From the first match of the genius young lady to my fourth match, all the first-round matches of the main tournament had ended.
The next match was between the genius young lady and my older brother.
Both of them had exceptional skills.
Considering their abilities up to this point, it was bound to be a great battle.
However… I believed the genius young lady would win.
While I still didn’t fully grasp the full extent of her abilities, from watching her performances in the preliminaries and the main tournament, everything had seemed like mere play to her so far.
In other words, she hadn’t even shown half of her strength.
On the other hand, since I had often sparred with my brother, I had a full understanding of his abilities.
Of course, the outcome of the match was uncertain.
But I was convinced that the genius young lady would win.
…Sorry, brother.
*** (Third-person perspective) ***
“Thank you for waiting, everyone. The preliminaries have ended… and the first-round matches of the main tournament are over. Now, it’s time for the semifinals! Advancing to the semifinals are these four contestants! The genius young lady, Arcelia Oriondor! The embodiment of the storm, Rowen Reynostia! The Ice Nobleman, Hakurei Arcadion! The battle maniac, Kraze Reynostia!”
After a short break, the semifinals were finally about to begin.
This magical combat tournament was now in its final stages, nearing its end.
Semifinals, and then the finals.
The people in the audience, eager to see even more amazing battles, listened to the announcer’s words with excited expressions.
“First up is the first semifinal match! The genius young lady Arcelia Oriondor versus the embodiment of the storm, Rowen Reynostia! Both of them demonstrated overwhelming power in the preliminaries and their first-round matches of the main tournament!”
Arcelia and Rowen were waiting at the entrances of separate battle arenas.
They had not entered yet.
“Will the renowned genius young lady Arcelia Oriondor claim victory, or will Rowen Reynostia, as the eldest son, show his pride and win? We can’t predict anything! Both are strong, and both are extraordinary! Now… let them enter!”
With the cue from the announcer, Arcelia and Rowen entered the battlefield.
They entered from opposite sides and walked straight towards each other, stopping once they were a certain distance apart.
“The genius young lady Arcelia Oriondor! The embodiment of the storm, Rowen Reynostia! There’s no need for words anymore!”
Both combatants had demonstrated overwhelming strength.
The extraordinary atmosphere heightened the excitement of the entire audience.
“Semifinal Match 1—Begin!”
Finally, the match began.
“Now then… what should I do…”
Rowen muttered lightly as he pondered.
More than ten seconds had passed since the match started, yet Arcelia, standing before him, did not move.
Was she observing? Or perhaps underestimating him?
“Well, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but… I’ll be taking this win.”
Rowen’s expression shifted to a serious one, and he activated the magic power within his body.
He selected the magic to use—envisioned the whole spell—and established the formula.
“—Willeitorga Bahal, Storm Spear Charge.”
In an instant, a massive spear of wind appeared before Rowen.
Compression, compression, compression—
The wind spear, compressed to an extreme degree, was raging like a storm within.
Typically, wind-based magic had low visibility.
However, the highly compressed Willeitorga Bahal was clearly visible even to the audience.
“—Go.”
With a soft flutter, Rowen’s hair and clothes stirred—and the spear shot forth at a speed too fast to track with the eye.
If it hit head-on, it wouldn’t just shatter the magical barriers; it would smash through the wall behind her.
The audience held their breath.
Yet Arcelia remained unfazed, standing motionless where she was.
Everyone envisioned Arcelia being blown away.
But the next moment, the straight-flying Willeitorga Bahal collided with something right in front of Arcelia.
It was a barrier.
A barrier that Arcelia had deployed.
The overwhelming hardness of the barrier neutralized the impact of Willeitorga Bahal.
Only the remaining wind passed through, gently swaying Arcelia’s long blonde hair.
“Not bad.”
“……”
Their eyes met.
The silence from earlier vanished as the two began their exchange of magic.
“Rowen Reynostia’s Willeitorga Bahal was easily blocked by Arcelia Oriondor! In the next moment, a magical duel has erupted! It’s intense! Extremely intense! This is what we expected from the semifinals! This is magic combat! The excitement makes you clench your fists!”
Rowen constantly generated wind blades around himself.
Without pause, he sent them flying towards Arcelia.
“Hmm… it’s not breaking down…”
Watching Arcelia, who had deployed a hemispherical barrier to protect herself from the wind blades, Rowen muttered.
Just how much magic power and how advanced her control over it must be to create such a barrier?
“Oh, I’d better defend myself.”
Noticing the incoming spear of flames, Rowen countered with his wind blades.
Magic was essentially a mass of magical power.
If you applied the right amount of power and hit the right spot, it was possible to cancel out another spell.
But if things kept going like this, there would be no end in sight.
Rowen decided to make his move.
“—Wiggjaine Wind Slash Barrage.”
Unlike the weaker wind blades from before, Wiggjaine was a powerful spell that unleashed a series of wind slashes.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes… six in total.
They cut through the air, gouged the ground, and hurtled toward Arcelia.
Arcelia dispelled the flame spear she had conjured earlier and poured even more magical power into her barrier.
A moment later, six sharp sounds reverberated through the arena.
The magic Rowen had unleashed was immensely powerful, but… Arcelia had perfectly blocked it.
“I’m not done yet!”
As if he had anticipated this, Rowen immediately unleashed another round of magic.
Wind blades, wind spears, wind blasts…
He used a variety of spells.
If this had been any of his previous opponents, the match would already be over.
But his opponent was Arcelia.
The genius young lady… and the one Kraze had become obsessed with.
“I can’t afford to lose here!”
What burned in Rowen’s heart was jealousy towards Arcelia.
Or perhaps—it was a sense of crisis, a fear that the younger brother he loved might be taken by some stranger.
Furthermore, there was the expectation that his younger brother would see him looking cool.
Beneath the refined exterior of a gentleman, such ordinary desires were hidden.
If Kraze knew about this, he would surely be exasperated, thinking, He’s still the same pervert.
“Why do you look so bored!”
As he launched into close combat, honed from his sparring sessions with Kraze, Rowen questioned Arcelia.
“When my little brother fights, he has a beaming smile! You saw it, didn’t you? Isn’t he adorable?”
He hurled wind slashes from his blind spots, shattering the ground and scattering debris at Arcelia, aiming to break her barrier with a kick.
This all happened in just a few seconds.
Arcelia responded by thrusting spikes of rock from the ground, causing Rowen to retreat slightly.
“You…”
“Hmm?”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Wha…?”
Rowen stood there in shock, momentarily freezing.
Whether by chance or intent, Arcelia launched a rock spike from the ground, aiming directly at Rowen’s stomach.
“Guh… that was close…”
Just in time, Rowen erected a barrier to defend himself.
“I need to win this tournament. I can’t fulfill your desires,” Arcelia murmured softly, stepping forward with a heavy right foot.
“Gah…!”
What appeared was a series of spiked mounds.
From Arcelia’s front, rock spikes shot up in a fan-shaped formation.
“Too fast…”
Rowen trembled in fear.
There had been no prior sign of magic power or vibration.
Because of this, he was slow to react, and his magical barrier now bore damage.
“I hate bothersome things,” Arcelia muttered coldly, as she extended her hand forward without a change in expression.
Magic power swirled, and even the audience could feel it.
“—Alpession Saika: Scorching Rock World.”
“—Wigrest Saika: Violent Wind World!”
Both unleashed their ultimate spells, transforming the battlefield.
One was a hellish combination of flames and rock, while the other was a raging storm.
Though their magic negated each other due to being of the same type…
“Our elements are mismatched…”
Rowen’s face turned bitter as he watched his magic gradually being overwhelmed.
In terms of elemental affinity, certain attributes counter others.
Water beats fire, rock beats wind… and so on.
Right now, Rowen wielded wind while Arcelia controlled rock and fire.
The advantage was Arcelia’s.
“I have no choice…”
Rowen steeled himself, weaving together his next spell.
“—Willaitre Tourga Bahal Enda: Barrage of Storm Spears!”
Compression, compression, compression—release.
Using almost all of his remaining magic power, he unleashed his spell.
One strike, two strikes… six strikes.
The storm spears pierced holes through the Scorching Rock World that Arcelia had created.
At the same time, Rowen wrapped himself in wind and dashed through the gap he had made.
Just as he expected, he reached Arcelia’s side.
“—Wigbalga: Wind Cannon!”
He fired his magic at Arcelia’s exposed side.
But he didn’t stop there.
“—Wigmalga: Wind Dancer!”
A powerful direct strike and multiple wind blades from various directions.
Even if Arcelia reacted in time, it would be impossible to block this many spells simultaneously, even for her.
It’s inevitable that her response would be delayed to an attack coming from outside her field of awareness.
“I told you I hate bothersome things.”
“Wha…!?”
Crack!
The sound of a barrier shattering echoed as Rowen was blown backward.
In the place where Rowen had stood, rock spikes were now protruding from the ground.
They must have been what hit him.
But Rowen couldn’t understand how Arcelia had managed to react in time.
“…How did you know?”
Sitting on the ground, Rowen asked with a serious expression, abandoning his usual calm demeanor.
Arcelia, as composed as ever, responded.
“I just made you come to me because chasing you around would’ve been a hassle. That’s all.”
With that, Arcelia calmly turned and began walking toward the exit.
“Haha… A total defeat, huh…”
As the announcement of the match’s end and the cheers of the audience echoed through the arena, Rowen muttered to himself.
“Alright then…”
He slowly stood up and exhaled deeply.
“Well, it can’t be helped… After all, my opponent was the genius lady… and Kraze will get to fight in the finals. It’s probably for the best that I lost.”
Receiving applause from the crowd, Rowen made his way toward the exit.
He entered the hallway that led from the arena to the waiting room.
Suddenly, his steps stopped.
“…Damn it… Damn it…”
With his left hand clenched into a fist, Rowen pressed it against the wall, lowering his head as he whispered softly.
“Damn it…”
His right hand, which had been hanging at his side, was also clenched tightly into a fist.
“I lost… I lost…! To a girl younger than me…!”
Thud! He slammed his fist into the wall with force.
His shoulders trembled slightly with frustration and anger.
“If only I had trained harder… If only I had pushed myself to the limit…!”
Rowen had trained, of course.
Every day, he made sure to practice diligently.
But somewhere along the line, he had become complacent.
He possessed more than enough skill for the eldest son of a marquess family, so there was no compelling reason to push himself any further.
“Kraze, on the other hand, trained relentlessly…”
Kraze had been training day and night with an almost terrifying intensity.
Far more than Rowen ever had.
“Damn it!”
Rowen’s voice grew louder as his face twisted in frustration.
He had been too lax, too weak, utterly uncool.
“I’ll never lose again…!”
In the dimly lit hallway, Rowen’s eyes flickered with renewed determination.
For the first time, he tasted the bitter sting of defeat.
For the first time, he realized his own complacency.
For the first time, he faced someone overwhelmingly superior.
From now on, Rowen would no longer let his guard down.
He would never hold back again.
Rowen Reynositia, the eldest son of the Reynositia marquess family, was on the verge of a great transformation, quietly but profoundly.
