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Chapter 71 - Just Like You Imagined It

The soft and tan hands of Taylor made him feel some type of way. The touch of a foreign body…

The ref ran to Elijah and expressed her gratitude. "Thank you for catching her, and very well done. That fight may have been short, but I can already tell you will be a top candidate, even with a water affinity."

Elijah replied with gratitude, and gave her the reins to Taylor. She quickly woke up and began crying. Shock and pain, with tinges of embarrassment and anger.

"I-I can't believe it! I just lost to a water mage!" 

The emotions of Elijah were high on the way back to the transition room. It felt like a moment of laughter would burst out of his mouth at any moment. Breathing was difficult, and his smile could not be controlled. 

Ecstasy is one hell of a drug.

From the view of Elijah, the arena looked exactly like a football field, without the grass of course. An exemplary array of eight entrances lined the corners and middle sections of the arena, which sat below the elevated stands. Rows and rows of staggered chairs lined the edges, slowly inclining in a manner that would allow every spectator to get a perfect view of the arena. Of course, private balcony pavilions were located at the farther-most points, shaded by slanted roofs.

The arena was a perfect place for everyone to see the intricacies of power, resulting in Elijah suddenly becoming worried about letting his powers slip.

Elijah soon became entranced by harsh sounds and turbulent winds of the orange and yellow core matches. Casting speeds were quicker, spells were more destructive, and most importantly, the shapes the spells could take were more advanced. With every spell sent, the wind from the impact slightly blew my hair to the side. 

"Come on! I know you want to watch, but we have to keep a consistent flow!"

"Sorry sir." Elijah reentered the shadow of the transition room, and handed his short sword back to the attendant. In return, he received a small leather identification piece, and a smile befitting that of someone who was just barely able to see his fight.

"Never in my life have I seen a battle as quick and executed as that before!" 

Not many people saw his fight, but his friends sure did. They were practically stacked on top of each other while peering behind the board that was hanging from the ceiling.

"I wish I could say I was impressed, Elijah, but the fight was so quick!" Theon said as he lightly pushed his shoulder.

Niko gave a simple nod with a smile, then whispered into Elijah's ear before quickly walking away. "We need to talk about the kingdom… I know your past."

Elijah froze, unable to move a single step forward. Was it a lucky guess, or an estimation based on their previous interactions? Had Amaris spoken to Niko, leading him to come to such a belief? Perhaps, Elijah was overthinking his whisper, and was merely talking about his past conversations with Amaris.

The day quickly passed as large amounts of seating arrangements were brought into the transition room. Couches, tables, simple chairs, and even stretching mats. One thing the organizers apologized for was the lack of comfort.

Novius had easily won his fight with an array of lightning tendrils shocking the mechanisms behind his movement into glue. Alexia struggled, but in the end won against a fire mage by using their fire against them. Theon and Raylen had both easily won. While Niko had gone overboard and received a warning from the ref.

A quick conversation between Elijah and Niko was held with a few head nods and hand gestures. An arranged meeting was set up in the south, two days before the semifinals would begin.

Emery walked past Elijah while pointing his hand at him. His arm was dripping with water which meant he had likely been healed. Without any words being exchanged, Elijah knew what he meant.

"Elijah! Your name is on the board again!" Alexia was nervous, and therefore sent her gaze to the board quite frequently.

Laughs were heard from his friends, but quickly shifted to good luck charms. What were true friends if they didn't tease or belittle you once in a while.

Fenris. Black hair, earth affinity, and on the taller side. Simple black clothing which probably meant he was a commoner. Meanwhile, Elijah was wearing a quite sophisticated black and gray fur garment set. Thin high quality fur, small hints of leather protection over the shoulders, and small silver tidbits that visibly shone in the light.

Unlike his last match, Fenris walked towards Elijah for a display of sportsmanship. "I understand you have a water affinity, but I will not be going easy. I wish you good luck!"

"Thank you very much! I think you are a very good person and I wish you the best in life even past this tournament!" Elijah's response stopped him in his tracks.

Fenris shook his hand with a smile. "I think we could be great friends!"

The ref was getting annoyed as they would be here the entire day watching the lowest of the low mages fight against each other. "GO!"

Both parties stayed away from conjuring magic until they neared each other. In Elijah's hand, was a ball of water expanding with every millisecond. 

Imitating an earthquake, Fenris placed his hands on the floor and split the ground while slightly raising the ground below him with every step. The tension was rising as not a single attack had been thrown yet.

A ball of water the size of Elijah's entire body slammed against a wall Fenris had erected. Simply because of the amount of water, Fenris had to raise himself to buy time while he wiped the water away from his eyes.

In his previous fight, he noticed Taylor was easily blinded by the water — partly from a natural reaction and partly from a physical reaction. This gave him an idea to use this to his advantage until people had adapted. A disadvantage in strength, without using his space affinity in combination, turned into an advantage in trickery only if not all of the water was blocked. 

The same could be true with wind and fire, but the effect wouldn't be as large as they naturally dissipate into the air without mana. Also, people naturally flinch and blink in the sight of water sticking to their eyeballs.

Giving his opponent an idea of his strength, Elijah waved his hands to let loose a water blade that barely scratched the dirt and stone pillar Fenris had just jumped from. 

This was a massive mistake. Fenris had already been planning his next move, and with Elijah directly in front of the earthen barrier, he unexpectedly took a big hit to the chest from a projectile Fenris had created from the other side of the wall.

The ground was filled with sharp rocks, and Elijah's hands began bleeding as he picked himself back off his ass. With every shallow breath, Elijah felt a cracking noise in one of his upper ribs.

A divided face of pain and confidence.

The palm of Elijah opened to face the sky, and a teardrop mixed with his blood. Water began rushing thinly all over his body, and when Fenris saw this sight, he winced and began running at full speed.

From this point onward, the battle continued for five minutes as Fenris played the role of a mouse. One by one, Elijah water balls and water blades barely indented the earthen barrier, but led to Fenris expending a large portion of his mana. 

Truly, the battle quickly turned into a game hide and seek. Elijah quickly peeked around corner after corner, only to later receive a tough hit to his back. Although Elijah was able to get off hits of his own, they were mediocre at best, but allowed a plan to begin concocting in his mind.

Beneath Elijah's feet was a torrent of water quickly flowing towards his target. His mana stayed within the water, and with a single thought, Elijah's body sped forward in the formation of an arc. It was as if the king of seahorses created a domain to freely and elegantly travel across the water. Even with Fenris' earthen barriers and projectiles, nothing was able to stop Elijah's fluidity of movement.

"I GOT YOU!!"

Fenris was beside himself in joy for only three seconds. Elijah's water had stopped flowing from his feet, and therefore his speed drastically reduced. 

Of course Elijah had a plan.

A blade of water with tiny specks of light was sent straight through the thin wall Fenris had created. Following that, was a dense ball of water with a force that packed a punch followed up by a close range punch for an added boost.

Boom!

The front of Elijah's fist trailed the ball of water sent towards the wall, and just barely stopped the impact from causing as much damage as it should've. This was besides the fact that miniscule amounts of mana were exploding within Elijah's fist.

What truly caught Fenris, and solidified his defeat, was not the unexpected wall that slammed into his face, but instead a sword that rattled against the floor to the left of where Fenris was standing. 

A simple distraction that made absolutely zero sense. A distraction that caused him to hesitate for just a single second as half of the earthen wall he created himself slammed into his face. From Elijah's point of view, it felt like time slowed down. A chain of events replayed in his mind, and with the imagination of an age no one in this kingdom had reached, everything came to reality.

Even to the point of remembering the sparkling blade of water sliding through the earthen wall, and the dense ball of water making an impact at the perfect time.

If Elijah would have been even half a second off his timing, the sliced earthen wall would not have moved as fast as it did without the water blade removing its friction.

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