Since the first match of the second round had ended, Katachi had time to himself again, until the next match. Chancing this opportunity, he decided to invest in the time wisely by understanding more about the tournament's structure.
In a normal scenario, he could openly walk towards the tournament board, but from the past experience of being hounded by students wanting his autograph, Katachi had considered taking a more... subtle route this time. Using the directional magic, he instructed himself to walk the route people walked the least, that is, past the teacher's lounge, down the stairs to the neglected toilets, and then turning around and basically making a huge loop around the academy.
Katachi walked towards the strange suspended tournament board once again.
K : (... I can still feel that disgusting syrup in my throat... Ugh. It feels like slime residue.)
Looking at the tournament participant layout, Katachi carefully studied the chart before marking out the eliminated students. Sure enough, he slowly got a rough idea of which potential opponents he would be facing.
K : (I just beat that girl... What was her name, Chotil Nea? I can cancel her out... So that leaves me with... Either that wooden card guy Vikarr, or Deku for the next round- ... !)
Deku.
The crazy berserker-like magus that plucked out a chunk of land and threw it at the other student Zul. The student who could send the crowd roaring, like it was his own property. The guy that made up ridiculous bets just because he was the most powerful.
That name that was so far away on the chart had suddenly become so close to him.
That was truly frightening.
K : (... Deku, huh. Their battle is going on now. I would personally prefer the Vikarr guy to Deku, since that guy uses a lot of tiny cards, but the chances of him winning are so low I might as well assume my next opponent is Deku. I'll note him down just in case, though. I've seen his technique, after all, so every little bit helps. Let's see...)
Glancing through the unfamiliar names, Katachi finally stopped his eyes at something familiar.
K : (!!!... He's in the tournament as well?...)
*** ***
C : "... Hey, Loar."
With a pissed tone, Loar snapped back at her.
L : "... What do you want from me, Cestia?"
C : "I'm, ah... I'm sorry. I... I know how important your village was to you. And yet, I... I selfishly entered the tournament to get the school-sponsored medicine for my sister..."
L : "! Oh, er, uhm... It's okay, Cestia. Your sister was probably more important to you than my village - You're blood-related, after all. I... I have my faults too for actually attacking you seriously."
Both parties were at fault here, and so Loar had no right to be angry; Realizing that, Loar's face blushed into a blooming peach.
C : "..."
L : "..."
Since their battle, their chats had become awkward.
They were both wrong, in a sense, and they want to simply forget and move on. But what's done had been done. They were inches away from murdering each other for their own ideals back at the preliminaries.
L : "... I hope we can still be friends."
C : "J-... Just friends, huh..."
L : "... Uh... Hey, did you hear about that bald guy at the preliminaries?"
C : "? That one with the bladestaff?"
L : "Yeah. Apparently Minister Lein visited him personally and wanted to enlist him."
C : "! Wow, really?"
L : "Yeah. Apparently, 'I was chosen because my leadership skills and situation assessment during the preliminaries was something they were looking for.', or so he says. He's lucky, I guess - He literally graduated from here and went straight to the Findel Magus Association because of that one incident."
C : "The FMA? That's amazing!- Wait, then does that mean he would be getting a magus' pay, since he's working for Findel now?"
L : "Yeah, he did say that."
C : "..."
L : "? What's wrong, Cestia?"
C : "... I wanted a job to earn enough money for my sister to get better..."
Cestia's voice croaked, and her eyes grew red not with dryness from the complex Obscuration rune, but with sadness.
C : "... But I ended up being a stepping stone for someone else."
Cestia's head hung downwards in melancholy.
L : "Ah- ..."
C : "..."
There was not much Loar could do except change the topic and divert her attention from depression.
L : "... That's depressing... Let's not focus on that any more that we ought not to - Look, Deku and Vikarr's fights are about to begin! Maybe we can learn a bit from those two. We still have next year's tournament, and we might even- ! ..."
Without any warning at all, Cestia had rested her head on Loar's shoulder.
C : "... Thank you, Loar."
Loar recognized this signal. Instinctively, Loar slowly rested his head on Cestia's.
And with that, the two were close once more.
*** ***
D : "HELLO AGAIN, EVERYBODY!"
Deku's extravagant entrance once again sent the students hollering and screaming like they were under a spell.
V : "Hey, Deku. I've improved from last time, you know-"
D : "IF I LOSE THIS MATCH, I'LL DRINK THE SYRUP FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT!"
Once again, Deku seemed to hold no regard for his opponent. This tensed a temple muscle of Vikarr's, as he tried his best to get the respect he deserved.
V : "Well, if you put it that way, Deku, it looks like you really are going to drink that syrup for two weeks straight after all. Unless, of course, you're not man enough to take it."
It was only with intimidation did Deku spin around, and actually address his opponent properly.
D : "You'd make me EAT my WORDS? IS THAT SO? WELL, WE SHALL SEE ABOUT THAT. I AM READY WHEN YOU ARE!!!"
V : "... 'Expect his skill at the level of a teacher', huh..."
Vikarr took his cards out, and stood in a battle stance that made him look like a professional killer - Left leg out, right leg in, cards in his hand, and a glare at the judge which signaled that he was ready.
The second match of the second round began.
*** ***
Vikarr expended everything he had.
A flutter of wooden cards flocked and circled around him like a hurricane, ready to attack anything close-range, like a barrier with many gaps.
Deku's left fist glowed yellow, and he smashed the ground with it. The chunk of land being converted beneath him was much larger than the chunk before in his first match. He 'absorbed' the 'thing' into his left hand, and the yellow, liquid-like substance creeped onto his body from his left hand. It coated his entire body, spare the head, and his size grew slightly.
When the yellow substance faded, what was in place was a sort of beige, sandy body armor.
Or rather, it was sand reconstructed into a form of armor.
D : "Vikarr. I'm going to go all out."
Deku's stern voice echoed through the entire coliseum. The students were excited to see Deku fighting seriously, and Vikarr too was taken aback by Deku's potential at magic.
The sand gauntlet on his hand glowed yellow, and it punched the sand on the floor once more, this time the chunk of land taken was on a ginormous scale, leaving a crater about one-third the battlefield.
The chunk of land was simply absorbed into his body, and he expanded quickly - forming a humongous golem made completely out of the sand.
Vikarr's eyes were open wide, as he stared hard at the wonders of this magic.
V : "... The Gatherer's Golem..."
With a simple change in his hand gesture, the cards flew towards the huge golem. It clashed and clattered noisily against the sturdy exterior of the golem. Some sand came out when the cards struck hard enough, but the sand spewing out merely glowed yellow into tiny orbs and 'flowed' back, or, more appropriately 'reabsorbed' back into the golem. It was a good effort, but the result was already obvious.
This magic was on a scale that Vikarr couldn't defeat.
Deku had already won.
The golem's right fist was raised, and it punched the earth. It caused a huge quake that made most students cry out in appall and awe. The sand beneath Vikarr flew at his face, obstructing his nose, eyes and ears. Vikarr couldn't keep his balance from the punch's effects, and landed on his butt.
D : "I could punch you instead of the earth, but that would be unnecessary murder, wouldn't it?"
With both his face and butt hurt, Vikarr clutched his butt cheeks in agony as he struggled to stand up, rubbing his eyes and exhaling air from his nose strongly.
V : "... You win. Alright? You, win."
Deku smiled at the surrender, and the crowd cheered at the amazing display of magic. With the entire golem glowing yellow, Deku alighted from it and slammed the liquid at the floor, covering the crater perfectly. It was as if nothing had happened, except for the loud blasting noise of the golem returning to the sand.
The second match of the second round ended with a bang.
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