Elias Leywin POV
Sound rose in waves as I stepped under the unforgiving summer sun. Voices wrapped around the arena, pressing in until they blurred into a single, restless roar.
I kept walking. Each step sank into the sand, the grains shifting beneath my boots as heat rose through the soles. The light caught on the arena floor, reflecting upward in a glare that forced my eyes to narrow.
My right hand curled at my side as I played with the ring on my middle finger. It pulsed in response to my touch. I drew a slow breath through my nose, held it, then let it out.
The noise dulled ever so faintly.
"You're just a kid; it's best you yield now before I squash you."
I lifted my gaze towards the man before me, who had destroyed my artificial calm. His frame was broad, like a bear on its hind legs. Arms thick enough that the fabric of his short sleeves pulled tight across them. His hair rose in uneven spikes, a pale streak breaking through the darker strands.
'What a brute…'
"I've won my three Qualifiers," I groaned, "I have the same right as you do to be here."
His eyes narrowed as they fixed on me.
"Don't go crying to your mother when you lose," he snickered, walking away from the centre.
I shifted my footing, returning to the tunnel I had just entered through. Under the shade, I opened my palms. Sweat licked them. With a sigh, I closed them tightly, and with an exhale, I gathered mana to my dimension ring.
I extended my right hand before me, and a brilliant line of silver metal grew from my grasp. My blade settled into my grip. Its weight dragged at my arm before I lofted it against my shoulder. I turned back around, facing the onslaught of sound and sun, and strode back towards the centre.
A man in a black and white polo stood patiently between my opponent and me.
Keeping my head high, I stared down the older boy. He smiled at me with a toothy, predatory grin.
'Oh, I'm so gonna make you eat dirt'
"I'm not going to bore you two with the rules of what you can and can't do, one because this is the fifth round of fighting, and two, if you don't know them by now, then what can I do?" He looked between the two of us with a shrug. Not getting the rise he wanted, he cleared 5 paces back.
With an exhale, his arm hammered down. "Begin!"
The sand burst beneath his feet as the giant drove forward, each step striking the ground hard enough that it shuddered under mine. I grasped my blade with both hands as I pulled it down from my shoulder and stepped in to meet him.
My shoulders dipped, and my boots sank deeper into the sand as an unseen force pressed in on me. Despite that, I drove forward anyway, angling my oversized weapon toward his bare flank.
Steel struck his flesh with a dull thud. The force bounced off him and travelled through my hands and up into my shoulders.
A smirk grew wide on his lips as he caught the deflected blade. He stood over me as he pulled back his free right hand.
I twisted my neck, the movement slower than I wanted, as his fist tore through the space where my head had just been. The air snapped against my ear, the power behind it pulling at me as I slipped past. My footing faltered as the sand gave under my heel.
Falling, I jerked my blade free and swung it in a high and wide arc, forcing Theodore back a step.
Hitting the sand, I rolled. With a groan, I forced myself up, resting my hand against my knee.
'Damn it, how is he-'
"Quit running, kid, and fight me!"
My eyes snapped back to him as he kicked at me. The resultant force from his strike summoned a shockwave of compressed gravity magic.
It smashed into me with such great bludgeoning force that I couldn't compare it to anything. It hammered into my forearms, though I'm sure I heard a crack.
After bouncing thrice, I skidded to a stop. My body ached as I raised my head with a groan. My arms burned with golden radiance as I forced my body to rise. "How is he so fas-"
I forced myself upright, though, as I raised my head, I was shaded by Theodore's Orc-like form. He arced a fist towards my half-stood self. My right arm whipped up to meet his strike. Golden flame wrapped my hand despite the ache as I dulled his strike.
Noticing my sluggishness, he caught my wrist and hoisted me over his head. For that singular moment, I was free from all gravity and floated before thousands. After the wonder of it all wore off, he slung me across the arena.
'How is he… Wait… If Gravity magic can make things heavier, then surely it can do the opposite, too, right? That must be how he's so fast despite his size… What a monster.'
I gritted my teeth as I flew across the arena.
He reached me before I hit the floor. Gripping my ankle, he flung me to the ground with a gravity-enhanced throw.
My back cracked against the sand.
"If you're not going to fight, then just yield," he groaned as he strode towards me mockingly.
Silver glistened in the corner of my eye. My head snapped to my blade that lay half buried under the sand.
I scrambled to my feet and shot towards the weapon.
A sigh sounded behind me as gravity pinned my form to the floor. My hand clawed into the sand as it extended toward the silver that lay just beyond my reach.
'Damn it, just a little further…'
Sand crunched behind me as he blocked out the high sun.
"Yield," Theodore commanded.
"F-fuck of-f," I panted in protest. The added weight ached my joints as I forced all my effort into my reaching right hand.
"Stubborn brat," he muttered, setting his palm on my back.
[Downforce]
What little resistance I could offer the giant faded as my chest slammed into the sand. The weight drove through me, flattening the air from my lungs in a sharp, silent burst. My ribs protested under it, each breath caught before it could fully form. I opened my mouth, but nothing came with it, only a shallow pull that barely reached my throat before the pressure forced it back out.
The sand beneath my face compacted, grains grinding against my cheek as my head turned just enough to keep from being buried outright. My arms refused to move. My fingers reached for my now distant blade, but they too fell under gravity's immense power.
'Damn it I… Shit I…'
My fingers dug into the sand as I clawed for my weapon. The effort sent a dull tremor up my arm. My other arm lay trapped beneath me, caught between my body and the ground, already going numb.
The noise of the arena dulled as my vision blurred.
Each breath came shorter than the last. My chest hitched, then stalled, as if a snake had coiled around me.
'I can't lose… not here… not now…'
My fingers curled tighter into the sand despite the ache it caused me.
'I need to…'
Mana surged from my core despite the crying protest of my veins. The dam was shattered, and there was nothing I could do but swim with the current.
"Ignite." I rasped with the last of my breath.
Golden flame plumed from my form, shooting high into the sky and sending the giant flying back.
I stumbled to my feet as golden light illuminated me. Theodore watched me with widened eyes as the blaze grew louder around him.
Extending my arm, I gathered all the ambient fire that had spread over the arena towards my open palm.
A growl tore from the giant as he clawed at the sand, stampeding toward me.
I compressed the flame to the size of a baseball as Theodore stood an arm's length away from me.
"Sorry," I smirked as I punched the spheroid.
The ball imploded under my force, bursting out into a lance of golden fury. It thundered into the teen's chest and folded him in half, the impact tearing him off his feet before he could even think to brace himself.
The ground behind him flashed white as the heat hit it. Sand liquefied in an instant before cooling into a jagged sheet of glass that spread in a broken line across the arena.
Theodore's body crashed into the wall, cracking around where his form rested. He lifted his dazed head.
Heat clung to my flesh as I shot forward towards the teen. Dust scattered around me as I came to a stop.
"Wha-"
My left hand snapped forward as it gripped his collar. I yanked his heavy form towards me as my right fist thundered into his cheek.
He fell back into the hole. Though before he could touch the bottom, I caught his neck and viced my hands around it.
His arm twitched, fingers digging into the broken wall as he forced mana through his body, the air around us growing heavy once again.
Golden flame flared from my hand, constricting around his skin. I drove him back into the wall. The stone behind him gave another sharp crack under the added force, fragments breaking loose and scattering across the glassed ground at our feet.
His breath hitched.
His hand shot up, fingers clamping down on my wrist as he tried to tear it away. The air grew heavier as he pushed against me, fighting like a trapped beast under my grasp.
I pressed him harder against the stone as it gave another inch beneath him.
His grip tightened around my wrist, fingers digging in as he forced mana through his body. The air thickened in uneven pulses, dragging at my shoulders and pressing against my ribs, but it lacked its earlier weight.
"Yield!" I commanded.
His jaw clenched at the word, the muscle in it jumping as he tried to draw in another breath that never came. He clawed up my wrist, his nails digging into my forearm.
"Yield!" I spat as the vice around his oesophagus tightened like a noose.
His hand trembled where he held my wrist, the strength in it bleeding out with each passing second.
"Iuhuh..." he sounded.
"What?" I loosened my grasp ever so slightly so the teen could answer.
"I… Yi-eld," he rasped with clouded eyes.
Flame left his throat as I released both my mana and my hold of him. His form fell to the floor with a dull thump.
"Not bad, Theodore Maxwell," I smiled, massaging my wrist, "I look forward to a rematch."
He massaged his neck as he nodded with a smirk.
---
"I yield."
"What?" The proctor and I blurted out.
"I yield. Do I need to repeat myself?" the girl before me, Marie Leine, shrugged. "I, like everyone else here, saw how badly you beat up Maxwell, and I'd rather yield now than be suffocated into submission."
'I only did it cause he did it first!'
"I'm not gonna turn down a free ride to the Semis, but I was looking forward to fighting a fellow conjurer." I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Look at it this way," she smiled, placing a hand on her hip, "excluding yourself, three of the remaining five participants are conjurers, so chances are you'll end up fighting one in the next round."
"I suppose so," I sighed. "Thank you for the extra rest then, Ms Leine," I smiled up to the blonde teen.
"Aw, you're just adorable, aren't you!" she squealed.
'You're the one who's scared to fight me!'
"Good luck in the semi-final!" she waved as she walked away, "Though I'm sure you won't need it!" she added, shouting back to me.
---
"Thank you all for gathering here for the semi-final match draw!" Grandma Cynthia smiled as she held her hands wide.
"She seems enthusiastic," Curtis snickered to my left.
"Quiet, you two, let the Director finish before you two bite each other's heads off," Tess reprimanded to my right.
"I didn't do-"
"Unlike the previous rounds of the summer series, where each fight was set in predetermined brackets, the semi-final will be drawn through a lottery," she proclaimed as an older elf joined her on the raised platform ahead of us.
"Elder Virion Eralith, a dear friend who I'm sure needs no introduction, will have the honour of drawing the Semi-final match-ups that may well determine who will be the Summer Series Champion!"
The crowd roared behind us as its cheers filled the moon and torch-lit arena.
"Thank you for that kind introduction," the Elf Elder nodded to his far younger friend.
A man wearing a pressed black suit crossed the stage. He set down a rack that had four snooker-sized balls, each numbered, and a grey velvet bag on the small table before two of the strongest mages on this continent.
"Thank you," the elf smiled.
"Before we begin, I would like to congratulate the four mages who have triumphed over their peers and now stand at the precipice of history," Grandma said, smiling at me.
"Ball 1, The former Princess of Elf-kind and my darling granddaughter, Tessia Eralith!" Virion blared.
Tess stepped forward, hiding her reddened face behind her hand as she turned and waved to the gathered crowd behind us.
"Ball 2, The former Prince of Humanity, the Lionheart, Curtis Glayder!" Grandma called.
Curtis did as Tess did, turning to face the crowd, though he instead pumped a fist high into the air with a confident smirk on his face.
"Why do you get a cool epithet and I don't?" Tess grumbled.
He smirked at her and settled back in line.
"Ball 3, The Golden child of House Bladeheart, the Brightflame, Claire Bladeheart!" Virion announced.
The eldest of us stepped forward and copied her two juniors. She stood tall as she raised a hand and smiled to those who cheered her name.
"Ball 4, The youngest amongst the four, my Grandson, the Lightbringer, Elias Leywin!"
'Ooo, I like that one, Grandma.'
I smirked up at my self-proclaimed Grandmother, who did the same down at me. I turned to face the crowd, smirk still lining my lips, as, like Curtis, I pumped a fist into the air. A white-gold flame erupted from my closed hand.
"Show off," Curtis murmured as I settled back in line.
"At least I know how to keep the crowd engaged without the need of a World Lion," I leaned forward, my smirk never leaving my face.
"Zip it," he grumbled.
Elder Virion placed all four balls into the bag and shook. After a few shakes, he reached into the velvet and pulled free a ball.
"Ball 3, Claire Bladeheart!" he called, setting it back down on the rack.
He shook the bag again. "Facing Ms Bladeheart in the first semi-final will be…" He reached into the bag. "Ball 1, Tessia Eralith!"
He set his granddaughter's ball down next to her opponents.
"That leaves Balls 2 and 4 remaining in the bag, which means that Elias Leywin and Curtis Glayder will be fighting in the second semi-final." He added, setting the final two balls down together.
"Thank you to Elder Virion for drawing the finalists," Grandma smiled at the old elf. She raised her hands high as she stared down the recording artefact. "Join us here tomorrow to see who will reach the final and stand tall as the Summer Series grand Champion!"