The next match was between Kayren, the heavily armored knight of the Northern Kingdom, and Thalendir, the arrogant genius of the East. Kayren carried a massive shield and a heavy mace; every step he took literally shook the arena.
"Delicate mage of the East, you'd better give up before that fancy cloak hits the ground."
Thalendir took his staff in hand with an air of nobility.
"The rusty tin cans of the North always make a lot of noise,"
As soon as the referee signaled the start of the duel, Kayren lunged forward, swinging his mace toward Thalendir's head. But Thalendir simply stepped aside to dodge the heavy blow. As Kayren's blow shattered the ground, Thalendir seemed to hang suspended in the air.
"My turn," said Thalendir, swinging his staff in a wide arc through the air.
"Wind Daggers!"
Countless wind daggers—invisible to the eye but tearing through the air—poured down upon Kayren. The knight raised his shield, but the wind daggers slipped around the shield, striking the joints of his armor and the gaps in his helmet.
Furious, Kayren gripped his mace with both hands to make one final strike and charged toward Thalendir. Just then, Thalendir extended his staff directly toward the knight, his eyes glowing with pure wind energy.
"Mighty Wind: Vacuum Prison!"
The air around Kayren was suddenly sucked away. The knight halted, gasping for breath; the pressure inside his armor had shifted. Thalendir raised his staff sharply upward:
"Exploding Storm!"
A massive wind spell erupted from beneath Kayren's feet, flinging the heavy knight—armor and all—into the air as if he were a mere scrap of paper. Kayren soared several meters into the air and crashed onto the dusty ground outside the arena with a loud thud.
Thalendir blew the dust off the tip of his staff and turned away without even bothering to look at his fallen opponent.
"Brute force always bows before magic."
The referee looked on in astonishment at the knight who had been flung out of the arena and raised his hand:
"The winner: Thalendir of the Eastern Academy!"
When it was Rota's turn, he faced Anna, the West's talented water mage. The moment Anna waved her staff, massive masses of water appeared in the air.
"Get ready," said Anna. "You're going to leave here soaking wet!"
The moment Anna swung her staff, dozens of water arrows flew toward Rota at once. But Rota neither dodged nor raised a shield. He simply closed his eyes.
"Star Calendar: Instant Vision."
Pale, golden stardust began to swirl around Rota. A split second before the water arrows reached him, Rota tilted his head to the side by a hair's breadth, then took a step back and spun around as if he were a dancer. Dozens of water arrows passed right by him without a single drop touching him.
Anna opened her eyes in astonishment.
"H-how? It must be a coincidence!"
Anna prepared an even larger attack this time; a massive wave of water, spanning the entire arena, was about to crash down on Rota. Rota, however, merely smiled. Just as the wave closed in on him, Rota had already slipped through its weak point and made it right next to Anna. All of Anna's attacks seemed to be aimed at empty space; Rota knew his opponent's every move before she even made it.King Arkonis Thal rose to his feet. His eyes were fixed on the golden glow surrounding Rota.
"Luminos..." said the King, his voice filled with astonishment and curiosity.
"Was that young man's name Rota? What he's using is a Star Spell."
Luminos brought his fingers to his chin. "Yes, Your Majesty. A rare ability that can carry pure light beyond time and space. It allows one to glimpse fragments of the future."A strategic smile appeared on the King's lips as he watched Rota.
"Incredible. We have almost no star mages in our kingdom. After the tournament, let's send this young man an offer on behalf of the Central Kingdom. We cannot allow such a talent to remain solely in the East's hands."
Below, Anna was gasping for breath, her magic completely spent. She hadn't been able to touch Rota even once. Rota placed his hand on Anna's shoulder and spoke as the stardust around him slowly faded:
"Your next move was going to be putting your staff down, wasn't it?"
Anna accepted defeat upon seeing that deep light in Rota's eyes and slowly lowered her staff to the ground. The referee announced the result in a dazed state:
"The winner: Rota from the Eastern Academy!"
As Rota turned toward Kael with a smirk on his face, he was still unaware that he had just fallen under the King's gaze
"Did you see the future again, my friend?"
"I only saw that we'd win, Kael. The rest is just details."
The day's final and strangest match was between Lyra and the mysterious Rumas from the South. Rumas's face was hidden deep within his robe. When the battle began, Lyra raised her staff but suddenly froze stiff.
"W-what's going on? I can't move..."
Without uttering a single word, Rumas raised his hand. He hurled a concentrated fire spell gathered in his palm toward Lyra.The spell exploded right on Lyra's chest. The young girl flew off the field with a scream of pain. The referee immediately ended the match.
Kael and Rota immediately jumped down and ran to their injured friend.
"Kael, why didn't Lyra move? She just stood there—she didn't even cast a spell!"
Kael's eyes were fixed on Rumas, who was leaving the field.
"Watch closely, Rota... There's something off about our opponent."
The first round was thus completed. However, there was something no one had noticed: in the darkest corner of the field, a man wearing a mask had been watching the tournament from start to finish. When he saw Kael's speed, he gripped the armrest of his seat; during Rumas's match, he had nodded slightly. As soon as the tournament ended, he vanished into the crowd like a shadow.
That evening in the infirmary, Lyra sat listlessly on her bed. When Kael and Rota entered, Lyra lowered her head.
"Lyra, are you okay?" Kael asked, his voice filled with concern.
"I'm fine, Kael... I'm just a little shaken up. I didn't expect to be eliminated in the first round—I'm sorry."
"Lyra, why didn't you move at all out there? Did that guy named Rumas do something to you?"
"I... I don't know, Rota. When I looked into my opponent's face, into his eyes, my body suddenly went stiff as a board."
Rota looked at Kael in astonishment.
"What do you mean? Could he have cheated?"
Kael looked at Lyra's pale face and took Rota by the arm.
"Rota, let's not push Lyra any further. Let her rest."
As the dawn of the new day broke, the Central Kingdom Arena was buzzing with even more noise than the day before. The quarterfinals had begun.
In the darkest corner of the arena, the masked man was there again. No one noticed his presence; he stood as if he were part of the environment.
At the referee's signal, Revia and the Knight of the North, Gil, stepped into the center of the arena. When Gil slammed his massive shield to the ground, it produced a loud, resonant thud
"Revia... I know just how strong you are"
Revia tilted her staff slightly forward; there was no emotion in her blue eyes
Gil lunged forward, and a yellow layer of mana formed around his shield. This was a special technique that absorbed physical attacks and spells. As Gil approached Revia, the ground seemed to tremble.
Revia gracefully waved her staff in the air:
"Ice Prison: Crystal Pillars."
Massive ice pillars erupted from the ground wherever Gil stepped. Gil tried to push forward by shattering these pillars with his shield, but the ice was so hard and cold that every shard striking his shield slowed him down a little more.Just as Gil thought he had closed the distance, he swung his sword, but Revia had already struck her staff against the ground:
"Absolute Zero Cold Mist Veil"
In an instant, the entire field was engulfed in a pure white mist. Gil's vision was completely obscured, and his armor began to freeze within seconds. His movements grew sluggish, and his joints creaked. Though Gil tried to use his mana to warm his armor, Revia's ice was no ordinary ice; it was ice that froze even mana.
"It's over, Gil. You fought well."
For the first time, Revia had congratulated her opponent.Gil tried to move, but his feet were completely frozen to the ground;sighing helplessly, he lowered his sword.
"I surrender...."
The referee raised his hand:
"The winner: Revia of the Eastern Academy!"
As Revia left the arena, above the arena, Luminos whispered to the King beside him:
"The girl's ice control is flawless. Your Majesty, combining mana directly with the moisture in the atmosphere to turn it into mist is brilliant. The East has truly sent a high-quality team this year."