Chapter 160: Chapter 160

Sylph blurred forward, a scythe ripping free from her back. As she moved, her form blurred like she was passing through a haze. Yui’s eyes widened and she thrust her hands forward.

A lotus of fire bloomed around the Princess, rippling outwards in every direction. The blast of heated air was enough to buffet Damien’s hair back with warm air.

Sylph danced back, then darted forward as the spell started to fade. Yui thrust her hands forwards and a wave of ice replaced the fire, once again completely surrounding the woman.

“What sort of technique is that?” Damien muttered as Sylph was forced backwards once again. “It’s completely unfair to anyone that relies on melee combat.”

“We call Yui the Princess of the Four Elements,” Gaves said, a note of pride in the boy’s voice. “Ranking in third place at Kingsfront isn’t easy. The other colleges can’t compete. We’re a different breed.”

“A different breed of stuck up, maybe,” Damien snorted, turning back to the fight. “Sylph will win this.”

Everyone gave him an incredulous look as a violent gale ripped up around Yui before shooting out towards Sylph. Two blades formed in her hands and she raised them, pressing her back to the arena as the spell slammed into her.

“She’s getting destroyed,” Gaves observed. “Yui is just being polite by not finishing her off immediately. Your girl can’t even get close to her.”

The wind dropped as Yui started to form another spell. Sylph launched herself off the wall, blurring through the air towards the Princess. Yui’s eyes widened and she dropped the spell, shielding herself with the fire lotus once more.

This time, Sylph didn’t slow in the slightest. She shot straight into the fire, her blades flashing. A loud clang rang out as a metal staff formed in Yui’s hands, blocking the scythe. A blast of air sent Sylph skidding back across the ground, slightly singed.

“That’s one point to Yui,” Gaves said. “You got hit by the fire.”

“Still, that was impressive,” Yui said, keeping the staff aimed at Sylph. “I didn’t think you’d jump right into my spell. How did you not get badly injured? That fire should have done more than annoy you.”

Sylph shifted her stance, then blinked out of view. Yui pressed her lips together and an ice barrier formed around her. At the same time, the sand on the floor of the arena started to whip around, quickly revealing Sylph’s location.

Damien had to admit that the Princess was a capable fighter. She reacted quickly to Sylph’s abilities and her magical power was impressive. She didn’t seem to be sweating either, so he suspected she had a good bit of energy to work with as well.

The sand outlining Sylph’s invisible form fell to the ground. It located her a short distance to the side, but she disappeared again. She blinked around the arena, moving so quickly that even though the sand could reveal her, it wasn’t for any more than a second or two at a time.

Fire flared at the top of Yui’s staff. She thrust it forward, sending a blanket of flame washing over nearly half the arena. A dark blade shout out from the air, blurring through the sky and scoring across the Princess’s arm.

She hissed, lowering her staff in frustration.

“One point to Syl –”

Gaves didn’t get to finish his sentence. Sylph shot forwards, two energy blades in her hands. She unleashed a violent barrage attacks on Yui, forcing the other woman to backpedal while blocking them with her staff.

The scythe on Sylph’s back whipped forwards, hooking Yui’s weapon and ripping it free from her hands. In the same motion, Sylph slashed at both of Yui’s arms. The Princess twisted out of the way, managing to avoid one of the attacks but taking a thin score across her side.

Yui threw herself to the side, channeling Ether to cast a spell. Even as ice started to crackle around her, Sylph darted after the woman. She drove one blade into Yui’s leg, then swung the other at her outstretched arm.

A spear of ice shot out of Yui’s arm. Sylph slipped to the side, but the spell still punched into her side. That did little to stop the fall of her blade, which cut deeply across the other woman’s arm. Sylph’s other sword flicked up to Yui’s chin.

“I win,” Sylph said, her voice showing no sounds of strain from the icicle currently poking out of her back.

Nolan and Reena both drew in sharp breaths, while a grin stretched across Damien’s face and he barely kept himself from pumping his hand in the air and cheering.

“What was that? You attacked while I was talking!” Gaves snapped as he and Bella ran up to the combatants.

“It’s a fight. Why would I wait around for you to finish talking?” Sylph stepped back and pulling herself off Yui’s spell. The icicle faded as Bella knelt beside the Princess, her hands glowing with yellow light. Yui’s wounds stitched themselves together, vanishing within moments.

“It was a spar,” Gaves said angrily. “That was uncalled for.”

“Enough, Gaves,” Yui said as the boy helped her back up to her feet. “I lost that fair and square. There’s nothing else to say. Sylph is clearly a very talented combatant.”

“But–”

“No buts,” Yui said. “Bella, please heal Sylph.”

“No need,” Sylph said as weapons faded and the scythe receded into her back. Her clothes were already patching themselves back together – no doubt due to some magic that Shanta had woven into them. “I’m already healed.”

“Impressive,” Yui said. “It makes sense, though. The number one ranked student at Blackmist should be able to handle me. Princess or not, I’m still only rank three at Kingsfront. Although… I did expect to put up a bit more of a fight than that.”

“Your magic was slow,” Sylph said. “The Kingsfront students are either going easy on you, or Blackmist is much better than Kingsfront.”

Gaves took a step towards Sylph, his brow furrowing in fury. “Take that back.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong,” Sylph said, cocking her head. “I thought the Princess wanted honesty.”

“I do,” Yui said, sending Gaves an irritable glare. “And I will thank you to stand down, Gaves. I’m well aware that most of my opponents are terrified to do anything against me when we fight. Sylph’s honesty does far more for me than false victories ever will.”

Gaves bowed his head, but his hands remained clenched at his sides.

“Where would you say I’d place amongst the students at Blackmist?” Yui asked Sylph. “Are you significantly stronger than the average?”

“She is,” Nolan said from beside Damien. “The gap between our top three students and everyone else is quite significant.”

“That means much, coming from the fourth ranked student,” Yui observed. Nolan flushed slightly. “So, what about rank three? Could I beat him?”

Sylph snorted. “No chance.”

This time, Yui did frown. “That much of a difference? I thought I should be at least able to place in the top three.”

“You might have a chance against our current rank two,” Sylph said, completely baffling the Princess.

“How so?”

“He doesn’t often use his full strength, and Damien was actually able to beat him the last time they sparred,” Sylph said. “So our ranks aren’t exactly static right now. Hence why you might have a chance against rank two.”

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“Is Damien really so strong as to warrant a ‘no chance’ from you?” Yui asked, sending a hungry glance in his direction. Damien’s blood curdled. Unlike Sylph, he wasn’t a huge fan of going toe to toe with the Princess anytime in the near future.

“If he was to use his full ability, I don’t think I’d last a second against him,” Sylph said.

“Aww,” Henry said, giggling like a schoolgirl within Damien’s mind. “She means me! At least one of you has appreciation for my talents.”

Please never do that again. That was creepy.

“Seriously?” Gaves asked, crossing his arms and examining Damien. “Can you manifest your companion already?”

Damien gave him a halfhearted shrug. “I haven’t put a ton of work into that recently. I’ve had other things to worry about.”

“Damien beat our rank two while he was in his combat form,” Nolan supplied. “And our rank two is a monster in his own right. All three of Blackmist’s top students are very strong, Princess. There’s a reason I elected to stay there instead of transferring to Kingsfront.”

“Fascinating,” Yui murmured, her gaze lingering on Damien. “If Sylph says I don’t stand any chance against you, then I’ll believe her. But… I don’t suppose you’d be willing to spar with Gaves? I would love to see what you can do. He’s rank two at Kingsfront, so it would be an approximately equal exchange.”

Damien frowned. “Ah, I’m not sure.”

Reena kicked him in the back of the foot. “Do it! You can’t just refuse a request from the Princess!”

Watch me.

As much as Damien wanted to say that out loud, he settled for letting out a heavy sigh. “That might not be the best idea. My magic isn’t suited for small areas, and this arena isn’t very large. I might end up injuring someone else on accident.”

“Bella can take care of it,” Yui said happily. “Go on, I know you’re excited to give it a swing! You must be curious to know how you stand up against one of the true experts in Kingsfront. I’ll have you know that there’s quite a difference between my skill and his, so don’t worry about wasting your energy. This is worth your time.”

“Oh, that wasn’t what I was–”

“Enough excuses,” Gaves growled. “Your false humility will get you nowhere. Stop wasting our time and get over here. Bella will be the referee.”

Damien let out a weary sigh. He drank in Ether as he walked up to take Sylph’s place.

“Make sure to eat something,” Damien muttered to her as he passed. Sylph gave him a small nod in return, not stopping until she was back together with Nolan and Reena.

I think it would be best to end this as quickly as possible, right? The less I give away now, the better. We’re going to be fighting this guy during the intramural tournament, and if I’m going to waste my time there, I’d like to win.

“Solid plan,” Henry said, his voice ripe with approval. “Fitting of my companion. I could squish him for you, if you want. One little spell.”

I think I can handle this guy on my own. If he doesn’t know how my magic works, an overloaded Gravity Sphere will put him out of the fight before it can even begin. That won’t give them any information on my abilities at all. You’re just bored.

“Guilty,” Henry admitted. “Make this fast, then. Your princess is undressing us with her eyes and it’s making me feel icky.”

Damien grimaced. Gaves cocked an eyebrow at him. “Did you hear anything I just said?”

“No,” Damien replied honestly. “I was thinking. Sorry.”

“This is sad,” Gaves said with a sigh. “I asked if you were ready to begin.”

“Oh,” Damien said, already channeling Ether through his body and into his hand. Magic gathered around Gaves as the other boy did the same. “Yeah, sure, I guess.”

“Begin!” Bella said, her voice deadpan.

Gaves launched himself forward, purple lightning crackling across his body and forming into a spiked mace in the boy’s hand. It started to trace across his body as well, turning into armor.

Damien didn’t give it a chance to finish. He finished pumping Ether into the gravity sphere, then tossed it forwards with a casual flick of his hand. The small orb arced through the air innocently.

Gaves smirked, ducking under the spell as it passed over his shoulder. As soon as it had passed far enough that Damien was mostly confident that the spell wouldn’t snap his neck, he detonated it.

A dark orb ballooned out behind Gaves, expanding and washing over the lower half of his body. He only had enough time to glance down in surprise before the spell shrank in on itself with a powerful woosh, yanking all the sand in the area towards its epicenter.

Damien winced as a series of violent snaps filled the air at the same time. It was probably the loudest he’d ever heard the spell – probably because everyone in Blackmist knew enough to dodge it by a wider margin than Gaves had.

A scream tore out of Gaves as the boy crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, his limbs pointing in about half a dozen different directions that they shouldn’t have been. To Damien’s surprise, the boy didn’t release his spells. That spoke volumes for his concentration and power, but it didn’t mean much when half the bones in his body were broken.

“Sorry,” Damien said, lowering his hand. Henry did a little victory dance inside of his mind.

Bella rushed over to Gaves, not even bothering to call the match, and immediately started to heal him. Damien winced with every pop as the boy’s bones set themselves back into place one by one.

Yui stared at Damien with undisguised hunger. After a moment, she bit her lower lip and inclined her head. “I must apologize. You were trying to spare our feelings by avoiding this fight, but I forced you into it.”

“That wasn’t it,” Damien said, stopping her before she could somehow imply that he’d masterminded the entire thing or something equally as bizarre. “Everyone at Blackmist is more aware of my powers. I knew that Gaves hadn’t seen how I fight, so I just ended the fight before it could start. I’m certain that, if we were to fight again, things would go differently.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Gaves growled, pushing himself upright as Bella stepped back. He let his magic fade as he rose to his feet and examined Damien carefully. “But that spell packed much more damage than I expected. I should have been more cautious. Your win was fair. Just don’t expect it to work again during the intramurals.”

“An interesting man indeed,” Yui said, her gaze flicking to Nolan before returning to Damien. “I apologize for my forwardness. I’m a little obsessed with fighting, and I fear I’ve gone too far. Forgive me, Gaves.”

“I live to serve, Princess,” the boy replied. “And this was an enlightening fight. I have been complacent.”

“I think we all have,” Yui said. “Thank you for your kindness, Damien, Sylph. You’ve taught and shown us much today. I hope you’ll forgive the abrupt departure, but I’d like to return to my studies immediately so as to not waste this inspiration.”

“Of course,” Reena said, dropping into a curtsey. “Thank you very kindly for your company, Princess. It was a great honor.”

“I hope we can do this again sometime soon,” Yui said with a smile. “It is refreshing to be in the company of people that treat me as an equal. I will call upon House Gray and its friends again soon. Gaves, if you please?”

Gaves nodded. He palmed his metal rod and a purple portal snapped open before them. The three bid them farewell, then slipped inside. It sealed shut behind them with an ominous hiss.

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