Duel III

The third duel was between Elizabeth and Zeze, and Altair didn't know who to place his bets on. The previous fights had been short but brutal, especially the second one. Elizabeth clearly didn't look like a fighter, while Zeze definitely had the aura of a feral warrior. If the two clashed, Altair could only see Elizabeth being torn to shreds.

'It's actually rather insane. These children are no older than 14, yet their ability to resist and inflict damage is immense. I can see why they were placed in Class A as opposed to Class B like Sia. While Sister is the heiress to a Ducal House, she lacks the killing intent and overall madness of these children. But what exactly made the faculty think I possess the same attitude?'

Obviously Altair was just as ruthless, if not more so, than his classmates, but Sky Cross should have no way of knowing this. Once again, Altair was questioning the decision of the faculty and Le'garde in his placement. 'Do they perhaps know about my alignment as an Abomination and Irregular?' he thought.

While he was deep within his own mind, the battle between Elizabeth and Zeze began. The frizzy-haired girl held a gladius and shield, fighting like a legionnaire of a certain empire on a certain planet. She was glaring at Elizabeth with unconcealed battle intent, which made the air itself waver and blur. Yet unlike Nezra's intent, this one was not murderous or malicious. Zeze fully intended to fight Elizabeth like she held a grudge, but at the same time, she had no interest in causing her ouverte harm. 'A strange form of intent' Altair mused. 'The intense desire to beat someone but not to actually harm them.'

Zeze shot forward like an arrow, heading straight for Elizabeth. Her speed outclassed all other contestants seen today, and her muscles were already visibly tensed for combat. Elizabeth looked on calmly as Zeze drew closer, pointing her staff at her and causing the grimoire's pages to flip over. A small matrix appeared on the staff's head and she chanted.

Zeze was this and raised her shield, though her speed remained the same. Just before she got within striking distance, Elizabeth finished her chant and released her prepared spell. A ball of purple water appeared at the end of the staff and shot forward, hitting Zeze's raised shield. The impact blasted her back, though she quickly regained her footing. Yet she had only taken a few steps when a sizzling sound reached her ears. Zeze looked down and widened her eyes in shock: her shield was being corroded!

'That reaction...Elizabeth has a Poison Affinity? Or is that the work of her grimoire?' Altair saw this and tried to rationalise it. That ball of purple water was some type of acidic poison, though whether or not Elizabeth made it herself or remained on the grimoire remained unclear. 'The fact she opened the grimoire implies that spell came from it, but that could be simple misdirection. By pretending to use the grimoire, Elizabeth can conceal her actual Affinity. Though that seems like a lot of effort when her Affinity will likely be revealed sooner or later anyway...'

Zeze strategically discarded her shield and looked at Elizabeth with more wariness, pulling back her battle intent. She knew that blindly rushing ahead would likely result in defeat, since that single shot would have likely eliminate her if it made body contact. On the other hand, Zeze found it doubtful Elizabeth could use a spell of that calibre many times, even if she pulled it from the grimoire.

As Zeze came to a conclusion, she took a deep breath and held hr gladius in a two-hand grip. The air around her simmered and boiled as a vast amount of heat was released from her small frame. Flames periodically combusted around her and the ground visibly dried and cracked. Yet fire was not the only element Zeze summoned. Her wooden gladius glistened and creaked as a covering of ice formed, causing the blade to sharpen and turn more menacing. Ice appeared as gauntlets and shoulder pads, as well an shin-guards.

'A Temperature Affinity!' Altair was surprised, since such an Affinity was relatively rare. As he had learned only recently, mixed Affinities such as Temperature needed Prana to operate, rather than just regular Mana. This served as an additional roadblock for those with mixed Affinities: even if they have one, they cannot use it without a body designed for Prana. Yes, it was possible to have an Affinity but not the required Mana type to use it. The reason behind such a phenomenon was unknown, but it stunted many Ascenders in their path towards power. Poison was also a mixed Affinity, meaning Elizabeth was also quite a rare existence if she truly had it for her Affinity.

While on the topic, Altair had also learned that certain Affinities, such as Space, Time, Gravity, Life and Death required Aether or highly concentrated Prana to operate. This was why Aether was always in such high demand: not only can it be used to make large quantities of its lesser Mana types, it also allowed the most power Ascenders in Orvonia to use their power. After all, it doesn't matter how fast or expensive your car is if you can't find and sue the correct fuel. As such, Aether was necessary to actually put these great and powerful Affinities to use.

Back to the duel, Zeze had created a certain armour parts from ice, as well as coated her gladius in it. While this transformation had been ongoing, Elizabeth had flipped to a new page and had been chanting continuously. Whatever spell she had picked, it was quite powerful based on the chanting time.

Zeze blasted forward, propelled by the flames of her Affinity. She closed the distance between her and Elizabeth in less than 5 seconds, her ice blade shining in the light as it neared Elizabeth. Yet the blue-haired girl was completely relaxed and finished her chant just as the ice blade made contact with her head.

Zeze vanished from her spot and appeared in mid-air some distance away, her confused expression clear for Altair to see. She began to fall, but Elizabeth wasn't content to just leave her like that. She tapped her staff on the ground, causing a dozen earthen spikes to rise from it and shoot towards the falling Zeze.

Caught in mid-air and pinned from all sides, Zeze grit her teeth and released more Prana, causing the flames to burst out around her and the hot air produced managed to push away all but two of the spikes. Zeze smacked one with her gladius, and just managed to form a shield of ice before the second pierced her. The earth spike got stuck and crumbled away as Zeze hit the ground hard, unable to adjust her posture for landing.

While Zeze was struggling to stand, Elizabeth released a third spell, making Altair and everyone else watching gasp in surprise. While releasing multiple spells with a grimoire wasn't impossible, doing so required a lot of focus and familiarity with said spells. The fact Elizabeth could do so despite her young age showed her immense talent as a Mage. Her third spell was a water blast, which shot at Zeze with enough speed to shatter bones on impact.

Yet Zeze was not to be outdone. Seemingly done holding back, she released another wave of fire even more powerful than the first. Yet ice was also released, and somehow acted in perfect harmony with the fire. The two opposing elements mixed together willingly at their mistress' command. Zeze shot forward and dodged to the side, avoiding the water cannon. Elizabeth had a look of surprise on her face as Zeze poured some prana into her hands, causing the ice blade to change into a fire one. From her empty hand, a chunk of ice formed and quickly moulded itself into a rough shield.

The blue-haired girl hurriedly began chanting again, but Zeze was too close. She swung her flaming gladius and forced Elizabeth to block with her staff, though she never stopped chanting. Sensing danger, Zeze unelapsed a flurry of blows, bashing at Elizabeth with her shield. As a Mage, Elizabeth was less suited for close-quarters combat and eventually lost her staff, which split from a particularly strong blow.

Yet she had bought enough time, as a smirk formed on her face. She stared Zeze right in the eyes and the flaming gladius drew hearer to her undefended form before splaying her palm at her. In a flash, Zeze was struck a bolt of lighting which flung her through the air and hard onto the ground. She spasmed there for several seconds before the dust from the impact and still aging flames formed a view-obscuring cloud.

Elizabeth lowered her hand and wore an expression of triumph, turning back to look at Mr Lindt. Yet the instructor still stood there passively and made no move to call the match, causing Elizabeth's smile to slowly fade. She turned to Altair in confusion, but her eyes widened when she saw him frantically pointing to something behind her. She spun around, but was too late.

Standing before her, arm raised aloft and clenching a burning chunk of wood, stood Zeze. Her hair stood on end, her clothes were torn and her skin charred, but she still stood. This was all Elizabeth had time to process before she felt a massive impact on her temple and stars blossomed in her vision. She then crumpled to the ground, everything going dark.

Zeze was panting hard as she lowered her gladius-or what was left of it. Her grip and swinging of temperature had caused the wood to splinter and shatter after the finishing blow. She dismissed the rest of the fire and ice, tiredly limping back to the viewers section. Mr Lindt arrived at Elizabeth's unconscious body and picked her up, slinging her unceremoniously over his shoulders as he carried her and lay her down on a bench.

"Zeze is the winner due to Elizabeth being unable to continue. Remember kids, always make sure your opponent is actually dead or disabled before you start to celebrate. Otherwise you will end up like Miss Tortaga over there. Do you require treatment, Miss Solaria?" Mr Lindt asked casually.

Zeze shook her head and raised her charred arm, where the blackened skin was already falling off and new skin growing beneath it. Altair was impressed and slightly taken aback by her impressive vitality, as it seemed to be better than his own. If she had taken that lightning bolt and such close range, he doubted he would be able to stand back up soo soon.

"Last match for today kids. Altair Atrazark versus Nephelae Sentorius. Both contestants, please enter the arena, pick your weapons and prepare for combat."