Chapter 29

A cheer rose from the crowd. The judge cleared his throat to gather the small group of students' attention. He pulled a small leaflet of papers out from his black and purple jacket and scanned over it.

"The first to combatants will be…Damien and Volon."

Damien's blood went cold for a moment, but he shook himself off and swallowed, ignoring the tingles running down his hands and legs. The judge stepped aside, gesturing to the small staircase leading up to the stage.

A large boy wearing studded leather armor headed up first, and Damien followed him. He blocked out the roar of the crowd as the judge gestured for Volon to take his place on the other side of the stage.

Now that he was actually standing on it, Damien realized the platform was a good bit larger than he'd thought. There was more than enough space to run around and dodge attacks, and most area of effect spells would be unlikely to be able to cover the entire thing.

"My name is Darcy, and I'll be spectating for your group.

The fight will go until one of you falls off the ring, surrenders, or is incapable of continuing," the judge said.

"Lethal attacks are not permitted, but everything else is allowed. Don't worry about injuries. I am very capable with healing magic, so you'll walk out of this fight in better shape than you walked into it."

Damien and Volon nodded, only half-listening.

"Are you both ready?"

Damien and Volon nodded.

"Then…begin!"

Volon slammed his hands together. He pulled them apart, his fingers digging into the air and warping it. A swirl of light formed in the air in front of him. It flared, and a beam of energy shot out at Damien.

He dodged out of the way, drawing Ether through his arm and forming a Gravity Sphere. The beam of light hissed through the air, dissipating harmlessly at the edge of the stage as a ring of runes along the edge lit up.

As much as Damien would have liked to take a better look at the runes, he didn't have time. Volon was already drawing the Ether into another light magic attack. Damien flicked his hand, sending the gravity sailing through the air.

Volon dodged out of the way, a smirk crossing his face as the slow-moving spell hit the ground behind him.

"Really?" Volon asked, forcing Damien to duck out of the way of another searing light attack. "You bring a slow spell like that to—" The sphere detonated. The sudden force ripped Volon's feet out from beneath him and tugged him into the center of the sphere, slamming his face into the ground with a thunk. Damien winced as he heard something crack.

Volon scrambled to his feet, his nose crooked and blood streaming down his face. His eyes were wide as he pointed a hand at Damien. Motes of light gathered in the air in front of him.

Damien lobbed another Gravity Sphere. Volon's spell fizzled, as he lunged, trying to dodge it. His efforts resulted in catching a Gravity Sphere to the leg instead of his chest.

Damien was actually somewhat surprised to see the spell hit, but Volon was much slower than both Sylph and Delph.

He preemptively winced as both spells detonated. A dozen cracks and pops filled the air. Volon screamed and crumpled to the ground, one of his legs bent at several wrong angles.

Damien glanced at Darcy, but the judge shook his head.

Damien swallowed and pushed down the distaste rising in his chest as he summoned another Gravity Sphere.

"I surrender!" Volon screamed.

Darcy stepped in between the two students, but Damien's spell was already fading. Darcy walked over to the crumpled boy and put his hand over Volon's leg. Pale white energy streamed out of his hand and entered the student.

Volon let out another pained, gargling cry as several snaps echoed through the air. His leg straightened, and his nose cracked back into position. Darcy offered Volon a hand. The defeated boy blinked, then reluctantly let the judge pull him to his feet.

"The winner for the first match is Damien!" Darcy said.

"The next two are Blake and Jauin. Please, come up to the stage."

Damien and Volon headed down the stairs, pointedly not looking at each other. The other students in the small group sent Damien wary glances as the two of them took their spots back at the edge of the platform.

"Was that Space magic?" Volon asked after several moments of silence.

"Yeah," Damien said. "I'm sorry about your leg. I've never used that attack against anyone other than my professor and my roommate, but she's too fast to ever hit with it."

Volon heaved a sigh. "It's fine. I didn't expect to win the tournament. I just thought I'd do better than last place…" "Don't feel too bad," Loretta said, glancing over at the disappointed boy. Her voice sounded uncertain and shaky.

"Damien has been getting personal training from our professor. Everyone in the class knows it."

"Wait, how did you know?" Damien asked, taken aback.

"Man, you show up exhausted to every single class, and Delph doesn't give you pointers during class. It's pretty obvious," Loretta said, smirking. "Not that I envy you. I'm learning more than enough from his normal class. I don't fancy spending more time with the man."

"You're in Professor Delph's class?" Volon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We are," Damien said. "Do you know something about him?"

"A little," Volon replied. "He was a mage on the front lines who retired for some classified reason. He's supposed to be a real menace. One of the best mages Blackmist has ever made. My professor told us he never thought Delph would teach a class, so something must have really happened for him to do it. But if you're getting trained by Delph, that makes things sting a bit less. If you beat your other opponents like you beat me, then I won't look like a total loser."

"I'll do my best," Damien said. "No promises, though.

There are a lot of people, even in my class, that I'm not sure if I'd have a chance of beating."

"Like Sylph," Loretta said, shuddering. "I pity anyone who goes up against her."

Volon looked like he wanted to ask about her, but he was interrupted by the two boys heading back down from the stage. The pleased expression on Blake's face made it clear who'd won the fight.

"Loretta and Ulon, please, get on the stage," the judge commanded.

"Good luck!" Damien told Loretta.

She swallowed and nodded, heading up the stairs along with a short boy.

"Do you have any magic other than Space?" Volon asked Damien.

"A few," Damien replied noncommittally. "I've only practiced with Space, though."

"Damn." Volon sighed. "You better put on a good showing. If you don't at least make it to the semifinals, I'm going to look like a chump."

"You are a chump," Blake said, smirking at Volon. "You went down in what, three spells?"

"We'll see how you do against him," Volon said, crossing his arms. Blake eyed Damien, who returned his gaze with a flat stare.

Damien examined him for the first time. Blake had shaggy blond hair and a small scar on his cheek. He wore what might have been padded chainmail, but Damien suspected the metal had runes engraved onto it.

"Better than you, I'd think," Blake said. "He only used one spell, and it's slow. It didn't seem like it had that much range either."

Damien's hand shifted to a pocket in his cloak, where he'd stored several heating runes he'd created the previous night.

"We don't even know if we'll fight," Damien said. "One of us might get someone else or be knocked out in the next round. But, if we do, I look forward to finding out who'll come out on top."

Blake grunted in response. Damien found himself wishing he'd paid more attention to Blake's fight. Knowing what the boy could do with his magic would have been a huge benefit, and Blake had already seen Damien's tricks.

"Loretta wins!" Darcy called out.

Damien glanced up, cursing at himself internally. He'd missed yet another fight while screwing around with the other students.

Loretta and her opponent descended the stairs. She looked winded, but a pleased grin was plastered over her face.

"Good job," Damien told Loretta as Darcy called the next two contestants onto the stage.

"Thank you," Loretta said. "It was really close, but Delph would have killed me if I went out in the first round."

She leaned in close, lowering her voice. "I think he's betting on who wins the tournament with the other teachers."

"No way. Really? How do you know?" Damien asked.

While he spoke, he kept one eye on the stage. He hadn't caught the boy's names, but the one closest to him was the one who had been carrying the book at his side.

"He mentioned something about having money on the line during one of the classes," Loretta said, giggling. "He didn't look pleased that he said it."

"I wonder if he'll give the winner a cut if they're from his class," Damien said.

A spout of fire leapt out of the book wielding boy's hands, enveloping the stage in moments. Damien's eyes widened as the fire licked at the invisible walls surrounding the platform.

The fire swirled in the air for a few moments before fading. The other boy had raised a shield around himself made of glimmering white energy.

I really need to learn some defensive spells.

"They're next on the list. But the enlarge spell can be used defensively, even if it's not the best way to apply it," Henry agreed. "You've got your armor, but I'm not sure how much that'll help you against someone who fills the arena with fire. It didn't seem very strong, though. You might be able to take him out before he does much damage."

That's probably my best bet if he wins.

"I doubt he'll share any of his money," Loretta said.

Damien, who had completely forgotten he was speaking with the girl, glanced in her direction.

"Travis wins!" Darcy roared. The book wielding boy stepped down the stage followed by his opponent, whose clothes had been stained black by soot.

Damien forced himself not to groan in annoyance. He just let out a chuckle and shook his head.

"You're probably right. Did you happen to see how that fight ended? I managed to miss it."

"Travis sent a fireball that broke the other guy's shield and hit him in the chest," Loretta replied.

"Thank you. He seems pretty strong."

Blake scoffed in the corner, and Damien rolled his eyes.

If the kid tried any harder to sound cool, Damien was worried he'd gag.

Several fights passed, but nothing particularly interested Damien. Loretta won again, as did Blake. He was wondering if Darcy had forgotten him when the judge finally called his name out, along with Travis.

"Good luck," Loretta told Damien as he headed toward the stage, his stomach twisting again.

"Thanks," Damien replied, clenching and unclenching his hands. Darcy directed him to the far side of the platform. Once Damien got there, he drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Travis reached down and grabbed his book, running his hand along the spine. He looked bored. Damien gathered the Ether within his core.

"Begin!" Darcy yelled.

Damien hurled a Gravity Sphere in Travis' direction, already forming another one in his other hand. Travis stepped forward, twisting his body to avoid the spell.

Damien smirked and released his concentration of the spell.

Without his will to control it, the Ether leapt to return to its natural state. Following the guidelines he'd set forth when visualizing the spell, the Gravity Sphere detonated midair, only a foot behind Travis.

The boy's head snapped back as he was yanked to the epicenter of the Gravity Sphere. Sparks of fire sputtered fruitlessly out of his hands as his concentration was broken and the spell fizzled.

Damien lobbed another Gravity Sphere at the edge of the stage where Travis had fallen. Before it could hit, Travis rolled over and pointed his hand at the oncoming orb. A blast of fire erupted from his hand, impacting the Gravity Sphere.

The Ether in Damien's sphere hissed as it reacted with Travis' magic. The sphere detonated prematurely, doing little more than dragging Travis a few feet across the ground. The boy rolled to his feet and thrust his hands toward Damien.

"Shit!" Damien cursed. He formed several more Gravity Spheres, tossing them at Travis and dashing across the arena.

For every bolt of fire Travis threw, Damien lobbed four or five of his own attacks.

"How much Ether do you have?" Travis cursed, dodging out of the way of a sphere.

Damien responded with two more attacks. They were slow and easy to dodge, but he had the advantage of being able to throw more attacks than Travis could ever hope to counter.

A sphere passed by Travis' head. His expression shifted to a smirk as fire curled around him.

Damien dropped to the ground and slammed his hands into it just as a wave of fire erupted from Travis, filling the arena. Travis held it there for several moments before lowering his hands, allowing the flame to recede.

A stone ring stood in the center of the arena where Damien had stood. Travis blinked, his hands raising as he realized the fight wasn't over.

The ring vanished, and Damien sent a Gravity Sphere hurtling at Travis. The boy dove out of the way, but the spell went off before he fully cleared it. Both of his feet were caught in the blast, and Damien repressed a grimace as he heard a dozen cracks fill the air.

Travis let out a cry of pain. Damien channeled another Gravity Sphere, but he glanced at Darcy to check if the man would stop the fight. The judge made no moves to intercede.

A searing pain erupted in Damien's shoulder as something slammed into it, spinning him in a circle.

Damien gritted his teeth and dropped to the ground, slamming a hand into it and raising a stone barrier an instant before fire filled the arena again.

An image of Delph's disapproving glare passed through Damien's mind.

The fire lasted several seconds before fading. Instead of dropping the ring like he had before, Damien allowed the back portion to vanish while leaving the front intact. He formed a Gravity Sphere and dashed out from behind it, lobbing it straight at Travis.

The boy's eyes widened, and he rolled to the side. The sphere caught his arm, snapping it violently. Damien stepped forward, grimacing from the pain emanating from his shoulder, and channeled a Gravity Sphere through his good hand.

He tossed it at the boy's fallen form. Darcy shimmered into being directly in front of the spell. The judge raised a hand, grabbing the sphere and crushing it without even looking in Damien's direction.

"Damien wins!" Darcy yelled.

The judge knelt beside Travis, healing the boy's wounds.

Travis sent Damien an angry glance as Darcy rose, but Damien ignored it. The searing pain in his shoulder had grown now that the adrenaline wore off.

Damien glanced at the spot where he'd been hit, but the mage armor barely even looked damaged. Darcy walked over to him and raised his hand over where Damien had been hit. A moment later, a relieved breath escaped his mouth as the pain vanished. Darcy waved them off the stage.

What was that? Why is my armor undamaged? I clearly got hit by a spell.

"Mage armor doesn't interfere with magic. There are runes on it to allow magic to pass through," Henry replied.

"That way it doesn't get destroyed by the first spell that hits you. You shouldn't have been hit at all. You got distracted."

I know. I don't need you to tell me a second time. I won't let it happen again.