Semi-finals

It was a hassle but I was able to persuade the king to let go of the matter. He left with a skeptical expression but I didn't want to concern myself with anything anymore.

Once I won the tournament, I could just disappear and no one would be able to track me down.

"Bzzz! We welcome everyone here today at the 6th annual Magic Tournament! We also have a pair of extremely special guests! Please greet, King Henry and Queen Matilda sitting in the VIP seats for blessing us with their presence!" Announced Crankenstein.

Even though I was in the Waiting Room, I could still hear the loud cheers from the audience. It looked like everyone enjoyed his ruling.

"Let us start off with the Semi-finals! This is your MC, Crankenstein Junior. It is an honor to be here today. For our first match, please welcome, The One and Only, Princess Melissa, and Earth Meister Prasha."

Melissa who was next to me stood up along with another guy. They walked out through the giant halls leading to the stadium.

It looked like it was going to take some time so I closed my eyes and started circulating my mana.

—Melissa's PoV—

Walking down the hallway to the stadium, I could hear the echoing of my footsteps.

Click.

Clack.

Click.

Clack.

I didn't know why, but I had a certain type of tightness in my heart, almost as if there was a knot in my chest I wanted to get rid of. The clicking of my shoes only made it tighter.

'If I messed up, everyone would see.'

Unlike yesterday, father and mother were here. I couldn't disappoint them.

When I reached the entrance of the stadium, the crowd started cheering. I hadn't noticed it before, but I was sure there were a lot more people in the audience than yesterday. In front of me, was a massive stone stage that covered the entirety of the stadium.

I breathed in deep, praying my opponent would be a cakewalk.

This time, there were stairs leading up to the stage so I didn't need to jump. My opponent, Prasha was next to me.

I went to the far right side of the stage while he went to far left. For a magician, distance was the key to winning a battle.

I looked up toward the VIP room. My mother smiled while my father just looked at me.

"In 3... 2...1... FIGHT!" The Crankenstein guy announced.

Not wasting a single second, I sent an Aqua Ball at Prasha and moved to another location preparing for my next spell.

"Melissa took action immediately with an Aqua Ball. But will that be enough?" Said Crankenstein.

He easily dodged the Aqua Ball since I was quite far from him... Exactly according to plan.

"Prasha easily evades, but was that really all there was?"

Right when the Aqua Ball(as big as a meteor) was near him, I swiftly cast the level 4 spell Water Implosion.

The Aqua Ball imploded in on itself and then blasted toward Prasha's direction.

It caught him off guard and he was blasted close to the edge of the stage.

"Woah! Did everyone here see that? Disguising a level 4 spell as a level 2 Aqua Ball. How ingenious!"

I didn't stop there, since the bubble did not form, I sent a barrage of level 3 Lightning Arrows. I also cast the level 3 spell, Summon Water. The 4 Lightning Arrows went straight at him and water started appearing around him.

In reaction to the arrows, he summoned a level 2 Earth Blast. Looks like he fell into my trap. The earth mixed with the water I summoned and turned into mud. Although the Lightning Arrows were brought down to the mud, the thing was, mud could also conduct electricity.

"A great counter by Prasha, but what will he be able to do now that he's trapped in mud?"

I went up and cast a level 2 Zap spell forwards.

"What could Melissa be planning? Casting a spell at the mud instead of the opponent?"

The electricity could be seen traveling through the mud. The mud also served to trap him in place. When the electricity touched his body, he started screaming in pain.

—Daniel's PoV—

Melissa came back in a short five minutes. Was it really that easy to defeat an opponent that was able to reach the semi-finals?

—10 minutes later—

It was obvious who was in the next match since there was only me and this other guy left. We went through the hallway and waited for our names to be called before revealing ourselves.

"Bzzz! Now that the stage is cleaned, please welcome our next match, Self-proclaimed, Strongest Fire Magician Marvin!"

When he made his grand entrance, everyone started cheering loudly, even more so when Melissa appeared. It looked like Marvin was fairly popular among them.

"And his opponent, H-Hyro!"

Everyone went silent.

"*cough* I mean Heero, er, actually it's Hiro of the Magic Knight Academy!"

It was as quiet as ever like before. You could probably hear the crickets chirping if you concentrated hard enough.

"What's a brute from the Magic Knight Academy doing here?" I heard people saying loudly.

I exited the same entrance Marvin came out of yet people were slandering me instead of praising how cool I looked dressed in black. Ahh, it can't be helped when you're the only one in the world with a good fashion sense.

Walking up the stage, I went to the right side and looked at Marvin who was on the left.

He had bright blonde fluttering hair. It was a long surfer cut. The only way I could describe him, was that he looked like a playboy.

"3... 2... 1... FIGHT!" Crankenstein announced loudly.

"You can do it Marvin! A nobody like him stands no chance against you!" Someone in the crowd yelled loudly.

I had the urge to rip off the face of the person who said that

While I was busy making enemies with the audience, I could sense a heat wave touching my skin.

Turning my head, I saw a Fire Blast coming straight at me.

"Crazy bastard, I saw what you did in the Waiting Room." Marvin said with a dark expression on his face.