Flame Eater “The fight"s already started even before the battle"s begun! The magic sword wielder, partic.i.p.ant Leonir, vs. the one who fascinated the audience with a beautiful battle in the qualifier, partic.i.p.ant Firia. Whom will the G.o.ddess of Victory smiles to? third match, starts!”
After stirring the spectators, the moderator declares the starts of the match.
Right after the match is begun, Leonir draws his sword.
However, since both of them are quite far away, it is obvious that Firia isn"t within the sword range.
It"s called Magic Sword so can it do something special, I wonder?
Well normally thinking…. perhaps it can shoot Magic or something.
“Don"t you dare to talk back to me!”
He thrusts his sword upward. Wind magic is released from its tip, attacking Firia.
It"s exactly just as I expected so I don"t know what to say.
Firia jumps into midair and dodges the magic.
Using that opening, Leonir charges toward Firia while brandishing his sword.
However, before the sword can touch her, Firia shoots lightning magic from point-blank range.
“Gaa!?”
“What a vulgar voice.”
Firia points her right hand toward the blown away Leonir.
Flame comes out of her hands and attacks Leonir.
“Struck by lightning and then burnt by flame, partic.i.p.ant Leonir, is this as far as he can go? W, wait, that is! Partic.i.p.ant Leonir, he"s coiled by flames. Could that be his ability?!”
As the moderator says, Leonir is coiled by flame.
Leonir broadly grins, and then laughs.
“Ha ha ha, you thought you"ve won? Too bad for you, I have an ability called "Flame eater", fire doesn"t work on me!”
Leonir swings his sword again.
Firia"s attacked by wind magic, but she blocks it with water magic.
Not good … If she can"t use fire magic, it"ll definitely become a tough development to Firia.
….No, if it is Firia who has undergone special training with me, she should still be stronger than that Leonir guy.
I hold my breath and keep watching Firia"s match.
“Here, for your attack before!”
Leonir attacks Firia with wind magic. However this magic has fire mixed in, unlike before.
Although Firia succeeds in avoiding it, the flame grazes her clothes and the clothes get burnt slightly.
Noticing that her clothes get burnt, Firia let out very cold words that penetrates those who hear it.
“Even though this is the clothes Yuri-san bought for me… unforgivable. It is a big gamble, but I will still go with this, please don"t hold a grudge against me.”
Saying so, Firia releases the power within her body and languidly puts both hands down.
I"ve never seen that stance before. I wonder if it"s the one that Firia once said she had reserved before?
Thinking that it"s a good opportunity, Leonir swings his sword toward Firia.
Firia doesn"t look like going to dodge the wind and fire magic that"s released from the sword"s tip.
The magic hits her as it is, but Firia is still standing there.
“What"s this? Are you trying to be an attack target or something?! I won"t hold myself back then! Oraoraoraora!”
“Ku! Ahh!”
When Leonir crazily swings his sword, wind magic is flying wildly about, and Firia takes it all.
Firia"s body is already tattered. Her clothes are also torn here and there, and her abdomen is exposed.
“Taste death, Elf!”
He swings the sword widely, and then a proportionally as large wind magic approaches Firia.
“It hurts you know? … here, let me pay you back.”
With Firia as the center, tremendous wind wildly flies about, Leonir"s thrown off.
And behind Firia, a huge ten meters tall humanoid magic wind is formed.
However Firia is already full of wounds. Her breathing is rough, and she"s standing unsteadily.
“Wha, what the h.e.l.l is that?! Isn"t that cheating?!”
“This is the wrath of Wind G.o.d-sama… please… just obediently die.”
The Wind G.o.d brandishes its wind fist toward Leonir.
Leonir also brandishes his sword, but the momentum of the wind G.o.d isn"t weakening at all.
And then the moment the Wind G.o.d"s fist is about to hit Leonir – exactly at that moment, Firia collapses as if a doll whose threads are cut, and the wind G.o.d vanishes.
“Er, this is … Looks like partic.i.p.ant Firia has lost consciousness, which means it"s partic.i.p.ant Leonir"s victory.”
When the moderator announces the victor in a somewhat troubled voice, the spectators begin to give applause, although spa.r.s.ely.
Perhaps the spectators aren"t completely satisfied with the result, but such a thing is matter not to me. I head toward where Firia is.
“Firia, are you alright?”
“Yuri-san….”
Firia seems to have regained consciousness after being treated by the recovery magician.
“I gave it my all, but…. It was still not enough … ehehe.”
She floats a smile while saying “I am sorry”, but her hands are trembling.
Seeing that smile, I feel that my heart is getting hot.
Originally, with Firia"s prowess, she should"ve won against an opponent of that level.
The reason Firia lost this time was because she got blood rose to her head and then decided gamble on such huge magic.
And the cause was the clothes that I gave her got burnt.
Even if it"s someone like, there"s no way I think nothing after witnessing that match.
“I"ll definitely avenge you. Just leave the rest to me.”
“There"s no need for you to worry over something like this. You can just keep aiming for the champion like what you"ve been doing, you know? … or rather, please quickly win this tournament.”
“I will do it even without you need to tell me… I"ll get you another clothes later.”
Firia"s eyes are red but she doesn"t shed any tears. Perhaps she"s trying to not dampen my, who"s about to up next, fighting spirit.
Looking at her figure, a thought suddenly crosses my mind.
Not for mine, in this tournament, let"s fight for Firia"s sake.
I"ll also beat that Leonir guy to pulp for Firia. I decide so.
“Fourth match, partic.i.p.ant Yuri vs. partic.i.p.ant Coltpup! To both partic.i.p.ants, please enter the Colosseum!”
Following the moderator"s words, I head to the Colosseum.
The moderator seems to be reading explanations about us, but they don"t enter my ears at all.
I don"t care about such things, just let"s get started already.
“Well then, the fourth match, starts!”
I close the gap and then hit my opponent.
But my fist only hits air….. above, huh.
“Partic.i.p.ant Coltpup, coiling himself with wind magic, he evacuates himself and flies midair! If by chance he can"t use magic, it may be a tough match for partic.i.p.ant Yuri!”
As if.
I shoot pistol punch. My opponent falls to the ground.
“My goodness! Partic.i.p.ant Yuri, it seems that he could use wind magic as well! Very formidable!”
The moderator seems to think that it is wind magic rather than muscle magic, but that does not matter at all.
Rather than such a thing, I want to fight my next opponent quickly.
“The second round is over, next is the semi-finals, oops, before that!…. It"s recovery time!”
The moderator says so in playful manner.
Inside the quiet waiting room, I"m surprised with myself.
I"m getting too hot.
It"s not necessarily a bad thing to get hot, but it"s not good if I can"t even register what the moderator"s saying.
I lost the sight of my surroundings.
I have to somehow calm myself down.
I close my eyes and then clear my mind.
Erasing the surrounding noises, I focus onto yourself.
After a while, feeling that it"s about time, I open my eyes.
Before I knew it, Firia is holding my hand.
Perhaps thanks to the recovery magic, seems like there"s no need to worry about her injury anymore.
“What are you doing? Don"t surprise me like that.”
My voice turns out colder than I expected.
“I"m sorry, but, there"s something I have to tell you no matter what, Yuri-san … you don"t have to fight for me, you know?”
“….What do you mean?”
Firia holds my hand tightly.
Staring straight at me, she looks slightly fl.u.s.tered.
“Because, Yuri-san, it looks to me like you"re tormenting yourself… If it were the usual you, you would"ve won the previous match with your first attack… I think you"re powerful because you think nothing but yourself, Yuri-san, that"s why, please fight for yourself.”
I… was worried?
I see, now that I think about it, I"ve only fought for my own enjoyment.
Perhaps I"m not used to fighting for others.
…. Or rather, I think I"m not even suited to think about doing something for others.
It"s natural that you won"t be able to show your full capability when doing something you aren"t used to.
“Thanks, Firia. I"m all right now, however, you pay quite a lot of attention to me, huh.”
“Huh? That"s… Well, because we"re comrades, after all.”
Firia"s face becomes slightly red.
I do not know why that happens, but there I"ve decided to fight for myself.
Thanks to Firia now I"m alright. I believe I am.