"The draws are over, let's see the results!"
The group searched for their friends' names right away and let out a sigh of disappointment when they saw their numbers. Lena was number 36 and Violet was number 32, which meant they'd meet in the quarterfinals and only one of them could get into the top 3.
Gale didn't forget Lena's deal with Prince Florian and searched for his name. Luckily for the prince, he was in the first half of the bracket with the number 64. He was in the opening fight and wouldn't meet Lena until the finals.
"Prince Florian got lucky, he might have a chance with Lena."
Gale said his thoughts out loud only to be met with a headshake from Shana.
"It's not that easy. His division has the 3 of the 5 geniuses, and he will have to fight 2 of them to advance."
"The 5 geniuses? Who are they?"
"The 5 geniuses is a title for 5 geniuses who got to the mage phase at age of 29, each one of them belonging to a different kingdom. Can you guess who is ours?"
Gale moved his gaze to Jay, he remembered she also advanced when she was 29.
"Is it you, Jay?"
"It is, and you also know another one of them, it's David. The darkness mage who lost to Dion in the Intermediate bracket. Dion was just lucky enough to face him in a tournament since he is an assassin and head-on fights aren't his thing."
"I see, then Prince Florian will have a hard time considering he was a mage only for 3 years."
"I heard the king purchased a set of rare seventh-grade potions for some of his offspring, which raised their affinities and even strengthened their connection to mana. So he might be as strong as the five geniuses."
Gale's eyes widened when he heard it was an option, but Shana hurried to cool down his enthusiasm.
"As far as I know there are only 3 seventh-rank potion-brewers in the empire. Each set costs around a million gold coins, and they wouldn't accept requests from just anyone even if they have the money; they are very busy. I assume the king emptied a large chunk of the royal vault to buy those sets."
Gale sighed and focused back on the tournament; it was about time for the fights to begin.
Steve invited Florian and his opponent to the arena and the battle began.
"On one side we have the fourth prince of the Miyena Kingdom with fire and earth affinities, and on the other side we have Roy Cobra from the Evelonia Kingdom, one of the five geniuses, with the same affinities!"
Florian's first fight was against one of the five geniuses and Gale hoped he would win. Although he didn't care whether Florian gets Lena's hand or not since it was Lena's business, it would be embarrassing if her suitor lost in his first match.
Florian attacked first with fire spells, forcing Roy to take the defensive. Roy replied with fire spells of his own, and explosions echoed in the colosseum. This exchange lasted for a few minutes, and Florian was on the losing end since his affinity was more about decaying than explosive power.
Roy smiled with confidence and ran toward Florian with the intention to finish the battle early, making Florian's face turn grave. Roy bombarded Florian with fire spells, making him retreat slowly to the end of the arena until he was trapped against a wall.
Just when Roy got close and believed the shockwaves would send knock Florian out eventually, 4 walls of stone were raised from the ground and surrounded Roy, blocking his view. At the same time, Florian drew a knife, instilled it with his mana, and threw it at Roy.
Roy, who knew both casting slots were used to raise those 4 walls, blew them up without worrying about the next spell following since Florian had no casting slots.
To his dismay, as soon as the walls crumbled, a knife coated with darkness element appeared in front of him, and by the time he could perceive it with the darkness' camouflage abilities, it was too late. The knife pierced through his right leg and left a hole behind it.
"Oops! Roy forgot Prince Florian comes from the royal family and has a mountain of magic weapons and treasures at home! Prince Florian used a throwing knife made of metal with darkness element properties!"
Roy, who lost his movement ability and had to face his opponent's attacks head-on, was slowly overwhelmed by Florian who could avoid some of his opponent's spells by dodging.
"The winner is Prince Florian! With a cunning move he rendered Roy's leg useless and claimed the win!"
Steve's shout was heard as soon as the referee had to put out the decaying fire that spread over Roy's body. Although it might have been slightly underhanded, that's how battles worked, and Florian won fair and square within the tournament rules.
Diverting his attention back to Shana, he asked a question that popped into his mind.
"Who is the leading candidate of the empire?"
"Lareth Geld and Jaina Proud. Lareth is a water and earth mage and Jaina has water and air affinities. Both of them should be 44 years old and advanced around the age of 29, the same as the five geniuses."
Shana pointed at a muscular man and a skinny, short woman. Searching their names in the draws, he found Lareth as the next battle of Lena and Jaina will face her at the semifinals.
The round continued and there were no surprises; the five geniuses and the empire's strongest candidates won their matches.
Soon, Lena's turn arrived, and everyone watched with curiosity - can someone so young defeat the top geniuses of the kingdoms?
"Now is the match we've all waited for. The first fight of Lena Stormborn, a famous genius of the Miyena Kingdom. Promoted to the mage phase at age of 23, known to have all four basic elements. But can she defeat those experienced mages after being a mage for only a year and a half?"
Steve waited a few minutes to let his words sink in and added one more gossip he had to share.
"For those of you who don't know yet, she is also the sister of Gale Stormborn, the champion of the young bracket!"
