Chapter 131 - Victory and Sore Loser

"I can't tell if she's clever or just insane", Malgorious commented aloud as he watched the Ragnaceros run on the back of the water column.

{A little of both, and a little help from that ice mage if I had to guess}.

About halfway through the duel between Silvia and Mourga, Malgorious was just passing by until he noticed exactly who was fighting. As to why he decided to stick around...let's just say a little voice told him to.

Whilst everyone else in the arena was blinded by the steam, Malgorious was able to clearly see how Rakka was able to jump into the air and began running atop the water column using the [Fire Stride] technique.

{Mind explaining}?

{[Fire Stride] is technically an off shoot of an old pyromancy spell called [Skyfire Trail]. It's a fairly powerful spell that enabled maji to use pure fire power to propel themselves through the air and on the ground}.

{Sounds like a strong spell}.

{It is, but I've only seen maji with a talent in aether control being able to use it properly...}.

{Fascinating}.

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A powerful explosion rocked the arena and blew away the steam as Rakka's [Burning Blade] made contact with Budo's oily skin. I had feeling it had a weakness to fire, I was not expecting that to happen.

As the [Fog of War] worked to protect me from the blast, I felt my bond with Rakka suddenly waver. At the same time, I couldn't help but mentally groan and complain to Voxea.

[Voxea, did you curse me or something when we first met]?

[No. What makes you say that?], Voxea replied in an amused tone.

[It seems like every time I'm in a non-practice fight, there's always fire and explosions involved. At this point I can't help but think it's an inevitability every time I get into a binder fight now].

[Oh please, if it was my brand of cursing, there'd be a lot more ice and mind altering involved...maybe chicken feet], Voxea nonchalantly commented.

[What was that last one]?

[Don't worry about it. Look alive, smoke's clearing].

After the blast had died down and the smoke began to clear, I felt my connection with Rakka stabilize and watched as he landed right in front of me. He looked a bit beat up, fur a bit blackened by the blast and I could feel that both of his antlers were ringing with pain, but for the most part, I could feel that he was still kicking and feeling quite proud of himself. It was a very different story across the way.

The once slimy BullFrog was rendered a burnt out husk, smoke coming out of its mouth and eyes. It's skin which was once warty and green, was now black and cracked like used charcoal. Red lines of ember covered its skin and I could make out a small source of light coming from the top of its head.

"C-croak".

With a final cry, the BullFrog fell over. Pointed towards Rakka and I was a deep sword wound, the edges of which was still burning with flames. A few seconds later, the BullFrog's form began to waver before turning into several balls of aether. The balls of aether flew back towards Mourga's drajule and slowly reabsorbed, the binder himself was currently staring daggers at me with a horrible grimace.

Meanwhile the crowd stared at us with stunned silence, as if they couldn't comprehend what just happened.

"So...when I can expect you to start running?", I asked aloud as I recalled Rakka to his drajule, a look of triumph on my face.

"T-the winner is, Silvia Rosewood!", the announcer shouted.

"...WOOOOO! SILVIA! SILVIA! SILVIA!", the crowd suddenly cheered after my loud declaration.

The crowd's cheering was rather deafening, but it felt rather refreshing having people cheer your name after forcing an arrogant loudmouth to eat their words. I couldn't help but feel that nothing could go wrong at this moment.

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Rage. Indignation. Humiliation.

These were the feelings overcoming Mourga at this moment. He had arrogantly declared he would beat Silvia in a duel and had promised that he would now go and run around the campus while...NOPE! NO. NO WAY.

There was no way he would humiliate himself further by running around n.a.k.e.d! Of course...he only had to keep his promise as long as Silvia was alive...

Before anyone could notice, Mourga slipped on a ring with a dark orange drajule onto his other hand, and an orange and brown summoning circle formed in front of him.