Chapter 21: The Rank IV

With a swipe of her hand, her opponent was thrown across the dome, about twenty feet away from where he entered.

The teen boy raised his head from the dirt to gasp for air, but Xiao knocked his head back to the ground with the heel of her boot.

Cheers erupted from several professors, who were in charge of their dome, as they came inside to collect the defeated opponent.

The display board was updated:

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Year 2 Stage 2:

Name, Section, Weapon, Time

1. Xiao Lan Devinsky, 1, Sword, 5 seconds

2. Gillian Cassius, 3, Sword, still ongoing

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6. Joseph Hans, 2, Sword, 5 seconds

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5 seconds?

Well, Xiao channeled her magic into the guy's ribs as soon as the bell rung. The young witch is still looking at the display board, her mind going elsewhere.

Anything is allowed in the ranking competition after all, but is it a little too cruel? Maybe she should tone down a little, but it's too late now. There's only the afternoon of the stage two and the top ten match in stage 3, both cases where she can't let her guard down.

Professor Ivanovna's hand landed on her shoulder, and Xiao looked up at the woman, her eyes blinking in confusion.

"You didn't even use your sword."

"Mn..." Xiao nodded and looked down at her sword still shealth in hand.

She should get a belt and hand it off her hip if she doesn't want to carry the sheath everywhere when she fights. Xiao has a belt, but she should borrow one from Yin. Her older cousin is more experienced in strapping anything to her skirt.

"Can I spectate the other years?" The young witch asked the professor, and the woman nodded.

Accompanied by the professor, Xiao made her way to the third year's domes. Once she got there, there's only one dome left. She's not looking for anyone specific, but then her eyes landed on Raxithak sitting on the grass, watching the match. With a small smile on her lips, she ran towards her cousin.

Professor Ivanovna chuckled as she looked at the girl giddily sitting down next to the teen on the grass. Both of them said nothing, the older boy only nodded in greeting. Without much thought, the professor left them there.

Inside the dome, Alexander licked blood off his lips. More blood slowly tickled down his nose, but he's grinning as he took slow steps towards his opponent.

"How?!" The dark skinned boy was visibly confused and shaken as the prince made his way towards him.

Both of his hands holding his wand were shaking, and the shaking only increased with every step Alexander took.

"Triple gravity!" The boy shouted, and an energy pulsed throughout the dome. The grass was pushed flatter to the ground, small rocks sunk into the dirt almost completely.

Gravity spells require a lot of mana and concentration, about as much as teleportation spells. So when someone is chanting any one of those spells, they're vulnerable and can't really do anything else.

"Good one." Alexander pointed his sword at his opponent, red blood dripping from his chin down on his white shirt. "What can you do except gravity? Can you go quadruple?"

His boots sunk down into the dirt with every step, but the prince didn't stop until he's close enough to swing his sword at the boy's neck.

The steel blade is half an inch away from his opponent's skin, and the boy stood still, but his hands were still shaking.

"Yield." Alexander licked the blood off his lips again. "I don't wanna hurt you. Or... Do quadruple gravity. I'm waiting."

"How are you still standing?" The dark skinned boy hissed. "It's impossible... Quadruple gravity!"

The blade was pushed towards flesh, drawing a drop of blood. The wand wielder yelped, but he did take a step back. Alexander laughed as another pulse of energy echoed through the dome.

"You created a safe zone around yourself." The prince's smirk widened, making him look more unhinged than handsome. "Can you handle your own spell?"

"I—"

The opponent didn't get a chance to reply when Alexander punched him in the face with his free hand. The boy fell into his own spell, so he was pushed to the ground. His concentration broke, and so did the gravity.

Alexander stood up straight again, and he rolled his shoulders. Then, he stepped on his opponent's wand, breaking it in two. His blade was pointed at his opponent.

Four professors made their way inside the dome, and two of them pulled the prince away from his opponent. Alexander was given a tissue to wipe off his blood while another professor was checking his body throughoutly for any damage.

If his opponent was really using quadruple gravity, then a normal person's lungs would collapse, and they'd stuck to the floor. Instead. The prince was released from the dome with his nose bleed fixed without any other injuries.

Green eyes brightened when they landed on the duo sitting on the grass. Alexander grabbed his messenger bag from a professor without thanking them, and the prince crashed into the grass in between the cousins.

"Man, what a fight. I didn't even use my mana." Alexander huffed after he made himself comfortable laying down.

"How did you survive quadruple gravity then?" Raxithak ran his hand on his roommate's shirt, right above the blood stains.

"Some of us are just strong." A smirk came on the prince's face, and her cousin sighed.

Xiao looked up at the sky again as Raxith removed the blood stains from Alexander's shirt. Some of them are just strong, huh? She needs to do a little more research into it and revisit the gravity spell lesson. Either the prince is that strong or the quadruple gravity spell is faulty.

Beady black eyes moved to the display board a few seconds after it's updated.

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Year 3 Stage 2:

Name, Section, Weapon, Time

1. Raxithak Silvester, 3, Sword, 34 seconds

2. Yin Hong Devinsky, 5, Sword, 41 seconds

3. Alexander Mistichestor, 1, Sword, 2 minutes 3 seconds

4. Russell Wesser, 2, Wand, 2 minutes 3 seconds

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"That fucker killed my number one streak."

"Don't curse him, he already lost to you." Raxith flicked the prince's cheek, and Alexander faked a moan. "You know who got to keep their number one streak?"

The prince turned his head away from her cousin, and he gave Xiao a smile. "Aye! Xiao Lan!"

"Yeah?" The young witch looked down at him. A few bits of grass got on his dark hair, but she won't tell him that.

"You got to keep your number one streak?" The prince asked, and she only nodded.

"Hell yeah!" Alexander pushed his back off the grass into a sitting position. "Congrats! You deserve all the apples in the world!"

Yeah, right. Even if Xiao got all the apples in the world, the prince would abduct half of them right after they're peeled.

"Look." Raxithak pointed at the display board, and Xiao's eyes widened.

She knew she'd get first place since she did it in five seconds, but it's so surreal to see it with her own eyes.

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Top 15 ranking of stage 2:

Name, Year-Section, Weapon, Time

1. Xiao Lan Devinsky, 2-1, Sword, 5 seconds

2. Harvey Cassius, 5-1, Sword, 22 seconds

3. Jin Qiu Devinsky, 5-5, Sword, 33 seconds

4. Raxithak Silvester, 3-3, Sword, 34 seconds

5. Yin Hong Devinsky, 3-5, Sword, 41 seconds

6. Rosemary Ophell, 4-2, Sword, 47 seconds

7. Nicolas Smithsonian, 1-6, Sword, 50 seconds

8. Gillian Cassius, 2-3, Sword, 54 seconds

9. Jacob Devinsky, 5-3, Sword, 1 minute

10. Zech Nahum, 1-3, Sword, 1 minute 2 seconds

11. Danny Vanderburg, 4-3, Sword, 1 minute 25 seconds

12. Wenera Jiang, 1-1, Sword, 1 minute 30 seconds

13. Blake Quinton, 2-6, Sword, 1 minute 36 seconds

14. Luke Asher, 4-5, Sword, 1 minute 47 seconds

15. Alexander Mistichestor, 3-1, Sword, 2 minutes 3 seconds

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"Five seconds!" Alexander's voice can be heard throughout the entire grass field. "Five seconds! Holy! Xiao, you can keep your number one streak. I don't want it."

The young witch let out a snort. "Thanks. I wish you'd say that about my fruits."