"The next battle will start in an hour.
As for today's incident,
Treat it like a warning.
Repeat this again and it won't end with just some tools being scraped."
Astra spoke as she narrowed her eyes. She didn't point anyone out, her words even confused most of the people sitting in the audience.
Repeat this? Tools? A Warning?
Most people felt lost, however, the real culprits, the people to whom those words were directed at, they understood Astra's message clearly.
All the factions playing different games, Astra had openly warned them all.
Her killing a 5th Circle Mage in front of everyone without any hearing wasn't just her moving recklessly out of anger, it was a calculated move. A show of power. She was showing that even though they played all these games and spent days and nights coming up with different strategies, she was the one who held the actual power.
'I can still be the one who you all feared.
Don't make me prove myself.'
*Gulp*
A few mages sitting in the crowd gulped as they glanced at each other. They wouldn't dare to say it out loud however, they definitely saw Astra looking into their eyes as if she knew everything they had done.
'I will be leaving the faction…'
One of the mages made his decision. He was okay with not being able to climb up the ranks faster than his ability allowed him to, dying pointlessly while going against someone who held the actual power was foolish.
'I will be doing the same…'
His companion, who was sitting in a completely opposite direction looked at him and nodded.
A strange silence fell over the crowd.
Even Vaan couldn't understand what her mother was talking about. Wasn't this just a challenge he arranged? It was just one of the ways he came up with to get his hands on some spells, why did it feel like it was getting more complicated than he expected?
Vaan glanced at the rest of the challengers,
They were all horrified.
How could they not be? They just witnessed the two deaths right in front of their eyes. They were just here to get their hands on those elemental stones and defeat the child of the Vesta Family.
They never thought one of the challengers would be losing their lives.
"Young Master Vaan, please follow me."
While Vaan was observing the rest of the challengers, a Medic came to him and spoke.
Vaan glanced at his mother, Astra nodded, Vaan nodded back and followed the Medic.
Astra flew back to her seat and the Challenge came to a sudden halt.
A one-hour break in which Vaan was being treated by the Medics while the rest of the challengers waited for him.
The audience's boredom was visible, sitting in the same place for an hour doing absolutely nothing was obviously not a fun activity,
None, however, dared to voice these thoughts out since Astra sat on her seat, with her solemn eyes and hands crossed.
The pressure from her presence alone was overwhelming. Not to mention those burned marks on the stage that were still not cleaned yet gave a continuous reminder of what happened just a few minutes ago, making the audience not utter a single word.
Time passed slowly, the people in the audience didn't move even though there was nothing to do.
An hour finally passed by, and Vaan returned.
This time, rather than looking at him, the Host glanced at Astra, Astra nodded, and only then did the host start,
"The Wait is finally over people, Young Master Vaan is finally back and we hope that he has returned with his condition as good as when he started.
Now, without further ado, let's continue with the rest of the Challenge.
After Karl Vesta, the next Challenger challenging Young Master Vaan is Isolde Nightfire!
Challenger Isolde, please step forward!"
The Host announced. The crowd finally cheered up, ready to see some action, however,
"I surrender."
Isolde gave up.
He was too scared to continue.
It was not just Karl's death, Eldric's fate wasn't much better either. When Vaan was done with him, his face was all bruised up, most of his teeth were broken, his eyes were swollen and he could barely open them, and his nose wasn't in the best condition either.
Isolde had prepared himself when he came here, he knew he would people get injured in the battle between mages, but this?
What kind of mage punches people up to the point where their face is unrecognizable!?
What was this thug-like behavior!? Where is the dignity of a mage? Where is that studious, gentle, fearsome but dependable image the rest of the mages had created? Why was this Vaan so different than others!?
Was he insane!?
Isolde wasn't a fool, he didn't have any intentions of getting beaten up by that crazy bastard. He would rather give up.
Of course, the people in the crowd booed for him, he, however, didn't care. He couldn't care less about these commoners, if they were that brave, they should step up and fight that crazy bastard. He wasn't interested.
"Oi, you know you still have to give your Spell Directory to me even if you surrender, right?"
Vaan questioned as he narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, Young Master Vaan, I know that," Isolde answered respectfully.
Vaan narrowed his eyes for a moment, then, he just shrugged.
"Whatever.
Just know that you are a pussy."
Isolde's mouth twitched, however, he knew it was better to stay silent right now.
"Tsk."
Vaan snorted, disappointed that he couldn't beat one extra person.
He then glanced at the announcer.
The next Mage was then called out. Unlike Isolde, he didn't give up, he stood against Vaan with a brave look on his face, however, as a normal 2nd Circle Mage, he stood no chance against Vaan's advanced magic circles.
Vaan had a total of 4 extra Inner Circles, which was a huge advantage that boosted his strength to another level.
Not to mention Elara had packed him up with all her knowledge.
A complete knowledge of Vesta Family Head's Student, combined with his own Magic Circles, Vaan just couldn't lose.
Soon, his opponent's cheek met his punch. His opponent then gave up and the battle ended.
Vaan had won again.
Then again,
And then again.
The challenge had ended.
Vaan had defeated all the challengers, his extreme battle style was different than most of the mages, however, his strength was a real deal.
The impact Vaan made today was strong.
Now, he was not a waste of the Vesta Family anymore, he was the son of the Head of the Vesta Family, a man who researched new, much stronger Magic Circles, and a prospering Mage who overpowered his opponent to the point where they could not fight back.
…
"Astra!"
The Challenge had ended. It was Vaan's complete victory. Vaan was currently collecting his rewards from the challenge, Astra, on the other hand, was visited by two people.
"Brother, Sister, it has been a while since the two of you visited me together."
Astra spoke with a small smile on her face as she glanced at the people who barged into her room.
It was Astra's Blood Siblings, Draven Elysia Vesta, and Risia Elysia Vesta.
Both of them had just received the news about what happened in the challenge and the first thing they did was rush in and talk to Astra.
"How could we not come here? We just heard something unbelievable." Risia spoke up.
"What are you talking about, Sister?" Astra questioned.
"Don't try to act your way out of it, Astra. We heard it all, Vaan researched an Advanced Magic Circle with 6 Inner Circles instead of 4! How can you hide something like that from us?"
"But I did not hide it from anyone, Sister. I told Vaan to publish that Circle officially." Astra replied.
"What? Publish it? That is a revolutionary Magic Circle and it was our Vaan who discovered it! How can you just publish it and be done with it? You should have thrown a big party! Our Vaan has finally shown his Magic Talent, he is finally getting serious about his Magic Studies, and just like you predicted, his talent in Magic Research has never been seen before. He would definitely become one of the greatest Magic Scholars who will be a big asset to our family!
His name will be written down in our history books!" Risia spoke up with an excited look on her face. Draven had a similar expression on his face as well.
"Hahaha~ I am glad to see you being this enthusiastic." Astra just smiled.
The hidden meaning behind Risia's words, she could understand them, however, she decided not to react to them right now.
For now, she just waited for these snakes of her brother and sister to reveal their true faces.
"Anyways, have you learned Vaan's Magic Circle yet?"
Risia questioned, the greed in her eyes couldn't be hidden anymore.
