Chapter 3: [Prologue 3]

The boy seemed annoyed by the comments that came from the stands, fiddling with his fingers in an impatient manner as he waited for his bout to start.

"You may begin!"

The moment the announcer uttered the words, Kaion began doing what he did in the previous round. Focusing his mana into an irregularly shaped ball.

"Not that again," complained a few of the spectators in the crowd.

[If it isn't broken, don't fix it,] thought Kaion, looking up to see if Gray would waste his time chanting as his previous opponent did. However, to his surprise, Gray's entire body was cowled in jolts of lightning. A split moment later, Gray came charging toward him at full speed.

Kaion's concentration went haywire, and the mana he expended into the magic bullet was wasted. Gray was moving at speeds not normally attainable by someone his age, in fact, based on the way the announcer and judges were looking at him, he was probably just moving fast period. However, that speed was just within Kaion's realm, with him being a tad bit faster. If there was one thing Kaion could win at, it was a battle of physical ability.

Kaion dodged to the side, sending clouds of dust into the air as he rebound off the ground before bolting towards Gray.

"Don-" Gray couldn't even finish his words before making impact with Kaion. Sure, Kaion had landed a pretty good hit, sending Gray rolling towards the other end of the arena. However his body felt like it had just been struck by lightning, in fact, it had just been. The cowling didn't only increase Gray's speed, but it also acted as a defense mechanism.

[Damn attribute users and their stupid tricks,] thought Kaion as he tried fighting off the spasms that shook his entire body.

Gray stood up slowly, wiping the blood from his nose.

"You got through my cowling?" asked Gray, genuinely surprised with the turn of events.

"Thank you. Perhaps I need to improve on that," he said as he looked at his own blood, the surprise on his face making it seem like it was the first time he was seeing it. Gray walked towards the fallen Kaion, taking his time with his incantations.

"Lord of Thunder and lightning, hear me. Bless me with your..." as Gray chanted, a series of concentric rings appeared directly above Kaion, its perimeter buzzing with electric energy.

[Damnit, I have to stand up,] thought Kaion. Sadly, simply willing his limbs to do it didn't seem to be enough. Even now, keeping consciousness was difficult. The excruciating pain that exuded from every fiber of his body was mind-numbing, enough to make even a grown man pass out.

"-smite my enemies, guarantee my victory. Lightning bolt," Gray finished his incantation, causing the concentric rings to rotate.

[No one's stronger than your big brother, believe it,] remembered Kaion. What a joke, though he claimed to be a realist, he went and gave Lira hope, even when he knew there was close to none to begin with. As the rings began glowing with power, it felt as if the whole world were moving in slow motion.

The lightning bolt seemed slow, almost as if it were just slow enough for him to move out of the way. Sadly, though his mind was now in this state of... whatever it was called, his body still moved at normal speeds. A moment before the lightning bolt struck him, he felt a warm energy course through his veins, and the sound of metal hitting metal.

[No, I'm going to win this. I'm going to get Lira out of the slums!]

*Zap*

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The lightning bolt fell like a hammer from heaven, smiting Kaion straight on.

"I lowered the amount of mana I passed into it, you'll be okay," said Gray before walking away from the unconscious Kaion.

"Winner, Gray Suliv-"

"Lira needs this," whispered Kaion, picking himself off the ground. His body swayed from side to side, and his eyes were closed. The air around him coalesced with power as he focused all his mana into an irregular ball.

"What's going on?" whispered the spectators in the stands. It was clear that Kaion shouldn't have been able to stand up, much less focus enough to cast any sort of spell.

Gray cowled his whole body in lightning once again and approached Kaion, however, he stopped his advance once he saw how large the magic bullet had become. It was now the same size as Kaion himself, its power sending out humming sounds as the mana coalesced within it.

"Participant Kaion, lethal spells are prohibited withi-" before the announcer could finish talking, one of the judges dressed in blue robes flew into the arena, landing right beside Kaion.

Kaion was inaudible mumbling on about something. His posture zombie-like as the ball of mana continued growing within his palm.

"How a kid your age has this much mana, I don't know, but it's obvious someone as reckless as you isn't fit to use magic. Thank the gods you don't seem to have an attribute," commented the mage, before touching Gray's magic bullet with the palm of his hand, and slowly absorbing it.

"Lira...," with that Kaion passed out.

***

"What?" croaked Kaion after regaining consciousness. The last thing he remembered was a strange sound ringing in his ears before being blasted by lightning.

"Where am I?"

"The infirmary," answered a man dressed in white. "You've been disqualified from the competition," continued the man, before moving turning back to the patient he had been dealing with.

[I-I failed, didn't I?] thought Kaion as he got off the bed reluctantly. He wasn't going to change the state of their living conditions, he wouldn't be able to get his sister the medication she needed. He would never overcome the barriers that the gods put on him. He would never amount to anything but a slumdog.

As he made his way out of the infirmary he thought of how he would break the news to Lira. The problem was that he was certain she would try to comfort him, that she would say something like 'It's okay. We'll manage, we always do,' and he hated that she'd have to say that. 6 Years of training, 6 years of giving Lira hope that one day she might be cured, all for naught.

[No, I can't,] he decided. He wouldn't let this be the end, even if it killed him, he wouldn't let the rest of their days be hopeless nothings.

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