[Lifespan Remaining: 1 day, 6 hours, 40 minutes.]
Rosse drew his sword as soon as the command went off.
Noct barely had time to register the movement before mana gathered along its edge.
“O wind, stir and waken!”
〈Ars Gale: Potens Anima.〉 — Strong Winds.
A gust of wind rushed toward Noct, skimming just above the ground.
Noct threw himself sideways, where the spell passed and struck the stone behind him, completely shattering it to pieces.
But he had no time to stare at the damage, because Rosse was already closing the distance.
There was no second incantation, he had begun running almost as soon as the spell left his hand.
‘Shit!’
Noct raised his rapier just as Rosse brought his blade down.
CLANG—!
His wrist nearly folded, and he stumbled backward as Rosse pressed forward, forcing the two blades toward his chest.
“Gonna do something, Noct?!”
Rosse twisted his sword, pushing both his own and Noct’s rapier aside before driving a knee toward his stomach.
“Gughhk—!”
Noct staggered, but managed to stay upright.
‘A little room.
That’s all I need…’
“O wind, stir—”
But Rosse didn’t let him continue, breaking the bind and going in for another attack.
Noct abandoned the incantation and ducked, where Rosse’s blade managed to cut a few strands of his hair.
‘For fuck’s sake!’
He retreated another step, keeping the rapier between them.
Rosse followed without hesitation, striking at the blade whenever Noct tried to raise it.
‘Rosse de Arcadia.’
He had remembered the name because of the challenge against Noct.
But that hadn’t been the last time Rosse appeared in the game.
Robin had fought him too.
With everything that followed, the Rite of Contention had been little more than background information.
Rosse’s actual fight came later.
And Noct remembered being annoyed enough to open the enemy information window after losing.
More than once.
[Character recognition complete.]
[Displaying character data.]
〔BASIC INFORMATION〕
Name: Rosse de Arcadia
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Class: Magic Swordsman [★★]
Class Proficiency: 22%
〔TRAITS〕
– Focus [★★★]
〔ATTRIBUTES〕
Strength: 12
Speed: 14
Stamina: 13
Spirituality: 2
Magic: 13
〔SKILLS KNOWN:〕
– Swordsmanship [★★]
– Wind Magic [★]
‘No wonder he’s considered talented in the branch family.’
Relative to Faust who had received every possible resource, Rosse hadn’t, reaching his 2-Star Class out of pure talent.
“O water, gather and flow!”
〈Ars Aqua〉
Water burst from Noct’s free hand, but instead of being aimed at Rosse, the stream struck the ground, spreading across it in a puddle.
Rosse glanced down, a smirk forming on his face.
“That’s it? That’s your counter attack?!”
But as soon as the man put his foot onto the puddle of water, Noct closed his hand, spreading mana through the puddle.
“O frost, settle and bind!”
〈Bind Frost〉
Instantly, water turned into ice as Rosse’s foot froze solid the moment it touched the surface.
He nearly tripped over, which finally put the initiative in Noct’s hands.
“O wind, stir and waken!”
〈Ars Gale: Ventus Sectio〉 — Wind Blade.
A compressed blade of air shot forward from his outstretched palm as Noct took a step back to widen the distance.
Rosse managed to bring his sword across his body, allowing the wind blade to strike it.
A shriek of metal and shattering of ice, followed by a pained grunt was all that Noct needed to hear.
Rosse landed several paces away, boots scraping across the stone before he managed to stop himself.
But before he could even stand up, Noct was already on him with a finger pointed at his head.
“O fire, burn and cinder!”
〈Ars Flare〉
A small ball of flame appeared at Noct’s fingertip, but instead of shooting at Rosse, it remained there.
“Do you forfeit?”
Rosse stared at the flame, then slowly, his free hand moved toward his collar.
Noct narrowed his eyes, thinking he would surrender.
Instead, a thin chain slipped out from under his coat, revealing a dark jewel set inside a silver pendant.
The flame at Noct’s fingertip bent toward it.
‘What the—?!’
Before he could release the spell, the fire vanished completely into the jewel, as if the spell never existed in the first place.
Rosse smiled, before bringing his sword upward suddenly.
Noct jerked backward, barely able to avoid the edge as it sliced the front of his coat.
“You were saying?”
Upon further inspection, Noct realized what it was: a magic item, one that had the capability to absorb 1-Star spells by the looks of it.
It was a popular defensive accessory that a player could pay for to make their starting journey easier.
Noct retreated backward, his eyes flicked toward the knight overseeing the duel and then at Vivienne, who was spectating the whole thing.
But instead of stopping the match, she simply smirked.
‘Tch…damn vixen!
That’s why you agreed so easily—!’
But Noct could complain about it all he wanted to later, but right now, there was still a duel on the line.
Rosse was already approaching, and Noct had to fend him off somehow.
“O fire, burn and cinder!”
〈Ars Flare〉 x3
BANG—!
BANG—!
BANG—!
Three fireballs flew toward Rosse, battering him in fire one after another.
But the man didn’t even slow down, each explosion being consumed like the last.
‘Tch…even that didn’t work.’
The battle continued on, with Noct pelting spells at Rosse from a distance, while the latter tried to close it as best as he could.
From the viewing platform, Rosse’s mother gripped the edge of her seat.
Her son was advancing, but everytime he came in reach, another spell forced the pendant to activate.
“Lady Vivienne…” she swallowed.
“He can’t keep that up forever…”
Neither of them had expected Noct to put up a fight at all.
But somehow, being blessed by the Spiral Pool as well as his natural talent, all of Noct’s spells were a lot stronger than his starting ‘Mage’ Class would suggest.
Rosse’s mother lowered her voice further, leaning forward to whisper into the First Lady’s ears.
“Are you certain the pendant will be enough?”
“It has absorbed every spell so far.”
“Yes, but if he finds a way around it—”
“SHUT UP!”
The woman flinched at her sudden outburst, shrinking back into her seat and not daring to ask further.
“Your son has the pendant and years of practice. His opponent could barely leave his bed yesterday.”
“I understand that, but—”
“Then stop asking me whether he can win.”
Vivienne leaned closer, her voice dropping low enough that only the woman beside her could hear.
“Rosse has to win.”
Across from each other, both Noct and Rosse took heavy breaths.
Sweat ran down both their faces, but Rosse seemed to have the upper hand in pure physicals.
‘This isn’t working.’
Noct checked the blue panel next to him, cheking how much lifespan the spells had consumed
[Lifespan Remaining: 1 day, 3 hours, 23 minutes.]
‘More than I thought…’
Another spell meant more life spent feeding that damned pendant.
And judging by how his legs were beginning to shake, he wasn’t going to outlast Rosse either.
“You’re getting quiet,” Rosse said between breaths.
“Nothing else to say?”
Noct didn’t bother, instead looking intently at the jewel against his chest.
One opening to pull the chain free and then a spell before Rosse could stop him, that was all he needed to win.
Unfortunately, getting that close meant putting himself within reach of the sword.
But a plan had already formed in his head, one that was undoubtedly going to be painful.
But it was his only chance.
“O fire…”
Noct began chanting, which was Rosse’s cue to dash forward and try to interrupt him.
It had become their cat and mouse game this whole fight, but this time…Noct would take the hit.
Rosse dashed up, and with his sword, he managed to cut into Noct’s side.
A victorious expression all over his face as he thought he had won.
“Gggghhk—!”
Pain tore through Noct, far worse than he had expected.
His breath caught, and for a moment, his legs nearly gave out.
But at this distance, it was impossible to miss that pendant.
“Got you.”
Noct dropped his rapier.
His free hand caught Rosse’s coat, holding him close before he could draw the blade back.
But as he reached for the pendant, he saw Rosse’s smile, the same shit-eating grin he remembered seeing him direct at Noelle kneeling beside his empty wheelchair back at the Inner Sanctum.
Instead of reaching for the pendant, his hand curled into a fist.
Screw magic, screw the plan, all he wanted to do now was…
CRACK—!
Noct struck Rosse squarely across the face, causing the man’s head to snap back.
Noct released his coat, and Rosse fell, his sword slipping from his fingers as he hit the stone, completely out cold.
Noct stood over him, breathing through clenched teeth.
“Absorb that one, loser.”
Everyone in the crowd had gone silent.
After a while, the officiating knight finally remembered his job and spoke up.
“R—Rosse de Arcadia is unable to continue!”
“The victor is…Noct de Arcadia!”
‘Finally.’
He turned toward the viewing platform, but the rows of faces blurred together.
His knees buckled before he could take a step, but through it all, he saw a single face in disgust—Vivienne’s.
‘Ah…worth it.’
Then he hit the ground hard, and the world turned black once more.