Chapter 34 - 33: Your Name

Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Your Name

"Who’s going to win?"

The question made Cecie pause. As a student of Class A, she naturally wanted Caius to win. Earlier, when Nick had blocked the door and yelled, calling the underclassmen a bunch of useless trash, she had been furious. If she hadn’t known she was too weak, she absolutely would have gone up and fought them herself!

When Caius ruthlessly taught Nick and his gang a lesson just now, she had been cheering him on in her heart. Even her lingering fear of Caius had diminished significantly.

How should she put it?

She thought, "He might be mean to his classmates, but he’s far worse to outsiders!"

Compared to that, Cecie suddenly felt that Caius was actually quite polite to them on a regular basis. He could even be considered well-mannered. At least he didn’t use Wind Magic to toss them out of the classroom over a minor disagreement.

However, emotional bias was one thing, and objective reality was another. Facts wouldn’t change just because of what she wanted.

Lucian’s talent was equally formidable. It was rumored that during last year’s Four Academies Exchange Tournament, he had single-handedly suppressed all the competitors from the other academies.

According to the stories, he had fought ten opponents at once. Relying on his exceptional comprehension of Magic, he had systematically dismantled all of their attacks. He had played with them effortlessly, like a cat toying with mice, waiting until their Magic Power was completely drained before using Wind Magic to kick them off the arena one by one.

When it was over, he was the only one left standing in the ring.

The blond young man stood alone on the empty high platform, yet it felt as if he were standing atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

He wore a genial smile, but everyone present could feel the sheer arrogance radiating from his very core.

His presence seemed to declare, "Losers are unworthy of standing at my level."

Cecie hesitated. "I-I don’t know... Caius should be able to win, right? What do you think, Lilia?"

Lilia gave her hand a gentle squeeze and smiled. "You’re right."

"...Huh?"

"Caius is going to win." Lilia looked toward the center of the battlefield. "It will definitely be him."

Feeling the soft warmth of Lilia’s fingers, Cecie remained in a daze for a moment before snapping back to reality.

She also looked ahead, but... why couldn’t she see how the battle was leaning? Was Lilia just blindly trusting Caius?

"Damn it..." Cecie thought. "Now I kind of don’t want him to win."

Unlike Cecie’s bewildered expression, Lilia understood the battlefield’s situation like the back of her hand.

She hadn’t heard about Lucian’s glorious feat of fighting ten opponents at once, nor did she know that his victory was largely due to his extensive knowledge of all major Magic systems.

But if Lilia had known, she probably would have smiled.

What a coincidence.

She was exactly the same.

Mage battles were often flashy, offering a dazzling spectacle completely different from a Knight’s duel. Those who knew little about Magic, like Cecie, were essentially just watching the pretty lights. They couldn’t even tell who was casting what.

But in Lilia’s eyes, everything followed a predictable pattern.

The elements Caius frequently used were wind and fire. Both were high-burst, high-damage Magic Elements, and more than half of the dazzling explosions on the field were his doing.

In contrast, Lucian’s combat style was much calmer. He was clearly proficient in all four types of elemental Magic. When faced with different attacks, he deployed various Magic to defend himself and even launch counterattacks.

Currently, neither could gain the upper hand, and the battle was deadlocked. However, in the long run, Caius’s Magic Power reserves were inferior to Lucian’s. His defeat was only a matter of time.

Of course, that was assuming no one intervened.

"Lilia!" Cecie’s shocked cry suddenly rang out from the spectating crowd.

A figure wearing a dark green uniform dashed out from the onlookers. Agile and terrifyingly fast, she charged directly into the center of the battlefield before anyone could even react!

Upon hearing the name "Lilia," Lucian merely spared a fraction of his attention to glance over. However, Caius, standing opposite him, was profoundly shaken.

He abruptly stumbled a step back, completely ignoring the Magic hurtling toward him as his eyes locked onto the girl’s figure.

"Lilia!" he shouted.

He reached out, desperately wanting to grab her wrist and pull her behind him, but Lilia nimbly dodged his grasp.

Caius froze for a second. Then, he heard Lilia yell, "Wind!"

He reacted instantly. The blazing sea of fire Lucian had unleashed right in front of Lilia was instantly blasted away by Caius’s hurricane!

"Fire!"

Caius didn’t even stop to think. He simply did exactly as Lilia commanded. At her feet, several thick vines erupted from the ground, but a split second before they could entangle her, soaring flames incinerated them into ashes.

Several meters away, Lucian’s expression tightened.

"This girl... is she predicting my next move?!" he thought.

As an experienced Mage, however, Lucian quickly regained his composure. Just as the surrounding elements began to fluctuate with his magic, the girl’s voice rang out once more.

"Caius!"

This time, she didn’t issue a specific elemental command. Instead, she abruptly crouched down into a jumping stance.

Behind her, Caius’s face was taut with anxiety, but he still reacted in perfect sync with her movements.

From the flat ground, a massive dragon constructed of earth and stone surged upward!

Propelled by the tremendous force, Lilia leaped forward, her body carving a graceful arc through the air.

Lucian followed her trajectory, instinctively tilting his head up.

Midair, his gaze collided with a pair of pitch-black eyes.

In that singular moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl.

The girl adjusted her posture, gliding through the sky like a soaring crescent moon. Her long hair and the hem of her skirt danced in the air, wild and untethered as the wind.

CLICK.

With a soft sound, the girl landed nimbly behind Lucian. A split second later, he felt a sudden chill against the side of his neck.

It was her hand.

Lucian understood exactly what she meant. He raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

Once she withdrew her hand, Lucian slowly turned around, meeting those bright, dark eyes once again.

Lilia wore a smile that seemed especially mischievous. "You lose."

Lucian raised an eyebrow. "Two against one?"

"Wasn’t Caius fighting five against one earlier?" Lilia didn’t look the least bit guilty. "A loss is a loss... Surely a senior like you wouldn’t try to go back on his word?"

"I wouldn’t dream of it," Lucian chuckled. "It’s just a little spar. I can afford to lose."

He looked at the girl standing across from him. "My name is Lucian. Lucian Williams..."

Before he could finish, another figure suddenly shoved his way between them.

It was Caius.

Even though he had won the match, his expression was utterly grim. The way he planted himself in front of Lilia made him look exactly like a feral beast fiercely guarding its food.

"She has no interest in your name," Caius said coldly.

"Is that so?" Lucian smiled.

He could see right through Caius’s intentions at a single glance. He could also easily tell that the girl Caius was so desperately trying to protect behind him... didn’t actually have feelings for him.

"And you... junior?" Lucian asked, recalling the title the girl had just used for him. He leaned slightly to the side to catch Lilia’s eye. "May I have the honor of knowing your name?"