Chapter 71: Third-Place Duel

  “I am a Psion.”

  Damon spoke his secret out loud for the first time in his life. He stared intently at Claire’s face, readying himself for any reaction. His lips trembled, and his palms grew clammy. Even though he had decided to reveal his dual cultivation to Claire before meeting her, he couldn’t help but be nervous.

  “A Psion, huh? That explains a lot.”

  Claire responded with a matter-of-fact tone. Her voice and words were so casual, and her expression did not even contain much surprise. Apart from the initial slight widening of her eyes, she displayed no other emotions.

  With his mouth agape, he stared at her dumbfoundedly. “That’s it..? Aren’t you shocked?”

  Crossing her arms, she began tapping her lips with her index finger as she thought.

  “Well, it is a bit surprising. However, you’re so much stronger than a normal mid stage Initiate should be, so it makes sense. Oh!” Claire pointed at him with the same finger. “The absurdly precise control you have… I thought you were just a genius, but you must have been using your mind control!”

  “Well… Yeah. That’s my Telekinesis ability.”

  “That’s so cool!” Claire rushed at him and grabbed his arm while jumping up and down. “I’m starting to get excited now! Tell me more about your Psion abilities!”

  “Oh, uhm… But first, isn’t the mind path extinct? Why aren’t you more surprised? Doesn’t it tempt you? Even a little??” Damon couldn’t help but be taken aback by her reaction. She revealed no desire or shock, as he expected, and instead just found the situation interesting.

  “Tempt me? Why would I even want it? I’ve already got my hands full with advancing as an Arcon and mastering my physique. I don’t have time to waste studying a new path!” Claire chuckled, finding his worry amusing. “The path may have been cut off in ancient times, but it is by no means extinct. Throughout more recent history, there have been plenty of cases where the odd Psion had appeared.”

  “Ah…” Damon’s eyes glowed with newfound understanding. She was right. Once someone committed to a path, starting another was a waste of time. Perhaps it was only precious to either new Initiates or people who had become stuck and unable to advance. It was also news to him that there had been numerous Psion emerging in more modern times.

  “I guess I was worried for nothing! Maybe I don’t need to keep this path hidden.”

  Claire smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Yeah, don’t worry so much! Though it might be good to keep it hidden as a trump card.”

  “That’s true. I was afraid the Assembly might covet the secret and kill me for it. They won’t, right?”

  “Haha! Of course they won’t! The Adepts and Wardens might be interested in studying it, though. But they won’t kill off a promising recruit like you, just for that!”

  “I see… Now that you’ve explained all that, I feel dumb for keeping it a secret!”

  Claire’s smile froze on her face. Her breath stuttered and her voice dropped. “Wait… Am I… The first person you’ve told?”

  “Yeah!” Damon grinned at her. He didn’t understand why she had become stiff suddenly. “But we really should get back to our original conversation. We’re both out of trump cards, so you can use Dawn’s Edge as your hidden weapon. Let’s give Nox a taste of his own medicine.”

  Placing a hand over her chest, Claire’s breathing quickened. She gazed up at Damon’s smiling face. The dumb boy was so oblivious. He could only think about the duels tomorrow. But she didn’t mind. Shaking her head, she focused on his words.

  “But if you give this to me, how about Erik?”

  “You can pretend to control the blade with your wind, so it won’t be so obvious. I don’t have the same ability, so I can’t use it in a public duel. For my match… I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Okay! I’ll rely on you, just this once, then!” Claire brightened up as she traced the intricate runic patterns engraved into the golden sword. “Can you show me how it moves?”

  “Sure!” Damon made some hand seals with his left hand, upon which Dawn’s Edge floated up and began zooming around through the air.

  “Oh wow, Telekinesis is incredible! If you can control anything with your mind, can you send someone flying with a single thought?”

  “Nope. It’s not as powerful as you think. Usually, I have to come into contact with something before I can manipulate it with mind power. This sword is the exception. I believe the materials it was made from allow it to be controlled from a distance.”

  “I see… Now show me your other abilities!”

  “Okay. Watch closely!”

  The pair of youths exclaimed in glee and shouted in excitement as they continued to spend time together.

  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Grand Finals of the Crucible Convergence! Today will be the last two matches of the tournament, and I can guarantee it will be an explosive finish!”

  Wesley shouted out loud, his amplified voice echoing through the Colosseum. Amid his excited yelling, the thunderous cheering of the audience competed for dominance. He looked to his left and gestured for Alan to speak.

  However, Alan did not open his mouth. His reddened eyes with heavy bags were fixated on one thing, and one thing only. He did not seem to be in the mood to commentate today.

  Shaking his head, Wesley grabbed the crystal orb again.

  “Now, now, everyone, please settle down! Before the start of the matches, the Academy’s Principal will say a few words. After that, we will begin with the duel for third place, followed by the battle between our very own Claire against Nox from Lunarsol! Here comes the Principal, Zoltan, now! Please give him a round of applause!”

  The spectators drowned the arena in the sound of clapping. Zoltan emerged from the private room and hovered above the platform. After the noise died down, he spoke up.

  “Thank you for the grand welcome. We have finally arrived at the end of yet another Crucible Convergence. Hopefully, through this tournament, our Assembly and the Towers have grown closer once more. As Wesley has mentioned, the third-place duel will come first, followed by the grand final, and then end with the closing ceremony. Please enjoy the last two battles, and don’t forget to support our friends from afar as well. Thank you!”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After finishing his speech, Zoltan flew back into the private room and vanished from view. The crowd erupted into cheers once more, looking forward to the upcoming matches.

  “Assembly and Towers grow closer? Friends from afar? What a load of crap.” Lilith scoffed at Zoltan’s speech and then bit into a steaming meat bun.

  “Miss Lilith, be careful with your words! What if Principal Zoltan hears you?” Dylan was seated beside her, fussing over her remark as he handed her a handkerchief.

  Grabbing the handkerchief, Lilith wiped the grease dripping down her chin. “Who cares if that old man hears me? I’m a prized asset of the Military Academy. Besides, what I said wasn’t wrong. He should know exactly what the Crucible Convergence is about. He’s just saying those pretty words for the masses.”

  “If you know that, you should just hold your tongue. Why bother opening your mouth?” Thomas asked her from her other side. Nolan, seated next to Dylan, glanced over at Thomas with wide eyes. He had never been able to speak up against Lilith like that before.

  “Hah!” Lilith turned to face Thomas. As she talked, bits of food flew out of her mouth. “You’re one to talk! You always spout nonsense whenever you open your mouth! Just because your ancestors found the Assembly doesn’t mean you’re better than us peasants!”

  “Cover that filthy mouth of yours! You’re getting food all over me!” Thomas protested as he manifested a small wall of vines out of mid-air.

  “Filthy mouth? Just because I’m a commoner? After the finals are over, you and I are gonna duke it out at the arena. I’ll show you who’s the boss!” Lilith spat at Thomas’s vine shield. After that, she looked at Dylan. “Boy, get me some more of these meat buns! Also, perhaps some dumplings. Do you have any of those?”

  Dylan smiled without responding and withdrew a communication orb from his storage pouch. After whispering a few instructions into it, he said, “It’s on its way, Miss Lilith! Sir Nolan, Sir Thomas, do you two need anything?”

  Nolan grabbed his arm and took out a small journal, and showed it to him. On the page, a single word was scribbled in large handwriting.

  Meat.

  With a nod, Dylan whispered into the orb again and turned to Thomas with a bright smile.

  “I’m good, thanks, Dylan. By the way, how come you have time to sit here today? Your food stalls have expanded to four, one in each cardinal direction, yet you don’t have to bustle around like usual?”

  “Oh, I just hired more staff! The ones who tried to compete with us gave up and came to work under me instead! Older Sister Samantha is keeping an eye on the operations. Thanks to her, I can come and watch Older Brother Damon and Sister-in-law… I mean, Miss Claire’s match in peace!”

  “Ah, I see…” Thomas tilted his head. He was sure he had heard a strange term just now, but didn’t catch it completely. Gazing back down at the arena, he saw Damon and Erik step up to the platform. “It looks like it’s about to begin.”

  Damon stood at the center of the stage, facing Erik.

  Erik smirked at him with his arms crossed. “We finally meet, Damon Fletcher.”

  With the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, Damon responded. “Indeed. How are you faring after Senior Tidus gobbled up your lightning the other day? Do you want me to go easy on you?”

  Erik’s smirk vanished, and he scoffed while squinting at him. “Hah! You think I need you to go easy on me? Even without my Mystic Lightning, I can destroy you easily.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  After saying that, Damon turned around and returned to his end of the platform. His bow grasped in his hand, a quiver of arrows attached to his waist, he stood straight and tall as he waited for the match to begin.

  Despite the chaos of the previous matches, the arena smelled faintly of fresh grass. Which was strange, since there was no grass nearby. Damon looked up and scanned the crowd with his eyes. Everyone he could see was looking back at him, cheering his name. It felt very good. He smiled. It would have been a shame to miss this. It was finally his last match, the one that would place him third. His goal would be achieved today.

  Tidus smiled at the scowling Erik, meeting his gaze until he turned away, and then looked at Damon. He was not even paying attention, just relaxedly watching the crowds. Once he eventually looked down and met Tidus’s eyes, Tidus winked at him with amusement. Damon responded with a small smile.

  “It seems the boy is truly assured in his victory today… Let’s see what gives him such confidence…” Tidus mumbled to himself before raising his arm to the sky. A ray of purple light flew up from his finger.

  “Begin!”

  The moment the match began, the world slowed. Damon watched with fascination as Tidus flew up in slow motion, and Erik waved a silver scepter. He even had the breadth of mind to inspect his Mind Node to keep an eye on the crimson jewel. It remained dull and motionless. Next, he calculated the rate at which his mental power was being drained.

  Five minutes. At this rate, I can only keep this activated for a total of five minutes before I run out. But… With the extra mental energy from the blood seed… I can last at least twice as long!

  As he had been trying to conserve the excess mental energy, he hadn’t tested out the mind acceleration during the two-week break. It was only now that he could assess the ability. Having finished his analysis, he focused back on the battle at hand. Not much had changed with Erik, who was still waving his scepter, but Tidus had already flown high enough to avoid his direct line of sight.

  His hands moved painfully slowly as he aimed an arrow at Erik. He could only laugh to himself within his mind. He could plan out his movements so quickly, yet his body could not keep up.

  After what seemed like hours, he had completely drawn the bowstring and prepared to fire his first arrow at Erik. Before he did, though, he channeled mental power into it. Surrounding the sleek blackness of the arrow, an invisible spike formed. Only the slightest rippling in the air revealed its existence.

  This was the new ability he had devised from the inspiration he had gained after witnessing Nox’s Chaosblade. Right now, he couldn’t risk using pure mind spikes. Not in front of the Adepts. But what if he attached it to his weapons or spells? So he hid them inside his arrows.

  The mind spike infused arrow shot out and soared directly toward Erik’s head. Immediately after he had loosed the first arrow, he followed up with a second. Then a third. He did not stop shooting.

  A thick azure sphere of water formed around Erik as a dense barrier. The swirling water devoured incoming projectiles. He had seen Damon withdraw his bow and arrows for this match again, so he had withdrawn his Vortex Scepter to defend against it. This vortex barrier would persist as long as he continuously channeled arcane power into it.

  Right after that, Erik began chanting his next spell. With his hands extended in front of him, a torrent of water surged forth before transforming into enormous liquid serpents.

  At this point, the first arrow arrived at the edge of his water barrier. He did not fear it, as he was confident in the protective abilities of his artifact. But to his incredulity, his bracers began emitting a verdant radiance and formed a barrier around him. However, the rotating arrow came to a halt within the vortex.

  What’s this? Why did the bracers activate, then?

  All of a sudden, the world went black. Excruciating pain exploded within his head.

  “Argghhh!”

  He collapsed onto the ground while holding his head in his hands. He could not see. He could not hear. None of his senses worked, completely drowned out by the severe pain he had felt for the first time in his life. And it wasn’t just once. Four more times, the sharp pain stabbed into his mind. He held on with all his willpower, as something told him that falling unconscious would mean the end of his life.

  An eternity seemed to pass before the pain finally subsided slightly. He could feel again. His entire body was trembling and drenched in cold sweat. Except for near his groin, warmth spread through that area. He struggled to open his eyes as the blinding sunlight only made the pain worse.

  “Contestant Erik, are you okay?”

  He heard the smooth and somewhat smug tone of an old man. It was Tidus, the Adept overseeing the duel. That’s right, he had been in the middle of his duel with Damon. He had forgotten about it due to the sudden onset of the torturous pain. What had happened?

  Forcing his eyes open, he saw the blue sky above him. Raising his head as much as he could, he saw Tidus standing a few feet away, looking down at him with concern. Or was it indifference? He couldn’t be sure. Everything was still too hazy. Behind Tidus, he saw Damon waving at him with a large grin. That expression caused him to tremble even more.

  Why was he shaking so much? Was he cold? No. After a moment, he figured it out. It was a new emotion for him. He was feeling it for the first time in his life. And it was overwhelming.

  It was fear.

  We're approaching the end of the Crucible Convergence, AND the end of volume 1!

  Damon and Erik below!

  thank you for reading!!!