NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53: Bouts
What happened afterwards was too quick for most of the audience to even catch up.
Instead of taking the opportunity to charge in, Fen simply stood in place, smiling at his enemy. With everything that he went through already, what good could this city boy do to him?
While it was obvious that this kind of lack of action was akin to giving the initiative to the enemy, but at this point, Fen simply couldn't care less.
At some point, his opponent's body twisted a bit. Just by a tiny amount, this young man in front of Fen leaned forward, indicating his next movement. Used to observing all the tiniest clues that beasts from the forest would give him, as this was the only way to outsmart them and avoid the fight, Fen could read his opponent like an open book!
Stepping forward at the exact same moment as his opponent attacked, for the onlookers it would most likely seem as if the two of them moved at the same time.
But that was also when the fight ended. Capable of moving far quicker than his enemy could expect, Fen simply walked forward a few steps, before knocking his enemy out with a dull hit to the side of his head. Even before a fireball forming on that young man's hand could take its final shape, its holder was already falling to the ground, unconscious.
"Next round!"
Not wasting any time, grade two class teacher instantly announced the beginning of yet another clash, as if he couldn't afford for the shame of losing twice in a row to remain. Intend on washing it up with the next fight, before Fen could even get off from the bright area, another opponent was already awaiting someone from Fen's class.
"Kaisha, you are up!"
Only now did Fen notice that he was placed above the girl. While the fact that she lost against the veteran that Fen managed to best caused it to make sense, but there was a deeper meaning behind it. So far, the greatest asset under the young man's belt, steemed from combining Kaisha's techniques with those of his own. Just the fact that she was capable of putting the fight against that veteran soldier was enough to put her way above the first two competitors from either class!
Gracing the young man with a cheerful smile on her way to the fighting grounds, Kaisha basically jumped her way there. Even when she stopped in front of the enemy, her face was still twisted in a wide smile, with every part of her body oozing the happiness.
"Wha…"
This time, it was the enemy's turn to be shocked. Faced against such an overwhelming wholesomeness, the young man hesitated. And at the same very moment, Kaisha simply jumped forward once again, gently slapping her opponent's face.
At the point when her fingertips made contact with the man's face, it seemed as if eruption suddenly exploded the man away. Jerked to the back by the sudden emergence of a huge fireball, by the time the young man from the second grade managed to turn his head back towards his opponent, his body already left the test area, indicating his loss!
"Awesome!"
Ignoring the rest of the commotion going on around the fighting grounds, Fen focused his entire attention on Kaisha's happy self. Returning from the test in the same manner as she went in, by the time this girl reached the front row of the students from their class, everyone already could tell from her intense stare that she was heading towards her dear partner.
"That was great."
A bit tense from all the attention that suddenly fallen on him, Fen still stood up and nodded his head to his partner. And he could make her even happier in any other way! Throwing herself forward once she reached the suitable distance, Kaisha wrapped her hands around Fen's neck, pulling him into a deep hug.
"I DID IT!"
For the first time since the first phase of the tournament started, someone managed to break the eerie and solemn air that lingered in this place even before Fen arrived with the rest of his class here.
Openly expressing her happiness in achieving something, Kaisha became the first arcanist in the entire building that properly understood how this event should look like.
"You did a great job…"
Unable to resist her embrace, Fen started to move his hands up and down her spine, snuggling her even closer into himself. At the same time, the entire hall finally erupted with the excited voices from both of the classes.
"Did you see how she exploded him away?"
"But hey, that instant win from before…"
"I actually love the first lesson that second graders gave us!"
Suddenly filled with voices of the young people commenting on the ongoing event, Fen could hear people from his class praising their opponents and the second-grade students doing the same.
Soon, the attention of everyone was pulled towards the next game, when the time for the second graders to show their prowess finally came. While the fight was an obvious loss with how quickly the upper-class participant managed to overwhelm Fen's classmate, but instead of leaving him in the dust, it was the same second-grader that pulled his opponent up, before starting to explain all the mistakes he noticed in the other's movements!
Going back to Fen himself, with Kaisha hugging him through the next three consecutive wins of the second grade, the young man could slowly feel how their positions were changing.
Instead of just snuggling to each other while standing, the two of them somehow ended up sitting on a nearby chair, with Kaisha comfortably lodged on top of Fen's lap. Feeling her breath slowly calm down and stabilise from the slight waves that shook her body, Fen was starting to lose his mind.
Only the excitement from his classmates somehow managing to catch up to their opponents allowed the young man to pull his thoughts aside for a moment. Sadly, this series of unexpected wins didn't last for long, quickly leading to the conclusion of the meeting.
In the end, even this overall loss wasn't as heavy as it would appear before the atmosphere cleared up. Now, while second-graders were obviously rejoicing, most of them rather quickly mixed with Fen's third-grade, allowing both sides to find some new insights on their skills!
"Fen, Kaisha… Sorry to break your moment, but you guys are ranked third and second respectively. That means you will be in the different groups during the tournament, thank me for that later."
Appearing as suddenly as he then vanished, Stiel stopped them from silently enjoying their wholesome moment only to disappear as he left one more sentence lingering in the air.
"Seeing you two I wouldn't' dare to make you fight each other… Eh, you will thank me later!"