Catherine’s summoned sand dragon was large enough to occupy about half of the expansive arena. Hiss, its snort caused the sand on the arena floor to stir as if blown by the wind. Mikhail stood before it, a sword in hand, and watched it in momentary silence.
“How about it? Wouldn’t it be better to surrender here?”
Catherine spoke to Mikhail, her fingers extended forward. Her activated mana caused her dark hair to float slightly. Mikhail then adjusted his grip on his sword once more.
“What are you talking about?”
He then parted his lips with a look full of competitive spirit. The sand dragon in front of Catherine moved its massive head at Mikhail’s voice and gazed in his direction.
“It’s just starting to get interesting.”
Mikhail cautiously watched Catherine and the sand dragon before glancing at the spectator seats. It was where Adrian was sitting. Thanks to Adrian’s shining blond hair, it was fortunate that he could be found at once even amidst the many students. Mikhail could never forgive himself for surrendering pathetically in front of Adrian.
Hmm, Catherine watched Mikhail, who remained relaxed even before the sand dragon, and wore a peculiar smile.
“Alright, shall we quickly make up for the points we lost first?”
Catherine lightly moved her fingers. With that movement, the sand dragon raised its house-sized body and slammed its foot onto the arena floor with a thump! The dragon opened its enormous mouth and quickly moved towards Mikhail. Then, it snapped its large jaws shut as if to swallow him whole. Adrian, sitting in the spectator seats, heard the students gasp and hold their breath.
Mikhail, who had rolled to the side to avoid the sand dragon’s mouth, picked himself up. Without a moment to breathe, the dragon quickly changed course and reached out its arm towards Mikhail. Mikhail gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
“Try if you can!”
Swish! The sound of sand scattering filled the air as Mikhail’s sword strike connected with the sand dragon’s arm. The sand where the sword had passed crumbled away, only to return to its original form. So, it’s the same method as the sand soldiers? The sand-made summons created by Catherine could repair their wounds, but it took some time. Mikhail narrowed his eyes, pondering how to defeat this sand dragon.
“Mikhail!”
Someone called his name from the spectator seats. It was Adrian’s voice. Mikhail lifted his head as if suddenly awakened by the voice. The recovered dragon’s sharp claws were right in front of him.
Everything inside the circular arena came to a halt.
Tch, Mikhail clicked his tongue inwardly and quickly looked up. Pinyata was standing very close to Mikhail.
Adrian, having confirmed that time in the arena had stopped, slowly sat back in his seat.
“…….”
It’s not a war, just a match within the academy, so why did I do that?
All the students sitting in the spectator seats turned their gazes towards him at his involuntary shout.
He had been so engrossed in watching that he got carried away for a moment. Adrian scratched his cheek with a slightly embarrassed expression. Hans, sitting next to him, had an unusual look in his eyes.
“Yes! That’s a definite effective hit.”
The students in the spectator seats applauded at Pinyata’s judgment. Finally, an opponent had appeared for the best rookie of this martial arts tournament, who had never shown a weakness until now. In particular, Hans shouted loudly at that, “Catherine! Well done!”
“Then Catherine earns one point, bringing both participants to a tie!”
Mikhail’s sword was barely blocking the sand dragon’s claws, but with a little more force, it would graze Mikhail’s neck. Pinyata confirmed this and asked the same question he had asked Catherine a moment ago.
“Number 209, do you yield?”
“No.”
A cold voice echoed through the arena via Pinyata’s microphone. Pinyata said, “Alright. Then the match will resume in ten seconds,” and moved the platform back up above the arena. As soon as the time magic was lifted after ten seconds, Mikhail lowered his head as deeply as possible to avoid the claws.
Swoosh— A hot liquid flowed down his cheek and temple.
It’s obstructing his vision. Mikhail roughly wiped it away with his sleeve and took a breath. Then, he swung his sword again at the dragon’s claw flying towards him. With that, the claw, stained with Mikhail’s blood, clinked and fell to the ground.
Confirming this, Mikhail tightly closed his eyes in the middle of the arena. The sword blade was pointing towards the ground.
“……What?”
Catherine tilted her head at Mikhail’s sudden, unexpected action. What he was doing now was either some special swordsmanship Catherine didn’t know about… or it seemed like mana training. But why mana training now?
Catherine’s contemplation was brief. She didn’t know what kind of swordsmanship it was, but in any case, Mikhail was using a sword, and a sword couldn’t harm her sand summon. Catherine quickly moved the sand dragon to where Mikhail was standing and made it open its large mouth. Even during this time, Mikhail kept his eyes closed.
With this, another point! Just as the sand dragon was about to swallow Mikhail whole according to Catherine’s command, flash, Mikhail’s eyelids lifted, and his bright red eyes shone for a fleeting moment. But immediately after, he was swallowed by the sand dragon’s mouth, and Mikhail’s figure disappeared from view.
Catherine’s head snapped towards the platform where Pinyata was standing. He stood on the platform, shaking his head from side to side. Unlike Catherine, who was standing at the far end of the arena, there was something only visible to Pinyata, who was positioned in the air. Catherine tilted her head at Pinyata’s strange smile.
‘Why? Why isn’t he stopping it?’
It was then.
The sound of clear water flowing could be heard from somewhere. It was the moment Catherine’s gaze turned towards the sand dragon’s mouth. Psh, a lump of mud splattered and flowed down the sand dragon’s mouth. Starting with that, the dragon’s face slowly turned into mud and began to melt away.
The next moment, Mikhail’s unscathed face was revealed. He looked as if he were inside a large water droplet. Thump! As he lightly landed on the arena floor, the headless body of the sand dragon thrashed its legs before collapsing onto the arena floor with a loud thud!
“……I didn’t want to use magic until the very end.”
Mikhail grumbled softly. At his grumbling, a loud booing sound erupted from the Hounds, who had been silently watching the match. In stark contrast, the Ambers’ eyes sparkled with admiration for the prince’s amazing magical skills. Mikhail turned his back on the audience’s reaction and quickly kicked off the ground, leaping up to land in front of Catherine. There was no sand dragon or sand soldiers in front of her now.
Just as his sword blade flashed and reached Catherine’s neck, the flow of the arena once again came to an unnatural halt.
“That makes it two points. Number 38, do you yield?”
Catherine’s eyelashes fluttered at Pinyata’s question. Although time was currently stopped, the moment the time magic was lifted, that sword blade would inflict a fatal wound on her defenseless neck. She gritted her teeth as if in frustration, contemplating ways to escape Mikhail’s grasp. However, there was no viable option.
“……I yield.”
Catherine’s voice rang out clearly in the quiet arena. Mikhail, who had been concentrating on swinging his sword the moment the time magic was lifted, turned his gaze to confirm Catherine’s face as she admitted defeat.
He thought she would definitely continue. He inwardly smiled at Catherine’s surprisingly cool-headed judgment of the situation. If she had foolishly stopped the magic, she would have undoubtedly suffered a fatal injury, and a mage with that level of injury would obviously be unable to counterattack and would immediately lose the remaining point. Resuming the match here would be a waste of time for both of them.
“Then…….”
At Catherine’s declaration of surrender, everyone in the spectator seats anticipated Pinyata’s next words and quickly cheered.
“The long and arduous martial arts tournament has a winner!”
Catherine chuckled and grasped Mikhail’s hand. It was a shame not to have won first place in the martial arts tournament, but… well, second place was good enough.
Bang! A large firework shot up into the sky from the center of the arena, announcing the winner. The magically launched firework brightly illuminated the words ‘Mikhail Luce Inehart’ floating in the clear sky before scattering at some point. Afterwards, fireworks of various colors were launched several more times.
Against the backdrop of the fireworks, Pinyata quickly moved the platform, flying around the entire spectator seating area. Then, he stopped right next to Mikhail in the center of the arena and quickly continued speaking.
“To the winner, right now! The prize money of 5,740 Tilon has been deposited!”
Along with a clear melody, the number above Mikhail’s head rapidly increased. Then, it stopped at the prize money amount of 5,740 Tilon and shone brightly.
Waaah!
The students cheered. Some put their fingers in their mouths and whistled loudly, while others, seemingly overwhelmed by having witnessed such an amazing match with their own eyes, put their arms around each other’s shoulders.
Didn’t I tell you? I said I’d win!
Mikhail lifted his head with a face full of excitement.
There was only one person he wanted to share this feeling with at this moment. And he had invited that person to the main tournament for this very moment. Mikhail’s eyes flicked towards Adrian sitting in the spectator seats. Then, the now familiar shining blond hair filled Mikhail’s vision.
It was when Mikhail’s eyes twinkled as he stared intently at Adrian’s face. It was still bright, so he had to squint slightly to see his expression in the distant spectator seats. Mikhail, smiling brightly and lifting his head, straightened his posture in the arena.
Mikhail slowly furrowed his brow in that state.
“…….”
The expression on his face in the spectator seats was… surprisingly devoid of any emotion.
