Chapter 7: The Way The Strong Fight

When Elizabeth signaled, Barron and Dora unleashed their auras, causing them to clash and fill the air in all directions.

"Let's get this over with quickly, I don't have all day," Barron said spirals of flame swirling around his hands.

"As you wish."

Suddenly, the field was blanketed with flowers, transforming the chaotic ground into a heavenly sight, perfect for hiding a dangerous weapon.

Barron, undisturbed, launched a fireball toward Dora, erasing the flowers. The fireball burst upon him, scattering the petals, and leaving Albert ecstatic.

"Well done, Sir Barron! I knew you had it in you!"

He coughed lightly and regained his composure.

"This establishes that Miss Elizabeth, even you cannot deny that it is grossly insufficient."

No one responded to him or showed any surprise. Hope and Elizabeth were fixated on a scene they knew all too well, countless petals twirling around Barron.

"... No, you won't."

Barron twisted his right hand and a fierce wind whipped up, scattering the petals into the air.

"I can sense magic you ignorant, you think something so petty could...!!!"

A flower javelin barely missed his face, as Dora appeared unharmed from the smoke.

"Could you insult me more? I'm still not motivated enough to shoot on target."

"... You Bastard!"

He was filled with anger as he launched multiple fire lances towards Dora. Each one exploded in small bursts, but none of them managed to hit their intended target.

"You're so good at running away, is that all you can...!!!"

The cloud of flowers above him gave birth to numerous flower chains that spread out and encircled him, rendering him immobile. Meanwhile, Dora stood on a floating ball of flowers above him.

"Before you learn magic you should learn to finish your sentences, boy."

"I'll fucking kill you!!!"

All the chains were covered in flames and Barron fired fire orbs in all directions, Dora jumped on the ground and created a wall of earth to protect himself.

"Yeah, let's do that, we won't let him finish his sentences."

The cloud of petals in the air was covered with Barron's flames but instead of disappearing, it was gaining volume, and the flames gradually turned green, suddenly a heavy rain fell on Barron. For their part, Elizabeth and Hope analyzed the fight while Albert was amazed.

"I see, using water to weaken Barron's attacks is a very good idea!" Hope jumped.

"Not exactly, using water, yes, but rain like that will never stop a fire orb, and Cid is very special."

"What do you mean? Dora has the upper hand, he won't lose to that fool."

At that moment, a bolt of violent lightning tore the atmosphere. Hope, stunned looked at Barron, covered in a white aura and light lightning strokes, further away, Dora clutched his slightly burned arm.

Barron, grumbling pointed his hand toward Dora.

"I'm done playing with you, now I'll..."

A small pillar came out of the ground and hit him in the lower jaw, knocking him backward.

"… You're done playing? Good for you, because I'm not."

"RAAAAAGH!!!!"

Dora easily dodged the flames but struggled to avoid the lightning.

(2 spears of fire on each side...!!! Lightning from below... 3 more lightning... Urgh!... Too fast... a blade of ice... A blade of ice ?!)

Barron had two spinning orbs around him, one green and yellow, and the other blue and white. The green and yellow orb released lightning spells, while the blue and white orb released ice spells.

It was astonishing to see someone who could master so many elements. Even among the emissaries, it was uncommon to use more than two elements.

However, this boy had already used three normal elements and two special elements, thanks to the connection between ice, water, and wind magic. His mastery went beyond the usual level and Elizabeth was well aware.

"That's what I told you, Hope, I didn't choose Cide for no reason, he's the same as you and Dora."

"He's... An Avatar?"

"Yes, an E-rank Avatar with magic and healing abilities, not to mention he was trained in an affiliate of the academy, basically this boy is a true genius."

Hope, for the first time, was paralyzed. For a long time, he considered himself the best at his level, it was not necessarily bragging, but he had worked extremely hard to get there.

His last obstacle to date was this young man he had never been able to beat, this young man who was his ultimate limit.

In his sweetest dreams, he imagined he had to defeat him to become one with greatness, but then someone else had appeared, someone with a better story, and that person was about to do what he had always been unable to do.

Barron put on a mind-blowing spectacle, lightning flying, flames swirling and ice flying in a spectacular firework display.

Dora was swimming in this ocean protecting himself using hundreds of tiny orbs that disappeared absorbing every ounce of energy it came in contact with.

"As expected from a peasant, you're just good at running away!"

Dora kept dodging as much as he could, but even as talented as they said he was, it was like running inside an explosion and so, he left several burns and pieces of clothes there and there.

"Not saying anything? Talk, you idiot! Talk like you were doing before, why are you silent now? I will torture you little by little, you won't..."

At that moment, a clump of mud landed in Barron's mouth, he was so surprised that he stopped his attacks at once.

"Sorry, your mouth looked too much like a trash can. Oh, by the way, I picked that from a farm nearby, so I can't confirm it's mud, God bless you."

Barron Wide-eyed spat the thing out of his mouth and began to shake. Dora landed farther away, grinning.

"...Wait, are those tears in your eyes?"

"...ill you..."

"Could you repeat that? I can only hear shit."

"...ill yoouuu..."

"It also smells... Ah! Silly me, it's just your mouth."

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!!"

He rushed at him in rage, Dora stayed motionless with his arms slowly rising and a red spark in his eyes, but suddenly Elizabeth and Albert stepped in and intercepted Barron.

"RELEASE ME! I WILL KILL HIM!!!"

"Enough! Cid, the test is over!"

"Sir Barron, we can't let you proceed further, please calm down!"

"Aaaah... I swear I'll kill you! You're dead!"

He was literally smoking with rage but was unable to get out of Elizabeth's grip. No matter how talented he was, an E-tank was still an E-rank, and thus made himself vulnerable enough for Dora.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm shitting my pants~"

"Aaah... aaah"

"Holy shit, I'm so scared."

Elizabeth almost crushed Cid as she lifted him.

"Dora, don't make it harder, Albert, I think that's enough right?"

"... Let's talk about this later ok? Sir Barron, you need to calm yourself, please!"

Elizabeth let out a sigh as they pulled Barron towards the village, only to come back a few minutes later without him. She then turned to Dora.

"You have a knack for making enemies."

"Everyone is an enemy before knowing them."

"... I just hope this kind of thinking won't cause your fall, Albert, back on the topic, don't you think it's enough?"

The man grumbled in the back.

"Hm... Well, If I had to be perfectly objective, it wasn't bad, but... between you and me, Barron was clearly dominating, if he hadn't lost his composure, he would have won."

"Yes but the test wasn't to defeat him, just to test Dora's skill, his powers are interesting, right? And he also has great stamina, he's a perfect recruit."

"Listen, Miss, I understand your will to see him join the academy, but you have to understand that for commoners we need to raise the bar."

"What's about me then? He can beat me anytime, so if I can join, why not him?!" Again, Hope came to Dora's defense.

"Your case is different, Sir Hope, because of your sister, everyone believes in your bloodline, but what about him?"

"That's bullshit!"

Dora chuckled briefly before composing himself, he had finally agreed to their request, would they now turn him down?

"Albert, follow me for a second."

"Miss, you once again abuse your notoriety."

Elizabeth suddenly jumped away in shock while they were walking.

"What was that?"

Elizabeth looked anxiously at what they had just stepped into, a puddle left by the rain earlier.

"What the... I could have sworn that…"

"What's up, sis?"

She approached the puddle and put her hand on it before displaying a dumbfounded look.

"Is this… Draining me of energy?"

Dora was the focus of attention for all three of them.

" … What? Yes, it's just a debuff, you know I can do that too, right?"

Elizabeth looked at the whole area covered in puddles.

"So... All the rain that was falling..."

"Yeah, that dude was a magic user, so the most fun way to defeat him was to drain his mana pool"

Dora had devised a flawless strategy to deplete Barron's mana and exact his revenge very slowly, however, the intervention of Elizabeth and Albert ultimately foiled his plans.

"His energy reserves must have been depleted earlier, you stole my victory."

Both were paralyzed, Elizabeth finally smiled and turned to Albert.

"Well… Looks like we owe someone an apology, is that a high enough bar for you?"

"Ah...ah...What was his affiliation again?"

"Dora, I liked you before but now you have me drooling."

"... I am 16 years old."

"I am 20 years old, and on behalf of all royal knights, I welcome you to the academy."

Albert cautiously examined the nearby puddles, unable to comprehend the sensation he had just experienced, while Hope, with a bewildered expression on his face, silently observed them. As for Elizabeth, she burst into laughter, radiating pure joy.