Act VI - There Was No Self-Made Man

Chapter 1:

A sear of pain woke me and I jolted up. "Arghh, my head." I took a moment to ease the pain before looking around. I wasn't in an inn, or my dorm room. I was lying on a couch and near me was a desk by the back of the room, which seemed awfully familiar. I finally realized where I was—I was inside the principal's office. The entrance door opened realizing Ms. White was behind it. "Oh, you recovered rather quickly." You're not gonna ask how I am? Who am I kidding, this woman doesn't care about any of that. I got up since the pain in my head subsided. "Don't forget your coat." I turn to the side of the couch before grabbing my coat. "Also here's your schedule. I was too busy to give it to you yesterday." Yesterday? I was asleep for a whole day? "Thank you." I grab the paper she held out, bow, and then hurry out. That's a whole day wasted! I look at paper. Seeing that my only class of the day was group hunting. I hurried over to the location.

The class was held on a nearby training ground near the dormitories. I see a gathering of students and hurry there. "Huh?" The people at the front who seemed like teachers, looked in my direction. I reached them and took a moment to catch my breath. "Are you Theo Miligram?" I respond promptly between breaths, "Y-yes." The teacher I spoke to was a tall, large man, kinda like a bear. He wore clothes that made him look like a barbarian and the black hair and scar on his face sold the look. "Call me Gryss, and I look forward to teaching you." He tried to give me a heartfelt smile, but he looked like he'd kill me. "You arrived perfectly on time, you see that group of students there? We are forming groups of four. Go join them." I nod and walk over. The students seemed to recognize me since they started to surround me asking me to join their team. I chuckle but, if I'm going to form a team I need it to be a reliable, powerful group. Moving past the students I saw Kent talking to Marcus and Elaine. I scurry over to them.

"Oh Theo, how are you feeling?" I'm glad I have at least one caring friend. I look at Marcus. Who speaks up, "Theo, that was an amazing battle. I had tons of fun and learned a little bit from it." I smile, "Likewise." Kent interrupted our moment, "I think we should form a team together!" This is perfect, three capable fighters I can rely on… Actually, how strong is Kent? Before asking, the teacher I talked to earlier walked over to us. "Unfortunately you four will not be able to work together. We want students to equally have a chance to grow, and since there's competitiveness involved, I've decided that you four have to split up and form your teams with other students." Kent made a noise of disappointment. Marcus and Elaine seemed to expect this. We four nodded at each other and parted.

Great, now I have to find some students who I have no idea how good they'll be. I could use my inferior version of Magic Sense and pick out the ones with the most capacity, but that doesn't quite mean they'll be a good addition to my team. I need a balanced team, similar to the RPG games I played before… RPG games? What the heck are those? I felt a little strange but ignored it. I spent more time looking around then I noticed someone who did interest me. It was the green-haired Bale Reed. "Theo, I was actually wondering where you were." We shook hands. "Say Bale, do you want to join my team?" He scoffs, "Haha, of course I will. We are now friends on the same path of the blade. We must stick together!" On second thought maybe I should leave him alone.

We continued to scour through the crowd, which got smaller and smaller. Until I spotted two people; a boy and a girl. They seemed to be close friends. The boy held a bow and I noticed a dagger strapped on each side of his waist. The girl held a red scepter with an amber-colored crystal on the top. I approached them. "Uh, hello there. I noticed you two seemed to have trouble forming a complete team. You could join us if you would like." The boy stepped in front of me and pushed the girl behind him. He glared at me, wearing a stern expression. "Claire, Let's move elsewhere, nothing good happens when you congregate with peons?" The girl bonked him on the head with the scepter, "Noah! Why'd you push me?" She quickly bowed down, apologized, and then introduced herself. "My name is Claire Pixie and this little rat is Noah Mont." She forced Noah to bow down. "No, you're good. Anyways, your names are Claire Pixie and Noah Mont?" She raised her head and nodded. "We are both in agreement to join your team." Ok that's good we have a great balanced team.

Chapter 2:

In this world, there are classes to separate people's talents. I'm classified as a Magic Knight or Magic Swordsman because I'm skilled with magic and close-quarters combat. Elaine is also considered that since she wields powerful fire-type magic and is relatively experienced with the sword. Marcus on the other hand is specialized in magic and he is thus classified as a Mage, but he fights very aggressively for one. Bale lacks a lot of magic, and he mainly focuses on weapon fighting. He's classified as a Forerunner. Noah is a Hunter who focuses on using bows and traps while being more skilled than others in detecting presences and magic and Claire is a Mage. We have two people at the front and two supporters. And since our roles are so versatile we could switch places at any moment. And of course, there are many different classes, these are just the few ones that the school uses.

"Now that everyone's made their teams gather here!" groups of students went to Gryss. Including my group. "Ahem. Before any of you can leave to a dungeon or labyrinth you must first learn to work with your team. That means trusting them with your lives. Because in a dungeon anything can happen. Your groups will be pitted against each other in a friendly bout. That way each of the teams can learn from themselves and others." He claps his hands together. "From Marcus to the last group to the left will be section A and the rest are section B." He split the students in half and organized them into two brackets. My group is part of section B. "My assistant teacher will be in charge of section B." I'm not sure how I never noticed him but just a little behind Gryss was a tall lanky man with long white hair and purple eyes. "Hello everyone, my name is Lucius von Læb. I have recently started working here and I hope to learn alongside you all." He bowed and smiled. All the students started to cheer loudly as he introduced himself. "Hey Bale, who is that guy?" Bale looked at me funny. How many times has that happened now? "You mean to tell me you don't know who that is?" I shook my head in agreement. He sighed but responded. "Lucius is the third strongest magic swordsman in the entire country. He is renowned for his supreme swordsmanship and unique control over time." Time? That sounds completely ridiculous. But who knows? "Then who's the first strongest magic knight?" Bale continued. "The number one strongest is one of the royal guards of our king. But no one has any idea who the royal guards are." I pause for a moment to think then I ask another question. "Then how do you know their strength?"

 "Well many have met them, but the royal guards usually wear large cloaks when out in public space. And every time someone has seen them fight. The witnesses say they're able to cleave through entire forests. That reminds me of the time I saw the princess's carriage, the cloaked individual must've been one of them. Yeah, the royal guards are certainly much stronger than I am currently. Either way, I've now met two national powers.

"Everyone quiet!"

Gryss sounded like ten lions roaring at the same time. No one dared speak after that. "We will now begin the tournament." from the crowd of students in section A I saw Marcus raise his hand. "Will we earn anything if we win the tournament?" That's true, normally there'd be a prize to win in any sort of tournament. "Hmph, if you want a prize, then how about I allow your team to duel against Sir Lucius?" I heard murmurs through the crowd. Marcus acknowledged the reward and went to his group. "Have you heard that, students? You will have a chance to fight against Sir Lucius only if you come out on top. I understand many of you are worried about the fairness of the competition so I'll force certain students to undertake handicaps." He looked at Lucius and then left for group A. Then Lucius went over to my section. "Now everyone let's begin." First, he let each team grab weapons that they were going to use if they weren't already holding one, and there I grabbed an iron sword. Then, he made each group decide on a group leader then randomly picked two leaders to put together. I sat out on the benches around the training grounds and watched the groups begin to line to fight, and I noticed Kent's group. The restriction he had was a limit on how many people could be on his team, which was only one. The team member he picked was a girl who looked similar to him. I noticed Marcus sitting in front of me and I tapped him on the shoulder. "Oh Hey, Theo!" I greeted him back. "Say, Marcus, What class is Kent?" After hearing my words, Marcus stayed silent for a moment then spoke up, "Well all I'll say for now is he's a mage." What, there's more to it?

Unfortunately, my group was called. And I wasn't able to see Kent fight. My first battle was against two Forerunners and their two support mages. My group had a simple but effective formation. Bale and I were at the front, and if any attackers tried to breach past me, Bale would act as rearguard and negate the attack. Noah's goal was to support the front lines and protect Claire. Claire's job was to support the frontlines via attack spells and support spells, such as simple healing spells and slight fatigue recovery.

We moved into the forest by the training grounds and followed a trail to a nice open area. Since many battles were occurring at the same time, The school sent out these small floating balls of magic, which sent visual info on the surrounding area. It's similar to how drones work.

Our teams positioned themselves before the team leader of the opposing side flipped a coin. The moment the coin touched the ground, the battle would begin. The coins launched high into the air before falling. The opposing side and my group stood slightly tense before the coin was about to land.

3…2…1… NOW!

Chapter 3:

With the coin touching the ground me and Bale leaped forward taking out our weapons. We made contact with the opponent's forerunners, trying to take control of the flow of battle. The two mages in the back sent volleys of fireballs and rocks. Claire targeted the fireballs with water and Noah shot the rocks away from us. After a bit of clashing, we gained the upper hand and we quickly defeated the forerunners, and the mages surrendered before we got to them.

Most of the battles ended up the same way. But at the very least we learned how to support each other properly. Now we have reached the final four groups. Marcus's group versus Elaine's, and my group versus Kent's group. For this occasion, we went back to the Coliseum. First, it was the final battle for section A. Both groups had the restriction of the use of large area attacks, but this time since it's to powerhouses against each other the restriction was lifted. Elaine's group comprised four girls. Elaine, the magic knight, a girl with lime-colored hair named Misha who was a cleric, the other two girls I didn't quite know yet but they seemed to be mages.

Marcus's group was all boys. Marcus and another boy were mages and the other two were Forerunners. The two groups entered the coliseum and Marcus held out a coin to flip. The groups readied themselves, and then Marcus threw the coin up. Both groups had already pulled their weapons out, waiting for the coin to drop. Three…Two…One.

"Hey Bale, who do you think will win?" I turned to Bale and asked him a question just to see how he'd answer. "Well I think that Elaine can beat Marcus's team, but she'd need to fight especially smart if she wants to win against Marcus." I nod in agreement. That does make sense, but if Marcus uses his large-area attacks I'm not sure how Elaine's team will hold up. Either way, I'll be rooting for both of them.

Now! The coin touched the ground and with that Elaine and Marcus's teams immediately dashed forward. Elaine aimed to end the fight early or to separate the four boys so they could pick off each member of Marcus's team. To do this she activated Crimson Lance and sent it towards Marcus but just before it might make contact she made it curve past him and explode behind him, creating a visual barrier, then she sent signals to her teammates to apply pressure to the front so that she and another could come from the rear and attack the separated people in the back. I believe it's a smart choice because she understands she can't defeat Marcus head-on. But I think she forgot something…

The ground began to shake violently then a large rock pillar burst from the dust clouds that slowly subsided. On it was Marcus and two forerunners. The magic swordsman was left behind, who was protected by a barrier. Elaine realized what Marcus was about to do, but it was too late. Marcus kneeled on the surface of the pillar and activated a spell.

"Water Well"

Large waves of water poured out of the pillar, immediately swallowing the space below. Unable to do anything, Elaine's team quickly pushed to the arena's walls and knocked unconscious. I didn't see Elaine stand her ground but I couldn't see her either. From the looks of it, it seemed that Elaine was sucked up as well.

The water soon disappeared into the ground, revealing that everyone except Elaine was unconscious, though where was Elaine? The pillar Marcus stood started to sink into the ground, and just before it completely collapsed a large explosion came from the pillar. Marcus and his team quickly jumped off. The explosion revealed Elaine, who dove into the pillar when it was spewing water out. She ran towards Marcus's teammate, the magic swordsman who sat on the floor. I assume he had to hold his breath the entire time because he was breathing heavily. She gave him no rest, launching a flurry of attacks, but just before she could land the finishing blow, a rock wall stopped her sword.

She turned to see Marcus kneeling on the ground using a ground-type spell. The other two near Marcus sprinted towards her. At this point, it was a 4v1, and even knowing her capabilities I can't imagine her winning. The Forerunners worked together to unleash a relentless combo. Elaine could barely keep up and decided to gain distance by creating an explosion in front of her and activating her special attack: Crimson Lance.

She sent two lances to distract the two forerunners and focused on Marcus. She most likely did this because it's either fighting two skilled close-quarter fighters or an isolated mage. At the very least she knows that Marcus isn't the greatest with his swordsmanship. Marcus tried to stop her by sending a bunch of rocks toward her way, but she evaded them and got into range. As she did this she made the lances turn to Marcus. She swung her sword at him but he took a step back narrowly avoiding her blade then tapped the ground with his foot, where the ground around Elaine raised and completely encased her. She easily cut through the rock and Marcus tried to bombard her with a load of rock shards. Elaine put her hands together and blasted the rocks away with a big fire blast. Marcus was about to do a follow-up attack but heard his team call out to him, "Behind you!" Before he could react Elaine snapped her figure and the lances exploded right on Marcus's back. Again a large dust cloud formed. The cloud started to glow, then started to spew out fire until the cloud completely settled. There was a barrier that seemed to be broken and a rock layer attached to Marcus's body. Wait, that means that Elaine broke the barrier that I could not. And that rock layer tells me that even if I somehow broke through the barrier it wouldn't have even mattered. But I sort of figured fire magic was inherently stronger than wind magic. Elaine stood stunned, and Marcus relaxed his guard and removed the rock around him. "Elaine, you're probably the second person to break through my barrier. I'm glad you've grown up a lot since the first time we met." He turned the ground below Elaine to quicksand which sank her just about to her calf and then hardened around there. As he walked over to her, she blushed and held out her hand ushering Marcus to help her out. "I surrender." Marcus held out his hand and helped Elaine out of the ground.

Chapter 4:

The winner of section A was Marcus, with Elaine ending as a finalist. The last battle of the day was Section B; Me versus Kent. Me and Bale make our way down to the coliseum where I pass by Marcus who gives me a nod. Afterward, I met up with the other two inside. Again Kent's teammate looked somewhat similar to Kent. Does he have a sister? We went into our positions and got ready to fight. This time I had the opportunity to flip the coin. I make a sideways fist and put the coin on my thumb then flick it up. The coin swerved up into the air spinning rapidly until it quickly descended. When the coin touched the ground, the battle began.

The girl went in front of Kent while Kent stayed in the back. Another thing to note was that these two had not moved a single step since the battle began. Me and Bale exchange glances and make our way to Kent's side. When we got closer they made their first move. Just before we reached the two Claire combined fire and attached it to Noah's arrow who shot it towards Kent. Before it hit him it stopped midair and slid down an invisible wall; A barrier. Fast forwarding, me and Bale decided to focus our attacks on one point infusing both physical attacks and magic attacks. Unlike I fought Marcus, I doubt these too will hold their breath. I sent wind strikes with Bale's simple slashes, but we made ourselves look pretty stupid because, after all that stamina spent, there wasn't a single sign of the barrier being damaged. Not only was the barrier huge, cover was far more than necessary, and it was ridiculously strong. The entire time Kent has not done a single thing, he kind of just stood there. I couldn't tell if he was activating a spell, but he must have something planned. I stopped attacking and tried to wedge my blade underneath the barrier but the moment any space was available the barrier covered it. While Bale was still trying to break through the barrier I leaned against the barrier and suddenly fell. "What the?" I got back up and noticed that I was in front of Bale. For some reason, once I was inside the barrier I couldn't hear anything outside of it. "Hey, Theo." I turned around and saw Kent in front of me, with the girl slightly behind him. "Kent…" He smiled and applauded me. "Hey, congrats you figured out the trick of Sumie's barrier." So her name is Sumie? "Why did you make it so there is no sound being emitted from the barrier or going in it?" He sat down, and Sumie followed. "Well, the truth is I'm here to tell you about how you will die." I immediately jumped back and raised my sword. "Ha, I was just kidding!." How's that supposed to be funny??? I quickly realized we were still in the tournament and looked around, but the people outside didn't seem particularly confused by anything. "Don't worry about what the others will think. All they see are fake mirages fighting." I relax and sit down. "So… What is it you want?" Kent's eyebrow perked up. He laughed, then spoke, "I'm here because of a premonition that I must share with you. Just listen carefully."

As the day hits night 7 from now, there shall be a castle rising from below. That wretched time will mark the end of our lives. Explore the grand opening to demise and stop the swordsman from taking the cursed book of magic.

I do not understand at all, I've never been good at deciphering riddles. And like Kent noticed he smirked and spoke up. "Well, apparently this little message means seven days from now a labyrinth will appear nearby, you must explore it and stop the swordsman, whoever that may be from obtaining…" He looked nervous but continued. "Obtaining a mark." A mark? 

"And what would that be?"

"There are special catalysts which can significantly improve the magical prowess of any person should he/she get their hands on it. We call these particular items magic drives. These magic drives upgrade your magic core directly. It could improve your current spells or enable you to unlock a whole new set of spells. There are only around a few thousand of these magic drives in the entire world. And even rarer are 72 magic drives called marks. They originate from the 72 demons that made them, But the one in particular that the labyrinth most likely has is the mark called Grimoire. Now I'm not sure what this person wants with the mark but I at least know that even someone with 20% proficiency can raze down entire cities with any of the marks. But the marks are particularly unique. Not only do they give you impressive boosts to your power and abilities, but also enable you to learn a special magic technique. Similar to when you gain a 90+% proficiency in an element. Grimoire allows the user to warp the fabric of magic possibility. The user can theoretically use any kind of magic and create a new one in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, as the marks are made by demons the power comes at a price, Not only does wearing the mark kill you quickly, but the average mage can only use the mark's unique technique two times before dying." I understand the situation. If what he's saying is true I have to do something about this. Otherwise, not only this region but the entire world could potentially be affected. I can't let anything happen to the people I care about again. "Okay I understand everything, but what about the current tournament?" He put his hand up to my face, silencing me. He looked at Sumie then Sumie nodded. She stood up and clapped very softly, then all of a sudden Both Sumie and Kent ran up to me, then Kent collapsed or at least pretended to be unconscious and Sumie forced my sword to her neck. Then all of a sudden I could hear everything again. Bale, Claire, and Noah seemed quite surprised. The crowd of students started to cheer vigorously. "The winner of Section B is Theo and his group!" I know for a fact I would have lost if Kent fought me, but I'll just take this win. I thought that the Section A winner would fight against the Section B winner but instead, they combined the two winning teams into a team of eight to fight against Sir Lucius. I guess he's quite confident.

The day ended with not much else happening, but I did keep what Kent said to heart.

Chapter 5:

The next day rolled in and I found myself meditating in my room. Why? Because even though Arthur said that I shouldn't have any problems with my core currently, it's still a good idea to train up my mana control, a good example was when I fought Elaine. The key to improving my mana control right now is to try and disrupt the filtering of my magic core, forcing issues with my magic essence. When I disrupt it I have to manually try to force the process of filtering to occur. After a good 1-2 hours of that, I attempt to utilize Magos. I'm not skilled enough to create barriers like Marcus and Sumie and that's the goal I'm trying to reach before fighting Sir Lucius. Mine and Marcus's group will fight him two days from now and during the afternoon in the coliseum.

I completed my practice and simply carried out my duties as a student. My schedule is swordsmanship in the mornings, group training around noon, magic studying in the afternoon, and then the evening is open. I spent some time learning about other weapons from Bale. Then I sparred with Elaine's and Marcus's group where it was a draw each time. I then practiced magic where Claire and Sumie were in the same class as me. "Sumie, I'm struggling to understand the different kinds of barriers, for example, how does your barrier differ from Marcus's?" Sumie explained it pretty cleanly and it was easy to follow.

Barriers are typically physical substances formed from Magos, like how you can create wind or fire from magical essence. The only difference is that Magic Essence forms spells and Magos form magic techniques. Magos allows the user to enhance and reinforce themselves, others around them, and objects too. And to clarify healing magic is not a magic technique, it's still a spell. As I said barriers are physical substances created from Magos, with the idea of increasing the defense of or disabling harm towards the user. Sumie said that Magos is like a form of imagination. If you have the magic capacity and deep understanding of what you're trying to do then it can become reality. The barrier is a figment of this thought process. "I want to block this attack." This is the basic suggestion of a barrier but it gets much more complicated. Since you're creating an entirely new set of rules for the magic technique, you have to define the properties, restrictions, and requirements to use the technique. In Marcus's case, his barrier is like this, "Create a powerful wall around me without letting a single thing through." That's the basic structure then, he has to envision the shape of the barrier, what it looks like, and how it reacts to magic, physics, and touch. (The reason barriers are typically transparent is it makes it much easier for the user to know what the barrier should block.) Yes, it is much more complicated than it seems, and you have to have a vast understanding of magic theory and blah blah, but in the end who's the one not getting hit?

So, for me to create such a thing I have to first understand how to use Magos. Arthur technically taught me how to use magic sense, but what it was, was just an application of Magos, creating an extra lens to your eyes, enabling you to see magic particles. Arthur called it principle magic, but another way to address it is magic techniques. And even the Magic Sense I use isn't even the real one. Either way, I decided to spend most of my early mornings and late evenings practicing Magic Techniques.

Tons of rinse in repeat, until the day finally came. In the morning I went to Ms. White's office, to ask a few questions about Magos. After her lecture, I made sure to remember that I'd need a translator before I could learn anything from her again. I rushed over to the coliseum and saw a much larger crowd than when I first took my exams. Marcus and his group were already in the arena. Bale, Noah, and Claire were also there. I saw everyone but Lucius. Then a dark shadow quickly jumped from the top walls of the coliseum and landed in the middle of the arena. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Today we have a very special occasion. The one and only Sir Lucius von Laeb!" Loud cheers come from the audience. The two groups slip up taking a side of the arena surrounding where Lucius stood. This time there was no coin flip, no handicaps. Whoever made the first move was the beginning of the battle. Marcus was the first one to make a move. He immediately turned the ground around Lucius to quicksand but Lucius didn't budge he wasn't even sinking, the ground almost looked unaffected by Marcus's spell. Suddenly within a blink of an eye, Lucius disappeared and reappeared between the forerunners of Marcus's team. Surprised they swung their swords at him to no avail. He easily swats their swords away like swatting away a fly. The magic swordsman on their team began to attack, pushing away Lucius from the forerunners. I signaled Noah and Claire to prepare long-distance attacks, but then Lucius suddenly looked in our direction. In an attempt to stop his intentions, I tried to create a barrier to stop him, I doubted myself and failed to create the barrier then Lucius appeared next to my ear. "The moment you doubt your abilities is the moment you cannot win." Then disappears then reappears behind Claire and Noah. He swiftly knocks them out in one blow. This man is faster than Arthur and he's supposed to be the pinnacle of human prowess. Maybe he really can control time. Bale quickly springs back and propels himself at Lucius. At this range, the weapon Bale held could stop Lucius. Bale held the spear tightly and began to send a barrage of piercing attacks, although Lucius effortlessly moved the blade aside with his sword. "Theo!" I'm not sure how we can win, but at the very least I'm learning right? "Theo!" Suddenly something runs into me causing me to fall. It was Bale who was kicked by Lucius. "Ah dammit Theo, you're standing doing nothing. Just because he's vastly stronger doesn't give you the excuse for not trying." I stayed silent. He's right.

Chapter 6:

"Theo move out of the way!" I turned and Marcus and his group were quickly making their way to us. He sent massive pillars towards Lucius while picking us up with one. From there we regrouped. I helped Bale back up and looked down. It was the same maze-like attack that Marcus used on me before. From the looks of it, Lucius was easily outpacing the pillars, but soon he'd run out of ground to run on, at least that's what I thought. He leaped onto the side of the pillar we were on and started to run up vertically. "Hey, hey, Is that even possible?" I tried to help Marcus by shooting wind blasts at Lucius but it just seemed to not affect him. "How about we combine our strongest attacks?" He looked at Marcus. I immediately understood what he meant. "Bale could you-" It seems Bale already knew what to do. He and the rest of the remaining team jumped down and distracted Lucius with the help of Marcus's pillars creating even footing. I begin to prepare my strongest attack…

Should I use a wind drill? Is that truly my strongest attack? Marcus tapped my shoulder. "Hey, relax. Just do whatever you feel like doing." Right. He's right. I'll do whatever I can do now, and worry later. What if I apply Magical Technique and Magic Essence into one attack? Think of a single large-area spell that could definitely hit Lucius.

Wind blade? No.

Hurricane blast? No,

Wind drill? No.

I smirk. "Alright, I'm ready." Marcus nods and we form a circle with our hands. I could no longer hear Bale and the others. We're running out of time. Ten seconds passed. Are we ready yet? I looked at Marcus who seemed to be concentrating. I close my eyes and focus. 

…

Wait…

Wait for it…

NOW!

We leaned towards the edge of the pillar and saw Lucius very close by. We unleashed our combined attacks into one concentrated mass of destruction. Marcus used a spell called "Tridune." it unleashed a load of different substances, such as rock, mud, and ice essentially dumping everything at Lucius. My spell, I called it "Tornado Clap." I put my hands together by clapping and then aim toward the target. The spell sends out a condensed current of wind that cuts anything it touches. The tornado picked up all the solids that Marcus sent out, creating a destructive barrier. As the attack reached Lucius, the objects that hit him would stop moving and then fall losing all of its momentum. The wind did seem to slightly damage him as I saw bits of his clothing and skin chip away. I tried to apply more magic essence to the spell, but he didn't slow down one bit. Now we have to go on the defensive. "Marcus this isn't working!" He stopped his spell and created a barrier. Since our attacks faded Lucius made his way to the top of the pillar where we were waiting.

"I see you both have grown a little since the last time I saw you battle, I'm glad that this opportunity has bore fruit. But I will need you two to understand defeat when against an overwhelming strength. He walked over to the barrier and Marcus tried to attack him using pillars but he would strike them down. He struck at the barrier but it didn't break. Then he tried again this time kicking it with his shin. Unexpectedly the barrier was launched backwards pushing us with it. We crashed into the ground and the barrier shattered from the impact. We quickly got up but Lucius dashed at us and within a blink of an eye he was right behind us, we turned around and he put his sword up against our heads. "Well… I think that's a game." We raise our hands in surrender. An eight versus one and we lost. The crowd in the coliseum clapped, not for Sir Lucius although some probably did. But for our group effort against Sir Lucius. Now that I know the heights to reach in this world, I wonder if Arthur could win against this guy. We all left the arena having a few healers help us out. Marcus talked to Elaine about something then they both left. I didn't have anywhere to go so I started to just wonder about it until I saw Kent and Sumie sitting down on a bench near the dormitory. "Hey, Kent and Sumie!" I rushed over. The two notice me and Kent smiles, "How do you think you did?" Oh, he means against Lucius. "I'm completely stumped on how we barely did any damage to him, and it looked like he didn't use any barriers." I didn't notice it until now, but the way Kent was acting was like he did when I first met him. "Theo, me and Sumie have to go somewhere we'll catch you later." I didn't even get to finish my thoughts… "Wait, Kent… Is Sumie your sister?" He was surprised and started to chuckle a little. "No, she's my girlfriend." Oh, that was not what I was expecting. He waved goodbye and they left. I hope he means that she's only his girlfriend and not both. I'll see him later.