Helix

Chapter 18 - Toph

Two days passed, and we were at the arena once again, ready for the finalist battles. Between eight people, the rule was simple: be the last one standing.

Vigilantly, I scouted the other seven people beside me. Including me and Elaena, there were four boys and four girls, two groups of mixed genders and two of the same. Maverick made it to the finalist battles too. He teamed up with a tall, blonde girl whom I recognized as one of the top three scorers in our last Combat exams. Both of them used axes, which was a problem I wasn't too eager to face. If both were heavy weapon users, they would negate each other's disadvantages of speed since there were two of them. Worriedly, I glanced at Elaena, who still had a trace of a smile lingering on her lips.

Oh well.

The other groups seemed formidable, with more variety in their weapons, but I was confident in Elaena's and my abilities. I held out my fist to Elaena, to which she gave me a quick bump. "Let's go!" I chuckled.

Her eyes sparkled as she reciprocated the laugh.

For the final battle, we were brought to the competition stage again, except this time there were several modifications to the size. The circular fighting ring in the center was removed, leaving just bleachers of screaming spectators fencing in a large rectangular space. Grimly, I realized that there was no "out space" for us this time – it was going to get bloody.

Again, I looked worriedly at Elaena. Then I gave myself a big, fat mental facepalm, because Elaena was strong enough now. She could handle it on her own – why was I so worried anyway?

Shaking my thoughts away, I followed the group to the center of the podium, where we were arranged into a circle in the center.

"Welcome, everyone, to the finale of the thirty-first White Phantom Tournament at Academia Rephia!" the headmaster boomed again, hopefully for the last time. I was getting tired of that old geezer acting all superior and young with his pot belly and wig. If he genuinely cared, none of the inhumane harming-allowed rules would be abolished.

Nevertheless, the crowd roared in excitement. They stomped their feet and "hoorah"s cycled around the stadium.

The action came extremely soon.

In shout, we were all running towards each other, some morbid sense of bloodthirstiness swirling in the air. Elaena and I gave each other a quick nod, and in amid the chaos, I somehow found a sense of peace with her. We leaned back-to-back, weapons ready for our opponents – we left our backs to each other. Quickly, two guys encircled us. One was a swordsman and the other swung a giant mace with fearsome spikes protruding at the tail. The mace user decided to pick on Elaena. I was tempted to look back and make sure she was okay, but I stopped myself.

I trusted her.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. "Perceive." There was a lot of mixed action happening right now, so I immediately blasted all my senses to the maximum. The sharp scratching between metal blades and the rapid breaths as people steadied themselves all traveled to my ears like booms. I could hear Elaena's heartbeat hammering in her chest against my back. With Perceive, the faint metallic smell of blood intensified as it wafted into my nose, and I could almost imagine myself in the middle of war ground.

I pulled out Shadow, opening my eyes sharply to pinpoint the guy who was quickly advancing at me. "Impact!" he yelled, waving his mace. His steps darted left and right, but I refused to be distracted by them. Urgency was a sin. Slowly and carefully, I examined the quivering of his sword, studying the way he was flicking his hand for signs of trickery. Suddenly, my eyes lit up and I hid a smirk. Gotcha ya.

Just as he swung his sword, I sidestepped and lunged forward, calling, "Pierce!" In a blur of motion, he also reacted instantly, stepping backwards, narrowly missing my sword. The tip of my blade sliced across his shirt, leaving a thin tear that exposed his skin underneath.