THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

Three minutes later, I have won and go back following the teacher who brought us to the stage. There were no more noisy shouts or screams from the people. If only they could stay like that.

Anyway, when we enter the restroom, there is a priest already waiting for me.

"Good morning Sir, I will be in charge of healing your wounds."

It's a woman, the same height as Rebecca. Her face is weird though, there is a burn scar on it that even the veil she has put on her head cannot hide completely. It must have burned even her throat because a voice sounded a little weird.

"Okay."

I sit and she comes then heals my leg..

"I must also warn you that I am not in charge of your Angas management. In case you have an Angas depletion, you will have to forfeit."

"Because you can normally help with that?" I don't think I ever heard of a method to recharge your Angas energy. Though I can easily do it by absorbing crystals.

"Of course, by offering a prayer to Meetia, we heal not only the body but the soul as well."

"Right." I don't think you will be able to in my case then.

The priestess stands up and goes to her initial position. She is going to stay here?

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, let the fourth group fight, BEGIN!!"

***

As expected Thando won his fight as well. Meaning that I will fight him either in the semi-finals or a the finals.

"It is time. Let's go." The teacher signals me to go though. So I will fight first in the semi-finals.

"Good luck. May Meetia be with you."

The priestess offers me her blessing before I leave but sadly for her, I don't think Meetia has ever helped me with anything.

"Ladies and gentlemen!! Are you ready?! The first fight of the semi-finals is about to begin!! And what would have been better than fight for the ages to remember to make you get up from your seats?!!"

As the presenter introduces the fight, I arrive at the entrance and find Germinia's brother waiting as well. So you are my opponent, huh.

As I stand next to him, he doesn't say a thing and we both start walking, entering the stage under the shouts of the audience.

"NOTHING!!"

"Exactly!! Let us welcome legends then!!"

"Kyaa!!"

"Star of Mercuria, look over here!!"

"Look!! The lord of Swords has brought his two swords!!"

Yeah, though he looks a bit fancy right now with two swords on his waist, I did notice that this guy has two swords on him as well. We position on the stage, facing each other. Then right as the presenter was about to speaks…

"On the left side, we h-"

"YOU CAN DO IT, KEVIN!" A single voice resounds, more powerful than all the others. In fact, it was powerful enough for the whole coliseum to calm down and look in the direction where the voice came from.

Farner...Farner Saint Axelandria, who didn't think her voice would be powerful enough to calm a whole coliseum, is already hiding her face using her sister's body. Though reluctant, Roxcia is still hiding her the best she can.

"Would you look at that, Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem one of the participants already has the goddess blessing. How lucky."

"Ahaha!"

The presenter manages to make the people laugh about it then goes back to his introduction.

"On the left side then! We have the shining one, standing at the top of the Mercuria to protect it: The very Star of Mercuria himself!"

"Kya!!"

"Go! Star of Mercuria!! Go! Go! Go!!"

"And on the right side, the top of the young talents all across Schamerin, the only one to become a named warrior before he celebrates his tenth birthday, his swords have brought countless people to their knees already: The lord of swords!!"

"You can-"

Before the people can utter any kind of encouragements, the guy releases his aura and as if it was a signal, everyone shuts up.

"Can we start already? This is getting boring." You are an eager one as well, huh? Cool. We won't be wasting time then.

I bring my raizen out and take a stance. Now more than ever, I can feel how light Frank's raizen is.

"A-alright then," The presenter goes off the stage then raises his hands, "let the fight, BEGIN!!"

I wait for the guy to do the first move but he doesn't move from where he is as he unsheathes his sword. Then he places his other hand on his waist and sighs.

"OVERWHELMING." Wait, you can use that as well. I immediately feel the pressure as i have a harder time keeping my head up. But sadly for you, we can both play this game. 

"Overwhelming."

I use Overwhelming as well and everything goes back to normal for me. Though it is clear that both of us using Overwhelming is a too much since the presenter himself is having a hard time breathing. He doesn't even comment because of that. 

Germinia's brother looks a bit surprised as he grips his sword and raises it.

"Interesting. The first sword: Cataclysm."

The guy waves his sword once then dozens of crescent-shaped slashes made of lightning appear out of thin air and fly to me at incredible speed.

"Wait, that's-"

I block some of them then dodge others. The number is great but I have seen this technique before. I use Disperse then use Lumion while aiming at him from behind but it's like his script knew where I would be because it chased me all the way to where I reappeared.

While coming to me, they destroy my cross slash on the way. Why do people keep countering Lumion so easily, I should rethink it, it seems.

"Titanic slash!" I counter the script to the end by continuously using Titanic slash. It takes me five consecutive times to finally get all of those flying attacks.

"Incredible!!"

"You can do it, Star of Mercuria!!"

"Hmph! At least, you have got the basics down. Still, you should give up. I am not really in the mood to go easy on people today."

As soon as I am done with his script, the guy addresses me like some vulgar piece of cloth abandoned on the side of the road. Such arrogance.

"That script…You copied it from Dilt, right?" It looks a lot like the ones he used against me.

As I say that, the guy's face brightens incredibly. A weird smile appears on his face as well.

"You know Master Dilt?"

"We fought once."

"You fought Master?!!!" The guy screams so loudly the coliseum calms down for a minute.

"Huh, yeah. Though I can't say I won."

"What?" Once again, his face changes and turns black. "You think somebody like you could ever win against Master?"

"Probably yeah." I never tried to fight him using my draconic power so I can't say I know for sure.

"Insolent fool." He now raises his sword and deploys his aura completely. The air becomes heavy as he does.

"I have to admit, you are strong."

This guy is the first who makes me feel like giving everything. Not out of fear like Veronica or anger like Dilt. Just for the pure pleasure of it. I release my aura as well and somehow, almost at the center of the stage, a kind of barrier appears. Is it a barrier? It's like an almost invisible wall made of wind that keeps waving around on either of our sides.

"Ladies and gentlemen!! This is incredible!! The shock between their auras is so powerful we can see the collision between them like clear sand!!" Finally, the presenter is able to say something as the pressure from Overwhelming has been released.

"Wow!!"

"GO!! Don't lose!!"

So it is because of our auras then? I have never seen that before when I fought somebody.

"The second sword: Hurricane."

As he brings his sword down, his aura starts spinning around it like a small hurricane then, like an arrow, it comes to me, wriggling around like a snake.

I immediately send five bullets fully charged at it and the explosion is so great it covers my side of the stage with smoke. This is gonna be interesting.

***

"You should always be cautious of people who can use elemental scripts and fight with close-range weapons."

"I know, Excafol. I know."

"No, you don't. Because you are doing the same error every time."

"It's because Selene always kicks me when she is close."

"Hey! Don't bring me into your conservation, sneaky brat!"

"Sigh…Anyway, a close-range fighter who uses elemental Angas sometimes has a script prepared to surprise their opponent. That's why, if you are fighting against somebody who seems really proficient at using elemental Angas, you must be careful of that."

"And how can I counter that then? Just being careful doesn't help to win a fight."

"Be creative. Simple."

***

"Fufufu. You and your weird answers sometimes."

Using the smoke of my explosion, I run to the guy then send another bullet. It pierces through the smoke but then, a slash cuts it along with my cover, creating another explosion. I sue Disperse and land right near Germinia's brother. He just swung his sword so I should still have some leeway to strike him.

"Shadow stab."

His arm is still up so I can do th…Out of nowhere, a light wall appears and blocks my attack. "Fuck." He used light wall without even saying the name of the script. Then why does he bother with the others one?

While I retreat, he manages to cut a part of my shoulder's plate. It was a simple strike but the cut he leaves is deep enough for my skin to appear. Just a bit more and I would be bleeding. Is this armor really protecting me? That's the second time.