Author's Notes
Hi to everyone!^^
I'm back with a new chapter faster than expected, the first one never released here on (it was released on an italian fanfiction site, but it was very different from this new version).
By the way, I forgot telling you that this story should be more or less 20 chapters long, and will not have Vivid Strike characters inside of it.
Ok, that's all for now. I hope you'll enjoy it^^
See you soon!^^
Cj Spencer
IMPORTANT: THERE'S BEEN A SMALL BUT IMPORTANT CHANGE: EINHART IS NO MORE IN GROUP B, BUT IN GROUP A.
The first thing Rio saw when she opened her eyes, were her companions' worried faces.
«Thanks God, you're finally awake.» Vivio said
«Where… where am I?»
«In the colosseum's infirmary.» Corona answered
«I… I can't remember clearly. What exactly happened?»
«You've been defeated.» sadly said Einhard. «I'm sorry.»
«But what's happened to you exactly?» asked a worried Vivio.
«I… I don't know it. The last thing I felt was the sensation of being hit by something, followed almost immediately by extreme pain. And immediately after I woke up here.» then Rio looked all around, trying to find out what time it was. «How much time I spent fainted?»
«Almost four hours.» Corona said. «Today's matches are over already.»
A couple of minutes later, the local doctor entered the room.
«Good news my dear.» she said. «All exams have excluded serious damages, apart for a couple of minor injuries. We found nothing important even in your magic energy, and your linker core is intact.»
«I see. So, he didn't take my energy.»
«But honestly» the doctor said with a serious and almost worried tone. «I'm quite surprised.»
«Why?» Nanoha demanded
«The arena's mechanisms are made to protect the fighter from the more serious damages, but it's almost impossible to finish a match without some scratches, especially after such tremendous blow like the one that hit you. But that's the problem. We found no direct damages, neither any sign that something really hit you.»
«But this is impossible. I've been hit by something right here, on my left side. I felt it.»
«That's the problem. You've been hit, but not from the outside. Not strongly, at least. The true damage, the blow that made you lost, has come directly from your insides.»
«What!?» said a stunned Rio «My insides? What means?»
«Your magical power has literally detonated inside you, and that's why you faced that tremendous shock.»
«I… I don't understand. You mean that… he made my magic energy explode… inside of me?»
«And I have no idea about how he did it. I've never heard of a magic like this.»
The girls looked each other in disbelief, unable to find an explanation.
The next day, the second group of matches started as planned, and fortunately, this time there were no more surprises.
Vivio and Miura, but also Chantez, Corona and Lutecia won the respective fights with no particular problems.
The same thing happened again and again in the following days, and by the last day of the First Turn almost all of the girls were sure already of having reached the second step, with only Harry left to fight.
«Where's Viktoria?» Vivio asked once noted that her friend was not with them on the stands
«I suppose she's preparing for tomorrow's match.» Sieg answered. «Remember? Tomorrow she'll have to fight against that Arthur something.»
Then, what happened to Rio suddenly came back to the girls' mind, seriously worrying some of them.
Even after a couple of days Rio hadn't recovered completely yet, and despite having spent hours trying to understand something, none of them had been still able to explain what was happened in front of their eyes.
Nanoha had even asked and obtained from the judges for a battle's over examination, but at the end nothing strange had been found in the recordings and the final result was ultimately confirm. The truth however was that even the same judges had no idea of the kind of magic Arthur had used, but as long as the arena's sensors remained silent, it was impossible for them to accuse him of cheating.
«All right girls, it's my turn!» Harry said when, around noon, her name was finally called to the ring. «By the way, I would've preferred something better than a newbie for my first match.»
«Don't be careless, Harry.» Miura said. «I've heard he's quite strong. They say he won his preliminary battles with no difficulties.»
«Don't worry, I'll be careful. But I have absolutely no intention to leave the tournament at the first round.» then she malignantly smiled. «Differently from a certain four-eyed inspector.»
«Less chats more actions, you impudent thug!» shouted a still angry Els. «And remember that whenever you should lose, I'll be here to return your arrogance with interests!»
«Oh, this will not happen. Because I'll simply not lose.» and then she headed to the tunnels.
«And now, for the final match of Group C's first turn, we'll see two true aces fight each other! In the red corner, with an impressive score of victories and fine performances in her previous participations to the Intermiddle, the brute mage of steel and fire, Harry Tribeca!»
Harry entered the arena with her usual following of classmates, quickly jumping on the ring and cheerfully saluting the crow.
Moments later, her opponent too appeared, and the mere sight of him was enough to pursue Harry thinking that her first battle was destined to be a short one. He was more similar to an actor then a fighter, with short, pale red hair, a bit little physique, light green eyes and gentle traits, at the point that many of the girls among the crowd sighted at his sight. His barrier jacket too was quite standard made by a green top, black long pants, fighting gloves, leather boots and a pair of bracelets, with no trace of those garments so loved by most of those usual newbies. He was probably sixteen or seventeen at most, but what surprised Harry the most was the weapon he was carrying as his device.
«Are you joking me?» she almost laughed. «A shield?»
And it was true: the newcomer's device was nothing but some sort of golden knight shield, wielded with the right hand and decorated with various reliefs representing an opened eye surrounded with flowers and plants.
It was already difficult to find someone using a completely defensive device in everyday life, but something like that in a fighting tournament like the Intermiddle was at the verge of madness.
However, the same presenter took the job of bringing Harry back to earth the moment he introduced her opponent.
«In the blue corner, one of the most interesting new entries of this tournament. The undefeated winner of Tamlarn's selections in the preliminary rounds. His defenses are so incredibly high that he's been named already the "Impassable Mage of Tamlarn"! Ladies and gentleman, Louis Agrevine!»
Hearing that name, Harry jumped in disbelief, like most of the crowd: the Agrevine was surely one of the most ancient and respected families of Eastern Mid-Childa, and Louis was notoriously the actual heir of their tremendous financial empire.
«This is certainly an honor for this humble servant.» Harry said while comically bowing. «I don't deserve to face such noble and respectable opponent.»
«My name and heritage count nothing on the ring.» Louis stoically replied. «All that matters are my power and technique.»
Hearing this, Harry finally decided to put her usual arrogance away.
«Well said.» she said while taking her battling position. «Come on, show me these power and technique of your.»
Harry as expected made the first move, jumping against her opponent as the bell rang and beginning a furious punches assault to which Louis replied using both the shield and an unexpected agility.
«You'll need to do something else apart dodging if you wanna win, little prince!»
«If you ask so…»
All of a sudden, Louis reversed the shield's pointed side up down, and once found an opening he used it to hit violently Harry's belly, at the point that the girl almost fell out of the ring.
«You, little…» she shouted in anger, and after having partially rolled out her chain device she launched it against the opponent. «Dodge this!»
The moment her chain enveloped around Louis' left arm, Harry launched a firing spell that put the steel on fire immediately, resulting for the young boy into an extremely painful blow that took him away almost half of his life points.
«Scutum!»
«Light Armor!» the shield sentenced.
At that point, a defensive field completely covered Louis' body, forcing the chain to let his arm go before making further damages.
«Are you really a barriers' expert?» provocatively said Harry. «You can just clean Els' shoes.»
«Don't worry. This battle is not over yet.»
«You said it. Then it's time to make it end!»
Then, dozens of fire globes appeared all around the girl, heading all together against Louis the moment she pointed her palm against him.
«Burst Barret!»
Louis stayed still, making no apparent attempt to dodge them.
«Scutum!»
«Hadrian's Wall!»
Tens of shining and glassy squares appeared in front of the boy, regrouping into a single wall right on time to stop the flames, which exploded against it without making any damage.
However, that was just the beginning. Because the moment the flames vanished, right on time before the wall too collapsed once reached its limit, Harry's was right above Louis.
«A decoy?» he stunningly said
«You're mine!» she said while her punch started covering with fire. «Oreshiki Ichigeki Hittō Punch!»
Louis barely found enough time to put Scutum to protect his face, because less than a second later Harry's tremendous punch hit it in a firestorm, producing such powerful blow that the boy was literally pushed behind, even if he miraculously succeeded in protecting himself.
Despite having failed in his first assault, Harry was more than sure that the force put in her spell and attack was enough to obliterate Louis' defenses completely and then win the match.
However, to everyone's amazement, Louis resisted, and for each passing second the fire's power seemed decreasing, even faster than expected.
«What the…» said a stunned Harry.
Once understood that this attack too was about to fail, and in order to avoid finding herself exposed to a counterattack, Harry jumped behind and took a safety distance once again; like this, she was able to see her flames literally sucked inside of the shield, thanks to countless holes opened on the surface.
Louis remained still until the last trace of fire was absorbed and then the holes closed, leaving behind a shield damaged, but still incredibly intact.
«Acquisition Complete.» said Scutum.
«What!?» Harry said.
Her companions too among the crowd were clearly speechless.
«I can't believe it!» Rio said. «Harry's spell has being…»
«Absorbed!?» Corona completed her phrase
«You little thief!» said an enraged Harry. «How dare you to steal my magic?»
«Don't worry, I'll return it to you really soon!» Louis replied, and under everyone's eyes his device changed shape like clay, turning into some sort of massive steel glove and reshaping all around his hand and arm.
«Assault mode, complete.»
Knowing that her opponent was preparing something against her, Harry chose to launch another assault as soon as possible. However, the moment she moved her feet, Louis violently punched the ground with his new device, producing a powerful shockwave, and less than a second later Harry found herself closed inside some sort of tiny jail made of shining bars.
«What the hell is this?» she shouted while unsuccessfully trying to get free
«Birdcage.»
«It's time to finish this.» said Louis, and his device started turning red as hot metal.
Seeing the pose her opponent was taking, Harry remained speechless.
«That pose» she shockingly said. «Don't tell me…»
«Scutum is not just a shield.» Louis said while a magic circle started appearing under him. «Every time you hit him, he literally opens my opponent's mind in front of me. I can see everything: its tactics and thoughts. Even the spells he uses. Moreover, whenever I'm able to catch its power thanks to Scutum's assimilation abilities, then those spells become mine.»
«No, this can't be true! I refuse to be defeated by my own technique!»
«It's useless. There's no way for you to get free. That cage too is made with the same power Scutum has absorbed from your previous assaults.»
At that point, a circle appeared under Harry's feet too.
«No! No no no no!»
«Take this! Volcanic Blaze!»
A column of fire literally exploded from the ground right under the cage, and despite her desperate attempt to call a shield, Harry was enveloped by flames and devastated by the blow, and when the fire extinguished she was lying to the floor, surrounded by debris and with her whole body covered with injuries.
«No… This can't be true…» she said desperately trying to get up. «I can still… fight.»
But at the end her remaining life points were wiped away and she was forced to surrender, helplessly collapsing to the ground.
«It's over! And this is one more unexpected result for this Intermiddle! Harry Tribeca, one of the most powerful and respectable fighters of the past tournament, leaves the Intermiddle at the First Turn! The winner is Louis Agrevine!»
A bit proved Louis at that point raised his arm in victory, acclaimed like a superstar by most of the crowd. However, apart for Vivio and the others, someone was still too much shocked and stunned to exult.
Half hidden behind a column in the highest portion of the stands, Ashley had followed the entire match in disbelief, because differently from all others she had noted something strange in what she had just seen; something familiar.
«What's happening? Why now? Why here?» she said
Fortunately Louis too chose to not take his defeated opponent's linker core, and after the match Vivio and the others left the stands almost immediately to reach Harry at the infirmary, leaving only Nanoha, Fate and Hayate to enjoy the last match of the first turn.
«We've finally reached the end of the First Turn!» said the presenter «And as tradition, we've left the best for last! In fact, for this last fight, we'll see on the ring one of the legends of the Intermiddle's male tournament! With an outstanding record of three podiums in the last four edition, in the red corner, ladies and gentleman, Danny Tria!»
It was not an exaggeration, not at all.
Danny Tria, or The Thunder of Cranagan and the press loved to call him, was probably one the greatest male magicians ever seen in the whole Intermiddle's history.
He had always reached the finals in his six previous participations at the tournament, and he already had there were three crowns of Mid-Childa, two interdimensional finals and one absolute victory of the Male Intermiddle U15 in his personal showcase.
He was a master of martial arts, well known in particular for his kicks' tremendous power, and even before the regrouping for that year between females and males was confirmed he was among the favorites for the final victory.
Right for this, everyone in the crowd expected to see him triumphing without problems since his first match. But things were destined to be dramatically different, and the same name of his opponent was enough to make clear that the last match of the first round was probably destined to be quite surprising.
«Danny's first opponent is a newcomer of the Intermiddle. But as the previous matches have showed us, this year's rookie have proved being tough nut to crack even for the most known and respected fighter. In the blue corner, at her first participation, the Black Lady, Eveline Geis!»
Hearing that surname, Nanoha and the others, not to mention the other TSAB members among the crowd, remained stunned.
«Geis!?» Nanoha said. «Don't tell me she's…»
A rapid search in the Agency's database was enough to prove the girls' first impression.
«She's General Geis' second daughter.» said Hayate, while all the memories of her not exactly idyllic relationship with Regius Geis started coming back to her mind.
Eveline appeared on the arena a couple of seconds later, and just watching her one could easily understand the reason for her nickname.
Her dark and shiny armor was like a black diamond, made even more elegant by some white drapes around the belt and along the legs. Her hair too were white and shiny like snow, elegantly regrouped in twin tails, while the eyes at the opposite were as red as a couple of rubies, making her an outstanding, but even a bit sinister beauty.
This time her device was quite standard, a proper and true knight lance as dark as her dress, with a short handle and a massive, conical point.
«What a bad luck.» Danny arrogantly said. «I was hoping to avoid females. I'm still here trying to understand who's the idiot that made the decision to regroup the Intermiddle's tournaments.»
«It's better for you if you enjoy this battle.» the girl coldly replied. «It will be your only one you fight.»
«It will be a pleasure for me to make you know your place, little girl.»
As the referee called the warriors to get ready to fight, a not at all scared Eveline raised her massive lance in front of her while taking position.
«Let's finish this quickly. Are you ready, Gae Bulg?»
«Of course, Master.»
«I'm counting on you. Let's do our best.»
Danny was so enraged for that girl's apparent lack of fear that he had to force himself to wait the bell before running against her with all his might.
«I'll beat you so strong that you'll learn your place in a second!»
Once covered both his legs with thunders, the boy launched a mighty roundhouse kick.
«Tae Lam Tua!»
Eveline managed to stop him with the spear, but the thunder spell still succeeded in shocking and paralyzing her, leaving the girl exposed to a second attack.
«Tien Pai Kor!».
This second kick smashed against a defenseless Eveline, throwing her out of the ring among jolts and dust.
«That's it.» Danny said in satisfaction. «It's been easier than expected. As I said, there's no place for girls and boys in the same tournament.»
The counter started marking the seconds, and everyone expected to see it extinguish before that girl could hope to find enough force to come back to the ring.
But suddenly, the dust still covering part of the arena was wiped away by a powerful wind, and a moment later Eveline reappeared from nothing, and by everyone's surprise her life points proved being almost intact.
«It's incredible! Eveline Geis is still standing, and by heavens, it seems she has neither felt Danny's mighty attack!»
Danny too was speechless, and when his opponent returned to the ring as nothing happened, he literally went out of mind.
«You, little… just stay down!»
Then, the boy jumped the higher he could, covering both feet with so shiny and powerful thunders that most of the crowd was forced to protect the eyes.
«Tawad Kor!»
This time, Eveline moved so fast that when Danny reached her she had already raised her lance to protect herself from the attack, and even Danny had put in his spell enough force to pulverize everything, his opponent's device resisted.
«Do you wanna go down or not, you little brat?»
«You're the one that will go down after this! Gae Bulg!»
«Wind Gun!»
Some sort of explosion occurred, and Danny was helplessly thrown in air by its power. The boy desperately tried to recover, but the moment he succeeded in turning, he found Eveline menacingly pointing her device against him.
The point of the spear started rolling like a drill, and Eveline's magic circle appeared under her feet.
«Wind Spear!»
The spear rolled at the point of generating a massive tornado, and at a girl's command, this mighty wing was shot against Danny, which was literally shot away, almost breaking all his bones against the roof of the stadium before falling already fainted to the ground.
«It's over! Eveline Geis wins! This is incredible, gentlemen! Simply outstanding! Danny Tria, the Thunder of Cranagan, has been defeated in his opening match by a rookie fighter!»
The crowd remained speechless for a little moment, but at the end, they joyfully acclaimed the winner as she deserved, calling her name while applauding.
But Evelin styed apparently indifferent to such warm and sincere admiration, and even before the referee could ask her if she wanted make use of her right to claim Danny's linker core she turned her back to the ring and left.
However, before disappearing inside the tunnels, she suddenly stopped, menacingly pointing her eyes toward Nanoha, Fate and Hayate.
«Just stay and watch!» she said pointing her spear against them. «Next ones will be your pupils!»
«Well gentlemen, that's all for the first turn! We wait for you next Monday for the beginning of the second turn, which will start with a first class match between the Thunder Princess Viktoria Dahlgrun and one of this first turn's most outstanding revelations, Arthur, the heir of the Pendragons!»
While most of the stadium was still trying to recover for Danny and other champions' unexpected defeat, Louis had already taken his way to the exit, and he was about to leave the building passing from a less frequented section.
«My grandfather told me about that style.» he suddenly heard behind his back. «You belong to the Lothar household, right?»
Once stopped, the young boy waited a moment before turning to answer.
«My ancestor was Lot of the Lothars.» he said. «And you are the heir of Freichfras, right?»
«I'm Ashley Freichfras. And this is the first time I meet the heir of an ancient member of the Round Table.»
«Same for me.»
«This cannot be a coincidence.» Ashley said while a strange light appeared in her eyes. «You've felt it too, right? That call in our mind.»
Louis mumbled, as if he was afraid to answer.
«The households of the Round Table were vanished from history for centuries, spreading like petals among endless worlds, but all of a sudden two of their descendants meet each other in the same place. It's the Resonance.»
«My power belongs to me. I have no need of someone else's aid to win.»
«You cannot deny the truth, Louis. Just try to be honest. Both you and I have done things far beyond our supposed capacity on that ring.»
The young boy clenched his fists and looked down, unable to accept the truth.
«I'm sure they spoke you about Merlin's prophecy.»
«Wait the day when a light of power will awaken in you.» Louis started repeating. «That's the day when our glorious nation will come back to life. Obey the Resonance, and Camelot will rise again.»
«I too was shocked at first, because I had always thought like you that it was just a legend. But now I feel it. I feel that power inside me. Here in my chest. The same power King Arthur had given to all his knights so that they could protect Camelot from any threat. When Camelot fell, that power went asleep, but it has never vanished completely. And now it lives again. It's been that power to lead you here, right? You can't deny it.»
«I had made the decision to participate this Intermiddle even before all this happened.» Louis answered as if he was trying to find a justification to all that
«Same for me. But maybe, all this is part of a plan settled centuries ago. Who knows, maybe there are other knights hidden among the other participants. And if the prophecy is true, this could mean that even King Arthur's descendent is right here. You know who I'm talking about, right?»
«We can't be sure about this. The current Pendragons linage has never been proved being part of the ancient household. Legend says that King Arthur died with no descendants.»
«Maybe they were wrong. What counts is that if the Resonance occurred, this means that a member of the ancient Pendragon household has called us. In this case, we have the sacred duty to obey his commands and make sure to accomplish his will.»
Louis remained silent for a long time, but at the end he turned his back to Ashley.
«My life will not follow someone else's dispositions. If this supposed Arthur's descendant has truly called us, I'll decide by myself if he's worth of my loyalty or not.»
«How can you speak like this? You belong to the ancient households of Camelot!»
«The promises made by my ancestors are none of my business.»
However, none of them realized that someone was listening to them. Well hidden behind an angle, Evelin had heard the entire conversation; and once remained alone, she found herself unable to resist the impulse of touching her chest, with a strange and almost worried expression in her eyes.
