Chapter 145 - Fall Towers

Arthur walked into the rest rooms of the arena after confirming there was no one in the area. Entering and locking the door behind him, he heaved a loud sigh and dropped to the ground.

[Is there a problem Master?]

Celestia who had been silent for quite a long while spoke up after noticing his weird state. Arthur however, just chuckled while running a hand through his hair.

He walked up to the mirror and removed his left contact lens very carefully. Seeing his glowing blue eye and his strangely shaped pupil, he laughed depreciatingly before putting the contact lens back.

'To think i would do such a thing to myself. It's bizarre and makes little sense but if i look at my recent actions, then everything falls into place.'

He flicked his fingers and saw the multicolored energy coat around his body tremble a bit. It was only a light tremble, but unlike before, he had finally evoked a reaction from it.

"Nothing is wrong Celestia, just that I think I may know where your fragments are..."

[Huh? When did you find out?]

Celestia was bound to Arthur, as such she knew practically everything that happened to him even if she was in a dormant state and she did not recall any events that may have given Arthur a hint on where her shattered fragments are.

Even she didn't know where they were after all.

"Just a little trick I discovered, nothing much."

With that vague reply, Arthur unlocked the door and walked out of the rest room, back to the commentary box where he and Tom proceeded to continue the commentary for the third event.

◇　◇　◇

The third event, Fall Towers was a team event that would have two students participating each. When attacking the large towers provided, the tower will break depending on the force of the impact. The team will retire once their tower is completely destroyed while the last team with the standing tower will win first place.

The important part of this contest is that it is a team battle. The balance between offense and defense is important, and being sufficiently cautious, bold, and cooperative is going to be valuable.

[Now then! The third event is a team battle! Team A is entering the field! It is Sir Silva and Sir Feik! As expected, Sir Silva's firepower is likely to become the crux of the game. 

Team B has Lady Sola and Lady Naty! Lady Naty created a wall of water during the second game; will this be effective against Sir Silva's flame magic!? Lady Sola's magic manipulation is also something to behold! 

Team C is the master and retainer combo, Lady Hermie and Lowe! I hope that they will show off some great coordination! 

Team D has Sir Sharl and Sir Kut! They've stayed on the lower ranks of class A so far, but will they cause a major upheaval here!?]

As Tom finished introducing the participants, the hall was enveloped with fervor. No, it was not just that the audience was heating up with fervor but the temperature was actually literally heating up. 

Looking closely, one could see that Silva's magic power was swelling. 

While It is amazing that he has gotten to the point where his magic power can cause this much influence, on the other hand, it was clear that he's about to do something. If only he can keep this hidden, he would be one level higher.

Of course, the barriers on the stands were quickly activated and blocked the heat from getting to the audience.

[It is starting to get hot around here! The participants! The audience! We all cannot wait any longer! And with that! Begin!]

"Explosion!"

"...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Immediately after Tom's signal, Silva's magic activated. Wide range, high power, and quick activation. Putting these into consideration, it seems that he chose the detonation magic "Explosion". 

In fact, with only his first attack, Silva instantly destroyed team D's tower, causing them to retire without being able to lift a finger. From the activation of magic, the two of them must have attempted to use defensive magic, but it was late and they couldn't activate it in time.

[Immediately as we start! A terrifying explosion just echoed! Just one, just a single "Explosion" engulfed everything on its path! Team D retires before even making a single move! Is this the full power of a member of the second year's top 30, the one most likely to enter the top 20 soon!?]

"I honestly intended to settle things there though…"

"Really? That was too obvious."

"I know. Still, the impact was far greater than we expected."

Team B's Sola and Team C's Hermie managed to handle Silva's magic properly. In Team B's case, Sola and Myla created a wall of water in coordination, so the tower is left unharmed; but in Team C's case, Hermie and Lowe chose to make a wall of wind, which could not offset the attack completely, so the tower took some damage.

"Haah, well anyways. Try and see how much you can take! Feik, I leave the defense to you."

"Y-yes!"

With a dauntless smile, Silva once again activated his magic. Explosions, flame lances, sparks, and countless arrows, one after another flame magic was cast as the very symbol of destruction. If even one of them hit, there was no doubt that the tower will receive serious damage, so Team B created walls and barriers of water to compete against them.

Meanwhile, Team C was not in a good situation. Unlike Team B in which both of their members had an affinity for water attributes, Team C only had Hermie. Hermie created water while Lowe used wind with it to create a rainstorm, but it seems to be lacking in power to completely block out Silva's flames, so their tower was slowly getting chipped away.

"I should be able to chip Hermie's eventually. Feik, can we still bear it?"

"Yes! We're good!"

"Okay, then let me bump up the firepower a bit."

Silva was by no means bad with magic manipulation, but since he was using magic that had wide range effects, it naturally impacted his own tower as well. It would be different if he had the same level of magic manipulation as Sola and Hermie, but Silva was more of a power-focused person, so he only had the bare minimum for that.

Supporting him was Feik's water veil. With Silva's magic power control, he minimized the effect of his magic on their side, while Feik defended against the remaining impact. To begin with, Silva's magic was forcing the other teams into the defensive, so Feik was still doing quite well.

"Come on, come on! It is still getting hotter! How long will that water barrier be able to last!?"

"Kuh!"

As Silva said, the heat of his magic power was still rising, and Team C's tower was quickly collapsing. Even so, the reason why they were still able to bear it was likely thanks to Hermie's magic manipulation. Team B seemingly could not take Silva's more powerful magic anymore, as the volume of water in their water wall was slowly decreasing.

"Lady Sola! We're almost at our limits!"

"I see. Miss Naty, can you do the final preparations?"

"Yes! Here it comes!"

With the water magic she used to push away the tentacle in the last game, she weakened the force of the flames in an instant. Taking this opportunity, Hermie used wind magic to disperse Naty's water and extinguish Silva's flames. Team C was sure to retire with this, so it was likely a last resort move. Even if this was Sola's plan, they didn't have any other choice.

"Affirmative! Now!"

"Alright! – Heed my call: Lightning !"

The instant the whole area was filled with moisture, Sola activated her trump card. The attribute magic that she had an affinity for but could not use up until now. 

Lightning magic was awfully difficult to imagine and control but for Sola, it was a walk in the park.

The "Lightning" Sola casted traveled through the moisture filling the entire hall and rampaged on. In particular, Team A's tower which was enclosed in a veil of water received heavy damage, as the water veil that was supposed to protect the tower transformed into an electric veil destroying it instead.

[It's settled!! Just when we expected Silva to burn everything with overwhelming heat! Aiming at a momentary gap, Sola's lightning stormed through everything in its path! First place for Team B! Second place, Team A! Third place, Team C! And fourth place for Team D!]

Tom's loud voice resounded across the arena alongside the overwhelmingly loud cheers from the audience.

When Silva attempted to evaporate the water veil with his flames, Naty continuously added more water and he eventually could not keep up. Meanwhile, Team C's tower, which was already surrounded by a rainstorm, now had lighting added to it, causing it to collapse quickly.. Up until now, Sola had magic control but was lacking in destructive power, but with lightning magic she gained the necessary power she needed.