"And yet," I gazed at the arena. The flat ground, dotted with large rocky protrusions, was covered in a fine growth of grass, and a few small trees rose along the edges of the arena. "When did they manage to plant all of this in such a short time? It seems like it wasn't long ago."
"Phew, I'm exhausted," Teacher Levris comfortably settled on a soft chair in the corner of our balcony. Heavily sighing, she lay with her eyes closed, resting after her arduous work.
"Teacher, did you do all of this?" I asked.
"Me? No-no-no, I just leveled the arena and placed some stones at the Rector's request. All the plants were his doing."
"Are you saying that the Rector grew all these plants in just half an hour? Okay, maybe the grass, but the trees?"
"Forgive me," a timid voice came from behind. It was the kind-hearted healer: "Healing is truly a gift from my grandfather, but life-giving power can be used not only for healing but also for granting life. Of course, it's much more challenging with animals and people, but turning a handful of seeds into a blooming field, that's where my grandfather excels."
Feris smiled shyly; it seemed praising her grandfather brought her pleasure but also made her slightly embarrassed.
"But why go through all this trouble? They could have fought on a simple arena."
"Well, that wouldn't have been entirely fair. You see, plants play a crucial role for certain types of magicians, like water and fire users, for example. And in the very first match, our big guy and the princess just wiped them all out," Vina spread her arms and glanced at Grain and Katrina.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Grain immediately felt guilty.
"Don't worry about it. The arena is meant to witness the true riot of elements. However, Rector decided it would be fair to restore the arena to its original state during the break."
"But why not do it after every match then?"
"Well, it takes some time and a lot of concentration for my grandfather to do that, and I doubt the audience would peacefully watch the grass grow for half an hour."
"So, only during the breaks... Hmmm, that still puts some participants at a disadvantage," I pondered, realizing that during the quarterfinals and semifinals, there would be no time to restore the arena between battles, and that could be exploited.
"Alright then, it's time for me to head to the commentator's booth. Are you guys coming?" Vina turned to Kurone and Werner.
"No, I think I'll cheer for the others from here. Besides, my help is no longer needed," the guy shrugged.
"If necessary, I can help from here as well, but I'd rather be with everyone else if you don't mind," Kurone lowered her gaze shyly.
"Hmm, what to do... Well," the merchant rummaged in her bag and pulled out a small cube made of a material remotely resembling crystal. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that this crystal was the same material as the huge one in the center of the dome: "I found this in the cabin. Rector said it can transmit images to the main crystal. I think the audience would be interested to hear the opinions of the other tournament participants. Werner, you'll film, and Kur- hmm, Seli, could you add some touch-ups to make her look beautiful on screen? Let's make her a little star. Heh. Levris, I don't need to ask, it's your duty to go."
Handing out instructions, the girl agilely leaped onto the stands and ran to the cabin.
"I'm coming too," the exhausted teacher said, swaying as she followed.
"HEEEY! Maybe someone else could perform in my place?" Kurone was terrified of performing in public, but the girls all turned away, ignoring her plea. "Alright, I'll remind you of this."
"Hmm, for some reason, these crystals remind me of a device from the Empire... Well, never mind, it's time to step onto the arena. Interestingly, Vina's presentation scares me more than the battle itself," Aileen sighed heavily and headed to the arena, where her silent companion, the temple guardian, was already waiting.
"Vahahaha, and here I am again, presenting the new contenders for the title of the great champion. Some were looking forward to this battle, while others weren't, but neither group knows how it will end!"
The audience erupted with joyful cheers.
"Alright, our first contestant... Aileen Draglein!!" The screen displayed the girl with short hair at the center of the arena, and then it split, showing scenes from her past on the other half. "Introduction" to our guild, her battle with me, and even her intense work in the forge. Throughout this time, Kurone held the crystal received from the exuberant announcer in her hands and transmitted her thoughts through it: "One of the ten imperial guards, who remained at the Academy as a guarantee of peace between our countries. Though she exhibits disdain for our laws, she's gradually adapting to our society. Battling her is full of surprises; you never know what kind of weapons she hides up her sleeve."
Aileen breathed a sigh of relief and waved to the fans, though this gesture only elicited a few displeased shouts. Even those who bet on her victory probably wouldn't openly cheer for an enemy of their country.
"Meh. And our second participant, Milena Warden," the crystal showed Aileen's opponent. A silent girl with short chestnut hair and a couple of curly locks. She had a melancholic look, or perhaps she simply lacked enthusiasm for participating in this event. "Meh, I don't even know what to say. The range of emotions this beauty displays deserves separate praise."
The crystal showed Kurone's memories, of when she had previously encountered Milena: at the training ground during her first meeting with Selerie, at the treasure hunters' festival, and today on the stands. In all those situations, the girl always lagged behind her guildmates with the same indifferent expression. It seemed nothing could shake her.
"And that's probably it. What's stronger, the church's magic or imperial technology? Let the battle decide!!" The cheerful voice announced the start of the match.
The girls stood facing each other at a distance of about fifteen meters. The match began, but they measured each other up with their gaze, trying to find weaknesses in the opponent's defense.
"Don't you want to start, Miss Wizard?" Aileen nodded kindly to her opponent.
"No."
"Are you afraid of me?"
"No."
"And you seem quite talkative?"
"Hmm... No."
Aileen's attempt to taunt Milena shattered against her impenetrable expression.
"This is getting boring," Aileen shrugged and smirked mysteriously. "Then I'll start."
Swiftly thrusting her hands forward and clenching her fists, Aileen released two small steel arrows towards her opponent's shoulders. Two meters before reaching the target, water spheres appeared in the path of the arrows, slightly larger in size. The projectiles smoothly entered the water and slowed down, falling to the ground.
"Interesting, she stopped the attack without even flinching."
The spheres returned to their owner and slowly began to rotate around her. Milena extended her hand and started pointing at the engineer one by one. Three large water droplets, slightly over a centimeter in size, flew out at high speed in response to the first attack. Aileen quickly jumped to the side, evading the strike.
"No, you won't defeat me like that," the engineer fired a barrage of ten arrows at her opponent, but each arrow was stopped by a new sphere. After performing their function, the spheres gathered together into two large bubbles and circled around the sorceress. "Hmm, even my mouth feels dry. Care for a sip of water?"
"Well, if you're not afraid," the girl waved her hand, and one of the spheres surged towards Aileen with a broad wave. She leaped back, and the water only grazed her boot.
"No, that won't do," Aileen stomped the ground, and the water droplets slid off her leather covering. "Water won't seep easily into my clothes, and I won't let you control it."
The engineer smirked smugly, while Milena merely pursed her lips for a split second.
"Then let's do it the old-fashioned way," the girl divided the second sphere into dozens of tiny droplets and clapping her hands, swiftly sent them towards her opponent.
"Damn!" Aileen jumped back, and half of the water arrows hit the ground with such force that several stones were scattered into dust. Curling up into a ball, she somersaulted backward, but in mid-air, she still got hit by a few charges. "Well, that's quite the force."
Aileen rubbed the impact points on her elbows and legs. Even in the air, she protected the vital areas of her body from damage, but bruises were visible on her skin, formed instantly by the attacks.
"Drawing out the fight with you would be too painful, so let's speed things up," Aileen began to circle around her opponent, constantly releasing arrows at her. One after another, the water spheres blocked the arrows, but the number of arrows in Aileen's crossbows clearly surpassed the sorceress's stamina. "I can keep this up for a long time."
The arrows began to breach Milena's defense, deflecting two arrows per second, the sorceress depleted her mana reserves and started to let through those shots she could not dodge on her own. For the first time, the composed sorceress's face distorted from tension, and a few drops of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"I'm almost there, oh damn," Aileen fired at Milena again, but the crossbows misfired. "Damn magazine."
Continuing to run, the girl unfastened two small metal boxes from the top of her gloves and threw them aside. While the engineer was busy changing charges, Milena had a moment to catch her breath and gather together all the water droplets splashed by Aileen's attacks. The resulting bubble was almost twice her size, as she clearly collected much more water than was initially available.
"Water net," Milena crossed her fingers, and the bubble stretched into a flat sheet, turning into a net almost fifteen meters wide. There was no way for Aileen to avoid it, no matter how hard she tried.
"What a thorn in the side," the engineer jumped back and found herself almost against the arena wall. The net had already closed all retreat paths, leaving only the option to climb up. But the girl didn't rush to jump higher; she looked at the sorceress with a satisfied gaze and reached for the bag behind her back. "I also have surprises for occasions like this."
The girl took out a iron ball about ten centimeters in diameter from her bag and swiftly ran it along the inner side of her glove.
"Hey, I've seen such balls before. Wasn't it that big knight who used them to bombard us?" Katrina barely managed to say before the ball, emitting a stream of sparks, flew into the center of the net.
Passing right through it, the ball extinguished, and a second later, it exploded with a deafening roar. A bright flash consumed the net, and the water, engulfed in flames, instantly evaporated. The edges of the mesh, deprived of support, fell to the ground and blended into the soil.
"Explosives?" Milena still couldn't believe what had happened before her eyes. "I've never heard of such destructive force from such a small charge."
"No time to be amazed! Now it's my turn!" Aileen pushed off from the wall and rushed towards the sorceress, drawing a dagger from her glove.
But she wasn't meant to reach her. Halfway, the girl abruptly stopped and looked down at her feet. From the ground, tenacious water tendrils rose and slowly began to envelop her entire body.
"So that's where the water was hiding? Now it makes sense."
The water rose higher and pressed against the girl's body.
"Surrender or drown," Milena's voice remained as cold as ever, but her hands were trembling. It seemed her strength was waning, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to hold the enemy.
"You can barely stand; if I wait a little longer, you'll collapse on your own," Aileen replied defiantly, looking directly into her opponent's eyes.
"You asked for it!" Milena raised her hands sharply, and a torrent of water burst forth from under the ground, completely restraining Aileen. The engineer held her breath and now hung in the air, encased in a bubble slightly larger than her. The edges of the bubble trembled; it was evident that it was becoming difficult for her to maintain the spell. But Aileen remained composed; she floated peacefully at the center of the bubble for a while, then finally opened her eyes. She looked at the sorceress with a wry smile and reached for the bag on her belt. "No way. If you try to detonate a bomb in such a confined space, you won't escape with just a few scratches."
But Aileen continued and took out two gray balls from the bag, slightly smaller than the bomb she used before. The engineer squeezed the balls with force, and as they cracked, gray powder burst out, quickly filling the entire bubble. The bubble crashed to the ground and crumbled into a gray, earthy mass, with the guardian standing at its center.
"Brr," shaking her head, Aileen brushed off some of the gray sand and threw another challenge at Milena, "I finally neutralized your water. Now it's your turn to surrender."
"Trifles," the sorceress extended her hand towards the gray mass and tried to squeeze water from it. But the sand reluctantly obeyed the sorceress and refused to release any moisture. "Why isn't it working?"
"It's useless. This isn't ordinary sand; it's a substance that binds water at a deeper level. We usually use it in construction, but I thought it might come in handy like this. You won't be able to draw water from the clinker, and you have almost no strength left for condensation. If you still refuse to surrender, try blocking this," Aileen pulled out a dagger from her glove and threw it at the opponent. Milena gathered her last remaining strength and created a small shield in front of her, but it only slightly deflected the dagger, leaving a deep gash on her shoulder. The girl fell to the ground and didn't attempt to get up again.
Aileen approached the defeated sorceress with calm steps and pointed her blade at her.
"Now, do you surrender?" There was no hostility in the guardian's eyes, only the thirst for a good battle.
"It seems I have no choice." Milena raised her hands and bowed her head before her victorious opponent.