Chapter 29: 0̷̙̞̦̮̜̦̂2̵̜͖͉̽̄̀͜9̸̢̖̳̠͉͉̮͒̐͑ͅ
The students lined up in front of the podium in which Corlissa stood tall, emitting a powerful presence despite her short stature and youth, could only look on in disbelief. They had to admit, to announce such a thing at a national event took guts, it took guts that they, as the future figures of the kingdom, did not have.
Everyone had simply watched in mild shock when they comprehended what she had stated, some students of Amiere Academy were jealous of the fact that she was chosen by the headmistress and were also angered by how she had carelessly slightly tainted their academy’s reputation.
For the unfortunate host of the event, he had to speak over the chaos that had presumed, he had to make his way to the podium and try to make his voice heard throughout the chaos in the stands.
“UM, UH, WE- we will now begin the classic first event! The academy battles!!”
“To those who are here for the first time, each academy will be split into 2 groups and will be pitted against other teams to determine those who qualify for the next round. To win a battle, you need to incapacitate every member of the other team, there has been a special request for Amiere Academy whose numbers are lesser than the others. Every other institute has applied ten students to participate, however, Amiere Academy only has six students, instead of two teams of three, it has been confirmed that Corlissa Veronique will form a team by herself.”
Many were thrust into a blizzard of confusion while others were questioning why the Proelium was such an anomaly this year. The students that were chosen to participate in the event all felt like they were getting mocked as if only a small child would be enough to defeat them, they were sure to irrefutably defeat her until she would no longer be able to raise her head.
They wanted to build suspense for the event and also wanted to grasp their attention so they wouldn’t leave in the middle of it if it was too boring and would only return for the finals. Thus, they made Corlissa’s match last, everyone was still feeling mixed emotions after mulling over what the young Veronique said so they were looking forward to her match.
After the rather anticlimactic one-sided battles of the other teams, Corlissa’s match had finally come to present, the team of 5 from Inervia Education walked towards the centre of the battle arena as Corlissa proceeded from the opposite side.
With the whistle of the adjudicator, rapid successive long-range attacks were launched by all 5 members of the Inervia team, though they did not draw out the most powerful attacks in their arsenal as they were only combating against a young child. Before the attacks could even reach halfway between the two oppositions, Corlissa merely glanced at the attacks and they stopped. They never made contact with a surface enough to unleash the attack so they became like a person running on a treadmill, they continued moving but never made any change in distance.
Everyone was confused about what had happened, there was no change in anyone’s movement aside from the glance that Corlissa gave to the attacks but there was no logical course of action that would have occurred when Corlissa looked at the attacks to make them stop so abnormally. There was no attack, nothing out of the ordinary, it was just her gaze that must have activated something to make it stop.
Despite the colossal amount of spectators in the stadium, there ensued complete silence, no one had spoken a word. Whether they were rendered in silence due to shock or disbelief was unclear but everyone knew, Corlissa Veronique was not some fragile naive noble child. Corlissa Veronique could either be their greatest ally or their most formidable enemy. She had the potential to be able to fight against their entire kingdom’s combined strength.
But the two parties were unable to rest in silence, they were in the middle of an event, after all, they needed to continue with the battle to ensure that they could move onto the next stage of the Proelium. The team from Inervia launched more advanced attacks, some running around to surround the young girl to then unleash more attacks.
“Why do you all attack in the same mechanised ways. Everything is so bland and easy to read, why do you all attack according to the textbook methods? In a real battle, your enemies will predict that you’ll abide by the rules of a mainstream book. Learn to adapt and think for yourself, even if it means going against your commander,” Corlissa advised as she gracefully sidestepped each of their attacks precisely yet with ease.
The three seniors that charged at her were all knocked to the ground, the air escaping their lungs forcefully as they landed painfully on their backs. The long-range attacks that were still active rebounded against an unknown force that had hit the remaining 2 students.
Unfortunately for them, they were knocked flying, hitting the wall of the stadium and losing all the strength in their body leaving them to collapse on the ground.
The spectators erupted in an uproar of cheers, yells and boos. A nonchalant blue-haired girl stood in the centre of it all, the looks of disbelief were not abnormal to her, the emotions of doubt weren’t anything new either.
All the students just viewed her as a monster, she was no longer a prodigious child or some fancy genius, she was merely a monster. Not even considered human, such a young child’s reputation and titles reduced to smithereens.
Although no one had audibly announced that or made any movement to display such thoughts, they all knew that they shared the same ideas, that the young Veronique had acquired strength that was not of the level of a human. They were all thinking about how she was a freak, various slanderous expressions plague their mind, whether it was the effects of the brainwashing or the remnants of human nature was still unknown.
Corlissa had advanced to the next round which was another team battle, this one would determine the few teams that would enter into the individual competitions.
The next competition was rather easy, in fact, it was more like it was easier said than done.
Each team had a zone, these were all equally spaced from the centre of the arena in which 4 crystal orbs were placed on a series of platforms that were floating at different heights.
The aim of the event was to capture one of the orbs which would allow the entire team to proceed, the ball needs mana to be pumped into it the amount was specifically monitored to be more than the amount that a single person can inject, which would mean that it would be a team effort to fill up the ball with mana. However, there was a catch, at any given time, while a team is filling up the ball with mana if another person begins infusing their mana into it the progress that the team made would be refunded back to them and the other team would then be in possession of it.
This event was designed for students to erupt in the chaos of combat as they all fought over the orbs, there was also ample space on the platforms for students to fight as well.
“The second event will begin in…5! 4! 3! 2! 1!”
Despite the loud cheers, no one had moved the slightest, some were coming up and trying to simulate their plans while others were waiting to see who would move first. Contrary to the typical wariness that everyone had displayed, Corlissa Veronique began walking to the centre platforms slowly and relaxed.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone