In the Fifth round of the Second Tier, Vaan Astra Vesta made his entrance onto the stage. The anticipation in the audience was palpable; they were eager to witness his performance, with one collective hope in mind: that the events of the past four rounds would not be repeated. Unfortunately, luck was not on the audience's side.
"I…I surrender."
The opponent gave up.
"BOOOOOO!!!"
"OH COME ON!!!"
"FIGHT YOU BASTARD!!"
"WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE!!!???"
And of course, the moment the audience people in the crowd heard that, they shouted in rage.
It was already the quarter-finals, there were only 8 participants left in the Second Tier and Vaan Astra Vesta had not fought even a single battle.
"…"
Astra, who was witnessing the entire situation narrowed her eyes. Even a fool could tell that this was not natural.
Yes, Vaan was the tournament favorite, Astra already knew Vaan's losing this tournament was impossible, she even expected 1 or 2 of his opponents to surrender, but… all of them?
Something was definitely wrong.
As surprising as it was, this was a little problematic as well.
Thinking that, Astra glanced at a few 6th Circle Mages in the crowd and used a spell to enhance her hearing,
"Is this perhaps… arranged by someone?"
"Who do you think has the pow-
…Lady Astra."
"Do you think she is involved in it?"
"Lady Astra is known for her fairness. She has never involved herself in these matters."
"She is also a mother."
"…"
The two mages turned silent, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
Hearing their conversation, there was no particular change in Astra's expression, however, she could already tell that those two mages weren't the only ones who were considering that possibility.
Astra glanced at her son who stepped out of the ring with his hands in his pockets, completely unbothered by everything that was happening around him.
'What are you trying to do?' She questioned inwardly.
"Do you want me to investigate the situation?" Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared next to Astra and questioned.
"Stay put," Astra ordered.
She was curious, yes, but that was it.
It was not a big deal.
For now, she decided to trust her child and watch where this is going.
"A-And the winner is Vaan Astra Vesta! Another round, similar results, it is as if no mage wishes to go against Young Master Vaan!
Is our Young Master that scary of an opponent? While all other Mages struggled and fought to the best of their abilities in order to get to the next round, it has been a breeze for our Young Master ever since the Second Tier.
Is that what it means to be a true Vesta?
Would we actually get to see Young Master Vaan fight?
Only the time could tell that!"
The announcer announced, even though it was the first time she had encountered a situation as absurd as this one, she didn't feel intimidated and used it to her advantage, soon, she shifted her focus to the other three quarter-final fights that were taking place.
The audience, as annoyed as it was, quickly shifted to other battles because of the announcer's skills.
Time passed, the quarter-final ended.
Only Four Participants were now left.
However, the difference between the four participants was akin to day and night.
2nd Circle Mages were still fairly new to magic, the number of spells in their arsenal was limited. Even for a Mage from a considerably stronger family, defeating weaker Mages was not that easy since the difference between strengths between two 2nd Circle Mages was usually not that wide.
Three out of Four Mages who had gone through five battles, the initial rounds were comparably simpler, however, the later rounds, especially the quarter-finals, it took them a lot of effort to win the fight and even though there were Healing Mages who healed their wounds, they all were still mentally exhausted.
It was a normal situation that happened every year.
Today, however, there was one issue.
Or more accurately, an exception.
The Fourth Mage hadn't fought even a single battle. He was still as good as new.
Therefore, to make the battle fairer, the authorities decided to take a 30-minute break and allowed the other three participants to rest.
Yes, just Vaan's presence forced the authorities to change the rules of a tournament that has been held for centuries with the same set of rules.
30 minutes passed by, and it was now time for the Semi-Finals.
Unlike other rounds, the Semi-Finals weren't taken parallelly, to give the audience the best possible experience, the Semi-Finals were held on only one of the sixteen stages and to give the Mage who would be facing Vaan more rest, the other two mages were called first.
Lyria Flameward and Elowen Vesta.
The Battle started, just like everyone expected, it was a long, tiresome battle, but in the end, Elowen Vesta came out as the victor.
The audience cheered, however as the announcer stepped forward, they all turned silent.
They all knew who was going to fight next.
But the question was,
Was he going to fight?
"Now the moment you people have been waiting for, give me a cheer if you wish to see our Young Master coming into the action!
For the Young Master's Battle!"
"YYYEAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The audience roared, their expectation rising again.
"Now please welcome the next two Participants, Gryfinn Vesta and Vaan Astra Vesta!"
"Young Master Vaan!"
"Young Master Vaan!"
The crowd cheered in excitement, this time, however, their support wasn't as one-sided as before.
"Young Master Gryfinn! Show everyone your strength!"
"Young Master Gryfinn! It is your time to shine!!"
The minority supported Gryfinn Vesta, who was one of the Tournament Favorites and had performed quite well in the past rounds, even gaining some fans in the process.
The two mages stepped onto the stage, Vaan glanced at his opponent, he was blonde with blue eyes, seeing his features, Vaan frowned,
"You don't look like a Vesta,"
The Vestas usually had black hair and black eyes, and even though Vaan himself didn't match that description, he was known to be an exception.
"I am from the Branch Family."
Gryfinn replied.
"Ah, that makes sense." Vaan nodded.
"I will tell you right now, I am not planning to surrender," Gryfinn spoke as he glared into Vaan's eyes.
Hearing those words, the referee's face brightened up.
Yes, even he was looking forward to Vaan's fight. Actually, the entire reason he applied to become the referee was so that he could see Vaan's Advanced Circle from up close and try and unveil some of his secrets.
"That is good, I was quite bored as well." Vaan nodded, not bothered by Gryfinn's cold attitude. Then, he glanced at his mother who was looking at him from afar, and chuckled.
"And I have a feeling that if I do not fight soon enough, it won't end well for me." Then, Vaan glanced at the Mage in front of him and,
"Though I will say one thing, you came from a branch family and I can tell that you or your family support one of my dear siblings instead of me,
So don't expect me to go easy on you, alright?
I want you to know who you and your family are up against.
After all, only then would you be able to make a smarter decision, no?"
A big smile appeared on Vaan's face.
"You are as arrogant as I was told," Gryfinn commented.
Vaan glanced at the referee, the referee stepped forward and,
"Please stand on your positions."
Two mages stood 50 meters away from each other.
"Start!"
The referee ordered and seeing that one Mage was finally willing to fight Vaan, the audience went crazy.
"OOOHHHHH!!!!!:
"IT IS STARTING!!!"
"YOUNG MASTER VAAN!!!"
The two mages absorbed Mana from the surroundings.
"Flamey, Splashy."
Vaan called his two little friends, wanting to go all out from the start.
"Krriiii~~"
"Grruu~~"
The two fairies flew near Vaan's hands, the Mana moved throughout his Body and Two Advance Magic Circles were formed.
"OOOHHHHHH!!!!"
The crowd cheered.
Magic Patterns were drawn, Gryfinn was Wind Mage which was known for its speed. He decided to gain some momentum using Wind Blade, a basic Spell that could be cast at a much faster speed than any other spell.
*Whoosh*
The Wind Blade was shot!
Vaan wasn't any slower either, he summoned his signature Fire Spike, powered by [Speed], [Burst] and many other Inner Circle Spells, the Fire Spike shot as fast as the Wind Blade known for its speed.
In this situation, normal mages usually aim for the two spells to clash with each other and they continue this until the better mage outperforms the other mage and the battle flow changes.
Vaan, however, had a different approach.
Even though he would be in an advantageous situation if he let the situation play out, just as his Fire Spike was about to collide with Wind Blade, Vaan tapped the Direction Manipulation, the Fire Spike momentarily changed its path to avoid the wind blade and rushed towards Gryfinn.
"!!!"
Gryfinn widened his eyes in surprise.
To his horror, however, Vaan had just started.
"Don't die kid."
*Whoosh*
He pushed two-thirds of his Mana into Speed Inner Circle and the Firespike shot towards Gryfinn twice as fast as before.
'I am doomed…' Gryfinn gulped.
