[Elinor is having way too much fun! Poor Drake... He is trying very hard to be a gentleman!]

  Elinor strode forward to the edge of the stadium, mirth on her lips, having had her fun, and clasped her hands behind her back, doing a joyful twirl while humming to the sound of the instruments as the teens struggled above her. “R.I.P. to the patient girl you knew, my audience. La-la-la. She’s getting tired of playing around.”

  [Warlord’s Bloodlust: 80%]

  [Bloodlust Aura: Activated]

  Her opposition sagged slightly as the weight of her heated bloodlust crashed over them, in person, this time. Two of the Magic Knight candidates fell to their knees, legs unable to support them as she became a giant in their minds. The City Guards were the most steady, despite not having magic to combat her, taking up a position to allow them to swap out their tired comrades if needed.

  “Oh, this is getting dramatic,” she whispered, scanning those who had chosen to take the fight to her. “So many new victims to the slaughter…and a few familiar faces.”

  Showing them a charming smile, Elinor closed her eyes, tilting her head to evade a bolt that Cole shot the second her vision went dark.

  “Nice try, Lieutenant. The Magic Knights could learn from your quick mobilization. I’m getting a little antsy and bored, though. So try not to die, challengers,” she warned, pointing up at the teens while opening her eyes to stare at the strongest Magic Knight candidate who had answered her call. A dozen others were beside or behind him, waiting to jump in after his assault.

  “Let’s put on a show. Your comrades are waiting for rescue. If you can harm me once or cut them down, I will give you that win. I really hope you last long enough for the Alchemists and Conjurors to complete their preparations…because, if not,” she licked her lips, saliva thickening with the neurotoxin it held, “I will be helping myself to them.”

  “Is that all?”

  Her gaze shifted to the City Guard captain, the woman’s brown hair shifting as she rolled around her neck and removed most of her armor to show a simple green tunic and leggings. She left her belt on with its dagger, dropping her sword on the grass. Elinor’s illuminated green eyes wandered over the nasty scars on her face, arms, and hands as the officer got rid of as much weight as she could to become more mobile.

  “Captain Flera… I can taste your anticipation, but you know you don’t have the firepower to fight me. If I were attacking your streets, what could you do to fend me off as a normal human without magic?”

  Murmurs ran through the stadium, many of the Tempest nodding at her comment. Surely, the City Guard was nothing more than a mundane peacekeeping force only meant for your average commoner, yet Elinor wasn’t disappointed when the muscular woman tapped the shoulder of the boy who was her biggest competition.

  “Lord Kasper, if your father isn’t full of it, you’re a prodigy that already unlocked the ability to conjure a Blue Blade… Lend it to me and follow my lead. We’ll win this trial together.”

  Elinor met the woman’s hard blue eyes, feeling a shiver run down her own spine at the confidence in the soldier’s gaze. This wasn’t some snot-nosed brat bragging or wanting to show off but a hardened warrior who had trained all her life to be a Magic Knight, only to be denied and made a joke, as much of the nobility saw the City Guard.

  Kasper’s jaw tightened, feeling nervous as the Grandmaster Magic Knight leaned against the side of his chair, glaring at the City Guard entering a place typically denied them. “You can’t just wield a Blue Blade, Captain. I haven’t fully mastered maneuvering the—”

  “Do it,” Elinor ordered, vision locking with the confident older woman and making the boy swallow. “This whole competition is about exploring the new and taboo. Show me what you have planned, Captain Flera. I’m getting goosebumps.”

  “I want to help!”

  Flera half turned her body to watch Elira running up to them with her battered red armor, the pieces she’d borrowed from Sir Percy. “Sorry, kid, tips would be welcomed against your mistress, but I’ve seen you move. No disrespect. You have talent, and I saw that style… Sir Percy has been trying to tutor you, but you have no experience fighting as a team. Sit this one out and watch.”

  The dark-haired woman sighed with disappointment but nodded and stayed back with the others. “I can’t, uh, tell you much. Empress Elinor is very mysterious and seemingly has an endless number of abilities at her disposal. Oh, mmgm! Empress, your eyes and, umm, presence are kind of scary—like you want to eat me.”

  “Who says I don’t?” Elinor lightly asked. “There must be something you’ve learned from watching me that you could tell them. By all means, spill my secrets.”

  Elira shifted uncomfortably under her bloodlust. “I, uh, I haven’t seen her use her chains yet. So…maybe you’re holding back or can’t use them? Plus, you like a good fight, which Princess Heather noted; you’re very confident, and that can be used against you.”

  Elinor chuckled at the girl’s stumbled responses, focus returning to Flera as she held up her hand and nudged it to the left; Anala muffled a cry as the cage swung left, pressing Drake against her, ice-enchanted bolts missing the rope keeping it stable.

  They didn’t know that Drake and Anala were seemingly synchronizing their elemental affinity, the fire-user puffing out frosty breaths that tingled the boy’s collarbone as they attempted to freeze a patch of her web in order to escape. The former ‘enemies’ were turning out to be working together to a wonderful degree. Aura was still a flapping fish out of water, totally oblivious to the pair’s plan and probably wondering why they were trying to ice her.

  Anala and Drake might impress me further and free themselves before being rescued…unless Flera noticed it? Elinor thought with a slight smirk as Kasper pressed an open palm against his closed fist, generating a twinkling blue light. She must have.

  The boy slid his palm over the open air, creating an outline of a sapphire blade; the fancy, guardless hilt materializing in his hand as a sleek, ornate Kriegsmesser blade nearly as tall as the woman herself formed out of pure magical energy.

  Impressed laughter came from the City Guards and Magic Knights behind the boy. He breathed out a long stream of air, throat somewhat hoarse as he left the sword in the air. Flipping up his own blade that he’d left leaning against his side, Kasper mumbled, “It’s going to destroy your hand—”

  Flera reached for the hilt of the weapon without hesitation, a similar faint blue light twinkling off her palms as it closed around it. She brought it around, goosebumps breaking out across the woman’s forearms, rolled-up sleeves bulging as she tensed her biceps.

  Kasper shook his head. “How?”

  “Hmm-hmm-hmm.” Flera expertly twirled the blade around her figure and behind her back as if weightless, leaving a trail of glittering light in its wake. “Just because one was never accepted into the House of Magic Knights doesn’t mean they can’t use mana, My Lord. How long can you maintain it?”

  “Less…than eight minutes,” he answered, clearing his voice and causing the throng to get excited as the giant projection of the well-known city captain showed off her skills. “A warning…it’s not stable and could collapse or explode.”

  Elinor strode back to allow them to jump onto the platform, turning on her heel to spread her arms open wide to give them a free shot; maybe it was her Warlord idiocy or pride at play. “Lovely—hehe, well, aren’t you full of surprises, Captain? I wonder if Grandmaster Lilya will need to skip you by a few grades at the end of this.”

  A small burst of weak blue light carried the experienced woman up the steep arena wall to land on the tile, Kasper joining her with his magic-reinforced steel blade. Several Tempest floated at the edge of the little alcove she’d created in her nest for this little competition.

  The woman took a deep breath and took a stance with her blade held level, ready to use her small magic reserves to jump her into striking range; her hair was already pulled up into a small bun to keep out of the way. Kasper maintained a small distance from the brown-haired warrior, acting as her follow-up.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Elira gulped as the atmosphere became thick with tension, the ravens showing their stare down as the Tempest hovered over a Conjuror’s Gate they were going to use against her; clearly, the grandmaster was stretching things by allowing them to use it. Meanwhile, the Alchemists created deconstruction alchemic circles to obtain raw materials to reconstruct into their anti-web weapon. She’d given them a lot of room to grow and for new players to enter the field; now, it was time to enjoy herself.

  [Warlord’s Bloodlust: 90%]

  Flera slowly moved around her as her thirst for combat deepened, simultaneously dulling and sharpening [Strategic Mind]. Two long, ethereal spider legs formed from Death Energy at her back, curving around and drawing eyes; she was nearing the single digits at this point. Her metamorphosis allowed two more, yet her pool was starting to run too low to use them when they weren’t needed. The woman’s gaze never left her face, while Kasper waited for his opportunity to strike.

  “I am thankful for this opportunity, Empress. Fair warning, I’m going for your head.”

  “Fair warning, hehe, if I could be killed by decapitation, then I would have died long ago,” she chuckled, working around her shoulders while testing her new, nearly 3-meter-long limbs. “It is a strange feeling, seeing one’s body from a decapitated position.”

  Flera’s low, slightly raspy voice held a degree of deadly mirth. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  Probing her senses, Elinor’s toes flexed against the web-covered tile, sending threads to latch onto the captain’s feet, yet a light pulse of magical energy through the woman’s boots scattered the signal, only creating a slight ripple.

  Interesting, she thought, the world slowing with her hyper-sensitive perception as the guard shot forward, using that previous tiny burst of magical force to propel her. Her flickering blade was faster than the previous Magic Knight candidate due to the Blue Blade’s weightlessness and her practiced maneuver, utilizing her well-trained twitch muscles. Efficient.

  Determined not to give ground, her left spider leg tried to deflect it, only to be sliced clean in two, despite the angle she’d blocked at; it was practically a lightsaber. Undeterred, she twisted to the side to dodge, her right spider leg aiming for the captain’s kidney; she could get more serious with this woman.

  Sadly, Kasper was there to back her up, glowing sword hitting with a heavy blow that didn’t cut through her tough exoskeleton hide like the Blue Blade but did force it away. Flera twirled her weapon in a flourish while using her magic on a single leg to slide around and deliver a second fluid blow—perhaps she was instructor material.

  Using her own momentum, she flipped into a barrel roll to evade the horizontal slash, two chains exiting the void; one carried her to the ceiling while the other attempted to latch onto the magical weapon, only for it to be vaporized on contact, which was a first.

  Her feet met the silk by the cage, mind spinning as her focus gradually condensed around the skilled swordswoman. The blue point was already rising to enter her skull, thrown from the floor as Flera’s other hand drew her dagger and tossed it at the rope holding the three noble kids to the ceiling.

  What a cheeky play, Elinor laughed to herself, sensing Kasper’s sharp expulsion of magical force that carried him to the ceiling, as well. His legs were wrapped in sapphire light to stop any web shenanigans, yet curiously, he threw his own sword at her, meeting at a cross right near her face. Something didn’t smell right; they were too coordinated.

  A reverse cyclone of wind rotated below her, Aura’s teary, accusatory eyes locked on her from her wrapped position; it was a pincer attack to lock her in place. However, it was Kasper’s hands closing around Flera’s thrown dagger that made her smile, a blue glow encircling it.

  Sticky webs drew her into the rapid slipstream of her internal silk network, carrying her outside the nova of explosive magical energy that erupted the moment the two blades connected—Kasper’s was nearly too late but managed to touch the tip of the Blue Blade just in time.

  A quake ran through her hollow tunnel as the rods around the cage of the nobles rocketed upward; Kasper evaded the barrage of hardened silk at the last second, his Blue Blade flying out of the explosion and into his hands to eat through one of the spikes, yet the momentum still carried the boy to the ceiling.

  Elinor slid out from a hole near the floor, somewhat covered in the liquid silk mess, as she straightened herself to face the captain. The captain snatched Kasper’s thrown steel blade out of the air as it fell, twirling it around with a slight frown.

  “A decent weapon.”

  Sapphire light dislodged and broke Kasper away from the sticky ceiling, illuminated boots keeping him slightly off the silk floor; he was somehow taking orders from Flera without her speaking, which fascinated her.

  She noticed Aura’s growl out of her extra eyes, the green-haired woman now shivering from Anala and Drake’s attempts to freeze their way out. Her main attention was on the knight duo, though, fist resting under her chin and one arm under her bust as they met up to swap weapons again. Kasper had somehow retained the dagger.

  Elinor’s gaze lifted to her destroyed ceiling, a whole hollow channel of liquid silk devastated by the volatile blast. “Are you communicating, or are those practiced tactics from Magic Knight doctrine? Hehe. I must say, you nearly freed them, Kasper. Well done! Uh-oh. It seems my binds were a bit too thin,” she chimed, looking left as mist expelled from the nobles, flash-freezing and shattering her web.

  In the rush of fog, she darted forward in the haze, yet a twist to her gut made her drop to her knees to slide across the ground, only for her right spider leg and left arm to be met by a blue streak from Flera’s reactionary twirl.

  Dodging three more follow-up attacks, a whirlwind expelled the mist, revealing a shivering and quite pissed green-haired teen, her long hair weaving upward. “That…was humiliating, Empress!”

  Anala was shaking on the frosted web floor, now inoperable to her, as Drake held her shoulders. “Hey, are you okay? You’re not used to the cold—”

  “I-I’m—heh, I’m fine,” she mumbled, quite a bit more timid and shaky than she’d been before as she hugged herself. “It’s just…hard to—why can’t I use my fire…I can only access t-the cold…”

  “You’ll be fine, Lady Anala,” Flera replied, kicking Elinor and slicing off one of her limbs, getting a short chortle from her; the woman was good at taunting her and more than a little skilled. The Magic Knights were sleeping on the captain, but she was an officer in the City Guard for a reason. “Kasper—”

  “I’m in position,” he mumbled, defending the three.

  “Not bad, kid. Your dad did teach you the Magic Knight Doctrine and Tactics. As for your fire, Lady Anala, didn’t your family teach you that Tempest Synchronization causes a temporary instability in your magic? You’ll be fine in a few minutes. Prince Charming, why don’t you get the ladies some first-aid from the Alchemists? I hear they’ve got some new tonics from the old queen.”

  “Yeah,” Drake mumbled, handing the redhead a sheet of silk that had been torn off in the explosion to wrap around her somewhat exposed chest. She accepted it with a small smile before it went to a pout, and she glared up at him. “Thanks for distracting The Empress so that we could escape—what, Anala?”

  “How am I supposed to walk after you numbed my legs?” she accused, quivers increasing. “It’s sooo cold!”

  “No, no, I get it!” he said with a sad laugh, clearly having trouble standing himself but surprising everyone when he managed to lift the flaming-cheeked Tarkov into a princess carry; it had to be from the cold, right?

  “Oh, I’m not done!” Aura snapped, the wind-user picking up steam.

  A breeze started to pick up around Elinor as she giggled and held up her arm, emerald flames igniting to refashion her lost limb and spider legs. Yet, a sharp tongue dropped the shocked green-haired girl to the ground as Anala created a small lump of snow in her hand to send it smacking right into the girl’s red nose; Aura hit her butt hard as she stumbled back.

  “Don’t be your typical vengeful stupid and leave it to the Magic Knights—we got destroyed—deal with it! Ack… Mmgmg. Drake, you’re the worst!” she lightly growled, smacking his chest and almost making him slip, carrying both of them to the ground. “I’m so cold!” she whimpered, curling tighter into his chest.

  “Sorry… I know I could have done better,” he weakly laughed, stopping at the edge of the arena to look back and offer her a thankful smile. “Thank you for all your lessons, Empress. Aura…”

  “I’m coming, dammit—my butt… Anala, if you broke my tailbone, I’m going to strip the rest of your clothes—Anala! Wha—Drake?”

  Another expert snowball throw, this time generated from the scowling boy, had the Proltis girl thrown for a loop as the other Tempest swooped in to help ‘medivac’ them to the field hospital the Alchemists had set up.

  Not a bad guy, Elinor commented to her Court. Anala’s heart turned out to be quite easy to melt, but I guess she is a little firecracker.

  After the chemical performance, Elinor turned to her two opponents, still ready to fight. However, her real opponent was now here, and the heat in her chest was growing to dangerous levels.

  Gesturing at the pair, she tilted her head toward the group of Conjuration students. “If we continue, I might really end up killing you,” she laughed, running her hands over her hair to check her ponytail’s security. “I’m getting too excited! Hehehe. So, let’s call it there since you did manage to impress me. Now, I get to really kill something. Besides, your time’s up.”

  Flera sighed, holding the Blue Blade up as it began to fade into sparkling light. “It was fun while it lasted, Empress. Considering you limited yourself to the candidates’ levels, I am the one impressed at how well you can perceive danger in combat. Thank you for the chance to wield a Blue Blade, Lord Kasper.”

  “No,” he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck and breathing somewhat hard after the rapid exchange. “I’ve never felt so…alive and scared. Thank you both for the demonstration of a real battle; I’d like to spar and learn from you in the future, Captain Flera.”

  “I’d like that,” she said, emotions settling while turning to Elinor. “Well, I suppose I should leave to give you more of a chance to show off before the Conjurors cook up their meal for your glory. Good luck, Empress.”

  “Oh, I don’t need luck,” Elinor whispered, stretching out her new arms. “I just need to be entertained…because, hehe, I might get a little mad if this is too easy.”

  [Warlord’s Bloodlust: 100%]

  [Killer Instinct: Activated]

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