20 Academy Year 4 – Phase Two (1/2)

Marin and I receive first-aid at the medical station. Phase one ends after thirty minutes pass. We head toward the center of the Arena.

”You all did very well to come this far. Remember that there are ten teams right now, but only eight of those will be able to play in the tournament. In the second phase, you will likely fight a different team for every round that is determined by drawing lots, but you may end up fighting the same team if luck permits. Unlike the first phase, you will have to wait for the other teams to finish before the start of the next match,” Moria explains. I look around. The number of contestants remaining on each team varies; as few as two remain and as many as five remain judging by who's still wearing the leather garments.

”The rules will mostly remain the same, however, with one small modification.Rich Mana is now forbidden to use for the remainder of the tournament.”

I knit my eyebrows. Before I can let out a few words of complaint, Hiro shouts, ”Hey! That ain't fair! That only puts us at a disadvantage!”

”That may be true,” Moria answers as he turns his head to me. Everyone locks their eyes on me. I look down from the sudden attention.

”Then why? Do you want us to lose?” Hiro asks.

”I do not favor any one team over another…but this is something I cannot ignore. It is our hope that the tournament focuses on teamwork, not individual ability. If it were just about giving the prize to the group of students with the strongest abilities, I would have no problem yielding it to your team. Or are you implying that your team collapses when Kai is weakened just a little?”

The dissent inside me disappears. I sigh and then put a hand on Hiro's shoulder. ”Just let it go, Hiro. I'll deal with it.”

Hiro looks at me with an agitated expression, but he soon relaxes it.”Well, if you're fine with it, I won't say another word.”

Moria smiles and then says, ”I will now determine the pairings for the first round.”

He reaches his hand in an enclosed box he's holding in his other hand. He takes out two pieces of paper and then points in a direction. ”In the first platform over there, team five will fight team twelve!”

He pulls out another two pieces of paper and then announces, ”In the second platform over there, team three will fight team one!”

I head on over to the second platform with the rest of my group while ignoring the ongoing announcements. The other group soon arrives. They only have three people. Marin's mother arrives, pushing our cart of weapons. Another man pushes a cart toward the opposing team. Marin's mother informs, ”It looks like both teams are here. We'll begin immediately.”

She reaches into the usual small enclosed box with her hand and then pulls out a piece of paper. ”The first match will be 'weapons only.' Please get ready.”

”I'm going,” I say immediately.

”My turn!” Hiro exclaims at the same time. ”Kai, you just went!”

”I should be able to go again, though.”

”No way! It's 'weapons only.' This is my realm,” he argues as he begins walking toward our weapon supply. I put a hand on the back of his shoulder to stop him. My lower stomach grumbles. Hiro turns around, but neither of us say anything for several seconds.

”I need to use the bathroom… Just let me finish my match fast, and I'll be back before I have to fight again,” I explain while walking over to the cart, slightly hunched over.

”What the hell… If 'weapons only' doesn't appear again 'cause you didn't poop before the tournament, my loss is on you!”

Sitos suddenly bursts out laughing. I quirk an eyebrow as I ask, ”What's so funny, Sitos?”

”Nothing… I just expected the roles to be reversed here,” Sitos explains, unable to hold a straight face.

”Shut up,” I say, blushing a little. The others' faces are puffed up with twitching lips. A few chuckles escape their lips. I cock an eyebrow toward Hiro, who is laughing too. He stops after a few seconds.

”Wait a minute… You just made fun of me, didn'tcha?!” Hiro yells at Sitos.

I put a palm over my face and shake my head. I can't deal with this right now…

”Team three, please hurry up.”

”Coming!” I answer in a hurry as I turn to grab the two longest swords. I step onto the starting position on the platform. My opponent wields a thin cylindrical stick about six feet long. Someone actually chose that as a weapon?

He uses an underhand grip with his right hand and an overhand grip with his left hand about two feet apart. I hold my own stance too before the start of the battle. ”Fight!”

I dash forward immediately. He charges forward too but stops near the middle as the distance between us converges. I step in with my left foot before striking with a diagonal attack from above using my right sword. He tilts his weapon a little and blocks it, but I find an opening down below. I attack with my left sword. He pushes my right sword back while rotating his weapon clockwise into a vertical position and then blocks my attack from the left. He does a similar maneuver to push my left blade away while sliding his left hand closer to his right hand. My mind is blank as he steps in with his left foot.

His weapon is already coming at me from above. I take a step back while holding up my right sword to block the attack as I draw back my left sword to help. I place it behind my right blade and then push him away. I smile for a moment. The smile disappears as I find that his grip has changed. He comes at me with a blow from below. I jump back as my only option left, but the length of his weapon is too long. I grit my teeth as the blow strikes me on the side of my face. I think I pooped a little. Damn, how annoying…

I focus my eyes on my opponent, who assumes the same defensive stance as before. That weapon is more troublesome than I thought…I lost some of my self-control during the shock of receiving that last attack… I need to end this as soon as possible!

I keep my eyes focused and teeth clenched. Constrained by a time limit, I rush forward while planning a risky move. I'll just hope that I don't get disqualified with my next attack!

I throw both of my arms back ready for two overhead blows and jump in the air. As expected, he keeps his arms bent a little to counter me after blocking what he thinks is an attack from above. Good, he's not attacking me!

I go through part of the motion to swing both of my swords down, but I keep them raised in the air. I land in front of him and then kick him in the balls. He whimpers as he hunches over a little and then lets his guard down. I take a step back and then swing both of my swords toward the side of his legs. He falls on his knees and drops his weapon. ”Stop! Team three wins!”

I sigh with relief and turn around toward the weapon supply.”He-hey, he cheated! He used his leg on me!”

I stop. The other referee says, ”It is allowed as long as he held a weapon, which he did. There were no rules broken.”

”Damn…to lose to such a cheap trick…” I continue walking away and then deposit my weapons in a barrel on the cart. There are numerous spectators around our platform that weren't there before. I figure they must be part of a team already eliminated from the tournament.

”Nice one, Kaister. We have some time to observe some teams fight before the next—”

The grumbling of my stomach resounds. While running toward the exit, I exclaim, ”I need to leave! Catch you guys later!”

With every step I take, I can feel my limits breaking. I run down the flight of stairs that lead down to the second floor. I race past the people walking in the hallways while heading to the bathroom. The bathroom is just up ahead. There's someone in front of me. I knit my eyebrows. He wears a red robe with black vertical stripes with the head over his head. Huh…? Is that Moria…?

I stop behind him and then ask, ”Teacher Moria, what're you doing here?”

He stops but doesn't turn around. ”Oh, is that you, Kai? I'm secretly running an errand. So don't tell—”

”Oh god! I need to go!” I exclaim as my bowels force their way down. I run to the bathroom and then rip open the door. It resounds as it crashes into a nearby wall. I find an empty stall, pull down my pants, and then finally relieve myself. I sigh. I finish up in about 25 minutes. I run back toward the Arena on the top floor.

Damn, ideally I would go back to change my clothes, but I took too long as it is… I wonder what Moria was doing, though…Eventually, I find myself back in the Arena. I scan the various platforms in the farther end of the room, looking for my friends. I find Moria talking to a few adults on my way there. I ask, ”Moria, you're back already?”

He turns toward me, cocks an eyebrow, and then asks, ”What are you talking about? I have been here this whole time.”

The other adults look at me too. Oh, right… He doesn't want anyone to know about his secret errand.

”Uh, never mind,” I answer and then walk away. There are three teams still fighting on the second, third, and fourth platforms. Luna's on the second one. I run toward the crowd of people around our platform and then locate my group. Luna has her weapon knocked out of her hands.

”Stop! Team twelve wins!”

What…? Was that a 'weapons only' match? Those idiots, why didn't someone else fight instead?

I run toward my group and exclaim, ”Hey, guys! Why did Luna fight a 'weapons only' match?”

I knit my eyebrows, blinking several times. I rub my eyes and then look again, but nothing changes. Only Sitos is wearing the leather garments.

”Kai, this is all your fault!” Hiro yells into my face.

”Why's it my fault?” I ask.”If Luna's fighting a 'weapons only' match…that means she's the only person left who hasn't fought… So that means you already fought a 'weapons only' match and lost… Am I wrong?”

Hiro opens and closes his mouth repeatedly. Sitos says, ”Yes, this moron lost. His opponent was using the same weapon your opponent used.”

”Huh? He should've been easily able to overpower his opponent… He must've let down his guard and did something stupid,” I say as I frown at Hiro.

”He did let his guard down…but I do not blame him for losing in that situation,” Sitos says. I relax my facial expressions and turn toward Sitos.

”What do you mean?”

”His opponent used his weapon completely different than the guy you fought. Hiro probably thought his opponent was going to use strikes like your opponent did…but he initiated with a thrust. Hiro received a clean blow to the gut and never recovered from it.”

”Boo!” I retreat a few steps to the left, nearly losing my balance. I turn toward the direction of the noise. It's Luna.

”Was that necessary?” I ask, feeling my heart racing. She laughs and smiles mischievously. I sigh.

”I didn't hear about Drugo's loss yet,” I say as I face Drugo.

”I let my guard down. I'm a little ashamed.”

”What kinda match was it?”

”It was a 'no weapons' match.”

I cock an eyebrow and then say, ”Wow, your opponent must've been built larger than you to have beaten you…”

”Well…that's…” Drugo's voice grows quiet. He looks away while putting a hand on the back of his head.

”His opponent was a girl,” Luna reveals. I open my mouth, but no words come out.

”Yeh, when I saw 'im chargin' at 'er with his Abjuration magic on, I didn't think she coulda done anything… but suddenly she shouted a keyword that unleashed a ray of light from 'er palm into Drugo's eyes, blindin' him. After that, she shot some Earth magic into Drugo's armor, and it ran outta power,” Hiro explains. In an angry tone, he adds, ”To top it all off…it was 'weapons only' for Luna... It's like everyone is in together on a ploy to make us lose!

”It is just shit luck. We already qualified for the tournament, so it does not matter that much,” Sitos says.

”Team five is eliminated!”

”But don't you wanna get first place in the preliminaries too? We get the best seats in the tournament and a mystery prize!” Hiro says loudly.

”Who said I did not want to win? Kai and I are more than enough for these losers,” Sitos states with confidence.

”Team one is eliminated!”

Soon after that announcement, Moria shouts, ”In the first platform, team fourteen fights team twelve!”

A few seconds pass before he continues, ”In the second platform, team seventeen fights team two!”

Two teams of six head toward our platform from the third platform. One group has one person left while the other has two people remaining. ”Lastly, in the third platform, team twenty fights team three!”

Our group heads over to the third platform along with Marin's mother pushing our cart of weapons. I notice something strange when we arrive; the long-bladed swords Sitos and I usually used aren't present.

”Hey, what happened to the long-bladed swords?” I ask while cocking an eyebrow.”I don't see them here…”

”They were broken during my match, my bad,” Sitos answers.

”The sixth match here will be 'magic only'! Ready your fighters!”I go to the starting point without hesitation, knowing that Sitos' magic is not suited for this setting. My opponent is a girl.

”Kai!” I turn toward Luna.”That's the girl who beat Drugo! Be careful!”

”Got it, thanks.”

”I'd hate to be his opponent…” someone from the crowd whispers.

”Poor girl…”

”I'm glad our team didn't pass preliminaries… I heard in the main—”

”Fight!”

I focus back on what's in front of me; my opponent. I stand still while programming some instructions using Unrefined Mana instead of Rich Mana. I focus on velocity and power as I did before. I break down my Mana into Rich Mana, and that into Unrefined Mana, making sure not to overdo it. I keep the highest amount of Rich Mana possible as reserves just in case. Good, she's not coming for me… Sorry, but… I won't show any mercy.

I rush forward with my right palm pointing toward the girl. ”Fireball!”

A ball of fire appears out of my right palm with a diameter of about a foot. It goes straight toward the girl. She easily moves out of the way since there is a lot of time to react before it reaches her, but I don't stop with one.

”Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!” I shout with half a second interval between each keyword. I stop running forward when the distance between us is around 15 feet away, knowing that she can't react quick enough at this range. She sidesteps, ducks, and rolls to dodge the incoming fireballs. Her dodge reveals people watching behind the girl. My supply of Unrefined Mana gets low, but I break down my reserves of Rich Mana to replenish it. ”Fireball!”

Another ball of fire flies toward the girl on the ground. She jumps a small distance away while in a crouched position. She lands on her stomach flat on the ground. ”Fireball! Fireball!”

I give only a quarter second in between the two keywords. She doesn't have any room to dodge while both of my projectiles head straight toward her. She points her palm toward them and then shouts, ”Fireball!”

A ball of fire of her own appears, slightly larger than mine. It briefly collides with my magic, but it quickly disperses into the air as my second fireball comes blasting through the first. She doesn't make a sound as it lands on her torso, flinging her off the platform.

”The winner is team three! Team twenty is eliminated!”

The girl starts screaming during the announcement. She flails her limbs around as she burns from the fire. Their team referee shoots water from his palms to put out the fire on her leather garments. I gaze over the crowd as I rejoin my group. Their words are inaudible. They quickly shift their heads away from me.

”Kai, are you alright?” Luna asks in a worrisome tone.

”Yeah, I'm fine,” I answer while knitting my eyebrows, unsure why she asked.

”Don't push yourself too hard. You have the lowest Mana capacity out of anyone here.”

”Kai's fine! He probably already reached his maximum potential already which explains why he could use so much magic!” Hiro exclaims. I force a smile as droplets of sweat forms on my forehead.