The Forty Sixth

After about 15 minutes of watching a match of cat and mouse I decided to spice things up a bit in hopes that they would actually land a hit on Elaine. I told the golems that whoever landed a hit on Elaine would be allowed to get a skill of their choosing from the library. I didn't really expect this to work in all honesty because I knew that Elaine was hell-bent on not only winning this match but the whole tournament but I still wanted to at least watch a match that isn't similar to a group of turtles attempting to chase down the fastest thing alive. After I made my statement to them the entire colosseum shook as the three of them channeled all of the strength they possessed in order to try and gain even the slight chance to land a hit. The flow of the battle didn't change however. No matter how much the three of them powered up they were just outclassed by Elaine in every way possible. I think at some point near the end of the time limit they just gave up realizing that Elaine wasn't belittling them at all but rather they were just too weak in comparison to her. Looking at the way this match turned out I'm not sure which of my subordinates would pose a fight for her at all. Maybe Phantom would be able to but that's a big if and as much as I want to create another monstrosity of power like Elaine I also don't want to break her opponent's spirit in order to do that. Once the match concluded with a clear winner all of them returned to their seats while I went back to announce the next matchup.

Before announcing the next matchup I took out some time to think about a possible even matchup between subordinates. My goal here for this tournament was to test them to their limits and have them come out stronger because of it. I decided to try something different and see how the mirror golems would grow in this situation. I announced that the next match would be Lydia and her mirror self vs. Mary and her mirror self. I figured that a rematch might relight that fire that was burning in my subordinates before the complete domination of a match the last one was. As I went to my seat the four of them went to the center of the colosseum. The very moment I signaled for the start of the match Lydia already had a giant flame spell casted while Mary countered it with an icy tornado. The mirror versions were just…. observing them. Lydia and Mary were launching a volley of spells at each other of opposing elements as if their skill sets were completely opposite. In hindsight that isn't far off from the truth. Mary's strongest magic focuses on ice and death magic while Lydia focuses on Fire and Life magic. Of course Lydia also has alchemy but it's not really used for combat. Both of them can use all of the main elements of magic but just happened to oppose each other in their specialties. After a while of constant explosions and earthquakes shaking the colosseum the mirror golems finally decided to join the fight changing its course. Both of the mirror golems launched similar but weaker spells at the opposing originals and at that moment the match turned into a free for all. It's not the result I expected since I told them to team up with the originals but I don't mind this either. Soon enough the arena just became a giant tsunami of magic flying all over the place.

Around 15 minutes into the match the mirror golems were knocked out a few times but still kept going while Mary and Lydia didn't show any signs of fatigue as the four of them continued to fight. I feel as if I didn't have a time limit on the matches this one would have lasted forever. It was like watching a movie filled with explosions everywhere with some hand to hand combat here and there. At the 28 minute mark the match finally changed course and the colosseum was encased in a swirl of darkness centered around Mary. At the same time Lydia was colliding this darkness with her light, while the golems were blown away to the point where they couldn't move. In the next minute the two collided with their strongest towards each other and at first it was clear that one would win over the other, however something unexpected happened. Mary had chained Lydia down with an ice trap from where she was standing. She was probably waiting for the perfect moment to activate it, however it's surprising that Lydia didn't detect the trap. At that moment the winner was decided just before the finishing blow because the time was up. Mary had won against Lydia in a rematch in a surprise turn of events.

When Mary, Lydia, and the golems recovered, all of them shook hands and nodded to each other accepting their strength without regrets. As much as I would like to say that Lydia held back in the end it looks like she gave it her all just like Mary. It goes to show that just because you came First it doesn't mean that the ones after you can't surpass you. Looks like a good match to call it a day on. So for the rest of the day I sent everyone to their own devices until dinner except Phantom and the twins. I had those three assigned to the library each day after the tournament matches to learn up on the outside world until after the tournament when their training will truly begin. For myself I decided to observe Elaine's training to get a glimpse as to what she does everyday. I made sure to sneak so that she couldn't detect me as well. As I was tailing her she was headed to the training field. Once she reached there she pulled out the very first daggers I made for her and placed them on a pedestal. After that she started to…..pray to them as if she was praying to me. Dear lord she's turning red and licking her lips while doing it as if she was enjoying it that much, what in the world is she fantasizing about? After she had finished and stood up Elaine put the daggers back in her storage and pulled out her new blood red daggers crafted by Malkin. After that she began attacking the training dummies at rapid speeds to the point that you could see her afterimage. She kept at that for 30 minutes straight before quickly switching to running circles around the track at the same speed without making a single sound with each of her footsteps. It was as if with each of her steps she barely even touched the ground with just the tips of her toes. It continued on with her doing various exercises like push ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks while stretching in-between.