Chapter 54: Quicksand

This is it, the next fight is against Irela, the whirlwind of blades. I have a plan but what if she has a Sense skill? I'll be trapping myself. Erecting sand pillars for cover won't work against drill attacks, which leaves me with hiding or using my force dispercing barrier. I can try both. Actually, now that I think about force dispersion should work best against the small lightweight blades. They don't have the mass to power through the barrier.

The trick against my barrier is to overcome it through sheer power, by spreading the force over a large area one would need enough force to destroy the whole thing. I can't use it on the sand because it's full of earth mana but if I weave a blanket of water mana it would work best, the problem being that it uses a ton of mana to do so, and enchanting it would take up that much more mana and time.

Actually, I've yet to run out of mana despite weaving a net, that should have used a lot of mana but I didn't run out. Weaving a square meter of cloth takes two thousand mana, most of what I had but I doubled my mana reserves today, I have... over seven thousand mana. Enchanting will take maybe five hundred mana which means I can weave a blanket of water mana and enchant it.

I've been acting like I've had half my mana the entire tournament, I've been stupid! Normally I wouldn't have enough water mana for this strategy but due to my curse more would be generated as I weave.

"Are you ready? Do you have a plan?" Chyzu asks.

"Yes," I answer.

Water also repels the earth-aligned metal essence which means if I also enchant for that it'll become much harder to destroy, but how should I go about that? If I make a repulsion enchantment she'll have to overcome that as well which will reduce the force I'll receive which in turn makes the force dispersion an even better defense.

"Tuloly wins!" The announcer calls out.

"You're up, remember everything you've learned. Irela is known as one of the hardest to beat if you don't directly counter her, even I lose to her" Chyzu says, patting me on the back.

"Next is Alysara versus Irela!"

Really need a better announcer, like, you can hype the crowd up more. 'who will win, the famous whirlwind of blades or a young underdog who has pulled through several counter matches!' something like that! This is a big moment make it more impactful!

I command my core to start generating more water mana as I walk down the steps. Irela has more experience than me and has a higher level class, although my Bond is higher level than hers.

With my heart beating with adrenaline I get ready. First I will start weaving and create a dome of sand for the initial barrage. Then I will use the extra time to enchant. If all goes well I won't even need a defensive blanket and she'll fall for my clones.

At the signal, I begin as fast as my [Graceful Movements] boosted reflexes allow me to.

The sand moves around me as a clattering of small blades hits it. Then I hear heavier thuds as I see drills hit the dome and start spinning.

Should have had them already spinning.

As I finish making my blanke I begin enchanting and turn myself invisible with [Echos of Reality]. I create two clones and just as the drills start poking through I finish the first enchantment. I dispel the sand dome, having it burst outward as my two clones run out. Irela looks at both the clones running in opposite directions with indecision but she calms herself with a deep breath and closes her eyes. She points in my hiding location and blades flies towards me just as my second enchantment finishes.

The blades hit my blanket and stop, a slight ripple moving across the blanket I made. The enchantment isn't perfect, it doesn't disperse one hundred percent of the force but it's significant enough.

"Incredible" Irela offers a word of compliment. She fuses several pieces of blades together and formes a drill. Fairies launch from my clones but Irela forms shields to intercept them. Unfortunately for her, my fairies don't have to move linearly and they move around the shields hitting her and delivering painful payloads of beauty mana.

Irela's drills slam on my defensive blanket, their force sending larger ripples through the blanket but ultimately stops. Their speed has slowed slightly due to the repulsion enchantment, Irela frowns as the drill starts floating away due to the repulsion.

"Interesting enchantments" Irela formes a dome of metal around her to stop the fairies from hitting her, it tskes most of her metal leaving us at a stalemate. My fairies continue to bombard her defenses as she tries to get around mine, us both unable to break past each other's defenses, I have a trick up my sleeve, though. I built up dozens of fairies and with [Mana Manipulation] I grab a part of the mana in the metal and force an opening for my growing number of fairies to enter.

"What?!" A scream of surprise echoes as the fairies trail in. I watch as her vitality is used up with each attack. In a last-ditch effort, Irela forms all her metal in one large drill and launches it at me. With [Mana Manipulation] I force it downward. The drill wavers and wobbles as Irela fights my control over it. As the drill rushes closer I throw my blanket at it. The drill slams in the blanket, large ripples spread out as a tearing sound comes from the blanket. The blanket is shredded completely as small fibers of mana silk dropped to the sand below. The drill has almost completely stopped in its tracks and I fight to keep it still.

However, a new problem came at me, four small blades slpit off from the drill and rushes towards me as I fight to keep the large drill still. I cast a wind spell around me strong enough to deflect the lightweight blades for just long enough.

"I yield!" Irela says weakly, as she fell to the ground. I had bought just enough time to win.

It was a quick fight but most fights tend to be.

"Alysara wins!"

The crowd cheers, the direction where my village is obviously the loudest.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 242!

"I lose every time against Jowaru, and now that she was taken out I lose to someone else?" Irela complains. "I'm not going to lose next time!" Irela resolves herself and walks back up to her staging area with shaky legs. I walk back up to Chyzu jumping up and down.

"You did it! I don't know how you did but you defeated her!" Chyzu then turned a little serious. "But you are starting to become predictable, Aly. People are catching on to your tactics, you need to change them up"

I nod. My biggest issue right now is my lack of experience. I'll need to fight more with more focus on dodging attacks and getting more breakthroughs in my [Graceful Movements].

"However there are only three rounds left, Aly." This is a bracket tournament so in each round half the contestants lose. This means that there were about two hundred fifty-six contestants to start with. The next round will only have eight contestants, then it's on to the semi-finals.

We went to the Hall to see who I'd be fighting next.

"Your next opponent is also someone new, Uloru, I think she is that gravity warrior. I don't know much else about her. For semi-finals you'll be up against me if I win my battle. I'm up against Gogana, she's a lightning warrior, not exactly easy for me but I am strong against warriors, I just have to keep my area dry and stay away from her and keep her in the mud."

I am also fairly strong against warriors, and I think I'll use Chyzu's strategy of mudding the ground. Actually, now that I think about that a gravity warrior will just reduce her weight so she doesn't sink, I'll still try but I don't expect it will work, just need to cover all my bases.

Now, what will I do if she has a sense skill that can sense me? Worst case scenario mudding the ground won't work and she can see past my illusions. What will I do? Flying won't work if she can just increase gravity and make it hard for me. Blinding won't work in this scenario. She can throw that hammer but I may be able to dodge that. I could make armor but that hammer has a ton of mass and with added force from gravity, she will be easily able to break past my defenses. How do I defeat this worse case situation?

We both have essences, she's a dark based essence I'm a light based essence. My class is a Bond mage hers is not so I'm stronger, plus my bond is much higher level. Interfering with her spells could work too. Being a warrior her wisdom stat should be much lower and thus I could use [Mana Manipulation] to stop her spells. First, make her abandon her hammer, use its natural weight against her by not letting her make it lighter. If she still doesn't and proceeds to use strength, prevent her from making herself lighter and the extra weight from the hammer will make mudding the ground work against her.

I'll use my second mind for dedicated spell sabotage, I can kite her and bombard her with fairies, no clone or invisibility needed. Chyzu's right, I'm relying on my illusions too much, I need to think on my strategies more, prepare for the worse case and go from there.

Now how do I beat Chyzu? She's very experienced, I know I can't hide and my clone won't work, She's a mage so fighting over control of her spells may not work but should delay her, I have two minds but she has [Multitask] it won't hinder her as much. The difference between her skill and mine is that [multitask] works with the same amount of focus whereas my [Twin Minds] give me another mind to focus. In other words, if she has one hundred points of focus [Multitask] only has one hundred points to work with whereas [Twin Minds] gives me two one-hundred points but I can't allocate each one hundred points into different things.

To put it more simply I have two five hundred wisdom stats, which helps me focus and increases the strength of my will, to use on specifically two things, Chyzu has however many points of wisdom she has to allocate to as many things as she wants. That's the difference between our two skills. What kind of monster will I become if I also get [Multitask]?

So I can easily fight over a few spells but her counter to that will be to just use more spells to overwhelm my focus.

First I need to defend myself, how? Armor, but that's mana intensive. Deflection, weave an attraction ribbon, and hold it off to the side, could work and won't take a lot of mana. It will at least help me dodge the attacks.

Second, how do I prevent her from getting close? Take a page out of the Aydomr's book, Use earth mana to entrap her feet. I could also create a dome of sand to block attacks and also use the attracting ribbons to and attach them to a pillar off to the side.

It's a good plan but maybe she'll expect something like that and will come up with a counter? Maybe I should make a second plan just in case.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Uloru Wins!"

That had been an easy one. Next up is my fight with Alysara, the Two Tailed Illusionist.

She had won her fight with Irela, she had done something that shocked her master and made her re-evaluate who was harder to beat.

"You're going to have a tough time against her, be ready for anything and you may not be able to rely on your weight manipulation"

Uloru's staple Bond skill, [Weight Manipulation]. If she can't use it, the fight will be extra difficult.

"Don't wait for anything, once the fight starts throw your hammer at her, catch her off guard, don't let her do anything. Throw her plans off by acting unusual"

First, she yells at me for throwing my hammer then tells me to do so. Uloru will still do as suggested but she vcan't help but grin at the contradiction.

Uloru walks up the staging area to her master. She won't be able to watch her next fight as she has her own to attend to. Her match is against someone known as Esofy in her finals match.

"Even if you lose know that I am proud of you for making it this far. I'll bring home a win for us, I've fought Esofy before although that has been a few years ago now. She's difficult but I've only gotten stronger." Kadona pats her shoulder

"I'll win, Master, It's just three more rounds, my next will be the most difficult but I'll win it, then it'll be smooth sailing from there on," Uloru says.

Uloru watches the next few fights with her village and as the last fight finished she walks back to the staging area.

"Chyzu wins!"

I'll be up against Chyzu next, she's going to be difficult but with my [Weight Manipulation] I think I should be able to win.

"Next Is Alysara versus Uloru!"

The two youngest fighters and both new to the three hundred rankings.

Uloru watches the blindfolded girl walk down the steps, her two tails in tune with her steps.

There was something off about her. Uloru's [Foe Sense] told her that the girl is way more powerful than she seems. She seems more like her master in terms of raw power, maybe even more.

She has a high tier race, and maybe even class too. She's going to hide and use her clones in a pincher attack, it'll be difficult to dodge but I should be able to, my agility is only second to my strength.

Uloru draws back her hammer in preparation to throw it as her master suggested. Alysara simply stands there in a weak stance.

At the signal, Ulorus's hammer immediately felt much heavier even before she starts throwing it. Uloru grits her teeth and she put all her strength into throwing the hammer only for her footing to loose. Uloru lets go and uses [Gravity Well] to curve the hammer to follow Alysara who had stepped to the side, but Uloru's hammer didn't curve the way she wanted, it instead curves the opposite direction!

Uloru rushes forward only for her to fall, her legs are stuck in the watery sand!

That's why I lost my footing! Uloru tries to lift her legs out but she couldn't! What is happening?! What kind of spell is this? The more Uloru struggled the more she sank, it didn't make sense!

The first fairy hit. Pain assaults Uloru as she looks up. Alysara hadn't bothered with illusions, she didn't bother with hiding.

Am I that easy to beat?

Pain hit Uloru again and again until she felt her heart pounding and she felt weak, her legs and arms shook as she lost control over them. There was nothing she could do, she had lost so soundly it wasn't even a competition. Uloru struggles the entire time but only succeeded in getting more stuck.

"I yield," Uloru says weakly. She felt helpless. Is this what all her opponents felt when they couldn't even see the real her?

The Two Tailed girl walks over and extends a hand.

"I couldn't do anything," Uloru says, wallowing in her defeat.

Alysara thought for a moment, before speaking. "Next year you will. You will find a way to counter this weakness of yours and you will win next year."

"Easy for you to say, you're ten years old and already past my level, you're a genius," Uloru says bitterly

Alysara frowns and smacks Uloru.

"You have no idea the challenges I faced nor how much time and effort I put into my skills." Alysara turns around and walks up to her staging area.

Uloru fell silent, being pulled up out of the now dry sand. How can a child get to her level without being a genius? Hard work doesn't make sense even if she started at eight years old like I did, she shouldn't be that high of level without a lot of talent.

Uloru walks up the stairs, her master is waiting, having managed to win quick enough. She was talking with another woman, a tall red haired woman with a toned body.

"You did well, Uloru." Kadona pats Uloru's head.

"I couldn't do anything... I felt so hopeless"

"It happens, a lot of times someone will hard counter you, there's not much you can do"

"That isn't right," The red haired woman says "That's why you lost this time, Kadona"

Uloru looks up. "You lost, Master?"

"Yeah, Esofy had gotten a lot stronger," Kadona says, nodding.

"Uloru" Esofy says, "Four years ago I felt just as helpless as you, watching my friends die one by one. An Aydomr had attacked my village, level two hundred minor, but we were so overconfident and underprepared six of us died. That changed my perspective. There is no 'nothing you can do', you're dead if you think that way. Cover your weakness, find a skill or improve your abilities so that never happens again."

She's from the same village as Alysara, the only village that survived the super storm.

"We've been thinking about this all wrong we need to stop thinking that there's nothing we can do against opponents that can counter our abilities. Have you watched Alysara's fights? Most of her fights were set against people that countered her, yet she found a way, there's always a way. If she can do it, why not you?"

"She's a genius, I can't do what she can!" Uloru complains.

"Yes, she is a genius, she won't admit it but I've also seen her practice her skills every single day for her entire life, she thinks about survival first then if there's room she thinks about defeating her opponent. Our way of thinking is wrong. I've only started winning as much as I have once I realized that, you're just making excuses Uloru." Kadona remains silent through Esofy's lecture. "Something Alysara's father once me when I asked why Alysara denies being a genius. 'Alysara got so strong because of sacrifice. Her [Sense Mana] is so high because she is blind, her cursed skill is high because she saved lives and put others before her, her level is so high because she put her life in danger to save others. Simply calling her talented, even if she is, ignores her sacrifices; we should instead be thanking her and acknowledging her hard work'"

Uloru thought back to her childhood. Those carefree days of playing and living without a care in the world. Yet, what had she gained from that? Nothing. Alysara despite only having unlocked her class recently is years ahead of Uloru.

I insulted her, didn't I? I should apologize.