Chapter 395: The Gladiator Gauntlet XI

“From the north side! The renowned center of learning, the temple of knowledge, the garden of minds, the place that’ll turn you into a genius! Please welcome The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft!” The [Announcer] shouted, and we exited the gates to great fanfare.

We were allowed a few people with us to give us advice on the field. Each final was held ‘on its own’ so to speak, with no other competing events at the same time. All the better to maximize crowds - and sales. Shirayuki was with us to personally oversee things and direct, and Iona was with us. Ling Li had a sect mate of hers with us, and Pascal had a cousin or something joining him.

“And from the south side! The leaders of tomorrow, the blue bloods, the most noble and honorable Hapensburgs!”

Unfortunately, they got a lot more cheering than we did. Hapensburgs was the place for nobles, and it wasn’t like the average person could travel halfway around the world to watch some games. The people filling the stands were the wealthy, rich, powerful, and well-connected, and were constantly rubbing elbows with the parents of Hapensburgs’s students - if they didn’t have kids at Hapensburgs themselves!

With that said, people who couldn’t send their proteges to Hapensburg wanted the School, so it was a bit of a wash at the end of the day.

Like how Rolland’s team had the Shining Prince wielding Ruination, each member of the Hapensburgs team had come equipped with fantastical weapons and amazing artifacts, helping them crush their way through the competition. They didn’t dare wield them against us.

The School had a well-deserved reputation for breaking and smashing all artifacts deployed against us. It had taken a decade or two of teams in the past focusing on nothing but destroying them, often to the detriment of our victories back in the day, but we’d earned a ferocious reputation thanks to them.

Artifacts deployed against the School died. Victory wasn’t worth the price of replacing them.

Very few other organizations could afford to throw so many matches for the sake of gaining a reputation, and those that did often wielded their own artifacts. They tended to have a sort of mutual respect for the cost and price, and while they did occasionally break, they didn’t deliberately try to smash them.

All to say, people put away the fancy, super expensive family heirlooms when facing off against the School, even if it cost them their chance at winning the entire event. Hapensburgs would reap the benefits of winning, while the individual team members would bear the price and the cost of losing a priceless heirloom.

It made the playing field a bit more even.

“Iris. You’re up first.” Shirayuki said. “Barring significant issues, Ling Li, you’re second, followed by Elaine. Sarama, have the mana potions ready.”

We’d made a half dozen plans in advance. Shirayuki was simply letting us know we were going with plan A - the mana regeneration one.

“Teams, please send forth your first contestant!” The [Referee] - not Mormerilhawn, being an employee of the School was a bad look in the finals here - announced.

Iris stepped forward, the selkie nearly indistinguishable from a human without her seal skin. She was busy drinking three different potions Sarama handed to her, a set of boosts to help her out. Blessedly, nobody on the Hapensburg team was a support. Something about most high-ranking nobility not taking such a ‘lowly’ role or some nonsense. Seven combatants was a legitimate strategy though, especially since we were down a combatant. On the other side, a falcon beastkin stepped forward. One of the [Pharaoh’s] great great grandchildren, I was unsure where, exactly, he was in the line of succession. Somewhere single-digit.

“For the first round! Netos Sekhemkhet of Ankhelt versus Iris of nowhere! We’ve seen both of these contestants through the event, and now, here at the finals, they’re all set to clash! Who will come on top? The…”

The [Announcer] had way too many words to say about things, and from the calculating look the [Referee] was shooting towards his booth, he was inclined to let him talk.

“I might be stating the obvious here, but Sand and Earth.” Iona said. “Looks to be around… errr… two-thirds magic, one-third physical. A little heavier on the political and leadership skills than average, but higher stats than I’d expect.”

Iona helping out felt like cheating. At the same time, we’d just gotten five other rounds of watching all the members of the Hapensburgs team fight. The only surprise was his element was Earth, not Mountain.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee]

blessedly started the event.

A rolling sandstorm exploded into being on the far side of the arena, barreling towards Iris at high speed. It was like a hundred ravenous beasts were lunging and snapping from the storm, threatening to devour all in their path.

Iris didn’t bother trying to blast anything through the storm. Sand was fantastic defensively in that respect. It had mass, but in thousands of moving parts. ‘Hard’ attacks like a stone shot could punch through easily, but ‘softer’ attacks like Lightning and Radiance got eaten and thrown a dozen different ways.

Iris might’ve tried to shoot Ice shards through the storm, but didn’t. I couldn’t read her mind, but Netos was no idiot. He would’ve moved from his starting position, so blind attacks wouldn’t hit.

Iris seemed to practically ‘slip’ into the storm. All I managed to see from my position was the Sand immediately around her ‘freezing’ and stopping, before she was in.

We spent a tense minute watching the storm, all while the [Announcer] wildly speculated what was going on inside. The occasional flash of Lightning made its way out of the top, along with rumbles deep inside.

“Ooooh! That had to hurt! That much bleed-off is more power than most Light mages can manage, and it’s just a cast-off from one of Iris’s attacks! Thank goodness our shields prevent blinding…”

This particular [Announcer] was only barely managing to rank over adventurers on my list. The only nice thing I could say about him was he worked a mostly honest job for a living.

I knew a magic array that would let me mute a single person, but I didn’t know how to modify it so I could mute a single person through their own Sound skills. It was worth thinking about… another day.

The sandstorm started to calm down, then a bright red light flashed deep in the arena, as bright lights started to sparkle across the barrier.

“And we have a winner!” The [Announcer] said.

No shit Sherlock.

The Sand fell like the world’s most abrasive shower. Iris was walking back to us, coughing and hacking, while Netos was angrily storming back to his side, shield bright red.

“Round 1 Winner, the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. Current points are 2-0 in favor of the School!” The [Referee] announced.

Shirayuki’s tails went up, and slowly moved back and forth in a happy motion.

“Excellent showing.” She praised Iris.

Iris grimaced.

“I’m completely out of mana. That took everything I had.” She said.

“Understandable. Try to bait out an attack, but if they call your bluff, concede before you make us look bad. Appearances are more important than ever here.” Shirayuki said.

“Understood.” Iris accepted a mana potion from Sarama, throwing it back before stepping forward again.

Sarama’s mana potions were good, but they couldn’t instantly restore an entire mana pool. Iris knew to blow the mana if she could find an easy chance to win, but otherwise, it was better ‘saved’ for the teamfight portion.

“From Hapensburgs! The Son of the Son of the Sun! Xocoh!” The [Announcer] said, and the kobold stepped forward. It was her first year here, and she was carefully removing a number of decorative feathers from her head. Kobolds were small, like miniature dragonlings. It was easy to tell the largest kobolds from the smallest dragonlings - dragonlings had horns, while kobolds had none. They were all distinct from Saurians, who each had a clear and obvious dinosaur ‘ancestor’.

“It still bugs me that they call her the Son of the Son, when she’s a woman. Like, seriously?” I complained to nobody in particular.

“They could at least call her the Grandsun.” Iona punned, and we all groaned. “She’s Inferno, Inferno, Radiance. Radiance is relatively new.” Iona said. We were all ignoring the [Announcer]

blathering in the background. “Some of those Inferno skills are big ones. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of them.”

Iona and I traded a knowing glance with each other.

“That’s interesting. She’s been primarily using Radiance this entire time, I’d assumed it was primary.” Shirayuki said.

“She’s looking to level it.” Ling Li said.

“Dibs on next.” I glanced at Shirayuki. “Sorry, but my skill set counters her too perfectly for me not to.”

“Elaine is… likely better suited to the task than I am.” Ling Li admitted. The cultivator was big on leaves, and leaves against fire was a horrifically one-sided matchup.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!” The [Referee] kicked the match off.

Xocoh immediately started to glow with a brilliant Radiance, stepping up into the air like she was ascending the steps of a ziggurat. Iris was taking a defensive stance, and Xocoh had called our bluff. She was showboating in front of the crowd, taking her time, and critically, not throwing any large attacks Iris’s way.

Iris was close enough that I could see her perfectly with [The World Around Me]. It let me see her conjure up hundreds of tiny Ice needles, so clear and perfect as to be practically invisible. Without a single obvious motion, she silently launched them at Xocoh. An ‘assassination’ attempt, so to speak.

A heartbeat later, and Iris raised her hand.

“I surrender.” She turned around and walked back through the barrier to us, slowly shaking her head.

“Round 2 Winner, Hapensburgs! Current points are a 2-2 tie!” The [Referee] announced.

“A [Heat Aura]/[Flame Defense] merged variant.” Iona quickly explained. “Melted the Ice before it got close. It doesn’t look like she was aware of the attack.”

“Elaine, you’re up.” Shirayuki confirmed.

“Iona, fast, Radiance is low level, Inferno is the rest, yeah?” I asked.

She groaned, knowing where I was going.

“Yes. It’s just a game though, it’s not worth the risk.”

I snorted.

“What risk?” I asked.

“Elaine… don’t do anything stupid.” Shirayuki’s voice was dangerous.

I bounded forward.

“From The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft! One of their main anchors! Elaine!” The [Announcer] started going over my history in the games - and my utter lack of background or known sponsors.

Annoying.

“Hey ref!” I called across the field to the [Referee].

“Is there an issue?” He asked.

“A really minor one. Can I fight this one unshielded?” I asked him. “To be clear, I don’t want a mutual unshielding, but Xocoh can’t hurt me. I figure I’ll save everyone the effort.”

There was a collective gasp from half the crowd, and the other half oooohed. Then everyone exploded into discussion. Xocoh was glaring murder at me, and the ref came over to chat.

“Are you sure?” He asked quietly. “Can’t bail you out if you get in too deep, and I can’t teleport you out of danger if you go too deep.”

I shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Xocoh was going to try to murder me.

This was going to be hilarious.

“You are now unshielded.” The [Referee] said. “Best of luck.”

He walked back to the center of the field as the [Announcer] continued to rant and rave about my choice.

“Fame. Glory. Honor. Fight!”

I let out a large, fake yawn, and slowly started to stroll to the center of the field. I split my mind in half with [Parallel Thoughts], and one half popped one of my spellbooks out of [Bookwyrm’s Hoard], while the other kept a razor-sharp eye on Xocoh, and what she was up to.

She was climbing steps again, and with each footfall, the shape of an ancient, massive ziggurat became clearer and clearer. With how the Radiance and skill were interacting, it was like she was standing atop a mountain of gold.

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [Glory of the Ziggurat]! Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

Butterfly Mystic’s ability to crib other Radiance skills coming in handy! Sadly, I liked my skills too much, and at this point I was simply looking to upgrade skills, not get new ones to merge around.

The kobold started to chant, a ritual skill forming out of burning flames in the air above her in the shape of a quetzalcoatl.

Nobles. Always needing to show off. Couldn’t just shoot me with a rock like a sensible Classer, oh no, they had to make a whole production out of it.

Honestly, how’d they ever get those levels?

At the same time, I had to admit - if I had a brazen target willing to stand still and let me wind up an attack, I’d wind up the biggest, baddest attack I had.

“[Itzel’s Divine Wrath].” Xocoh announced, imperiously pointing at me.

The flaming quetzalcoatl roared towards me, and I safely tucked my book back away into my [Bookwyrm’s Hoard]. I instinctively braced myself for impact, my trained instincts unable to overcome my surefire knowledge that I was completely safe.

The flames crashed and roared over me, my companion bond letting me see straight through them as if they weren’t there. Xocoh looked smug.

She thought she was murdering someone in lukewarm blood, and she looked smug. I was starting to see where Iona’s hatred of the nobility came from, and I couldn’t wait to wipe that smug look off her face.

The only casualties were my lightweight clothing. Ah well, we’d all gone through a couple of pairs each this tournament, and it was the one area the fauns were fairly relaxed on us replacing without impacting our weight limit, unlike armor, weapons, or arrows and the like.

The skill finished, the beast of flames spending itself entirely and dissipating against the ground. A half-dozen smaller fires had started in the grass all around me, thin grey smoke spiraling into the air.

I brushed non-existent dust off my shoulder, and did my best to smirk at Xocoh.

“That’s it?” I asked.