Breaking traditions

The talk with Merlin was short and full of curses, but it relaxed me nonetheless. It was hard to admit, but the bastard did give me a sense of security, since he was a constellation and whatnot.

We were sent back in complete silence and when we appeared in the arena once again, the Records announced what was going to happen.

[divine intervention dictates a change.]

[the combat branch of this tournament will change from 1vs1 too a free for all.]

[eliminated demigods will not participate.]

[you will lose on knockout or forfeit.]

[good luck, the match may begin.]

Hahahaha fucking bastard.

"He's not giving us time to rest uhm?"

"Who cares, let's move."

Odysseus and Hali, beside me were ready to commit any kind of atrocity and honestly, I've had enough of this bullshit. Better put an end to this foolishness and get going. I missed my ship, I missed my men and I wanted to get back to getting home.

All the other demigods were rushing to the arena, this was the first time a change like this happened during a winter tournament and nobody wanted to miss any chance to shine for their divine parent.

The chicks once again run towards us with expectations, of course they wanted to know what had happened, but more than anything they wanted to team up.

And I only had one answer for them:

"Don't disappoint me."

Soon a total of 26 demigods were reunited in the arena, ready for bloodshed. The house of the Tides that Shattered the ground tried to get Hali back for them to have bigger chances of winning, but everyone but me seemed to have forgotten an important detail.

"Hali had already been eliminated, by me."

Not even the wind was speaking, until Hali herself started to laugh her ass off.

"Hahahahaha, fuck! I guess i'mma go rest. Tough luck you bastards."

I ignored her and sprung into action while she started leaving. I didn't really care about the other demigods, but the children of that fucking pig were mine. My eyes focused on all the fiery red head, slightly different from the pure ginger of Hali's family and released my Archana to run rampant.

"We are coming with you, we can't let those pigs go after what they did to you."

Achante and Andreas were right by my side while Seirus and Theoside stayed with Odysseus. This was good as well.

It was time we reclaimed what was rightfully ours. The lightning coursing through our bodies intensified and soon enough, my spear and their swords were ready to reap.

House of The Lightning Bringer had always been made fun off during this tournament. It was time to change that.

"Ha! You think you three stand a chance against us! We are the real war lords!"

Boring.

I dind't wait for the bastard to finish his introduction, nor for the rest of those pigs to get in formation. I blinked right in front of him and swung the shaft of my bident at his neck. I culdn't just straight out kill these kids, they might have been innocent.

The spear connected with the pig and sent him flying with thunderous force against the walls of the tribunes.

"One out, let's go."

Achante and Andreas' smiles almost looked evil, but soon enough they too engaged the herd in front of us. There was no elegance in their attacks, only survivor instinct. The sword play they had developed to live. Crude, rude, violent and effective. There was no need to show off a beautiful dance, they only needed to get rid of the enemy, but although I was thinking this, there were some subtleties that made evident the talent these chicks had.

Lightning and fiery red aura continued to clash attracting everyone's attention, especially the atttention of The eternal owl's house members. Of course, striking an unnaware enemy was the best thing to do and most of them were mages, perfect to attack from a long range.

I felt the mana waves of a spell coming my way, but i wasn't worried in the slightest. The water spear aimed at my neck was intercepted at a good distance, not hindering me nor my sibilings in the slightest.

An electrified wind blade cut and dispersed it. Odysseus, Seirus and Theoside had our backs and of course, Odysseus wanted to experiment with their auras as well.

Does he only think of research? Am I the odd mage?

"You dare be distracted in front of me!?"

Another one.

I didn't waste my breath and simply snapped my fingers, three fire lilies were circling around my hand waiting to attack my foe and cook out a delicious roast. And that they did.

[Fire lilies of destruction] were sent to face the wild pig trying to run towards me, effectively stopping his tracks. He raised his claymore completely covered in aura to protect himself, but the explosion easily threw him away. Not defeating him, but givin me some space.

I moved onto the next target, Achante and Andreas were more then enough to dispose of such trash and while the enemy spells were constantly being broken by Odysseus and the others, there was a man in the midst of the pigs that hadn't moved one step yet.

I was sure of 2 things as soon as I saw him: he was the one Ares was talking about, the one stronger than Basil; and…

"You're a mage."

"I am."

There was no need for further pleasantries, even if he was a mage, he still was my enemy, I just needed to find out what kind of mage he was and act consequently. The answer soon revealed itself.

The ground around the mage started to crackle and dark grey liquid in the shape of knives surrounded him. He then pointed at me and all those knives strarted to fly towards me at high speed.

Metal? Is he a metal mage or is it earth?

"Hahahah! This is so cool!"

I was genuinely impressed, a spell to create weapons and attack the enemy, if that wasn't cool I didn't know what could be cool anymore.

"Oh? Is it the first time you meet a Metal mage?"

"It sure is!"

At my words, a fire lily appeared for every knife and soon flew in their trajectory exploding and breaking some of them at the same time.

"I see, then let me entertain you, mage of flowers."

Fuck, he called me like Merlin?!

"I… you know what, whatever."

I didn't have time to argue with him, but I really wanted to chat with him after wards.

I can ask later.

I blinked up in the sky and he started to cast the same spell again, only in a bigger number.

Is it some kind of summoning spell? The iron flows from underground like water…

Either way, I already had two circles ready to cast. [Swamp of creation] and [Rain of abundance]; since he called me a mage of flowers, that was what I should have given him. The ground under my enemies feet begun it's transformation and a rich rain started to fall on the ground. My preparations were done.

"Water? Weren't you a mage of flowers?"

"Hahahaha, I'm not, but I can be something similar!"

The knives were once again thrown my way, not giving me time to further elaborate, since the water from the rain would have weakened my exploding flowers, I decided to take out my spear and deviate the attacks while at the same time releasing seeds from my internal space.

The enemy spell was really ovewealming, never had I faced such a number of weapons thrown at me. With a splash, I landed on the now slippery ground and before I could slip i casted [thorny path] on the soles of my shoes to give me a firmer grip.

My dance against the river of knives continued on the ground, but it was starting to get difficult to keep up.

"You'd have a better chance with the flower from before, why would you make it rain? Your lightning is also useless, metal will just pass it out and back."

"You speak very differently from your brothers, I quite like you. But you just need to see."

"My oh my, I'm definitely interest as well, your style has never been seen before. But it's time to end this. When you lose and become a champion for my father we'll have plenty of time to talk."

He knows hahahah, well, it's time to really end it.

"You're right lets finish this."

The mage I didn't know the name yet shouted together with me.

"100th BARRAGE"

"MINOR BLESSING OF GROWTH!"

His spell stopped as soon as he heard me, his face crumbled with disgust, as if I had just farted in his face.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I THOUGHT WE WERE ON THE SAME PAGE!"

Ohhh poor thing.

"You shouldn't have stopped your spell."

I finished filling the entire ground with Archana and the earth started to tremble, as if an earthquake was coming.

"Did you deceive me with another spell?"

"No, it really is the 1st circle [minor blessing of growth], but you didn't consider the ground and the rain."

Vines thick as trees shot out of the hyper fertile terrain. The swamp and the rain gave enough nutrients to give birth to a real monstrosity.

Beautifully poisonous purple Wolf's Bane bloomed on the vines and they started to shoot towards all the members of the Boar who roars' family members.

This was a grand scale spell and a lot of my Archana was instantly drained, but the effect was marvellous. The vines coiled around all my targets before slamming them down to the ground repeatedly. It felt like nature was in a frenzy and the thick plants wanted to who was in charge.

Painful screams echoed all around me.

Someone was able to cut down the vines with their aura infused swords, but even they were easily taken care off by Achante and Andreas, only after a full minute of relentless stomping I willed the vines to free the enemies. A flood of knockouts and teleportations followed leaving only the metal mage gasping for air with his wounded body.

"What's your name?"

I was curious of this mage, not only was this the first time I saw someone use metal magic, but even though he was a pig, he was still able to be calm and collected. That was a pleasant surprise.

"Da- ahhhhh Damian."

"Well Damian, it was great to meet you, I hope we can talk at another time?"

He was looking at me surprised and in the midst of his gasping tried to ask me something.

"Don't you resent my house? We have always mocked your house for being weak?"

"So what? They didn't know better."

"What?"

"My family has never been weak, they just didn't realise my mother was preparing them for greatness. Have you seen how Achante and Andrea were kicking your asses? Don't even get me started on Seirus, that guy needs a beating for being too vane."

The look on Damian's face was worth photographing, a perfect blend of confusion, disgust and awe. How was it even possible to have such an expression.

The vines were still slithering all around, trying to coil around me and at the same time scaring off any offender.

"I don't care for childish quarrels, if they couldn't defend themselves, tough luck. But I do recognise your strength."

I then turned around and saw what little remained of the 26 demigods in the arena. Except for my group, only a handful of guys from Poseidon and Damian remained. Odysseus had been really efficient and was looking at me.

"You have all seen what I can do. I know honor dictates that you should fight and try your best, but I don't give a fuck."

I motioned for my sibiling to reach me and they immediately obliged. The five of us stood tall before everyone else. Lightning crackling all around us giving off an aura of tyranny. We were the victors. And no one else could say otherwise.

"Today we break the stupid stigma that my family is weak."

Snapdragons started to bloom at my feet.

"Surrender now."

There was no need to add an or else, they knew what would happen, but most of all I wanted to get back to my tent and sleep. I was tired of all this fighting.

Soon enough all the other demigods, Odysseus included, gave up and after them, my sibilings too surrendered to me.

There would be only one winner, but the house of the Lightning Bringer, for the first time, had conquered all the top spots of the winter tournament combat branch.

"Fucking finally."

[Cngratulation on being the winner of the combat branch, the rewards will be given at the closing ceremony.]

[Save the best for LUST is looking at you.]