43 Luna and Krystof

Luna passed the preliminary matches for the summoning competition. She now faced Liam, the sorcerer who represented the Carnelian Kumas in the final match.

This was a fight she longed to have for years. Liam had initially joined the Obsidian Dragons and had flirted with her until she agreed to go on a date with him. He seemed like a caring man, but on their first date, he forced himself onto her. When she returned home that night, Tyr challenged Liam to a duel and almost killed him. After that, Tyr kicked Liam out of the guild.

Luna stood eyeing her attacker as she ripped opened her spell book. She wore a long blue dress that flared out at her hips. Her top was made of white sequins that created a gradient into her blue skirt. As the pages of her book turned, stars swirled up around her, causing her skirt to billow. She drew forth a great spectral dragon that roared, ready to fight.

While Luna summoned her dragon, Liam's spell book flipped opened and fire flew from his lips. A phoenix came out and screeched while spreading its large wings.

Liam's phoenix glided forward, its fiery tail sweeping across the stadium. His velvety voice called out to Luna, "I did what I did because I love you. I don't know why you had to go and tell your brother about it. It was a matter between us." His summon tilted its head back slightly and breathed fire towards her.

Liam was topless and wore tight leather breeches with dark boots. He stuffed his guild tabard into his belt and puffed out his chest. He gave her a cocky smile. After all these years, he still wanted to dominate Luna. She had a beautiful light that attracted those around her, which he wished to break.

Luna's dragon uncoiled and flew through the phoenix's fiery breath. The fire split apart and scorched the earth to the side of her. Her dragon countered the fire with a great roar. The sky darkened and stars rained down from above, crashing down upon the bird. Large craters filled the stadium where the stars landed. The phoenix's fiery feathers flew around the stadium and the audience had to shield their face from the flames.

Luna's face twisted. Her body shook, "No. You never loved me. You used me." Liam's smile caused her to flash back to the night of the attack. Liam had taken her out to dinner and ordered a bottle of wine for the road. He seemed like the perfect gentleman until they got to the park.

Luna remembered how he tried to take her dress off, but she told him no. It was then that he pushed her down onto the hard ground. When Luna struggled he hit her across the head with the wine bottle and ripped her dress off while she was in a daze. Liam had bit her hard when he entered her and choked her the whole time so she could not cast any spells.

Liam's phoenix flew towards the spectral dragon and used its talons to claw at the creature's back. Streaks of light fell to the ground around Luna and disappeared.

Liam pointed a finger at Luna and snarled, "No? Is that all you know how to say?" He did not understand why Luna put up such a ridiculous front. "We both know you don't really mean it when you say no. Even now, your body screams yes."

Luna's dragon screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. Krystof wished he could run out onto the field to help her. He knew what Liam did and would have challenged him to a duel that night, but Tyr found Liam first. Tossing his towel to the side he looked to see what Tyr was doing. Tyr was not even looking at the match, he was too distracted watching Freyr's viewing box.

Krystof got up and stood by the sideline. He shouted, "Luna! Snap outta of it. I'm here for you, we all are. Don't listen to his bullshit!" Krystof saw that Luna was getting agitated, but all he could do was support her from the sidelines.

Hearing Krystof's voice helped to pull Luna out of her flashback. She glanced at him and remembered her friends loved her and cared for her. Liam had no hold on her and she wanted to beat him to avenge herself. Tyr's duel was nice, but it did not leave her fulfilled. Luna wanted to do this match for herself.

Luna's dragon whipped its tail around to smack the bird off. The phoenix slammed into the ground and the dragon pounced upon it. Luna stretched a hand into the air and a moon appeared. The moon shined a beam of light onto the ground, empowering her summon. Her dragon closed its jaws around the phoenix's neck and snapped the bird into two. The two creatures disappeared in bursts of heat and light.

The crowd cheered. Luna felt the heaviness in her chest lighten. She gave a bow and called out to Liam, "You'll never be worthy enough to be with me. You aren't a real man."

****

Luna's win was a great start for Obsidian Dragons, but they had to forfeit many of the competitions because of all the people who left the guild with Fenrir recently. Taylen was a strong competitor for quick casting spells, so her presence in the tournament was also missed. Each person could only participate in one contest, so they all had to complete in their specialties. It would take years for their guild to train their existing members to be strong enough to compete at this level.

The next fight they took part in was Krystof's. He participated in the archery match. Today Krystof wore a double-breasted jacket made of leather that covered half of his chest. The other half showed his long lean torso. His muscles were well defined and could be seen through the leather straps that kept the top in place. The guild symbol had been embroidered on his pant's leg in gold, so when the sun shined on it, the emblem flashed.

Krystof easily made it into the finals. His family was well known throughout Marseille for being expert marksmen. As he got up on the platform, his fan club held up their signs which expressed their love for him. He winked at them and blew a kiss. Krystof loved the attention that his fans gave him.

His opponent was also from Carnelian Kumas. Ananya used to be Krystof's student, but she left with Fenrir. Ananya gave a friendly wave to Krystof. She did not leave the guild on bad terms and still saw Krystof as a friend and mentor.

Krystof gave Ananya an easy smile. "How've ya been? Fenrir playin' nice?" Sometimes he worried the members of Carnelian Kumas would bully his ex-student. Ananya came from a poor family, so she did not quite match the people that usually joined that guild.

Ananya nodded her head. "I've been good. It's not like I could go back now, anyway. Everyone at Obsidian probably hates me." She had been shunned and regretted leaving Obsidian Dragons. Fenrir promised that everyone would lead better lives at the new guild. Their dormitories were better, but Ananya faced segregation because of her family background.

Krystof put his arm around Ananya's shoulder and gave it a firm pat. "Don't be like that. If ya ever want back, you know Tyr would accept ya." He could tell Ananya hid something from him. Krystof had known her since she was a teenager and a recruit.

Calygreyhounds were released onto the field to signal the beginning of the match. The workers placed targets on the antlers of each calygreyhound. There were fifteen targets in all and each target could be shot only once. Each archer had twenty arrows and was allowed to fire their shots whenever they wanted.

Ananya immediately nocked an arrow and took aim. She took this match seriously and hoped a win would improve her status in her new guild. Krystof looked over to see which target Ananya aimed at and released his arrow at her target. Krystof used a draw weight twice Ananya's and had a longer draw length, so his arrow flew past hers and hit the target just before her arrow.

Ananya frowned and glanced over at Krystof. She recognized her teacher was better than her, but she still needed to try. Ananya struggled to hit a target two more times, but Krystof did the same thing each time. Every time he gave a cocky smile to his fan club and did a little wave.

Ananya looked angrily at Krystof. It was enough that he would probably win, but he did not have to show off and make her look worse. When she turned to face him, he nocked back three arrows and shot them. All, but one hit its mark.

Krystof initially gave Ananya a cheeky smile, but when he realized he missed the third shot his eyes became serious for a second and he shot three more arrows. This time all three hit the selected targets. Krystof knew he hurt Ananya's pride, but he had to show his ex-student her mistake. Krystof knew Ananya still had not used her final move, "Come now, ya gotta hit at least one. I taught ya. It's makin me look bad."

Ananya decided to use magic this time. She picked up two arrows, nocked them, and shot at the targets. Green birds flew from her bowstring alongside her arrows. Her arrows flew faster this time, she hoped to match Krystof's speed and hit her targets first. Ananya understood that Krystof's arrows could only beat hers to the target because they possessed more power behind them, so they naturally moved faster. She had never seen him use magic while shooting before, so this was her trump card.

Instead of shooting her targets, Krystof enveloped his arrows with electric bolts. His arrows moved as fast as lightning towards her arrows. They hit Ananya's arrows and caused them to shatter while they flew in the air. Krystof knew Ananya used her final move. She had been learning how to weave magic into her attacks when she left the guild.

When the crowd saw Krystof use a magical attack, they went wild. They had never seen him use magic before. He held so much skill that all the previous years, he won within seconds. This was a match that many people used as a bathroom break because they already knew the outcome.

Krystof decided it was time to finish the match. He shot the last seven targets in rapid succession. This match was never difficult for him. His family trained him using calygreyhounds while he was growing up. He dropped his easygoing way of talking and explained in a serious voice, "You should have stayed and kept learning from me. You're still two hundred years too early to challenge me."