"Looks like the loser is out." Ariel laughed under her breath while rubbing her neck. "So the next fight is Ariel and I." Quentin nodded seriously, accepting her challenge. His shoulders relaxed for a second before tensing again, probably because Ariel isn't known to hold back against enemies. "I wonder how Ariel's ice magic is going to go up against Quentin's light magic." Callum pondered out loud from the sidelines.
Ariel shifted her stance and brought out the crystal to her side. "Let's see who is stronger now." Quentin snickered in response, no doubt assuming that she was inexperienced with fighting. The rest of the class sat silently waiting to see what Ariel would do. She stood opposite Quentin and stared straight at him, almost glaring.
Both sides waited impatiently for one to make the first move. After a few more tense seconds they both broke from their staring contest. Ariel then began moving her lips rapidly, casting an unknown incantation, the crystal shone bright for a split second, causing several ice spears to rain down upon Quentin. He had a bewildered expression but his reaction time was far superior to those of his classmates as he swiftly maneuvered himself from the ice. The crystal was broken in a few moments from the stress of Ariel's mana.
"Damn..." Quentin sighed loudly in frustration, trying to formulate a plan that could potentially bring his victory. Suddenly, the air around the field changed. The whole atmosphere shifted into one of coldness. A thick fog filled the clearing. As we waited patiently for the fight to finish, I observed how most of the students sat completely silent. Their entire bodies frozen stiff as the chilled air penetrated through them.
Eventually the cloud disappeared as the last rays of sunlight faded into blackness. I also saw the shapes of both Ariel and Quentin move within the fog. Eventually Ariel stumbled forth, staggering as her head hung low. I also witnessed that Quentin's body was covered in frost. His uniform covered in a light layer of frost, a contrast to her own clothes. Her breath could clearly be heard through the crowd as the air slowly heated once more.
With no hesitation whatsoever, she kicked him in the abdomen sending Quentin into the wall behind them. Immediately Ariel jumped towards Quentin again, but the moment her foot landed on top of the snow-covered ground her vision blackened and then cleared just as quickly. In front of her, Quentin's silhouette emerged through the mist of steam that surrounded them both, an invisible shield deflected every strike she threw at him, never leaving a dent on its surface.
"BLINDING FLASH!" Quentin yelled, throwing an arm forward. A blinding burst of light flared in front of Ariel, searing the vision from her eyes and bringing her to her knees as her head sunk deep within her arms.
Ariel growled loudly while digging her fingers into the ground below. Finally, with a simple motion, she sent several dozen icicles directly at her opponent. All of which were deflected by the same forcefield he had been using. After recovering momentarily, Ariel charged at Quentin once more, aiming directly for his solar plexus and sending him flying a good distance across the arena. Ariel lunged forward and jumped on top of Quentin, bringing herself to pin him underneath her, drawing closer than ever before.
She continued to jab at Quentin repeatedly with her icy fist while he continuously used his defensive spells. Within a few short seconds however, she had exhausted every ounce of her stamina from the lack of training. Ariel attempted one last stab with all the strength she had left within, managing only to barely pierce his shoulder as her breathing became ragged. Her head turned towards his ear, bringing herself into his neckline. Ariel's breaths were harsh, full of life and fury as Quentin trembled before her.
"I think we have found a winner in this match. Due to Ariel's exhaustion, we will have to rule Quentin Asharm as victorious." Professor Ego clapped once in approval.
"Ariel... What a foolish decision. I expected better of you, especially when you are one of my favourites. However, with your loss of the crystal shard, your loss of the final is immediate." Ariel flinched involuntarily at that and slowly stood up. Her fists were shaking uncontrollably, and tears threatened to spill out from her eyes. But no sooner had the thought entered her mind before her fists slammed into her sides.
I stared dumbfoundedly at what I had seen before turning my gaze back towards Ariel. At least it was a very exciting match, regardless of her defeat. Quentin stared intently at the remaining four participants on his side of the bracket as though wondering which will be his next opponent.
Eventually Ego called Magnius, one of the weaker students in class to enter the field of battle, looking pleased when Quentin simply stepped away without arguing with his mentor.
The remaining members of our class then went about watching the matches. I smiled at everyone in our class before moving to sit back next to Callum. Ariel simply scowled down, unable to meet my gaze as if afraid she might cry again.
"What do you think?" Amelia asked Callum after giving a glance at the two of us.
"Well with the next round starting tomorrow, I'm excited to see who will reach the semi-finals of the tournament!" Callum spoke excitedly, not realizing his previous mistake until I sighed softly to myself in annoyance.
I then proceeded to get up from my seat and walk over to Ariel. Sitting right beside her on the edge of the field of grass and resting a hand upon her shoulder. She appeared visibly annoyed due to her defeat against Quentin. The problem was she got too cocky and used too much mana in a short amount of time, it's understandable that she was excited but she got ahead of herself.
"You did good." I reassured Ariel softly, trying my best to help her feel better about the result. "Yeah, I lost." She stated bluntly, her face becoming slightly reddened again when noticing me looking concerned over the matter.
"I need to do better next time."
"Then promise to try even harder next time?"
"Okay..." she conceded.
"Alright class, now that the first round of the tournament has ended I will be giving you the next round of opponents for tomorrow! Lyra, you will be facing off against So- I mean Cyrus, Quentin, you automatically qualify for the semi-finals and on the other side of the bracket we have Emerson facing off against Vled and finally, Thorne you automatically reach the semi finals for your performance against Ryfin, congrats." Everyone looked surprised at this announcement and I could see the smile stretching from ear to ear across Thorne's face.
"If there's one thing that these tournaments have taught me, is that they always throw something unexpected." Emerson stated confidently before turning away.
Lyra chuckled at Ego's announcement before turning her gaze upon me, grinning widely. She seemed strangely pleased at the idea of facing me.
I can't deny that she isn't strong and an expert at using the shadow affinity, she's a bit terrifying I'm not going to lie.