"What a coincidence seeing you here again," said Aria the six-winged angel who had greeted me at the triumph plaza earlier. She came over and said hi when I reached the chief referee.
"Oh...it's you!" I recognized her right away, the overly friendly stranger.
"I thought we'd only meet again at the flying contest. Didn't expect to run into you so soon at this less popular magic contest," Aria said happily. The chances of meeting someone familiar were quite low in this contest.
"Haha...I'm surprised too. The flying contest is too thrilling, so I chose this one instead," I said with an awkward laugh, not sure how to respond. We weren't very close and didn't have much to talk about.
"But..." Aria seemed to notice something and looked at me in surprise, "What happened to your wings? Are you injured?"
"Um..." I looked back and felt even more embarrassed. The tip of my top right wing was bare, easily noticeable if you looked closely. But I couldn't hide my wings while flying now. I had no choice but to stutter an explanation, "Got...caught in a door..."
"How could you get your wing caught in a door? That's so careless," Aria asked with a strange expression, though still sounding concerned, "It must have hurt a lot right?"
"Haha...it did hurt!" I couldn't help grimacing. Thankfully she didn't ask how I could still fly with an injured wing...
It wasn't a door at all! Cyra had forcefully plucked a large handful of feathers from my wing.
To be honest, she went too far! The pain was excruciating, I nearly fainted on the spot.
But I didn't let her bully me without retaliating. As a two-winged angel, how could I not fight back against a six-winged one? So I decisively returned the favour, plus my "Universe Shift Level 9" amplification...
Alright, I admit I overdid it a little. I was quite impulsive and tore out most of the feathers on her left wing, leaving the tender flesh exposed.
"Let's not talk about it..." I felt a headache coming just thinking about it. It would take at least two to three days for new feathers to fully grow back. Though the speed was fast, the biggest nuisance was being unable to hide injured wings.
My area of injury was small so it was fine. But Cyra really couldn't be seen now. She probably had difficulty even flying. Could only hide in her room, definitely unable to watch the contest.
She's probably still cursing me now...
I regret it and feel awful about the outcome, though I've apologized. Going overboard despite my good intentions, I can't help feeling very guilty.
"Feliciana!"
The chief referee was doing a roll call in the air with a notebook, my name came up.
"Here!" I quickly responded. Looking at the angels in the sky, there were only around ten, including the spectators.
"Since participants are few, we'll determine the winner in one round. I believe everyone is clear on the rules?"
After taking attendance, the chief referee reiterated the competition rules. Once everyone indicated understanding, she flew to the front to lead us to the venue.
"Reaching six wings in just a month, you're truly a genius. The magic contest is different from other events, no luck is involved, purely a test of ability. Only top masters with exceptional magical attainments dare participate."
Aria kept buttering me up mid-flight.
"Stop praising!"
I felt I really couldn't take it anymore and returned the compliment, "You're participating too, means you're also a top master!"
"No no, I'm no master at all. Like I said, it's more for the experience. I'm here to truly experience it."
Aria quickly clarified upon hearing that, then pointed stealthily up ahead, "See that eight-winged angel flying behind the chief referee? That's Phoebe, the hot favourite to win."
"I see..." Following her finger, I tried looking but couldn't make out appearances in flight.
"Phoebe can cast high-tier spells without incantations! Also the champion of the previous magic contest. She's very impressive," Aria resumed praising others.
"Most impressive!" I sincerely marvelled. I couldn't even find someone to demonstrate high-tier spells with incantations!
"How long did she take to win the previous tournament? And what is her best magic that you know of?"
Since the contest was about to start, getting more intel on my opponents would be useful.
"Not sure..."
Aria shook her head in response.
"The previous tournament was held before I was born. All I know is hearsay."
"Oh, so this is your first time too!"
I finally found some common ground. The tournament only happened once every few millennia, countless angels were born in between.
"Yeah, though I'll probably just end up in last place, let's cheer each other on! Who knows, we may get a pleasant surprise with some luck!"
Aria encouraged lightheartedly.
"I might even be second last..."
I sighed, feeling utterly hopeless. Coming with just some mid-tier magic, I was probably the only one so underprepared.
"If you're second last, doesn't that leave me at most third last?"
Well, this scene felt familiar...reminded me of everyone saying they would do badly before exams, then...
"We're here!"
Following the referee's cue, we had arrived above another open area.
The organizers probably chose this place considering the destructive power of magic.
Not sure if it was artificially created. The area was several times bigger than the main venue, easily over kilometres, and looked very empty at first glance.
On the ground were already a few angels, clearly competition staff.
"Thought it was like shooting at targets, so where are they?"
I assumed the so-called targets would be like the wooden posts and dummies in the training grounds, just larger and bulkier. But the venue was empty except for the staff.
"Probably still inside storage not brought out yet." Aria could only guess randomly.
Turned out she guessed right. As the angels landed, the staff immediately took out scrolls under the referee's direction.
"What are those?" I wondered, watching them spread out, stopping around tens of meters from the center, before laying the scrolls on the ground.
"Can those scrolls be the targets?" They looked nothing like posts or dummies.
Just as I spoke, I saw a huge pitch-black sphere rise from a scroll's magic circle and float at some height, motionless.
So much fuss about this! I immediately realized the black sphere was just an aggregation of dark elements. Having dealt with them multiple times, I could identify it at a glance.
That familiar stench and discomfort...same old formula, same old taste!
And I seemed to recall seeing a very similar object before - the black sphere Camille the succubus summoned to block my Purification. Felt almost identical, only differing in size.
"Each contestant has a dedicated timekeeper. Target the 'dark element spheres' assigned to you. Destroy them using light magic. Results will be by timing, shortest duration wins."
After the explanation, contestants were randomly grouped.
"I'm in group two, you?" Aria was quite delighted with her grouping and came over to ask me.
"Group one..." I was worried. Apart from me, group one was almost all top masters. Aside from Phoebe the winner favourite, there was another eight-winged. The pressure was immense.
Aria's group was much better. Though there was an eight-wing, there was a light elf. Probably wouldn't lose too badly.
But groupings didn't matter. The final results still depended on timing. Even taking first in your group didn't necessarily mean winning the championship.
"At least don't lose to the light elf!" I gave Aria one last encouragement as group two left...
Well, I'm not sure if it counted as encouragement.
"You too, never mind the eight-wings, just make sure to beat that other six-wing!"
She didn't fancy my chances either, given my group's line-up. It would be hard not to finish last.
I wondered again about Aetina's judgment. With three eight-wings ahead, there was no way I could place right?