Chapter 28: The tournament

The day for the tournament has come and the stadium is filled with people. People are excited to see what kind of people will be fighting in this tournament and they are even filling up bets.

Lucas is giving his final words to the group that came from Windstone. He said words that inspired the people to try their best, albeit some didn't take it to heart. Jarim for example wasn't so happy to hear a non nobleman being the one who encouraged the group. So Jarim decided to belittle Lucas a bit and then gave a speech of his own. No one listened Jarim's speech, as they had to go to the arena to be welcomed by the emperor of Leisaus.

When they got to the arena, most got a little nervous. And when they saw the emperor Diuli Leishaus the IX, even those who weren't nervous before started to feel pressure. Diuli gave a grand speech of his own, riling up the contestant and the audience alike.

Lucas was watching from the sidelines as the contestants scattered to their resting areas. Even Lucy was watching from a remote device in anticipation for this tournament. But little did Lucy know, Lucas had done something behind her back.

For you see, during the qualifiers in Windstone, Lucas placed an offshoot of his in the roster to compete. The offshoot's name was Leuka and he had the abilities of a rank A adventurer. Leuka was one of the participants in the qualifiers who got selected to go to the final tournament. While Lucas was disappointed that he himself couldn't participate, with his offshoot, it was almost like he was the one participating in it.

Lucas took extra care that Lucy wouldn't notice that Leuka was Lucas' offshoot by using a fighting style that Lucas almost never used and making Leuka's presence different from the original.

During the matches, the contestants have to carry a device that will protect them from fatal damage. When the device runs out of energy, the match ends in the person's favor who still has their device powered. Because of the way the losing was handled, Fiona didn't manage to qualify to the tournament itself due to her reliance on her endurance.

In case of two devices running out of energy at the same time, there is a timer of how long they were powered up that shows up on the screen of the stadium. With that timer, they can conclude the winner. If the two somehow manage to run out of power at the exact same time, then the match will restart after a brief break.

The first rounds went in favor for everyone from windstone with little to no difficulty. Drace dominated his first opponent.

In the second round, Hannibal had some problems with a mage that kept their distance fluently. Eventually he managed to close up the distance and win.

In the third round, Rex was defeated and Jarim barely held it together in his match. Elliot seemed to have lost some steam from the previous matches, but still managed to win the third round nonetheless.

The third round concluded the first day of matches and the group went to a restaurant to relax a little. It was all under the budget that the mayor of Windstone provided.

Lucas thought he could rest for the night without any issue, but then Naga appeared and demanded to have some "fun". Needless to say, Lucas did not sleep that night.

The second day started and the first round of the day began with a match where Sonya and Hannibal had to fight. Neither of them went easy on the other and the battle was glorious. Sonya's speed and dexterity made it difficult for Hannibal to land a hit on her. Eventually the match ended in Sonya's favor, but not without it being difficult for her.

During the second round of the second day Leuka and Elliot fought. While it wasn't easy for him, Elliot did manage to win the match. The match almost went in Leuka's favor, but Elliot managed to use teleport without any chants in the last second and finished chanting the spell he was doing before teleportation. Essentially, Elliot managed to dual cast without having to chant anything for the other spell. This intrigued many spectators since dual casting by itself is a rare skill. Lucas was a little proud that it was his student that defeated Leuka, although he wished Leuka to last longer.

The third round of the second day had Elliot and Jarim fight between themselves. Jarim had an overall better manapool than Elliot and a wider range of spells, but Elliot still managed to come out on top. Jarim tried to continue the match after the device had run out of power, but the staff managed to control the situation, albeit Jarim throwing a temper tantrum.

The fourth round had Sonya losing to an opponent that specializes in speed themselves. Sonya couldn't keep up with her opponent's speed and ended up losing. She acts like it was fine that she lost, but she went to the resting area to cry out of frustration. She swore that she will train to be better while shedding tears.

In the fifth round of the second day, Drace came face to face with the same opponent Sonya lost to. Thanks to the fact that he had leveled up, he managed to keep up with his opponent, albeit barely. His overall strength was the winning factor in his victory over the speedy opponent. The opponent's name was Leus Jo. A famous youngster of the school of Viper in Leisaus.

The sixth round of matches were the final ones of the day and it ended on a high note. The battle between Hannibal and Drace was glorious to behold. Even though Hannibal had difficulty with range before, he still managed to shine in this fight. Drace was surprisingly worn from the battle, given his growth a couple days ago. Drace ended up winning, but he managed to break his arm in the process.

Even though the device handed to the participants absorbs most of the damage, the user still can become injured if the attack is strong enough, be it from the user or the opponent. The attack that Hannibal managed to land to Drace was so strong that it almost flew Drace out of the arena. It was also that attack that broke Drace's arm while he blocked. But thanks to the combination of his skills and abilities, Drace managed to stay in the arena and finish the fight. The arm will be healed before the last three rounds start the next day. Drace could forfeit if the injury is too much for him, but his pride wouldn't allow it.

The next night was as easy to sleep as the last one for Lucas. Because of that, he started to have less interest in the tournament itself. Nevertheless, he watched closely the last matches of this year's tournament.

In the first round of the third day, Elliot surprised everybody by defeating an apprentice of one of the great sages. The battle was immense and simple at the same time. Elliot controlled the arena by casting counterspells one after the other. While the apprentice was casting spells that didn't reach Elliot, Elliot himself was multicasting a much bigger spell on the side. When Elliot's spell was finished, he launched it at the apprentice, who could not deflect it fully, making him lose.

Drace's match on the other hand was a fierce battle between sword and fists, but ultimately it ended in Drace's favor. This meant that Drace and Elliot made it to the semifinals.

The second round of matches began, which meant it was time for the semifinals to start. The audience is ecstatic to see how the last three matches will go and bets are being made left and right.

Elliot's fight was a mage vs. swordsman. It was a skilled swordsman who was known to be one of the knight's apprentices on Leisaus. His name was Jacob Laudil and people had high hopes for him since the beginning of the tournament.

At the start of the match, Jacob charged at Elliot at amazing speed that wouldn't be easily observed by untrained eyes. Elliot however managed to silently and quickly cast a landmine spell at the exact step Jacob took. The following explosion made Jacob lose the match that lasted no more than three seconds. The audience was confused for a moment, and so was the speaker, but then the speaker asked one of the guest commentators to explain what just happened, who then did tell the whole crowd what transpired just now.

The match with Drace was a slow match thanks to Drace's opponents' way of fighting. Her name was Jinala Lot and she was a demon coming from the demon territory to boost the demon race's name. Her way of fighting was to use a rare gravitational magic on the target, which would make it harder for her opponents to stay standing. She could also shift the gravitational pull in a way that it would send her opponent out of the designated area. Luckily for everyone else, magic specifically designed to send the opponent of the arena was banned from the tournament, so Jinala had to use regular gravity magic with a big sledgehammer on her side.

The gravity magic would often make the opponent immobile and struggle to move. Jinala would wait for her opponent to forfeit since she had the means to keep the gravitational field as long as she wished. Those who didn't forfeit would have the taste of Jinala's sledgehammer. The reason why she could do it was because she was in control of who or what was affected by the gravitational field. The moment she put the sledgehammer up, she would make it crash down with her gravitation magic. During this tournament, it became obvious that the device itself couldn't take more than three of these attacks and the match would then end. So far no one had overcome her strategy.

Drace almost lost to her as well, until he managed to pull out the strength in him to overcome the gravitational pull after Jinala's second attack. She got scared for a moment, until she made the gravitational pull even stronger. But Drace would not relent and stood up even though the blood flow to his brain caused him to faint. But before he fainted, he managed to land a punch against Jinala, who then lost her concentration, breaking her spell. The moment when the gravity became normal again, Drace went on top of Jinala and put her on chokehold, shouting "Submit!" After that, Jinala forfeited and the semifinals were over.

Surprisingly, this was an exciting match to watch according to the cheers the audience made. The commentators also were in good spirits because of this match.

And now there was only the final round left. The audience was watching intently, the commentators were eager to see how it would turn out and the speaker was overhyped. And then Elliot said "I forfeit" and the stadium went silent. Not all heard what Elliot said, so he decided to go and grab the mike from the speaker and say "I forfeit". The audience was in disbelief for a solid twenty seconds it took Elliot to leave the arena, and when they realized that this was actually happening, people went ballistic.

All went to chaos for a moment, until the guards managed to calm the crowd, even though not without issue. The speaker then announced that Drace was the official winner of this year's grand tournament and he was given a gold cup. Jinala was given the bronze medal and Elliot didn't show up.

But before Elliot left the building, Lucas stopped him and asked "Are you happy with yourself?" Elliot answers "I achieved what I came here to achieve. Everything else is optional." Lucas says "And everything optional is meaningless" Elliot says "So you do get me. Now excuse me."

Lucas asks a question that Elliot didn't expect to hear. "So how does it feel to be exactly what you were made to do?" Elliot answers with a bit of disappointment "So you do get me. I just find it hilarious that my creators can manufacture mages that are even better than people trying to become sages."

Lucas then asks "So are you happy spending your short life just doing what you are expected to do?" Elliot says "I don't care about anything else. This is what I was born to do and it brings me solace."

Lucas comments "The frog in a well can only see what the well shows it. Hence, the well is their whole world." Elliot says "I don't care what you think of me. All that matters is that I am satisfied."

Lucas says "You are only satisfied because that is what your creators made you think. Nonetheless, I can't make you choose another path as you are free to choose your own fate." Elliot then says "Glad you understand" and starts to leave, but not before Lucas says "But as your teacher I am bound to guide you to a path that is right for you. A path that YOU are happy with and not your creators. But go now, my dear student, before the crowd will catch you." And then Elliot leaves.

Lucas just waits there for a moment while listening to the crowd screaming. Eventually he mutters "Two more years. We will see how that goes for you."