Duelcrest Academy

We watched, horrified, as two guards carried the bodies of the two defeated students out of the classroom.

«I wonder what will happen to them...»

They would probably be taken to the same place as our missing comrades.

Was there a huge graveyard somewhere in the school?

I doubted it.

"What's the point of having a grave if no one will ever visit it?"

I knew full well that dying at the Academy would consign our existence to oblivion.

After the chaos of the duel, a tomb-like silence fell over the class as Finch and Foster resumed their seats.

And as if nothing had happened, the tournament resumed.

I paid little attention to the next two duels, whose winners would face Celeste and Finch's groups.

My mind was busy trying to contain an old monster that had just awoken.

«Elizabeth Belvoir and Sophia Thornton versus Elias Mercer and Finnian Burke.»

It was our turn.

«Let's go,» Sophia said in a dry tone as she stood up.

I nodded. But when I tried to follow her, as I had feared, my legs seemed to refuse to move.

"Not again... Not now."

Sophia turned and looked at me.

«Elizabeth, are you all right?» she asked in a worried tone.

I finally managed to stand up.

«I can't be a burden to her...»

I thought I was over it by now.

I had hoped that the many duels and the confrontation with Chloe had hardened me, that I had become strong, as Amy had said.

But the scene I had witnessed a few minutes earlier seemed to have reawakened an enemy I thought I had vanquished long ago.

That shadow had been lurking in the recesses of my mind, waiting for a moment of weakness, ready to try and suffocate me again.

That spectacle of death had given it the perfect opportunity.

My breathing became heavy as I walked towards the arena.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Finch, back in the front row, staring at me with the same blank expression he had when he killed that poor girl.

"Soon it will be my turn..."

«Elizabeth... Elizabeth!»

I had stopped again.

Sophia squeezed my face between her hands, her emerald eyes fixed on mine.

«Just think about this duel for now, ok? Take a deep breath. You'll be fine, I'm here with you!»

The sudden contact snapped me out of the trance I had fallen into.

"Everything's going to be fine, Sophia is here with me."

I couldn't afford to waver now, my life wasn't the only one at stake.

I followed Sophia into the arena. In front of us stood our two challengers, Mercer and Burke.

We had done thorough research on all the participants in the tournament, but of course I had no way of knowing if they too were hiding an innate power.

I pulled out my wand as the voice began the countdown. I tried to take more deep breaths to calm myself.

"Everything's going to be fine, Sophia is here with me." I repeated in my head like a mantra.

3

2

1

«Gravity Surge!»

Burke's spell affected Sophia when she was halfway to reach him.

"But how...?! He's so far down the rankings...!"

I watched in horror as Sophia tried to lift herself off the ground.

"I have to help her!"

I prepared to hit Burke with a spell to free her.

«WATCH OUT!»

Sophia's scream made me jump backwards.

My uniform suddenly tore and I felt a stab of pain in my stomach.

Instinctively, I gripped my wand tighter:

«Fire Whirl!»

A tornado of flames erupted around me.

I lowered my eyes. Something had cut me lightly in the stomach.

"Mercer... where is he?"

Focused as I was on Burke and Sophia, I had not paid attention to our other opponent, who seemed to have disappeared.

"Invisibility..."

I immediately turned my hand to Sophia.

«Fire Whirl!»

A slightly weaker flame shield surrounded her. Since she couldn't move, I had to protect both of us.

«Water Stream!»

A jet of water seemed to come out of nowhere, extinguishing the weak flame shield I had been using to protect my friend.

"Gotcha!"

«Fireball!»

Having stopped feeding the fire vortex around me, I aimed for the point of origin of the spell. A small crater formed in the ground. But I had no way of knowing if I had hit him.

To be on the safe side, I reactivated our defences.

Sophia meanwhile had managed to get to her feet and was slowly walking towards Burke.

«Lightning Bolt!»

"I missed!"

The new spell was aimed at Sophia, but the girl easily defended herself with her sword. More electric bolts began to rain down on her, coming from various points in the arena.

"He's running around to avoid being hit by me..."

I could have defended Sophia with a stone shield, but it would only have hindered her movement.

I could have used a Mana Shield, but it would have consumed too many resources...

"I can't go for an area attack either or I'm going to hit Sophia... of course!"

I deactivated the defences around me again.

«Downpour!»

A light rain broke out in the arena.

It was a spell I had learned from Celeste. I had cast it rather weakly so as not to waste any magic power.

But it would have been enough to...see a silhouette in the rain, running towards me at great speed!

"Shit I need to reactiv-"

But it only took a moment...

«AAAAAAAH!»

Mercer suddenly reappeared, screaming in pain and clutching his bleeding stump as his sword-arm fell to the ground with a thud and a clang.

Sophia was beside him, her blade smeared with the boy's blood.

She had broken free of Burke's spell.

I didn't even have time to notice it that the girl was already close to the boy, who fell backwards.

«I surrender!» he muttered quickly.

«The winners are Belvoir and Thornton!»

I remained motionless as two guards lifted Mercer from the floor and a third picked up his arm.

I stared at Sophia as she wiped her sword on her skirt.

"Unlike me... she had no hesitation..."

«Let's go to the infirmary as well.»

"Oh..."

The cut Mercer had given me was so superficial that I didn't even remember it.

Of course, if Sophia hadn't screamed...

«I'm fine... We should look at the oth-»

«No.»

And she dragged me away as usual.

When we got to the infirmary, she stood in the doorway, waiting for me to get patched up.

I sat in a chair while one of the healers pointed his wand at my wound.

Mercer was unconscious on a bed nearby with no less than three healers at his bedside. Reattaching all the nerves in one arm couldn't have been easy...

On the contrary, it only took a few seconds to close my cut.

«All good?»

«All good.»

Sophia seemed to be deep in thought. She and I walked silently towards the classroom.

"We have to watch our next opponents' duel."

But before we reached our destination, Sophia stopped me and took my hand.

«Huh?»

«Come with me.»

I could do nothing but follow her to our new destination: the inner courtyard.

The familiar sunny lawn was obviously deserted.

«Sophia, shouldn't w-»

«Sit down.»

«Okay, okay...»

"She's mad at me..."

After putting her life on the line by signing up with me for the tournament and working so hard to train me, my behaviour in the first duel had threatened to ruin everything.

When I saw her trapped by that spell, I lost my mind....

And even after that, my strategy had definitely been very sloppy and careless.

Sophia sat down on the grass in front of me.

«Look... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me... And if the others know that they have to use that spell against you, it's my fau-»

«Why do you always think I'm angry? Who the hell do you take me for...?» Sophia interrupted again with a sigh.

«Well, you don't let me talk... and you just cut someone's arm off,» I replied with a nervous chuckle.

«I guess you have a point...»

Sophia's mouth curled into a bitter smile.

«Sorry, I already told you that I don't really know how to deal with you sometimes... I... I'm worried about you. I tried to calm you down before the duel, but it doesn't seem to have worked.»

I could feel Sophia's affection for me in those awkward words. I had to be honest with her.

«Sophia... I'm scared... so, so scared. I thought I had become stronger since the whole Valentine thing. But when I saw those two boys being killed like that, like animals for slaughter... It's like... I was back in that moment in my room when you had to save me.»

«You have become stronger,» Sophia replied emphatically, «did you or did you not risk death to catch Chloe? It's only natural that the sight of that massacre unsettled you.»

«I... I had a conviction then that... I can't find now... I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff.»

«Alright... but like back then with Valentine, I'm here, ready to protect you. Isn't that enough for you?»

Sophia tried to change approach and gave me an almost hopeful look.

"You're finally admitting that you acted to protect me that time..."

I wanted to tell her yes.

It would have been the equivalent of taking back all my good intentions. I had sworn to myself that I would no longer allow Sophia to treat me like a damsel in distress.

But the prospect of entrusting myself to a fearless warrior was terribly tempting.

But this time there was a blemish on this perfect scenario.

«But... what if you can't save me?»

«Huh?»

I was so happy to have met Sophia and become her friend. But the time we had spent together had shattered the perfect image I once had of her.

Sophia was human like me, she was not infallible, she could make mistakes.

Sometimes she could be as reckless as me, if not more so, and her power was not without its weaknesses.

«Even in the previous duel... you were trapped, weren't you?»

«But I freed myself, didn't I?»

«That guy was pretty weak. He didn't have the same control over the spell that I had...»

«But I beat you too!»

«But are you so sure that you can defeat someone with an innate power perfect against you?"

"What am I doing...?"

After Sophia had opened up to me about her insecurities, after all the praise I had given her... now that she was offering me her help, I was trying hard to belittle her abilities.

But to my surprise, Sophia just smiled.

«Looks like I'll have to do more to impress you, eh? Don't worry, I'm used to it!»

«No! Sophia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...»

But she put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head:

«Don't worry, I know you're not yourself right now. And anyway... I'll make you eat those words.»

She stood up and offered me her hand.

«Let's go back. I will do everything in my power to get us out of this tournament alive.»

"She's so strong..."

This morning she had seemed almost more nervous than I was, but now her face was completely calm.

I was sure that the fear she had felt had not simply vanished into thin air. But unlike me, she was not overwhelmed by it, she had conquered it.

I took her hand.

«Everything in your power... How about a hug?»

«Huh?»

«You want to back out? Maybe it's too hard for you, I'm usually the one who hugs you!»

«What the hell has hugging you got to do with ensuring our survival?»

But regardless, Sophia huffed and slipped her arms awkwardly under mine.

«Why do I even bother... you're already back to your usual annoying self.»

I surrendered to her embrace and rested my head on her shoulder.

I could not tell her the truth this time.

This conversation had only made me realise how weak I still was compared to her.

But in her own way, Sophia had tried so hard to comfort me that I couldn't let her efforts seem futile.

"One day... if we survive... I hope to be as strong as you."

We made a small detour to change our clothes.

When we returned to the classroom, two duels had already been fought and one was about to end.

"Our opponents have already duelled."

I took my seat as Skylark announced the winners and called for Celeste and Philemon to fight again.

This time, however, their duel was much less exciting than the previous one.

Perhaps their opponents had no innate powers, or perhaps they had been discouraged by the show of strength they had given in their first clash.

Just two minutes later, the headmaster announced:

«Fitzroy and Hargrave are through to the semi-finals. You may go and rest, your next duel will be in two hours, after lunch.»

Philemon left the classroom immediately, while Celeste approached me and asked the boy sitting next to me to make way for her.

«Easy peasy!» she chirped as she sat down.

«Miss perfection as usual...» I replied.

I expected a playful retort, but the girl put her hand on my knee.

«Liz, are you all right?»

I looked at her, that worried look was completely out of place on her face.

"I even made her worry..."

But, after all, she had been my sparring partner for a long time. She must have known right away that something was wrong from the way I had fought in the previous duel.

«I feel better now after a walk.»

It was clear that Celeste was not at all convinced by this lie.

«Come on... you're the best mage I know! And that's high praise coming from me.»

"She's even worse than Sophia at trying to cheer me up."

But I couldn't help but appreciate her good intentions.

"I really have to pull myself together."

«Well, I'm going to sit over there... before someone cuts off my arm too!» Celeste said as she stood up, giving me one of her usual winks.

I quickly turned to Sophia. Strangely, she seemed calm.

"The situation is really bad if Celeste doesn't get a reaction from her..."

Skylark's voice brought me back to cold reality.

«Owen Finch and Miles Foster versus Jonas Ashford and Lila Benett.»

I lowered my eyes, not even wanting to look at his face.

But soon Skylark spoke again.

«Jonas Ashford and Lila Benett!»

"What... oh."

It was obvious...

I was not the only one who wanted nothing more than to escape.

There followed ten minutes of complete silence in the classroom.

Then the door swung open. The two fugitives were dragged into the arena by two guards, screaming and begging for mercy.

It was as if they were two animals who knew they were on their way to the slaughterhouse.

I felt a hand at the back of my neck. Sophia pulled me to her and pressed my face into her shoulder.

«Don't look...» she whispered in my ear.

I obeyed without shame. But the sounds I heard in those minutes left no room for imagination.

I stood like that, in the dark, waiting.

«Elizabeth Belvoir and Sophia Thornton versus Aurora Hayes and Freya Lawson.»

Without speaking, I followed Sophia into the arena, my eyes fixed on her back.

But before we started, the girl turned around.

«Stand back and defend yourself if you are attacked. Let me show you what I can do when I go all out!»

I just nodded. After what had just happened, it was just so much easier to let her take care of things.

...3

2

1

«Gravit-»

But before the girl could finish the now familiar incantation, Sophia threw her sword at her. The weapon failed to hit its target, merely clinking at Aurora Hayes' feet.

But that moment of distraction was enough for Sophia to cover most of the arena.

The girl seemed to panic:

«Fireball!»

But Sophia split the spell in two with her left hand, while her right came down in an arc against the girl's shoulder.

«AAAH!»

A deep gash tore through the girl's uniform and skin as she fell forward.

Meanwhile, her companion had not moved a step. She had joined hands and a strange light shone from them.

But whatever she was trying to do, it was useless.

After striking Hayes, Sophia had picked up her sword in a single motion.

The girl darted across the floor and chopped off Lawson's foot with a slash, sending her sprawling on the floor with a scream of pain.

«Belvoir and Thornton through to the semi-finals!»

The duel could not have lasted more than 20 seconds.

Maybe it was the first time I saw the Sophia that all my comrades were afraid of. But in this case, what I felt was hope.

"Maybe... maybe I can just rely on her after all..."

The next few hours passed in a kind of trance. As we ate, I vaguely heard Sophia comment:

«We were set up after all... Finch got to slaughter poor defenceless students while we had to fight people against innate powers.»

«Uh uh.»

After a while, Sophia gave up trying to distract me.

The minutes passed quickly, just when I would have preferred time to slow down. As the time for the duel approached, things were only getting worse in my head.

The words of Sophia and Celeste were now distant echoes. I fell into an almost catatonic state.

I didn't even go to Celeste's duel. It would have made it all more real.

Finally, the moment had come.

Like a little dog on a leash, I let Sophia lead me to the classroom.

As in the first week, my pride seemed to have died. But I had no room in my head to feel pathetic.

But we were about to cross the door of the classroom when a familiar voice called my name.

«Lizzie.»

«Amy?»

It was really her.

I had felt something move inside me when she called my name, but...

«Life isn't that easy.»

Part of me hoped that seeing her in front of me would chase away all those thoughts, just like it had some time ago.

But it wasn't enough.

And the one in front of me was not the same Amy as before.

«I... didn't feel up to it this morning,» she said quietly.

«I see...»

"There's no point."

If yesterday I had hoped that her presence here would serve as a morale booster for both of us, now I only feared that it would push her further into despair.

Sophia entered the classroom, probably to give us some privacy.

But I immediately tried to follow her. I didn't want Amy to see me in this state for another minute.

But...

«Lizzie...»

«Yes?»

«Remember the promise you made to Sophia and me. Please, you must win...»

I could see tears forming in her eyes.

«Okay.»

I left her behind.

She wanted to motivate me in spite of everything, but...

"Making promises is so easy... keeping them is another story."

Like a condemned man I crossed the classroom.

Sophia was already in position, as were our two opponents. I fixed my eyes on her, my last hope, as I reached the duel area.

«Perfect! We can begin!» Skylark proclaimed.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the barrier swell.

«Don't worry... as we discussed, keep your distance from Finch and leave everything to me!»

«Everything's going to be fine, Sophia is here with me...»

...3

«Everything's going to be fine, Sophia is here with me...»

2

«Everything's going to be fine, Sophia is here with me...»

1

Sophia did not move.

"..."

I approached her. She looked as if she had been petrified.

But... I could see her pupils flashing between me and something in front of her.

For the first time, I looked at our opponents.

Miles Foster was staring at me with a terrified expression frozen on his face. He was completely still, just like Sophia.

"So... this is his innate power... To completely immobilise himself and his opponent."

But there was someone else here, besides me, who was able to move.

Owen Finch was walking towards me with slow steps.

Why should he hurry?

I was completely alone, face to face with death.