The two figures stare at each other, both of them tense and everyone holds their breath. The air seemed to slow down and light began flickering as if even the light itself is unsure of the path this battle will take. Well all that I’ve said was to hype the situation up really, just simple silence wouldn’t make an engaging description.

“Start!” The referee shouted out, and immediately-

*Dash*

Rosia runs toward the priest, rather slowly than usual I might add relative to her other performance, probably because the priest will most likely take some time to attack.

“[Light Arrow]!” The priest chanted.

*Shoot*

And an arrow of light appeared, quickly aiming for Rosia running towards the priest. She quickly stops and takes a stance.

“[Shield of Light]!” She chanted in return.

*Block*

A shield of light manifested, blocking the arrow and standing strong still in front of Rosia. The priest looks a bit bewildered while the crowd much more so. Good thing she remembered to use chanting.

“She can use magic as well?” Someone muttered.

“Well considering who she hangs around with it shouldn’t come as a surprise” Someone muttered as if resigning to the ridiculous display of power she has witnessed throughout. 

“It’s holy magic as well” Someone else added. Holy magic is just something imaginary, which should technically became real with mana and how it works, but due to people correlating it with light magic it ended up not really doing anything, if people imagine it as something that doesn’t already exist it might have a slight effectiveness against demons, but even then it’s probably like a percent boost. Trying to slap an extra attribute to an element through the power of global cognition is flat out implausible, which is weird considering other things such a thing can do, but I’m not going to question it, it’s a complicated system as it is already.

Rosia stands there holding her sword with both of her hands, she looks at the priest while the shield stays in front of her, giving her a powerful defense his magic couldn’t possibly break, even the priest clearly understands the dilemma he’s in. The shield has no crack, it’s flawless and impenetrable if humans were to go against it, the powerful force field erecting and deflecting incoming attacks, and the scorching light of the shield akin to lasers. It’s such a simple spell yet so powerful, she could probably use it as a blunt weapon as well to be honest. Normally [Shield of Light] is but a forcefield, compared to other elemental shields it’s by far one of the weakest practically speaking, but with a large amount of mana and mastery of light magic Rosia turned it into something much more powerful than usual. Honestly I don’t like talking about how weak early-game light magic is considering it’s my element of choice, but unfortunately that’s just the fact of the matter, it’s flashy, but it’s not practical.

*Dash*

Rosia simply runs forward once again, with the shield still in front of her and no doubt will crash into the priest if he doesn’t do anything.

“[Smite]!” He chanted as a non-uniform mass of light tried to-

*Slam* 

Smash the shield coming towards the caster, but it does nothing as well, the shield remains flawless.

*Swirl* *Slam*

“Ugh!” In retaliation Rosia sends her shield forward and slams it into the priest. He cried out in pain and knocked back as a result, with the shield flying off to who-knows where.

“[L-Light Arrow]!” He quickly chanted realizing that the shield is no longer present.

*Shoot* *Swirl* *Block*

Unfortunately for him the shield came flying back to its original position and blocked the arrow of light. He grimaced at the situation at hand. Rosia’s defense can’t be penetrated, her shield moves to her will and it moves around at the speed no mere man can go against, so trying to find blind spot wouldn’t work either.

*Swirl* *Evade* *Swing* *Parry*

The second shield glide he managed to evade, but unfortunately Rosia is already in front of him as he does so, and has to desperately swing his staff as she swings her own sword towards him, and the force of the parry makes him lose balance and start to tumble.

*Kick*

“Gugh!” He lets out a cry in pain as Rosia instead of finishing him off right then and there kicked him a few meters away, as a way of delaying the fight. Still the priest is in bad shape, but he better not quit now, or something bad will happen to him, as if that won’t be the case already.

*Dispel*

Rosia’s shield dissipated, the crowd reacted in anticipation, no doubt thinking that her mana must’ve run out, when in reality Rosia simply realized having it on means there will be no hope for her opponent to keep going, therefore likely for them to forfeit, which would be anti-climatic and would set me in a bad mood, to put it lightly.

She looked slightly stressed. It’s clear that’s not due to the lack of defense, but because she knows I’ll be less than pleased if the match ends now, I wouldn’t go berserk or anything but I would probably vent it out on something, and I’m not the most well collected person out there. I never freaked out before to be fair, but I know Rosia isn’t so optimistic to think I wouldn’t do anything, even if it won’t affect her in the slightest since she’s my loved one and all that.

Everyone else probably thinks her expression is due to the ‘lack of mana’ when it’s very much not the case, still everyone no doubt thinks now the priest has a chance to win, as mana fatigue is quite a big problem, mana exists in everything and acts similarly to those small building block or whatever it’s called, just that it’s extremely flexible, and every being use it to some degree, not to survive but more of an add on.

*Dash* 

Rosia now runs in while the priest just finished processing her ‘fatigue’ and quickly moves into action.

“[Smite]!” He chanted as the undefined object of light rushes in.

*Block*

Rosia blocked it with her sword and acted like she had been pushed back slightly and losing her momentum, even if that means the priest should be able to keep the distance between the two there’s a problem even if one isn’t in the know of Rosia’s capability. First of all spells cost mana, and he’ll run out sooner or later, and secondly because there is no damage on her whatsoever it’s meaningless anyway, some people can figure that out no doubt, I think a few people in the crowd look at the sight with a more watchful and concerned eyes.

“[Smite]!” The priest chanted again.

*Block*

And once again blocked. No damage whatsoever.

“He’s holding her back now!” Someone commented.

“No, it’s no use even if he can keep the distance between them” Another retorted.

“Right, he’ll run out of mana soon no doubt” Another added.

*Leap*

Suddenly Rosia leaps high up in the air and towards the priest.

*Swing*

Aiming for the priest she swings as her body falls toward him.

“[Smite]!” He chanted.

*Block* *Land*

If he does that even a bit later he would lose right then and there, even if she meant for it to be a miss there will still be a chance for him to accidentally run into it if he’s panicking, unlikely considering his attitude so far but not impossible. Rosia got knocked back and almost off balance, but landed gracefully and only about two meters from the priest, not enough distance for him to chant spells and pushed her away, much to his chagrin.

*Swing* *Evade*

He barely dodged Rosia’s incoming attack, clearly holding back but the speed is still extremely impressive for humans, the priest can’t do anything except running away and gaining some distance, considering he didn’t parry the attack again it’s likely that he doesn’t believe his staff will hold off the attack a second time, that is no legendary sword but the craftsmanship is still nothing to scoff it, he make the right choice to not do so, if he use that staff as the conduct for his spells losing it would truly be the end. Of course I have no idea if he knows that magic can be used without a conduct or not, or if he’s aware of it but not a good enough caster to go on without the staff, or maybe he’s being a tad too cautious in one way or another.

*Dash* 

Rosia quickly runs toward him not giving him a breather, she can’t exactly just stand there like an idiot as it might come off as too suspicious, so she must stay in the offensive since it makes little sense to go in the other direction, people will become suspicious because of that.

“[Smite]!” He once again chanted sounding a tad more desperate.

*Block*

The spell is very loose in its form and purpose, making it a bit unpredictable if otherwise not very strong. He’s not a weak mage by humans standard so its flaws probably went unnoticed by some of the spectators. It’s fast and formed quickly like a sucker punch, but its strength isn’t something praiseworthy for the spells of its tier.

Rosia suddenly stops her dashing, standing still looking at the priest with eyes that could kill. Her stance is normal, just standing there with her arms down, one holding the greatsword.

The priest meanwhile looked exhausted, he probably reached his limits already and Rosia is aware of it. That was a bit disappointing honestly, I think if he doesn’t waste so much mana maybe he could pull a flashy spell or two.

“Priest. Is this truly all you have to offer?” Rosia asked with an observant gaze. Her tone indifferent and formal, she looks disappointed at the match that has unfolded.

“Unfortunately… yes” He said gasping for air. What a shame, I thought he could put up a bit more of a fight, well that’s just how it is I supposed, at least he didn’t give up due to cowardice or something. Well since he let me down something needed to be done I’d say.

Rosia jerked her head towards me and the priest followed suit. Is she expecting me to say something that maybe the guy should know? 

‘Your life will be in my hand soon’ I said in lips. He visibly flinched, so he can read lips. Well he might’ve misinterpreted it a bit, we’re long distance away, regardless it should be clear that I have plans for him. To be honest I didn’t think too far ahead, maybe I should ask Rosia or Kaa-san for some ideas later.

“Well? Give up then” Rosia said no longer looking at me but rather the exhausted priest. He turned to look at her and sighed.

“Very well. It’s my lost” He said, resigning himself to the obvious result.

“The match has ended!” The referee announced. Both of the participants walked out of the arena, and soon the last of the preliminary matches will start. Rosia walked back up to me, sitting all close and personal.

“Say, what plan do you have in mind? For the priest guy” I whispered.

“Well whatever my kind allowed I supposed, we’ll figure it all out later” She replied. I guess that’s how it’s going to be.

Two figures approached the arena. One is the nobleman related to the girl I know, another is the woman who is wild like a beast in combat, rather contrasting I’d say. Like a clash of ideologies, mentality, that sort of thing.

“Start!” The referee announced as both of them immediately-

*Dash* *Clash* *Parry* *Parry* *Block* *Evade*

Went in for a furious back and forth between two blade wielders. Yuuna’s brother have a much more composed stance and his swordsmanship shines through with a much more precise movement and stance, quickly changing his stance and angle as he detect the incoming attack, meanwhile the wild swordswoman use pure power and instinct, her stance can barely be called so, constantly shuffling back and forth at erratic phase, leaning toward her opponent with no consequences of the opponent trying to exploit the lack of clear organization in her attacks, she gets parried quickly many times and her erratic moments make Yuuna’s brother problem of dodging two swords much more manageable than it would be otherwise, however when it comes to raw power she has that advantage over him, calling her a swordswoman wouldn’t be the correct term, her natural fighting instinct and talent is clear as day, compromising for her lack of clear mind in such a scenario, of anything she’s a berserker, a mad warrior fighting with pure force and brutality one would expect them to be under some sort of questionable enhancement.

*Clash*

Both of them locked blades, the wild woman's eyes widened with clear intent of pushing herself further and overpowering Yuuna’s brother, who looked at the situation with clear distress if trying to keep his cool.

*Block*

The berserker quickly retracts the blades and swings them madly, Yuuna’s brother can only react by quickly holding his sword to block the attack, and even then he’s pushed back by the huge amount of force. He groaned no doubt in pain, he’s probably a little numb over blocking and parrying so many barrages of sword swings.

*Dash* 

The mad warrior quickly rushed in to close the gap made between the two.

“[Fireball]!” He chanted.

*Shoot* *Evade*

The berserker by instinct or fear-I don’t know pick your poison-immediately dodged the incoming ball of flames and lose her momentum.

*Dash* *Slash*

Yuuna’s brother seeing the opponent losing her stance, speed, and stability quickly rushed in himself and slash at his opponent. She only got injured slightly and ran away quickly, putting about six meters in terms of distance. She looks at her injury not in pain, but fury. I have no idea what this woman’s deal is but she’s definitely not the most stable out there.

“[Fireball]!” As if just realizing that he could’ve used the spells to his advantage this whole time Yuuna’s brother chanted once more.

*Shoot* *Evade*

The berserker evaded the incoming blast but still startled by the spell.

“Tch” Yuuna’s brother clicked his tongue as he-

*Dash*

Rushed in ready to attack her as she just recovered. He must’ve been a little miffed that two of his spells failed to do anything, mana is a precious resource in battle after all, and he wasted it, and he can’t afford to do it again.

*Parry*

Despite clearly not being in the best state of mind the berserker quickly parry the incoming attack.

*Parry* *Parry* *Evade* *Block* *Parry*

A continuous assault from both sides once again occurred, for untrained humans eyes their speed seems godly, when really it’s nothing too special in my eyes. Yuuna’s brother mainly tries to find an opening in her wild and unpredictable stance while the mad swordswoman tries to overpower her way through the barrages of attacks. Pretty darn savage, and her power is no slouch either, I wonder if… honestly doing too much of these and there might not be any living space in the castle!... who am I kidding there’s plenty of room in that monstrously sized castle.

*Kick*

“Ugh!” You know for a swordswoman her kick is hella strong, the last fight ended with it and now just a kick sends Yuuna’s brother hella back. Not looking good for the noble boy over there, sure he’s more skilled, but she got him beat in both raw instinct and talent, as well as power. Realistically the only way to beat her is through magic spells, and even then she managed to dodge the two sended at her. Also using the word ‘realistic’ with the word ‘magic’ together sounds so damn contradictory.

“[Blade of Flames]!” Now that’s one thing he could do, strengthen his power a little to match hers with added benefit of possibly disoriented her with the heat, though considering it’s not a particular intense flame I don’t think that’ll work out too well, still it's more consistent than hurling fireballs at least, since there’s no way she couldn’t came into contact with it as a melee fighter.

*Dash* *Parry* *Evade* *Parry*

He went in and the berserker’s instinct kicked in knowing full well exchanging blows with a flaming sword is a no go, so she tries to stay away from it, parry or dodge it altogether. Still her fear of magic certainty makes this fight way more doable than it should’ve been. It’s like finding the weakness of an otherwise insanely unfair boss, you kinda have to find out that weakness lest you will die every single time.

*Parry* Evade* *Evade* *Parry*

Continuing the exchange of blows, the mad swordswoman look more and more distressed, she can only go on the defensive, as otherwise she’ll get burned by the opponent’s blade, it’s not a particularly strong flame as I’ve already mentioned, but still something that need a slight amount of attention at the very least.

*Kick* *Evade*

She tried to go for another kick but Yuuna’s brother wisely realized that she’ll try the same trick again, and managed to dodge it in time, leaving the mad warrior vulnerable trying to regather her stance.

*Sweep*

At that moment, instead of continuing his sword assaults, he used his leg to trip his opponent, now the berserker can only look in bewilderment as she began falling down.

*Slash*

And unable to avoid the attack aiming at her as she’s falling, she took the full brunt of that attack and incapacitated. That was the end of this battle, certainly more intense since both sides are much more equal than the last two, the winner is very much not clear from the start. Good showing the two of you, if people at home allow it… Well say goodbye to everything here.

“The winner has been decided!” The referee announced.

Next up is the finale, and after that will be the greatest prank of all time. I call it a prank since I’m not really trying to do anything too harmful here, I think this can hardly be called atrocity or scheme or anything that extreme, but then again who am I to decide? These people will decide for themselves, with their blind eyes.