Lord of Charm

"STOP! FIGHT'S OVER, LENA WINS!"

Jaina was carried out of the arena on a stretcher and tears were running down her cheeks. She felt disappointed in herself. Frustrated about losing after being forcibly boosted. Now that she lost, she wouldn't even get the promised three seventh-grade potions, which made it almost certain she was destined to remain in the Mage Phase.

Gale and the girls clapped excitedly with the girls as Lena stood victorious in the arena. There was an hour's break, and it was time for the finals.

"It seems you were right a year ago, I can't win against you. Do you think I will be lucky enough to get second place? Jaina seems too downcast to challenge me."

Prince Florian said to Lena as soon as they faced each other.

"I doubt. Although she doesn't care, the empire cares. They will make sure she challenges you."

Florian sighed with disappointment. Even without the kingdom's interests in mind, he would still be interested in Lena. She didn't lack in a single field; she was smart, beautiful, talented, and strong. Well, maybe her patience could improve, but nobody is perfect, right?

"3… 2… 1… fight!"

The referee counted down when he saw they finished their short exchange and the fight started.

Florian felt that conceding without a fight would leave a negative impression on Lena, so he decided to entertain her. He blasted her with spells and used his darkness-steel dagger from the beginning.

As excepted, it didn't do much. Instead of attacking, Lena used a wind spell to boost her speed and flexibility and a fire spell for power and even more speed. She dodged the spells and deflected the dagger with her palm and closed in on Florian.

Florian tried to jump aside to get out of her way, yet given all her body stats, she could easily follow. She sent a round kick at Florian who managed to raise a stone shield in time to block it.

Using her crazy response time and flexibility, she followed the round kick with a jump and kicked with her other leg under the shield, to which Florian couldn't react in time.

Lena fell on the ground after the double kicks, but Florian suffered much worse. The kick connected with his stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him flying a few meters before landing on the ground and rolling on his side a few times.

A kick from a body strengthened by five elements plus boosted by two spells was no joke, and it probably caused some internal damage.

Lena quickly jumped back to her feet and ran toward Florian again, who gathered himself together when she was already close, and hurriedly raised a 10-meter tall wall to hide himself behind it and stop Lena's mad advance.

However, he didn't take into consideration that with power comes great jumping power. Lena jumped high into the air, kicked the wall once, twice, and reached the top of it with her hands. She pulled herself up beyond the wall and jumped down toward Florian.

Florian tried to resist by sending a barrage of stones he believed she wouldn't be able to dodge midair, and he was right – she couldn't.

Instead, she switched the wind boost spell with an earth boost spell, which increased her endurance and power. She kicked and punched the stones with brute force and a bit of technique and reached Florian again.

Florian moved to the side again, which saved his face, but not his shoulder.

"Ahh!"

He groaned in pain when Lena's punch connected with his shoulder, causing fractures all over his shoulder blade. Before he could recover from the pain, a sweep kick made him fall to the ground and an axe kick followed and broke some of his ribs.

"Stop! Lena wins!"

The judge felt bad watching and stopped the fight as soon as possible. Nobody expected Florian to win, but Lena's violent and unmagelike way of fighting provoked pity for Florian from all the spectators.

"I don't date men who need their opponent to be downcast to win second place."

Lena said to Florian quietly and he just groaned in response. Even if she wanted to reject him, was there any need to be so violent about it? He thought bitterly and let the healers carry him to get treatment.

Two hours later, he was completely healed and ready for battle.

"Jaina uses her right to challenge second place. Let's call the fighters to the arena!"

However, Florian wasn't up for another round of beating. As soon as he was called back to the arena, he announced his surrender and was moved to third place, while Jaina got second.

"The final results are 3 first places, a single second place, and two third places for the Miyena Kingdom. 2 second places and a single third place for the empire. The Miyena Kingdom gets to retain its two lands and get 11 more lands for the next 30 years. May our empire and kingdoms flourish!"

The crowd applauded and the tournament was concluded.

"Now, for the ceremony! All winners please stand here, you will be receiving offers from the different forces of the empire first. The winners from the empire will get their rewards from the imperial family's representative."

It was done this way to let the 5 academies pick their favorites first and leave when they were done. Nobody would delay the 5 magi for no reason; their time was important, and even if it wasn't nobody would dare tell them that.

Following the instructions, the 9 fighters formed three lines. In the first row were the different champions, in the second row were those who won second place, and in the third row were those who won third place.

The five magi appeared in front of them and nodded in appreciation as they looked at the young mages. They were never interested in so many mages from the kingdom before at a single tournament.