“This will be over in a snap if you fuse with me, Asha,” Aqua confidently suggested.

“That may be true, but I can’t possibly show all my cards in the first round.”

“Tsk. This is all because we wasted time resting in the sky earlier. We should have fought with everyone instead!”

“That will have the same effect as your first suggestion.”

“Why don’t we do it, master?” Solum suggested. “We, your familiars, will scatter around and look for chances to steal others’ ribbons.”

“We can, but it will be more dangerous now if you’re not near me. The remaining contestants are those who managed to fight their way through the chaos earlier. I bet they’re no easy opponents.”

“Ugh, this is so frustrating!”

“Don’t worry, Aqua, I have an idea.”

Then, Asha gathered the three familiars and whispered her orders to them.

“I see! That will work!” Aqua’s eyes glimmered in happiness, in contrast to how annoyed she was earlier. “You’re brilliant, Asha!”

“Why, thank you. So, shall we begin?”

“Yes!”

After that, Aqua and Zephyrus combined their powers and created a thick, wet mist all around the arena, making it hard for everyone to see what was happening. The other contestants looked around in worry, while some tried casting magic to blow away the mist or find a way to cancel them. However, Aqua and Zephyrus continuously created the mist so that whenever the others tried to eradicate it, it would just come back, rendering their visions useless. Because of this, the remaining contestants were caught in quite a hard predicament. All except one—Asha herself.

Despite being a magic user that was commonly known for their wits, spiritual capacity, and magic, Asha was quite agile and strong in combat. She had been trained by her numerous exploits and high-ranking quests on how to deal with different kinds of monsters in varying circumstances and places—be it in a rainforest, a swamp, a snowy mountain, or even beneath a lake. Because of that, a simple mist would do nothing to hinder her prowess.

Asha cast magic to create a fishing rod made of solid water. Then, she quickly ran around the stage, fishing out the ribbons of the contestants she passed by. Detecting their locations wasn’t hard for her. The tiny noise they created as they walked, talked, or tried to cast magic became her signals, creating a sensory map in her mind.

“I’m taking this, and this, and this, and that!”

In only but a few seconds, she secured herself four gold ribbons. And in another few, she fished out two more, totaling six.

The other witty contestants got a hold of her tactics fast and created a barrier to protect themselves. However, their barriers were weak compared to Asha’s magic. With her left hand, she conjured a sword made of ice and slashed their barriers wide open. With her right hand, she fished out the ribbons on their arm, or forehead, or hidden those hidden in their cloaks.

One more minute left and Asha managed to retrieve the nine ribbons she lost. Just one more and she would be able to go to the next round.

However, one of the contestants suddenly went on a rampage.

“No, no, NO!” the young-looking witch from earlier cried out in anger. “I won’t let myself lose this competition! This round is supposed to be easy! Who’s the f*cking person who keeps creating this mist here?! Argh!”

Raising her wand, she chanted her spell and soon, a huge vortex formed itself in the air, sucking away all the mist in the surrounding. Aqua and Zephyrus battled with her magic and created more, but her vortex proved to be quite formidable that Zephyrus wasn’t able to cope with it.

“Haah… haah… I’m so sorry master,” Zephyrus quickly apologized as she descended to Asha’s shoulders, breathing heavily. “I can’t… haah… anymore.”

“It’s alright Zephyrus, you can stop now. Go back to the Spirit’s Realm and rest up.”

“Yes, master.”

Thus, Zephyrus vanished from sight, looking exhausted from everything. Aqua and Solum flew over to Asha and grabbed her clothes, lest they be blown away toward the vortex.

“Arghhhhh!” the witch screamed as she continuously poured out her spiritual energy into the vortex she created.

“This is bad,” Asha sighed.

“It really is! At this rate, we’ll end up losing!”

“No, not that. That girl—she’s using too much of her energy. If this continues, she can lose her life.”

And indeed, the young witch was. Creating a vortex was a highly advanced form of magic and the bigger the size, the more amount of spiritual energy it required. She managed to create a really huge one, covering a third of the size of the whole arena, and managed to hold unto it for more than twenty seconds already. But continuing it even further would be very much risky.

Thirty seconds left. Asha was caught between saving the young witch or using the remaining time to get the last ribbon she needed. Time was ticking and she had to decide fast!

Without a second thought, Asha conjured a bow with her hands and shot a water arrow toward the hand of the young witch where she held her wand. She imbued her arrow with much spiritual energy so it wouldn’t be sucked up by the vortex, and truthfully, it didn’t! The arrow grazed the young witch’s hand, making her drop her wand, and canceling the vortex altogether. Then, Asha dashed towards the witch and took her gold ribbon!

Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun!

The drums eventually rolled, signifying the end of the first round, followed by the high-pitched voice of the Master of Ceremony, and the wild cheering of the crowd. As it turned out, the barrier cast between the crowd and the arena wasn’t only there to protect the spectators but also to block their noise so the contestants could focus on the battle.

“Time is up! Up! Up! Alas, the first round has come to an end!”

“Yeah!” the crowd cheered even louder.

“What an exciting first round that was, wouldn’t you agree? But alas, all things must come to an end. For those of you who managed to collect ten ribbons, kindly present them to the knights beside the arena and they will give you a badge for the next round. Then, you may proceed to your quarters to take some rest before we continue.”

“Waaaaahu-hu-hu!” the young witch wailed and glared at Asha. “Why?! Why did you stop me and stole my ribbon? Ugh! I hate you!”

Turning to the young witch, Asha smiled bitterly and said, “Because you don’t deserve to wield magic.”

“What?! How dare you?!”

“Do you even understand what you just did?” Asha replied in her unusually strict tone. “You have endangered not only your life but also the lives of those around you! Using too much spiritual energy that is more than you can handle will cause your spiritual core to explode and eventually kill you—then, those around you from the relapse of magic!”

Though she looked angry, a hint of kindness could be detected in Asha’s tone and wretched expression. This made the young witch cry all the more. She then clenched her hand and bowed her head.

“I… I just…sniff.”

“Is winning a single tournament as precious as your irreplaceable life? What is the number one rule when casting magic? Don’t you witches have rules and laws you must abide by?”

“Y-Yes. To n-never to use magic at the expense of someone’s life.”

“Exactly. And that life includes yours! You’d do well to remember that.”

“Y-Yes… I will.”

“Good. Now, go back and report to your teacher, and apologize to the other contestants for what you’ve done.”

“Yes! I will!”

“Other than that, you have done well for a girl at such a young age,” Asha smiled sweetly, losing her strict tone in the process. “You should be proud of what you have accomplished. Just keep on practicing and I believe you will be able to achieve more in the future. Well, that’s if you keep your life and stop using spells that will endanger you.”

Seeing her smiling face, the young witch felt all the more convicted. She cried some more and bowed her head multiple times, apologizing to her. Afterward, she hurried back until she was out of Asha’s sight.

“Phew! Good thing that’s settled,” Aqua sighed in relief. “I thought for a second there that this tournament will suddenly turn into a bloody contest.”

Asha sighed in relief as well.

“I thought so, too. Good thing I was able to stop her in time.”

“Yeaaaah. Anyway, m-master,” Aqua hesitantly addressed her rather politely. “Remind me never to make you angry in the future. He-he-he.” Her cute eyes avoided Asha’s for dear life. “I didn’t know you can be quite s-scary at times.”

Asha chuckled and teased, “Now that you mention it, I can be!”

“Ugh… Don’t say that with such a wide smile on your face!”

On the other hand, Solum murmured to himself. “I guess Aqua takes after our master, huh?”

“Did you say something, Solum?”

“Ack! N-No, I didn’t, master! I… uhm… If you no longer need my service, I shall go back to the Spirit’s Realm and rest. Farewell, master!”

“Oh. How fast. He’s already gone.”

“I think I should go back, too.”

“You, too, Aqua? Why? Don’t you enjoy tournaments?”

“I do but—anyway, I need to rest as well. Goodbye!”

Asha was soon left chuckling to herself. Then, she went to the knights and presented her ribbons. They gave her a blue badge and ushered her to the assigned quarters for female contestants.

The crowd’s cheering was still at a high but it soon died down as soon as Asha was out of sight. She mustn’t have noticed it but everyone’s eyes had been stuck to her after all the things they just witnessed. More importantly, she seemed to have caught the attention of the hero himself—the Holy Knight Alexander Drausus.