My Soul card is a Reaper-Chapter 1029: Dreams of the Past: The World Tournament (Part-7)
Raphael smiled faintly. "Exactly. That's why your team needs to win every match." His gaze lingered on Rael and Eon one more time, as if appraising them again. "Good luck."
With that, he turned and walked off, his cloak catching the dying sunlight like a curtain of stars.
The others followed behind him like followers.
The moment they disappeared, Arjuna gave a long exhale. "Seriously, your eldest brother is really different from mine. He seems calm and mature. He is insulting to our straight face, but I don't want to fight back, for some reason. Is his birth ability or something?"
Rael shrugged. "Well, I don't know much about him or his abilities."
"Well," Bheema said, cracking his knuckles, "Regardless, if we're going to win the tournament, we just need to knock down every opponent that comes at us. Who it is should be none of our concern."
Everyone nodded in agreement. As they began walking toward the dormitory gate, Rael suddenly paused for a second and cast a look over his shoulder.
As he frowned, Eon paused too. "Rael, what happened?"
Rael looked around for a moment but then shook his head. "I guess it is just me…"
He put his arms around his sister's shoulder, casually dragging her as he walked faster.
Meanwhile, in the corner, a hooded figure was watching them. A pair of eyes glowed beneath the hood, revealing slits like a snake.
"Prince Qin Shi Huang, I found you, at last."
Later that evening;
The silvery glow of the moon filtered through the arched windows of the marble observatory tower on the western wing of the arena compound.
A teenager with messy white hair and scarlet eyes stood at the edge of the circular chamber, gazing out over the valley where the fog crept low across the forested hills. The air here was quieter, but also colder.
Behind him, Shakuni, one of the vassal lord of the Kuru King and the maternal uncle of Prince Duryodhan, was seen pouring wine into two small steel cups without asking.
The teenager said, "I said only to come and visit me if you find the whereabouts of Znuvo, the Time Beast. So, tell me you find it."
"No, but just this morning, we found a human who can manipulate time." He said, letting out a snicker, his voice echoing faintly against the domed ceiling, "Lucky, aren't we?"
The boy snapped his head toward him, his eyes widening in surprise. "A time manipulator? Who is she?"
Shakuni replied with a coarse of laughter. "Milord, it is a child of the Garcia family. It's Aurelius' daughter."
"Those northern battle crazy bastards, huh…" The boy frowned at first, but then, with his hands behind his back, he ordered. "Alright. Keep an eye on the girl. I want you to look for an opportunity to abduct her and bring her to me. Let the Jotunns take the blame for us."
"Then, Milord…" With a bit of hesitancy, Shakuni then spoke. "What about the coronation for…"
The boy didn't let him finish and said. "Do this task for me and it will be done. Your nephew will sit on the throne of Hastinapura, and your enemies will vanish from this world."
"It will be done, Milord. It will be done…"
*
The next day dawned golden and bright, but there was an odd heaviness in the air as the students of the Heavenly Academy stood waiting before the arena gates. They won their first match, and if they win this one, they are guaranteed to enter the knockouts regardless of the result of the next match.
The sky was clear, birds circling overhead, and yet the atmosphere was tense because today, they would face the Academy of Ellondira, or people call it the Royal Elven Academy.
Unlike other academies, the Elves did not arrive with noise or swagger. They moved like whispers of wind and carried themselves like trees older than time. Their uniforms were pale green and silver, woven from living silk thread that shimmered like dew.
And at the head of their group stood a tall boy with flowing white-blond hair and eyes like forest glass. He was calm, but not quiet. Regal, but not haughty. His name was Sylrin Enoriel, the top solo fighter of the Elven Kingdom's Royal Academy.
Arjuna stepped onto the battle platform in silence. The crowd murmured around. Sure, they were impressed by Arjuna's archery skills, but he still lost the earlier game. Why was he put to the front once again?
Is it because they wanted to keep the same team? The spectators couldn't help but wonder
The Proctor's voice rang out.
"Solo Battle: Arjuna of the Heavenly Academy vs. Sylrin of the Ellondira Academy! Begin!"
TWANG!
Without waiting, Arjuna fired an opening arrow. A shot fast enough to crack stone.
But Sylrin didn't even raise a weapon. Instead, he moved to the side, and the arrow passed through a mirage. His real body reappeared several steps away, calm and steady.
"An illusion," Arjuna murmured.
He followed up quickly, conjuring a volley of elemental arrows. Wind, earth, lightning, ice, light all launched in a spiral pattern.
"Wow…" A section of the audience exclaimed at the same time.
However, Sylrin raised his hand and summoned a staff of woven silver bark and moon-crystal shimmered into his grip.
"Mother Earth, help me."
And suddenly, roots surged from the ground and wrapped around the arrows mid-air, absorbing them into green light. His eyes closed slightly, as if listening to the forest itself. The vines burst forth from the platform to capture Arjuna. It was more or less similar to the attack he used against Karna once in the last battle.
It took him by surprise, but nevertheless, Arjuna leapt back, created a cyclone with wind and water attributes combo, and used it to ride above the ground, but the vines shot up faster than he expected. One snagged his ankle mid-air.
He sliced it with an instant flame arrow.
"Not bad," Sylrin finally spoke, his voice like wind through branches. "But you're fighting the forest on its soil."
Arjuna narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll change the soil."
He drove his Gandiva into the ground again. The platform glowed, the earth energy responding to him like a heartbeat. Stone pillars erupted beneath Sylrin's feet…
But again, only an illusion. Sylrin's real body had already stepped into the air, walking on light. Thin platforms of mana supported him mid-air as he nocked an Energy Spear. "Soul skill: False Reality."
Arjuna's fingers gripped his bow tightly as his instincts warned him that this Spear was different, despite looking like a normal one.
Sylrin let it loose.
WHUMPH.
The energy spear split the wind and reached its target in the blink of an eye, but it didn't strike Arjuna. It passed beside him.
And everything… changed.
The moment it flew by, Arjuna's body lost balance. His senses twisted at once. The ground seemed far, then close, then far again. Gravity flipped for a second.
His own elemental energy twisted out of his control.
"What…?" he gasped, staggering back.
Before Arjuna got a grasp on the matter, Sylrin already drew another arrow, this one glowing sky-blue, humming with purity.
Arjuna, dizzy and panting, still raised his bow.
But the next moment, the arrow that came at him twisted its path around his bow and struck his chest. Or atleast, that's what it looked like in Arjuna's eyes.
And as soon as he was struck, the gandiva in his hand fell to the floor and dissipated into thin air. He fell to the floor with a thud and lost consciousness.
Looking at him unconscious, Sylrin smirked. "Having a celestial grade Arcana spirit and a bunch of vast knowledge is useless if the wielder himself couldn't apply it properly in a battle."
Meanwhile, the proctor waited for another ten seconds, and when he saw no movement from the boy, he raised a hand.
"The participant is not in any condition to battle. Match concluded! Winner: Sylrin of the Ellondira Academy!"
The crowd was silent, and so were Rael and others as they saw Arjuna was bested so easily and cleanly in this match. Whatever the impression Arjuna generated in the last match was gone as he lost twice in a row.
*
The arena was still quiet from Arjuna's unexpected defeat when the announcer's voice echoed once more as he was taken on a stretcher to the healing ward.
"Next up, the Duo Battle! Representing the Ellondira Academy: Serelis and Lirel. Representing Heavenly Academy: Azrael and Eon!"
From the Elven side, two girls floated down onto the platform, light as petals. Identical in face but different in aura, their long hair, one jade green, the other storm white, billowed around them like silk threads dancing on the wind.
The crowd stirred at the sight of twins vs twins battle.
Serelis, the one with storm-white hair, lifted her hand as air twisted around her fingers, forming invisible blades in the air.
Lirel, whose jade locks shimmered like moss under dew, placed her palm on the ground. The arena rumbled, thin cracks snaking beneath her bare feet. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
"Arcana spirits, arise," they said in harmony, voices like bells ringing inside trees.
