"Beast souls can see each other even if they are in the soul of their summoners. Last time, I didn't realize it because I didn't pay attention, or maybe because he wasn't in her soul at that time. But now, she is using her mana so I can perfectly see it" Night said

"I see..." Arima paused "Wait, you can reside in my soul?"

"Yes"

"Then why didn't you say so when I asked you of a way to hide?" Arima remarked

"Because I don't want to go in your soul" Night answered without batting an eye "I feel like a small fish, alone in an ocean, in your soul. That's depressing"

Arima blinked once and shrugged. He looked back towards Aria "[Anima oculum] (Soul eye)" His left eye glowed with blue light "It looks like her soul is split in two. Yeah, you're right" He used a simple soul type detection.

"Anyway, let's go back, we still have a day. We still haven't mastered 'resonance'. It's harder than I thought" Arima turned back. He jumped off the wall and landed slowly, directly in the city. Night followed him.

At the end of the day, the sixteen compet.i.tors were set. And Arima had to use his remaining gold to pay the rent for a few more days at the 'Wing's nest'. Aria laughed madly because she forgot in the action that Arima was a client of her Inn.

******************************************************

The next day, the order of the fights were decided. The second round was divided into 8 fights. Surprisingly, Arima stumbled upon the archer who broke Night's s.h.i.+eld.

"I'll admit that your magic back then was pretty strong, but you took too much time to cast it and it'll not be enough to defeat me" He said it like he was bragging.

Arima looked at him ("That magic was meant to be long-cast, I was testing it, and I did that because I knew that no one would be able to harm me. Also, that magic was just a shock wave on steroids, if I wanted, I could have made it strong enough to cripple you. Why are you saying that in my face, is it supposed to give you confidence kid?") And he seriously responded him in his mind. He didn't talk because angering him will bring no good.

"Are you ready?" Like before, the voice of the suit guy resounded, we'll call him James for convenience "3, 2, 1, Fight!"

The archer moved first, he jumped and retreated by a few steps. He took an arrow from his quiver, placed it and pulled the string in less than second. At the same time, two small magic circles formed just in front of the arrowhead.

("Enhancement circles, huh?") Arima thought

Circles are an important aspect of magic in this world. There are three different types of circles.

The first type is the enhancement and as the name suggests, it enhances a certain aspect of whatever or whoever pa.s.ses through it. In this case, the two circles in front of the arrow enhance its speed and penetration.

The second type is the range type. Basically, it's for casting magic from a different place than where your body actually is. For example, if you conjured a fireball to hit a target which is ten meters away, then when it would reach its target, the fireball would have lost some of its power. So, if you use a range circle, you can fire that magic just above the target and get the most damage possible.

The third type is usually called the auxiliary circle. Its function is to help the mage when casting the magic, for either reduce the chanting time or improve its efficiency. For example, when Night shapes.h.i.+fted, he used an auxiliary circle, the latter's function was to simply cast the magic allowing a physical change to be bigger or smaller with the mana provided, while Night focused on the process of transforming a dragon into a wolf. If he didn't use the circle it would have taken more time, spirit and mana.

("Mh? Wait. Now that I think about it, if I use circles, I may be able to cast those compressed spheres faster")

At that moment, Arima began to ponder seriously, totally disregarding what was happening outside. Meanwhile, the archer fired his arrow, it reached Arima in no time but the latter's image became a bit fuzzy with a few black sparks in addition, in the end, the arrow pa.s.sed through Arima like the latter was a ghost.

"What!?" The opponent shouted and nocked two more arrows at the same time, he then added a new layer of enhancement circles. He fired one more time, but the same thing happened again, the two arrows pa.s.sed through their target before piercing the ground and becoming totally buried in the stone floor.

"What the h.e.l.l is that?!"

That shout seemed to wake up Arima and he looked at the guy in front of him "Oh, sorry. You said something?" He asked innocently.

"You! Why my arrows can't hit you?!"

"Can't hit me?" Arima glanced at Night who lying in a corner of the arena ant the latter nodded "(Can't hit me?... Oh, I see, I used 'Wild spark' by instinct and avoided before going back to the same position") He suddenly realized that his body had traces magic "Hum. Just call it DBZ style" Arima answered to the archer.

"What is that supposed to be?"

"Don't worry, you're not supposed to know"

He gritted his teeth "f.u.c.k, [Triple enchant, burst]" Three magic circles formed in front of the arrow with the third being bigger than the two others.

"(An explosive arrow)" Arima a.n.a.lyzed the circles, it was speed, wind, and fire "(A simple blast)"

This time, the arrow was aimed at the ground just in front of Arima "[Scintillam feram] (Wild spark)" The latter disappeared and reappeared twenty meters away when the arrow hit the ground and destroyed the arena in a five meters radius.

Before the opponent could say anything, Arima created a green magic circle in front of him which looked a lot more complex than others "(I'll test it) [Spaera]" A few spheres with the size of a marble formed in Arima's hand. With a flick of his hand, they flew through the circle and landed at the feet of the other guy "Eh?"

"[Lacero](Break)" Arima snapped his fingers. The green marbles exploded. The four spheres enveloped the archer, but these were a lot smaller than the previous one and only lasted for half a second, they also seemed stronger too. When the magic vanished disappeared, the archer guy had fainted standing. It was normal, it was like being in a super was.h.i.+ng machine.

"W-Winner! Arimane Blade!" James concluded the fight.

Arima looked at his hand while leaving "(As I thought, circles are more important than I thought. I should concentrate on it a bit")

Night looked at the fainted partic.i.p.ant "(Poor guy)" He bowed his head a bit "(Rest in peace)"

In that fight, Arima revised his compression process. He chose to create a marble-sized sphere first and make it pa.s.s through a hybrid circle, an enhancement circle combined with an auxiliary one. So, in the end, it became a circle which cast a pre-set magic on what pa.s.ses through it. This time, the circle infused a great density of wind in the sphere while keeping the latter's stability.

After that fight, for the rest of day, the four semifinalists were decided. As expected, it was Arima and the three he had noticed before.

***********************************************

The next day, the first fight was between Arima and the tamer.

"h.e.l.lo, my name is Valdo Aldar, pleased to meet you" The tamer greeted Arima. He looked like a well-educated and calm youth.

"(Someone who is polite. I feel like it's rare in this world)" Arima smiled "I am Arimane Blade, nice to meet you" He also presented himself.

"*Roar*" And a brown bear on the side suddenly intruded in the conversation.

"It's time to begin! Are you ready!" James announced. The two partic.i.p.ants nodded.

"3!"

Arima actually called Karma. Night still stayed behind, seated.

"2!"

Valdo prepared a staff and the bear stood beside him.

"1! Fight!"

"[Scintillan ferram]" Arima moved in an instant. He rushed behind his opponent and gripped Karma, ready to draw it, but a shadow appeared in his vision. Surprised, he jumped to the side and just used a glance to see the shadow "(That bear has good instincts)"

While he was still in an evasive action, two figures attacked him from both sides. He drew Karma and cut the incoming figures in one swing. When he regained a stable vision, he saw that the two figures he cut were two blue and transparent wolves "(Summonings)"

When he was about to rush one more time, the ground shook and the stone trapped him in a sort of coc.o.o.n "(What a pain), [Sicarius umbra]" He chanted quietly, his coat glowed a bit and he changed into a shadow and got out of the coc.o.o.n, he hid in the shadow of the latter "(Earth magic, huh? I'll need to take care of that bear first, but...)" He jumped out of the shadow and charged toward the tamed beast. The tamer seemed shocked when he saw that Arima got out without breaking the stone.

Arima unsheathed Karma and swung it at the bear with the flat edge of the blade, but when it was supposed to hit, it pa.s.sed through him and he vanished afterward, behind that, the same bear was revealed, attacking with his claw "(I knew it. Illusion? No, projection)"

Arima sighed internally. He planted the scabbard of his sword in the ground and used it as a pivot, he evaded the bear and revolved around the sheath.

"[Sunt robore] (Strength up)" And kicked the beast who was blown away for a few meters. Meanwhile, a stone wall formed behind Arima and two huge summoned boars charged from the front.

"Alright" Arima sheathed Karma. He extended his right arm and two auxiliary circles formed above the two boars. Arima clenched his hand into a fist, raised his thumb and pointed down.

"[Gravitatis C temporibus] (Gravity times 100)" The boars instantly crashed on the ground because of the gravity and created two craters on the arena. Arima struck the wall behind him with Karma and instantly destroyed it.

He looked at the front and widened his eyes a bit. The aura of the bear was rising continuously, his height which was already around three meters now grew to be five meters.

"He actually broke through level 6, and he seems to be a physical enhancement magic variant too" Arima commented

Valdo was already standing beside the bear "Thanks for helping him breakthrough" He smiled and said.

Arima lightly laughed "Fine. You did well. But I'll stop playing around now. If I continue it'll just be rude" Arima said. Because he still hasn't released 'Wild spark', his voice sounded a bit ethereal "Sorry, I'll finish this in one attack now"

Arima took an Iai stance. Valdo felt something was wrong, he turned toward the bear "I know you just broke through but prepare yourself to avoid or withstand anything that will come!"

The beast grumbled a bit and reinforced his body to the maximum possible. His entire body's muscles tensed and grew in size one more time.

On the other side, Karma was already emanating a big amount of lightning. Valdo chanted and conjured multiple walls to protect him.

"[Aeterna] (Eternal night)" Karma unleashed a flying slash, darker than the night. It pierced through the walls and reached the bear in a second, the latter crossed his paws to take on the blow. It was obviously too fast to avoid. When 'Eternal night' was at one inch to touch its target.

"[Praemium](Explode)" Arima chanted. The flying slash exploded in a black sphere with thunder rumbling, covering everything in a twenty meters radius. It really felt like a lightning bolt had struck right here and now.

The explosion calmed down after a moment and left the tamer-tamed pair unconscious and injured in a crater.

"Be thankful, if I didn't explode my attack you would have died" Arima murmured "Let's go, Night"

The dragon in a wolf form came over "I feel like a side character right now" He complained

Arima laughed "Don't worry, you'll partic.i.p.ate in the final. I just wanted to have fun a bit"

"The winner is Arimane Blade!" James declared the end of the fight "The next fight will be led in the block D. The fighters are Aria Carta and Rehard Lens"