Chapter 6 Part 3

"I'm sitting." Christopher says, clueless.

"I can see that, but why?" Kiana says, tightening her jaw with anger.

"You're going to use Pathokinesis right? Therefore I won't get hurt when I become paralysed." Christopher says.

"Let the match, begin!" the MC shouts.

Kiana walks towards Christopher slowly and casts her Pathokinesis. "It failed?" she says.

"Cool, so the one use spell Spatial Barrier can stop spells like that too." Christopher stands but starts to cry as Kiana repeats her attempt.

The backlash from Christophers emotions has crippled Kiana as well as Christopher himself.

Between the sobs, Kiana can only get a few words out at a time. "This anger...sadness...vengeful feeling...how is someone your age...coping with such intense emotions?"

Christopher's passive resistance to emotional trauma has saved him from being completely paralysed; however his movements are limited. "The answer is simple. I'm not coping. I put on a brave face for my family because if i dont keep my feelings deep down, I destroy everything around me."

"Is all of this from the death of a loved one?" Kiana says. Recovering a bit from her spell.

"How did you know?" Christopher says, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Kiana stands up as she grows accustomed to the pain. "Pathokinesis mages have a keen sense. Emotions have slightly different effects depending on the trauma. You have a hefty toll on your shoulders."

"This feels invasive. I have done things you shouldn't even know about." Christopher says.

"Is this guilt?...Why are you feeling guilty?" Kiana asks.

"You don't want to know." Christopher says. "If you pry, I will make sure you'll never walk again."

"Fucking shit. Sorry. Didn't know you were the savage type." Kiana says with sass.

"You're no peach either bitch. Everyone heard your conversation with Sarar." Christopher savagely states.

Kiana blushes from embarrassment slightly. "Yeah I knew that. Now, how about we finish this?" Kiana unsheathes one of her katanas and places the blade against Christopher's neck. "Surrender."

Christopher flinches as the blade digs into his neck, causing it to bleed. "I would never." He coughs.

Christopher's passive defence activates once more and disintegrates Kiana's katana and he pushes her off him.

"Awe, I liked this katana too." Kiana says, holding the hilt of her now broken blade. She places the hilt back in the casing and draws her other blade.

Christopher wastes no time getting up and reading a spell before Kiana was prepared with her other weapon. Just as she branishes a stance, Christopher fires off the flame spell Fireball up into the air and directs it downward onto his opponent.

Kiana points her katana up at the fireball and casts the spell Ice Wall at the tip of the blade. As is expected a thick wall of ice materialises above her and the fireball collides with it, causing an explosion of hot steam.

(Narrator) Either Kiana is really strong, or she just defied gravity with that ice wall.

While Kiana was stunned by the explosion, Christopher closes the gap between them, casting mana Drain while running. He launches it at her and with some sixth sense, jumps right over it.

"Well, at least it's not a total waste if I miss." Chrsitopher mutters.

Kiana unexpectedly launches a kunai at Christopher as she lands, The kunai lands deep into Christopher's shoulder. The mist dissipates shortly after, showing the audience an untouched Kiana, while Christopher is pulling out the blade in his flesh.

Kiana goes missing according to Christopher's view, she had hidden behind some rubble that was blown off the arena wall after the explosion. She gently places a hand on the ground, doing her best to make no noise. Seconds go by with seemingly no action happening on the battlefield. The tension in the audience rises.

Cracks form in the ground beneath Christopher's feet and vines erupt from the damaged earth, entrapping Christopher in a binding spell. The vines climb higher onto his body, around his waist and up and over his shoulders, tightening and squeezing to prevent him from moving.

As Christopher attempts to get out of the entanglement he's in, Kiana walks out from behind her cover and charges at him. Now with a knife against his neck once again, Kiana asks him to surrender.

Christopher sighs, knowing that once his passive barrier reinstates, the vines will just cover him again. "You got me good, but it's not like I can't cast spells." Christopher creates another Mana Drain spell and pushes it slowly through Kiana's thigh as slowly as he could.

Kiana screams, but keeps her ground, cutting the boy's leg open. "Surrender boy, or you'll bleed out."

Wincing a bit, Christopher weighs out his options. "You win, I surrender."

(Narrator) ......... Well, I never thought that stubborn fool would ever surrender. But this is a tournament. Maybe he thought risking his life again wasn't worth it or something.

"After a brutal match, Kiana wins without a single physical mark! She did lose a significant amount of mana, but her opponent couldn't land a hit." The MC pronounces.

Kiana releases Christopher from the binds and throws him a healing potion before waving and exiting the arena. The crowd cheers and whistles from watching a satisfying match up. Christopher makes his way out after drinking the potion and heads back to the waiting room.

Seeing Christopher, Heather waves him down and he sits next to her. "So. After fighting her, do you think I can win against her?"

"You'll have no problem. However, Ibun is your next opponent. Focus on winning that match first. Do you have a plan? I remember you mentioning your leaving Willow with Haider." Christopher says.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it. I have something in mind...I'm up, see you after the match." Heather says.

Heather walks through the portal once more and waits for the gate to open. She fiddles with a few seeds within the palm of her hand as she thinks about how to best deal with Ibun. Heather places a hand delicately on her chest and takes in a few deep breaths. The doors open slowly as the MC calls her name. Heather walks into the arena and before the announcer could start the match, she walks up to Ibun and holds out her hand.

Ibun smiles and takes her hand into her own. This noble act of sportsmanship spurs the audience into applause. Heather walks back to her point and takes a stance, grasping a few nettles from the stinging plant that Haider hurt himself on.

The MC pronounced the start of the match and Heather kneels down and punches the dirt as hard as she could. The ground gave way for her, as if they were cooperating together, and out grows a massive nettle weed.

Ibun throws a vial filled with liquid silver into the air and casts silver lance. This spell makes a singular lance out of silver that the caster can control. Being a fluid, if struck, the lance will not be disarmed. It will split into several more, sharp pointy pikes of smaller size.

The thick brambles of the now enormous weed stretch out. Its hairs on the plant are the size of toothpicks, possibly one of the most dangerous things I've ever seen.

(Narrator) I don't even want to know what will happen if someone brushes up against those. HEATHER CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU PSYCHO!

Ibun strikes her own lance and it splits into a dozen smaller spikes. She lunges forward with a striking jab and the pikes launch at supersonic speeds, penetrating easily through the oversized vegetation.

One of the spikes hit Heather in her left shoulder. As some sort of reaction to the pain, Heather involuntarily commands the weed to strike Ibun with zero remorse.

Ibun's reactions are slow. The stinging nettle strikes with several of its stems with immense speed, so fast that the branches snap. Luckily Ibun managed to get out of the way of the majority of it but some of the hairs brush up against her face and arm.

For a few seconds nothing happens, however the irritants were in fact injected into her and she collapses onto the floor, writhing in agony, screaming at the top of her lungs.

When the pain doesn't subside, Ibun begins crying for help. After drinking a potion, Heather wilts the oversized plant and rushes to her side.

"Raguh! Oh my god." Heather screams. Ibun's face and arm have swollen to unrealistic proportions.

"Help. Me." Ibun whimpers. Her eyes fill with tears. Her nose clogs with mucus.

"I was not expecting this much from that." Heather takes out the antidote, which is just baking soda and water paste, and gently rubs it onto Ibun's rashes. Heather casts a numbing spell she learned from Christopher, removing the pain until the rash went away.

Several minutes later, Ibun's injury clears and she forfeits the match as thanks.

Heather curtsies and exits the arena. The king has stood once again for a match that Heather participates in.

Heather Walks back into the waiting room and sits next to Haider. "You're fighting next, get in there." She says with a smile. Heather pushes her brother off the bench and coaxes him to prepare for his match. "Don't hold anything back bro. Show them that new spell you learned." she giggles showing her excitement.

As Haider walks through to the weapon room, Christopher asks, "What's this spell you're on about?"

"You'll see. It's revolutionary within ice mages. For our age anyway." Heather says.