Constructors: New Beginning

Chapter 21 Finals: Round Two

They had to take some time to repair the floor of the arena, and when it was done, it was time for the second round. Uriela came out, and Shiki jumped down from the bench. He went on towards the battlefield, and the two walked over to the center and waited. 

"Uriela, you're still in your real form. I would've assumed you would change back to your human form by now." Shiki said. 

"My friend told me to be proud of who I am and not hide from it. Why don't you show your true form to everyone, unless you're still disgusted by it?" She taunted him, and it worked. 

"If you insist, cousin." He pulled down his collar and showed his loose scale and plucked it off. His transformation wasn't as dramatic as Uriela's, as his fire whirled around him like small streams. His scales came first, appearing on his arms and face along with his horns, which looked like bull horns. Next came his wings, which were massive compared to Uriela's. And then his tail grew out, which had two spear-like obtrusions at the end. And finally, his body altered. He grew much taller, became leaner, and grew muscles; Shiki became the complete opposite of his human form. The sight of his dragonewt form made the girls in the arena swoon and faint almost immediately. "I despise this form so much." 

"And that's what makes you the shame of the family, Shiki." 

"Watch yourself, Uriela, or someone's gonna get hurt." He let out a low growl, and then Alice came down and tried her best not to look at Shiki directly. 

"Alright you two, Head Mistress said that flying is permitted, just stay on school grounds. Let the second round of the finals begin!" She announced, and immediately the two took to the air. 

The students watched as Uriela sent out fire lances, and Shiki spewed out fire from his mouth. 

"I hate spewing fire from my mouth; it's so barbaric of our race." 

"How dare you say that about our own race Shiki! I would die to be able to let fire erupt from my mouth." Uriela created a larger lance and shot it at him. He stopped it with his hand, and it burst into embers. 

"I don't consider myself Dragonewt. I'm above such dull creatures." 

Uriela's rage grew, and she flew over Shiki just inches away from him with fire gauntlets, just like Jackal. "Fire Creation: Dragon's Might!" Uriela hit him square in the chest, and a torrent of flame went through him. 

"Is that the best you could do, dear cousin?" Shiki asked, shrugging off my attack. "It feels like you've gotten weaker over the past year." 

"I wasn't trying to harm you," she smirked. Shiki looked down to see that she cracked his scales. "Every Dragonewt has to shed their scales every year and looks like you forgot to. Which means...I can do this." She grabbed him and pulled as hard as she could, ripping off his scales, and he screamed out in pain. 

"Get off!" He hollered out as he blew a fireball at Uriela and sent her crashing down to the floor. "Damnit! I haven't been in my form for so long I forgot to take care of this. Being a Dragonewt is such a nuisance." 

Uriela heard that and busted back up from the ground, latching her hand onto Shiki's tail. "You're such a disgrace, Shiki!" She wailed out as she threw him down, sending hundreds of her lances down to rain upon him. Uriela nearly broke the floor just like how Julia did, but the teachers held it together as she kept raining them down. Eventually, she stopped and waited for the smoke to settle. But suddenly she saw something fly out, and before she could even react, Shiki had her by the throat, not a single scratch on him. 

"No cousin, you're the disgrace. You can't even properly hurt someone who doesn't even want to be part of your race. I'm not sorry to say this, but it looks like you lost again." Shiki reeled up his head up and then let out his biggest fire breath. It lasted a solid minute, and when he was done, Uriela was a charred and blackened mess. He simply let go of her and let her fall down on the ground. Everyone watched in sadness as they witnessed Uriela's fourth defeat against Shiki as she lay there, having no strength to move a muscle. 

Damn it...again, I couldn't beat him. I won't be graduating with Julia and James...no. 

She looked up to see Shiki looking down at her with a cold expression. He stopped flapping his wings and began descending towards her. Everyone quickly realized what was happening, and all they could do was helplessly watch as Shiki was going to stomp down on the already weakened Uriela. Head Mistress called out to Shiki to stop, but he ignored her command. When he got to the ground, a massive puff of dust erupted up so no one could see what had happened. Everyone was scared to look down and see what happened, but when the dust cleared, they were all shocked. 

"I must say, your arm must be incredibly tough to have survived my heaviest stomp," Shiki commented mockingly. 

James had Uriela cradled in his arm as he blocked Shiki's stomp with his stone arm. "My arm's not tough; it's just your stomp was incredibly weak to not even make a crack." James glared up at Shiki, and that sent a shiver down his spine. James' eyes pierced through him more than anything, and then he realized why Evgeni was trying to plan his strategy. 

May the gods be on your side when you fight this guy Evgeni, he's scary. 

"James, what are you doing here?" Uriela asked and instinctively gripped his shirt as she got closer to him. She had no idea what was making her do this, but she didn't feel anywhere safer than in James' arms. 

"I couldn't let him do that to you when you're badly beaten like this. And you two are family; you two shouldn't be like this towards each other." 

Shiki snickered before leaping away. "Our history is complicated, something you wouldn't understand. Anyways she lost, and it's time for you and Evgeni to fight. I'm expecting to witness a great fight between you two." He looked back, and with the tone of his voice, it almost sounded like he was mocking James. 

Alice flew down with medics, and they got Uriela on a stretcher. "Wait," Uriela told the nurses, and they stopped. She looked over at James with teary eyes. "James...I'm sorry, I know you were hoping for me to graduate with you and Julia, but I failed." 

"It's fine, Uriela, let's talk about this after the exam. For now, rest up and tell Julia I hope she's feeling better." 

Uriela smiled. "I promise." 

They waited till the nurses were gone, and then Alice cleared her throat. "The winner of the second round is Shiki Hitama...Uriela Strauss does not graduate," she announced, trying to hide her heartbreak over Uriela's loss. She looked at James and then at Head Mistress. "James jumped in the fight, which is a violation of the Magus Exam. What do you say, Head Mistress?" 

Head Mistress stood up and gave him a contemplating look. He knew that that was a look implying that he was gonna hear an earful from her later. "I'll make the exception that he saved Uriela from being hurt any more than she should've been. You may proceed with the third round." 

"Alright then! Witches and mages, it's down to this. The last and third round of the finals! Evgeni, come down!" She pointed at him, and Evgeni slid down an icy slope until he was in front of James. 

"I've been dying for this moment for a long time." Evgeni smiled devilishly. 

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing." James smiled back, and the crowd went back to cheering, calling out James' name. This was it, the moment everyone has been waiting for.