CHAPTER 188: THE FLAME THAT DEVOURS

There were only four left in the Royal Academy Tournament. The burning blade, Elyra Runescar. The elemental illusionist Mireya Aeromont. The ruby-eyed monster Lucen, and finally the mage of the earth Eisen Terre.

The coliseum was filled once more, banners fluttering and drums thundering as the crowd screamed the names of their favorites.

The air itself seemed to tremble with excitement. Nobles, merchants, and commoners alike had gathered for one reason to witness who would rise above the rest.

The first match was Elyra Runescar versus Mireya Aeromont. The two took the stage, and the cheers boomed.

"I have always been interested in fighting you," Elyra spoke as she gripped the handle of the longsword tighter.

"Truth be told, I have no real interest in such contests. On the other hand, I do like the idea of going all out for once." Mireya’s violet eyes seemed to sparkle as she spoke.

"Then show me what that looks like." Elyra took a deep breath as she took a fighting stance, her aura mantle burning bright like a flame.

Mireya pointed her staff at Elyra, her mana flowing through her body at a faster pace. Seeing the two were about ready to strike at any second, the referee raised his hand.

"Begin!"

Elyra dashed forward, her blazing aura mantle enveloping her sword and body. Mireya was a few meters away from Elyra, giving her time before Elyra reached her.

Mireya raised her staff, and several walls of earth blocked Elyra’s path towards Mireya. Elyra swung her sword and sliced through the walls of earth like they were butter.

As she was about to slice another wall of earth, to her surprise, her sword went through the wall, and because of her momentum, she stumbled forward and was about to hit another wall of earth that was in front of her.

She knew that getting hit by a wall of earth with the speed she was going wasn’t going to hurt that much, but it would hurt her pride.

So Elyra did her best to stop her momentum by straining her legs a little bit and using that to launch a horizontal slash forward, cutting down the wall.

As Elyra did that, several balls of flame came flying down at her. Elyra evaded a few and sliced through the fireballs with her sword, enveloped in her aura.

She then saw that several Mireyas had surrounded her; obviously, all except one of them was the real one, and the others were illusions.

Each Mireya had several elemental spells floating beside her. Unlike Raina, who closed her eyes to sense who the real Mireya was, Elyra did not need to do something like that.

"I don’t need to know whose the real one, I just need to cut down everything in sight."

Elyra kicked off the ground, flames trailing in her wake as she swung her sword in a wide arc.The heat of her aura mantle distorted the air, and the illusions around her shimmered like mirages before bursting apart one after another.

Each step she took left a scorch mark on the arena floor. Every swing of her sword scattered burning petals of light.

Yet no matter how many illusions she cut down, another took its place, circling her like phantoms.

Still, that did not bother Elyra in the slightest. All that was in her mind was to move faster, to lessen the excess and make sharper moves.

She was not looking at her match simply with victory in mind; she was looking at this match as a chance to improve herself.

As her movement was slowly becoming faster, ice had encased her legs. Of course, with her burning aura mantle, the ice started melting, but before Elyra could move, several elemental spells came flying towards her.

Unable to move to dodge, she was forced to cut down all that was coming. Unfortunately, though she was able to cut most of them, she still received a few hits to her body.

The damage was minimal and did not hinder her movements. Instead, it made her focus even more. Once she was free, she started sliding her feet on the ground.

[Runescar footwork: Hazy Steps.]

The way Elyra moved as she circled around Mireya and her illusions made it seem like Elyra herself had used an illusion spell and became many.

Mireya’s lips curved into a faint smile as she watched Elyra blur across the stage. It was like a dancing flame forming a mirage.

"It’s like you’re dancing."

Mireya was a little jealous of Elyra’s physical prowess. Even though the Aeromonts were stronger than a normal person due to their mana, they could not match people with auras when it came to physical fitness.

To be able to create techniques like Hazy Steps looked quite interesting and fun, but after taking a look at it, Mireya knew she could not copy such movements with her current physical abilities.

"It truly is quite a dazzling sight," Mireya murmured to herself. Of course, Elyra heard it and responded.

"Then allow me to show you something even more dazzling."

Elyra used [Runescar swordsmanship second form: Burning Blossom!] in tandem with the Hazy Steps, creating several dozen petals of flame throughout the stage as she cut down Mireya’s illusions.

The audience was captivated. Every time Elyra swung, the air shimmered with heat, and flaming petals scattered.

Mireya countered with several spells and started bombarding Elyra. She used illusions alongside the real ones, confusing the senses. Yet Elyra did not care in the slightest.

Right at this very moment, Elyra was focused on one thing, and that was cutting through everything in her sight.

Even when a sudden geyser of water erupted beneath her feet, she flipped backward and was about ready to attack again, but before she landed, Mireya conjured an icicle below.

Unfortunately, the flaming petals scattered around made it hard for any ice spells to take form properly. Mireya quickly noticed that and changed the spell to spikes of earth.

Elyra slashed at the spikes of earth before she landed and then dashed forward to the nearest Mireya, illusion or not, she was going to cut it down.

Mireya was actually smiling at this point. Elyra allowed her to go all out and use every spell she knew at the moment. This was the first time she was able to use so many spells, and it made her extremely happy.

As the two continued their exchanges, the referee spoke. "Two minutes."

When the two heard what the referee said, they understood that this fun battle had to end at some point.

Elyra, who kept on burning with her aura mantle, was now breathing heavily. Mireya was also in a similar predicament; she had used her mana without holding back and was now nearly depleted.

The two understood that the next strike would be the last. Mireya had already used all the spells she could think of, but none of them could defeat Elyra.

As a second-circle mage, she understood her limitations. So she needed to be creative in how to use her spells to win.

Elyra had already used aura compression with the Runescar footwork and the two swordsmanship forms she could use at the moment.

She understood that to win, she needed to stop being stubborn and focus on finding the real Mireya among the illusions.

Fortunately for her, since Mireya was running low on mana, there was only one illusion in front of her, meaning the other one was the real one. But because she was focused only on one illusion, that illusion was the best she had formed since the beginning of the tournament.

Elyra still did not close her eyes like Raina, and instead focused all her senses to the extreme. She was looking at the two Mireyas in front of her with extreme focus.

It was at that moment that both Mireyas, with staff at hand, charged at Elyra, which surprised the other party. One was slightly faster than the other.

As the two Mireyas were closing in, Elyra needed to make a choice. She would either try to attack the one at the front or the back, or try to attack both at once. A mistake here might lead to a devastating counter-attack.

The two Mireyas were too close now, and Elyra needed to make a decision. She was thinking that the Mireya in front might be the real one, since it was something that didn’t look like she would do in the end, but it was a sort of gamble that Elyra felt Mireya might do.

Elyra gnashed her teeth as she gripped the handle of her sword even tighter, and she roared. "It doesn’t matter! A Runescar cuts everything!"

Her aura flared violently, the flames from her aura mantle looked like they were roaring as well, making the spectators shield their eyes. The stone beneath her feet cracked and glowed red-hot.

Across from her, both Mireyas lifted their staffs simultaneously. The air trembled as blades of wind came out from her final surge of mana. The final spell she used alongside her illusion was [Wind Cutter]

Elyra didn’t even flinch as the blades of wind hurtled toward her. The wind screamed past her cheeks, slicing a few strands of her hair, yet she only grinned.

It was time to go beyond her limit and use a technique she had been unsuccessful in using before.

[Runescar Swordsmanship, Third Form: Crimson Veil!]

Her sword blazed to life. Flames roared outward, twisting like a blooming lotus, and the air itself warped around her.

Elyra allowed a few of the [Wind Cutters] to hit her as she charged forward; her body looked like it was enveloped in a beautiful Crimson Veil.

It wasn’t all, but most of the [Wind Cutters] that were supposed to hit her had been devoured by her aura mantle that looked like a Crimson Veil.

This was a technique that compressed one’s aura mantle to an incredible degree that it destroys any form of mana or aura weaker than it before reaching the user.

Of course, this was not without any setbacks, as the user needed to use most of his or her aura to perform the technique. This Runescar technique burns away one’s stamina and aura very quickly, which was expected from a Runescar technique that focuses on burst attacks.

Mireya’s last gambit had failed as she looked at the charging Elyra. Her mana was almost drained, and her illusion disappeared. Yet, as she was about to be cut down by Elyra, she was not afraid but instead was enamored by the sight before her.

"Beautiful," Mireya whispered under her breath as Elyra cut her down.

The flames vanished a heartbeat later.

Elyra stood at the center of the stage, her sword lowered, her breathing ragged. The once-bright crimson aura around her flickered weakly before fading into embers.

A moment of silence filled the arena; there were no cheers, no words, just the sight of two exhausted prodigies frozen in the aftermath of their clash.

Then Mireya’s knees gave way. The illusionist fell to one knee, her staff clattering beside her. A thin trail of smoke rose from the edge of her singed robe, and blood came flowing out of the cut made by Elyra on her body.

It was a similar look to when Elyra defeated Evander Judicar before. Yet, despite the damage she received, Mireya’s lips still curved into a soft smile before falling down to the ground with a thud. She had lost consciousness.

The referee quickly raised his hand. "Winner! Elyra Runescar!"

The coliseum erupted. Cheers shook the ground, echoing against the stone walls. The name Elyra was shouted from hundreds of throats, followed by another round of applause for Mireya’s display of skill.

"Hahaha! As expected of my lovely daughter!" Duke Kaelvar, who was among the judges, clapped his hands as he laughed heartily.

"You have done well," Duchess Seraphina whispered as she looked at her daughter on the stage, lying on the ground unconscious.

***

Elyra, who was panting, her sight a little hazy, looked at her fallen opponent. "That was a good match."

Those were her last words before Elyra fainted as well. It was quite the sight to behold. Both the winner and the loser of the match were now lying unconscious on the ground.

Still, despite the bizarre sight, the audience did not stop clapping and cheering as they watched the two girls being brought off the stage by the medical staff.

The first semi-final match had ended, and the next was about to start.