"How was it?" Kaze, who was waiting with the others behind the tunnel, quickly approached Yuuji when they saw him slumping next to John.
"I-It was tough," Yuuji forced himself to smile. "Next is Shoko…"
"Yuuji-sama did well," John reassured the first years. "Now, if you will excuse me."
Passing over Yuuji to his friends, John picked up his sword and left to the other waiting area for the top 10s.
A few medical mages quickly headed over as well, checking up on the condition of Yuuji. It seemed like his condition wasn't the best, but it wasn't as bad either.
"So, my turn~" Shoko grinned, stepping out and waving at them. "See you all after I'm done~"
"Good luck Shoko," Lunaria gave her friend a quick hug. "Crush them."
"That's a rather… brutal way of putting it," Albert sweatdropped at the vicious smile on Lunaria's face right now. "I thought we weren't competing?"
"We aren't, but that doesn't mean I can't encourage her," Lunaria giggled. "Knowing Shoko, she is going to try to win."
As Shoko stepped out onto the newly repaired grounds, she noted that her opponent was already waiting in the middle.
"Tch, the sun is too bright today…" her opponent grunted, shielding his pale face from the sun.
"Yoo~ are you alright? You can give up if you don't feel like fighting," Shoko teased her opponent as she approached him.
Even though she acted very friendly and relaxed, Shoko still couldn't help but feel a tingle running down her spine. She knew her opponent well enough based on his appearance alone, because he was one of the few people that she didn't want to face against.
Kenridge Ievan Siegfried, the Depressed Magician, ranked third overall.
Kenridge was known for his purple top hat as part of his outfit. Along with the hat was what seemed to be a suit. Dressed in purple from head to toe, the only thing that didn't fit along with it was his shoes, which happened to be made from reinforced leather and monster hide. For a mage like Kenridge, he probably valued movement a lot that he was willing to reinforce his shoes as part of his set.
"As if, Frey will kill me," Kenridge pushed his glasses as he tilted his head to meet Frey's eyes. "But I want to give up though…"
"Fufu, then that makes my job a lot easier," Shoko grinned, removing a short sword from behind her. "Let's start."
At her words, Kenridge snapped his fingers. This prompted Shoko to quickly leap backwads, just in time to avoid the earth shifting below her feet and forming an earth ball where she once stood. Based on the thickness and how sturdy it was at first glance, she would have probably lost before the round even started.
The way that Kenridge casted his first spell already told Shoko that he was someone who couldn't be taken lightly. There was hardly any delay in the spell activation timing from when it was first casted. What's more, he didn't need to utter the spell names for the spell to activate itself, making him already leagues above the other ordinary mages here. As expected from someone who relied solely on magic to fight without any physical weapons.
Shoko drew a cold sweat as more earth walls began sprouting from the floor each time she retreated. His casting speed was also incredible, dishing out spell after spell after spell without batting an eyelash. While all this happened, Kenridge just stood still where he originally was. It was almost demeaning to Shoko, who specialized in speed as an assassin.
"Tch, so annoying…" Kenridge grumbled, one of his many rings shimmering on his finger. "So fast…"
Waving his index finger, multiple more earth walls appeared simultaneously, meaning that he ahd increased the casting speed even further. Shoko further accelerated her body, her feet barely touching the floor anymore. As an assassin, she was confident in her speed and decided to test the limits of Kenridge's casting.
As the seconds flew by, more than 30 earth walls had been casted surrounding Kenridge. He didn't even have to look behind for him to judge where Shoko was. This was possible by having extreme mana perception, enabling him to sense Shoko's location without using his eyes.
Snapping his fingers once again, a flash passed the frame on his glasses. Dozens of magic circles opened above him, each one of them containing middle-class lighting magic.
"Wow~" Shoko leaked a sigh of admiration while still dodging all of the earth walls. "You really are going all out aren't you?"
"I just want to go home quickly…" Kenridge grumbled, raising one hand to track Shoko as she moved. "Just admit defeat."
"Some attitude, for someone who was unenthusiastic to win in the first place!" Shoko leapt into the air, dodging the lightning strikes that were beginning to take place.
With the pressure coming from the sky and the ground itself, Shoko was left with barely any space to breathe or think by Kenridge. Even as she tried to get close, the lightnings got more ferocious and rained down on her one by one. Small craters were left all over the place as a result of the lightning strikes, damaging the grounds even further.
"Ooo!" Luniel's eyes sparkled at the battle that took place. "Now this is worth watching!"
"Indeed," Lucentia nodded, leaning forward a little to get a slightly closer look. "Shoko looks like she is having a ton of fun."
"How can someone be having so much fun when they are getting pressured like that…?" Ethan sweatdropped at Lucentia's comment. "D-Dear, what do you think?"
"Um, I don't know what to say," Kathy shook her head. "How is he able to cast the spells so accurately and quickly? Is it because of the accessories he has on?"
"That's part of the reason, Lady Kathy, but even more so is his talent and hard work," Reginsleif addressed Kathy, his eyes kept focused on the fight. "The accessories only do so much as to make his multi-casting easier. The fact he can conjure the spells itself is his skill, not the work of the rings or magic tools."
"He isn't even using a staff or a wand, that makes it impressive enough," Mia analysed. "He is using his sight to direct the spells?"
"That is some level of control, I must say," Laevia nodded, agreeing with Mia. "It is not impossible, but for someone of Kenridge's age, it is quite the impressive feat."
"It is a little risky for a mage to be relying on such senses without a wand or staff, or even a sword or something for the close-range fight," Lunatea also watched the battle seriously. "If Shoko gets close, the battle is going to take a different turn."
"Shoko is an assassin-class, based on her outfit," Ethan pointed out. "If I had to guess. Assassins can either be pretty good against mages, or pretty bad."
"This… would be an example of a tough situation, I won't lie," Reginsleif chuckled.
Kenridge switched from his ground attack over to focusing on the lightning for now. Even with Shoko dodging all over the place, he was still able to relentlessly catch up with her. He seemed to be waiting to see how long it would be before she slowed down or lose stamina. In fact, he was hoping for her to give up soon so his lightning would be able to stun her upon impact instead of something dangerous like fire magic.
Shoko suddenly jerked her body from running around in circles to charge right at him. Keeping her body at a lower angle than before so she could pick up the speed, she kicked up the dirt behind her so hard that she dug a small hole into the ground. Instantly, she ran past the lightning strikes that were headed at her from above.
In response, a huge fireball was shot by Ken right where she was headed, forcing her to back off. It would be dumb if she were to feign left or right, seeing that the fireball was able to deal a wider range of damage than expected. What's more, the smoke that would appear would only serve to blind her instead, making it something that would hinder her movements.
As she had predicted, once the smoke had appeared, multiple wind slashes were shot through them, blowing away her cover immediately. Right after Kenridge had his sights on her again, the lightning strikes began once more.
"How relentless," Shoko quickly ran off again, scurrying around the place while Kenridge hunted her down.
While all this happened, Kenridge was preparing for an even larger and stronger spell. This was evident by the bright sky suddenly turning dark and cloudy as their fight progressed. Most of the audience didn't even notice this until they became aware of their surroundings, finding a weird patch of cloud that appeared overhead without any warning.
"Oh? Is he going to attempt to cast an Advanced-class spell while defending himself?" Reginsleif widened his eyes a little at this. "No, it could even be Master-class."
A tier above the ordinary three class, the fourth Master-class spell.
As the name suggested, it was something that was not normally achievable even when one had gotten to the Advanced class. It relied on one to have the basics of magic casting and everything drilled into them for them to achieve something of that calibre.
For instance, a Master-class fireball that was ordinarily derived from the Beginner-class fireball spell would be much more stronger than any Advanced class attack.
Right now, Kenridge was attempting to end the fight quick, which made clear sense as to why he would be preparing for something as powerful as that so early on. Even when it was clear that he had Shoko dodging all over the place, he was still trying to win with a different approach in the case that she managed to find a loophole in his attacks.
Pushing his spectacles up once more, Kenridge slightly shifted his gaze towards the sky, but not enough to completely obstruct his view from Shoko. The progress on his spell was going smoothly, with one hand controlling the situation on the ground and the other focused on gathering mana to cast the spell he was still preparing.
"Ohh, this is going to be bad," Shoko also noticed the large patches of clouds that gathered overhead. "Are you trying to destroy the entire area around us?"
"I wouldn't do something as tactless as that," Kenridge grimaced, adding an even more displeased look on his already uninterested face. "I'm only trying to end the battle before I run out of stamina."
"You say that, but you haven't stopped casting spells since we started," Shoko fought back with her words, throwing a few disposable knives and daggers at Kenridge.
"You have been running all over the place, what do you expect me to do?" Kenridge sighed, placing a barrier around him that easily blocked all of the physical attacks directed at him.
Throwing what seemed to be a bomb at Kenridge, Shoko quickly jumped back to avoid the impact of it. Kenridge simply raised one finger, sending a wind blade at it before it could come any closer to him. As a result, the bomb exploded, revealing it to be a dark smoke that quickly enveloped the area around him.
"Hm? Smoke infused with dark magic, huh?" Kenridge raised an eyebrow when he was quickly surrounded with the smoke. "So you don't want me to use wind magic to blow your cover?"
It was as Kenridge had said. For specific smoke bombs like such, infusing it with dark magic would render wind magic ineffective since it couldn't be blown away by normal means. What's more, it was pitchblack around him due to the smoke, so it was hard to even spot the shadow of Shoko approaching.
The smoke that covered around the two grew in size, quickly obscuring the views of the participants as well. They would be unable to see what was going on inside until the effects of the smoke disappeared.
Shoko, taking the chance she had when Kenridge was still figuring out what to do, quickly charge right through the smoke. She was able to sense where he was based on her own sensing, instead of relying on mana perception. Right now, within the smoke, he was unable to use such precise mana perception anymore since the entire smokescreen was laced with dark magic, making it impossible to precisely sense where she was without actually seeing her.
Taking out a knife, she threw it at where Kenridge was supposedly standing but heard nothing after a light clinking noise. That meant that he took the short few seconds of space to reinforce the barrier around him even further, making objects like knife throws useless unless she approached him. Of course, this was obviously a trap that was baiting her to reveal herself.
Her only choice of action right now was to wait till the smoke dissipated or risk getting close to attack him. Either way, both weren't optimal choices that didn't favour Shoko at all. It looked as though her smokescreen idea only made it worse for herself.
"That was a dumb move," Kenridge grumbled, glancing around suspiciously within the barrier. "What were you trying to achieve by doing this?"
As soon as he asked aloud, his barrier suddenly cracked. While he quickly reinforced it, the other side of the barrier started to crack too. This caused Kenridge to grimace even further, for he was unable to tell what it was that made his reinforced magic barrier to crack even as he was focusing all his strength on it.
Was there something that Shoko was doing that made his barrier weaken?
Kenridge wasn't sure, being a mage himself. He didn't have the best reaction speed in terms of facing physically agile opponents like Shoko, but it was something he had done over and over again to reach the third place. It wasn't like he wanted to become so high up in ranking, but it just happened to him as more people challenged him.
The reason for him being challenged so many times was simple: he was weaker than others physically.
There was as stereotype that everyone knew: mages were weaker than swordsmen. That was true, but only to a certain extent. The reason for this was simple, such that no explanation was needed to get the point across. How else could mere magic casting beat the responses of a normal human movement?
It was impossible, unless the casting speed was fast enough that one could catch up to the reaction of a human.
Kenridge was able to do so since he was young, even before he attended high school. It was simply talent, something unobtainable through normal means. He wasn't born in a very lavish family, nor was he born in a strict environment. He wasn't particularly smart in school, being someone who rarely stood out at all. Even his social skills were subpar, often viewing things in a negative light.
But it was precisely because of his negative view that he was able to make use of his talent to achieve what that was not possible for many through hard work.
There was one time where he trained with the sword before, just like anyone else. Magic training started later most of the time because it was believed that one would be able to fend themselves off with the basic of sword training. Kenridge's parents were no exception to this popular mindset, giving him training as usual.
The only problem was that because of his negative view, it quickly affected his training as well. He got too tired with each swing, his muscles becoming too sore. Instead of spending time on something so worthless, Kenridge focused on magic instead.
It wasn't until he started school that he realized how different he was with the others. Even though he acted lazy and unmotivated most of the times, he still stood out among rest in magic perception itself. He was able to cast faster, gather mana quicker, being able to sense more accurately than the other students.
The only difference was he didn't want to practice sword fighting.
Somehow, his negative attitude helped him to work harder than ever on magic, the one thing that he felt needed the least effort to do due to his own innate talent of mana perception already helping him.
'I feel lazy.'
Kenridge found a way to practice casting magic faster without as much effort.
'I don't want to work.'
Kenridge defeated his opponents as quickly as possible without dragging out the battle.
'I just want to rest.'
Kenridge balanced mana practicing even when he was doing something else in order to complete his tasks quickly without needing to spend extra time practising.
Now that he had shifted completely over to magic instead of working to refine his body like the other swordsmen, he was able to work on what he was at best and develop himself to who he was today.
Even now, he wanted to give up. The only thing that kept him going was because he was precisely asked to 'put on a good show'. As demotivated as he was, he felt bad just walking off when his opponent was trying hard to defeat him either.
Shoko wasn't making it any easier for him to beat her and end the fight, making things much more complicated than he would have liked.
Out of respect for how persistent she was getting, Kenridge fought to his bitter end.
"Master-class magic…" Kenridge muttered, raising one hand above his head sluggishly towards the clouds. "… Thunderstorm."
Instantly, rain began pouring from the clouds above.
The rainwater that fell from above quickly cleared up the smokescreen around him, allowing his vision to be restored. What that made his control over this spell even more compelling was that the rain only fell around the area where the fighting ground was, without getting close to the audiences watching nearby.
"I see…" Shoko, allowing the rain to drench her body, stood at a distance away from Kenridge with a wry smile on her face. "Rain being water, the clouds producing lightning, wind being naturally created… you are using a Master-class spell that would allow you to manipulate even more magic elements to your advantage?"
"… Interpret it anyway you want… I just want to sleep," Kenridge looked as demotivated as ever, despite the praises from Shoko. "Water Dragon."
From the clouds emerged a huge figure at his words. With its translucent body, a dragon without wings and a very long body descended over to his side. The size of the dragon that he had created with magic was so huge, it couldn't even be compared to a human or a building anymore. It was almost the size of a two-storey building in width, its length immeasurable.
It was a very different dragon from the dragonkins that Shoko knew, making it all the more intimidating as it gathered itself next to Kenridge.
Indeed, what that Kenridge was doing now was trying to end the fight before it dragged on even longer.
"Go," Kenridge muttered, flicking his finger forward.
The water dragon let out a roar before charging at Shoko. With its power increasing drastically under the influence of the rain, it expelled lightning from its mouth, making it a double combination of magic spells that further increased the destructive power of the dragon.
If Shoko wanted to counter the dragon, she was going to have to show her cards too. All she had done so far was to distract Kenridge while she tried to figure out a flaw that he had. Unfortunately, he acted before she could, making it a situation that was incrementally unfavourable on her end.
But… that was only if Shoko was any ordinary person up until now.
Standing still while facing the dragon, Shoko sheathed her short sword behind her back. She just stood confidently against the dragon, her eyes locked onto it.
For a moment there, Kenridge thought that she was willing to surrender due to the overwhelming state of events that happened. With a light sigh of relief, he commanded the water dragon to swallow Shoko whole as the ending of the fight.
It was a worthy challenge, facing against someone who was able to last this long against him.
Just as he expected the Water Dragon to swallow her, the sound of water erupting was heard. Turning his eyes towards the place where the Water Dragon was supposed to be, he found that it had been split fully in half.
"W-What?" Kenridge leaked a stunned gasp. "How…?"
Before he could say anything else or react, he was suddenly punched.
As if in slow motion, he was able to grasp Shoko right in front of his eyes before time accelerated once more.
Kenridge's body got blown backwards by a single punch across the face, such that he got propelled across the wet ground. Coming to a slippery stop, Kenridge used wind magic to cover his body so he could try to comprehend the situation, but Shoko wasn't going to allow it.
This was followed by another punch on his gut.
And another.
And another.
He was currently being hit around the place so fast he was unable to react in time to cast any spells. The reason he was still awake from taking so many punches was because Shoko held back. Rather than a punch that was filled with destructive power, it was one that merely contained wind magic to launch him across the place.
What Shoko had done… was simply accelerating her body to her 'natural' speed.
As a foxkin, it was clear that she possessed a certain amount of agility naturally. What she had done was taken that agility and combined it with wind magic to make it even faster than usual. But right now, she was completely relying on her own strength.
In other words, she had trained herself to the point that she was able to move around so fast that she completely split the Water Dragon in half. She even broke through the barrier that was surrounding Kenridge from the impact alone, breaking through the sound barrier for a split second due to the impact of her fist against the magic barrier.
"T-Tch!!" Kenridge, bleeding from his nose as he got tossed around, snapped his fingers from both of his hands.
Instantly, his body came to a halt mid-air. Kenridge erected thick water walls around him, which was further reinforced by multiple layers of magic barriers to prevent any attacks to be further dealt. His entire body ached from the pain of being blasted around by punches, his attire a mess and soaked in water.
"I'm impressed you manage to react," Shoko, standing outside of the water barrier, smirked at Kenridge. "I was about to finish you off."
One other reason she was suddenly able to move this fast was because she had morphed into a half-beast.
Right now, she had the appearance of a normal fox in human form, making it seem like one of Luanria's partial transformation. Her furry tail behind her was even more emphasized, her nose turning into a snot with whiskers instead. With fur grown from around her body, her hands were enchanted with purple magic. That was probably what that enabled her to blast Kenridge all around.
"Y-You…" Kenridge wiped the blood that trickled from his nose and stomped his foot. "Sleep!!"
Instantly, the entire area rumbled and cracks appeared from the floor. He had caused cracks to open in the ground, along with it came lava that blasted from below. It wasn't like he managed to make such a deep crack, but it was one of the Advanced-level magic combination comprising of fire and earth magic. Kenridge was going to go all out to quickly finish the battle.
Shoko wasn't going to slow down anymore either. Once the earth split below her, she was already gone.
With the rain becoming even fiercer and the ground cracking, it was almost like the scene of an apocalypse. Like some god, Kenridge focused all his might on Shoko. Lava splattered all over him, forming a small island where he stood on and casted magic over and over again. The only problem was that he was unable to respond to Shoko's speed.
"Hm!" Kenridge threw up huge earth barriers around him, making them sturdy and not as easy to break through like with water.
As if that weren't enough, he gathered the remaining of Thunderstorm into a huge water tornado, sending it all over the area while lava continued spluttering out from the ground.
It was wide-area chaos magic, something that no normal student would be able to face off against. This was truly Kenridge, the strongest magician in school, going all out.
"Ahh, I didn't want to do this the brute force way, but I don't think I'm going to have a choice," Shoko complained, running so fast that she left afterimages behind her. "If I let this go on any further, Lunaria is going to be mad."
Concentrating her attack on one spot at the earth wall where Kenridge was hiding behind, she grabbed her fist and squeezed it tightly. All of the purple glow from her other hand disappeared, causing her fist to glow even more. Shoko had gathered all of her magic attack into one single compressed punch, ready to end the match right there and then.
Taking the same approach as before with propelling herself across the ground, she quickly arrived in front of the earth wall without being touched by any of the lava or the water slashes propelled out of the water tornado with deadly precision. Her fist slowly opened, claws forming from her fingertips.
Taking a huge swing as soon as she was in front of the wall, the entire earth wall shattered and revealed Kenridge inside. Similarly, he had been charging up fire magic to a very compressed state, as if waiting for Shoko to break through so he could blast her.
All of his magic ornaments blowed as he watched the wall burst open with Shoko appearing in front of him. Right now, he was using a single hand to control the fire magic, compressing it to his limit that he could muster. With his hand outstretched at Shoko, his glasses shimmered once more before he let loose.
Another huge explosion occurred, this time with torrents of violent wind erupting the hot steam all over as a result of using fire magic. Fire combined with wind scattered the intense heat all over the place. This explosion rocked the surroundings so much the audience were sure that it was a natural disaster instead, showing the scale of fighting being taken to another level.
When the smoke had cleared and the trembling had stopped, Shoko was seen standing in front of a collapsed Kenridge.
"S-SHOKO IS THE WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!" The emcee, unable to contain his emotions, declared out loud. "Holy cow, sir!! What an amazing display of power!"
"Indeed. I was almost certain that the foxgirl would have lost to someone like Kenridge, but seemed like she was the one hiding her true strength all the time," Aldwolf nodded with a huge smile on his face. "Let's give them a round of applause."
Kenridge, his mouth filled with the taste of burnt dirt, groaned softly as he felt himself being flipped over to his back. His current self was a mess, injuries all over as his bones ached. Even his prized tophat had fluttered aside, filled with holes from being tossed all over the place and burnt.
The final attack was a failure.
"You did pretty well, you know?" Shoko, who was the one who flipped him, bent down next to him. "Only a few people managed to make me bring out my beast form."
"…. You… are back to normal…" Kenridge grunted softly, seeing that she was back to her human appearance. "… Tch… how troublesome…"
"Hehe~ I told you that I would go easy," Shoko stuck her tongue out while grinning at him.
With a sigh, Kenridge closed his eyes and allowed himself to fade to darkness, despite all the pain and discomfort he was feeling.
"…. I'm tired....."