During those two days, we hardly saw each other. I tried to keep my distance from Katrina, and we trained at different times. I didn't know if she had talked to her father and if she was ready for the battle, but no one asked us. The last day of the tournament had arrived, and the finest fire mages put on a spectacular show, sending flames of various shapes and colors soaring over the Colosseum.
I felt the eyes of different people on me. Common folks and fellow Academy students looked at me with respect, as if I were a hero. Nobles and church servants, on the other hand, saw me as an enemy, daring to challenge their authority. The feelings were conflicting, but I wanted to win, not so much for those who saw a hero in me, but to silence those in power.
As I approached the Colosseum, I spotted Katrina ascending to our balcony. From her expression, I could tell that her conversation with her father hadn't been pleasant. With that mood, she was unlikely to be ready for the fight.
We immediately proceeded to the arena. Today's battle was the only one, and the spectators awaited it eagerly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy and, at the same time, saddened," Vina's voice greeted us from the booth above the stands. "Today marks the most significant duel of the tournament but also the day of our parting. You have been a grateful audience, and I have endeavored to make this tournament unforgettable for all of you. Many bets were made during this tournament, and many have already lost, but someone still has a chance to win in the final battle. Allow me to introduce our finalists!"
The screens surrounding the crystal split in half, showing me and Katrina. The images changed, displaying various moments from our recent battles as Vina continued her speech.
"Princess Katrina, who has earned fame as the leader of the finest guild in the Academy and an unparalleled fighter, the continent's best lightning mage. Many admire her strength, and no fewer people are enchanted by her beauty. I can't express how delighted I am that she will be our future queen. Regardless of the battle's outcome, she has already secured her place in the Academy's history."
The image shifted, showing my battles.
"Krito Vale - a strong, skillful, and agile warrior. Some may accuse him of reaching the finals through dirty tricks, but in real combat, no one cares about a fair fight. He earned his place in the final solely thanks to his skills and wit, and no one has the right to condemn him for that. A humble orphan will fight for the title of the Academy's best warrior."
Katrina stood opposite me, her head lowered. Either she had already given up on the fight or wasn't mentally prepared for it.
"Hey, princess," I said, and the girl flinched at the sound of my voice. "Before the battle, there's something I want to tell you."
I paused for a moment and looked at Katrina with a completely serious expression.
"I hate you," my words made Katrina flinch, and she clenched her fists tightly. "You are arrogant, naive, and reckless. Because of you, death has threatened me multiple times. And now, after all your struggles, you dare to step into the arena in such a miserable state."
"Krito, I just..." Katrina spoke with a timid voice, as if on the verge of tears.
"You simply can't decide whether you want to fight or not," I continued, "Your father first wanted to make you lose the final to Alfred and then make me lose to you. And it seems you learned about it in the worst way possible."
I shook my head in disgust and closed my eyes.
"I pity you if such foolishness could throw you off balance. Despite your father's will, you were ready to fight until victory, but now you just came here to lose. I won't be condescending towards you, and if you don't intend to fight, then I will hate you even more!"
Katrina's expression darkened with each insult I hurled at her, her head sinking lower, but after a minute, she regained her composure. The princess lifted her head proudly and wiped away her tears.
"I won't lose," she declared.
"Well, that's better," I said, smoothly drawing my blades from their sheaths and crossing them before me. "At least you'll be able to put up some resistance now."
If she was so confident, then let her show me her best attack.
The princess extended her hands forward and gathered a tremendous charge, unleashing a lightning bolt at me comparable to the one she used to destroy the training ground on the first day we met. The bolt could have brought down a stadium wall if not for my crystal shield, but I proudly met it with my crossed blades.
The powerful charge collided with my crossed blades and began to disperse in sparks all around. The force of the attack pushed me backward, but I could withstand it. After half a minute, the charge dissipated, but instead of exploding, the residual electrical energy that accumulated on my blades remained calm with a soft hum.
"Hm?" Perhaps the princess expected something similar to the battle with Rizel, and the absence of an explosion surprised her.
"You can stop waiting. These blades can absorb even such a powerful spell," I said, grinning smugly, and placed my large sword on my shoulder; in the rays of the morning sun, it gleamed with an amber glow.
"You..." Katrina was drawn to the color of the blades, which were usually black with a bluish tint, but today, surprisingly, they had a rainbow hue. "You coated your blades with something!"
"Exactly. Thanks to Aileen's advice, I can now withstand your attacks," I replied.
"Well, let's test that," the princess said, spreading her arms and conjuring small sparks at her fingertips. With a swift motion, she sent ten lightning bolts at me.
I intercepted the first three bolts with my blades and leaped to the side, avoiding three more bolts that struck the spot where I stood a second ago. As soon as I landed, Katrina launched another powerful lightning bolt at me. I blocked it with my larger blade while the smaller one deflected the two smaller lightning bolts released earlier, which bounced off the barrier and headed straight for my back. Still, I managed to intercept them in time.
I seized the swords and plunged them into the ground. The excess charge discharged into the field, but I gathered it and pushed that part of the earth toward Katrina. She noticed the changes in the ground and leaped away before the charge exploded beneath her feet.
I swung the blades and sent two wind blades at the princess. Katrina conjured a thin lightning charge at the center of the spell, shattering the airflow halfway. Following the wind spell, I released a fiery vortex. The sorceress gathered a spherical lightning and sent it toward the flames. The two spells collided, enveloping the center of the arena in thick smoke.
I wrapped my body in lightning mana and rushed through the haze of smoke towards my opponent. In the center of the veil, I collided with Katrina. She deflected my blade with her electrically charged hand and attempted a strike with her other hand. I sidestepped and delivered a knee strike to her arm. However, Katrina stepped back and, gathering lightning on her heel, launched a spinning strike. I crouched and, turning my back to her, delivered an elbow strike to Katrina's chest. The blow was strong, sending the princess back several meters.
"Now, this is a battle! I really don't understand what's happening!" Vina tried to make sense of the situation. "Krito suddenly started using all the elemental magic possible, even though he couldn't perform the simplest spell before!"
"Well, young lady, he's not exactly using the spells himself," the Rector said, smiling contentedly with his hands folded in front of his face. "Didn't you notice that he's not the one using the magic?"
"What do you mean? He just did all that!"
"You see, all elemental mages can use magic of different elements, but it requires considerable effort, especially when manipulating different types of mana simultaneously. That's why novice mages often stick to using only their element's magic. However, more experienced mages train with all the elements. But Krito found a solution to this problem; he uses spells through his blades. Didn't it strike you as odd that he used earth magic with swords, even though they are the least suitable weapons for this type of magic?"
"Hmm, well, now that you mention it, it was strange, but what does it mean?"
"It means that he still can't use magic freely," the Rector said, cryptically smiling, his hands still folded in front of his face. "But he can transfer his mana to other objects and use magic through them."
"So, as long as there's mana in the blades, he can fight, but once it runs out, Krito will be in trouble?"
"Young lady, you underestimate your friend. I believe he could still fight Katrina even without magic."
"But he probably wouldn't stand a chance of winning?"
"No, he would have stood a chance to win. But the way it is now, he wants to show that he's genuinely facing someone seriously. These blades can absorb an incredible amount of magic, and it's unlikely the mana will run out before the end of the battle. But Krito will fight at full strength, and the one who endures better may decide the outcome."
After lying still for a few seconds, Katrina slowly got up on her feet.
"That hurt," she said, caressing the spot where I struck her.
"What can I do? We're not in training," I rubbed my left hand; it momentarily lost sensitivity after the strike. "Seems like you've learned to use your defense more effectively."
At the moment of impact, an electrical field from the princess affected my hand, even though I hadn't even felt it before.
"It takes more effort than usual, but now your defense won't dispel my magic," Katrina said.
She released a powerful lightning bolt at me, and I blocked it with my blades. Taking advantage of my momentary confusion, the princess swiftly closed in and attempted a chest strike. I pivoted in place and delivered a spinning kick. Katrina rolled aside and gathered charges at her fingertips. Swiftly turning around, she unleashed a net of discharges at me. The net of lightning surrounded me, and I couldn't block all the discharges in time. Gathering all the fire magic in my blades, I released flames around me. The air around me heated up, and the net halted, stopping just ten centimeters from my body. Dispersed by my defense, the net of lightning dissipated.
An aura of fire enveloped me, similar to how Seleria once blocked all of Katrina's attacks, but not nearly as strong. I gathered flames on the blades and advanced toward the princess. With each step, I executed a turn and released a powerful fiery blade forward.
Katrina rolled back, evading the first blade, shattered the second with her claws, and leaped forward. Leaping over the third blade, Katrina approached me to strike. I blocked her hand with the back of my blade and delivered a hilt strike to her stomach. The blow sent Katrina flying backward, but I, too, received a powerful discharge.
Electricity from the last collision still coursed through my body; I even lost consciousness for a moment. Because I touched the princess with both hands, the discharge was much stronger. If I hadn't blocked her attack with my blade but deflected it with my hand, I probably wouldn't have been able to stand up. Close combat with Katrina was becoming increasingly challenging.
"Aren't you in a hurry to attack?" the princess said, smirking.
"I'm considering my next move, but you also seem hesitant for some reason," although I had taken more damage, Katrina was still clutching her stomach. Apparently, the previous strike had been extremely painful for her. "Did I hit you that hard?"
"Shut up!" Katrina released a lightning bolt at me, but I stomped the ground and conjured a stone wall in her path. "Ah, you!"
Spreading her arms apart, the sorceress crossed them and released several lightning bolts along an elliptical arc toward me. I embedded the blades into the ground, and stone walls surrounded me, shielding me from the attack.
I lowered the defense and looked at the blades. I didn't have much mana left; I needed to finish the battle. But Katrina was preparing something serious.
The princess held a dense charge of electricity in her hands. It was something more than a simple lightning bolt. The charged sphere was constantly struggling to break free from her grasp, but she managed to contain it.
Such energy concentration seemed familiar to me. Once, I had witnessed something similar when too much lightning mana gathered in one place, requiring an outlet. Back then, a young, inexperienced sorceress was fighting beyond her capabilities, and to calm her lightning magic, a more powerful sorceress transferred part of her mana to her. The excess energy eventually erupted outward without harming the girls...
"This is bad," I gathered the remaining mana in my blades and created a dusty curtain around me. Using wind magic, I started heating up the air within the barrier. If everything worked out, I could defend against this attack.
Katrina abruptly clasped her hands together, and the lightning sphere exploded in a blinding flash. The golden lightning filled the entire space inside the dome. The hexagonal crystals of the crystalline barrier creaked under the pressure of pure power but held firm. The spell did not go beyond the arena, turning it into a boiling inferno. Electric discharges saturated the ground, melting it into a homogenous mass. When the outburst of energy subsided, the entire field transformed into a dish of dark brown-black glass. Katrina's magic melted the entire arena ground, preventing me from using it again.
"So, at least I deprived you of earth magic," Katrina weakly smiled and looked toward the center of the arena. "How much longer are you going to stay there?"