(Asura Pov)
'It is almost the same as Shiki said…well he still didn't mention that if each team lose a member the advantage is nullified…this is probably for not making a team gain too many points as the maximum amount of points per game can reach 29 point. if the leader of a team beats down another before taking down any other member that is…it must be extremely difficult as the first propriety of anyone will be to protect their leader the minimum loss on the other hand will be 5 points if a leader manages to stay last whilst both team members have been defeated…and this too is difficult to have…quite the sophisticated game they made huh'
I was standing inside our booth it was quite comfy as it was enhanced with air conditioning tools and luxurious looking chairs and couches.
In front of me was a crystal that projected the upcoming match. The first was being our school against Astarte.
The announcer finished explaining how the games will run then suddenly teleported out of the platform
Right after that both teams were teleported in front of each other.
Our members were consisting of the redhead Vessma the big macho guy with Zeles in the middle at the left of Vessma was the little Eli and yes she was still wearing her wizard hat.
The right of the big guy was the cool beauty girl that we met the day we were sparring and she was the one that Shiki was able to beat to get his spot in this competition.
The enemy team however had if I could not mistake the same spear guy with the two that were with him in the race event. There also was another guy with twin blade weapons at his sides. Yet the most eye catching was the small girl that was in the middle of their compo. She was…petit she really didn't look any older than a 12 year old almost exactly like Eli yet with her hair color as red as Vessma and if I am not mistaken she too had some freckles on the side of her nose…but I can't be too sur. Yet what was interesting was not her physic but it was the ridiculously long and large of an ultra-great sword that was on her back. It lacked elegance and looked like a giant lump of steel but the way she was holding it was as if to say that it was weightless. Carrying that thing with ease is proof enough that she is skilled. She had a wristband that had a crown on it same as Vessma probably it was designed to show who is the leader.
The arena flashed in white then everything changed.
The entire platform was coated in a magic blue hue that started changing the aspects of the terrain. Trees started sprouting and a small river began to form in the middle of the terrain.
The two teams were teleported to the sides of the rectangular platform before the announcement of the beginning of the game.
Our team grouped around Vessma in order to listen to some final instructions as for Astarte they were somehow acting weird. None of the participant showed any signs of excitement or hesitation almost as if this was an everyday thing.
The commentator used a spell that resembled a firework being launched in air announcing the beginning of the third game of the day.
It was large and bright enough that it almost shone like a second sun. Both teams saw and knew that the game begun.
Vessma who was in the middle begun by chanting something.
An orange circle on the ground appeared in front of her. It started gaining more color the longer Vessma chanted. Then a humanoid fire golem appeared from within it rising bit by bit as if it was escaping from a hellish inferno.
This one was larger and bigger than any of the golems that Osfor summoned the other day at the fairy forest. This one had more presence it exerted stronger flames and was more defined. Is features had more of a barbarian look to it. It stood 4 meters tall towering over all the team. A sight like that would make anyone flinch and terrorized in fear but the fact that the team was not showing any of that and this was probably due to the fact that they have seen this many times before.
Zeles and Eli started carefully running to the east side of the artificial forest hiding behind trees and casting spells probably to detect enemy presence.
The big guy stayed near Vessma and the cool girl left heading in the south-west direction alone while casting several spells making water orbs float in air. Probably an alarm of some kind.
The big guy smashed both his hands into the ground and closed his eyes. This is probably a method to sense approaching enemies.
"Hmm…I can't seem to understand the strategy Vessma is trying to use"
Shiki then answered my not too quite way of thinking
"She is using a defensive approach to this game. She will try to make the enemies come to her instead of chasing them. As you know weapon users are very difficult to handle in close quarters and by making the team place traps and use sensory spells to figure out where and when the enemy will make their approach she will have the upper hand in this fight. At least that is in theory"
I answered with a doubtful tone saying
"I have seen how mages can handle themselves in fights especially with the way everyone was acting on the day I had that massive spar…but seeing those guys over there I doubt that going by the book trying to force them to come in range with traps and spells then showering them with spells will work…especially that little girl. She looks…experienced. Euhh…that came out wrong I what I mean to say she looks skilled and this type of thing will mostly be expected at least to a certain degree."
He then said with a playful tone
"Hehe well even though they could expect this, handling Vessma with her fire golem suit plus the assistance of Zeles and Roid is almost an impossibility. Having Eli as a long range caster and Bella as support that team is almost invincible. Let's just watch what will happen."
I answered with a nod then proceeded to watch the crystal screen.
Movement was spotted on the enemy camp as all five of them advanced with massive speeds in a V shaped formation with the little girl leading the charge. She had her gigantic sword over her right shoulder and had her left arm spread in front of her.
She was agile as she managed to dodge any incoming obstacle by nimbly jumping over it or using a tree branch as a ledge then jumped for another tree. Her team kept with her pace and walked right behind her not missing a single step or making noticeable noise.
They all started jumping from tree to tree and fully abandoned traveling through ground.
If they kept going in that direction they will soon meet with the Cool girl's traps or as Shiki called her Bella…if they were to find her alone she will be done fore as they will be able to blitz her without her even reacting.
The little girl slowed down a bit making the twin bladed guy in the lead by swapping their locations
He jumped ahead right into the trap network that Bella created.
Some of the water orbs started moving and headed toward the twin bladed guy.
He didn't even care to dodge as he fluidly sliced through two of them and jumped forward slicing through many more. Making the orbs burst harmlessly each time he sliced through them the group behind him kept going. His blades had a weird glow to it each time it struck one of the water spheres.
Looking back at our camp I noticed Vessma was panicking a bit turning to ask Shiki what went wrong he too had a grim look on his face…this doesn't look like it was planned.
Deciding not to ask Shiki what was going on I kept my eyes on the screen.
I noticed when Zeles and Eli came back near Vessma who now jumped into the golem's hand. He picked her up and opened a space in its chest placing Vessma inside him. She is probably not going to be damaged by the flames from her golem so she took a comfortable position inside it.
The enemy team fully cleared the trapped zone they advanced with the same speed like before.
Making the little girl again as the frontline.
Zeles begun casting his spell that made multiple wind spears to be hanged in midair.
When the enemy team was in view the big guy Roid opened his eyes and further pressed his hands into the ground making two gigantic hands sprout between the enemy team and our allied team they must be to hinder the advancement of the enemy team.
The hands collapsed on the Astartian team but to no avail as they nimbly spread dodging and escaping the area of effect.
Zeles Shot forward his spears that were met with well precise and perfectly aimed counters from the enemy's weapons making every shot bounce off or simply break in contact with their weapons while still maintaining their speed.
Not a second before the little girl Jumped forward making the ground beneath her burst as if it was made of sand. She propelled herself toward the chest area of the fiery golem.
Not ones to take any risks Zeles summoned a green Mahojin in front of him making several large bird like creatures fly toward the little girl. With the addition of Bella who too was shooting a shark like spell that was made of water aimed directly at the girl. These two shots were going to shoot her down and probably end this game in our favor.
Yet something was really bugging me about this. Considering the fact that this little girl was carefully calculating her steppes her approach seemed a bit too amateurish as this was going to be an inevitable outcome of that frontal charge. Even if she had enough confidence in her skills I don't think she should have jumped in like that without a plan.
I could almost hear Vessma laughing at the naivety of the little girl from within her fire golem.
Right before the two spells struck her, an unbelievable thing happened. The twin bladed guy jumped forward and swung both of his blades In an X motion making both the spells from Zeles and Bella burst out. The little girl continued her approach from midair despite the apparent shock on Zeles and Bella's faces. She spun horizontally making the force of inertia add more power to her swing.
The little girl even made a cutesy yell when she was swinging.
The second the Ultra-great sword struck the chest of the fire golem it broke it in half sending the clearly unconscious and unsuspecting Vessma flying tens of meters away.
The damage was immeasurable as if striking a glass door with a steel pipe.
Our team was clearly unable to understand what happened because the sheer force that Vessma was attacked with none could even thinking that that frail looking body was able to produce it.
Zeles was the first to act as he darted toward the direction of where Vessma was thrown. The other on the other hand started looking at each other. Then they focused their look on the little girl.
Right before they could start their attack the announcer interrupted shouting.
"W-What was that!!!? WHAT AN UNEXPECTED OUTCOME. THE FIRST OF THE GROUP FIGHTS HAS ENDED IN LESS THAN 1 MINUTE AND THE OUTCOME WAS EXTRAORDINARY. THE INSTANT DEFEAT OF THE ALSIAN TEAM… I never even saw this coming thinking that the heir of the noble house Stronghold would be eliminated in one strike TRULY MAGNIFICENT!!"
Hearing that our team members drooped their shoulders and canceled their spells
The announcer added
"THE WINNER OF THE FIRST GROUP FIGHTS AND TO BE QUALIFIED FOR THE NEXT GAMES IS THE ASTARTIAN TEAM BY A WHOOPING 29 PERFECT POINTS. 5 POINTS FOR THE LEADER AND THE TRIPLE AMOUNT OF POINTS FOR EVERY REMAINING ALSIAN PARTICIPANT"
*loud cheers*
"And now for the next event the team from Alikh will be facing the team from Astora. Let us all watch"
Once he said that the forest started disappearing and a platform showing both teams in front of each other.
A smirk was showing on the little girl's face as she was clearly saying something taunting to our school members.
Zeles was Holding Vessma in a princess carry position as she was clearly still unconscious.
Frustration was clear on our team members as they could say nothing back to the small girl.
She shrugged and turned back to her team. A bright light illuminated the platform teleporting everyone back to their quarters as I saw that all our members appeared behind us.
I was thinking of rubbing the humiliating defeat that the redhead just got but seeing the look on the rest of the team was enough to talk me out of doing that.
A medic team soon entered and started checking on Vessma who still hadn't regained her consciousness.
Shiki went to speak with Zeles probably to understand what happened from his point of view.
Seeing that I decided to walk away from the room as an awkward silence was permeating the air.