"How do you know that?" Arima was surprised at Night's statement.
"Beast souls can see each other even if they are in the soul of their summoners. Last time, I didn't notice it because I didn't pay attention, or maybe because he wasn't in her soul at that time. But now, she is using her mana so I can clearly see it."
"I see..." Arima paused, "Wait, you can reside in my soul?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you say so when I asked you of a way to hide?"
"Because I don't want to go in your soul." Night answered without batting an eye, "I feel like a small fish, alone in an ocean in your soul. That's depressing."
Arima blinked once and sighed. He focused on Aria again, "[Anima Oculum] (Soul eye)." His left eye glowed with a blue light. "It looks like her soul is split in two. Yeah, you're right."
"Anyway, let's go back, we still have a day. We still haven't mastered 'resonance'. It's harder than I thought." Arima turned back. He jumped off the wall, over the crowd, and landed lightly directly in the middle of the city. Night followed him afterward.
At the end of the day, the sixteen competitors were set. And Arima had to use his remaining gold to pay the rent for a few more days at the 'Wing's nest'. Aria laughed madly because she forgot in the action that Arima was a client of her Inn.
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The next day, the order of the fights were decided. The second round was divided into eight fights apparently. Surprisingly, Arima got paired with the archer who broke Night's shield.
"I'll admit that your magic back then was pretty eye catching. But it was too slow and it definitely won't be enough to defeat me."
Arima stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "(That magic was meant to be long-cast, I was testing it. And I did that because I knew that no one would be able to harm me. Also, that magic was just a shock wave on steroids, if I wanted, I could have made it strong enough to cripple you. Why are you saying that to my face? Is it supposed to give you confidence kid?)" He snapped in his mind. He didn't talk because angering his opponent will bring no good.
"Are you ready?" Like before, the voice of the suit guy resounded, we'll call him James for convenience. "3, 2, 1, Fight!"
The archer moved first. He jumped and retreated by a few steps. He took an arrow from his quiver, placed it on his bow and pulled the string in less than second. At the same time, two small magic circles formed just in front of the arrowhead.
"(Enhancement circles, huh?)" Arima silently remarked.
Circles are an important aspect of magic in this world. There are three different types of circles.
The first type is the 'enhancement' and as the name suggests, it enhances a certain aspect of whatever or whoever passes through it. In this case, the two circles in front of the arrow enhance speed and penetration.
The second type is the range type. Basically, it's for casting magic from a different place than where your body actually is. For example, if you conjured a fireball to hit a target which is ten meters away, then when it would reach its target, the fireball would have lost some of its power. In contrast, if you use a range circle, you can fire that magic just next to the target and get the most damage possible.
The third type is usually called the auxiliary circle. Its function is to help the mage when casting the magic, for either reduce the chanting time or improve its efficiency. For example, when Night shapeshifted, he used an auxiliary circle. The latter's function was to simply cast the magic allowing a physical change to be bigger or smaller with the mana provided, while Night focused on the process of transforming a dragon into a wolf. If he had not used the circle, it would have taken more time, spirit and mana.
"(Mh? Wait. Now that I think about it, if I use circles, I may be able to cast those compressed spheres faster.)"
At that moment, Arima began to ponder seriously, totally disregarding what was happening outside. Meanwhile, the archer fired his arrow, it reached Arima in no time but the latter's image became a bit fuzzy with a few black sparks in addition. In the end, the arrow passed through Arima as if a ghost was the target.
"What!?" The opponent shouted and nocked two more arrows at the same time, he then added a new layer of enhancement circles. He fired one more time, but the same thing happened again. The two arrows passed through their target before piercing the ground.
"What the hell is that?!"
That shout seemed to wake up Arima as he gazed at the guy in front of him with wide-open eyes. "Oh, sorry. You said something?"
"You! Why can't my arrows hit you?!"
"Can't hit me?" Arima glanced at Night who was lying in a corner of the arena and the wolf yawned and nodded. "(Can't hit me?... Oh, I see, I used 'Wild spark' by instinct…my bad.)" He suddenly realized that his body had traces of magic. "Hum, just call it DBZ style." Arima answered to the archer.
"What is that supposed mean?"
"Don't worry, you're not supposed to know."
He gritted his teeth. "Fuck, [Triple enchant, burst]." Three magic circles formed in front of the arrow with the third being clearly bigger than the two others.
"(An explosive arrow.)" Arima analyzed the circles, it was speed, wind, and fire. "(A simple blast.)"
This time, the arrow was aimed at the ground just in front of Arima. "[Scintillam feram] (Wild spark)." He disappeared and reappeared twenty meters away when the arrow hit the ground and fissured the whole arena.
Before the opponent could say anything, Arima drew a green magic circle in front of him which looked a lot more complex than the others. "(I'll test it.)" He squinted, "[Spaera]" A few spheres of a marble's size formed in Arima's hand. With a flick of his hand, they went through the circle and landed at the feet of the other guy.
"Huh?"
"[Lacero] (Break)." Arima snapped his fingers like last time. The green marbles exploded. The four spheres instantly enveloped the archer. These were a lot smaller than the previous one during the eliminations and only lasted for half a second, but they seemed to be stronger. When the magic vanished disappeared, the archer guy had fainted standing. It was normal. It was like being in a super washing machine.
"W-Winner! Arimane Blade!" James concluded the fight.
Arima looked at his hand while leaving, "(As I thought, circles are more important than I thought. I should concentrate on it a bit.)"
Night looked at the fainted participant. "(Poor guy)." He bowed his head a bit, "(Rip.)"
In that fight, Arima revised his compression process. He chose to create a marble-sized sphere first and make it pass through a hybrid circle, an enhancement circle combined with an auxiliary one. So, in the end, it became a circle which would cast a pre-set magic on whatever passes through it. This time, the circle infused a great density of wind in the sphere while keeping the latter's stability.
After that fight, in the rest of day, the four semifinalists were decided. As expected, it was Arima and the three other participants he had marked before.
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The next day, the first fight was between Arima and the tamer.
"Hello, my name is Valdo Aldar, pleased to meet you." The tamer greeted Arima. He looked like a well-educated and calm youth.
"(Someone who is polite and mannered. I feel like it's rare in this world.)" Arima smiled, "I am Arimane Blade, nice to meet you." He also presented himself.
"Groa!" A brown bear on the side entered the conversation too.
"It's time to begin! Are you ready!" James announced. The two participants nodded.
"3!"
Arima actually called Karma. Night still stayed behind, seated like a well-behaved pet.
"2!"
Valdo prepared a staff and the bear stood beside him with a sharp look.
"1! Fight!"
"[Scintillan ferram]." Arima moved in an instant. He rushed behind his opponent and gripped Karma, ready to draw it, but a shadow appeared in his vision. Surprised, he jumped to the side and just needed a glance to recognize the figure. "(That bear has good instincts.)"
While he was still in an evasive action, two figures attacked him from both sides. He drew Karma and cut the incoming figures in one swing. When he regained a stable vision, he saw that the two figures he cut were two transparent blue wolves. "(Summonings…)"
When he was about to rush one more time, the ground shook and the arena's stone trapped him in a sort of cocoon. "What a pain. [Sicarius umbra]." He chanted quietly, his coat glowed a bit and he changed into a shadow. He quietly got out of the cocoon and hid in the shadow of the latter. "(Earth magic, huh? I'll need to take care of that bear first, but...)" He jumped out of the shadow and charged toward the tamed beast. The tamer seemed to have been startled by the fact that Arima got out without breaking the stone.
Arima unsheathed Karma and swung it at the bear with the flat edge of the blade, but when it was supposed to hit, it passed through him. The bear was cut in two but he vanished afterward like fog. Behind that, the real bear was revealed, swinging his claw. "(I knew it. Illusion? No, projection.)"
Arima sighed internally. He planted the scabbard of his sword in the ground and used it as a pivot, he evaded the bear's strike and revolved around the sheath.
"[Sunt robore] (Strength up)." He kicked the beast. The bear was blown away for a few tens of meters. Meanwhile, a stone wall raised behind Arima as two huge summoned boars charged from the front.
"Alright," Arima sheathed Karma. He extended his right arm and two auxiliary circles formed above the two boars. Arima clenched his hand into a fist, raised his thumb and pointed down.
"[Gravitatis C temporibus] (Gravity, times 100)." The boars instantly crashed on the ground because of the gravity and created two craters on the arena. Arima struck the wall behind him with Karma and easily destroyed it.
He looked at the front and widened his eyes a bit. The aura of the bear was rising continuously, his height which was already around three meters now grew to be five meters.
"He actually broke through level 6… and he seems to be a physical enhancement magic variant too."
Valdo was already standing beside the bear, "Thanks for helping him breakthrough."
Arima lightly laughed, "Fine. You did well. But I'll stop playing around now. If I continue it would just be rude." He said. Because he still had not dispelled 'Wild spark', his voice sounded a bit ethereal. "Sorry, I'll finish this in one attack now."
Arima took an Iai stance. Valdo felt something was wrong, he turned toward the bear. "I know you just broke through but prepare yourself to avoid or withstand anything that will come!"
The beast grumbled a bit and reinforced his body to the maximum possible. His entire body's muscles tensed and he grew in size one more time.
On the other side, Karma was already emanating a big amount of lightning. Valdo chanted and conjured multiple walls to protect him.
"[Aeterna] (Eternal Night)." Karma unleashed a flying slash, darker than the night. It pierced through the walls and reached the bear in a second. He crossed his paws to take on the blow. It was obviously too fast to avoid. When 'Aeterna' was at one inch from touching its target.
"[Praemium] (Explode)." Arima chanted. The flying slash exploded into a black sphere. Thunder rumbled as dark lightning covered everything in a twenty meters' radius. It really felt like a powerful lightning bolt had struck the place.
The explosion calmed down after a moment and left the tamer-tamed pair unconscious and injured in the middle of a dreadful crater.
"Be thankful. If I hadn't ruptured my attack, you would have died." Arima murmured, "Let's go, Night."
The dragon in a wolf form came over, "I feel like a side character right now…"
Arima laughed, "Don't worry, you'll participate in the final. I just wanted to have fun a bit."
"The winner is Arimane Blade!" James declared the end of the fight. "The next fight will be led in the block D. The fighters are Aria Carta and Rehard Lens."