Chapter 11: Magic Battle Tournament

Chapter 11:
Magic Battle Tournament

 

“HOOAAAHHH!”

Instantly, I punched out two people. Everyone else in this round seemed to be a magician, so after the signal to begin, they all started mumbling or chanting or whatever. Good for them, but they weren’t reciting fast enough. With the first two out of the way, I dashed over to knock out the remaining contestants. It wasn’t like I had a reason to wait for them to start firing their spells, you know?

“W-wow! This mysterious muscle man incapacitated everyone in an instant! It’s, um…Challenger Yuri!” The master of ceremonies looked pumped. “Is this the emergence of a true contender? Challenger Yuri passes to the advanced round!”

The master of ceremonies was getting all fired up. But me…?

I’d made it through the qualifiers, huh? Huh… That had seemed way too easy. Actually, you know what? It didn’t seem too easy, it just was! It wasn’t like my main motive was to entertain the spectators or anything, but since it was over so quickly and they didn’t understand what had happened, the crowd was murmuring darkly. Hopefully a worthier opponent would show up in the advanced round.

After the second match came the third, the fourth, so on. Filia’s name was called in the fifth round. As she headed to the center of the coliseum, the crystalleyez—some new-fangled magic crystals that could show moving pictures and the like—projected Filia’s face to the audience; the entire venue lost it.

“Whoa! And here we see a pretty little number with a beauty beyond compare! But come on, now, let’s remember that looks have nothing to do with battle!”

Not that the crowd cared. Filia’s looks really did far surpass any human’s. Speaking of Filia, she was staring down her opponents as if she couldn’t hear the crowd at all. Good concentration.

“Well then, fifth round! Leeeeeeet’s…begin!”

All seven contestants started charging their magic. A few seconds later, Filia was first to cast her spell. She hit a guy right off the bat and he fainted, which scared the remaining five into focusing on Filia. Well, it made sense—a textbook strategy is to take out your strongest opponent first.

“Our beauty is the main target now, and she’s in a real pickle! And…oh, what a magnificent dodge! She weaves through a storm of spells—her form, it’s like watching the Goddess of War herself!”

Filia evaded each of her opponents’ spells with effortless grace. Then she blasted the hell out of them with magic. What an incredible performance! I’d like to think I had something to do with her agility, thank you very much. I held my head high, proud of my pupil.

After roasting the final contestant with fire magic, Filia safely cleared the round.

“Marvelous! Challenger Filia! With that gorgeous, heart-pounding victory, you’re up for the advanced round!”

 

***

 

“Yo, good work,” I called out to Filia.

Filia let out a long, relieved sigh—pheeew! “Well I’ve achieved Rank C now, so I suppose I can relax for the rest,” she replied with a smile.

As far as I was concerned, the real fight was about to begin, but Filia didn’t care about that. Fair enough!

“You were really elegant out there. Great work.” I patted Filia on the shoulder.

When I did so, her body stiffened in surprise. “Huh? What’s the matter with you, Yuri? It’s kinda scary.”

“What is?”

“There’s no way you would know such a refined word as ‘elegant,’ Yuri. Ah, don’t tell me…you’re a doppelganger, aren’t you?” Filia shifted into a fighting stance, and I gave her a light thunk on the head.

“Owww! How brutish! You know I’m opposed to violence!” said Filia, squatting down while rubbing her head, just a little teary-eyed.

“The tournament isn’t over yet. Focus.”

“Okaaaaaay.” She really wasn’t motivated anymore, huh? It was a little refreshing, after seeing how driven she’d been in battle.

Once the qualifier matches were over, I was a little disappointed; no one had seemed powerful enough to care about. I’d just have to wait to see the seeded challengers in the advanced round.

“Alllllllll right, that concludes the qualifiers! We ask that you all please calm your bloodlust long enough for us to apply recovery magic to those lucky enough to pass into the advanced round!” announced the master of ceremonies.

Meanwhile, in the waiting hall, seven people dressed in white came through to check on us, one magician per patient. I refused their offer of healing—“I’m not injured, so there’s no need”—and hung out on the sofa. After everyone had been treated, the healers left the room, passing a petite young girl as she entered.

“Ah!”

When Filia saw the girl, she called out to her. A young girl with pale blue hair—Voltemia. I stayed where I was as I observed her.

When we first met Voltemia, I hadn’t felt much of anything from her. But now, here, I was picking up an underlying, unshakeable strength. Aura-wise, she felt like…four Grim Reapers at once? Now that’s what I’d been waiting for!

More people started entering the waiting hall then, one after another. The contestants for the advanced round had arrived. All of them had auras light-years beyond those from the qualifiers.

One of the people in this group, a man with a slender build, had a sword hanging from his waist. Was he a swordsman? Contrary to what his handsome actor face suggested, he projected an air of unmistakable power.

“What’s up with this?” the man sneered. “Sticking someone like me in the same waiting hall as the insects? Tsk, what an insult.” He spread his legs wide apart as he took up a full half of the sofa, leaning his weight into it.

Ugh. His face and behavior really didn’t match. The venue staff quietly approached the grumbling, dissatisfied man.

“My most sincere apologies, sir, but individual waiting rooms will be available for participants engaged in the semifinals and onward. We humbly thank you for your understanding.”

“Oh, I understand. Even though I’m the runner-up from last year’s tournament—c’mon, you’ve got to know Leonir Vennet, right?—I’m not treated any different from anyone else then, is that it?”

“I’m afraid so,” said the staff member, bowing.

Leonir’s veins bulged with rage. “Agh, this is making my stress go through the goddamn roof! None of ya’s showin’ me proper respect. Well, fine! Have it your way, all of you. When we get into the ring, how about I kill all of ya? Don’t worry, I’ll treat you average bugs allll the same, mwa ha ha!” Leonir kicked his legs up onto the table and cackled, his actor-handsome mouth hanging wide open.

After he had his little laugh, he leaned forward.

“Oh ho? Looky here, who’s this pretty little number? Veeeeery nice. I wanna fight her.”

Filia’s cheeks twitched and she leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Ugh, I suppose this revolting creep is talking about me, isn’t he? I’d rather keep as far away from him as possible, Yuri. Um…Yuri? Are you listening?”

But her words hadn’t reached me. The moment I saw Leonir, my heart started jackhammering in my chest. My heart was beating so hard, thumping and throbbing with such intensity, that it hurt, like it wanted to burst outta my chest and tackle Leonir head-on!

It was the best. This guy seemed strong as hell!

I mean, his behavior was awful, but so what? He was strong! I could have real fun with someone strong! A wide smile crept up on my face as I basked in the atmosphere of being around such powerful people. I’d never felt such a mighty, overwhelming presence in my life! And among those there, I sensed that two of them, Voltemia and Leonir, were especially outstanding. Nice! This was exactly why I’d wanted to come to this city.

More proof that fighting was the best!

“Hey, Yuri, are you listening? Yuuuriiii?”

“Ah, I wanna hurry up and fight already!”

“Yuri, are you—” Filia glanced around “—are you high or something? We don’t have time for this right now! Wipe that lunatic look off your face and focus!”

“Only thing I’m high on is hot-blooded adventure. I’m gettin’ fired up! Come on, Filia, get fired up!”

“And just when I think a weird, dangerous creep waltzed right in, I remember that I came here with one,” muttered Filia. She let out a long sigh. I barely noticed: I was just grateful to end up in this once-in-a-lifetime tournament!

 

***

 

The matchups for the advanced rounds were decided by a drawing by the master of ceremonies.

“Aaaaaaare you ready, ladybugs and gentlemen? For this first match, we have Challenger Chorikko versus Challenger Biifun! Both challengers, to the coliseum!”

We were on the fifth match now, and so far everyone was pretty strong. Even so, Voltemia and Leonir stood apart. It was a shame I wouldn’t be able to fight either of them until the drawings were done again and we got to the final four, but that just meant I had something to look forward to.

Oh, but what if they got paired up and fought against each other? Or no, what if before I fought Leonir, Filia did well in the quarterfinals and fought him first?

Which one of them would win? That was a difficult question. Kinda exciting!

“And now for the sixth match! Challenger Filia versus Challenger Doffol! Both challengers, to the coliseum!”

Just as I was thinking that, Filia got called.

“Okay, I’m heading on out,” said Filia. From that point, I watched their fight on the crystalleyez in the waiting hall. Once the MC introduced both fighters to the crowd, the match kicked off.

Filia started with fire magic. Her opponent dodged her first blast, but Filia read his movements and launched a follow-up, driving him into a corner and cutting off his escape. He took a direct hit from her magic. From that point on, Filia dominated.

Fire, water, lightning, wind. Filia launched an assault of consecutive spells so intense it almost made me feel sorry for the poor guy. After that display, Filia advanced to the second round. Filia, seen up on the crystalleyez, made a “V” sign and the audience lost it. Even though she didn’t seem all that motivated, she still won. That was pretty huge.

“For the seventh match, we have Challenger Doch versus Challenger Yuri! Both challengers, to the coliseum!”

Filia and I passed each other while I was on my way in.

“Filia is victorious!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, I saw.”

“An entrancing performance, don’t you think?”

I glanced at a spot on the ground.

“How cruel, ignoring me just after my victory,” she said, sniffling.

“Well, I was just thinking, it’d be great if I could fight you myself.”

“Huh? I’d hate that. You’re terrifying in a fight, Yuri.” Filia looked serious and shook her head vigorously. Did she hate the idea that much?

“Ah, yeah…” Seemed like as good enough a response as any. With that, I made my way into the coliseum.

From there in the center, I could see everyone in the audience, every single detail.

“Alllllll right, folks! Now, for our seventh match, witness a furious fight between Challenger Doch, a master of earth magic, and Challenger Yuri, the inhuman master of muscles who passed the qualifiers without using any attack magic!”

“Inhuman master of muscles,” eh? The master of ceremonies here had a pretty good eye. I guess that got it across pretty well!

Oh, uh, it was time for me to focus more on my opponent instead of the commentary, huh?

“Match seven, begin!”

I drew in close right away and walloped the guy. The end. Sigh.

“And just like that, it’s done! Talk about over in a flash! Challenger Yuri advances yet again!”

With all the first round matches out of the way, we moved on to the second round. Since there was a healer offering recovery magic after every round, you really didn’t have to worry about puting your all into every match.

The matches proceeded steadily in this way until finally we were down to the top eight. The next match was a direct showdown between Filia and Leonir.

“Kill everyone, all of them…” Leonir snarled to himself as he headed out to the arena. “Kill, kill, kill ’em all! Eee hee hee!”

Filia glared at him as he was walked out of the waiting hall a step ahead of her, monologuing to himself.

“Can you believe that? He really said ‘kill ’em all,’ Yuri! I really, really don’t like this man. Please switch with me? Pretty please, Yuri?” said Filia, tears in her eyes.

Was this one of those times when I should give my partner a nice firm push on the back? I got up close to Filia’s face and spoke to her gently. “Do your best, Filia. Even if everyone else is rooting for Leonir, even if everybody else wants to see you get completely wrecked by him—just totally embarrassed in front of thousands and thousands of people—I’ll still cheer for you.”

“That’s…certainly an image. C-come now, who would root against me? I mean, this is me we’re talking about, right? Beloved fan-favorite Filia the elegant, brilliant, incredibly attractive elf. I can’t imagine anyone on the planet who would cheer against me,” said Filia, proudly puffing out her chest that, even after all that muscle training, still wasn’t much to puff.

But I had to respect that self-confidence.

“Just give it your best shot, okay? If you just do that, you’ll be fine.”

After saying this, I gently pushed Filia forward. Even if I rooted for her, she and Leonir were about equal in strength. It was all going to come down to attitude.

“If I must, I must, but I’m not particularly excited about fighting that cackling psychopath.” Filia trudged out of the waiting room, her steps sluggish and heavy.

Hmm. Was she going to be okay?

“And now, the third match of the quarterfinals: Challenger Leonir versus Challenger Filia! Both challengers, to the coliseum!”

The opening of the battle flashed onto the crystalleyez. The two of them stood on opposite ends of the coliseum arena.

“Oh, it’s you, huh? Cute little face ya got there, girl. Can’t take my eyes offa it. Just my favorite kinda face, the kind I just looove to smash to a bloody, black and blue pulp!”

“Oh, do you? How sad for you, to miss out on your disgusting little hobby when I annihilate you.”

Filia gave him a stony look and waved him off like he was a dust mote. Where had all that terror gone? I suppose Filia could change her attitude in just a moment, and she was a talented fighter to boot.

Leonir looked furious after being called out in front of a whole arena. Man, when it came to teasing people, Filia really was the master.

“Sparks are flying, and the fight hasn’t even started yet! In one corner, we have Challenger Leonir, master of the magic sword. In the other, Challenger Filia, who has captivated the crowd with her exquisite battle technique! Which challenger will the Goddess of Victory smile upon this day? Quarterfinal match…begin!”

With the audience howling and ready to go, the master of ceremonies declared the start.

 

***

 

Leonir drew his sword—but why? There was too much distance; no way was Filia in range. The MC had called him the master of a magic sword or something, so maybe he had some kind of trick up his sleeve? Since I hadn’t seen Leonir fight yet—an accident of the match order had kept me away—I wasn’t sure of anything. Maybe he could shoot some kind of magic from his blade?

“Don’t you dare think you can defy me!” he growled, swinging his sword through the empty air. Wind magic blasted from the tip of the blade, straight at Filia. It was almost too obvious. Filia jumped into the air and dodged.

Leonir took advantage of that opening and rushed her, swinging his sword. But Filia rained down lightning magic from point-blank range before he could get a single hit in.

“Guuuuh?”

“Voice of a toad,” said Filia as she pointed at him and unleashed a volley of flames.

“A blast of blaze! Is there nothing more Challenger Leonir can do? W-wait a minute, hold on! Challenger Leonir is gathering up the flames! Is this his special ability?”

Cackling, Leonir drew Filia’s fire into his own body. “Ee hee hee hee hee! Did you think you won? Too bad, girly! That was my ability, ‘Flame Eater.’ Flame has no effect on me!”

Leonir swung his sword once again and another slash of wind cut across the battlefield. Filia threw up a wall of water magic just in time.

This wasn’t good. On an objective level, Filia and Leonir were just about equal, power-wise. But if Filia’s fire magic didn’t work against him and she couldn’t find a way to compensate…no, Filia had gone through special training with me. She’d pull through.

I held my breath in anticipation, watching the battle rage, but I couldn’t do anything! All I could do was watch.

“Coming in hot, a steaming order of sweet revenge!” Leonir blasted Filia with wind magic, but it was different this time—flames roiled in the weaponized gust. Filia dodged, but the flames singed her clothing.

Filia glanced down. Assessed the damage. And, in a low, icy voice that sent shivers through the whole arena, she growled: “I’ll have you know that these were the clothes Yuri picked out for me. You really dared to hurt them. You really went there. This is all or nothing, now. It’s over for you.”

Filia closed her eyes and unleashed a power deep within her body, slowly moving both hands downwards. I hadn’t seen that stance before—was this her hidden trump card or something?

Leonir leaped at the opportunity to catch her while she was still and swung his sword, blasting more wind magic. Filia didn’t show any sign of trying to dodge.

The attack hit her head-on, cutting into her cheek. Filia didn’t even flinch.

“The hell? You little knife-eared freak, are you trying to get hit? Are you mocking me? THENTAKE
THISANDTHISANDTHIS!” Leonir wildly swung his sword, blasting wind magic at Filia with reckless abandon.

And Filia took every single attack. She bled. She bruised. Her clothes ripped, leaving great swathes of her skin exposed. That bastard Leonir, he was hitting Filia even when she wasn’t fighting back. Leonir looked down at her—she was battered and beaten, and she looked like…like a rag doll.

And he laughed.

“Mwa ha ha! Wook at the wittle cutie pie! Now that’s a look that suits ya. Don’t worry, I got one more shot for ya. Tell me, d’ya think the healers can fix every scar, or do you think I could stump ’em with this one? Let’s find out”

Leonir swung his sword wide. A blast of wind, larger than anything that came before, hurtled toward Filia. It was a nightmare.

Even so, even now, Filia only murmured. “That hurt. Let me show you how much.”

In the next instant, a terrible tornado of vicious winds roared to life around Filia, cancelling out Leonir’s own wind magic. Filia’s raging gusts swirled and wove together until they formed a gigantic humanoid figure—thirty feet high, standing before her. It radiated pure magic.

“Wha?” Leonir collapsed to the ground in shock, as if his will had snapped in two.

Filia was covered in wounds from head to toe. Her chest heaved, she reeled and stumbled, but still she stood.

Do your best!

She had to, I knew she could! Watching through the crystalleyez, I cheered Filia on nonstop like I was in prayer, and if I kept it up, I could keep her up.

Meanwhile, Leonir—weak-kneed and near paralyzed with fear—shrunk back, putting distance between himself and Filia.

“Wh-what the hell is that? That’s against the rules!”

“This is the wrath of the Wind God. Do me a favor, Leonir: die quietly.”

The Wind God lurched at Leonir and swung a fist of pure gale. Leonir somehow managed to swing his sword, but his attack withered in the face of the Wind God’s might. Then, in the instant before the Wind God’s fist struck Leonir—

Filia collapsed to the ground as if a puppetteer had cut her strings, and the Wind God dissipated.

“Um, it looks like…” The MC cleared his throat. “Because Challenger Filia has lost consciousness, victory belongs to Challenger Leonir? I guess?”

The MC sounded bewildered. A sparse number of people in the audience clapped hesitantly. No one seemed too excited about the official outcome.

I barely heard; I was shoving past competitors to run to Filia the second she was brought back to the waiting hall. “Hey! Filia, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

“Yuri…” She blinked up at me, exhausted. A healer had brought her back to consciousness. She laughed weakly and smiled, but her hands…they were trembling. “I really did give it my best effort but…it just wasn’t enough, was it? I’m sorry.”

Something deep at the bottom of my heart began to burn. With Filia’s talents, even if she ended up losing to Leonir, it would have been a closer contest if she’d managed to keep her cool. But she hadn’t, because of her clothes…because I’d picked them out for her, and because they’d been burned. Even though I should’ve been analyzing her techniques—or Leonir’s—right now, I couldn’t think of anything but how upset she’d been.

“I’ll avenge you. Leave it to me.”

“And you call me dramatic. You don’t have to avenge anybody. Just win this tournament, okay? Just win.”

“That was my plan. I’ll pick out another outfit for you later.”

Filia’s eyes were red, but she wasn’t shedding any tears. She was holding back so she wouldn’t dampen my spirits. That wouldn’t do, not when I had so much fighting left to do. Yet when I saw her thin mouth, a strange new thought crossed my mind.

So far in this tournament, I’d been fighting for my sake—but what if I fought for Filia’s sake instead? Yeah. That was it. I was gonna deliver the world’s most righetous pummeling to that meat-nugget Leonir, and I was going to do it for Filia.

“Now, for the fourth match, Challenger Yuri versus Challenger Coltpupu! Both fighters, to the coliseum!”

With a brand-new sense of purpose, I strode out to the coliseum arena. The master of ceremonies started reading off something or other, but I really wasn’t listening at all.

Didn’t care, wanted to fight.

“All right, ladybirds and gentlebuds! Let the fourth match…begin!”

I drew in close and threw a punch, but my fist met air.

Huh. Up above?

“Challenger Coltpupu used wind magic to make his body soar! What an evasion! If Challenger Yuri can’t use magic, he might have a challenging fight ahead of him!”

Yeah, as if.

I launched my Pistol Punch. My opponent fell to the ground like a swatted fly.

“What in the world is this? It seems as though Challenger Yuri can use wind magic too! Talk about powerful!”

Like everyone else in the world, the master of ceremonies mistook my muscle magic for wind magic, but whatever. Next opponent, please. Chop, chop.

“W-well, folks, that’s all, that’s the end of the quarterfinals! Next up, the semifinals! Oh, but before that, how ’bout we give our furious fighters a little time to kick back before kicking each other, eh? And don’t forget, snacks are a quarter off during intermission! Wait, they aren’t? Ha! Maybe pick some up anyway, eh?”

The master of ceremonies laughed, the audience laughed.

What a freakin’ hoot.

While I waited back in the quiet, peaceful waiting hall, I was surprised with myself. I was getting too heated up. Getting hotter wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if the master of ceremonies’ words weren’t even reaching my ears, that was no good. I was having trouble even keeping aware of my surroundings. Had to calm down, somehow. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, shutting out the ambient noise of the world and focusing on my inner muscles.

After a moment, I felt something soft wrap around my hand—no, it was someone taking my hand in theirs. When I opened my eyes, I saw Filia leaning over me with a concerned look. Thanks to those healer magicians, it looked like I wouldn’t need to worry about her injuries anymore.

“Don’t surprise me like that,” I said, my voice colder than I’d intended.

“I’m sorry. Is it okay if I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure…”

“I’m going to sit next to you,” she replied, and she did. Filia fidgeted for a bit, kicking her legs back and forth, tucking her hair back behind her ears and the like, then opened her mouth to speak. “You know, you’re different right now, Yuri. Don’t you think so?”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” She paused. “Scary, even. Yuri…you seem almost bloodthirsty. Like you’re brooding, maybe even tormenting yourself. Thoroughly un-Yuri-like. So, you see, I have to tell you something. Something important.”

Filia squeezed my hand. She looked me straight in the eye, very close to me now, and I could see the anxiety in her.

“I might have been overconfident for a moment, but I’m okay now. I’m fine, do you hear me? You don’t need to fight for my sake. It’s much better if you fight for you, and for what you want.”

Filia swallowed, took a breath, and continued in a gentle voice. “If you were your usual self in that match just now, you would’ve ended the fight in the first move. That’s what makes you strong, Yuri.…you fight because you want to. Because you need to. For you. So please, fight for yourself.”

I was…making her worry about me? Huh. Now that I thought about it, until now, I really had only been fighting for my own pleasure. Maybe I wasn’t used to fighting for other people…or, no, maybe I wasn’t even suited for doing things for others. After all, it’s only natural that you can’t go all out when you’re doing something you’re not suited for.

I never imagined Filia would be the one to teach me that. I faced her with a light smile—I didn’t want her to be afraid anymore. “Thanks, Filia. I’m all right, really. You do pay close attention to me, huh?”

“Eh? That’s…well, obviously I do. What kind of partner would I be if I just wandered around oblivious all the time?” Filia’s face reddened. Just a little.

Whatever she meant by that last bit, she was right. I knew why I was fighting now: for me. Thanks to Filia, it was all going to be all right.