170 Team Battle Part 3 (2/2)
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Back on stage, Tatyana's expression grew ugly as she kept backing away to create space.
”Keaton! What are you doing?!” She scolded angrily. However, Keaton just looked back seemingly without comprehending her. No matter what she said or how she ran away, he would keep closing the distance with her.
Eris obviously had no plans to continue this game of cat-and-mouse, so she started attacking more aggressively as Tatyana's needles stopped coming as frequently. Feeling the pressure, Keaton started to frown and moved even faster towards Tatyana. Without warning, he swung his whip and wrapped it around Tatyana's foot. Since it was too sudden, she had no way of dodging. Keaton yanked her body right in front of his. Eris was not able to stop attacking in time and accidentally stabbed the shocked Tatyana. Both girls stared in disbelief for a moment. It was in the moment where time seemed to slow that Keaton went all out with another attack and sent both of the girls straight off the stage.
There was overwhelming silence. The other nobles looked towards Keaton as if they could no longer understand what their eyes were seeing. Who are we? Where is this? What is reality? Greyson, Braiden, Aphina, Eris, Zaire, and Trevion were shocked for a moment before regaining their calm. Especially, Greyson's group looked on with joy and schadenfreude.
”HAHAHAHA! How is it? You ended up knocking yourself out and injuring your teammate! It seems the final winner is still me! Do you now know your place? I couldn't believe how easily you let me approach Aphina. Are you sure you are a genius like the rumors say? I would lean towards thinking that you are barely passing for average intelligence.” Keaton's face looked incomparably joyful as he looked over to where Eris was standing.
”And you, commoner, do you see the difference between us now?” Keaton looked towards Greyson. ”You have lost!”
It was only at this moment that the others' souls returned and started to figure out what was happening.
”Water Illusion Magic... the mist element...” Efren spoke to himself.
”She has a similar talent as the Moon Empress?!” Cherell and Colin both spoke at the same time.
They all grimaced while watching Aphina approach Keaton calmly from behind. Even with the tears in her clothes, she looked graceful with bearing that matched her status as a princess. Keaton seemed to be completely oblivious as he kept going on and on feeling happy with himself. Only when she was a couple feet away did Aphina raise the wooden staff in her hands. Winding up slowly, she made a brutal swing straight towards Keaton's head. The others winced and looked away knowing exactly what was in store for the Mendenhall heir.
A loud, dull thud echoed as Keaton screamed out.
”Who's there? Which motherf***er sneak attacked me? Don't you know the common etiquette in battle?” He kept yelling while looking around in confusion.
Aphina completely ignored him and stomped hard right between his legs. She kept kicking a few more times on his face to feel refreshed.
”Alright, that's enough. Release the spell, Aphina.” At this time, the Duke had to speak up and stop this one-sided beating. However, he could not control the small smirk peeking out the corner of his lips. Greyson and Braiden were also holding their mouths and struggling to keep the laughter in. Unlike them, Eris did not show any reservations and started laughing so hard she started to tear up.
Shrugging, Aphina made sure to kick Keaton off the stage before releasing the spell. If one looking closely, an almost clear fog seemed to clear within Keaton's eyes. It was only now that he looked up with his bruised face in confusion. He saw himself on the ground and Aphina on the stage.
”Was it you, then? You attacked me, you b*tch?!” He yelled before pausing and staring at Aphina's torso. Was she not stabbed just a moment ago? How was she perfectly fine now? He glanced over at Eris, only to see Tatyana next to her receiving first aid from the healers standing by.
”Stop embarrassing yourself, Keaton. Aphina used Her Majesty, the Moon Empress's magic spells. You should know what she specialized in.”
”Illusions...” Keaton just stared out into space not completely processing everything.
The Moon Empress that everyone kept mentioning was the First Emperor's successor. She was the first ruling Empress, Hestia Yce. Hestia was born with a unique talent in using mist which, like ice, was a variation of water. She was extremely talented and intelligent from a young age. The First Emperor used a lot of money and connections to help her buy rare mist spells and as she grew more powerful she started to make some spells of her own. Making spells was extremely difficult and did not depend on power, but on intelligence and the ability to connect with the element spirits well. They were not powerful attack or defense spells, but instead intricate illusion spells that frightened the Empress's opponents. Legend was that she only needed to meet a person's eyes to throw them into endless illusions. During training, Aphina had told her team about recently learning the spells because she has a similar talent. However, she needed time, extended contact with the opponent, and even needed them to be psychologically susceptible. Therefore, her talent was still normally useless until she can train more. This time, they decided that they would use it against Keaton because he was the easiest to influence. Although it was not expected to be the cause for them to win, it was still a rather fun way to get back at Keaton for his arrogance. After all, he was beaten out of the ring by a healer magician!
Aphina did not pay attention to Keaton's feelings and quickly ran over to Greyson and her brother. Jumping up to hug them, she giggled happily.
”We won!” She shouted.