One's Own Magic

The atmosphere in the tournament waiting room was thick. Luckily, that was Cozy’s favorite type of environment to be in. Today was the day that the tournament began, and everybody was anxious to see what was going to happen next.

She saw people doing physical training, and she did some herself too. However, she was less of a physical fighter than some other people, so she focused on sharpening her mind. The tournament was only single elimination, so they just had one chance of victory.

She observed as the other competitors fought the golems for practice. The room around them was lit up by glowing crystals, and she could feel the magic radiating off of them. Adelyn sat next to her, looking at her book. While Ed sat to the other side, seemingly arguing with something.

“I wonder when Teddie is going to get back to us with that stuff about a cheater,” Cozy said. “That clears up a path for us, at least.”

“He said something about vampires, right? What’s up with that?” Adelyn asked.

“Vampires? Right, you wouldn’t know,” Ed said. “They’re people that draw power from the moon, but not as a gift… it’s like they’re stealing from it. They drink blood and are crazy strong, even dipping into their essence is considered a forbidden art because that power does not belong to you.”

“I see… so essentially they’re monsters like that?” Adelyn asked.

“I suppose so,” Cozy said. “If you put it that way. A lot of people in Lunasa believe that the Moon gives them the gift of life… vampires steal lives and turn it into their own power. So, it’s messy when it conflicts with religion.”

“Seems like a big deal, then. I hope Teddie can do something about it,” Adelyn responded.

As if on cue, the messy boy and his stuffed bear arrived onto the scene, out of breath.

“H-Hey! It didn’t start yet, right?” Teddie asked.

“No, not yet,” Cozy said. “What did the government say to you?”

“Uh… it… it’s not great. They said that they would need more… hard proof but they would keep an eye out and work on it…”

Bureaucracy. That was the one thought that entered Cozy’s mind as she rolled her eyes. She probably should have expected such a response and not gotten too hopeful.

“But, what does it mean for the cheater then?” Adelyn asked.

“It means we need to keep an eye out for them and catch them ourselves, if we expose whoever the cheater is then there is no way they’d move on in bracket,” Ed said.

“Yeah, I agree,” Cozy said. “Keep an eye out for red tints in their eyes, or weird feats of magical or physical strength… or sharpened teeth. I don’t know how much this Vampiric Strength potion correlates with Vampirism, but it’s gotta be close.”

As they discussed, a pair of tall guards walked into the room looking around.

“Cosette. Edward. Your matches are ready. Cosette will come with me, and Edward will come with him.”

“Ah, it’s our time!” Cozy said. “Teddie, you keep looking. We’ve got some matches to crush!”

The two of them walked alongside their respective guard, heading over to a pair of very large arenas.

“You all know the rules. First to fall or first to be out of bounds is the loser. Medics will be on standby, so do not kill your opponent instantly. Normal injuries can be treated.” The guard said. “Understood?”

“Understood. Good luck, Cozy,” Ed said.

“Same to you, I’m expecting to be facing you in the future,” Cozy winked back.

“Hah, maybe I’ll make it and you won’t,” Ed responded playfully.

“We’ll see.”

And thus, the two of them entered their separate arenas.

***

There were a lot more people watching than Cozy expected. She supposed that this city used combat for recreation. Even still, she had not actually expected the stadium to be this packed.

She stood on the sandy ground, looking at all of the people seated in the crowd. With a deep breath, she put on her usual smile. A great appearance in front of a crowd.

“Welcome to the first competitor, the merchant with an attitude… it’s Cosette!”

After the announcer introduced her, and she did a curtsy, her next opponent was introduced. A boy with white hair and purple eyes, around the same age as her, wearing a white cloak, not too dissimilar to Ed.

If Cozy had to guess, he was some kind of nobility. Not that it mattered, however. Everyone was the same in this chamber of battle.

It also seemed unlikely that this boy was the cheater, due to Teddie’s description about the voice coming from the girls’ hot spring.

“Next, please give it up for… Luka!”

The crowd gave their due respects, as the two competitors sized each other up. The boy seemed to carry a sword alongside him, but Cozy felt a little bit of magic coming off of his person.

Magic swordsman, a classic combo.

“Good fight?"

“Good fight,” Cozy said, before she pointed her fingers at the ground. Her eyes glowed black as multiple crystals appeared underneath the boy to strike from below! However, he was sturdy and managed to only get knocked back by the attack, retaining his balance and landing on his feet.

“You’re dirty,” Luka responded, before coming with an attack of his own. His sword cut through the crystals that Cozy formed, then the crystals themselves turned into shards that shot out towards her!

My own crystals? Cozy thought, before raising her arm and forming a wall to block the incoming storm. She could hear the sound of the projectiles clashing against her own wall. She breathed with a sigh of relief, before barely dodging a sword stab that came straight through the crystal!

“Huh?” Cozy said, wondering why her opponent stabbed into the wall. Before, suddenly the wall began moving backwards at full force! She got pushed across the arena by the crystal wall. This almost causing her to be pushed out of bounds!

“Shoot!” Cozy exclaimed, creating her glowing wings. The girl attempted to push back against the wall by flapping. It was too strong. So instead she lifted herself just over the wall with her wings and flipped down… barely missing the height limit.

As she was flipping down, the boy tried to slash at her. Each slash created a glowing projectile that flew at Cozy. To cover herself with a safe landing, Cozy pointed her finger at each slash.

“Pew, pew, pew!”

And cancelled out each shot with her own energy blasts, giving her room to maneuver.

“Almost got me there, but I think I know your trick. You revealed it a bit early,” Cozy said with a smug smirk. She figured that this boy’s ability was to turn magic against its user, which is why her crystals that lingered around could be used against her.

She wasn’t sure how this ability interacted with energy that dissipated quickly, like her bullets. If she had to make a guess, if he managed to slash it then it would fall under his control. So she would have to catch him off-guard again, or use something that couldn’t be controlled.

She was lucky that this was her matchup, and not Adelyn’s or Ed’s. They would match up far worse against this one. Regardless, she came up with something.

Cozy stomped on the ground again. Her crystalline magic flowed through the ground and pierced through the ground. As a response, Luka stabbed into the ground and immediately took control of the crystal. Then, just before he began breaking it down, a pink blast struck him in the cheek.

“AGH-!” Luka groaned as he rolled from the powerful sudden hit, but didn’t fall off of his feet yet. Managing to pierce his sword in the ground to maintain balance.

However, that did not mean Cozy was letting up just yet! A large crystal came out of the ground and into her hand. She would proceed to use it to try and strike Luka in the stomach like a bat. The goal was to send him fully off his feet and tumbling off to the ground.

She ran forward… spun around… swung… and she… missed?

The crystal she was holding was cut in half by the hand of Luka’s sword, quite cleanly. Before, it broke down in her hands.

“You really should think these through, it’s better than just showing off,” Luka said.

Of course. If he could take control of magic, then using a weapon created from magic would be foolish. She also wasn’t expecting him to take the sword out of the ground as fast as he did. Maybe it was because she put too much gravitas in her swing in the first place. Regardless, she was in trouble here.

The crystals that were once her own weapon began firing back at her. After taking two hits to the stomach, her wings glowed and allowed her to retreat… managing to dodge the attacks coming her way.

Just at the edge of the border. Luka came to approach her slowly with his sword drawn. He was moving slowly, cautious of any tricks that Cozy might pull. He was right, as Cozy still had one last trick up her sleeve.

Her Love Magic. If she could pacify him with that, then she would win the fight instantly. She just hasn’t gotten an opportunity to use it yet. So, she thought about the situation… considering how bad it was for her.

If she were to use her crystals, there was a high likelihood that they would be taken over and used against her. She could take the gamble on her energy blasts, but she didn’t want those to be sent straight back.

Challenging him physically also didn’t seem viable. He had a sword and she did not. If she made a weapon, it would be taken over. However, the sword seemed to be the conduit for his ability. Perhaps if she took that away, then she would have an opening to use Love Magic.

But how, Cosette? That was the thought that kept on going through her mind. She kept on thinking of strategies, with no execution. She had already fumbled her advantageous position earlier, and that was frustrating her.

For now, her number one goal should be to escape. And she finally thought of a way to do so.

With a hand gesture, a large crystal wall formed behind her. Using her magic, she attempted to move that crystal wall… pushing her directly towards Luka head-on! A reversal of what Luka tried to do to her earlier! She stuck out her left hand, with a ball of energy forming in it to perform a magical strike!

She knew that basic charge would not work. So, she tried something different. This wall pushing her straight Luka imposed a difficult conundrum onto him. That was Cozy’s win condition in this fight.

Luka looked at Cozy, and seemingly made his choice. He stuck his sword out, and then stabbed Cozy straight through the shoulder.

“AAAGH-” Cozy shouted. The crowd gasped. That hurt, and she wasn’t expecting him to pick that option. The tournament was pretty explicitly non-lethal, and she didn’t think anyone would have the guts to try such a thing. But… it didn’t matter, because she had won.

The sword in her shoulder stopped the momentum of the wall behind her… because she stopped controlling the wall at this moment. It no longer moved forward… and the sword was lodge inside her shoulder.

But, her right hand reached up, and she managed to grasp Luka’s head.

“That was… dirty… looks like you can play dirty too,” Cozy said, before a glow appeared in her hand. Love Magic had taken hold, and put into a temporary state of peace and serenity, Luka dropped his sword and fell to the ground.

That was it, Cozy had won her first match. It was way more difficult than she expected, but regardless… She won.

The crowd erupted. Though she made a few mistakes, she managed to just pull it out. Now, she hoped Edward and Adelyn could both do the same as well.

She fell to her knees, breathing heavily. The pain of the sword in her shoulder hurt a lot. It hurt way more than she expected, now that everything was over. The medics came rushing to the stage, surrounding her and covering her with magic.

Hopefully, she could get it out of her shoulder before the next match.