Chapter 152 - A Vague Feeling

SSSCCCHHHLLLLLKKKKK PING

In her hypersensitive state, Eli had successfully brought her sword arm forward. She had thrust her rapier right at her brother.

The skill would have killed him...if it hit. But there was no way Eli was going to kill her brother. No matter what, that was her beloved brother Zephyr. Although he became twisted as he grew up, he was still the eldest brother that had once pampered her as a child.

He was also the one who had comforted her when their eldest sister had died. With their genius eldest sister now dead, it fell upon Zephyr's shoulders to take her place. Eli's brother wasn't a genius, but he was a hard worker. All she remembered was the brother who kept striving to improve himself, but it was a shame.

Somewhere along the way, he became twisted and power hungry. He also became more controlling and began looking down on others. He recruited other people, but only viewed them as tools, pawns to his own chess game.

Zephyr was now standing stock still in shock. He was faintly trembling as he eyed his little sister. Her rapier was resting atop his shoulders. He felt a sting on his face and felt something hot trickle down the side of his face.

It was obviously blood. He sighed and raised his fist. Eli saw this and she closed her eyes, but then she felt something warm land on top of her head.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw her brother smiling gently at her.

"Good job, Eli..."

She was stunned. It's been a long time since she's seen that face. She smiled back and moved her rapier away from her brother. The protective enchantment had already broken apart, so it was her win.

She felt tired, so when she relaxed her tensed muscles, it felt like she might collapse in relief right then and there.

Zephyr looked up towards the referee and asked, "Aren't you going to announce the verdict?"

"Huh? Oh! Y-yes, of course, ahhum...WINNER! ELIZABETH ARKS!!!"

After the referee declared the winner, Cecil kept his spear into his ring and flashed atop the stage. He injected his mana into Eli and she immediately began to feel better. The lethargic feeling disappeared and her face turned peachy once again.

"Thanks Cecil."

"Hey, no probs, but wow... you actually awoken your intent, that's awesome! Let's hurry back to the rest of them. You're gonna get a real earful later!" Cecil said with a chuckle.

"Ugh..." Eli walked off the stage with Cecil, leaving behind her brother. Zephyr smiled and walked off back to his faction's waiting room.

Up in the Royal Family's private room, the Sword Saintess had already turned her back on the stage and walked back towards the King.

"Your Majesty! Did you see that?!"

"Yes, I saw Celia, I saw..."

"I-it felt like magic, but at the same time it felt like it was a combat skill!"

In the Kings' waiting room, Eli eyed her friends who were all smiles and backed away slowly. Lucia and Velicia immediately clamped their hands on her shoulders preventing her from running.

"Eli~"

"Hehehe, Elizabeth~"

Her two friends were starting to scare her a little. She could only turn her face away and ask hesitantly.

"w-what..."

"Hehe~"

While Eli was about to be interrogated by her 2 friends, Cecil was currently explaining the pressuring phenomenon from earlier to the other Kings.

"Weapon Intent huh..."

"Umu..."

The Sword King and Ghost Queen looked to be in deep contemplation. Well, the Sword King anyway, Ghost Queen Alice was only clinging onto him as sleepy as usual.

"Wow! This is something new!"

"Something new, something new!"

"Hoooh~ seems interesting~"

Cecil looked at the Kings and slowly said, "It's not something that can be acquired through practice and training..."

"Hm? So, how does one...attain this ability?" Robert asked. He was a weapon user, so naturally his interest was piqued. Not to mention the overwhelming ability that Eli displayed earlier was a good cause for motivation.

Anyone with ambition or drive would strive to get stronger or better. Even Alice was looking straight at Cecil for an answer. Her normally sleepy looking eyes had a clear tinge of curiosity and desire in them.

The other 3 Kings weren't as enthusiastic as them, but they had shown interest in the answer.

"It can only come through enlightenment."

"Enlightenment?"

"...what's that?"

Robert and Alice immediately pressed Cecil for an answer, but even he himself couldn't properly explain what 'enlightenment' pertained. Every person would have a different form of enlightenment.

This was obvious considering Cecil and Elizabeth both attained their Intents through different conditions. Cecil gained his from the need to procure and hunt for food when he was a child, while Elizabeth was enlightened in the midst of battle against her brother.

"I...I'm not really sure how to explain this to you two... Enlightenment is like... it's a feeling. Like you gained an understanding of something and then everything else would just fall into place. Even I'm not sure how to tell you guys about this since I'm pretty sure everyone would have different forms and conditions for enlightenment. Also, even if you somehow did attain enlightenment, it's not certain that you'd even awaken your Intent."

"Oh... well, can you at least give us some examples?" Alice asked back.

"Examples...Ah, well, I attained my Intent when I was a child, around when I was 9 or something."

"9?"

"Yeah, it was during one of my training sessions with my father. I was pretty starved that time so when I went out hunting, I happened upon a creature that... was pretty hard to catch. As I grew more and more frustrated, something just clicked in my head all of a sudden. My only thoughts at that time were that my spear was definitely going to pierce through that creature's body."

Cecil explained his feelings when he attained his Weapon Intent in the best way he could describe. Behind him, his party members had also moved in closer to listen. This was especially true for Lucia and Velicia.

"The next thing I knew, the creature froze up and I was able to casually pierce my spear through its body...anyway it's a vague feeling, I know. But it's definitely there! I mean, Eli's gained her Intent so there's no way it's not true!"

"Hm... actually I had the same feeling as you too Cecil."

"Eh?"

Cecil quickly turned around and saw his friends behind him. Everyone's attention immediately turned to Eli who had just spoken up.

"I felt the same thing as Cecil... when I was standing in front of my brother... His... eyes... were what triggered me. I just wanted him to look at me like before. Not that cold and unfeeling way he did when he directed all that killing intent on me..."

"Ah! So that's why after your brother directed his sword at you, you suddenly changed like that!"

"Y-yeah... anyway I can't really explain it. After I saw his eyes, something in my head just clicked together... just like Cecil said. Although at first I didn't understand it and I was oblivious to the fact that I awakened my Intent, but thanks to Cecil I was able to realize it before the match ended."

"Hmm...It's too vague... but I sort of understand it." Robert said.

"Well, there's no use in pondering too hard about it...umu...Robby~ hu~ug~" Things became too complicated now so Alice flickered under Robert's cloak and resumed her napping.

Robert's face twitched at this, but then he sighed and let it be.

"Well, at least I know something like this exists. I'll try and strive for this... 'enlightenment' you keep talking about."

"Mhm. Good luck then."

"Yeah."

Lucia and Velicia pulled on Eli, the two girls brought her down to sit together and immediately began talking again, Yuna followed after them and sat down besides Lucia, it seemed interesting so she wanted to know more. They also pulled Fina over for discussion. She was the smartest out of all the girls so maybe she could gain some understanding that'll help those two if she was also listening.

Cecil brought Ainz out to look for some food. The next tournament match was already on going, after another 2 matches Ghost Queen Alice went up.

Cecil and Ainz brought back some food, but while they were gone all the previous Kings had already went up for their battles. It was a shame that they missed it. Velicia had also already gone up and so had Lucia.

Lucia was pretty bummed because her opponent had straightforwardly surrendered and didn't even bother walking up to the stage.

It was someone from the fox clans of the Kingdom, so they might have known about her status. This caused many in the stadium to be disappointed. Especially Anna and Zaki, the two wanted to see their daughter fight and gloriously triumph over her opponent.

"Hey~ what took you guys so long?" Lucia asked a little dispirited.

"Well..."

"S-so much... people..." Ainz said. He was clearly out of it.

The sea of people just outside the stadium made it hard for them to exit and enter. When they wanted to walk out they couldn't, but when they decided to turn around, the crowd of people pushed them forward until they were finally outside of the stadium.

The same thing happened when they wanted to enter. Right when they were about to give up, the crowd of people shuffled and pushed until Cecil and Ainz suddenly found themselves back inside the stadium's hallway.

Of course, they could use spells and skills to force their way through, but the Headmaster had enforced the non-usage of skills and spells by the students other than when they were on the fighter's stage.

If a case was found then they would be disqualified from the tournament.

"Well, what'd we miss?" Cecil asked as he began handing out the food, snacks and drinks he bought earlier to everyone in the room.

"Everyone's already gone up to fight...all that's left is Fina, apparently she's participating in the last match for today."

"Wow... we sure missed a lot."

"N-next time... we should just...buy or pack food..." Ainz said tiredly.

"Yeah... we should do that..."

"NEXT! The last match for today! Aquafina Neftersea vs..." Fina stood up when her name was called, she began to circulate her mana and stretch her body when finally her opponent's name was called out. "...Manden Krulle!"

"Eh?"

"Seriously...the academy's staff must be tripping!" Ainz said in exasperation.

"Another King vs. Faction leader..."

"These matchups..."

Fina was startled when she heard who her opponent was, but the girl pumped herself.

'I'm a King! I won't lose! HMPH!'

Her cute face as she was trying to psyche herself up caused everyone in the room to look at her warmly.

Lucia rushed up for a hug and said, "You can do it Fina~!!"

"Yes!"