"How surprising." Hearing the choice Faulus made as his opponent for the one-on-one fight, a smile appeared on Valyr's lips, his expression that of amusement.
"Are you sure you want to fight against Ylvar?" As for Loreina and Hal, the two of them looked at each other for a bit as Hal asked this question, only to glance in Valyr's direction not long after as they felt a bit of concern.
In their eyes, it seemed unfair for Faulus to have chosen Ylvar, who had only risen up to fame quite recently. After all, the three of them had already been well-known by people for quite a long time already.
With that, they could not help but feel like Faulus was bullying the "newcomer" of their group.
"I am more than certain." Responding to Hal's question, Faulus then spared a glance towards Valyr, noticing the amused expression on the latter's face.
Seeing this, the man felt a bit of unease, causing him to go over his train of thought from earlier.
'Out of the four of us, Hal is the strongest when it comes to combat,' thought Faulus to himself. 'On the other hand, I am the weakest when it comes to combat, considering that I've also heard of Loreina achieving feats related to combat in the past.'
'With that, the only person among the group that I have no clue on their combat strength is Ylvar,' he continued going through his train of thought, remaining standing in place. 'Of course, that was resolved after he had punched me in the stomach, prompting me to think that he might also be stronger than me.'
'However, the part that I am not certain about is whether or not he's stronger than Loreina.' As the man had gotten to this part of his train of thought, Hal looked at Valyr and asked if he was fine with the arrangement, to which the latter responded that he had no problem with it.
'But… it would be quite disgraceful for me to hit a woman, especially if it's someone I helped out in the past.' Steeling his resolve in fighting Valyr, Faulus took in a deep breath as he watched Valyr stand up and head towards the center of the crater. Letting out a long, drawn-out sigh, he then made his way to the center of the crater as well, standing a few meters away from his opponent.
"As I've mentioned earlier, the two sides shall introduce their specialties to one another before the fight begins." Seeing as the first two combatants for the tournament were already in place, Hal's voice soon echoed throughout the area, carrying with it an aura of authority.
"Would you like to go first?" Looking at the young man before him, Valyr noticed that Faulus was looking at him with a slightly condescending gaze.
"How about you go first?" However, in actuality, the condescending gaze Faulus threw at Valyr was nothing more than a facade. If anything, the current situation made him feel quite nervous in his capabilities, prompting him to wonder once more if he had made the right choice in making an enemy out of the young man before him.
"I insist you go first." Of course, Valyr was oblivious towards the man's real emotions, instead choosing to think that his opponent still bore a grudge towards the action he had done earlier.
"Alright." Letting out a faint sigh as he tried his best to suppress the quivering of his body, Faulus began to talk about his specialties as he felt like the two of them would've continuously suggested the other side to go first if none of them took the initiative.
"Faulus Erlenmeyer. My specialties mostly revolve around alchemy," said the young man. After that, he looked at Hal, who looked back at him before nodding.
"As for my specialties in combat, they all mostly revolve around magic."
"Now your turn." Passing the baton to Valyr, Faulus took a few deep breaths as he prepared his mind and his body for what was about to come.
"The name is Ylvar." Nodding in response, Valyr began to speak. "As I represent the Blacksmith Guild, it makes sense that my specialties mostly revolve around forging."
"As for my combat specialties… I guess I'll go with magic as well." At these words, Valyr flashed a playful grin.
"What's with the spear on your back, then?" Feeling a bit more at ease compared to earlier, Faulus pointed at the blood red spear behind Valyr's back, prompting Loreina and Hal to perk up their ears as they were curious as well.
"Oh. I dabble in a bit of spearmanship on the side, but not to the point that I would consider it a specialty." In response, Valyr gave them an answer that more or less made sense in their minds. "As to why it's affixed to my back… well, it's probably the best piece of equipment I've ever forged so far… aside from that one artifact, of course."
"Is that so?" Though he still held doubts towards Valyr's claim of only dabbling a bit in the world of spearmanship, Faulus decided to believe in his gut instinct that the man wouldn't use underhanded tactics during a fight like this. With that, he took a few steps back before taking on a battle stance.
"Shall we begin, then?" Asking this question, Faulus looked at his opponent with a calm expression, his hands now glowing a faint cyan.
"All of us would be here for a while if we didn't." Letting out a chuckle as he nodded, Valyr took a few steps back as well, taking in a deep breath as he got into a battle stance of his own.
"Are you two ready?" Looking at the two sides to get their confirmation, Hal nodded back after the two nodded that they were ready.
"Then, let the fight…"
"Begin!"
"Haah!" Wanting to gain the upper edge from the very start, the glow around Faulus' hands swiftly manifested into a few bolts of mana, sending all of them flying as he began to throw a barrage of mana bolts towards Valyr.
"[Intermediate Wind Magic Style: Cascading Tempest]!" Buffing his movement speed with one of his magic skills in response, Valyr deftly maneuvered through the bolts that rained down on him, even going so far as to negate some of them by sending back a bolt of his own.
"[Crimson Blaze]!" With Faulus continuing to send down a barrage of mana bolts after him, the young man decided to free himself from the chaos, dashing forwards at the greatest speed he could muster as an orb of crimson flames appeared above one of his palms. With a bit of time to breathe, he then charged this orb for as long as possible, causing the orb to balloon to a size larger than his own head.
Whoosh!
Bang!
"[Enhanced Agility]!" With Valyr throwing the large fireball with all of his strength, it was no surprise that it zipped through the air, appearing in front of Faulus within seconds. Because of that, the young man was forced to stop his barrage and casting a movement speed boosting skill on himself, barely dodging the orb as it caused a smaller crater to form on the ground.
"Hiss…" Taking a look at the crater that had formed from Valyr's attack, Faulus' pupils dilated in fear as he realized then and there that he might have made the wrong decision in choosing his opponent.
After all, he had never seen Loreina make a crater with one of her attacks before!
"Graaaaah!!!"
"[Serpentine Mana Lance]!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Deciding to condense his combat strength into a fewer number of attacks, Faulus swiftly sent out a series of lances made out of mana, all of them zooming through the air as they converged to where Valyr stood.
"[Flame Lance]!" However, rather than run away from the attack like the barrage of mana bolts from earlier, Valyr instead stood his ground, manifesting a spear out of flames as he watched the mana lances move ever so closer to him.
Clash!
At the very moment the lances converged together in the hopes of landing a devastating attack on Valyr, the latter used the flaming spear as a baseball bat of sorts, gripping it with both hands as he swatted the lances away from him with all his strength, causing them to disintegrate within seconds.
…
"You know… I just noticed something." Continuing to watch the fight between Faulus and Valyr unfold, Loreina sent a message to Hal through the chat function. With both of them being known by many people for quite some time now, it was no surprise that the two had added one another as friends.
"Is it perhaps the same thing I'm noticing?" Hearing a notification sound resound in his mind, Hal brought up the cause of that notification before responding back, looking at Loreina with a raised eyebrow.
"Probably." In response, Loreina shrugged her shoulders as she then sent Hal a question. "In any case…"
"Have you seen Ylvar sweat so far?"
