The Star Of Annihilation

The Star of Annihilation

Chapter 53 – Duels (1)

Written by : Eleven

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“We’re here. Would everyone please take a seat while we get ready.”

At the exam site, Tom quickly went over to a group of adults that were standing behind some tables with pieces of paper and pen in their hands.

After talking to them for a bit, Tom came back to the examinees who were sitting in the arena seats, just outside of where the exam was to take place.

“For those ready to participate in the duel, We normally do not allow non-students to borrow our grounds like this, so we have decided that the challengers must agree to a compromise.”

“What…?!”

Elias, the blue-haired boy asked in surprise as it seemed the Academy would not just let them do whatever they wanted.

For the other children, they frowned as they had not been used to such treatment of having to bend over to someone else’s rules aside from their parents, but nonetheless accepted that they could not do anything but listen to the conditions first.

“For those of you taking the exam and not participating in the duels, you are to wait until the duels finish. As for the ones who started the duels, you may continue to undergo the duel if you are ready to accept that you will have a slightly different exam. Your passing or failing of entry to the Academy will be based on your performance in the duel. This means you can still be accepted even if you lose, and you can also win the duel and still not be accepted.”

“That’s…!”

One of the other two children who stepped up to duel with Nate and Elizabeth, spoke up but quickly was forced to shut their mouth as the adults that Tom had been talking to, suddenly aroused their mana in discontent.

This mana was the combined mana of three different 5-star Wizards that showed they did not have any acceptance for those who would disagree.

“You can either back out of the duel and undertake the exam normally, or you can continue.”

“Can you give us a moment to think about it first?”

Elias asked Tom.

Despite being the one to ask for the duel, he did not want to make any rash decisions here.

Elias had a lot to lose and not much to gain.

Nonetheless he felt like this boy, Roy, was someone he needed to duel.

Being an outcast of his family, Elias was part of a very historic line of Mages that was deteriorating.

His family’s prestige was getting lower and lower each season, and had not had a heir qualify to enter Titanius for quite some time.

That being said, he was actually a swordsman.

Elias didn’t develop a mana core like the rest of his family, he chose to take the path of a swordsman. One that developed ki instead of mana.

He had been outcast, shunned and much more.

His family had recently reached out to him when they heard he had the chance to get accepted into Titanius and said they would drop all prior transgressions against him if he could get in and establish some connections for the family.

But Elias denied them.

He refused, and in turn received no support whatsoever.

Yet, this commoner boy, Roy, was something he wanted to be like.

Elias couldn’t describe it.

He needed to know for certain whether the boy he had seen in the courtyard was worth trying to get close to.

Elias was not pure like others expected him to be.

He felt shameful for doing something out of calculation for his own benefits, but he needed to know.

Because if he didn’t get into Titanius, he would have no home to return to. In fact, it was likely he would have to live in the slums.

After a few moments, Elias decided.

“I would still like to partake in the duel.”

“Myself as well.”

“Me too!”

In the end, the other two children who had come up, decided to accept as well because they thought that no matter the outcome, they would be able to rely on their family’s influence to get in.

Also, in their minds, there was no way these three commoner children could possibly defeat them.

The rest of the children in the audience seemed to think the same as some of them openly mocked Roy, Nate and Elizabeth.

The other examiners didn’t say anything as they watched the children mock the three commoners from a distance.

In their minds, they were mocking the children for not being able to see the true strength of these three commoners.

Roy and Nate purposefully were hiding their strength incredibly well, so the examiners didn’t know their exact strength. But the fact that the two boys were able to hide their strength in front of them as 5-star Wizards, meant they were incredibly skilled.

On the other hand, the examiners discussed each other and made bets.

“I think that girl is the one I saw with the Tower Master of the Purple Tower.”

“Really? Is she the famed direct disciple of Master Ferneth, the second grand Wizard to be birthed into the Empire?”

Naturally, these examiners were not fools.

They knew very well that Elizabeth was a 3-star mage. This was because she wasn’t quite as skilled at hiding her strength as Nate or Roy, so they were able to gauge her level a bit easier.

“I bet 5 silvers that the boy with the spear finishes in under 10 seconds.”

“Oho? I’ll bet 10 silvers in less than 5 seconds.”

“Hey, what do you think about the boy with the sword?”

“He seems like a Magic Swordsman, doesn’t he? I don’t get why such a talented boy would choose such a profession…”

“You know the Second Swordmaster is a Magic Swordsman right? Although not many can hope to ever be at his level, there are still some dreamers.”

“Hm… I don’t know whether the boy will take down his opponent in less time than the boy with the spear though.”

The examiners gossipped between each other like a group of little schoolgirls.

Roy, who was hearing all of this, just smiled.

They would soon know what it meant to be a Magic Swordsman. He was not going to aim to be like the Second Swordmaster of the Empire.; Roy intended to surpass him.

However, it wasn’t just because Roy was a Magic Swordsman, did the examiners undermine him.

No, it was in acknowledgement of the blue-haired boy, Elias, who stood in front of him.

‘He’s about at the level of a 2-star swordsman based on his ki reserves. And by the looks of it, I don’t think he knows what flaws are, but the way he composes himself and the way he holds his posture, shows he’s not some third-rate swordsman in terms of technique.’

Roy finished his summary of his opponent before turning to Nate and Elizabeth.

“Alright, who’s first?”

“I’ll go.”

Roy asked, but already knew the answer well before Elizabeth even spoke.

She was doing her best to hold her emotions back, but Roy could tell she was seething in anger.

The reason why Roy wasn’t concerned however, was because Elizabeth in his past life, was also seething in anger at almost every moment over the death of her master.

Ferneth wasn’t recorded in his past life, so Roy didn’t know much about how he died, other than the fact that the Holy Church was the object of Elizabeth’s anger and hatred back then.

Normally, when a Mage failed to keep their emotions in check, their spells and mana typically backfired on them.

But, if one could channel that anger and emotion into their focus and concentration…. That separated ordinary magicians from pure talents.

Elizabeth was a talent, and almost everybody present knew that except for the ignorant heirs sitting in the audience and the buffoon trying to duel her.

“Alright. Mister Tom? We’ve chosen who wants to go first.”

Roy looked to Tom as he pointed at Elizabeth who was stepping forwards.

She still hadn’t released her mana to those around them yet, but Roy was happy to see it.

This way, it would be a good chance for them to surprise the idiotic children who might become their classmates, and also a chance for Roy to see just how much Elizabeth had been developing as of late in her magic.

“Okay, would the challenger also please step forward and the rest please come over here?”

Tom instructed Roy, Nate, Elias and the other duelist to come to his side near the audience so they could give the space towards the duelists.

Elizabeth’s opponent stepped forward with a sneer plastered across her childish face.

“Some country bumpkin and imposter dares to claim that she is the heir to the Purple Tower Master? I can’t help but say I’m pleased to be standing where I am right now.”

“I guess you could say I’m pleased as well.”

Elizabeth murmured under her breath.

The girl with the pretentious sneer heard this, and right as she was about to retort…

“Start!”

Tom lowered his raised hand and started the duel.

Right as the girl’s expression was changing through all of this…

[Magic Missile]

A red ball of pure mana shot out from Elizabeth’s fingertips.

Unlike the regular Magic Missile spell, the spell model had been modified by Elizabeth, herself.

It was smaller than the average Magic Missile, but much faster and hit much harder.

Bang!


“Auh…!?”

The girl facing the attack didn’t even have time to react as even her words sounded messy.

Bang! Bang! Ba-Bang!

Elizabeth did not stop casting and multicast several Magic Missiles while she prepared a larger spell.

The noble girl she was facing couldn’t even stop the bombardment as she was hit with Magic Missile after Magic Missile without being able to speak.

The entire hall fell silent as this happened, nobody in the audience wanting to believe what was transpiring.

The noble Girl was an average 2-star mage, but had zero practical experience in dueling and a nasty attitude.

This was only the beginning though.

[Blood Familiar]

Elizabeth’s chant for the Blood Familiar finished as a scarlet red magic circle appeared underneath the noble girl.

Right before everyone’s eyes, a large set of bloody teeth started to protrude from the edges of the magic circle.

This was not the same Blood Familiar that Elizabeth had summoned in the past either.

It was only the teeth, but Roy knew this was getting out of hand.

“Stop the match.”

“What…?! Oh-”

Roy told Tom urgently, as the noble girl’s life was about to be in danger and was clearly in no state to fight as her face was black blue and bloodied from the onslaught of Magic Missiles.

Tom was trying to yell something, but before he or the other examiners who were about to intervene, the protruding set of teeth that was climbing through the edges of the magic circle and the entire magic circle itself, disappeared like a lie as Elizabeth grunted.

“Ugh!”

“I think you did well enough, don’t you? She’s in no condition to survive if you continue your spell.”

Roy whispered in her ear as he suddenly appeared right next to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened, and so did the other examiners as well as Tom.

They knew what Roy had just done, but couldn’t believe that he had done so.

The reason Elizabeth had grunted, was because Roy deconstructed her spell on the spot and de-cast it forcibly.

Elizabeth’s Blood Familiar was a spell that could summon different familiars and had several different magic formulas for the same spell due to the nature of the different familiars.

Despite this being a spell that none of those present had even seen before, let alone read the magic formula, Roy had interpreted the magic formula with his ridiculous aptitude towards mana sensitivity and deconstructed the spell on the spot in a matter of seconds.

Clap- Clap- Clap-

One by one, each of the examiners, not the children watching, clapped and gave nods of approval as they smiled warmly towards Elizabeth.

The audience, albeit reluctantly, started to follow suit, despite struggling to agree with the outcome.

Getting on the bad side of the examiners was the last thing they wanted to do, so of course they did whatever actions were necessary.

Even if that meant applauding some commoner monster who had beaten one of their own into the ground and nearly killed her.

Watching this, Elias and the other duelist had varying expressions.

Elias knew enough practical knowledge about magic as he was from a magician family. But he knew just how ridiculous Roy’s feat was.

Gulping down his saliva, Elias nervously circulated his ki; a habit he made his own when he was always feeling down in case he was to ever be attacked by assassins sent from his own family.

It was out of necessity so he wouldn’t die out of the blue and so he would always be prepared to fight, but at the same time, it also served as a habit for him to relax himself in stressful situations.

“Can I go next?”

Before the other duelist could even retreat from his impending fear of having to face one of these monster commoners, Nate stepped forwards and asked Tom.

“U-Uh… yes I don’t see why not.”

Tom stammered as he was still taking in the events that had just unfolded before his very eyes.

Nobody had been expecting Nate to be so eager; especially right after seeing Elizabeth nearly demolish her opponent so thoroughly.

Stepping forwards, Nate helped the girl who was unconscious by lifting her up and handing her over to Tom before returning back to the arena and taking out his spear.

His opponent did not immediately come forward.

No- he couldn’t.

The reason was because Nate had completely unleashed all of his powers at that moment.

The mana of 4-stars, the holy power within his core. The electricity circling around him and the platinum silver light of his hair started to sway from the electric current around him.

And most of all…. He was not emitting a killing intent, but a ferocious fighting spirit.

It was so overwhelming that nearly the entire audience and the examiners had to take a step back and try to regulate their breathing from being caught up in the storm known as Nate’s fighting spirit.

Chapter 53 – Fin

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