4-8: I will never stop!

 Cloe’s Point of View

Everyone’s eyes were on us, I wasn’t sure if they were thinking more about my opponent or my clothes, so I decided not to think about them.

“Kazu was right, I can move very well.”

I took some bullets out of my pocket and prepared for the fight. I'd never seen Maria fight, but based on the information we'd gathered, she needs to hit me with something to use her best attacks, so I can win if I move throughout the fight.

“Both can start…now!”

Immediately after he said that, a strange black cloud approached me too fast, so I used a mana shotgun to block it.

“So we’re starting with everything…”

To get a good chance to hit her I started running in her direction. She prepared to block something but instead of attacking I moved to the side.

“Explosive roadway!”

She ran away when noticed that I was leaving a bomb’s trace where I was walking. Her mana visualization must be really good if she can notice what they are so quickly…

“Fire arrow!”

She shot an arrow in my direction so I quickly shot with my shotgun, destroying the arrow. A long fight would make me lose all my bullets, so I prepared my next move while running.

“You’re not gonna approach more?”

“I’m not the type who likes close combat.”

“Leonard was right, you waste your talent just like him.”

“Sadly I’m not a talented one.”

What I was doing was ready, so I threw it at her. She attacked it, thinking it was just a regular bomb, but I covered my ears and closed my eyes, prepared for what was going to happen.

“Flash!”

A strong sound filled the place accompanied by a huge light. That was an upgraded version of the flashbang that I did with Kazu’s help.

“Take that!”

The attack was successful, so she must have been blind and hard of hearing. I took the opportunity to get close and shoot her at close range... but then something hit me in the eyes.

“Wha-.”

“Nightmare!”

My sight blurred for a while, but I was able to see after two seconds. She attacked me with a useless spell?

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to see me…”

“I saw you covering your ears so I did the same. I can barely see, but I can hear you.”

“Then I must use the same attack again.”

I was about to prepare a second flashbang, but suddenly a shadow figure appeared in front of me. It looked like a reaper.

“A summon?!”

I shot at it, but he didn’t flinch. Instead, he moved a scythe at an extreme speed, cutting off my right arm.

“Gah!”

“Fire balls!”

Just for reflex I created a barrier that cushioned the attack, protecting myself from burn.

“Ugh…”

I touched the place where my arm was supposed to be. My fingers felt like I was touching something, but I was totally sure I didn’t have anything there.

“I see…So this is your famous illusion magic.”

“That’s right. Have you ever read about the suggestion and the damage?”

“You're talking about that thing where if you're hypnotized into thinking you're on fire you might get a burn?”

“My magic does something similar. No matter how much you touch your arm, your brain is convinced it was cut off.”

“This could be a problem…”

I tried to use my right arm to create a gun, but I couldn’t even do that.

“Cut again!”

I ran away from the reaper and tried to shoot Maria from a distance, but when I did it, the bullet went through her.

“So you’re not even in there…”

“Do you think I will stay in the same place?”

Even her voice sounded like she was just in the place where I shot. I have more mana than a normal person, but even I couldn’t manage to use a big number of bombs.

“What I could do…”

“You should stop trying, you already lost the moment you decided to specialize in that kind of magic.”

Fireballs appeared from various directions, but I was only able to realize which ones were real the moment I received them, and when that happened she had already moved from her original position.

“You're trying to achieve an impossible goal, if you stopped there and started trying something else you could defeat me very easily.”

“What do you know about my life?!”

“I investigated some things and deducted the rest…I was in that situation too, I really thought I could be at the level of someone better than me…”

“Don’t compare us!”

Just for despair, I started charging a mana gun and spun while shot. That made her illusion move a little, but I immediately ran out of bullets in the weapon, I could only do that trick two or three times more.

“If you stop doing this, we can help you! I don't think you understand what we're offering. We want to make you a great magician!”

“I already know that.”

“Then why are you doing this?! We’re not gonna make you abandon things like your status, belongings or actual friends besides Thomas! Are you in love with him or something?!”

“It grosses me that you suggest that!”

I tried to repeat the trick, but once again she dodged the bullets.

“Just explain it, why are you rejecting this?!”

“Look, one of the main reasons is that Kazu is my childhood friend, so abandoning him would be a little sad.”

“If that’s the problem you could convince Leonard to let you talk with him at least a little!”

“At least let me finish. One of the reasons is that I appreciate him, but the other reason is that I wanna be satisfied.”

“Satisfied?”

I thought the confusion would give me a chance to reach her, but the trick failed a third time.

“When I discovered his talent I hated him for being that strong just for being him, I hated myself for being so weak, I hated my family for making me think that I was a prodigy and not just someone who happened to have good education, I hated the world for being this unfair. I literally hated everything…But when I grew up, I was a little thankful…”

“...Why?”

“I have someone that makes me push my limits and at the same time gives me a goal. Even when he’s naturally best in magic, that just means I need to try even more. He’s better than me, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be better. In fact, I would be totally unsatisfied if I knew I surrendered without trying everything.”

“...”

“This is the path I chose, and I’m happy with this path.”

One last time, I tried the only thing I was able to do, but I ran out of bullets in the middle, giving her the chance to hit me with a fire projectile.

The attack had hit perfectly, so she probably already regained her vision.

“Ugh!”

“Then I can only defeat you…”

“...”

Before I could notice it, the reaper appeared again and cut off my other arm taking advantage of my situation. I know it is not a real cut, but it still hurts…

“I don’t wanna cut off your head, that could cause a lot of mental damage…Just surrender already…”

She had a big advantage, I couldn’t even move properly due to the damage. But I didn’t feel like I was going to lose…I felt…fired up.

“...Heh…”

“...That was a laugh…?”

“Sorry, it's just…I can’t believe this…”

“What?”

“You know? Not even Kazu let me in such a bad situation, this is horrifying for me.”

“Then-.”

“That only means one thing…If I defeat you here…My future fights against Kazu will be easy compared to this!”

I prepared a lot of mana and visualized a magic formula. I didn't know if it would work, but I wanted to try it!

“Burst!”

A huge explosion covered the place and pushed me and Maria. Of course, she immediately recognized what I just did.

“A familiar summon?! I thought you weren’t able to do it!”

“I hate to admit this, but that idiot showed me a really cute comrade!”

Slowly the thing I summoned became visible, and even when it was tiny, was what I wanted.

“...What is that?”

“Hehe. This is the monster that causes terror in war, it’s called, tank!”

It wasn’t bigger than a teddy bear, but the shape made it really intimidating. And thanks to his metallic body, very resistant.

“Let’s prove a new technique, blast!”

A giant projectile was shot in Maria’s direction, and she barely was able to dodge it, but she couldn’t do anything when it exploded after touching the ground.

“Gah!”

“That’s how it feels!”

“You just had luck!”

She searched for a good place to attack, but then noticed something.

“What the-.”

It didn’t matter where she moved, the tank was pointing in her direction.

“How did you discover where I am?!”
“I didn’t, he did it.”

One of the things Kazu explained to me about his previous world was that some targets couldn’t be located with the sight, but a way to detect them was looking for the temperature of their bodies. Even when my eyes and ears are lying to me, she can’t control her temperature, at least not in this situation.

“Ugh…Cut off her legs!”

Before the reaper could reach me, I ran with all my might and let the tank attack Maria. My priority was to dodge and prepare for a finishing blow.

“Bomber!”

The tank fired many shells into the sky, causing a shower of explosions. While she tried to dodge them, I thrashed around trying to find a bullet. I only needed one.

“C’mon…”

“Now!”

Suddenly, the reaper appeared in front of me and chopped my legs.

“...Right…is an illusion, you can choose the place where it appears…”

“Once your familiar disappears you will be considered unable to fight. I will win this!”

“...”

I thought she was right, but then I looked to my left.

“...I hate this…”

The tank now shooted to a lot of directions, making Maria able to run away in only one.

“What are you even trying to-.”

Before she could even finish, a bullet hit her head, making her fall.

“W-Wha….”

She was confused about how I did that, and probably she was even more confused after seeing a mana gun in my mouth.

“(Winning just for luck…I guess I can accept it…).”

When I fell, a bullet popped out of my pocket, so I caught it with my mouth and then made a mana gun that I could use with my tongue.

“Uhhh…”

The impact was enough to knock her out, and I confirmed when I noticed that my arms and legs were back.

“...”

The crowd was silent for a few seconds, but then they shouted at the top of their lungs and the student who introduced us excitedly announced the result.

“The first fight is over! The winner is, the representative of the challengers, Cloe!”