Chapter 53: First Seeds

  “Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, the top seeds of the Assembly and the three Towers! Our very own Miss Claire Dumont is standing atop the first platform on the northern end!” Wesley yelled in delight as he waved frantically at Claire. Whether she could actually see him was unknown.

  “Yes, and we have Nox Vaelor from Lunarsol on platform four, Erik Aurelius on platform three, and finally Alexander Thorne on platform two,” Alan stated in a flat tone.

  Wesley glared at Alan and whispered furiously at him. “Be more excited! You’re dragging the atmosphere of the arena down with you!”

  Without missing a beat, he then continued yelling into the crystal orb. Alan glanced at him with a smirk.

  “If Alexander wins his first round battle, he will be up against the dark horse from our Arcane Assembly, Damon Fletcher! Since we will only hold the rounds of 32 and 16 today, I believe that will be the highlight match of the day!”

  Alan yawned and spoke out in a dull voice. “That’s enough with introductions, the matches are beginning now. Wait, what’s this?”

  Over on the western platform, a strange situation occurred. The eighth seed from the Arcane Tower of Argent Flame had immediately forfeited the match before it had even begun, but that wasn’t the end of it.

  “Forfeit? Do you think I’ll just allow such a thing? I might permit you to concede if you kneel and kiss the ground beneath my feet. How’s that?”

  Nox smirked at his opponent as he pointed to his feet. The man from Argent Flame flushed red, and his nostrils flared. His spiky red hair quivered as he spat out some words through his clenched teeth.

  “You know what? Let’s do it. I was just following orders. Do you think I’m actually scared of you?”

  With his smile stretching out into a grin, Nox raised his hand into the air and motioned his opponent to ‘come’ with his index finger.

  The Adjudicator for the platform glanced up at the private box for a few seconds. After hearing no words, he decided to continue with the match as normal. Once he confirmed the other platforms were ready, he gave the signal for the duel to begin.

  Nox raised his hands, and beams of white light flashed from his fingertips. His fingers continued to flash countless arcane missiles shot out. They were so fast that his opponent had not even taken a breath when they were already upon him. The protective amulet around his neck activated, and a barrier appeared to block the beams.

  The first beam crashed into the barrier, but did not make much of an impact. However, the endless barrage of missiles that followed quickly cracked the barrier, breaking through it after only a second.

  Under the suppression of the constant attacks, the red-haired apprentice could only attempt to create mini barriers in defense. The mini barriers could not withstand a single collision and were torn apart immediately. He could only tremble in response to the unending stream of lightning-fast missiles.

  Just as the last barrier cracked, the barrage of projectiles stopped. He looked up in confusion, only to see Nox smiling at him from a distance. Nox held his hands clasped in the air, with his index fingers pointing toward his opponent. A pulsating ball of white light formed at his fingertips before shooting forth a beam the thickness of a human head.

  The red-haired apprentice had no time to cast a spell, so he took out a scroll to save himself. He did so knowing full well it meant his disqualification. Before he activated it, the Adjudicator had appeared directly in front of him, slashing down at the incoming beam with his hand as though it were a sword. It cleaved right through the beam, splitting it in half.

  As the apprentice from Argent Flame heaved a large sigh, Nox’s smile widened into a grin once more. The corners of his lips almost reached his ears, baring his teeth to form a predatory expression similar to one you would see on a carnivorous beast. The light beam that had split in two had not fizzled out as everyone had expected. Instead, they coiled like twin serpents of light, accelerating as they rammed through the last barrier and struck the red-haired Initiate in his eyes.

  “Argh!” An ear-splitting wail rang out, and he fell back as he clutched his face. Two thick streams of blood ran down his cheeks and stained the pure white tiles underneath.

  Nox had already turned around and walked away while clicking his tongue. “All you had to do was kneel.” Shaking his head, he jumped off the platform and landed near the other participants at platform four. They retreated quickly, forming an empty circle around Nox, and stared at him with pale faces.

  “...” The two commentators were speechless from what had just happened on platform four. Wesley had been excitedly chattering away a moment ago, but had not expected the injury to occur.

  “Well, sometimes accidents can happen during duels. There’s no helping it. They are all prepared for this possibility before stepping onto the stage.” Alan stated, his voice tinged with a bit of malicious amusement.

  Wesley did not respond immediately, like usual, as he was preoccupied with watching his fellow Auron from the Military Academy jump up to the private room, his face completely white. He would definitely be punished for failing his duties.

  Glancing at the gloomy Wesley, Alan sighed and continued. “Now let’s focus back on the other duels. Alexander… Has already defeated his opponent. It appears to be the result of a forfeit. Claire is fiercely pinning down her opponent from the Lunarsol Tower. However, it looks like she has no plans to finish the match quickly. What exactly is she doing?”

  Alan punched Wesley in the arm, drawing him back to the present. After blinking a few times, he managed to focus on his task again.

  “Ah, that’s right. It appears Claire is dragging the fight out by running circles around the apprentice from Lunarsol. She’s… quite literally forming a tornado around him! We can no longer see what’s happening within!”

  Boom! A large blast rang out from the third platform to the south.

  “Wait, what’s going on over there? It’s Anton from our Military Academy facing off against Erik from Violet Mist!”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  On platform three, an enlarged man with glowing red fists was crouched over while panting heavily. Anton was drenched in water, yet there were trails of smoke rising from his body. His protective amulet still radiated with bright green light, and an intact barrier rotated around him, yet he was injured.

  On the other side of the platform, Erik stood in a relaxed posture, his hands clasped behind his back. He shot a sly smile toward the Adjudicator, who stood next to Anton while glaring at him.

  “Sir Adjudicator, how is this my fault? Was I supposed to know that the incredible protective amulets crafted by your glorious Assembly would fail to function like that? Or that you, a mighty Disciple, would be unable to respond in time to protect my opponent?” Erik placed heavy emphasis on specific words, deriding both the Assembly and the Adjudicator.

  Erik had used his delicate control over the water element to imprison Anton in a sphere of water. As he struggled to escape, Erik shot a bolt of lightning into the sphere, electrocuting him. The water prison had enclosed an area greater than the protective amulet could respond to. Although it still droned with energy as it formed a defensive barrier, it was unable to recognize the boiling water or electrical currents as an incoming attack.

  The Adjudicator scowled and began stomping over to Erik when he stopped dead in his tracks. A whisper had entered directly into his ears. His flushed complexion turned ashen as he listened. He then turned to the crowd and announced, “The match is over. The victor is Erik Aurelius from Violet Mist.”

  Erik scowled from his failed attempt at riling up the Adjudicator. He glanced toward the private box on the west side of the Colosseum. After staring for a moment, he stepped off and sauntered over to his fellow apprentice from the Violet Mist assigned to the same platform.

  The tension in the private room was so palpable that the attendants at the sides felt it was gripping them by their throats and choking the life out of them. None of the Adepts said a word while watching the actions of the first seeds. Finally, someone broke the tension with a small chuckle.

  “Who knew there was a way to overcome the amulet design. We will need to fix that before the round of 16. Thank you for assisting us with this discovery, Brother Zeke.” Zoltan smiled at a stick-thin and haggard man slouching in his seat at the side of the room.

  “No need, no need. That Junior just enjoys finding methods to circumvent rules all the time. My apologies for the inconvenience.”

  The two smiled at each other as they exchanged pleasantries, yet the friendliness did not reach their eyes. From the other side, Gabriel suddenly interrupted.

  “Madam Agatha, don’t you think your apprentice is taking it a bit too far? He has crippled our apprentice. I believe we are owed some recompense.”

  The beautiful young woman turned to Gabriel with a bright smile. “Older Brother Gabriel, you should be aware of the Vaelor Families… Tendencies. I would be happy to compensate you if… You can get Senior Vaelor to give me the order.”

  Gabriel became silent and turned his gaze back to the arena, to the last remaining duel. Agatha grinned until her eyes squinted and then also turned to watch the final battle. Her elation disappeared as her eyes widened. She yelled, “What is that shrew doing?”

  On the first platform, a whirlwind of turbulent air blocked everyone’s vision. The surrounding crowds broke into murmurs as they discussed what might be happening within. However, none of their guesses were correct.

  After creating the tornado, Claire asked, “You’re from Lunarsol, right? So you must know Nox quite well. Tell me, have you heard of Raymond Dumont?”

  The tall man opposing her spat onto the ground and sneered. “Yeah, I’m from Lunarsol. Nox told me you might try asking some questions. He told me to ask you something. How long did your brother survive after using the secret technique? Probably not long, right?”

  Claire’s face distorted from the words, and she roared as she rushed toward her opponent, the surrounding air rippling as it pushed her forward. The tall man withdrew a small black staff with a blue gem mounted on top. He waved it in the air, leaving behind trails of water. They remained floating as they slithered toward Claire.

  With bloodshot eyes and a fierce grimace still on her face, she punched forward at the water snakes. They were blasted apart, but hurriedly reformed before moving toward her again. Furrowing her brows, she landed on the ground and then shot to the right, going around the incoming attack. However, she found her path blocked by the aqueous snakes yet again.

  Now surrounded by the wriggling liquid constructs, Claire stopped on the spot. She ignored them as she clenched her fists together and glared at her opponent. She was now only several feet away from him.

  The tall man mocked, “Is this all the first seed from the Assembly can do?”

  Cupping her hands around her mouth, Claire suddenly let loose a screech. The sound was carried forward by a blast of compressed wind, landing upon the tall man in an instant. His expression froze when he saw the incoming attack, and he tried to block his ears, but it was too late.

  The amulet around his neck activated and formed a barrier against the compressed air, yet it could not block it completely. The compressed air did not damage the barrier and instead navigated around it as though it were merely a natural breeze. The amulet continued to thrum with power as it projected four more barriers, yet it only produced the same outcome.

  Upon reaching his ears, it shook the apprentice’s brain as it bounced around in his skull. After a second of immense pain, he finally managed to plug his ears with his fingers. However, this did not alleviate the pain he was feeling. He collapsed forward onto the platform while screaming. His entire body was vibrating, as though the sound was traveling through his limbs and torso, all the way into his head. The liquid snakes fell to the platform and turned into puddles.

  Claire continued to shriek at her opponent in a blind rage even as blood trickled out from his ears. It even began leaking from all the orifices on his face, such as his eyes, nose, and mouth. Just as he fell unconscious, the Adjudicator for the platform landed in front of him, cutting off the flow of compressed air with a large shield. He looked at Claire with a hint of terror, his pupils quivering when his gaze met her bloodshot eyes.

  “This match has ended! Miss Claire, please return to the side of the platform and prepare for your second match!” The Adjudicator hurriedly yelled as his shield began whining from the vibrations clashing against it.

  At this moment, a figure shot out from the private room before landing in front of Claire. He embraced her tightly, and she finally stopped her screech attack. She clasped the man’s chest as she sobbed into it.

  Zoltan looked down at his daughter with a gentle and understanding gaze. He stroked her loosened blonde hair with his large hands without a single word. Once she stopped sobbing, he took her down from the stage and whispered with her briefly before flying back up to the other Adepts.

  Claire looked up at the stage, where a team of healing cultivators had gathered around the unconscious man. Their faces were grave, yet they seemed to be sighing in relief.

  Damon and Thomas watched Claire worriedly from their platform. They had witnessed all the crazy duels that had just taken place. Two people had been severely injured, and Anton had minor injuries as well. The only fight that had started and finished without an issue was the one at their platform two.

  Alexander had not shown any incredible abilities and had merely put in a token effort before his opponent withdrew from the match with a small bow.

  Damon watched as Zoltan flew away from Claire, seeing her dispirited and guilty expression. He knew she wasn’t the type to injure an opponent during a duel. She had such fine control over her powers when she had fought with Thomas, yet she had almost killed her opponent just now. Just what had triggered such a drastic reaction from her?

  In his vision, Claire turned toward a certain area. When he followed her gaze, he found a smiling Nox over on the opposite side of the arena. Damon’s eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists tight. His own grudge was against the Arcane Tower of Argent Flame, but it seemed he needed to add the Lunarsol Tower to his list of enemies as well.