"Hey you, you're finally awake. Walked right into that-"

"Megumin, don't do this to me right now. It's five in the morning." Quite a long amount of time had passed since Aurdel and his party had defeated the Demon King, it was a period of about two months. And during that time many things had changed for all of them.

"Sorry, I just had to. But it took you long enough, I thought you said you always got up really early for training?" She twirled around her emblazoned manatite staff carelessly, the crystals built carefully into the handle of the weapon glowing with intensity even during the night. While it was technically her pride and joy, he was the one that had taken the time to so carefully craft it. He was only able to do it after taking the time to better understand how manatite actually worked, a task that was easier said than done.

"We got up at six thirty, not five. That's an hour and a half of a difference. And this is a different case anyways, my training and what I'm planning are really not equivalent things." One of the things that had changed was their living arrangements. Aurdel, at the insistence of Megumin and Yunyun, had moved from the mansion in Axel to the Crimson Demon village. Adjusting wasn't easy, but it was something he'd done. Back in Axel was Anatalia, her sister and Darkness, looking over the mansion. He'd figured that since Anatalia didn't have anywhere else to go and since Darkness had nothing better to do they would be suitable for the job. Of course he made sure to bring the pets with him, Everest included, since he could foresee nothing but trouble from the idea of leaving a fox and a chicken together in the same house. Sure he could probably buy another and just as easily fool Aqua that it was the real Emperor Zell, but knowing that Goddess she probably had some insane way of telling the difference. He wouldn't take chances on that.

"Well it's not my fault that you want to be lazy. And what do you mean not equivalent things? Are you saying that you won't train us as tough as you were?" He plopped herself down on the grass, annoyed by his choice of words. Ever since she got her wish for an infinite pool of mana she'd been a spot of trouble for him. At first it was just because she constantly fired off her spell during the day, that in itself wasn't too much of an issue as it was an annoyance. But recently she'd started doing it at night, that was a major problem. Over the past week he hasn't slept at all and somehow he doubted that anyone else in the town had, Megumin included. Of course he'd asked her before to stop but she'd just blown it off like he'd expected her to.

"No, that's not what I meant," and he sat down next to her. "If I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, I don't think any of you could really handle the same intensity of training that I had. Maybe if I started with the youngest there'd be a chance, but I'd rather not do that."

"And why not?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Are you really asking me that? After we rescued an entire camp full of kids from the Demon King's army? And after you've already known about how I was kidnapped in order to be trained in the first place?"

"Ah, I misspoke," and she averted her eyes out of embarrassment. "I was just asking because I want my people to be as strong as you, if not stronger. It's important that the Crimson Demons maintain their place as the strongest mages in the world."

"Well that's great, but I can't draw up lesson plans if you're blasting a mountain or something else just outside the village twenty four seven. There needs to be some actual peace and quiet around here."

"And how long would you need peace and quiet for?"

"At least a week, this isn't exactly something easy to come up with. There are a lot of factors that make my training different from what I'm planning to copy, if I tried to just do it one for one it'd most likely fail."

"A week? That's a long time. I don't know if I can hold off on using Explosion for that long."

"Yeah well at this point I'm willing to just tie you up and throw you in the basement if you don't stop, so don't make me go there," he pointed at her.

She raised her hands defensively, "Alright alright, I'll hold off on my Explosions for just a week. If it means that you'll give the best training possible for my people, I'll do it."

"Good, because I wasn't kidding about throwing you into the basement. I was legitimately preparing to do that in case you didn't agree," he lifted his left hand to reveal a coil of rope.

"Aurdel…" She glared at him.

"Either way it makes my job easier, so I'm glad," he stuffed the rope away into one of his cases. After that he stood up and left, getting his first good night's rest in a while. But the next morning he was straight again back to work.

"You want to use the abandoned section of Red Prison?"

"Why not? If no one is using it then I might as well. Besides, it'd help to have a formal educational setting for when we're doing the kind of lessons that require it." That morning he'd gone to the head teacher at Red Prison, the school the Crimson Demons ran in the village, and made a request.

"That may be the case, but this is my school and it is the number one school in the Crimson Demon village.-"

"The only school in the village."

"-I won't just hand over the keys to part of my school to some outsider who's decided to make home here."

"Look I just want to use the abandoned section. Let me or else I'm going to go and find Yunyun and make her give me the whole school."

"You can have it," the teacher dropped the keys into his hands. As it turns out, because of Yunyun's interactions as part of his party and all of their successes, she'd become quite the figure back in the village. At first he'd thought that because of those successes she wouldn't be ostracized for being different anymore, but it just ended up being that they now avoided her out of fear. The fear that for someone she would attack one of them or something like that. He… really couldn't see that. Even with all that had happened he could tell that she was still a meek girl at heart, and that it was probably just the weird customs of these people that didn't let them see that. If anything he'd seen her cry more times since they'd defeated the Demon King than she'd ever raised her voice. But that was neither here nor there since he had what he wanted. After parting ways with the teacher he made his way towards the abandoned section of the school. Watching his surroundings as he came closer. Supposedly this part was haunted by a Crimson Demon Archwizard who'd gone crazy, an idea that amused him considering how these people were. But as he got closer he could tell that the growing cobwebs and dust around him wasn't actually natural, but rather it was the doing of Crimson Demons. It appears that even when terrified of something, these people still had to make a big show of it. He let out a sigh, this was going to stay a while to clean up

As he expected, it did in fact take a while to clean up the abandoned section of the school. In fact it took more than a while because it turns out there was a person who had the dedicated job of making sure that section of the school looked as haunted as possible, a person who he had to thrash just so it would stay clean when he left for the night. In the time that he didn't spend setting up the classroom and other rooms in the building he'd spent his time writing lesson plans and thinking about how exactly he would train these Crimson Demons to the standards he hoped to bring them up to. Another issue he'd realized that he would face is determining who he would pick to join him for his classes first. After all, he couldn't train the few hundred of the Crimson Demon village all at the same time. He was just one man after all. And while he may have help from Megumin and Yunyun in the future when he gets there it still wouldn't be enough. At most he could handle a class of twenty people at the time. But then that was when it hit him, and he realized how he would decide who would be in the classes. "You want to hold a tournament for the village?" Yunyun said.

"Yeah, I think it'll be a great idea to see who is the strongest of the Crimson Demons and who still needs work, then with that I can decide who-"

"I'll win for sure!" Megumin interrupted, "After all, I am the strongest of the Crimson Demons and-"

"What are you talking about?!" Yunyun snapped back at her, "I'm the daughter of the Chief and I'm the strongest of the Crimson Demons, we've been over this already!" Aurdel sighed as these two decided to suddenly retread over old ground. He just went back to eating the meal out in front of him as they went arguing back and forth, without end.

"Look, neither of you are going to take part in that tournament anyways.

"Eh?! Why not?!" Megumin shouted.

"Because it doesn't make sense for a teacher to try and become a student in the class they're teaching! Look, if you want to have a fight with each other so bad then you can do it once the tournament is over. But until then you'll have to hold off on going for each other's throats. Okay?"

"Alright…" Megumin sighed.

"Aurdel, where are we supposed to host this tournament anyways?"

"That's a good question, obviously not in the village. The last thing we need is a repeat of last time."

"I already told you that it wasn't my fault!" Megumin said, slamming her fists on the table.

"Anyways, we can just use what's left of Sylvia's camp. It'll be better for my purposes anyways, plus nobody really minds if the old war camp gets destroyed."

"I suppose you're right. Is there going to be a prize for the winner of the tournament?"

"Sure, I can come up with some sort of reward for the first three places.

"And what about last place?" Megumin asked.

"What do you mean 'what about last place?' What about them?"

"Shouldn't they have a punishment for being the worst of the Crimson Demons. Personally I think that they-"

"Personally I think that's a horrible idea. I can guarantee you that coming last or close to last will be more than enough as a punishment. Knowing you people for as long as I have you'll damn near kill each other over something like that."

"I- I uh, can't say you're wrong," Megumin gave in. "But still I think-"

"I already said no."

"Aurdel, how are you actually going to decide who to take from the tournament for the class? Are you just going to pick the top people up to a certain point?"

"No, I have another way I'm going to do it. I don't want to say though just in case anyone might overhear, I don't want to end up with a rigged roster of people to choose from."

"I see, that makes sense. When would we start it?"

"Two days from now I suppose. One to get ready and tell everyone, the day after to actually hold it."

...Let the Tournament Begin!...

"Attention everyone!" Yunyun shouted out to the crowd, "Aurdel has an announcement to make, so please listen to him!" With her calling for it all the attention was drawn towards him. He, Megumin and Yunyun all stood on top of a platform in the middle of a small clearing in the village, all around them were the people of the village.

"Ahem, thank you for all giving me your attention. What I've come to announce is that I will be holding a tournament here in the village! Anyone and everyone from the village is allowed to participate so long as they're capable of fighting. The first, second and third place prizes will be five million eris, two and a half million and one million eris respectively!" When he announced what the rewards would be for those who won, that really got the ground going. He was offering such high rewards because he knew that with the proper incentive there will be those that give it there all to win. He wasn't worried about people bribing others with some of the reward either, he knew that it wouldn't be very Crimson Demon-like to accept bribes. Either way he was only capable of offering so high a reward because by this point in time he had more than he could really spend. Only God knows how much he'd already spent via donations and public works back in places like Axel, but even with all that he still had more than enough money. Part of that was because of the reward from the country's royal family and part of that was from the fact that he technically was a noble and had taxes that were collected.

"The tournament will be held tomorrow just outside of town. I expect all those willing to participate to show up! The tournament is a very important part in deciding who will be chosen to participate in my class, which brings me to my second announcement." He cleared his throat again, "For the time that I've been here I've been planning and working to create a training regimen, one that can turn the average fighter into some of the best around. But because I'm only one man I can take on so many students at the same time. That is why I'm using the tournament to decide which twenty people will make up the first class." As it turns out, the people of the Crimson Demon village seemed to be as interested in that as the reward. After all because of his defeat of the Demon King he was essentially considered the strongest man in the world, and since no one wanted to challenge him for that 'title' it was his to keep. And knowing the Crimson Demons, that was someone they'd be willing to learn from. "I expect only the best performance all of you can give, so do whatever it takes!" After that the crowd of Crimson Demons dispersed, presumably off to prepare themselves for tomorrow.

And that day came fast. "I don't whether or not I should say I expected this." Quite a few people had shown up to participate in the tournament, far more than even he had guessed there would be. The initial way he'd planned for this all to pan out was to have one on one duels between Crimson Demons in a sort of bracket system. But with the amount of people that there were here, that would take far too long. He was going to have to change things up. There were 74 people so he could split it about evenly three ways, then he'd send in each group once the previous had finished. Once there was a single winner from each of the three groups then he'd have the three fight each other in the final round for the top three places. Yeah, that'd work. "Alright, you twenty four!" He pointed out towards the first group, "You will be the first to participate in the tournament, prepare to-!"

"Hold on Aurdel!" Megumin came sprinting out from the side, "There's one more person!"

"Megumin, I already told you that you can't participate."

"It's not me you idiot," she was dragging someone along with her, "My sister wanted to join."

"Your sister? Isn't she like, five?"

"She may be a little bit young, but she knows advanced magic. Remember?" Oh yeah, that's right. She does.

"Look I don't think a five year old should be fighting a tournament where people are guaranteed to get hurt."

"Nii-san, I'll be fine! Mama and papa even said it was okay for me to join!" Komekko jumped up and down, excitedly and ready for something she most likely didn't understand.

"Megumin, did you drag her into this just because she's your sister?"

"O-of course not! She wanted to do it, right Komekko?"
"Mhm!" She shook her head up and down. It didn't look like there was any way of convincing her of not going out there. If it wasn't childish behavior that was going to keep her going, then it was going to be Crimson Demon pride that made her.

He sighed, "Look, please try not to get hurt. It would be bad if you did."

"Don't worry, I'll blow up the enemies!" And she skipped off towards the group of twenty four people, ready to join the fight. This was just crazy.

"Alright. Group one! Enter the tournament grounds and prepare to fight when I give the word!" All of the now twenty five candidates from group one left where they were standing and entered what was left of Sylvia's camp from the battle. The night before he'd taken the liberty of adding several more buildings and obstacles throughout the area, along with places for people to shelter and take cover. It wasn't that he was concerned so much with them getting hurt, but more that he wanted to see how people would use their surroundings in a battle

He watched as all twenty five people took up positions inside the ruins of the camp, each one finding a different place to start. Judging by the looks on their faces he could tell that this would be a tough battle for everyone involved. He knew that for each group there would be at least a few people to watch out for. For this first group there were at least two people to watch out for. Those two were Soketto and Bukkororii. The former was the village's diviner and at least partially able to see into the future, a skill that would come in useful for a fight. According to others she is one of the stronger of the Crimson Demons due to her tendency to train in the mountains. She's also acknowledged as supposedly the most beautiful girl in the village, though he himself wasn't about to judge if that was true nor would it gain her any leeway in the tournament. As for the latter he was the leader of the "Anti-Demon King Army Guerilla Unit." Or as Megumin had called it, the NEET patrol. Despite the insults that were usually thrown that man's way he was a somewhat capable fighter due to the fact that whenever there had been an attack by the Demon King, more often than not it was him and his unit that were the first to engage. That meant he had plenty of experience fighting regardless of what others thought of him. He was most likely using this as a thinly veiled attempt to impress a girl, or something like that. That meant he might act a little more bold than he usually was, but there was a thin line between bravery and stupidity.

He watched everyone for another moment, there were intense glares all around between the Crimson Demons. No one wanted to be last and that was for sure. "Let the first round, begin!" As soon as he was shouted he was practically drowned out by the sound of magic spells firing. Dirt, bits of wood and wind kicked up immediately that it became near impossible to see. About half of the participating first group fired off Detonation to try and wipe out the opponents closest to them straight away, about half of those worked as intended. Three people used Inferno and Freeze Gust each, the effects of the spells countering each other as they collided in the center of the camp.

"Energy Ignition!" One shouted out, purple flames soaring out catching two dueling Crimson Demons off guard as they'd faced off. It certainly was a smart move to attack someone while they weren't paying attention, no less multiple when you had an attack with an area of effectiveness. He looked around, it was mostly controlled chaos now. It was hard to keep track of all the spells going off. There were a few Crimson Demons going back with their Light of Sabers, using them to block the other. Off to the side there there was one repeatedly casting Lightning Strike, attempting to hit another person that was in cover.

Then he saw one that caught his eye. "Flash!" One of the Crimson Demons blinded another, causing them to reach for their eyes because of the blinding effect. "Ankle Snare!" With how noisy it was in the arena the opposing Crimson Demon might have not heard the spell being cast, even if Aurdel had. The one that cast the spells ran off from where he'd been fighting. When the other he'd cast on realized this they attempted to run after him, but having been snared while standing fell face first into the dirt. "Typhoon! Crystal Prison!" Using two spells, the former of which he hadn't heard of, the man froze the person solidly to the ground and took them out of the fight. It was a good maneuver. Unfortunately even with his success it left him off guard when another attack came his way. As it turns out, Soketto and Bukkororii had decided to temporarily team up for the match to thin out the opposing numbers. Together they cast a combined spell, Tornado and Inferno and unleashed it against the others. The man Aurdel had been watching was caught in it and almost instantly wiped out alongside countless others. By this point in the match sixteen of the initial twenty five were knocked out of the fight, only nine reminded. Of those nine was still Komekko who'd practically disappeared in the midst of the battle. It was possible at some point she'd gone invisible but he had no way to be sure since he wouldn't be able to find her from here. He'd just have to wait until the end of the battle.

The remaining fighting was fierce as the eight that he could see bounced off of each other. With Bukkorori and Soketto using their combo move, another two of the Crimson Demons worked together to essentially counter it, using Tornado and Freeze Gust to eliminate the fire and dissipate the other's tornado. With the other four it looked like it was a straight up death match. One of them jumped straight towards the other three, throwing Fireball after Fireball with ferocious intensity. He was one of the few who'd opened up at the start with Detonation and seemed to be a general fan of that kind of magic, a match for his nature. With the other three knocked out it was that ferocious man, the two opposing tornadoes and Komekko who was still hiding. The ferocious one assaulted the group that was creating the cold tornado, blasting them from behind with Detonation and quickly taking them out of the fight. But with that done it meant that Bukkororii and Soketto would be able to focus their combined attack on him, and because of the kind of magic that he used it wouldn't be a good counter towards it. Sucked into the tornado he was caught in a swirl of flames, before being flung out onto one of the buildings Aurdel had set up and crashing through. "I think that's everyone else, we can-"

"No," Soketto stopped him, "There's one more person, I know it."

"Oh right, Megumin's sister. I don't think either of us have to worry about her." Aurdel listened to those words as he recognized footsteps behind the two of them, not paying attention to what was behind them.

"Surprise!" The two were caught off guard as Komekko suddenly ran away from behind them. The two, initially not understanding, were blown away. There was silence as Komekko came running back, "I win! I win!"

Most of the people who were watching had their jaws drop as they watched this five year old jump up and down, celebrating her victory. "K-Komekko wins the first round!" Then there was a cheer from the crowd, to support her victory. As it turns out she had gone invisible at some point during the round, after that she'd snuck off and hid in one of the small structures that Aurdel had set up. Then from there she waited until almost everybody was gone before sneak attacking whoever was left with the grenades he thought he'd taken all of from her. If he was going to be perfectly honest he was in a little bit of shock, but even if it was a massive upset he really couldn't say he was entirely surprised. Given the fact that children were some of the most creative minds out there and that he himself was practically a killer at a young age he could see how she might reason things out. That or Megumin told her what to do, which was just about as likely if not that was a short intermission as he did some repairs to the arena where everyone would be fighting, though not repairing everything since it would take time to do and somewhat inhibit what he intended to occur. Once the intermission was over the second group of twenty five Crimson Demons entered the arena and took up their places. As with the previous group, there were a few people that he had to keep an eye out for.

The two in this group that he had to watch for were Arue and Funifura. The former had been one of Megumin and Yunyun's classmates, and in terms of magical power and magical ability she was the third compared to the. Given how powerful his companions had been, even before he'd essentially put them through the ringer to where they were now, it told quite a story about how she might be in battle. She was also the author, and was actually the one who'd written that story that made Yunyun think that she needed his baby. Because of all the crazy things she wrote she's known to be able to keep a straight face even when saying the most blatantly incorrect or even nonsensical things. But that meant she was calm and collected, something that would come in handy if one was in a fight. As for Funifura, she'd also been in the same class as Megumin and Yunyun. While nowhere near as powerful in terms of raw magic strength or possibly even tactical ability for combat, she supposedly wasn't some to be easily trifled with. She seemed to have a wild personality when it came to fighting, acting unpredictably in her battles. While sometimes that was a bad thing to be, being unpredictable and wild in a battle was easily capable of throwing an opponent off of their game and allowing oneself to gain an edge in combat. "The second round begins now!" Having seen the occurrences of the previous round, this group chose a different strategy for opening moves. Looking to cause as much chaos as possible a variety of spells were fired off. Someone used Earthshaker and the whole arena began to tremble, a few people used Tornado and collided in the center, a few Detonations and the others using whatever came to mind. He watched as Arue ran straight at one of the other Crimson Demons, unwavering in intention even as they brought down a Light of Saber mere inches away from her. As she got in close she fired off Lighting, blasting the man away before throwing a Fireball after him. He looked for the other person he was keeping an eye on, Funifura, and eventually found her.

She was facing off against a group of four Crimson Demons, wildly casting off her spells about as much as he expected. First it was Flash, then Bottomless Swamp and then Inferno. Each one was mere moments after the other, he wasn't even sure if the Flash actually had enough time to blind her opponents before she'd gone on to the next spell. Either way it was an effective way of dealing with a group of enemies, as all four were dropped into the swamp and burnt, before being tossed back out when she made the swamp disappear. It was evident even this early on who would make it to the end of the round, along with who would ultimately win. Funifura was far too aggressive and as a result it was hard for anyone to step up and really challenge her. And for Arue she was practically an unstoppable force compared to some of the people in this round. The chaotic fighting continued as spells were cast everywhere. One person used Light of Saber to cleave straight through one of the buildings he'd set up, causing it to collapse onto another person. Another used Energy Ignition to light what was left of the grass in the area of ablaze, forming a swirling sea of fire that enveloped the arena entirely. A few people were caught off guard but the rest were able to use ice spells to put out the fires in their areas. Around half of the original Crimson Demons from this group still remained, chaotically fighting each other. It looked like there were two working together though and they were preparing for a combo move. "Earthshaker!" The first one let loose and the arena shook, but so did everyone inside it.

"Rising Mountain!" Arue and Funifura used the same spell, raising a portion of the ground in front of them. "Light of Saber!" Then they cut it diagonally to create a space for them to take shelter, which they then did.

"Tornado! Typhoon! The second member of the two person team then let loose their spells, creating a tornado and filling it with water. The others might not know what they were doing, but he had an idea.

"Freeze Gust! Detonation!" The team cast two spells. They used the first to freeze the water inside the tornado, creating a large mass. Then they used Detonation to shatter and splinter it, showering the arena in an array of ice. Many of the opponents were wiped out by this attack, something those two should be proud of. Something they should be less proud of however is the fact they didn't consider how to escape from their own attack, leaving them on the ground covered in shards of ice and unable to fight. Very few were left, but those that were crawled out from where they hid and jumped back into the fight.

"Lightning Strike!" Funifura called down a strike of lightning and zapped another opponent, he could see Arue off fighting someone herself. Eventually, as he'd expected, those two were the only ones left. "Alright Arue, it's just me and you. Come out so we can fight!" But she didn't get any response from her, "Are you hiding?! Where are you?!"

"Right behind you," Funifura turned barely quick enough to see Arue there with a Fireball, then was struck and went down. It turns out that as she'd ran across the arena she'd set up several Teleport points. Because of that she was able to quietly get behind Funifura and successfully surprise attack her. "There was no other way for this to end," Arue calmly boasted her victory with a pose.

"Arue wins the second round!" And there were cheers from the crowd watching, even among those who'd lost in the first round. The cleanup this time around took a little bit longer than the others, but he was able to accomplish it in a reasonable amount of time. However it was getting slightly dark, though it wouldn't necessarily affect how most of them would fight it could easily change things. Once the arena was set back up he got ready. "This is the third and final of the group rounds! Once this round is complete the winners of each round will all compete in the final round, fighting for the top three places of watch! A large reward and opportunity is at stake here, so get to it!" The last twenty five rushed into the arena, taking up positions all around. With the precedence set by the previous two rounds this who gave to be the most intense. And there too where people to watch for in this round, just like the others. This time around their names were Dodonko and Nerimaki. The former was another classmate, as well as a friend of Funifura. While seemingly more laid back than her friend she was noted to be somewhat manipulative, doing things to get her way or something that she wanted. He'd gleamed a good portion of that from the stories Yunyun had told him since she was the one that ended up in the receiving end of her manipulation most often. So while he was infuriated that someone had done that to Yunyun and planned to get back on them, he had to acknowledge that being able to manipulate a situation was a necessary skill for any of those that wanted for a fight. As for Nerimaki she was a relative unknown, but he'd taken the time to dig up some information on her. In her class she was typically an average student, not exceedingly good but also not bad. But what he found is that compared to the other Crimson Demons she was considered relatively quiet, something unheard of for these people. And he knew that it was usually the quiet ones that were the most dangerous. One had to truly fear those who were ignored, allowed to sit on the sidelines soaking up every bit of information they came across and able to catalog. Because they were the ones that were able to smell when blood was in the water and take an opportunity.

He looked out to the third group, they were ready. "Let the third round, begin!" Before he even finished the spells were already being fired. The darkening sky was lit up by the light of Lightning Strikes, Detonations and Infernos. The ground looked like it practically turned to lava with all the fire there was. But no one put it out. Everyone jumped on top of the structures that Aurdel had built to avoid being caught in those same flames. Fired danced on the edge of the structures and at the edge of the uniforms they wore, none were going to go down easily. "Blade of Wind!" There was a collective shout of the same spell, fanning the flames even higher than they already were. Three people used Lightning at the same time, hitting the building some poor guy was standing on and forcing it to collapse. That would be the fate for many of the Crimson Demons as the ground they stood upon was destroyed and fell into the fire. But soon enough some of them had enough of it. Freeze Gusts shot out and put out most of the flames, but they'd served their purposes. Fifteen were left from the twenty five as the fight raged on. Multiple Earthshakers hit the arena at the same time, the ground splitting open in some areas and causing nearby structures to collapse. He looked around. He found Nerimaki, she'd managed to cast Ankle Snare on herself to keep her on solid ground and avoid tripping and falling through any of the unstable terrain.

"Tornado!" One of the Crimson Demons let loose a spell and caught two others who were running, sending them flying out of the arena once they were shot out of the tornado. "Silent!" The same person used another spell to quiet an opponent who'd been trying to cast an Inferno at them, then quickly put them down with a Fireball.

Dodonko attacked them from the rear, hitting them with a Light of Saber and putting them out of commission for the right of the round. Two tornadoes collided in the center of the arena, throwing turned over dirt and destroyed structures all over the arena. Three of the Crimson Demons were taken out by that environmental hazard alone, including one of those who'd cast the Tornadoes in the first place. Light of Sabers collided and dispersed each other, sending bits of light flying all over as they came apart. "Typhoon!" Dodonko and another Crimson Demon shot the same spell at each other, probably having the same idea in mind to freeze their opponent. Unfortunately for them neither would be able to do that.

"Lightning Strike!" Nerimaki shot a bolt of lightning at them, electrifying the water and frying them both. They fell to the ground unconscious and she ran back into hiding. There were only six left now, and the fighting became more aggressive. A trio aggressively threw Detonation after Detonation at each other, refusing to back down even for a moment. The other two were playing a game of cat and mouse across the arena, chasing one after another and throwing spell after spell. Eventually they ran back into the other three, where they were all caught off guard at once. "Bottomless Swamp! Inferno!" They all fell into the same pit and were burnt, before popping back out when they were unconscious. Nerimaki said nothing as she stepped out of the arena.

"Nerimaki is the winner of the third round!" There was a loud cheer as he said the name of the victor. "This leaves us with our three finalists, progressing on to our final round. This will be the deciding round for the victor of the tournament!"

The crowd cheered as Arue, Nerimaki and even the tiny Komekko stepped back into the arena. Each one taking up separate positions. Neither could see the other from where they stood, but they essentially knew where each other were. Heavy tension hung in the air in the moments before this round began, everyone was watching. He didn't necessarily expect much out of Komekko, but he was expecting a fierce fight between Arue and Nerimaki. He would have to watch closely in this match for what would happen. Each one looked determined to win as he glanced at the three of them. "The third round begins now!" The battle exploded right away, Nerimaki and Arue throwing Detonation at each other right away. Neither of them considered Komekko to be a real threat given how young she was, so they focused on each other instead.

"Inferno!"

"Freeze Gust!" The spells that they threw at each other cancelled out, clashing in the middle of the arena."Lightning Strike!"

"Teleport!" Arue teleported away to another part of the arena, avoiding the attack. "Earthshaker!" The already unstable arena grounds were shaken even more, the cracks in the ground widening further as some of the structures were swallowed up and crushed

"Rising Mountain! Typhoon!" A torrent of water came down from the elevated ground Nerikmaki stood on, rushing down towards the rest of the arena.

"Freeze Gust!" Arue froze the water, stopping herself from being blown away but also giving away her position at the same time.

"Detonation!" The ice wall Arue had made was shattered right in front of her eyes.

"Teleport!" She teleported away to another section of the arena, having set up several teleport points. But teleporting used up a lot of mana and if she kept doing it to avoid attacks then soon enough she wouldn't have any left. "Blade of Wind!"

"Fireball!" Nerimaki tried to turn and move quick enough to avoid the attack, as well as throw one back at Arue, but having been surprised from behind there wasn't nearly enough time to do so.

Nerimaki was thrown off of her platform, but she wasn't out of the fight yet. "Fireball!"

"Wind Curtain!" She quickly brought up a protecting barrier to block out Arue's attack, judging by the looks on their faces neither of them had fought like this before. This would be a desperate battle now. "Meteor!" She threw an attack that Aurdel had only seen Yunyun use once, a large chunk of rock essentially forming out of nowhere and coming flying at Arue.

"Light of Saber!" She cut straight through it and ducked, the two chunks falling to either side. "Flash!" Bottomless Swamp!" Arue tried to blind Nerimaki and take her out quickly.

"Teleport!" But it didn't work, it seems that at some point she'd set up her own teleport points too and avoided her attack.

"I've never seen either of them fight like this…" Yunyun quietly muttered next to him.

"They're doing their best to win," he said back, "There's a lot at stake, and neither wants to lose."

"Not to mention they're probably trying to impress you," Megumin pointed out, "Because my Crimson Demon intuition is telling me that you won't just pick the people who finished in the top twenty for the class."

"Your intuition is right, I'm not. It's easy for someone to just sit on the sidelines and wait until their opponent has been whittled down by someone else, then they take out both at the same time and progress. I'm looking for the ones that can really fight." His mind went back to the match in front of him, watching the two of them fight.

"Typhoon! Crystal Prison!"

"Energy Ignition! Inferno!" Both of them used multiple spells to attack each other, clashing in the dark in the middle of the arena like fireworks.

By now they looked like they were near completely exhausted, but they kept going. "Meteor!" Arue launched the same attack that Nerimaki had used earlier.

"Rising Mountain!" Nerimaki elevated the terrain to strike the hunk of rock as it came towards her, bouncing off of it and crushing a nearby structure. "Meteor! Detonation! Tornado!" She sent another massive combination attack back at Arue. The chunks of rock from the destroyed Meteor were sucked in by the Tornado before being thrown out at high speeds, destroying the few remaining standing structures.

"Teleport!" Arue teleported out of it's way, "Detonation!" And she threw another spell into the Tornado, dispersing all of the rock that was still in it all at once. Having teleported she found herself practically face to face with Nerimaki. Both were drenched with sweat and covered in dirt and dust. Neither wanted to lose.

"Ankle Snare! Light of Saber!" They used the same spells on each other at point blank, stopping each other from moving and clashing spells at even this close of a distance. "Fireball!" The Fireballs they threw at each other collided, going off before either hit their target. Then they dealt each other their final blow. "Detonation!" They used the same spell at the same time. The combined force from both Detonations knocked them out and both of them fell to the singed.

The crowd was silent. "I win!" Komekko jumped out from nowhere, shouting in victory. Utter silence.

Aurdel was astounded, Megumin's little sister had won the tournament by outlasting everyone else. He wasn't sure whether to be proud or annoyed with this result. "Well, by some manner of events we have our tournament's victor! Komekko!" There was an awkward cheer following his announcement, no one had really expected this.

"So Aurdel, what do you think?" Megumin asked. "Have you chosen your twenty?"

"Yes, I have. But it doesn't include your sister."

"Eh?! Why not?!"

"You know very well why not!" What a bother… Either way, the tournament had served its purpose well enough. Soon enough he would have his Crimson Company.