A brief silence covered the entire coliseum. The emperor and empress themselves stood in awe at what they saw—a single contestant easily subdued other high-ranking contestants with a single cast!

Not only them, but even the other contestants from the other teams couldn’t help but watch what was happening in the Blue Team. It was as if they silently came into an agreement of a short truce just to witness the genius of this supposedly elementalist who can cast highly advanced magic herself without the help of her familiars! The shadow man himself gasped in surprise.

“Tsk! It seems that her arrogance has basis after all,” he sneered. “Still, we’ll see if she manages to pass until the final round.”

After the silence, the crowd erupted into loud cheers. 

Irritated by the crowd’s noise that they could now hear because Asha somehow managed to crack the supposedly-invincible barrier around them, the other contestants tried to cast a barrier or levitate to save themselves from the snow magic. Too bad for them, Asha sensed their spiritual energy and shot ice spikes toward their magic circles, piercing them into pieces and canceling their magic altogether.

“Oh, they shattered,” Asha nonchalantly commented. “How brittle are the foundations of your magic? No wonder I can easily cancel them.”

At that time, Asha flew high above the air while the others drown in the purity of her ice and snow magic. This time, she didn’t need Zephyrus’ assistance. Truthfully, she could always fly on her own. The only reason she asked Zephyrus to help her in the first round was to train her familiar—and not because she couldn’t do it.

Alas, not a single one in Asha’s group survived her attack. She didn’t kill them of course, but rendered them immobile and incapable of casting any magic. Thus, the Master of Ceremonies who witnessed it all soon announced in a voice trembling in great awe.

“D-Did you see that, everyone? Such prowess… I’ve never seen anything like it! And we now have our very first winner for the second round—the golden-haired Elementalist from the Blue Team!” Turning to his assistant beside him, he quickly asked, “What was her name again?”

His assistant quickly answered in a whisper.

Continuing, the Master of Ceremonies added, “And her name is… Asha Beatrix!”

A deafening cheer from the crowd soon followed. After all, it was their first time witnessing such magnificent genius. And to be able to defeat everyone from her team? It was supposed to be “The Last Four Standing” but unfortunately for the Blue Team, only one of them remained to proceed to the next round. Most of all, to think she did it all while blindfolded!

“What an amazing talent!”

“We should recruit her as our guard!”

“No, she should become the Mistress of the Tower! Isn’t she the most powerful magic user in all of Terra?”

“Do we even need to go to the next rounds?”

“Surely, the emperor would have to recruit her!”

“I bet she’d be chosen to join the hero’s party!”

“Yeah, she’ll definitely win this and be hailed as champion!”

Not only them but even the hero and the high priestess themselves were also astonished by what they saw.

“Why is she blindfolded? Did she get bullied between the matches?” Kerensa asked, perplexed about that fact. “But still, she managed to win with that as a disadvantage. How brilliant! It was smart of her to choose a wide-range spell to subdue her enemies but I didn’t think she could cast it to such an extent that she buried everyone in her snow and managed to crack the impenetrable barriers! Ha-ha-ha!”

“Right?!” Alexander’s eyes glimmered once again. “Woah. She’s truly amazing! And she didn’t even chant, did she? I’ve never seen other magic users like that! This is mind-blowing! You did the right choice of asking the emperor to hold this tournament or else we wouldn’t be seeing all this!”

“Exactly! And did you notice how she can fly without her wind spirit? Can you believe that, Alex? Even I myself can’t fly on my own and I’m a high priestess! The least I can do is hover a few meters above the ground.”

“I can fly, too, but not as nonchalant as she does. I always have to focus a lot when I do. We really need her in our team, don’t we?”

“See? I told you! You better help me recruit her after the tournament! Or else—”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

And so, the second round concluded for Asha. Meanwhile, the other teams continued their wars until an hour later, the last four on each team were finally decided. It was already dusk when it finished so the first day of the tournament soon came to a close with the emperor’s closing remark.

“We have all been blessed to witness such great talents of today battle amongst themselves in our humble coliseum,” Emperor Vasilias said. “But tomorrow, we shall all bear witness to even greater things to come—for the third round is finally, a one-on-one battle amongst the remaining contestants! Surely, no one should miss this opportunity!”

“Yeah!” the crowd cheered once again.

“As for remaining contestants, make sure to rest well tonight and save your energy for tomorrow. And for those who, unfortunately, did not make it to the next round, do not fret. You all have done well and rewards still await you. Practice more and do not lose heart! We shall see you again in the next tournaments to come!”

“Yeaaah!”

“Lastly, a heartfelt thanks to everyone for attending the first day of this tournament. Your enthusiastic support has truly blessed this tournament all the more. Let us see each other again in the morrow. May the Supreme’s blessings be with you all!”

Thus, the emperor’s remarks concluded, and so did the first day of the tournament. The contestants who passed the second round were soon ushered to their new quarters reserved for the last twenty contestants—elite rooms inside the emperor’s castle itself! This was to prevent any possible disruption to the contestant’s rest and separate them from the unruly crowd who would surely wish to see them or talk to them. There were even servants who catered to all of their needs.

Thanks to this, Asha enjoyed that wonderful night free of chores and any other worries—well, except for the part when Aqua nagged her right before she slept.

“I can’t believe you hogged all the fun earlier, Asha! Why didn’t you call me? I could have recorded it instead of Solum if you really don’t want any help in the fight! Hmf!”

“I’m really sorry, Aqua. Don’t worry, next time, I promise to summon you.”

“You better or next time, I’m not heeding your call! Hmf!”

“Yes, yes, I will. I promise.”

“Alright then. Goodnight, Asha!”

“Good night!”

Indeed, what a wonderful night it had been for Asha. She also got a relaxing massage from the maids.

As if the moon wanted to add to the night’s beauty, it shone brightly full, illuminating the dark sky. After Asha finished getting ready for bed, she sat by the windows and stared at the moon. For some reason, she had always loved its silvery white and majestic glow.

“It’s a full moon again tonight,” Asha whispered to herself. “I wonder if I will dream that dream again. It always happens during full moon and I still don’t know why. Hmm…”

True to her thoughts, Asha indeed dreamed again that night, just a few hours after she managed to sleep.

It was a dream of a flower garden filled with the most enchanting flowers. Their petals danced with the wind on a cool, cozy night. The dews on their leaves shone like diamonds against the moon’s comforting light. 

Amid the garden stood a tall man with long and silky silver-white hair that seemed to glimmer as the wind gently blew on its every strand. Too bad she couldn’t see the man’s face for it was only his back that Asha could ever see. Whenever she tried to walk close or call unto him, the dream would immediately come to an end.

And so this time, Asha decided not to speak or do anything at all. She just wanted to see him and engrave everything in her memory. Perhaps this way, even the tiniest detail could serve as a clue regarding that thing she had been searching for a long time. And maybe, it was this man who would point her in the right direction.

The only problem was… after all these months, she still didn’t know who he was. There were many men with long and silver-white hair across Terra after all. For the past six months before the tournament, she had traveled far and wide, but asking them had become a fruitless endeavor.

“Please,” Asha whispered, “won’t you tell me who you are?”

“Asha.”

“You always whisper my name, but I don’t know you.”

“Asha.”

“Please… Who are you?”