20

Sion walks onto the platform and faces down his opponent, Glenten. Compared to the average person, Glenten is tall, and packed full of powerful lean muscles. However, Sion still stands above him. Glenten wears a dark green shirt, light pants, and holds a glaive in front of his body. His long, angular face is framed by pale green hair.

Before needing to scold Scima for what he had done, Sion had learned what Glenten had done during his match from Anima. According to her, in a single burst he reached his opponent, and in just one strike he won his match. Sion is already in his range, then. Sion remains vigil, not lowering his defense for even a moment, preparing for whatever attack might be coming. Glenten starts to try to circle around towards Sion. Sion also begins to circle, creating a perpetually moving stalemate.

Above them, in the spectator seats, Linea and Headmaster Mirus watch the matches. Linea looks towards the old headmaster, sensing that no quick action will soon begin.

“This is quite a welcome departure after that. Master, will you punish him? Scima, I mean.” Headmaster Mirus turns to her.

“I will not.”

“But why, Master?”

“When we are the ones to sanction violence, it is up to us to stop it before it goes too far. Although I know you don’t trust him, Sir Rebello is the one to make that decision right now. And so there is no disciplinary action needed as of yet.”

“Master, he relishes in others getting hurt.”

“Pardon, Linea, but who are you talking about right now?”

“Rebello Faegen.”

“Even still, it would be improper for me to step in as the situation currently stands.”

“Very well, Master.” Linea turns her attention to the unchanged battlefield, watching Sion and Glenten slowly circle the ring. “Master, this is very different from a duel between mages. Do you know why?”

“Have you not been watching your classmates’ duels?” Linea seems somewhat ashamed of what she is to admit to him.

“I have, Master, but… only the ones that involve magic.” Headmaster Mirus gives a soft, gentle chuckle.

“I see. So that part of you still hasn’t changed after all. If you want to understand this duel, then I recommend you ask Sir Rebello. He is far better versed in these sorts of battles than I.” Linea looks annoyed for a moment, then returns to a neutral expression.

“Very well, Master. I’ll try.” Linea stands up and jumps. She rises high into the air, then glides gently down towards Rebello. When she lands, she calls out to him. “Rebello Faegen,” she looks him up and down, noting his clear irritation and sobriety, “oh good, you’re still sober.” He side-eyes her.

“No thanks to you, little lady.” Rebello grabs his flask, but Linea shoots it out of his hand with a small beam of magic before he can drink anything.

“Tell me, why are they simply circling each other like that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, little Miss Archmage.”

“I would. It’s nothing like how mages fight.” Rebello looks at her, and sees the genuine curiosity mixed in with her typically unclouded disdain for him.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. If I had to guess, they’re both scared of the possibility of being outclassed. First off, in the brat, er… Or rather, in Sion’s case… He doesn’t know how fast Glenten can go, or how much power he might be packing. At the current moment, Glenten is staying back and acting wary, which you can take as meaning that this is a bad range for him. Sion is maintaining the distance so that he doesn’t enter a more effective range of Glenten’s. Glenten, meanwhile, as I’m sure even you realize, is already at a good distance for that opening strike of his. However, after watching Sion’s physical prowess in his first match, and surely also after having to face down a giant like that, Glenten isn’t confident that his opening strike will win him the match. Sion is a real physical monster, so it’s scary to extend so far with a single attack if you don’t know if your speed advantage and range advantage will actually help. Ironically though, Sion himself is probably scared of that opener, so it might be good for Glenten to put a little more pressure on him. Well, to sum it up, they’re both waiting for the other to slip up.”

“I see. So this circling is like the volleys of magic barrages?”

“Sure.”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Glenten suddenly shoots forward, ending the standoff. By the time anyone realized, he was already poised to attack. However, Sion, through sheer instinct, saw through the moment his magic activated. By the time Glenten had moved across the platform, Sion was already moving to defend himself. Glenten thrusts with his glaive, the full force of his momentum flowing through it. Sion is one step faster, and grabs the shaft of the glaive. It stops right then, and Sion holds it in place. Linea looks at Rebello.

“Did something change? Why did he choose to attack?”

“No… I think that was just impatience. It’s a shame too, because he might lose right here because of it.”

Sion pulls the glaive in his direction as he throws a punch towards Glenten’s stomach. Although he feels a firm collision, Sion knows he didn’t hit Glenten’s body. Suddenly, strong winds start to blow out from where Sion hit, a small shield made right in front of Glenten’s stomach. Glenten lets go of his glaive and lets himself be blown away back to the other side of the arena without sustaining any damage. Sion passes the glaive into his dominant hand. Rebello continues his commentary.

“That was a good defensive move from Glenten, but he’s still at a massive disadvantage. With Sion both being able to react to his approaches and now having such a giant reach advantage, I just can’t see a way Glenten might get in now, especially since he’ll lose his patience first.”

Sion shifts his arm back, then quickly throws the glaive straight ahead. It flies across the platform, aimed right towards its owner. Glenten drops down to avoid it, startled. He has just enough presence of mind to remember to stop the sudden projectile. The winds slow the glaive to a stop, gently dropping it onto the ground beside Glenten.

As Glenten takes hold of his weapon once more, Sion is already upon him. Sion tries to bring his heel down onto Glenten. Glenten raises his glaive, catching Sion’s foot with the shaft, stopping the attack. As the force transfers into him, Glenten shudders.

Glenten lifts the shaft of his glaive to knock Sion off balance and make him fall backwards. As he gets Sion off of him, Glenten fixes his grip on his glaive and rises, attempting a powerful rising slash against Sion in his vulnerable state. However, Sion is far more coordinated than Glenten had imagined, and he had flipped backwards, out of range of the glaive, and returned to a strong stance.

Sion reaches under Glenten’s stretched out glaive, landing a strong strike against his chest. Glenten gets knocked back towards the edge of the platform. He teeters over it, before a strong burst of wind zips him around Sion in a large arc. Sion turns to once again face him, his back now to the edge.

Glenten dashes forward, propelled by the wind, and does another quick thrust at Sion. Sion dodges it, but cannot seize control of the glaive quick enough. Glenten spins the glaive in his hands and smoothly transitions into a slash. Sion steps back and dodges the slash entirely, but finds himself in a new disadvantaged state. With Glenten’s superior speed and reach, he more totally controls the space around Sion, making the only direction Sion has available to move safely backwards, closer towards the edge and to a loss. Glenten stands there with his glaive outstretched, already looking triumphant.

“You were a worthy foe. Will you surrender simply? I have no desire to hurt you anymore than I must, unlike that savage.” Sion had been able to put Scima out of his mind for the match up until this point.

“I won’t lose to him. Don’t get in my way.” Although he knows he should have a massive advantage, for just a moment Glenten feels their situations are reversed. For just a moment Sion feels far too overwhelming.

“Very well then. I’ll make this quick.”

Glenten readies his glaive and thrusts forward. At that same moment, Sion threw a single punch, leaning forward heavily. Glenten almost hesitates, but presses onward with confidence knowing that Sion lies at the very edge of his glaive’s range, outside the range of even his long limbs. However, Sion’s sudden lunge forward threw off Glenten’s aim. His glaive only makes a shallow cut against Sion’s side. Sion doesn’t flinch.

Glenten tries to pull back and ready another attack. Before he can, he feels something hard and fast slam into his stomach. He glances down and sees wispy blue lights growing out from Sion’s wrist, like a second fist. Glenten buckles at the force of the blow, letting Sion pick him up and carry him over his shoulder. Sion walks to the edge of the platform and drops Glenten out of the ring, just as Glenten regains the strength to resist.

Sion steps off the platform as Rebello announces him the winner. Sion walks to him, and by virtue of proximity, to Linea. Sion looks at Rebello, his hand covering the bleeding wound on his side.

“Rebello Faegen, what should I do about this cut?”

“Well, brat—” Linea cuts him off before he can give a proper answer.

“I’ll heal it. Step aside with me.” Linea looks curious as she brings Sion to a quieter spot. Sion takes his hand off the wound to let her heal it. Sion feels a mysterious sensation filling the cut, nothing like the healing magic he’s felt in the past. Even the way the magic involved looks is different.

“What is this magic?”

“It’s a secret. And that’s not what I’ve brought you here for. You possess Soul Magic, correct?” Sion is surprised she figured it out from just the single strike, but has no reason to hide it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I see. It really is quite an interesting form of magic. Neither my master nor I can use it. You fight with only your fists and an enigmatic magic. You’re quite a strange priest.” Although Linea hadn’t meant anything deeper and suspected nothing, how close she came to the truth is discomforting to Sion, and he decides he needs to get himself out of this conversation.

“Thank you for healing me, but I need to prepare for the next match.” Linea finishes healing, somewhat disappointed.

“Very well. I’ll leave you be.” Linea jumps up and returns to Headmaster Mirus in a few excited hops through the air. She reaches him, excited to discuss Soul Magic, just as Scima and Tenka begin their duel.