I had Belethier at the edge of my blade. The bout was over. He only needed to accept defeat.

He released his weapon, placed his hand on the ground and began circulating brown mana. More earth magic.

Several columns of brown mana formed beneath me. I needed to move. Now!

I circulated mana into my legs and jumped. I jumped higher than I have ever jumped before. At least five feet in the air and just enough to miss the jagged stone spikes which shot from the ground.

Those would have impaled me. He was playing for keeps. Had I been taking this fight too cavalierly?

The spikes crumbled as Belethier made his way to his feet.

“You haven’t beaten me yet ‘hero’,” he spat.

He said as much, but Belethier stumbled forward. The injury to his foot would be a great hindrance to his movements. He would need to focus more on magic and that was far easier to see. Especially now that it was getting darker.

The glow that people had in Praecantio actually made it easier to see people at night. At least close up people stood out and I imagined their use of magic would be more obvious too.

A blue glow began to envelop the tip of Belethier’s sword. It was more ice. This time however he began swinging his sword around launching shards of ice toward me. Luckily they were infused with mana or I would have had difficulty seeing them.

I hit the shards with my shield and with my sword. Desperately holding off the onslaught.

“That’s remarkable,” I heard Perceval comment.

Perhaps his grandson was using some highly difficult magic? No it was far too easy to defend against. Unless he saw something I didn’t.

“How is he…?” I heard someone else say.

All I knew was that Belethier had me pinned down. If I moved the shards would travel into the crowd. And there is no guarantee they would be aimed at someone who could defend against them.

Why was he being so reckless.

I watched carefully expecting the shards might be a distraction of some kind. What I saw was the yellow glow of light mana building up in his other hand. He must have placed the shield down. Then the shards were to draw my attention as he prepared to blind me.

Wait. If he used light magic again then he would be closing his eyes again to avoid being blinded as well. That was my chance!

Switching my shield to my right hand and my sword into my left was not easy while blocking the ice shards, but I managed.

I just need to wait for the right…there!

The shards stopped; his hand burst into light.

But I was ready. I had my shield positioned to protect my eyes.

“Argh!” I heard the crowd scream.

I rushed the mage knight. This would have to be the deciding charge. I circulated mana into my arms and legs. Willing them to increase their strength as I prepared to bash the knight with my shield.

By the time he opened his eyes, it was too late. I was too close. With all my might I smashed my shield into his person. His sword went flying, his shield fell to the ground. He was hurled backward. Striking the ground fairly hard.

It was over.

Belethier fell unconscious.

Adekin was speechless. It wasn’t until the Prince checked Belethier, that Adekin proclaimed me victorious. I had won.

Bella ran over to me. She immediately went to heal my wounds.

“No,” I stopped her, “Wichard should be tended to first.”

She smiled as she moved to treat Sir Belethier’s injuries.

Alea came over to me. She bowed, giving a formal apology. “I…I am sorry for Wichard’s behavior,” she said. “Rumors or not, his actions were unwarranted.”

“No,” I said. “From his perspective his actions were justified, but I would like if you might clarify these rumors. People seem to think that we are…um…involved.”

She nodded and moved to her brother’s side.

Next was Adekin. “I…I don’t believe it,” he stammered. “How? How did you manage to beat Sir Belethier?”

“Well it’s not that hard when he telegraphs his moves so greatly.”

“Telegraphs?” The prince said.

“Yeah…oh sorry it means to show one’s intentions,” I clarified.

“In what way was he telegraphing?” Bella asked as she finished with her healing magic. “I didn’t see anything obvious? Did you Prince Philip?”

“Well there were some things obvious to me, yes, but Elliot you are…ahem you are not as well trained. That you saw something so subtle as obvious is very impressive.”

How was that impressive. The mana was obvious wasn’t it?

Bella moved as Belethier Regained consciousness.

“What? What happened?”

“You lost,” the prince stated flatly before getting loud enough for everyone to hear. “the hero Elliot Norad is the victor.”

The crowd remained silent.

I don’t know what I was expecting. Cheers maybe? But there was nothing but whispers. Of course in their perspective I was the villain of this battle, right?

Bella moved to me. She began healing me. “Congratulations,” she said quietly.

“This contest is over,” the prince announced. “You may all return to your homes or your stations. You should return to the guest quarters as well.”

Bella and I walked through a part in the crowd.

“That really was impressive,” she said as we reached the door to the guest house. “How did you do that?”

“I told you he was telegraphing.”

“But there was nothing obvious. We’ve basically been training with weapons for the same amount of time and I didn’t see anything. It was like you could read every move he was going to make. And then when you started blocking that ice in the dark. That was amazing.”

“But his mana was so obvious,” I said. “How is it you didn’t see that?”

“His mana?” she repeated. “…Wait you could see his mana! How?”

“Of course, I can. It’s in everything in Praecantio.”

“Sure but that doesn’t mean you should just be able to see magic. That’s not normal you know!”

If that’s the case, then why could I? Did Thoth give me abilities too? Abilities those in Praecantio can’t see? No that doesn’t make any sense. Surely he would have told me, right? But maybe it was a side effect of him using his magic to ‘charge me up.’

I just didn’t know.