ALL NOVEL Chapter 11: Tournament
Chapter 11: Tournament
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“I think magic is overrated, I mean, if someone manages to enter the close-range of a mage, it is pretty much game over. Because, if you were to ask someone, anywhere, anytime, whether mana-costing spells or the swing of the sword is faster. They will always say the swing of the sword, as such, magic’s only use is in mid to long range fights, aka, the role of a coward.”
Viking Izak, Barbarians of the North
Year 171
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--POV: Lilith Von Adion—
--Place: 3rd arena of Volitaire / Time:08:42—
I am currently in the 3rd arena, to spectate Chamberlayne’s match against Ticker. Why I am not focusing on the other dangerous participants, you ask? I have my servants doing that for me. Clarissa’s battles, however, are a matter I need to analyse personally.
“3, 2, 1, FIGHT!” The referee’s voice drags me out of my thoughts, as Clarissa Chamberlayne immediately throws 5 fireballs at her enemy. With a rapier at her hip, I would expect Clarissa to start moving out right behind the fireballs flying at her opponent.
But she just stands there as the fireballs chase her opponent, homing fireballs, huh? She is talented, as expected. But just that isn’t good enough. Her opponent reacts by immediately forming an ice wall with his mana, in an effort to counter Clarissa’s onslaught.
In retaliation to the new defence enacted by her opponent, she then proceeds to release 10 fireballs, the fireballs are now bigger in size than the first attack. Is she going to try a battle of attrition?
Her opponent, Zexel Ticker, also a freshman here, retaliates by investing more mana in the ice wall. I don’t blame him however, because if he is going to release his defence, he will play a game of cat and mouse, the fireballs being the cat, and him being the mouse.
I don’t understand the idea behind Clarissa’s strategy, zexel is only a mage, with only basic training in swordsmanship, along with a lean body that can’t provide much strength. If Clarissa decided to go in and attack her opponent with her sword, he would have no choice but to stall her with magic and try to escape.
She would easily overpower him in this scenario, but she isn’t acting on it. From what my informants told me, she is way too smart to not realize this. Which means……
she is doing this on purpose.
Her train of thought is probably along the lines of, the less people know of the cards I’m hiding, the better my chances of winning. If my guess is correct, she is probably going to repeat this same attack during all or most of her matches, so the spectators know as little about her prowess as possible.
“Winner Clarissa Chamberlayne!”
Applause rings out as Zexel runs out of mana, in which afterwards, he faints from the heat, thus leading to the referee declaring Clarissa the winner. However, I do not concern myself with such things, I am too busy planning Clarissa’s next match, after all.
--Place: First Princess’ Dorm Room / Time:19:51—
“Isn’t it late for your highness to call a man to your room at this hour? There may be nasty rumours if a man were to visit the esteemed first princess’ room, at such an hour of the night” The 30-year-old clean shaven man, known as, Jacob Gruber, the current supervisor of the training department of this university.
“Sit” I ignore his provocative remarks, his fake concern. “Change of plans”
“How cold of you” He mutters in a heartbroken voice, as he takes his seat at my table “So, what is it?” Well, well, well, haven’t you recovered quickly from your heartbreak?
“I want you to change Clarissa’s match” I could have swore I heard him say “again?”, I’ll let it slide this time “Set her up against Truman, Jack Truman” I then proceed to pull out a pouch of 100 gold coins, to persuade him.
“I don’t know what Professor Ivory would say if I suddenly changed the matches, though….”
He replies in an apologetic tone, thinking I won’t see through it. This guy seems to be an expert at acting, after all. His greed is oozing out of him, like an aura. Fortunately for him, I’m willing to compromise on this deal.
“Here” I take out another bag of 50 gold coins, a significantly smaller pouch than the previous. To show him, he isn’t getting any more than this.
“It will be done” His previous sorry expression all but disappeared.
He really is a good actor, huh…I think to myself, as he leaves the room.
--POV: Clarissa Chamberlayne—
--Place: 5th arena of Volitaire / Time:08:40—
This is a different arena than yesterday, I think this as I stare at my new opponent, Jack Truman. According to Laurence, he found out that this guy is a magic swordsman, like me. Except he is proficient in water magic, and was also taught the way of the sword by a well-known and experienced knight.
It’s almost as if this is the perfect guy to counter the strategy I used yesterday. Laurence thinks it’s the first princess, well….she is spectating my match, just as she had yesterday. The question is why? If I’m not mistaken, she could have sent a guard or a servant of some sort to blend in the crowd, and watch my battles. But instead she decided to shock everyone by watching herself.
Is this her way of declaring war? Because this is what I feel from all of this anyway, assuming she is the one behind this, Laurence could be wrong about her after all, but I doubt it. Maybe it’s reverse psychology? Someone who’d want to analyse my strength would try to be sneaky as they watch me, however, by watching herself, she tries to remove suspicion that she is actually here for ulterior motives, and is instead here for entertainment.
Is that it?
“….FIGHT!” I push my worries to the back of my mind, as I channel and convert mana to fireballs, sending exactly 5 of them towards Jack, as I did in my last match.
Laurence said to only show my actual strength if necessary, however, I’ll prove to him that I can beat this guy with just the fireballs, who knows? I might even get praised, hehe.
Shooting balls, or more accurately droplets, of water, to negate my fireballs, my opponent drags me out of my fantasies as I form 10 fireballs, this time however, using a smaller size and less fire intensity, to conserve mana, of course.
This battle of fireballs and waterballs (?) goes on for another minute or so, before Truman finally decides to break the stalemate by dashing towards me, with longsword in hand. Instead of facing this head on though, I move backwards and shoot my fireballs to him, trying to keep him occupied as I make distance between us, before shooting some more fireballs.
“Get back here, you coward!” Trying to get me to take the chivalrous route of fighting head on? My apologies, praises coming out from Laurence’s mouth is on the line here, I can’t respond to your battle spirit, buddy.
Wow, am I trolling him too hard? I even feel a bit bad for him. I look at him with eyes of pity as he struggles to evade the homing fireballs while chasing me.
Haah….This chase is getting boring, so how about we end this? I launch 30 large fire balls at once, towards him.
“KAAAAAHHHH!!!” and with a final scream, my second match ends.
While I may have exposed the fact I have a shit ton of mana, everything else is still good. I’m looking forward to those praises….