Ch12 - A Battle of Control

Author's Note:

I just caught it in later chapters, but my dumb brain mixed up the ring and index fingers for every hand sign so far.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's been fixed now.

***

I just got off tutoring with the second years, 

and I made my way to our temporary dormitories.

S -1 Hall was the dormitory for Class S students and where the S section would stay during the tournament. 

'Ugh, I'm pretty sure I lost a brain cell talking to those idiots.'

I looked up at the relatively small home before me, the living space was relatively the same as a big apartment, but they kept state-of-the-art training technology in rooms underneath the house. 

Actually, in terms of size, this hall is the smallest on campus.

'The S Hall, my home for the next 4 years of my life. I came here last night and I still feel weird.'

I opened the door to the house, and I was met with uh

a sight per se.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?"

Lucas was

on top of the saintess.

His arms pinning hers down onto the couch. 

"Oh, hey~ Lucien."

On the other end of the room in the kitchen Lily and Henry were catching up. 

"I can't believe you guys would do something so weird in front of people."

Lily remarked her voice filled with irritation.

'Classic tsundere behavior.'

Henry simply sat there blankly looking at everybody. 

"Hah..."

'Do I really have to live with these guys? I already want to leave.'

Christina pushed Lucas off, her hand directly pushing against his face. 

They both sat straight and as if nothing happened Lucas said,

"Wanna play Mario Kart?"

'He is such an idiot, I just cannot.'

I walked off just trying to forget all of what just happened. 

"Lucien."

A low voice spoke behind me opting me to turn around.

"Huh?"

Henry had called out to me and Lily stood beside him, her scrutinizing bright yellow eyes like tiny suns locking down on my appearance.

Her appearance was more like a saintess than Christina with her snow-white hair and golden eyes.

Both the Vilhelm Duchy and Feliehn Duchy were very very distant relatives of each other as they both hailed from the royal family hundreds of generations back when they first were established. 

Most nobles were extremely distant relatives due to well how the world used to uh work back then.

"It's nice seeing you again. Let's get to the finals together."

"What about me? Do you think I can't beat you, huh, Henry?"

And with that, I ran off praying for Henry's survival.

In the hallway, I saw a familiar figure, the girl I fought against in the tournament,

Maria Helunt.

And my immediate reaction when I saw her.

"Sorry!"

I exclaimed while giving her a slight bow,

'Maria is one of the nicest characters in the novel. And she needs to be in S Class.'

"The restrictions was because I know as a commoner. How much Class S must mean to you, and the matchup was extremely unfair against you."

If I had artificially prolonged the battle, then Maria most likely still wouldn't have gotten in.

I had talked to the headmaster before, asking if Maria could show her skills this way to ensure her admission into Class S.

Also, it felt cool as heck.

"Uh, it's fine, no harm really."

She left me off the hook and I made my way to my room.

Resting, training, and preparing for my battle against Lucas. 

'I wonder what type of show he's gonna show me now?'

***

Booms roared throughout the stadium as bullets shot from all directions and a misty veil enveloped me not allowing me to see the attacker.

Of course, in the mist, I could see faint silhouettes of Lucas, but they most likely weren't real.

[Space Magic: Hardened Space]

I created a barrier of hard space that would shield me from the fire.

Yet, it kept pouring into me not giving me any room to breathe. 

'I need to fight back.'

Illusion Magic was strangely really goddamn tough for me to fight against.

Of course, I could try and feel the mana in the air to find where he was, 

but a big issue with that.

I have to maintain a barrier and deal with bullets with completely unknown properties.

Some bullets completely fazed through my barrier, whether it was an illusion or a bullet with intangibility or something, I had no clue. 

Why?

They were never aimed at me all of them were aimed toward the floor.

'He's trying to get into my head. Trying to back me into a corner.'

I looked around feeling for mana fluctuations as bullets collided with my barrier.

'It's moving. I need some AOE.'

Thoughts ran through my head; I was in a tough place.

'Singularity? No, I can't assure I won't get caught in it.'

Singularity is practically uncontrollable using a big attack can risk both me and the opponent.

I can cut it short, yeah, but it's more like pushing against a somewhat moving car.

I can slow it down to the point of stopping, but keywords slow it down.

"Pulse."

My main hand sign has my index and thumbs touch to make interlocking chains, then touching my middle and ring together and putting down my pinkies. 

I swapped it around a bit instead opting for a less mana heavy one-handed version of the technique.

[Space Magic: Spatial Manipulation]

I sent out a wave of space that rang out across the whole battlefield.

The battlefield was just under 2/3 of a coliseum battlefield.

Lucas jumped up dodging the wave of space that disrupted his illusions.

In an instant, I snapped my arm back curling my fingers into a fist.

[Space Magic: Condensed Space]

Condensing the space around my punch, and strengthening its rather weak impact, my fist shot forward, and

[Space Magic: Teleport]

As Lucas was in the middle of the air dodging my previous attack my punch landed square into his stomach. 

"Hhk.."

He flung backward and I didn't stop there as I channeled mana through my fingertips.

[Flicker]

Bangs ran out behind me as Lucas shot his gun only a few feet from my back safely landing on the floor as he shot. 

[Space Magic: Portal]

A circle around the size of a basketball appeared from thin air completely disarming the bullets.

He jumped back into the misty illusion using it as cover,

but I won't let him go that easily.

[Space Magic: Teleport]

Lucas already predicted that and with a swish of his hands, the barrel snapped back aligning itself with the bottom of the gun.

Like small batons, he lunged at me swinging with one and going in with a stab with the other. 

How did I see his attack so clearly?

Well, I already predicted he would predict me.

It's just the type of guy he is. 

[Space Magic: Condensed Space]

[Unique Skill: Singularity] 

I activated it for just a second and immediately tried to put it on pause, and yet it still took around 10% of my mana. 

[Space Magic: Teleport]

I instantly teleported behind him and with my index and middle finger, I slashed across his back.

[Space Magic: Sever]

He circled around immediately with only one foot planted on the floor and blocked it crossing his two small baton-like weapons in an X. 

"Tch-"

He fell back once more, illusions of him emerging with every step he took.

A flash!

Appeared before my eyes.

"Ughh"

The blaring sound of cars dashing past me, and the bright lights of a dark city.

Crowds of people–Families, friends murmuring and talking amongst themselves walked by.

"Materialize."

Lucas' clear voice rang in my ears as if he was before me.

[Unique Skill: Advent of The Phantasmagoria]

I was utterly astounded by the sight before me as I recognized this place.

Red paper lanterns, and intricate symbols etched on signs. Strangely enough there was English translations on most the signs. 

Tokyo, Japan.

A city I visited with my friends once, and a city that doesn't exist in this world.

A city only us Extras would know about.