A Dance with Darkness and Light: Re-Origination

48: The Quarter-Finals Begin

The qualification for the quarterfinals had almost taken a day, in the first match Arkenon had won against Massimo. Sawako then defeated Bazuul's brother Kuzan in a fiery bout that had been considered evenly matched the majority of the fight. Jian Zheng then triumphed over the crown-prince of Donar, Eirik -- and Tarek won against the crown-prince of Eras, Markus Bender. An impressive feat, because he was the only commoner left from the Seven Kingdoms. Even without Bazuul's suspicions, the pair from the Directorate was not affiliated with any nation. Thus, they could not be counted as having any status at all.

With this, the quarterfinals of the royal tournament officially started. The contestants of the first round already stood on the battle platform, awaiting Tyr's call. Arkenon looked at the girl in front of him with wary eyes. Nazela's last opponent was a magician just like himself, yet he was defeated in the blink of an eye. Not only that, but there was also nothing noteworthy about the match; it was almost like a brawl among common street thugs. At least he had not noticed any use of magic nor martial arts from her. Apart from the fact that she used a physical attack against the magician from the Circle.

"Ready...FIGHT!" Tyr's voice suddenly erupted, shortly after the crowd of spectators broke out into roars of anticipation.

At this moment, Arkenon seemed to weave a spell with his staff, as the moving tip of the stave had a glowing tail of dark magical essence following behind. From time to time, ripples in space, like the blast-wave of an explosion radiated out of him. Then, all at once, his shadow split into three separate forms and encircled Nazela. Due to the gasps from the stands, one could see that this was an astounding feat. Bazuul, on the other hand, was inspired by this spell. He wondered if he could similarly use his dark essence. If he managed to do that, this ability would come in handy in multiple ways.

The three shadows mounted a synchronized attack, only then, for the first time since the match began, did Nazela move. She dodged one shadow, and the moment she did, it dissolved while the other two stopped moving. It was when Nazela made her first move, that Arkenon felt like something had struck, yet he couldn't make out from where. It almost felt like a deep wave or vibration had hit his innermost core. Each time, Nazela took another step and touched the ground, another wave hit him. At this time, Arkenon had ceased the movement of his staff, his face contorted and his body looked stiff. It felt to him as if his skull would break under the pressure created any time now.

Then, Nazela's voice pierced into his ears, "Oh ~ You poor thing! Look at you. You can barely stand anymore." At this, blood rushed out of his mouth and nose. The waves of her voice were even more volatile than the ones before. Seeing Arkenon's miserable state, she giggled and said, "Let me release you from your suffering." Arkenon was barely able to look up to her when she had already closed the gap between them. Her fist struck him right below the solar plexus, and another round of waves rampaged through his body. With the untampered body of a magician, the damage those waves did were pretty severe. His body rose into the air from the punch, barely conscious anymore his eyes opened a tiny slit. Only to see the women that did this to him, waiting for him down below with open arms. Eventually, she caught him in her embrace, preventing him from falling to the floor. As her hand crawled through the hair at the back of his head, she whispered to him, "Let your wailing soul rest in the halls for all eternity." before throwing him off the stage.

Bazuul had a rather serious expression on his face. As he, just like the rest, was unable to figure out what Nazela did to Arkenon. Ultimately, the guy barely moved after casting the first spell and seemingly threw up blood for no reason. Some theorized that the girl was a master in the school of poisons. Bazuul chose not to force an answer right now, figuring out these abilities would also have time for later. Now he needed to focus on the second match that was about to begin. After all, this was a match between Ela and Sawako. Although in his mind, Sawako didn't stand a chance -- though she might still be strong enough to force Elanar to fight with a certain degree of sincerity.