After the shock of the solo tournament subsided, the duo finals were finally beginning.
Compared to the previous stages, the arena had changed completely. The battlefield was now nearly three times larger, with reinforced walls of white stone surrounding the stage and several floating barriers hovering above to protect the audience from stray spells. Thousands of students filled the stands from every academy across the northern sea region, all waiting for the final match to begin.
The referee floated high in the air using wind magic and shouted with all his might.
"TRISSY LEO AND FELIX WELSH FROM DAME'S ACADEMY VERSUS OLIVIA HOLDER AND COREY KEY FROM FORMOSA ACADEMY!"
The crowd erupted into cheers.
Olivia adjusted her grip on her staff before glancing toward Corey.
"Isn't Dame's Academy the top academy in the north?" she asked quietly.
Corey blankly stared ahead for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Yes…"
Then after another pause he added,
"Yes it is."
Olivia immediately felt pressure rise in her chest.
Unlike Bayarm Academy, which specialized heavily in water magic because of its island environment, Dame's Academy was known as the strongest overall academy in the northern territories. Their students were monsters in almost every category. Even reaching the finals against them was considered impressive.
On the opposite side of the arena, however, the atmosphere felt… strange.
Trissy Leo, a tall girl with short silver hair and sharp eyes, was repeatedly punching and kicking her teammate in the stomach.
"You useless thing!" she shouted while smacking him again.
"I-I'm sorry!" Felix replied fearfully while curling up.
The audience looked disturbed.
Even the referee awkwardly looked away.
But then the situation somehow became even stranger.
After several more hits, Trissy's angry expression instantly transformed into worry.
"A-are you okay? Felix, I'm sorry. Was that too hard?"
Felix's face flushed red.
"N-no! It was perfect! Can you punch me some more?"
A horrifying silence spread through the arena.
Felix Welsh was a well-known masochist within Dame's Academy. Rumors about him had spread throughout the tournament village already. Apparently he constantly begged classmates to hurt him, which naturally caused almost everyone in his academy to avoid him.
Unfortunately, through some terrible twist of fate, Trissy had somehow fallen in love with him after a chance encounter.
And instead of fixing him… she supported him.
Trissy smiled softly.
"After we win this match, I'll reward you with some more."
Felix beamed happily.
"Okay!"
Olivia stared at them with a blank face, unable to decide whether she felt disgusted or shock.
So she simply chose not to react.
Corey did not have the same mental strength.
The sound of retching could almost be heard from the audience stands as Corey covered his mouth in horror.
"What kind of relationship is that…" he muttered weakly.
The two teams slowly walked onto the stage.
Olivia and Corey already had a rough plan prepared beforehand. Corey would support Olivia from the backline using telekinesis and copied magic while Olivia focused on close combat pressure. Compared to earlier matches, however, they had improved their coordination significantly. Corey could now buff Olivia during battle while Olivia had learned to instinctively react to Corey's telekinetic support.
Meanwhile Trissy casually walked forward twirling her staff around like a whip while chasing Felix onto the stage.
Unlike most mages, Felix carried no wand or staff at all.
Instead, there was only a black collar around his neck connected to a leash.
Olivia unconsciously took a step backward after seeing it.
Corey tried to remain calm but failed completely as his legs nearly gave out from sheer disgust.
The referee raised his hand high.
"MATCH BEGIN!"
Felix moved first.
Without hesitation he ripped off the collar around his neck and swung it outward like a weapon.
"Sensory link!"
A nearly invisible magical thread shot across the battlefield and connected directly to Corey before anyone could react.
Olivia immediately looked around in confusion.
She had not even seen the spell form.
At the same moment Trissy pointed her staff toward Olivia.
"Flash!"
A burst of blinding white light exploded across the battlefield.
Olivia instantly lost her vision.
Her eyes burned painfully as white filled everything she could see.
But Olivia remained calm.
She immediately reinforced her body with earth magic and crouched low, placing her hand against the ground. Through vibrations and movement she could still roughly sense the battlefield around her.
She quickly realized something.
Trissy hadn't moved.
Without hesitation Olivia exploded forward.
Her fist rocketed toward the presence in front of her and slammed directly into their face.
CRACK!
The impact landed perfectly.
But then Olivia suddenly heard Corey scream in pain behind her.
Recovering her vision moments later, Olivia's eyes widened in horror.
Corey was kneeling on the ground clutching his face.
And the person she had punched was not Trissy.
It was Felix.
"COREY!" Olivia shouted.
Corey weakly raised a trembling hand.
"I'm fine…"
Only then did Olivia understand.
Punching Felix meant hurting Corey.
The sensory link shared pain.
Meanwhile Felix himself rolled across the ground laughing hysterically.
"That was amazing…" he muttered while twitching.
Olivia felt genuine fear for the first time in the tournament.
What was wrong with this guy?
Across the battlefield Trissy continued rapidly phasing in and out of sight, appearing in different positions around the arena.
Olivia tried tracking her movements but completely failed.
Every movement looked like teleportation.
One second Trissy stood on the left side of the battlefield.
The next second she appeared above them.
Then behind them.
Then somewhere else entirely.
Olivia could not understand how the movement worked.
So she did the thing she understood best.
Brute force.
Olivia slammed her fist into the ground.
The arena cracked apart as huge chunks of stone erupted upward into the air. Corey immediately took control of the debris using telekinesis and suspended hundreds of rocks throughout the battlefield.
Then Olivia began hurling them everywhere.
Trissy narrowly avoided each attack by disappearing repeatedly.
But after several seconds, her expression slowly changed.
Something was wrong.
The rocks Olivia launched earlier… were not falling back down.
Trissy quickly looked around searching for the problem.
Then she finally looked upward.
Her eyes widened.
Thousands of stones floated high above the battlefield, suspended motionlessly in the air through Corey's telekinesis.
Corey smiled weakly.
The floating stones suddenly rushed inward simultaneously.
The debris compressed together around Trissy from every direction, forming a gigantic sphere of stone that trapped her inside.
The audience gasped.
For a brief moment the stone sphere remained perfectly still.
Then blinding light exploded from inside it.
BOOM!
The entire construct shattered apart as Trissy burst free in a flash of white light before instantly "teleporting" away again.
Meanwhile Felix slowly stood back up.
Completely unharmed.
Corey also stood up, healing his injuries by copying Olivia's magic.
Still, he frowned deeply.
He understood how he survived.
But Felix should not have.
Olivia's punch earlier should have shattered several bones.
Yet Felix looked completely fine.
Corey turned toward Trissy seriously and began studying her magic more carefully.
He could tell she was using light magic.
But not ordinary light magic.
Every time she "teleported," her body dissolved into glowing particles before reappearing elsewhere. Yet despite the illusion, Corey noticed something strange.
Tiny transparent platforms floated throughout the air around the battlefield.
Almost invisible.
Only noticeable when light reflected off them at certain angles.
Then realization struck him.
"She's not teleporting…" Corey muttered.
Trissy's expression shifted slightly.
Corey grinned.
"She's standing on solidified light."
The crowd erupted into confusion.
Solidified light magic was an extremely rare subtype.
Trissy used physical light constructs as footholds to move through the air at terrifying speeds. By rapidly changing between platforms, she created the illusion of teleportation.
"Olivia!" Corey shouted. "She's moving on light platforms!"
Trissy narrowed her eyes.
"You figured it out?"
Corey shrugged.
"I copied part of your mana pattern."
The instant Corey finished speaking, Felix swung his collar again.
"Sensory link!"
This time the magic connected directly to Olivia.
Olivia froze.
Then her face immediately twisted in horror.
Every sensation Felix felt slammed into her mind simultaneously.
The roughness of the stone floor against his skin.
The throbbing pain from earlier attacks.
The excitement he felt whenever Trissy looked at him.
Everything flooded into Olivia's senses all at once.
"Eugh—!"
Olivia nearly vomited.
Felix laughed loudly.
"Amazing! She can feel everything!"
Trissy blushed faintly.
"Felix… don't say weird things during the match."
Corey stared at them with dead eyes.
"I suddenly understand why your classmates avoid you."
Felix proudly nodded.
"Thank you!"
Olivia forcefully steadied herself.
Ignoring the disgusting sensations invading her mind, she focused instead on the magical link itself.
If sensations transferred both ways…
Then perhaps the connection could also become a weakness.
A dangerous idea formed in her mind.
Without warning Olivia smashed both fists into the ground.
The entire arena shook violently.
Massive stone pillars erupted upward beneath Trissy's feet, forcing her to rapidly jump between floating light platforms to avoid being crushed.
At the same time olivia amplified Corey's telekinesis.
Hundreds upon hundreds of broken rocks rose into the air.
The battlefield slowly transformed into a floating storm of debris.
Trissy clicked her tongue.
"Trying the same trap again?"
"No," Corey replied quietly.
Olivia smiled.
Then every floating stone began spinning.
The arena instantly transformed into a giant rotating storm of rock.
Trissy's expression changed.
The spinning debris smashed through many of her invisible light platforms, preventing her from moving freely. Without stable footholds, her movement speed sharply dropped.
Olivia could properly track her now.
"There!"
Olivia exploded forward.
Her fist smashed toward Trissy with monstrous force.
Trissy barely managed to block with her staff.
BOOM!
The impact launched her across the arena like a cannonball.
But before Olivia could follow up, overwhelming pain exploded through her body.
Felix had intentionally smashed his own head against a wall.
Because of the sensory link, Olivia experienced nearly the same pain.
Her vision blurred as she stumbled backward.
Meanwhile Felix himself simply lay there happily twitching.
"T-that was incredible…" he muttered dreamily.
"STOP ENJOYING THIS!" Corey shouted.
Trissy slowly stood up in the distance, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
The playful smile on her face disappeared completely.
"You hurt me pretty badly," she said coldly.
The entire arena suddenly brightened.
Countless glowing platforms appeared everywhere around her, no longer hidden.
Layer upon layer of solidified light covered the battlefield like stairs made from glowing glass.
Corey's expression darkened.
"She stopped conserving mana…"
Then Trissy vanished.
Not once.
Not twice.
Dozens of afterimages flashed across the battlefield simultaneously.
Olivia swung wildly but hit nothing.
Every direction contained another Trissy running across floating paths of light.
Then pain exploded across Olivia's back.
A whip-like strike from Trissy's staff launched her across the ground.
Another strike landed from the side.
Then another.
Trissy moved so quickly she seemed omnipresent.
Corey attempted using telekinesis to trap her but every attack struck only fading afterimages.
Meanwhile Felix slowly crawled toward the battle while laughing happily.
"Trissy's serious now," he said excitedly. "You guys are doomed."
Corey ignored him entirely.
Instead he focused harder on Trissy's movement.
Light constructs.
Angles.
Momentum.
Then suddenly his eyes widened.
"She can't fully change direction in midair!"
Olivia instantly understood.
Instead of chasing Trissy directly, Olivia suddenly punched toward empty space ahead of her movement path.
BOOM!
A devastating shockwave ripped through the battlefield.
At that exact moment Trissy stepped onto her next light platform.
The platform shattered unexpectedly beneath her feet.
Trissy lost balance.
Olivia appeared directly in front of her instantly.
"Oh no," Trissy whispered.
Olivia's fist rocketed forward.