『Well done, Fran』

(Nn. I tried to imitate Mordred)

『Though you hadn’t had practice, I was impressed that you still choose to win in such a way』

(Really?)

『Ou! Beating up your opponent is not the only way to win after all』

(Nn!)

It seems that Fran’s match with Mordred affected her in more ways than I imagined.

After all, she used such a tactic in a situation where I had expected her to use a big move. Well, I didn’t expect she could master this kind of thinking right away, but this would surely broaden her combat options.

This would surely be useful for Fran in the future.

It is still a very rough fighting style now, but I am sure that one day she will be able to use it to its fullest potential. I’m looking forward to that day.

『Well then, let’s see the next match, one of them will be our next opponent after all』

(Nn)

The winner of the next match will face Fran in the quarterfinals.

Then, five minutes later.

「I knew it would be Sibylla」

『Yeah』

Her opponent was a huge mace user who said he admired Elsa. The destructive power of his mace was quite impressive. But Sibylla did not falter in front of such destructive power and plunged head-on and won in less than a minute.

Who would have thought that she would take a direct hit from a martial art using that huge mace and not take a step back. Moreover, she doesn’t seem to think of it as a big deal at all. It looks like we’ll have to be serious this time.

「…She’s strong」

『Yeah』

The match then proceeded, and now it’s a match between Abbab, Eihwaz’s disciple, and Diaz. They both won a close victory on their previous match. Eihwaz used to be in the same with Diaz in the past. Though this is not really a master-disciple duel, but a showdown between these two would certainly be worth watching.

After that was the match between Hilt and Radul.

『Another pair with a stark contrast huh』

Radul was a mage who uses a wide variety of magic to toy with his opponents, but Hilt on the other hand, was a fighter who pushes her opponents with brute force.

I wonder what kind of battle they would show us.

By simply looking at their strength, magic power, and speed, anyone could tell that Hilt would be the victor. But that is not the only factor that determines who wins. Differences in experience and strategy are quite significant in this martial arts tournament.

『Will Radul, who mastered the high-level magic of three attributes, able to toy his opponent with his versatile magic!? Or will the A-Ranked adventurer, Hiltoria of the Piercing Fist, crush the old sorcerer with her overwhelming power! Now, let the match begin!』

Radul and Hilt then moved as the match begin.

「Haaa!」

「Hnnm!」

Hilt rushes forward while Radul flies to his rear at the same time.

Surprisingly, the movement speed of the two were almost equal. It seems Radul had used some speed-boosting technique before the match begun.

「Hoo―」

『Old man Radul is amazing』

Radul glided around the arena like a skater. It must be the effect of his wind magic, the Wind Foot. But it must be very difficult to control it like that. Even we only use it to help us move in a straight line.

While performing such super-intensive magic control, I could see that he was also further refining his magic for his next technique.

In this tournament, Radul might have been the greatest contestant when it came to magic control.

But still, Hilt, who has been following him closely with her swift movement, managed to closes their distance.

「Earth Control!」

「What are yo―!?」

An enormous amount of magic power then bursts out from Radul. And just right after Hilt felt it and became more alert. Her body has already been sent flying by a small step that Radul had created with his earth magic.

Though she could twist her body to land with her feet first, the surprise attack managed to disrupt her stance.

「That was…」

『I see, it seems that instead of hiding his magic, he covered the surroundings with his magic to make it hard to notice』

「Amazing」

What Radul used to manipulates the ground was just an ordinary Earth Control.

Anyone at Hilt’s level should have been able to see through the flow of his magic. Well, that would happen if it really were an ordinary magic, that is.

Radul had set up Earth Control throughout the stage to create a few small bumps. It was as if he was declaring that he was going to perform a big attack by controlling the entire stage.

What a nasty move that can even surprise an opponent like Hilt.

It was not without a disadvantage though. After all, it had used a large amount of his magic power.

Even so, Radul seemed to have decided that it was well worth it if it could hinder Hilt’s movement even slightly.

「Hoi!」

「Guh!」

He used the ongoing Earth Control to transform Hilt’s footing into a pool of mud.

No matter how high her status is, if she suddenly loses her footing, she will definitely lose her balance. Radul then wasted no time and launches a desperate attack at Hilt.

「I will not make the same mistake I made last year! When facing an opponent like you, ending this quickly was the best choice for me! High Wave!」

「What a tricky old man!」

Radul is known for his mastery of weak magic, but that doesn’t mean he can’t use the big one. Usually, he just doesn’t need them or doesn’t use them needlessly by considering the cost and worth.

But when it comes to competition, he will surely use his big moves.

What Radul unleashed was an ocean magic that created huge waves. If used at sea, this technique could capsize a ship and bring down anything in its path.

But in this narrow stage, it could push his opponent out of the stage.

A high wall of waves then rose out to Hilt.

Many in the audience seemed to have been convinced that Hilt would be swallowed by the wave and lose by being sent out of the stage. However, in the next moment, that assumption would be proven wrong.

「Rrrhhaa!」

「Ghaah!」

Hilt released a magic bullet and blasted Radul through the waves.

『In an instant and with that much power. It seems that Hilt’s magic release is several times more powerful than Colbert’s. That alone would already make her a troublesome opponent』

「Nn」

It shouldn’t have been a powerful blow because it collided with the waves first, but it managed to knock Radul unconscious. Well, it must be because Radul was already too old to physically withstand such blow.

『O-Oooh! Just when it looked like the old Radul is going to win, Hiltoria’s surprise attack knocked him unconscious! As expected of the Immovable’s successor! Her strength is simply unbelievable!』

For the ordinary people, Radul must have seems to have put up a good fight, but it was because Hilt was not taking him seriously at all. She didn’t seem to want to enjoy the match as much as Fran and the other participants, but it was probably to hide her own tricks as much as possible.

Her next opponent is Fran after all.

The victorious Hilt’s gaze turned toward us. I knew she was aware of Fran.