Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

“Yes. It appears as if the council wants to keep the undefeated novices fighting in the central arena. It is a little different from some of the past tournaments, but it will give people a chance to cheer the novices on easier. That also means that keeping these seats is going to be tougher.”

“I can see that,” Hao said, nodding to the few people he recognized from the day before.

Daciana, Nessa, and Victoria came into view. Their previous fear was gone— they were smiling and joking with each other as they took their seats. Some surreptitious nods were exchanged by the novices and apprentices.

Daciana spoke to her father, loud enough for the others to hear her, “We’re all fighting in the late morning into the late afternoon. Some of our fights are back-to-back-to-back, so it’ll be busy for us.”

“Maybe this farce will end quickly, then,” Carlisle’s voice caught everyone’s attention nearby. He sneered at the novices. “Aether willing, we’ll see some blood today.”

Gregory looked away from Carlisle to the man who had followed him. He had cold eyes and scarred hands, and was wearing armor and carrying a sword. The man exuded an aura of uncaring violence. His cold eyes shifted to Gregory and stared into him.

“Carlisle,” Hao said amiably, “so good of you to join us again. Look, they even left your previous spot open for you, though I do have to say that your previous companion was more attractive.”

“Warlin, I look forward to you losing today’s bet. You’ll learn how foolish you were, and everyone here will see it.”

“Possibly,” Hao said, his smile still in place. “Then again, I’d bluster if I had the chance of losing all the vela you are. I notice that the majority of people nearby were here yesterday, too.”

“It appears that is the case,” Carlisle said after taking a look around.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy some of the fights today,” Hao said. “I know I will.”

~*~*~

The morning fights went by with minor interest. The novices used very little aether, as the majority of them did not have the skill or aether to do a lot of magic. A few outliers caught a lot of attention, though— Franklin Buddiz turned out to be a prodigy earth magi, able to fling hardened balls of earth at his opponent. While he couldn’t throw many, he’d been able to use enough at key points throughout his matches to quickly dispatch his opponent. The other novice, Seymour Xandia, reminded Gregory of Franco Ichor. He was a physical enhancement magi who was brutal to his opponents.

The eleventh bell came a second before Daciana walked out of the tunnel and onto the arena floor. She walked with her head held high and her back straight, ignoring the cheers and boos from the stands.

The same magus from the day prior had Daciana and her opponent bow as normal. The brawny magi backed up with his hand raised, but before he could drop it, a spike of earth shot up out of the ground, aimed directly for Daciana’s gut.

Daciana’s eyes widened. She started to shift to the side on reflex, but it wasn’t going to be enough to get clear of the earthen spear. When the spike collided with and shattered on an aether-made barrier, it was her opponent’s turn to be shocked.

The adjudicator went from where he’d been, to in front of Daciana’s opponent in a blink. The crowd was going nuts, equal parts incensed and eager for more. Seconds passed as the magi talked with the novice, who had attacked before the match started.

“Novice Jilam forfeits the match and will withdraw from the tournament,” the adjudicator announced, stepping back from the novice as they dropped to their knees.

There were more boos than cheers coming from the crowd, but Daciana bowed as she should, then left the arena floor. Carlisle was one of the loudest jeering over the announcement.

As the crowd settled down, Carlisle spoke up, “Pathetic! If you win, it’ll be because the magus stopped her from fighting as she should have.”

Hao didn’t bother replying to Carlisle. Instead, he leaned forward to ask Gin, “Armsmaster, is that normal? Making the fighter forfeit and withdraw?”

“The rules of duels are sacrosanct,” Gin replied. “He was lucky that the adjudicator didn’t cripple or kill him for blatantly breaking those rules.”

“Not many novices can create an earthen spear, either, and definitely not before the second tournament,” Dia added. “That means the novice likely had an item. The attack was deliberately before the start of the match, as well, as it was intended to catch their opponent off-guard. Luckily for Daciana, she had something to create a barrier with. She’d have been skewered at worst or badly gashed at best.”

Daciana came out of the tunnel for the stands. She was wearing a thoughtful expression as she moved toward her friends. Nessa and Victoria began to talk to her, finding out if there was more to know. Daciana explained what she could as the next set of fighters bowed on the arena floor.

Chapter Sixty-two

The afternoon came, and all three novices had fought multiple times.

Victoria had won all three of her matches. She’d outclassed two of her opponents, but the last was a real fight. In the end, she stood victorious with her black eyes and a split lip.

Daciana won her second fight with ease— her opponent was an enchantment magi, who was clearly far from proficient with fighting. Her last fight was going to be after Nessa’s third.

Nessa won her matches with only a little trouble against her second opponent. The woman was tenacious, and Nessa was forced to render her unconscious before she stopped fighting. Nessa had taken several hard hits, but didn’t acquire any major injuries from the fight. The problem was that her third fight was about to begin, only two fights after