345 Intentions - I
"The next fight will be Rank 5 Lishia Halcyon vs Rank 9 Damian Seymour!"
"Princess of Halcyon!" Some students from the Halcyon Continent cheered.
After all, it had been a long time since someone from the Royal Family of Halcyon had attended the World Academy.
Lishia was compared to other talented mages like Elena, and some even held her talents above Elena despite Elena having an affinity with all the elements.
"Jodie, did you give her the staff?" Kiara asked the girl who entered her VIP Room.
"I did," Jodie replied.
She was Kiara's cousin, the same age as her, and also a Ranker in her fourth year.
Kiara was the daughter of the Archduchess of the Everett Family, while Jodie was her uncle's daughter.
"A princess!" Livia said, looking at Lishia.
She had learned a bit about all the Elite Families and other important people as part of her training, but seeing someone from a Royal Family for the first time made her excited.
Lishia had long black hair and striking golden eyes, which were the features of the Halcyon Royal Family, adding to her beauty.
Damian walked onto the stage and saw Lishia's familiar face; after all, she was his classmate.
But despite being classmates, they hadn't interacted much. Lishia avoided almost every single person in the class.
Only a few people like Kiara Everett and others from families loyal to the Royal Family were seen with her.
Unfortunately, nobody from the Halcyon Royal Family was present here, and Lishia was aware of it.
But this didn't mean that they didn't care about Lishia, or that Lishia's standing in the Royal Family was low. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Given her talent, Lishia had a fair chance to reach the peak of SS Rank in the future.
Even the Seat Holders, watching from the Central Section of the Arena, were keen to see the famous Princess of Halcyon fight.
"Get into your position," the Referee spoke as Lishia took her position.
'He's using the same shield,' Lishia noticed.
Having watched Eva's match, she wasn't underestimating Damian. She was prepared to expect and react to anything Damian might attempt.
But for Damian, this was a challenging match. Firstly, there was a disparity in power between them, and secondly, he was injured.
Despite treatment, his arm remained numb as it hadn't fully healed. Healing such injuries took time, and during the End Year Tournament, students weren't permitted to use any potions or items above A Rank.
Only in medical emergencies, where the student couldn't continue their matches, would doctors use such potent healing items.
In front of Amelia, Damian acted as if he was fully recovered, but he was aware that his damage potential had diminished significantly.
"3...2...1... Start!!"
Upon hearing those words, Lishia employed the same strategy Eva had: pushing Damian back and preventing him from getting closer.
However, there was a key distinction between Lishia and Eva in terms of the magic they utilized. While Eva employed complex barrier magic, Lishia harnessed powerful Black Element magic.
"Her affinity isn't too bad," Helena commented.
Sylvie looked up at Helena's remark. It was rare for Helena to comment on others, especially if they weren't family.
She had seen many people in the Moonlight Guild never get such words out of Helena's mouth despite the efforts they put in.
Helena's eyes turned pitch black as she observed Lishia's manipulation of the Black Element.
Unlike mana, Helena could discern all spell forms involving the Black Element, indicating her profound affinity with it.
'It seems she learned quite bit from my demonstration,' Helena said in her mind.
Lishia conjured black smoke around Damian, and from them came multiple strikes from all directions.
Damian immediately turned to defend from one, but the second one would come instantly.
The strength behind those strikes were weaker than Eva's attacks but Damian was using it all to focus on not letting Lishia's magic attacks touch him.
'Not too bad, he is aware of it,' Helena was a bit impressed by Damian's decision to block and not dodge the attacks.
He was maintaining his ground and not letting Lishia push him back, and making big steps which could lead to an opening.
'But he is exposing his weakness as well,' Helena smiled as saw a mistake in Damian's approach.
Although it was good defense against someone that used Black Element, which could wound a person badly if it managed to go past their aura layer around their body.
Helena noticed David tap his fingers, and everyone else except the children in this room had noticed that.
Each time Damian would defend against Lishia's strike, a slight second delay would happen in his movements, making it obvious that his hands weren't stable.
'I was right,' Lishia thought as she made a wave emerge from the ground made of mist the came of her spell.
Damian noticed it, and he slammed his shield on the ground sending a wave of his aura around him, breaking that wave, but behind it Lishia took out a Staff which some students instantly recognized.
"Isn't that the Staff that came out in the First Auction of this Year," One of them said,
They recognized this staff, and so did Damian.
An A Rank Staff, that even the Fourth Year students would want was something that Damian didn't wanted to be used against him.
A Mage could use Spells on their own, but doing so with a staff was much more convenient and rapid.
But the same staff could become a hindrance instead if it was too weak to handle the power of the mage.
It was recommended to always use a Staff a rank above you or more so that if you used a spell too powerful it wouldn't get affected by the Staff itself.
It was this reason that Sylvus didn't use any Staffs to caste his magic, because his magic was simply too strong.
But in the hands of Lishia, right now this staff was her biggest advantage, and Damian soon felt it as Lishia started targeted her Black Element strikes that came from the ground.
Big shadow formed on the stage, and the whole stage was now Lishia's domain and Damian couldn't find a single moment where he could go from defense to attack.
Damian was a essentially a tanker so he could defend the whole time, but this was duel where he had no one to take advantage of Damian's efforts.
"Stagnant," Lishia uttered the word as the Staff lit up and the ground underneath Damian became sticky as he found it hard to move or lift his legs.
Due to his Aura, he was able to still move but his speed was greatly reduced, and Lishia got the opportunity she needed.
"It's over," Dalton spoke and the others thought the same.
The difference got way too big the moment, Lishia took out that staff and Damian had no chance now.
But David and Arthur weren't thinking the same as them.
In their eyes, a duel must be taken to extreme before the result could be announced, and because of their reckless nature and love for fighting, their days in World Academy constantly revolved around Duels.
And they would fight each other a lot, although David got much calmer and reasonable when he married Verina, and it was the same for Arthur.
They couldn't get reckless due to the responsibilities they had, but it wasn't the same for their kids.
As Damian started getting pushed back brought the Hammer to the ground shattering the part of the Stage he was standing on.
David simply smiled, as he was happy that Damian wasn't that reckless to win.
The moment he stepped back, Damian made the decision, and the duel was decided.
Lishia, immediately used a spell where the Black Element started gathering around Damian, with bubbles appearing from the ground.
"Certes Burst," Lishia chanted as all the Black Energy and the mist immediately gathered in one place, Damian raised his shield in front and used his aura, but he felt his hands go weak.
"Effect of Black element," Helena spoke to the Twins,
"He can't move his arm because of the Mist," Helena told the twins.
Immediately, that Black Energy bursted in front of Damian as a huge hole was made on the stage, while Damian defended against the attack, part of his body still got wounded, and his Shield was cracked.
It was powerful attack, but Damian was still fine, but he lost because he was out of the stage.
"The Winner is Lishia Halcyon!!"
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