His laughter echoed through the stadium as he watched the hooded person continue to lie still on the ground. But the others didn’t wait for their companion to stand up.
As two of them were already rushing towards him, the rest were trying to cast some kind of spell.
Dodging a swing of the first one, he lowered his body slightly as the second tried to use the chance to strike his head. But Steven simply caught the fist with his hand just an inch away from his face.
With lightning-fast speed, he pulled the enemy towards him and delivered a strike with his elbow by raising it directly in his face as he could hear bones breaking.
The first attacker had already recovered and swung again. Steven caught the unconscious man’s arm and raised it just in time to block the strike.
Being barely a second faster, his strike hit the chin exactly, letting the guy tumble and fall to the ground. Finally letting go of the arm of the other, there were now two people lying in front of him.
Staring at their bodies lying in the sand, he was disappointed; with barely two strikes, they had already lost, and he didn’t even use any magic.
Moving his head, he dodged a fireball flying just past him that exploded somewhere on the stage. Finally looking up, he realized the rest of his enemies were already moving, surrounding him in a circle.
"He’s a Bright; their specialty is close combat, so stay away." One of them yelled to his companions, who all were already casting another wave of spells.
Side-stepping a wind slash, he had barely time to avoid the fireball sent from behind him. Their teamwork was good, and his position was a great disadvantage.
As a third attack flew directly at him, preventing him from dodging. Something pierced his leg. Giving it only a small gaze while dodging another, he noticed an ice shard having pierced his barrier, sticking in his leg.
"I must say, you are all more impressive than I expected..." Pulling out the ice shard, he chuckled. ’’But also insanely boring.’’
Before another wave of spells could reach him, he had already thrown his new weapon. Aiming directly at one of his enemies, piercing his shoulder and pinning him against the arena’s borders.
"Three down, only nine remaining." He laughed, and with their formation finally broken, he would be able to move freely again. Dashing towards his first target, a mage cast some kind of fire spell.
But he didn’t attack; instead, he simply stood roughly two meters from him while dodging the attacks of the people behind him.
As the hooded man hurriedly finished his spell, he released a fireblade toward Steven. But he simply sidestepped it, letting it fly through the air and crash into another enemy.
As the man tried to cast another spell, Steven was already on him. ’’To slow’’
Letting his elbow down onto his shoulder, Steven could hear it crack as the man fell to the ground screaming.
Slowly turning toward the remaining foes, he simply brushed the dust from his suit. His only wound was a small cut on his leg, and five of them were already down.
’’Come at me, I am waiting.’’ His voice was calm, his body on the highest alert. But nothing came; he could watch them hesitating. ’’Getting cold feet!? I said I am waiting!’’
But nobody came; instead, he saw each of them take a slight step back. He could only shake his head in disappointment while picking up the unconscious man beside him.
Throwing him with ease towards the group. ’’Next time bring someone entertaining to talk. And tell your boss I am here.’’ As they picked up their unconscious members and tried to escape quietly.
Steven let them do it; he had already achieved his goal, scaring them off and making himself visible to their higher-ups.
Finally disappearing from his sight, Steven finally calmed down, sitting down on the ground and inspecting his wound.
’’They actually managed to pierce my automatic barrier...’’
For the first time, his expression could become slightly serious.
"And all they managed to do was ruin my way too expensive leggings."
Lying down on his back, he closed his eyes, relaxing while one name after another was announced by the principal’s voice, none of them catching his attention. As he could slowly feel the temperature around him dropping as the sun finally left the sky for the day.
And he could feel the cold breeze of the night on his skin. After a few more minutes he could hear a voice calling out to him.
"Steven, it’s about to be time for us all to return to the great hall." Merency was just next to him, hovering slightly over him. As Steven opened his eyes, staring at her green eyes and red hair.
Why was she here to gather him? Shouldn’t a teacher or staff member do that? Well, it didn’t matter to him. Slowly raising his torso, he sat on the sand as Merency held out her hand to him, wanting to help.
Grabbing her hand, Steven rose to his legs, catching a weird look on Merency’s face in the corner of his eyes.
Walking back towards the great hall.
Steven could feel there was something strange with Merency.
Her mana was moving wild but not like she felt in danger.
It was something entirely else.
Hoping it wasn’t what he thought.