Chapter 66: Dark of the Woods

  (Cadel's POV)

  It was an incredible fight.

  After my match had ended, I returned to the stands to join my friends. Instead of people simply staring at me, they were going out of their way to avoid me now, which was something I greatly appreciated.

  My friends were welcoming as ever though.

  “You sure showed him!” Jonah applauded. “I might have gone after him myself if you hadn’t stepped in.”

  But the jokes were short-lived. Scarlette’s match had started right after, and without a doubt, it was the most thrilling battle of the tournament so far.

  The fight had been neck and neck from the start, with Scarlette weaving through Ignar’s relentless lava attacks, forcing him to stay on edge. That was until he took off his gloves, turning the arena into a lake of lava. Still, it was just as impressive watching Scarlette manoeuvre around his attacks, constantly keeping him on his toes.

  Then Ignar played his final ace in the hole, transforming into a towering lava colossus. Scarlette had appeared stunned at the sight, but she had tenaciously fought on. Unfortunately, she had started to falter under the constant pressure and, backed into a corner, triggered her falcon form. The audience went wild at the sight, while my friends, though dumbfounded, had the opposite reaction.

  “Will she be okay?” Kaede gulped.

  “I really hope the same thing doesn’t happen again,” Mira prayed.

  I had reassured them that we had practised the move and that it should be enough…provided Scarlette didn’t overthink or succumb to her fear.

  But even in her final form, it had still been an extremely tight battle. When she got swatted out of the air, the audience had drawn a sharp breath. Thankfully, she had gotten back up.

  There was a brief moment of uncertainty when the referee blew his whistle just as Scarlette delivered the final blow, declaring the fight too dangerous to continue for both sides. Unfortunately, it was a split second too late, and Scarlette unleashed a torrent of white flame directly onto Ignar’s face. A brief investigation followed, with the judges debating the safety rules. Ultimately, they ruled that Scarlette had acted in self-defence as Ignar had a lava-charged hand locked onto her neck, which could have ended the match disastrously for her as well.

  After the whistle, Scarlette had remained in her bird form, just perching there looking all confused. But then her form fizzled out, and she slumped to the ground. While it was still a concerning sight, I was just relieved that she hadn’t gone berserk and overstepped the safety boundaries again.

  “That fight was freakin’ awesome!” Jonah yelled. “Scarlette’s so damn cool. Man I gotta give her a hug when she’s back here.”

  Kaede chuckled. “She’ll probably wack you if you do that.”

  The two participants seemed unable to get back up, at least for now. Ignar looked to have passed out from the final attack, but his lava armour appeared to have cushioned most of the impact. The medics didn’t look too concerned, so I guess it was just another routine job for them.

  Scarlette on the other hand was still conscious, but she was hunched over on her knees and elbows as she struggled to catch her breath. As the crowd began chanting her name, she looked up and gave a weak smile before the medics helped her to her feet and ushered her backstage.

  All this and it was still the first match.

  Emotions were running high, and the crowd had yet to settle down, but the next match was due to start soon.

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  The combat platform, which had been completely decimated, magically pieced itself back together as if nothing had ever happened to it. I had surmised that there was something more to the technology than what meets the eye, but as of right now, I didn’t really have the means to look into it more. Maybe I should get Colleen to do it for me…

  After a quick fifteen-minute break, the announcer was already introducing our next two participants—Asher and Tessa. Scarlette had yet to return, so I assumed she was still receiving treatment backstage. With the professional medics around, I was confident she’d be fully recovered by the next hour or so.

  Meanwhile, I was fairly certain Asher was the only non-5-Star participant remaining. While he had effortlessly breezed through the competition with his shadow Ability, Tessa was probably the first 5-Star that he would be facing. I was curious to see how he’d fare against her.

  But Tessa was an opponent that Asher would have to be taking seriously. Her plant-based Ability had just as easily floored her past opponents. I had seen her summon all sorts of plants—from flytraps to poisonous varieties—all much larger than they should be. If she were fighting in an actual forest, I had no doubt that she would be a nightmare for most espers.

  The fight soon commenced.

  Off the get-go, a fortress of trees shot up around Tessa, lifting her high above the ground. Numerous large vines whipped in Asher’s direction.

  But he had vanished. The foliage granted him a wide network of shadows, allowing him to flit through them. Gigantic flytraps snapped at him, but they were quite literally biting at shadows.

  Vexed, Tessa summoned even more flora. I recognised some of them—nightshades, poison ivies, foxgloves, and even Dendrocnide moroides, otherwise known as the Gympie-gympie, the plant with the most painful sting on earth.

  But what were they to do against a shadow? At this point, Asher had completely disappeared from view. All the plants and trees Tessa had summoned were working against her with all the shadows they cast. Surely this wasn’t her entire battle plan?

  In her desperation, an enormous tree swallowed her, fully sealing her inside its trunk. It looked like there was no possible way for Asher to reach her.

  But such a large tree meant an equally large shadow. Asher rose from it and observed the tree, weighing his options. Then, just as a barrage of thorny vines was about to hit him, he melted back into the shadow, reemerging later in the form of a huge, shadowy axe. The axe sliced through the air and slammed into the trunk.

  While the axe was wedged firmly in, the tree held firm. As Asher extracted himself and wound up another attack, the trunk had already healed itself.

  Thwack! Again the axe crashed into the tree, but it still wouldn’t fall. Asher seemed to be strategising, for he disappeared once more, retreating into the shadows.

  For a moment in the match, both participants were nowhere to be seen. Tessa was still safely enclosed in that huge tree of hers, and Asher was probably brooding in its huge shadow, waiting for the right moment to strike. The crowd began muttering and fidgeting as we waited.

  “You think they’re just stay like this till the end of the match?” Kaede asked.

  “I doubt it. If the match timer runs out, the judges are gonna have to decide the winner. At this point of the game, I’d say Asher has a higher chance of winning,” I reasoned.

  “So Tessa’s gotta act soon,” she finished.

  Yet the tree remained in place, unmoving. A full minute ticked by.

  There was a low rumbling noise. The tree vanished—along with Tessa and all the other plants. The arena was suddenly completely empty. Left with no shadow to hide in, Asher popped up in the middle of the arena. The only shadow was his own, and from his past matches, it seemed like he was unable to retreat into it.

  Out of nowhere, a huge log burst from the ground behind him, its tip aimed right at Asher’s head. Almost instantly, Asher dived into its shadow. As the log retreated back underground, Asher slithered into the hole it left behind. Once again, the arena was devoid of contestants.

  “This is frustrating to watch!” Jonah complained. “Give us some action!”

  And they did. The ground split in half as wood and plants burst from within, all shredded. Tessa was in the midst of it, looking all beaten up with a dark circle around her neck. I squinted my eyes. Was that… Asher?

  The next moment, Tessa slumped to the ground, clutching at her neck. The referee declared another knockout.

  “And the winner of the second quarter-final match is… Asher Marez!”

  “What happened?” Jonah yelled, echoing what the entire stadium was wondering.

  “Cadel, do you know what happened?" Kaede asked.

  “I could make a rough guess,” I replied.

  “Please tell us!”

  While I couldn’t be 100% certain that I was correct, it made enough sense.

  “When Tessa was protected in her tree, she burrowed underground, which is easy for someone of her Ability and skill level. She probably intended to loop around Asher and strike him from behind.”

  “But Asher saw through her plan. He baited her with an ambush, dodged her attack and hid in its shadow. To prevent Asher from doing that, she had to pull her log back into its hole. But by doing so, she allowed Asher to follow it. He then caught her by surprise in whatever underground bunker she was hiding in. They had a brief duel before Tessa blew everything up in an attempt to escape, but it was too late. Tessa simply got outplayed there.”

  My friends nodded slowly.

  “You thought of all that?” Kaede stared at me. “That’s super impressive!”

  “It’s what I probably would’ve done,” I shrugged.