Auric smiled and returned the hat after his victory. "Thank you."
"How?" Patrick gritted his teeth. He wasn't convinced.
"There is no reason for me to tell you." Auric shook his head, refusing to provide any details. He was under no obligation to answer him, so Auric simply took a step back gracefully.
"…" Patrick wanted to demand an answer, but a woman's voice soon echoed from behind.
"Don't embarrass yourself further."
It was the woman who had been sitting next to him earlier.
Auric could feel that she was on the same level as Patrick, if not stronger. However, the fact that she carried no weapons meant she was an elemental user like Auric.
"Eirin False." She gave her name in a chilling tone. "We have lost too many times, so it's time for us to win."
Patrick clenched his hands into fists before Principal Denis personally escorted him away. If Patrick made a ruckus here, the Black Witch would make an even bigger ruckus.
So, it was better to take Patrick away.
At the same time, Principal Denis observed Auric's every movement. He showed interest in Auric after discovering his trump card.
This was it. Auric's win streak had to end here and now. If even Eirin lost, he might not be able to say anything to Auric afterwards.
So, Eirin had to win.
However, there was no way to cheat, especially under the supervision of the adjudicator.
Eirin looked at Auric. "I don't know what you've done, but I have figured out your weakness."
"I do have a lot of weaknesses, so which one are you talking about?" Auric jokingly asked.
Eirin harrumphed and simply took her position. Her avatar appeared behind her.
Auric was slightly surprised by her element.
'This…' Auric understood where her confidence came from. Her element rating was actually 4.5 out of 5.
If he copied her element, it would become the second strongest element in his possession.
'This is going to be hard.' Auric kept smiling as if he were looking down on her, but he was actually trying to figure out how she fought.
Auric felt like he had a chance to lose against this girl, or he might end up revealing another trump card. Still, he didn't really want to play according to his teacher's tune.
Auric's expression turned solemn as he formulated a plan in his mind.
"Judging from your attitude, you must be competing with him for the top spot." Auric glanced at Patrick.
"I'm not competing. I'm always ahead."
"Says you."
"Well, I will just have to defeat you. If you plan to buy time by talking to me, you should have just requested a pause before our match."
If Auric did so, Maya would probably make a fuss. Even though she was doing it for him, she also had her own agenda, after all.
She definitely wanted him to beat these students one by one.
If the match had been paused because of him, the academy wouldn't have lost as much face.
Auric chuckled. "No. I'm not buying time. I merely think that you are going to get sick soon."
"Sick?" Eirin frowned. "You are sick. If you think this pickup line can help you, you are definitely sick."
"No. You may not notice it right now, but I can see that you're pretty strong. You must be pretty confident in whatever your battle technique is, especially the one where you channel your energy to your left arm. Must be your dominant hand." Auric smiled.
Eirin's expression turned solemn.
"What is he talking about?" Principal Denis looked at Maya.
Maya shrugged. She didn't plan to tell him that Auric was an evolution master.
"You are really sick." Eirin's expression turned cold.
"Well, you will probably believe me in a few months when you start experiencing a slight change when moving your energy through your left arm." Auric nodded before raising his hand. "In any case, I'm ready to fight."
Eirin looked annoyed. She really wanted to beat Auric badly.
Since Eirin had no objection, Principal Denis raised his hand. "You may begin now!"
Without wasting a second, Eirin rushed forward while raising her hand. A massive ice spike suddenly emerged.
With a wave of her hand, the ice spike flew toward Auric.
Auric summoned his roots, which wrapped around the ice spike, stopping it. Then, he lifted his finger, summoning the wooden spikes from beneath her.
Eirin jumped to her right to avoid the spikes before placing her left hand on the ground.
Frozen Solid.
Eirin activated her ability as thick ice started to spread, covering the floor.
Auric used the Wooden Wall beneath his feet, this time launching himself into the air.
The Wooden Wall was soon frozen, but Auric managed to escape.
Eirin raised her hand, shooting another ice spike. Although Auric maintained his balance, unlike Patrick earlier, Auric still couldn't escape in the air.
Auric, however, manifested roots in front of his hands. He changed the method of manifestation so that he could summon the roots from anywhere—one of the techniques he adjusted in the past four days.
The roots captured the ice spike, and he tossed it back down to the ground.
Eirin ran to the left as the ice spike hit the ground and broke apart. Auric landed right after.
Since he observed her movement from above, he knew Eirin was hiding behind a certain shard.
So, Auric let his roots spread to capture her.
Normally, Eirin would have taken a step back to change her approach, but this time she intended to be aggressive.
Auric had simply pissed her off too much.
So, she halted her movement. As soon as she saw two roots entering her vision, she touched the roots and used Frozen Solid.
As a result, the ice covered the two roots and continued to spread to the base.
Auric was forced to take a step back and retract his power, but Eirin took this opportunity to close the gap between them.
"Oh!" Auric looked amused because Eirin reached him so quickly.
"Don't you know that even if you are an elemental user, you still need to have good close-combat techniques?" Eirin snorted coldly and punched Auric in the stomach.
"Kh." Auric gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.
Eirin then grabbed Auric's arm and turned around before throwing him.
She might have intentionally thrown him in a specific direction because Auric ended up crashing onto one of the broken shards that still stood in the arena.
Auric hurriedly got back up, only to find Eirin already reaching him, her fist about to hit him in the chest.
Auric channeled his power into his right hand and caught her fist at the last moment. "Don't think it will work."
"It will." Eirin harrumphed. She used Frozen Solid one more time, turning Auric into an ice sculpture.
Eirin thought she had won. "That's the end of the match."
Eirin turned to Principal Denis, asking him to announce her victory.
Yet, the only thing she could see on Principal Denis' face was a slight disappointment and panic. It was as if he were telling her that the match wasn't over yet.
Crack!
"!!!" Eirin hurriedly turned around, but it was too late.
The ice that covered Auric abruptly shattered into pieces. The biggest piece shot toward her.
It hit her head-on, sending her a few meters back.
"Kh." Eirin didn't understand what was going on. She pushed her ice away and raised her head, only to see numerous shards coming toward her.
"What?" Eirin simply couldn't believe what she had just seen.
Eirin hurriedly formed another ice spike, but this time as a shield.
Everyone who witnessed the fight couldn't help but widen their eyes in shock.
Eirin also saw what was going on after she managed to block the last ice shard.
All the remaining ice shards that had frozen Auric were actually floating around him.
It looked like telekinesis, but a chilling wind was circulating in the arena.
"Wind…"
"Wait? Wasn't he supposed to have a plant element?"
"How could he use a wind element?"
The students were speechless. They didn't know how to react.
There was only one man who instantly understood what had happened. It had happened in his match as well.
At the last moment, there was a gale after the roots struck his lightning blade. At that moment, he thought it was just a small shock wave that occurred after swinging the large roots at high speed.
However, he now understood what had really occurred.
"He has two elements?" Patrick clenched his fists. At the last moment, Auric used the wind element to suppress his lightning element, allowing the roots to shatter his lightning blade.
"Two elements?"
"Someone has two elements?"
"How?! What is his avatar?"
People were confused. They wanted an explanation, but no one had ever seen this case before.
Principal Denis could only grit his teeth. This was the reaction he had to hide due to Maya's interference.
Auric really had two elements. It was no wonder Maya was so confident about this tournament.
Auric raised his right hand with his index and middle fingers pointing upward. Then, he waved it down as if he swung a blade.
Crescent Void.
He used one of the three battle techniques he had gotten in the first week. However, he had adjusted it to match his wind element.
In other words, he should call this battle technique Crescent Wind by now.
"Kh!" Eirin raised both arms, but she couldn't react properly. The Crescent Wind split the ice spike in half.
Eirin used her body armor to stop the ice spike, but it still grazed her hand and the momentum sent her into the air.
Without missing a beat, Auric then shot the remaining ice shards toward Eirin.
In addition, Auric used the Plant General and captured her from the floor. There was no way Eirin could avoid both attacks.
Eirin was definitely not prepared to fight against someone with two elements.
It created a situation unfamiliar to almost anyone on Earth, especially since she had lost her balance after getting thrown into the air.
In the end, the roots captured her, and the ice shards still fell on top of her.
Principal Denis was forced to step onto the stage and raise his hand, creating a translucent barrier made of pure elemental energy, protecting her from the ice shards.
"That's enough. You've won." Principal Denis didn't want to admit it, but there was no one left who could fight Auric anymore, not with those two elements.
Auric smiled. "Thank you."
Lindwurm was amazed. "You… You weren't supposed to have the ability to defeat her so quickly. Did you do something special?"
'Yeah. I talked to her,' Auric replied in his mind.
"Talked?" Lindwurm was startled. He recalled the discussion before connecting the dots. "Ah. Don't tell me, you mentioned her battle technique to let her use that battle technique?"
'A human mind is mysterious. I didn't major in psychology, but I'm sure that planting the idea in her mind would make her subconsciously choose it. By talking about the battle technique, she would be more conscious of that battle technique.'
"That's why she almost ended you with that technique, which resulted in her lowering her guard."
'You can say that. However, I'm not lying when I say she's about to get sick. From her energy alone, I can see that the energy in her left arm is starting to flow abnormally. The battle technique is powerful, but her body can't withstand it.'
"Interesting. That small difference is something I can't notice unless I examine her directly." Lindwurm crossed his arms.
'Either way, I've won. I don't like to reveal the third element or play according to my teacher's plan.'
Lindwurm shook his head helplessly. "Unbelievable."
Auric casually came to Eirin without bothering to hear Lindwurm's words.
Eirin glared at him. "What? Are you going to mock me now?"
"No, I'm not going to mock you. I should apologize if I seem rude to you. As a gesture of goodwill, I warn you one more time. The battle technique you use is powerful, but you will find yourself in trouble when circulating your energy through your left arm in a few months. You either have to fix that problem early on or change to a different battle technique."
Principal Denis didn't feel fond of Auric suggesting something that Eirin's teacher had carefully taught.
Eirin snorted. "And why should I listen to you?"
Auric looked up and tilted his head. His gaze shifted to Maya, who seemed to know where the conversation was going. She just facepalmed and shook her head helplessly.
"Well…" Auric took out his three-star badge from his pocket and put it on just above his chest pocket, showing that he was also an evolution master. "Just a friendly suggestion."