Chapter 337 - Quarter Finals

The following day the arena was once again filled to the brim with people. The first fight in the quarter-finals was between two beautiful maidens who would want to miss that? As the audience was becoming rowdy, Henrietta appeared on a stage. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Grand Mage's tournament! This is the stage where the strongest of the younger generation gather. Today is the start of the Quarter Finals, is everyone excited!" The audience started to cheer as loud as they can. 

"Here with me today is the winner of the last tournament, Sir Layfon." Henrietta gestured to the young man sitting beside her. Blue hair and a handsome face, coupled with a smile that could make most girls swoon, this man was the last winner of the tournament and had been imparted with an original spell created by the Grand Mage. 

"Hi Everyone." Layfon showed a dazzling smile that made the girls scream in joy. 

"Now without further ado let's begin today's battle! For the first battle standing at the right side is the rising star of the Adventurers Guild, the S rank Adventurer with the moniker the silent death, LARA!" 

After her name was called Lara with her usual stoic expression step foot onto the ring. Seeing her beautiful cold face, the audience started cheering even louder than before. Valdel and his companions were also there watching and cheering her on.

"Now onto our next contestant, hailing from the Eternal Forest of the elves. The young genius, the ultimate multi caster, the representative of the Wood and High Elves, the young prodigy Irene!" 

The beautiful elf with silver hair walked onto the stage looking extremely calm. Her demeanor was so serene that it felt like she was part of nature itself. Even now before stepping onto the ring, she had a mana barrier up, it was like she wasn't worried about diminishing her mana supply before the fight. 

"These two have proven themselves the best among those younger than thirty years old. Not only are they beautiful maidens but they're deadly as well. So Sir Layfon what do you think about their skills and who is most likely to win the match?" 

"I've seen their matches and I think both of them are strong. Lara's fame has spread far and wide and many know of her deeds. She's an all-rounder that can use magic, close-quarters combat, and ranged weapons. She mostly prefers using her fist by enhancing it with mana as seen by her fight yesterday. Seeing as this tournament only allows release type spells and not internal type spells, all Lara did was release mana through her fist." 

"Now then there's the lady from the forest of the elves. I don't have much information about her, but based on what I saw yesterday, in pure spellcasting alone she has everyone in this tournament beat. Her multicast ability is her biggest advantage and she can also use all the elements, not only that but her mana supply is enormous. From a certain point of view, she could be seen as the perfect mage." 

"That's amazing Sir Layfon to be able to deduce so much by just seeing one battle. So who do you think has a higher advantage of winning?" Henrietta once again asked her first question. 

"That would depend on fate, in a battle the one with the most luck would be the winner." 

"So what you're saying is you got lucky at the last tournament?" When Layfon heard Henrietta's question he smiled and then shrugged his shoulders. 

"Luck is also a skill." 

"Well anyway, let's get back to the main thing. The two contestants get ready." Hearing Henrietta's signal Lara took a stance as she placed her right fist forward and the left fist by her waist. Irene on the other hand simply stood there without any movement at all. 

"Let the battle begin!" The moment Irene heard the signal to start she quickly activated twelve spells that she had prepared beforehand. A torrent of elemental attacks headed towards Lara who then responded by punching each and every one of the incoming spells. 

Lara was unleashing her mana through her fist which negates the incoming spells. The speed in which she moved was quite fast and the flow of her movements was a beautiful sight to behold.

Irene was surprised to see how Lara countered her barrage of spells. Still, that wasn't enough to shake her, while continuing to pin down Lara with her endless barrage of low tier spells, Irene was getting ready to use a stronger spell. 

Noticing the spike in Irene's mana fluctuation Lara knew what was to come. Without any hesitation, Lara no longer blocked the incoming spells and started evading those aimed at her vitals while allowing herself to get hit by the shallow ones. Lara needed to stop Irene from casting her spell, so she dashed forward towards Irene. 

Within a blink of an eye, Lara appeared before Irene. Those who were watching the match that couldn't follow Lara's movements were stunned into silence, while those who could see what she did were shivering in fear. Her speed and movements were unnatural. Layfon looked at Lara a bit amused. On the other hand, Henrietta looked at Lara with excitement. That move she used didn't apply any mana at all, but it was impossible that would be a pure physical skill since no human could move that fast.

'Is she also using the same technique as Kretos?'

...

Lara punched at Irene while releasing a burst of mana through her fist. Yet despite doing this Lara was unable to pierce through Irene's mana barrier, and instead, a counterspell activated blowing Lara away. 

Lara quickly stopped herself from going out of the ring and stabilized her stance. As Lara was about ready to once again rush at the elf, Irene was done getting her spell ready. She quickly activated her spell and a violent tornado appeared in the middle of the ring. 

...

Seeing the raging tornado heading towards her, Lara didn't panic as her expression remained stoic. In response to Irene's spell, Lara gathered an enormous amount of mana through her legs. Lara then jumped upward and met the tornado head-on. 

Lara performed a mid-air summersault kick which unleashed a blade of pure mana. The blade cut right through the [tornado] spell and headed straight towards Irene. Seeing as you can't kill during this tournament Lara made sure to aim at a non-vital area. Even if Irene has her arm cut off it could be easily reattached. 

As the blade of mana struck Irene it was able to pierce through her mana barrier. This was the first time someone other than her master was able to pierce through her mana barrier. The blade of mana had cut a bit of her skin and muscle, blood started flowing out. 

Both Irene and Lara were surprised by this outcome, but for two completely different reasons. Irene was surprised that her barrier had been penetrated this was a mana barrier that could withstand even high tier spells. On the other hand, Lara was surprised to see that she wasn't able to cut off Irene's hand. 

The two stopped attacking and looked at each other. The two of them now had a better grasp of how strong their opponent was. 

"It would seem that you are stronger than I expected," Lara spoke with her usual tone of indifference. Irene healed her shoulder as she looked at Lara her serene expression unchanging.

"I too have underestimated how strong you are." 

"I see... This means I can be a bit rougher on you." Lara changed her stance and lowered her center of gravity her body almost touching the ground. 

"I too need to get a bit serious. Even though my master told me not to use this unless absolutely necessary... But I want to win this tournament and show to the world that my master is better than the Grand Mage." Irene closed her eyes and her mana started pouring out more so than before. 

"It would seem that our two contestants are about to get serious! But don't worry ladies and gentlemen the arena is surrounded by a barrier that could withstand even Demi-God level spells. Now let us bear witness to the climax of this exciting battle!" Henrietta shouted as the audience cheered in excitement. 

...

Irene's mana that had flowed outward was so strong that it became visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. The mana then enveloped her and took shape, it formed into a long fox's tail. This was the mana control her master thought to her. 

Irene then snapped her fingers and several dozen magic circles appeared above her head and surrounded the ring. Each spell seemed to be mid-tier and higher. As Irene was about to activate the spells and bombard the whole ring, she noticed that Lara had disappeared from her sight. 

She then felt someone standing behind her. Lara wanted to do a surprise stranglehold on Irene, but remembered that this was a magic tournament and she couldn't finish her opponent with a physical move, she needed to use her mana outward like a spell. 

Lara's delay had given Irene enough time to activate her spells. As she activated her spells the very picture of destruction had been displayed in the arena. 

Thunder fell from the sky, violent tornadoes surrounded the ring, the ground shook and broke, a massive fire started burning everything around it.

The audience who were safe because of the barrier shuddered to think of what might happen if the barrier falls. Even Valdel looked a bit worried, was Irene planning to kill Lara? 

After several seconds, the numerous spells vanished and the winner of the battle stood in the middle of the ring unscathed, while the loser was pressed onto the ground unconscious.