. If he failed here all he had left was the test of potential and he did not want to place all of his hopes on that.

Mina did not feel like giving him the common courtesy of standing still and allowing him to do this, however.

Whenever he got even the least bit close, she would move and send more of those same arcing attacks from her blade, spinning through the air.

Ash did his best to rack his mind for options.

With no other options coming to mind, Ash pushed his elar out of his back.

The technique he had come to call frost dragons wings manifested.

Sadly, this did nothing to stop Mina's technique.

But Ash had a plan.

A long time ago, when Ash was much younger, it had been winter on the farm. Ice, slick and wet had coated the ground.

Ash, being just a little boy, hadn't realized that running on this ice would be a bad idea.

It had been the first time he had broken his arm.

Flapping his wings, he pushed them towards the area of the arena Mina was standing in, willing his frosty elar to billow forth like air in a winter storm.

He achieved his intended goal. A thin layer of rime covered a small area that Mina stood in.

She tried to get out of the way but the damage had already been done and as she moved, she slipped.

The silver haired elf woman cursed and Ash moved forward, intending to capitalize on the situation he had created.

But Ash himself had made a critical error.

He had assumed.

Mina did not need her sword to use for technique. So as Ash came forward, she raised her hand at the last possible second as his sword descended toward her.

Power coalesced in her hand and she shot him in the chest. With the detonation of sound like rolling, booming thunder, Ash was knocked backward, sword flying out of his hand.

He groaned, but he knew that simply laying there would end badly.

He tried to scramble from for his blade, but Mina herself had not sat. Idle, she had recovered her balance, moved off the ice, and with a single slash of her blade, sent another arc of power his way.

Silver light slammed into his head.

And his vision went dark. Until he knew no more.