Chapter 171 The Most Anticipated Match
"She used gravity magic, right? How do we even combat that? Her opponents were helpless before it." Leo asked Lilith a moment later.
"It's quite simple, actually. Just protect your body with your mana. Although it won't completely negate its effect, you can greatly reduce its power. Naturally, this will depend on your mana and magic power."
"If you're too weak, you will experience what the Sakura Academy experienced just now."
"I see…"
Once the Scarlet Academy returned to their waiting room, the students thanked Lia for her hard work.
"Great job, Lady Scarlet. You have helped us regain our face."
"As expected of Lady Scarlet. The Sakura Academy couldn't even hold a candle to your prowess."
Lia suddenly turned to look at these students, silencing them with a single glance, and she said, "I will fight in all of the matches starting now."
"Huh?"
The students couldn't believe their ears.
"You guys take too long to finish the matches."
And without explaining any further, Lia stopped speaking to them.
The students were puzzled about her decision, but they didn't dare to question it.
A few matches later, the Four Witches Academy were called onto the stage.
Their opponent was the Soul Academy, who was ranked 5 for the last tournament.
The Knight Tournament progressed like usual with Cora and Julian going first.
Both Cora and Julian managed to defeat their opponent, but they had to rest after their fight, so Leo fought the third round.
Naturally, he won the fight. However, it wasn't as easy as the Magic Tournament, and he needed to actually focus and be serious about it.
Once the fight began, Leo took the stage first.
"He's going first again?! What is going on with the Four Witches Academy this year?"
The audience was already tired of Leo and his Fire Blast by now, and they wanted to see the other students fight.
"I will go first." A handsome young man from the Soul Academy said to the others.
"Okay. Good luck, and don't underestimate him."
"I won't."
Once both participants were on the stage, they introduced themselves.
"Leo Magnus."
"Michael Light."
"Light?" Leo raised an eyebrow after hearing this unique surname.
"Are you, by any chance, related to Camille Light?" He couldn't help but ask.
"She's my aunt. Why do you care?" Michael said with an unhappy look on his face for some reason.
"Nothing. I was just curious." Leo said.
The buzzer resounded a moment later.
"Spear of Light!" Michael quickly tossed a spear at Leo the moment the match began.
'As expected, he has a light magic affinity, just like Miss Camille.' Leo thought to himself as he instinctively dodged the golden spear that he had seen many times by now.
"Ray of Light!"
A small golden sun suddenly appeared above Michael, and it shot out multiple golden lasers in quick succession at Leo.
"Whoa!" Leo hastily dodged the lasers.
Sssss.
The stage sizzled and melted when the lasers landed.
'Never seen that one before.' Leo smiled.
"Divine Lance!"
A long lance made of light materialized in Michael's grasp, and he pointed it at Leo.
"Fire!" He shouted the next moment.
Whoosh!
A powerful golden beam of light was released by the Divine Lance, threatening to erase everything it touches.
When Leo saw this, he quickly used Flame Dash to get away safely.
"What is going on? Why isn't he attacking?" Kevin noticed Leo's strange actions and asked out loud.
Compared to his previous fights, Leo was acting very evasive and defensive for some reason.
However, the others couldn't answer Kevin's question, so they remained silent.
The audience eventually noticed Leo's strange behavior as well, and they all began questioning it.
'This guy… What is he doing?!' Michael asked himself, but he didn't stop casting spells— he couldn't, as he feared that Leo might retaliate the moment he stops.
Unbeknownst to them, Leo had a very simple yet petty reason for his behavior.
"Come on! Is this all you've got?!" Leo suddenly began laughing out loud.
"Shut up! Golden Needles!" Michael shouted before releasing hundreds of tiny needle-like projectiles at Leo.
Leo didn't bother dodging this and protected himself with Fire Barrier.
'I am always bullied by Miss Camille and her light magic! It's so refreshing to mess with someone else that uses light magic!' Leo laughed inwardly as he continued to taunt Michael.
"Are you really Miss Camille's nephew?"
"If you want to hit me, you'll need to cast your spells faster!"
"Fuck you!" Michael gritted his teeth and released his strongest spell— a Tier 6 spell.
"Holy Arrow!"
A golden bow appeared in Michael's grasp the following moment.
However, he didn't aim it at Leo. Instead, he pointed it towards the sky.
When he released the arrow, it shot straight up into the sky and disappeared into thin air.
Then, a large golden magic circle that covered the entire arena appeared.
The following moment, thousands of golden arrows rained down upon the stage.
"Let's see how you'll dodge this!" Michael said with a confident smile on his face.
Seeing this, Leo cast Flame Wall around himself.
A ring of fire surrounded Leo, burning all of the arrows that touched it.
Once the magic circle above the stage disappeared, Leo said from within his Flame Wall, "Alright, I'm satisfied now. Let's fight again sometime."
"Huh?" Michael didn't understand the meaning behind Leo's words, nor did he have the time to, as Leo had suddenly charged out of his Flame Wall using Flame Dash, and he was charging towards Michael's direction.
"Ack!"
Michael released a cry as he was sent flying off the stage.
After defeating Michael, Leo went on to defeat the rest of the students from the Soul Academy, and he did so by using his old tactics— spamming Fire Blast until he won.
His performance left the audience completely dumbfounded.
As for Michael, he was absolutely livid, as he felt like he had been targeted by Leo for some reason.
'This bastard! Does he have some kind of grudge against the Light Family?! How dare he humiliate me in such a manner!' Michael gnashed his teeth in anger.
"Congratulations to the Four Witches Academy for acquiring their 10th point! Out of all of the participants, they are the only ones that have managed to remain undefeated!" Thalia announced.
Towards the end of the day, the Scarlet Academy was picked for another match, and to everyone's surprise, Lia was the first to enter the stage again.
However, their opponent, the Phantom Academy, completely surrendered after losing just two rounds to Lia, as the remaining three refused to enter the stage just to surrender.
At the end of the day, half of the schools participating in the tournament were eliminated.
Once he was back in his room in the hotel, Leo sighed, "At this rate, I won't need to use anything stronger than Flame Wall— at least until I face Lia."
"That's a good thing, no? It just means you're that strong." Lilith said.
"I know, but I want to show off a little. I trained my ass off to do so, after all."
Lilith shook her head and said, "Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't use anything above Tier 5. In case you forgot, being too talented could be a bad thing and backfire on you."
"Unlike Lia Scarlet, who is protected by the Scarlet Family, you're just an ordinary student who got lucky with the Fruit of Magic Awakening— at least this is how the others see you. If you show too much talent, you'll be hunted by those who are jealous or those who don't want you to be a threat in the future."
Leo became silent after hearing her words, and he agreed with her.
"You're right. I got ahead of myself." He said a moment later, and he continued, "If I can defeat Lia without using above Tier 5 magic, I will do it."
The following day, Leo returned to the stadium.
"There's a good chance that we'll face the Scarlet Academy today." Eve said when they entered the waiting room.
She turned to look at Leo and continued, "Lia Scarlet is your biggest threat, but you cannot look down on the others."
"I know." He nodded.
However, they didn't get matched up with the Scarlet Academy.
[Four Witches Academy] versus [Sakura Academy]
They were fighting Sakura Academy, who had lost to the Scarlet Academy.
"I'm sorry…" Cora apologized to the Headmistress and the others when she lost her match.
A few minutes later, Julian also apologized, "I'm sorry…"
The Sakura Academy was truly on another level when it came to swordsmanship, and they had managed to defeat both Cora and Julian.
"It's all up to you now, Leo." Cora said to him.
"I'll try my best."
For the first time during this tournament, Leo was feeling pressure.
He wasn't as confident in his swordsmanship as he is in his magic, and he had three strong opponents to defeat, not to mention that they had bested even the Scarlet Academy.
Once he was on the stage, Leo got rid of all of his unless thoughts and focused on his opponents.
The first two opponents were not as difficult, as they had been weakened during their fight with Cora and Julian, and Leo defeated them after a few minutes.
However, his third opponent was on a whole other level, and he felt like he was facing a slightly weaker Khrome.
The two of them went back and forth for many minutes, keeping the audience at the edge of their seats as they wondered if Leo would finally have his first defeat in the tournament with most of the audience hoping for Leo's defeat.
Many minutes later, his opponent made a slight mistake, and Leo took advantage of this chance, narrowly defeating him.
"Damn it! He's still undefeated!" The audience cursed out loud when Leo won.
"Phew." Leo wiped his forehead after winning the fight.
"Good fight." He said to his opponent.
"Yes, it was truly a good fight."
His opponent requested for a handshake afterward, and he accepted it.
Unfortunately for Leo, he was not finished, as he had to deal with the Magic Tournament next.
"I don't have the stamina to mess around, so I am going to finish this as soon as possible." Leo mumbled to himself as his next opponent entered the stage.
"Jason Craft."
"Leo Magnus."
The moment the match began, Leo summoned his Flame Walls, trapping his opponent within.
Then, without any pauses, he immediately cast his next spell.
BOOM!
A barrage of Fire Blasts attacked Jason while he was still trapped inside the Flame Wall.
And since his vision was obstructed by the Flame Wall, Jason couldn't react in time to the attack and was sent flying.
Leo repeated this strategy for the next four fights, and his opponents had no response for this kind of tactic.
"Leo Magnus did it again! Eight victories in a row! This is an unprecedented achievement that may never be achieved again!" Thalia exclaimed in her microphone.
The audience were baffled by the results, and they were beginning to wonder if Leo could have a chance at defeating Lia Scarlet.
At the end of the day, those with fewer than 7 points were eliminated from the tournament.
The next day.
[Four Witches Academy] versus [Scarlet Academy]
On the sixth day of the tournament, the Four Witches Academy was finally matched with the Scarlet Academy, and it was even the first match of the day.
The audience went wild after seeing that their most anticipated fight of this tournament was finally becoming a reality.
"This is it, Leo. If you can defeat the Scarlet Academy— Lia Scarlet, we will win this tournament." Eve said to him.
The Four Witches Academy arrived at the stage at the same time as the Scarlet Academy.
"Leo…" Lia's gaze was fixated on him the moment she could see him, and the tingly sensation in her body returned.
Leo felt his skin crawl when he sensed Lia's sharp gaze, and he recalled what she said to him before.
"Leon, I want you."
"It may not be today or even a year from now, but I will not give up until you're mine."
Almost as if he was affected by a spell, Lia's voice resounded in his head repeatedly.