The first two fights helped to set the stage for the upcoming few fights.
Nothing much needed to be said from the two matches. While it was an admirable fight that certainly brought joy and excitement for the crowd, it was pitiable at best from Lunatea's eyes.
There was no denying the strengths of those chosen by Lunaria to compete, along with the abilities that 2 of the top 10s who showed up possessed. However, in the eyes of someone like Lunatea who was close to the pinnacle of the art of sword skill, it was only 'admirable' at best.
With each swing of the sword and each conjuring of magic, her eyes were able to carefully track each movement without fail while predicting ahead. Lunatea might not look like it from her courteous appearance outside, but she was also fighting at the same time as the real fight was ongoing. Based on their battle, Lunatea made a simple analysis in her head regarding the fighting pattern of the two opponents before judging them in comparison to herself.
Much like what Kaze was used to doing, which was shadow training, Lunatea elevated it to a higher level. Instead of picturing herself fighting against one opponent, she was facing both of them simultaneously, correcting their mistakes that she wouldn't have made while countering their attack at the same time.
Her pupils moved ever so slightly from place to place, depending on the attacks made and defences put up. Sure, she wouldn't be able to catch every single detail like footwork from where she was, but she could roughly make out their movements just a split second before they made it. The only way she could do this was because she wasn't the one fighting, allowing her to make a calm analysis without relying on her body movement.
"Lunatea-nee, what do you think?" Luniel asked her elder sister, feeling a little bored.
"Mm, the fights itself are quite good," Lunatea replied honestly, giving a single nod. "Well-picked, I suppose."
"I thought the two fights earlier were supposed to be one of the top 10 strongest in school?" Lunaea lowered her voice a little to join in with their light conversation. "They are very standard…"
"Well, that's because you are judging it from a dragonkin's perspective," Reginsleif merely chuckled at his daughters' remarks. "I don't blame you girls, but this is a good opportunity for you all to see the difference in strength we possess because of age."
"Unlike us, humans only have about 70 years on average to live, at best 95," Laevia added. "By the time they are 60, most of their bodies start to deteriorate from there. We should be thankful what our long lifespan has allowed us to achieve."
"I thank you for your humble praises towards the humans," Ethan, overhearing their conversation, joined in shortly. "We… make the most out of what we have. I can say for sure that they are very strong, considering their age. Your eldest daughter must not have chosen the strongest few, but perhaps the flashiest to put on a good show."
"The crowd is enjoying it, so I don't see why not," Reginsleif nodded in return. "I can tell that there are still a lot of potential for most of them to grow."
Ethan could only give a silent bow at the remark before turning back to the match.
It was as Reginsleif had said. Having the potential to grow, just how many were able to become capable fighters among the hundreds of students available? Ethan could not help but compare the state of their nation with that of Aravel.
He knew that it was rare for there to be childbirth within the race of dragonkins due to their very nature itself, making them a nation with a low birth rate. This was due to them being a race with very long lifespan, one of the longest among all of the species known. Their population, assuming the best-case circumstance, must have had a higher ratio of elder dragonkins over the new ones due to there being less natural death by age.
This also meant that most of their nation were comprised of people with ridiculously high strength. It was clear that while they were a strong nation, they also had the essential structure that any nation in the world would have at the time, including military strength. This was further emphasized when Ethan came into close contact with the flock of wyverns a day ago.
While Czech certainly had quantity over Aravel, did that mean that their strength was comparable? Czech might have large land mass over Aravel, more economic progression and a faster development. These were based on facts that he knew as of now, although the development part was a little bit unclear due to the information being a little outdated and mostly speculation.
What was Czech like in the eyes of the rulers of the world's only dragonkin nation?
Ethan might have easily gotten an answer for this with a simple chat with Reginsleif himself, but the reality quickly sank in when Ethan realized why he hadn't opened his mouth about his topic since yesterday.
Perhaps he was just afraid to face reality.
The nation his forefathers had been cultivating, building from scratch with much difficulty… He was going to compare it to a nation which had comparably fewer lineages. Was the difference truly that vast, such that he had to worry as much?
Ethan didn't know, nor did he dare to question the fact of the case itself. Right now, what was important was that Reginsleif himself didn't seem to hold any hostility towards their nation, neither did any of his family.
Focusing on the battle that had just concluded before him, Ethan held back such contemplation for a later time where he could allow more complicated emotions to leak from his face.
Such was the duty of the King, the people's representative.
"And… over!!" The emcee declared, with the two students shaking their hands respectfully. "The winner…. Or rather, there is no winner. The second fight concluded with a simple gesture from our top 8, pushing away another prominent first year!"
"Oh, it ended," Lucentia muttered, her back straightening in attention.
"When do you think is Lunaria's turn?" Reginsleif asked his daughters. "I know you are all eager to see your sister in action."
"It has been so long since we last saw Lunaria fight too, haven't we?" Laevia asked her husband with a giggle. "The only time we ever see her is during practice."
"Yes, it does make my bones creak out of pain for not being able to fight for so long," Reginsleif laughed. "I'm getting old."
"Lunaria-nee would probably wipe the floor with her opponent, even if her opponent was number 1," Luniel boldly declared while crossing her arms.
"I'm slightly interested in Lunaria-nee's friends fighting," Lucentia admitted. "Especially that Kaze…"
"Ah, I won't deny I want to see how he would perform too," Ethan widened his eyes and grinned when he remembered that Kaze would be participating. "Probably don't expect much out of him though, it would not be something very flashy."
"Dear, it's Yuuji," Kathy pointed out while lightly grasping his hand. "It's our son's turn."
"Ohh!" Ethan whipped his head around at his wife's exclamation and watched as Yuuji emerged from one end of the tunnel. "Go Yuuji!!"
The first thing that hit Yuuji was the sunlight.
Since he had been waiting in the room for quite a bit, his eyes weren't used to the brightness for a split second there. This caused him to shield his face before proceeding to the middle of the grounds to meet his next opponent.
Based on what the emcee was saying, it appeared that his opponent was a second year, ranked no.7 overall. This made Yuuji smile wryly, knowing that he had it a little easier compared to the others. Ranked no. 10 and 8 were already shown, hence why he wasn't really left with anyone lower other than ranked 9.
All he had to do now was perform his best.
His opponent went by the nickname 'Knight Templar', which apparently was the name of one of his most used skill. By the name, it was obvious enough that he was going to be a knight-class, which was exactly the same as Yuuji. Even the way they dressed were similar, something that made Yuuji's smile even more lax.
Perhaps it was purposely set up this way to make the event even more interesting.
"Your Highness," Yuuji's opponent was the first to speak once the two were face to face, lowering his head. "It's an honour to be matched up with you."
"The honour is mine," Yuuji responded by placing his hand above the chestplate where his heart was. "How should I address you? I can't hear the speaker over the loud cheering."
"I come from the noble house of Campbell, the name's John Deus Campbell," John smiled politely, returning a noble's greeting instead. "Yuuji-sama, it's a pleasure."
"Very well, I shall remember your name, John," Yuuji nodded. "Shall we?"
Together, the two extracted their sword from their metallic sheath, both engraved with their own pattern. This created a harmonious ringing sound of the metal edges scraping against the edge of their sheath, drawing most of the audience to their attention.
Both of them held longswords, a very common type of swords used by the knight-class and also some other fighters depending on their style. For knight-class generally, the choice of weapon always fell on the longsword and never anything else. Other than design and material of choice, it was something that was expected of both Yuuji and John.
"Ho, impressive as always, Yuuji-sama," John leaked a small grin when he noticed Yuuji's sword. "It must have been pretty expensive."
"Thank you, John. I can say the same for yours," Yuuji tossed back his fringe with a slight tilt of his head and grasped the hilt with both hands.
Together, they crossed their swords and lightly tapped them together in the middle, forming an 'X' sign with their swords. This was one of the greetings that knights would do during training before a fight. Considering that they were both knight-classes, this was customary and polite at best, a sign of respect for their opponent.
Yuuji took their short silence to analyse his opponent up close. Wearing an armour clad in dark crimson, John exerted a certain level of confidence against Yuuji. It was going to be a hard fight, to say the least. The aura that he felt from John was similar to that of Noel, who personally trained under her father, the Knight Commander of the nation. That feeling alone invoked fear in Yuuji. Even when wearing his trusty armour, he could still feel the tingles running up his arms.
The two retracted their swords and turned around, walking away from each other. They were to take distance before the fight began, as a rule of thumb.
"It seems like they are about to begin!" The emcee stopped their rambling and focused on the battlefield, with the crowd following suit.
In that instance, Yuuji and John were isolated in their own world. It wasn't like they were focusing extremely hard on the fight to win, but rather they were focused more on how they could make this a fight for the audience. As fellow knight-classes, they wouldn't allow their performance to put shame to the Czech knights, especially not with foreign royalty present.
"Haa!" Yuuji stepped forward first, bringing his sword over his head.
John reacted similarly, moving forward along with Yuuji. Both their swords collided with each other, producing the sharp metal noise once again. Each time they clashed, the clanking of their armour along with the sound of metal scrapping could be heard.
Pushing forward, John wasn't going to hold back over something like royalty, because this was also his own reputation. It wouldn't sit right for him if he allowed Yuuji to win so easily.
"Hmph!" John pushed Yuuji back and raised his sword. "Knight Templar!"
John's entire body glowed a bright yellow, empowering himself once.
Yuuji took note of this and distanced himself immediately. Casting light magic with his free hand, Yuuji produced five magic circles behind him and shot out volleys of light spears at John while he casted Knight Templar.
John immediately reacted to the attack, using his sword to deflect some of the spears while running towards Yuuji. Based on the way he reacted, it was likely that Knight Templar was a sort of buff spell that increased his speed and strength. This theory was confirmed when Yuuji was barely able to fend off another strike from John.
Following right after, John's sword glowed yellow and propelled Yuuji back even further. Grunting to keep up with his opponent, Yuuji casted body enhancement magic on himself to withstand the blow.
"Ho," Ethan leaked a sigh of admiration while watching the fight. "This is different."
"That John guy is probably holding back a bit," Lunatea muttered softly to herself. "He wants to give Yuuji a chance…?"
Taking a side step to the right, John avoided a few more of Yuuji's magic attacks while parrying those that he couldn't avoid. It wasn't exactly a walk in the park for John, considering that Yuuji was putting up much more of a fight than he had thought.
"Hm," John broke through the magic attack once more and pointed his sword at Yuuji. "Knight Templar!"
"Wha-?!"
From the tip of John's sword came a flash of red. With Yuuji's instincts kicking in, he set up a barrier immediately in front of him just as the red light blasted right at him. It was a long continuous beam, something that resembled the attack of the centipede in terms of strength and method. The attack easily blasted through Yuuji's barrier, but the barrier was simply a distraction for Yuuji to escape from the attack range first.
"What was that?" Yuuji shuddered, John cancelling out the attack. "Why is that skill name Knight Templar too?"
John wouldn't be so kind as to give Yuuji a moment to rest. Using magic to boost himself forward, John's body glowed once more while delivering a huge strike where Yuuji stood. The entire grounds shook from that single strike alone, telling the audience just how much power was put into it.
Out from the dust came Yuuji, prancing away while being chased by John. Even while the two wore armour, it was amazing that they were able to move so nimbly.
"Sword skill: Vanguard!" Yuuji declared.
10 horsemen made of light appeared behind Yuuji. The moment Yuuji leapt through them, the soldiers on the horses moved forward to fight against John.
John clicked his tongue at the moment the horsemen appeared, causing him to stop short in his tracks to deal with them first. The horsemen came charging at John in a 'V' formation, their swords and lances by the side of their horses.
"Knight Templar!" John shouted once more.
With his empowered body, John let out a huge cry and decimated the first two horsemen. Shattering their figures and dissipating to light, the horsemen broke up to two groups and surrounded John. At the same time, Yuuji stood aside and watched the battle closely while preparing for another magic attack. Even as a knight-class, he was bound to have something that would give him an edge too.
John immediately realized what Yuuji was aiming for and quickly faced off against the remaining few horsemen. Jumping in the air to avoid getting double-skewered, John released a crushing blow on one of the horsemen before slicing off another. One by one, the horsemen were all being dealt with quicker than what Yuuji would have anticipated.
"Will I have enough time?" Yuuji gritted his teeth. "I have to make it!"
John dealt with the last horseman before turning his sword at Yuuji again.
"Knight-"
"As if I will allow you!!"
Before John could cast the same long-range magic attack once more, Yuuji had managed to finish casting his spell first.
A huge magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground below the two of them. Yuuji poured all of the mana he had gathered to cast this spell into said circle, causing John to widen his eyes in surprise. It was not easy to be able to conjure a spell of this calibre in such a short period of time. If his Knight Templar wasn't going to reach in time, then it wasn't worth the effort attacking.
John decided to focus on defending instead.
The entire area glowed as a result of the magic circle being activated. With each runes fulfilling a certain purpose within the magic circle itself, Yuuji made a brave smile knowing this was his last forte if he failed to take down John before then. In the end, the goal was to go out 'as flashy as possible'.
"Heaven's Gallow!"
A hyme followed after the spell activation. It was the sort of angelic theme that one would have expected to come from church, a result of the spell.
As if the gravity around them had suddenly increased, John fell to his knees from the tremendous pressure that was suddenly being applied on him from nowhere. It wasn't like light magic had the aftereffect of gravity magic, but rather it was the pressure that came from the spell conjuring above them.
With everyone looking upwards to see the effects of the spell taking place, a huge magic circle that reflected what that was being casted on the ground appeared too. The two circles connected with a bridge of light from the middle, glittering brightly upon the area it was casted. The area between the two circles slowly got filled with the same light beam, making it into a cylinder shape.
"Ho… high-level area-of-effect light magic," Reginsleif smirked a little when he saw the magic itself taking place. "The boy has guts. It isn't a complete form due to it being hastily casted, but it should probably be quite hard to defend against."
"That's Yuuji for you," Ethan laughed, ignoring the fact that the entire area was trembling even more violently from the spell taking place. "I would be in quite a bit of trouble if I were to take such an attack directly."
"But isn't it suicide? Yuuji is standing within the circle effect too," Mia asked Ethan, who responded by patting her head.
"Yuuji probably has a plan for that," Kathy smiled reassuringly at Mia. "Just watch."
"What do you think, Lunatea-nee?" Lucentia asked her sister. "You are the expert at magic here among all of us."
"… It probably is immune to the caster," Lunatea simply concluded. "Even I can't say for sure since I rarely use light or dark magic. I prefer the common elements over the rare, so it is new for me to watch someone using rare magic so freely over the other elements too."
"Yuuji's specialty, perhaps," Lunaea commented with a cute tilt. "Why is the effect of the spell lasting so long? Usually magic like this would crash and be over with."
"I think it probably already is over, but we can't see the spell fading yet," Laevia helped to explain to Lunaea. "See? The light is fading."
It was just as Laevia said. The moment the magic circle disappeared, the entire area covered in the light magic could be seen again. A shallow crater was formed in the ground where the light magic hit, revealing both Yuuji and John right at the very centre.
Both of them were tattered, but still standing. Even with their armour damaged, both had a satisfied smile on their face.
"… I lost," Yuuji admitted, dropping to the floor first.
"Sure you did. You ran out of stamina first," John chuckled, walking over to pick up the prince. "You did a good job."
"W-What happened?! All we get was a huge light magic casted by Yuuji-sama, followed by his defeat?!" The emcee, just as confused as most of the people present, began to question the fact of the case.
"The simple explanation: John here managed to cast a barrier in time that shields himself of light magic," Aldwolf, acting as the secondary emcee to comment on the attack and magic itself, analysed for the crowd. "Right before the light magic hit, I could sense dark magic being casted. It was probably in combination with the barrier."
"I see. Since light magic that we saw deployed earlier was area of effect, then a simple barrier focused on one combined with dark magic was enough to defend the attack in theory," the student emcee nodded at the principal's explanation. "Then why are their armour damaged? Did the spell hit Yuuji as well and caused him to admit defeat?"
"Due to the nature of the magic itself being an Advanced class, no simple barrier by one person is enough to completely defend against it, single-target or area of effect," Aldwolf nodded at the questions posed. "The barrier must have shattered towards the end of the spell, dealing damage to John in that process, which is why we see him in the crater."
"T-Then, what about Yuuji-sama…?"
"Yuuji-sama… was hit at the last moment too," Aldwolf mused. "John used the last of his energy as soon as the barrier broke to attack Yuuji-sama with Knight Templar… truly terrifying, if you think about the casting speed demonstrated by both students. For Yuuji-sama to be able to cast such a powerful area-of-effect spell within seconds and John able to defend and attack while under pressure. I believe both of them should feel very proud."
The crowd gave their encouragement in the form of cheering and clapping to the two competitors. It might have been a short fight, but it was something to remember. Watching as Yuuji limped away with help from John, the mages surrounding the sides moved forward to fix the crater before the next match.
"That was entertaining," Luniel gave a light nod. "Probably better than I had expected."
"Really? Is that because you were impressed by the magic casted or the way it ended?" Lunatea asked her younger sister.
"Eh, probably the latter," Luniel grinned. "The fight slowly progressed into a something more prevalent, before ending on an unexpected note. When two knights clash, you wouldn't think of the fight to end up with a magic explosion, right?"
"… 6 out of 10…" Lunaea graded the fight herself. "Because it wasn't really a sword fight…"
"You girls sure are enjoying yourselves," Reginsleif felt amused by their comments as he swirled his wine glass in one hand. "I say we give Yuuji and John a round of applause. Sir Ethan, you brought up the boy well."
"It was mostly his hard work," Ethan smiled at this, raising his glass as well. "I rarely taught by magic, but only to a certain extent. Kathy here was the one who helped to determine his quality of education herself."
"Mou… that boy was a little too rash," Kathy pouted. "I'm just glad he didn't suffer any serious injuries."
"John held back enough that he only needed to get serious at the last part," Laevia added for Kathy to hear. "Trust me, both of them are very outstanding people."
"Yuuji, being a knight who specializes in light magic… it somehow complements well together. What do you think, sir?" The emcee turned to Aldwolf for his opinion.
"Yes, the hard work put into refining his magic skills as much as his sword skills is commendable," Aldwolf nodded in agreement. "We can expect to see more of such performances with the remaining 7 more."