Academy Competition (Pt. 2)
And with that display I ended my debut in the academy with a stunning display
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Returning to my seat I am looked at a mixture of disgust, fear, and surprise while I notice a small few people laughing hard and a couple others other struggling with their attempts to stifle their laughter, though silence prevailed over most of the audience watching my fight.
The next match was as uninteresting as the others with the final coming down to eight people, Me, Rana, Chloe (the wind mage), Eric, Landon, Tora (The water mage), Jimmy, and Gabriel. Gabriel had yet to fight as their were only fifteen people in our group, and the other four were swordsmen.
We all got a quick check-up to make sure we were in condition to fight and we were given five more minutes to prepare for the second round, while the ones who lost either joined the audience, or left entirely.
The final matchups for round two were:
Rana vs Tora
Chloe vs Landon
Me vs Eric
Jimmy vs Gabriel
The match began and Rana and Tora began casting spells it was sad because just like Tora's first match neither moved. Eventually Rana accidentally caught sora's pants on fire and instead of focusing to put it out with his water magic he starting freaking out and quickly forfeited.
The match between Chloe and Landon was more interesting as it wasn't one sided. Landon had seen her previous match and was prepared. He charged from the front and Chloe backed up while preparing a spell while nervously shaking. Landon approached, got close, and swung his sword, immediately jumped back afterwards expecting that Chloe would become serious and counter, which she did.
She tried for a punch and missed and followed up by shifting the magic circle built by an incantation she had been saying since the start and a blade of wind fired from it. Landon jumped back again and noticed Chloe gaining on him fast he pivoted himself and dodged another punch from Chloe as she started another incantation. Slashing with his sword he attempts to disrupt Chloe from her spell with pain but Chloe finished as he was mid swing and fired it at him they both jumped back attempting to dodge the other. Chloe had. A shallow cut across her arm and down her to mid stomach level and Landon had a cut on his leg making it harder for him to move. Taking advantage of the situation Chloe prepared one last spell and charged landon, who prepared to react. Chloe shot a blast of air at Landon's foot which he did not expect and he fell onto his face as Chloe moved to one side. He tried to get up on his hands and knees but as soon as he did Chloe ended it with a simple ax kick. Landon was knocked unconscious.
While somewhat slow and unrefined it was the best fight I had seen the whole day so I was impressed. I also got a kick out of Chloe's face when she realized what she did to landon. I think she zones out when her life is in danger or something because she seems too sweet and gentle to be so aggressive in a fight and she seemed genuinely surprised when she heard she won both of her fights. It doesn't really matter though.
" Round 2 Match 3 Alice and Eric"
Next was My turn I was up against Eric, he was an average kid not overly bulky or fit looking but definitely had an affinity for athletics. He was on the slimmer side so I assume he priorities speed, but then again I'm the size of a six year old and am faster, so I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. We got into position and we started the match.
" Match start"
Eric ran at me and I realized that he was slower than Leonard by a noticable amount, his overconfidence may not have been completely unfounded but he was still an asshole, and I won't be convinced otherwise.
Anyways back to the fight I decide I will win in a similar way to last time just without trying to target their ass. I am not the best at plans or, hell, strategizing in general, so simple is better for me. I simply back up and wait for my opponent to fall into a trap, which he does by swinging vertically downward with his sword. I side step and go to move behind him. He makes a weird face, but I ignore it and move behind him and unexpectedly he immediately jumped out of the ring, ending the fight.
" Winner, Alice" The Overseer just shakes his head.
' Convenient' I think to myself, I'm not opposed to a free win and I didn't have to do anything. I don't know what happened but I'll just accept the win.
Walking off the ring I get more dirty looks and I'm genuinely confused. I didn't defile anyone this time I don't understand why they are so judgemental towards me, even though he basically forfeited. I begin to run the match over in my head and I realize something ' he probably thought I was going to fry his ass too' I begin to giggle a bit at the rediculous situation, and that giggle turned to laughter. People definitely thought I had some issues but I promise I'm a perfectly sane person.
The final match is between the last two people in my group.
" Round 2 Match 4 Jimmy vs Gabriel" The Overseer called out
Two boys approach the stage One was a kid with messy green hair and freckles he seemed reserved and level headed but he wasn't able to hide his slight shaking. His opponent had blond hair and blue eyes, his face was more cute than handsome but you could tell he probably be a lady killer when he matured more. He had a small smile on his face but his eyes were devoid of emotion. He also had some goggles around his neck. Not going to lie he was somewhat attractive. ' I do not swing that way I screamed in my mind' I refuse to give into the dark side.
" Match start"
Gabriel quickly put his goggles on and jimmy and gabriel both started running at each other as gabriel's sword started to glow yellow. A bang reverberates across the ring as the light on gabriel's sword is discharged in front of him and picks up dust and formed a small dust cloud. Jimmy backed off as he got dust in his eyes and attempted to escape the cloud , it wasn't a dense sand cloud but it could easily irritate someone's eyes. without hesitation gabriel ran into the cloud and cut the back of jimmy's calf causing him to neel and swept the other leg causing jimmy to fall completely out his back. Gabriel then straddled jimmy's upper torso placing his knees on jimmy's arms and his sword vertically onto his neck.
" Winner Gabriel" The Overseer called
This is the first match that was actually won by skill. Gabriel was both faster and I believe, possibly stronger than jimmy, but it was his tactics that won the fight. I take out one of my ribbons from my pocket and tie it around my neck. I don't want to have dust in my eyes and it was the only thing I had to cover them.
We had another another small check up and the injured were healed by miss Himeko. We were given another five minute break during which miss Hemiko decided to talk to me.
" Please stop with the vulgar displays Alice." Miss hemiko said to me.
" Not even a hello?" I ask Miss Himeko with a smirk.
" I'm being serious, it is a disgusting and an insult to yourself and your opponents." She seemed mad so all I could do is try to explain the situation
" I didn't plan on doing it to everyone, just the arrogant bastard that told me to go back to my mother, who by the way is dead. I did it to him because I was being petty, but I didn't plan on doing it the second time he forfeited himself. I didn't even prepare any magic for him, I just planned on pushing him to be honest." I look away with a disinterested expression, I have just now realized my attention span has shortened immensely when it comes to things I'm not interested in like this conversation. Possible side affects of being a child again? Doesn't matter.
The time for rest ended and we were once again pitted against each other. There were only two matches this time.
Rana vs Chloe
Me vs Gabriel
Rana and Chloe were up first and I'm not expecting much from the fight.
" Round 3 Match 1 Rana vs Chloe" The Overseer called out as per usual.
Rana and Chloe walked up to the stage and the match started. Rana started shooting fire balls but wasn't very accurate, never actually landing a hit. Chloe started with her wind magic and was still a shaking nervous mess at the beginning. I noticed that Chloe took considerably more time to cast her spell than the last fight, about three to four fireballs were shot at her on the time it took for her to fire one. The spell finally finished and was launched at Rana. You could see the shift in the air from her attack, similar to what a heatwave causes just without the warmth. A distortion in the air was fired at Rana's legs and swept her off her feet causing forcing her face into the ground, her legs following shortly after. There was a trail of blood dripping down Rana's nose as she got up from the ground with an angry scowl on her face. Rana began conjuring a massive ball of fire and launched it a Chloe, as revenge. Chloe looked terrified of the growing orb of fire and tried to back off but was not quick enough, getting struck in the face by the flames and knocking her backwards onto her with her face scorched and some of her hair was on fire. Chloe looked furious and the previous hesitation and shyness were gone as if they had never been there. She rose of the ground and gust of wind began to swarm around her putting the fire out. She began to conjure a spell, which upon completion, led into a sudden sprint forward, catching Rana off guard. Getting close Rana tried to dodge out of the way but Chloe followed slamming her knee into Rana's stomach and knocking the wind out of her. Quickly spinning around Chloe kicked, ending the fight with an heel to the side of the head on Rana who was still stumbling from the shock of Chloe's knee strike. Rana's body hit the ground out cold. That's definitely going to leave some bruises.
" Winner Chloe"
Chloe walked off the stage and Dragged Rana behind her by his foot throwing him at our rings healer, and sitting back with me and Gabriel. She cooled down and became fidgety again a minute later.
" Round 3 Match 2, Alice vs Gabriel"
I am honestly pumped for this match, I was never really a fighter but after the pathetic performance from the other fights I had finished, I was becoming excited at the idea of going against someone at least halfway competent. I step onto the ring and so does my foe.
" Can we please, have a fair match without my butt being at risk? " Gabriel asked in a monotone voice that almost perfectly matches his face.
" Please stop thinking bad of me I'm not crazy or inappropriate, I promise you will be fine." I say with a smile as I can almost feel the 'Yeah right ' Radiating off of all the people who have watched my other matches.
" You still haven't said yes or no" Gabriel said with the slightest waver in his voice to which I just smile.
I would be lying if I said I didn't find my predicament amusing, in fact I think It's hilarious. I have considered having a conversation with Oreo, instead of sitting in silence between rounds, just so people think I'm crazy but, I should probably not ruin my image completely, and I don't know if Oreo is asleep or not since he hasn't said anything to me which he typically does every now and then when he's awake.
The magic words signaling the next fight ring through the air and I refocus on the match.
"Match start"