-The final battle will be Natsume Kumojima versus Lishon Varak- announced Elima. Ready… fight!

Natsume jumped forward to take the ball as soon as it appeared. However, a sudden lighting fell in front of her feet, forcing her to stop. The girl looked at her rival, who had her arms risen, with strange floating circles around her hands.

-Sorry, I can’t allow you to take that sphere- said Lishon.

Lishon swiftly moved her fingers, making more circles to appears and, from them, small lighting traveled through the air and pointed to Natsume’s feet. The girl had no other option but going backwards. As Natsume paid attention to the ball, she noticed the ground moved and, suddenly, a small pillar grew below the ball, making it jump in the air and get close to Lishon. Before bumping on the floor, the witch moved a finger again and a strange transparent bowl appeared midair to pick up the ball. Natsume was confused.

-Elima, can she do that?- asked Natsume loudly so the commander could hear her.

-Yes, at least half of the sphere is accessible and the opening is quite big. Proceed with the battle- exclaimed Elima.

Knowing that, Natsume got a hold of herself and rushed towards the witch, but Lishon was ready for that. Repeating her strategy so far, she threw different lighting and fire spells to Natsume, forcing her to move around and jump, but with no way to get closer. Time went by, and the girl knew she needed to take the ball as soon as possible. But, as she stopped focusing on the witch for a second, a lighting struck on her left feet, making her kneel.

-Sorry. I know this is as important for you as it is for me, but… I need to win, and I will end this now- said Lishon. -Don’t worry though, I adjusted my spells to stop you without serious harm.

After saying that, Lishon stopped throwing spells around Natsume and began actually pointing at her feet. Natsume tried to avoid them, but some still hit her. The more hits she got, the slower she moved. Her speed was a good weapon, but losing that was going to make her fail. Elima looked at the match with serious eyes.

-I’m sorry, Natsume, but this is how the tournament works. Strength is not all: you must make use of all your skills- thought Elima to herself. -And I hope you forgive me, but I’m happy you will lose here. That wish won’t do you any good.

It was almost half of the match, and if things kept like that, it wouldn’t matter that Natsume got the sphere back: she wouldn’t get enough time and would automatically lose. The girl was knelt down, gasping and sweating, her legs shacking. She raised her head to look at Lishon.

-No… This can’t be… This is it? Is it over?- thought Natsume.

Natsume was getting more nervous by the second. All kinds of memories went by her head: the fights, her town, the nightmare, the eyes… And then, out of nowhere, she recalled something:

“Fail just once… and you’re out…”

Those words made her freeze in place. She could feel it: the anxiety of failure. That couldn’t happen.

-No… I can’t lose… I can’t… If I do, it’s over, all is over…-said Natsume. -I need to… I need to…

Natsume pulled all her remaining strength to stand up and extend her hand towards Lishon, who was watching her struggling to continue the fight. The witch felt bad for seeing her rival suffering, but she could understand it: the wish was a precious price.

-Very well. This may hurt a bit more, but it’s better to end this quick!- exclaimed Lishon.

The witch moved both her hands and several magic circles appeared around Natsume, charging their energy for one final strike. One of them was literally in front of the girl, but that didn’t stop her. Quite contrary, Natsume pulled back her right arm as if preparing to punch the circle.

-I can’t lose here! I can’t! I have to win… and get this done!- shouted Natsume.

Suddenly, a yellow flash surrounded the area and dust filled the air. From the outside, even for some of the former participants watching, it looked like the battle was over. But Elima had her eyes wide opened, but not as much as Lishon herself, who was very shocked and her jaw trembled.

-How… how did you do that?- murmured Lishon.

Once the dust vanished, everybody could see Natsume standing just were she was, completely unharmed. She was still gasping and tired, but she felt with more energy that a while ago. She still had her right arm extended, but something was different.

-What is this?- wondered Natsume.

What everybody was seeing was a strange smoke coming out of Natsume’s hand. Or more like a strange-looking yellow cloud with some black fuming coming out of it. The girl approached her hand to her eyes to see it better. She could still see her hand through it and the cloud felt squishy, like if she was wearing a globe. Looking at her own body, she noticed that her other hand and both feet were also covered in this weird substance.

-She did it… In the end, she got it...- murmured Elima to herself.

-This is… my power?- murmured Natsume as well.

-Damn, I can’t let her recover!- exclaimed Lishon while everybody was distracted.

Moving her hands swiftly, some magic circles appeared in front of Natsume. However, the girl was not worried this time. As soon as one fireball was close to her, she “punched” it with her “clouded” hands… and the fireball simply vanished. A lighting came next, but the girl jumped and swung her right leg, as if kicking it, making it vanish as well. The witch really worried as the girl destroyed all her magic, and even worse, she could destroy the magic circles before they could cast the spell.

-So I can… undo her magic?- murmured Natsume to herself. -OK… It’s time for a comeback…

Natsume rushed towards Lishon, who began throwing spells in a frenzy. However, with her renovated swift moves and her new power, Natsume couldn’t be stopped anymore. In a few seconds, she got by Lishon’s side and kicked the bowl containing the sphere, breaking it just like frail snow and freeing the ball from its prison. The girl took the ball and rushed backwards to get away from the witch. Everybody looked at the timer: Natsume still had a few extra seconds. If she didn’t lose the ball during the rest of the fight, she could still win. The girl was aware of that, but in her head, the risk was too high.

-It’s too close… I can’t allow her to take the ball again… Even now, I’m tired, I can’t keep running all the remaining time- thought Natsume. -But wait… If I take her out of the area… I can win! I just need to push her a bit…

Natsume crouched, getting ready to run. The witch saw that and got nervous. In an instant, the girl jumped and rushed as fast as possible towards Lishon. Natsume was getting closer and then…

-I give up! I forfeit!

Lishon screamed that out loud, making Natsume stopped right on time, as she had already extended her right leg to kick the witch on her shoulder to push her. Suddenly, the timer and the ball vanished, and both fighters were gasping with shocked face. Elima was shocked as well, as she hadn’t realized yet that the fight was over. The commander shook her head and walked forward.

-All… All right! Participant Lishon Varak forfeits the battle, which means Natsume Kumojima is the winner of Group B of the preliminaries!- announced Elima. -Congratulations to Natsume for her victory!

All the ex participants and Elima herself clapped at Natsume, but the girl didn’t react. She couldn’t get her eyes away from Lishon, who was still in shock. The girl slowly lowered her leg and looked down, but the witch calmed down and approached her.

-Wow, congratulations! I must say, I didn’t expect this. But the moment you could destroy my spells, I knew I was done for- said Lishon in a friendly way, but Natsume was still in shock. -Hey, are you alright?

Natsume raised her head to watch Lishon, and that was when the witch saw it: that was not a shocked face, but a face of fear. The girl trembled a bit and said:

-I’m… I’m sorry…

-What do you mean? You won fair and square, you...- said Lishon, but she couldn’t finish her sentence.

-I’m sorry- said Natsume again.

Without saying anything else, Natsume walked away, leaving Lishon puzzled. Elima made a hand sign so everybody could gathered together, taking the girl by her side.

-Very well, the preliminaries are over and we have a winner. Natsume will move onto the round of 16. It was a pleasure to see all your fights and I know the citizens and visitors have enjoyed them as well- exclaimed Elima while pointing at some AMI floating around the building. -I know it’s sad that you didn’t get through, but I hope your experience has been pleasant. Don’t worry, you are still guests in our world and you can remain here for as long as the Guardian Clash Tournament continues. So I hope you enjoy your stay and the coming fights. Thank you all and congratulations once again to Natsume Kumojima!

After those words, everybody clapped for a while and then dispersed, but Natsume didn’t move at all.

-I know you are tired, so if you want, the soldier can take you back to the inn. I will visit you later and explain the next round, understood?- asked Elima.

The girl didn’t say anything, just nodded as the soldier approached and she followed him back to the inn. As Natsume went away, Elima was worried. Then, she looked for Lishon.

-Wait, miss Lishon, can we talk for a minute?- asked Elima and Lishon stopped with confused face. -Can I ask… why did you give up?

-Well, that power she got was a natural enemy for me. A magic caster against something that destroys magic? It’s very rare, even in my world!- exclaimed Lishon.

-Destroy magic… Was that all?- inquired Elima more.

Lishon hummed for a moment.

-Well, to tell you the truth… She scared me- explained Lishon. -When she ran towards me, I could see it: her eyes shouted she was going to win no matter what. She was really determined… or desperate.

After the event, all folks in the kingdom talked about the battles and the participants for the next round, wondering who had more chances of winning or how they would be paired. None of that mattered to Natsume, who barely ate her dinner (just like always) and went back straight to her room. She was tired, both physically and emotionally, and she just let herself fall on the bed.

-Again… I can’t let… that happen… again...- murmured Natsume until she fell asleep.

On other part of the kingdom, Elima was in the library inside the Royal Army Headquartes. She had piles of books around her while reading another one. Her eyes moved fast from page to the other, looking for something. The commander had a suspicion, but she needed information. After a while, her eyes opened a bit more as she found an interesting part of the book. She read carefully in silence and then said:

-Just as I feared. I just can’t… I have to do something about this.