Dragging myself off the bed as usual, I crawled near the toilet and picked myself up just before entering. Fufu~, sinking myself into the magically prepared warm bath, my was also sinking into a relaxed state. Humming an anime opening that I remembered from the previous world, I turned myself in the tub like a grilled fish. "hn~mmm~ *loli bathing noises* "
Feeling refreshed, I carried out the rest of my preparations before teleporting into my seat with [shadow step]. Something I've noticed from reading ahead and staying for a year, the school curriculum was covered rather slowly. Was it due to accommodating the nobles? Or was there just not enough content to go at a normal pace? Whatever it was, it sure made my job a lot easier. Practicing over and over the same pattern of assignments, at this point I could finish it without much effort. I guess in this way, it was strangely effective.
After the first break came and go, the tournament had resumed, ending learning hours early. Walking towards the match ground, I came face to face with my fellow rival, Zaltria von quis. Giving each other smirks, we waited silently for the referee to give the signal. The sounds of the crowd had died out, giving the scene a sense of repose.
*bang*, the magical flare dissipates into the surrounding air as the battle commenced. Clashes of darkness and metal appear all around the field as I twirled my scythe around. Activating gravity magic, Zaltria sped up his movement as he tried to assault me. Too bad this wasn't enough. Resisting the gravity, I spun the scythe around, slashing into his side. All around the field, less metal spikes were reappearing or remanifesting. The shadow stakes had a clear pressure acting on the field. Acticating [abyssal dome], I gained the passive boost as I went closer to Zaltria.
Injecting power from my veins into my legs, a shiny grey substance exploded out of my scythe. It was a form of metal that somehow maintained the hardness of diamond, yet moved like a liquid, aiming directly for my neck. Deflecting with a shadow stake, I summoned forth a storm of shadow stakes from every direction. Firing off stakes like a machine gun, the barrier was barely holding up as the ground looked like a warzone.
When the stakes stop firing and the smoke cleared, Zaltria was nowhere to be seen. Remembering that metal users had an absurd amount of affinity with the ground, I jumped into the air to anticipate ground attacks. A strange sensation wrapped around my leg as I struggled. Tch I was too slow, he had grabbed me before I jumped. At this spot it may not seem like much, from another person's view, it was just a hand sticking out of the ground grabbing onto another person. But the next move would definitely be a deadly one...
From that position, he just needed to attack as fast as he could. A shiny grey matter protrudes out of the ground and gradually gets closer in between my legs. Tch, what is this strength! How is he holding my leg down!? Well I can only go with it now. Raising my left leg, I swung it down with all my might. The ground shatters, as well as the spike that almost impaled me. There were metal fragments stuck in my left leg with blood dripping down in multiple locations.
Shattering the ground should have revealed his location, but he was nowhere to be found. He either had a teleportation skill that requires him to be in the ground or a fake hand with an absurd grip strength. It could easily be a skill paired with a fake hand as well, sometimes skills can disregard the stats in the system, something like bind: immobilise the bottom half of your opponent.
Whatever it was, the battle didn't seem simple now, I needed to think of a countermeasure, quick! Activating [shadow step], I used one of my favourite features that hadn't been applied in a long time. Anti-gravity. The power was so vast, the place that I stepped on sunk while the rest of that matchground raised upwards like an inverted volcano.
If it was teleportation, he would have attacked me before the skill activated. So his escape earlier just had to be a skill. Tch, the most troublesome. Activating [Abyssal dome], I checked for mana fluctuations to find his location. Immediately detecting below me, I acticated the anti-gravity once more. I had been too late in reacting, so I had to do something with my foot instead.
"Kugh!" (Zaltria) A cry echoes out of the ground as blood gushes out of the cracks in the ground. A few seconds later, the barrier shuts down as the winner was announced. Celebrating my victory with some classmates for half an hour, I proceeded to the last match. In that small break I had to prepare for the next match, so I didn't eat that much. I just had a drink and chatted with Fez for a while.
"Remember last year when we made that bet?"
"heheh~ just you wait, I'll beat you this time." (Fez)
"I'd like to see you try fufu"
"Don't 'fufu' me! I've worked really hard to catch up. I won't be spectating your fight with James this time." (Fez)
"Glad to hear that, who will be the other 2 participants?"
"I heard Jessald fought her way up again, apparently she was more ferocious than last year. The last one is a first year, the little brother of fredarick, kenny. The new heir of the hofeur family." (Fez)
"Makes sense they would have a new heir considering what happen to the last one..."
" I won't question it, but man you sure are weird sometimes. Sparing 2 heirs and murdering 2. You were lucky to use the duel system before killing the lords or it would be illegal and you would be hunted down by law enforcement... I'd rather not see my rival get defeated by the royal guards. "(Fez)
" Well, that's enough reminiscing. Let's get ready for the last match. "
Ending the conversation, we walked towards our corners of the match ground. Since there were 5 people, the audience will vote someone to start in the centre. Winning the tournament last year did not help, but I'll deal with it. Giving my legs and arm one last stretch, I began to analyse my situation. Everyone had an eager expression. James had an unusual serious aura, Jessald was restless and the rest were the same as me. Calmly reading each other's expression.
It seemed I have to be careful of Kenny as well, the previous standard had to be thrown away and I have to be more alert than usual. Who knows? Maybe Kenny could hit harder than James. Well that was fine. Since my fight with Zaltria didn't awaken any new skill or anything, it was more probable for something to happen in this final match.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the referee to start the match. Especially me as I was dead in the centre of a chaos, which was about to ensue.