Chương 131: Finalists

An old adage became a dire warning early on in Rhel's history. Hard times rear tough men. Tough men bring peace. But peace leads to weak men, and weak men lead to hard times. Wary of such a situation, one mantra became ever present and immortalized on Rhel—the necessity of hardening. As such, from a very early age, every Rhellian was taught the need to keep themselves as fit and as ready as possible. Every Rhellian student was trained to handle war itself.

History was drilled into every Rhellian youth, who were forced to reckon with their own home's past and all the lessons it provided. As such, it isn't a stretch to claim that the strict, rigorous training that the Rhellians received placed them well above their peers when it came to martial matters. Leaflet Handed Out to Prospective Rhellian Institute Students Centenias K. Viren cursed himself. So what if this was the final day? So what if there was a ton of pressure?

So what if he was one victory away from winning the tournament, at least for his year? There was no need for him to be feeling quite so… scrutinised. Like there was an enormous magnifying glass concentrating the sunlight right upon him to vaporize his blood and turn his flesh to ashes.

"Are you sure you made the right call?" Viren asked Acrypha for the third time.

"Shut up, Viren," she said. She looked like she was one wrong word away from smacking him outright.

"You've got a fight to win. Focus on that." Viren gulped. He accepted well wishes from a bunch of Arcoryx students from several years, along with a good deal of praise for having made it this far. Honestly, the whole thing still felt rather surreal to him. They were treating him as though he really was some kind of hero, like he had accomplished a lot just by coming this far in a little tourney among students. Maybe he was downplaying his own achievements.

Maybe he would need some more time to actually acclimatize to all the implications of the surrounding moment. Whatever the case, Viren needed to focus. For in moments, he was standing before his opponent. There was something weirdly familiar about the fellow. He was armoured head to toe, but it still felt like Viren had seen the Rhellian student before. It wasn't unlikely. But whatever the case, Viren had only one thing he needed to focus on. How he was going to win.

As the announcer approached to start off the bout, Viren's eyes landed on the figure at the opposite end of the arena. A man clad in white armour, his silvery-gold hair shining like threads of metal. Power rippled off his form, his armour itself, slowly seeping out to cover the entire arena with tiny, invisible strands of mana. Viren was surprised he could even feel it. Was he hypersensitive to magic right now, for one reason or another? Whatever the case, that which he had feared was now coming true.

His opponent was standing before him with all the backing and power that a Calamity-cursed Guardian of Rhel could provide. Viren looked to his left, where Ryland was still sitting back at the stands. He seemed practically unbothered by the fact that the Guardian was right next to the arena. Right. If Ryland was confident, there was no reason for Viren to worry either. The announcer arrived.

A lot of his former cheer and exuberance had abated, but there was an undercurrent of excited tension under his every twitchy motion. He was ready for this.

"Alright everyone," he said, his voice magically enhanced to project across the entire arena.

"We have our final bout of the tournament today. Are you all excited and ready?" He got the answer he was looking for. It felt like the entire location was shaking from the round of cheers and applause, from the potent excitement that everyone attending the final match shared. It almost felt like attendance had doubled, excited viewers crowding every iota of available space.

"To begin, let us announce the visiting foreigner first," the announcer said.

"The student who went beyond all expectations, who fought long and hard against all sorts of opposition. Please give a warm round of applause for our deserved finalist, Viren Alderman!" It felt so surreal to hear not just Arcoryx but even Eviliyen and Jure cheering Viren on, calling his name, shouting in joy at the performance he had delivered thus far. But he shook his head to get over it. Right now, he needed to focus on how to win.

He needed to embrace the belief so many people had placed upon him, and use it to catapult himself to victory.

"And on the other side," the announcer said as the cheers died down and the Rhellians started leaning forward.

"We have a surprise finalist as well, one who wasn't foreseen but has conquered through many, many challenges to stand before us all today. Please welcome, Tezar Saeken!" The Rhellians cheered monstrously, but Viren hardly heard any of it. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the helmed student before him. Tezar. That was Tezar. Viren found himself clenching his fingers into a fist, his teeth grinding together. His feet dug into the ground.

Tezar showed no recognition, no sign that he had befriended Viren before the tournament, no indication that they had shared laughter, shaken hands, and toured around the institute together. For one reason or another, Tezar was part of this plot to humiliate Arcoryx Academy. Much as Viren was tempted, asking why wasn't going to help. Whys and hows and anything of the sort mattered little. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Now," the announcer said, quickly stepping away.

"Begin! Let the best mage win!" The crowd hushed. The moment narrowed. Right now, in the midst of magic flooding the arena, it was just Viren and Tezar.

"I didn't even know you were participating," Viren found himself growling out.

"They kept mentioning your last name all this time, not your full one." It was extremely odd, but admittedly, they had been doing the same for all the Rhellian students when they had been facing each other. Sticking to only their last names. Viren didn't quite grasp why, but it was partially his fault that he hadn't enquired what Tezar's last name was supposed to have been.

"I'm sorry." Tezar's voice was a little forced, a little stiff, like he was reading things off a book with unfamiliar handwriting.

"We must do this."

"That we must," Viren said.

"I'm not going to hold anything back."

"You can't afford to." He was right. Tezar exploded across the ground faster than any of the opponents Viren had faced so far. He was so quick that Viren actually had trouble calling up the right reaction, much less actively dodging his bullish charge. As it was, he barely got off his Glyphs of Ignition to push himself to one side and evade Tezar's lunge." [Overburn]!" Viren cast, blasting his opponent with a stupendous amount of flames. Tezar cut right through it." [Buttress Fist]."

Viren caught what happened despite it taking hardly a second or two. White reinforcing lines wrapped around Tezar's hand before he brought it down with a violent chop. That alone separated the stream of fire Viren had sent out, parting it into two separate and harmless flows." [Weapons of Will]," Tezar incanted next. Viren wasn't adept enough to read the entire spell circle that Tezar had cast. All he could note was the Tier [5] Soul Glyph of Reinforcement in the middle.

Not quite at Tier [7] like Viren's Glyph of Ignition, but then again… The Guardian. He had to be enhancing Tezar. What else could that magic have been for? Viren couldn't help but let his eyes drag momentarily towards the man in white armour before he was forced to reckon with his opponent, who was brandishing a sword of compressed air and a shield of Viren's own fire. What in the world was that magic?

Then he attacked, dashing in with that windy blade slashing and that flaming shield thrusting forward with burning fury. Viren swallowed, then charged in to fight head-on. Ryland watched the fight unfold with a placid glance. His reaction—or rather, the lack thereof—was actually drawing almost as much attention as the fight unfolding upon the actual arena. He ignored it. Everyone appeared to be waiting for him to do something, but that was their business. Ryland still didn't see a need to act.

The Guardian was of course already enhancing his favoured student, who had surprisingly turned out to be the same friend Viren had introduced to Ryland a while back. The choice felt like another pointed barb from Nesmel. But that was the greater act against them than any direct magic. He was enhancing certain aspects of Tezar, like his strength and speed and his mana channelling capacity, but those were simple enhancements. Ryland had faith Viren could overcome those disadvantages himself.

Although, it didn't look like he really could just then. He was on the back foot against his opponent, desperately trying to hold his own but only barely doing so. In truth, that was an accomplishment in and of itself. That Glyph of Ignition was more powerful than anything Tezar could manage, but overall, the Rhellian student still held a sizable edge in magical prowess over Viren. Not to mention the physical and experiential advantages he possessed as well.

All in all, it wasn't exactly looking great for Viren right now. Ryland couldn't blame anyone who might have doubted him.

"Are you content?" Yulkaviel asked.

"Or merely confident."

"I am…" Ryland paused. Then he smiled as he pointed at the battlefield.

"I am assured of what I need to do. [Translocate]." Acrypha reminded herself to thank the spirits of her parents for their lessons on stealth. She had often dismissed it in the past, saying that she much preferred direct and righteous charges against the enemy. But even back then, she had recognized that stealth had its uses. Such as right now, when she was sneaking around the perimeter of the arena to get towards the Guardian. Of course, it helped that Ryland had also cast a Glyph of Invisibility upon her.

She hadn't believed it at first. Ryland had popped his voice through his rifts to warn her that Viren's battle was being tampered with by a literal Guardian of Rhel. Of course, Acrypha had heard that there was a little competition between Ryland and the Guardian, where they had picked a certain student to favour to compete by proxy. But Acrypha had assumed that was mostly like an advanced sort of betting. They would just wait to see which of their chosen students came out on top.

That they'd go so far as to take an active hand in proceedings boggled her mind. Especially with how blatant it was. That awful so-called Guardian was literally right there at the edge of the arena. The influence of his magic was there for all to see, yet the Rhellians were choosing to ignore it straight up. It was infuriating. Everybody at the Arcoryx camp was almost on the verge of raising a complaint, crying out against the foul play.

But that had cooled down when Ryland had asked Acrypha to intervene however she saw fit. It looked strange. He hadn't taken action himself, content to watch from the stands for now. Because his time would come later. Not that Acrypha minded. She had been raring to go from the moment she had seen the interference, and now, she was determined to execute this little mission herself. This plan was Ryland's, not hers, but she'd do her part for now.

Besides Ryland's Glyph, her summoned cloak was doing a good job of keeping her presence hidden. The Glyph of Camouflage Inscribed into its stitches allowed her to basically meld with her surroundings in terms of both light and magic. So, at the moment, it was conducting and channelling those strange silvery rays from the Guardian to ensure no one thought there was a weird lump moving around the edge of the arena. Acrypha did her best to hurry on.

Poor Viren was getting a little battered around by his opponent, who was clearly benefiting off whatever enhancement magic the Rhellian Guardian had cast. The earth had shattered at their clash, flames scorching half the battlefield. Viren's robes were torn and he was riddled with several little wounds, including an ugly bruise on his temple when he had finally been caught by an attack that he had failed to dodge despite his seemingly superior Glyph of Ignition.

Viren was doing a fantastic job of surviving thus far, so it was now Acrypha's turn to step up. She had put him in that situation thanks to her little stunt with Bulgon, after all. So, she got almost right up to her target.

"You would do well to stop your idiocy," she said. Acrypha hadn't shouted it out to drag all attention to herself, but she had said it loud enough to make sure the Guardian heard. He blinked rapidly in confusion, before staring downwards as Acrypha pulled off just enough of her cloak to make her face visible. Ryland's Glyph had also worn off now that she had reached her intended target.

"What—?" He stared at Acrypha for one confused second before staring even further down. Right where his feet were shackled by the same cuffs Acrypha had seen being used on Ryland during his farcical little trip with the guards.

"Did you do that? What is the meaning of this?" Acrypha twirled the key and began stepping away.

"This is payback for your stupid little games, Guardian." He started following her, unable to call out too loudly so as not to draw too much attention to himself and cause a ruckus. But the plan was already working. He was hobbling in her direction, his magic no longer aimed at Viren. Because throughout this whole debacle, the real battle wasn't between Viren and Tezar. It wasn't even really between Ryland and the Guardian, either. In fact, there would be no battle.

Acrypha's role in all this was crystal clear—she was going to make Guardian Nesmel regret picking a fight with Ryland. She was just going to "cheat" the same way Tezar had been doing.