The crowd was silent when she stopped, but then loud cheers erupted. Yunlo appeared beside her and accepted the disk back. Dia waved to the crowd before heading for the exit.
“We will have a small break for the trash to be removed and the sand to be cleaned before the champion novice match begins,” Yunlo announced.
~*~*~
Dia and Bishop came back during the break. They were greeted with wide smiles and many questions. Bishop explained that she’d accepted the challenge to see if Harrison had improved over the last year and a half, and Dia told them how difficult it is to control fire magic to the degree she’d shown.
“There was no chance for Shun to leave a gap the way I did. Maybe when he is an adept, but not as an apprentice,” Dia said.
“The fire didn’t burn you?” Jenn asked, shocked that Dia had been coated in it.
“When you have control over fire, it can’t burn you. Fire magi fighting each other is ridiculous for that reason. It always comes down to who runs out of aether first.”
“Yunlo is back,” Gin said, having been watching the arena while listening to them.
“The tournament will now continue,” Yunlo announced. “I hope you all used the break wisely, as it will be the last until the tournament ends.” He paused for a few seconds before continuing, “We come now to the novice championship fight. Novice Nessa Jimae, magi of wind magic, is to fight Novice Daciana Lyall, magi of earth magic. Novices, come forth.”
Daciana and Nessa appeared from opposite tunnels, each waving to acknowledge the cheering crowd. Daciana strode forward with more confidence— her head was up and her toothy grin gleamed in the afternoon light. Tail wagging excitedly from side-to-side, her ears were up and her eyes were focused on Nessa. Nessa was wearing a more reserved smile and her steps were a little shorter and slower. Her tail twitched slightly, as did her ears, but she was looking straight at Daciana.
“I can’t root for one of them over the other,” Gregory said as he watched. “It’s like watching you and Jenn fight.”
Yukiko smiled and leaned into his side for a second. “I’m glad you feel that way for our friends, dear one.”
“I can’t pick, either,” Jenn said. “I just hope neither of them gets severely injured.”
“I’m with you on that,” Yukiko said. “I wonder if Vicky is taking sides?”
“I doubt it,” Gregory said, “though she might slightly favor Daciana. If Daciana won, that means Vicky lost to the champion. Someone once said something similar to me.”
Jenn laughed and nudged him. “Then I won the next one.”
“Maybe Vicky will next time, too,” Gregory chuckled.
Yunlo had the two novices bow, and the crowd grew quiet as anticipation of the fight settled over them. Daciana took an aggressive stance and Nessa settled into a defensive one as Yunlo raised his hand.
“Fight!” Yunlo’s command was easy to hear over the quiet crowd.
The crowd erupted as Daciana rushed toward her friend. Nessa waited, expecting to feel the sting of earth balls at any time. She didn’t wait long before they started to pelt her from behind. The moment the first one connected, a sudden gust of wind picked up, flinging sand into Daciana’s face. Because she had to turn her head and close her eyes, Daciana missed Nessa stepping aside.
The next two earth balls that should have hit Nessa went flying and caught Daciana as she came out of the sandstorm. Blinking her watery eyes, Daciana dove away from the last of them.
Nessa grinned, as Daciana had come toward her unknowingly. Jumping onto her friend when Daciana tried to get back to her feet, the two of them punched, kneed, and elbowed each other as they rolled on the ground.
“That devolved faster than I thought it would...” Gregory said.
“Nessa has an advantage here. She’s better with grappling,” Jenn said.
“Daciana needs to break and get back to her feet,” Yukiko agreed.
The fight continued for a few minutes as the pair of novices kept trying to get a better position on each other. It looked like it might be over when Daciana managed to get Nessa’s arm, but a moment later, Daciana’s head jerked back and she let go.
“Air to the face?” Jenn asked.
“Might have given her a blast, making her worry about having her lungs flooded,” Yukiko suggested.
Nessa grabbed Daciana’s leg and was just starting to lock her in place when three dirt balls hit her, making her lose her chance. Daciana jerked her leg free and kicked Nessa in the chest.
“That’ll be the last of her aether,” Gregory said. “That’s the most she’s been able to use without extra aether before.”
“Not sure if Nessa has more she can do, either,” Yukiko said. “It all depends on how much she had to use to get Daciana to let her go.”
The two novices got to their feet, each sporting black eyes, bloody noses, and split lips from their time on the ground. They spoke to each other and even laughed while the crowd shouted for them to continue. They both looked toward where the three apprentices were sitting before nodding and looking back at each other.
“Here it comes...” Gregory said.
“Yes,” Yukiko and Jenn agreed.
The resulting clash as both Nessa and Daciana rushed each other was brief and brutal. Hard kicks and punches
