Chapter 160 The finale
"Hahaha~ The First Finalist of the Fourth Tier, Miss Elara, how do you feel after defeating your opponents so gracefully?"
Vaan questioned as he moved his hand in front of Elara's mouth as if it was a mike, Elara, however, didn't understand what he was trying to do since mikes were not a thing in this world.
"I… I didn't do anything this time around…"
She muttered.
"Hmm? What do you mean? You should say that you didn't have to do anything. Your previous performances were simply so good that the little bitch got scared and ran away."
"Brother Leif was… scared of me…?" Elara seemed surprised, she had already gotten used to Vaan's strong language, actually, recently, she had also been picking up on it, however, that was only seen when alcohol was in charge of Elara.
A Drunk Elara with no filters, that is when one can hear an angel like Elara swear.
"Of course. You think he would surrender just because I was interrupting him? If he was so annoyed, then he wouldn't have said anything to you from the beginning. That was nothing but a cheap way of shifting the blame onto me and getting away without feeling embarrassed.
Although I am sure that most mages must have picked that up, after all, no one is foolish enough to buy that crap."
"B-But Brother Leif was quite strong…" Elara muttered.
"Oh? Was he stronger than you? Would you have had a hard time defeating him?"
"Not really…"
Elara bowed her head.
Again, there was her arrogant and timid self.
A strange combination that surprised Vaan no matter how many times he saw her, however, this was what made Elara so unique.
Thinking about it, Vaan couldn't help but hug her.
"Ah?" Elara was surprised.
"See? He must have sensed that he couldn't defeat you so he decided to surrender without losing much of his face."
"That… is a somewhat intelligent move…" Elara commented, closing her eyes as Vaan hugged her.
Her heart still felt restless whenever she was this close to Vaan, she enjoyed the feeling, yes, however, all of this still felt unreal. Elara still hadn't completely recovered from her past trauma.
"Mhm, now you should just focus on that Elric bastard. Actually, defeat him much more brutally than others. I would love it if you could burn all his hair while you are at it."
"…I will end the battle the moment Brother Elric surrenders. I do not wish to hurt him. Brother Elric is kind." Elara replied.
"Kind my ass."
Vaan just snorted. "Didn't you see what he did today?"
"That must be because he was feeling pressured by the Elemental Clash."
Vaan shook his head, this girl was just too pure to think badly about anyone.
Well, not that Vaan could complain, the only reason he had Elara all to himself was because of this personality of hers, else considering the way the previous Vaan treated this woman, she would have left a long time ago and she wouldn't have looked back even once.
Just thinking about that made Vaan rigorously shake his head, getting rid of those thoughts. In his previous life, even God himself had come to him and told him he would act this needy for a woman. Now, however, he found himself at a stage where Elara had become an essential part of his life.
And Elric, who was eyeing on his future wife…
Vaan had already made up his mind.
He needed his Inner Christopher to deal with this matter.
He was planning to deal with this permanently… even if he had to use some… not-very-civil means to do so, he wasn't planning on holding back.
Anyways, for now, that was not important,
"Should we go watch his match now?" Vaan suggested.
"Mhm… we should go analyze Brother Elric's battle, he might show us something that we can research."
Elara nodded as well.
After all, talking about Magic was the thing she loved the most.
The two then walked towards the viewing box, watching Elric's battle. Elric's opponent was Vasil Vesta, he was from a branch family and was someone with a bright future ahead of him, however, in front of Elric, Vasil seemed like a child.
As an Earth Spell user, Elric's defense was absurdly strong, most of his battles were drawn out because of that, Elric, however, was one of the few rare mobile mages. This helped him a lot in his battles since his opponents found it hard to defend against his spells which seemed to come from different angles.
Vasil faced a similar problem as well.
He already wasn't confident enough since he was fighting a tournament favorite, not only that, but deep inside, Vasil had already given up. He had already come this far, he didn't think he would get any further.
With that sort of mentality, it was only a matter of time before the battle ended and Elric was crowned as the winner.
And that is exactly what happened, after struggling for a good 15 minutes, Vasil was pushed into a position where he had no option but to surrender.
The Battle ended, Elric won, he, however, didn't seem very happy.
Rather, he glanced at Elara who was watching him from afar, and with a cold look on his face, he turned away.
He was still angry about what had happened before, not to mention seeing Vaan who was sticking together with her made his blood boil even further.
Elric had decided, he would crush Elara in this tournament and show her the difference between him and that foolish Vaan. He would show her how discussing Magic with him would be much more fun and beneficial than the brat who only knew how to use his mouth.
"Annd we finally have it! Our second Semi-Finalist, defeating his opponent with ease, Elric Vesta stands before you!"
The announcer announced as the crowd cheered loudly. The Mages from the Elric's faction had smiles on their faces, they all had expected this result.
Even Astra seemed impressed by his performance.
However,
"Do you think you can win against him?" Vaan questioned.
"I will but I am saying it again, I will not hurt Brother Elric if he surrenders, even if you want me to," Elara replied, still as confident as before. From the start till the end, even after witnessing so many of Elric's battles and even praising him for being an excellent mage, Elara never treated him as a threat.
Now whether that was blind arrogance and lack of experience, or sheer confidence that originates from her trust in her abilities, this would be clarified quite quickly.
Though one had to admit, it was quite adorable how Elara talks about not hurting Elric when what she plans to hurt the most today was his pride.
"Haah…" Vaan just sighed.
"Whatever, just leave beating him up to me. You go and win the tournament, don't forget, we also have to drink together with Mother."
"Hehe~ I am looking forward to drinking with Teacher as well." Elara smiled like a mischievous child who was about to do something wrong.
30 minutes were given for the 4th Circle Mages to recover from their battle, Medics checked on them if they were injured, and since Elric's status was out of the ordinary and considering how important this tournament was for him, Draven had also arranged Stamina Stones which helped Elric recover his stamina in case he was tired.
Of course, just like Instant Spells, using these Stones in the middle of the battle was considered a foul, however, outside the battle, it was considered a fair play even if it gave a ridiculous advantage to participant who uses these stones against the participants who does not.
Not that this would matter much in this case, Elara wasn't someone who lacked resources either, with the most influential person in the city being her teacher, just a single word was enough to get almost any of the resources available in the world.
Not to mention that since her previous opponent simply surrendered without fighting, Elara wasn't exactly tired.
By now, the sun had already set down and the night had fallen, 30 minutes passed by in an instant, for the final battle of the day, the announcer stepped into the middle of the stage.
"People of the Vesta City!
Are you ready!?"
She questioned, gathering all her energy to fan the flames for the last and the most anticipated match of the day.
"YYEAAAAAAHhhH!!!"
The entire Vesta City reverberated from the loud roar of more than 50 million people who were currently watching the Elemental Clash through the screens that were spread all over the place.
"So without wasting even a second further, let's call the two finalists of the Fourth Tier of the Elemental Clash,
The man who had the highest chances of becoming the champion, the man who has proven his brilliance year after year, the Direct Descendent of the Vesta Family, Son of Lady Risia Elysia Vesta, Elric Vesta!
And his opponent, the little genius who had shown surprising determination, shocking the entire world that was watching her, the tournament's Dark Horse, the only Pupil of the Strongest Mage in the world, Elara Flameheart!
Please welcome our two finalists with the loudest applause and cheers you can muster!"
"YYYEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
