Chapter 36: My First Match
"Haaa!" Brald caught the flaming sword of Geist on his shield, with a quick twist of his wrist the shield gave and let the sword skid off. Not expecting the sudden absence of resistance Geist was off balance and his sword hit the ground, Brald took advantage and stomped on it with a fire fueled foot. At the contact the flames burst out from his foot along the ground and caught Geist in the chest flinging him back.
Rolling with the momentum he hopped back to his feet and already started sending a swarm of fireballs at Brald, who just deflected them with his shield or slide through them as he marched toward Geist. Sending one more powerful fire ball and then 2 fire arrows to Bralds feet, he dashes and slides to his sword only to meet the shield of Brald with his face.
The stalwart man offered no give with his shield and Geist ricocheted off and smacked the ground, he was briefly stunned so he rolled to slow and had foot stomp on his solar plexus. Gagging and coughing on the ground he waved off the other man right as he was about to deliver another vicious kick to Geist's side.
"Geist has forfeited, therefore Brald will advance to the next round. Rez and Xavier, please make your way to the prep rooms. You will have 20 minutes to prepare yourselves." Alduin was the one who came over the amplifier as Brald was still in the arena holding his sword and shield up in triumph as the crowd cheered for the fight. I however instead of heading to the prep room went straight to the field, willing my staff out of my ring as leapt onto the arena.
Brald looked to me and seemed to realize he had been basking a little too long in his victory and quickly exited with one last bow to the crowd.
"Rez. Are you forgoing your time in the prep room?" This time it was King Blaine and I just nod my head and stood at the North side, just below the kings box. Xavier floated down to the battlefield and I cocked my eyebrow at that. Checking his mana core level, I find it's only light yellow. Usually wind magic would provide some sort of visual cue to its use, but he didn't seem to have one.
That's when a thought crossed my mind, Gravity deviant. Hmm maybe this won't be too boring after all.
"Is the contestant Xavier also not using the alotted time to warm up?" Blaine's voice plays across again and Xavier bows towards him.
"I'm ready for my fight your majesty." Blaine nods and we both take our stances, me holding my staff against my arm casually and he bringing out a wand from his sleeve. Conjurer eh? I truthfully haven't given much thought to fighting gravity deviant opponents, so this could be a little training session for myself.
"As both fighters have denied their 20 minute prep, the match will begin now. Fighters are you ready?" Blaines voice booms across the arena, and we both nod our heads in response.
"Fight!" We both stand there for a moment sizing each other up before he makes the first move, by summoning a Boulder sized rock and flinging it towards me. Might as well have some fun I suppose if he's not going to use gravity magic at the start. Willing sound mana through my staff I feel it beginning to vibrate and I just point it towards the rock flying my way. Various gasps come from the crowd and even Xavier looks surprised, but I just have a smirk under my mask.
As the rock makes contact with my staff it turns to pebbles which I send back at him with wind magic, just to see the pebbles fall sharply to the ground as they approach. Oh? It seems he has been using Gravity magic, it's just not that far reaching. Though that could be a trick to make me think it can't reach further, but honestly I doubt gravity will effect my half Asuran body now.
I start fueling sound mana into my feet and let the vibrations bleed into the ground as I step to him. Each strep cracks the ground and my steps are amplified by the sound mana, sounding like a giant stepping towards him. His face grows serious and he conjures several more earth constructs however this time they fly much faster than the first.
I hold back until they are close and then rapidly tap each one with my staff as they turn to pebbles, and I can hear the ground cheering at the display. Murmurs going through the crowd as they try to figure out what I'm doing, but the few knowledgeable people in the audience will know it's sound magic. Which is why the shocked whispers brought a smile to my face, they hadn't known that I was capable of wind magic, let alone sound deviance. With my next step I could tell I had entered his gravity field and that's when things truly got interesting.
[POV CHANGE- Arthur]
I was currently sat sandwiched between my parents.. My parents, I was finally with them again, Ellie's hair caught the edge of my view was she was in mother's lap. It was something I can't describe to see the little girl that I could now call my sister. Looking to my father I could see that he had gotten stronger, his muscles more defined and his overall presence seemed to have increased.
What surprised me most though, is that when I arrived to the house we didn't stay long. Something about another family member that was competing in a tournament, the tournament of the 3 races even. I didn't truthfully know the important of this tournament besides the fact that it was the first time something like this has happened to my understanding. Apparently the family member participating is the Helstea's adopted son, but we are now on the final fight for the male section and there's no Jaron Helstea anywhere.
Just, Rez… Realization hit me and I noticed that everyone was paying much closer attention to the match than the previous ones. I lean closer to my father, as Sylvie curled into my lap.
"Where is this Jaron Helstea?" My father adopts a huge grin as he's watching the fight.
"He's down there right now, pay close attention. He's more like you than you think." He said with a wink before observing the fight once again. Taking his word I focused back on the fight as well and was surprised by what I saw. This… Rez or I suppose Jaron, was reducing boulders to mere pebbles with a touch of his staff. He also seemed to give off a pressure or more like an aura, though I doubt many could see it.
Things changed next though as he stepped into the gravity zone of his opponent. Earthen pillars shot out of the ground at an alarming rate, but Rez nimbly dodged out of the way of each as if the gravity field wasn't there. His opponent flared his mana even more, but the increase didn't seem to bother him. From my studies while at the Elf kingdom, I learned about talk the different mana types and their deviances. So I knew that this Rez was using sound, but it was in such a way that I feel most people wouldn't expect.
How many people of this world know that sound waves can produce vibrations, or even that at the right frequency can reduce solid objects to crumbles. It brought a thought to my head that was as absurd as it was plausible, though I hadn't considered it before. If I was reincarnated here, then couldn't others? Was he someone I knew from my last life as King Grey? Or was he from another world? Because surely there aren't only 2 worlds if there is more than one.
Thoughts for another time as I see Rez make his move, he pointed his staff at Xavier and the man faltered to one knee. Sound attack on the inner ears to disrupt balance, as well as stun. He has knowledge of anatomy to some extent. Xavier tried to counter with a variety of pillars and rocks, but his accuracy had suffered from the effects of the attack on his ears.
What surprised me next was that it seemed he was being hit by a gravity like force, but I couldn't see any kind of gravity mana coming from Rez. Only wind. Is he using air pressure to simulate gravity? He taps his staff on the ground and Xavier fully falls prone on to the ground. He taps again and cracks can be seen forming around the fallen fighter, and a pained expression can be seen i his face.
Suddenly a voice comes from the field being amplified by Rez's sound mana.
"I-I forfeit." As soon as the words left his mouth, all the mana being generated by Rez ceased and his staff disappeared. He even helped up Xavier from the ground and shook his hand before using wind mana to land back in the competitors spectator area. All of the other competitors were staring at him as he just sat there ready for the next match.
"What did you think?" I turn to see my dad looking at me with a grin on his face, and I just look back down at the masked fighter.
"He's strong, there's no doubt about that. I can't wait to meet him." Sylvie peeked up at me with questioning noise before raising her head and looking down at the person in question. She didn't seem to think to much about him except strong, and that he feels warm and safe. I look at her surprisingly as she hasn't said that about anyone but me and Tess.
"It will be interesting, but after this we need to have our own duel! Watching these fights have gotten my blood pumping and besides, I need to see how strong you've gotten." He said with a chuckle as he elbowed me lightly. I smirked back at him and retorted.
"Oh ya? Don't break a hip old man." He looks flabbergasted and betrayed as mom and Ellie laugh at him. The Helstea's join in on the laughs and my dad just hangs his shoulders.
"So what core stage are you at?" He asks trying to change the subject.
"Light red." Came my response and their eyes widened and he grinned broadly before bringing his hand down to my shoulder.
"That's amazing Arthur! Light red at only 7 years old? Some people don't reach Light red until they are an adult." I smile as I feel the love that I've missed from my family.
"What about you dad? You seem stronger as well." He gets a cocky look on his face and flexes his arms.
"Light orange stage! Haha!" Mother is shaking her head at his antics, but I'm truly shocked. He had been stuck at light red for so long even while adventuring, but I leave for nearly 4 years and he's went up a full stage.
"How did you progress so fast?" I asked as they all looked at me strangely.
"Are you really the one to be asking that, when you're light red at age 7?" Came the voice of my mother and I just scratched my head nervously. Guess it wouldn't be a good idea to tell them that, that's only because I had to assimilate my beast will or it would be farther along.
"I suppose you have a point, but still. Did you have a breakthrough?" He trades looks with the Helsteas and they gave a nod at the unasked question.
"It was actually Jaron that spurred my growth. When we arrived he had me teach him hand to hand combat, and his rapid growth made me want to improve as well. That's not even counting the beast cores he got from adventuring that he gave me. It made my progress go much faster." I stared at him in surprise before looking at Rez in the stands, he seemed to sense my look as he looked me directly in the eyes. Well I guess with his pitch black eyes I can't tell, but it felt like it.
"I want to meet him even more now, since he's been helping my family so much." I could feel the warm looks from everyone, but my mind was more focused on the mysterious friend of the family.
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Author's Note
This was going to have Jaron meeting Arthur, but the Arthur POV went longer than I had intended so that will happen next chapter. Surprise you guys for 2 chapters today! I had wrote the majority of the first of today's chapters the night before and finished it before work. This one I just had the itch to write after a sucky day at work. Strange how I actually felt better after sitting down and writing this.
Hope everyone enjoyed Arthur's POV, this won't be a constant thing unless people want more of it. Also i hope I got his thoughts and actions at least somewhat accurate. Right now he's suspicious of Jaron and that's to be expected I personally think, but he won't show it outwardly as I feel that's Arthur's nature.
I think next chapter will start at the end of the first day and they will go ahead and announce the 2nd round matches for the human group. The 2nd day will still be the Elf fighters, but I'll honestly probably skip all those battles. As I'm not too sure how much people want to read about them beating OCs as I really don't know of anyother elves or dwarves that they could fight against. But I guess we'll see.
I will at least show brief moments of the human side of things though.
Thanks for reading.
-SocioPhobia
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