Lord of Charm

Gale returned to his place after showing off and waited for the rest of the kingdoms to be introduced.

"Now let's welcome the Evelonia Kingdom… Igrebah Kingdom…"

One by one the fighters entered the arena, but none of them displayed much enthusiasm; they all lost any hope to get into the top 3 after Gale was introduced. The empire always secured 2 spots of the top 3 in almost every bracket, and Gale secured the third spot.

"The moment we've been waiting for, let's give a warm reception to the empire's geniuses!"

Although the empire controlled the kingdoms, the kingdoms didn't dislike the empire. It was their shield and sword against the other empires, and it kept them safe. They saw themselves as part of the empire, and the empire's geniuses got a warm welcome wherever they went.

The crowd clapped for the geniuses with mixed feelings of envy and admiration; those were the people who enjoyed the best genes, the best resources, and the best guidance in the empire. They were the cream of the crop of the empire magicians.

"First, and one of the two most likely winners for this tournament, cheer for Lord Drake Smaug!"

A teenager entered the arena with a smile and waved at the crowd. He was good-looking; he had glossy black hair that contrasted with his light blue eyes. His muscles were well-defined, and his face was handsome. If not for Gale stealing most of the fangirls earlier, he would probably get much more hysterical love screams right now.

"Good luck, Gale. He is your main opponent in this tournament. He is quite famous and according to the empire's rankings, he is known as a fire and wind mage. Despite his teenager-like look, he should be only a few days shy of his 26th birthday and he advanced not long ago, just about 2 months ago."

It was a prince whom Gale already forgot the name of. He also participated in this tournament and was a 24-year-old expert magician. Except for Gale, everyone was 23 or older, and the same was true for the other kingdoms.

As for the empire, their representatives were mainly 20-22 years old, except for Drake and another 25-year-old magician who was close to advancing and was supposed to take the second spot.

Ironically, as Gale aged normally until his 19th birthday, he seemed the oldest in the group who became magicians at younger ages and slowed their aging process when they were 16.

Gale nodded with gratitude to the prince and waited for the empire's introduction to end.

"Now is the moment we've all been waiting for, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

Steve's voice resounded and the judge took his spot in the arena. He used earth magic and 64 stones floated in the air.

"Fighters! Each stone has a number between 1 to 64. Go pick your stone, and the fights will begin according to the stone you drew, so the first fight will be number 1 against number 64, the second will be number 2 against 63, and so on."

The fighters quickly took their stones and prayed not to face any of the mages. Most of them even wished the two mages would face each other in the first round, so their road up would be as easy as possible.

"Hmm, number 7. I will have to wait for a while before my fight begins."

Number 1 was the older magician of the empire and he was destined to fight Gale in the quarter-finals, which meant he wouldn't get to the top three. To the crowd's delight, Drake drew the number 26, promising them exciting finals.

"Number 1 and number 64, take your spots. The rest, please wait for your battles outside the arena."

Gale and the rest left the arena and went back to their waiting rooms. This time, he didn't get the room from before but a smaller one where he was left alone. He decided to watch the fight with the magic item in the room.

The magicians bowed to each other, and the fight began when Steve counted down to zero. Gale didn't listen to the introductions, so he didn't recognize the fighter who drew the number 64. Honestly, he might not even recognize all the fighters from the Miyena Kingdom.

Number one, Zach, opened first and cast water spells to restrain his opponent. Number 64 was at a disadvantage; his main element was fire, making water his weakness. He tried opposing with his earth sub-element spells, yet the water slowly broke his defenses.

A few minutes later, that magician was on his knees with a few broken bones in his chest.

"I surrender."

The crowd cheered for the intense battle and the judge announced Zach's win.

The next fights weren't much different, and soon Gale's turn arrived.

"Let's cheer for the local hero, Gale Stormborn!"

Steve hyped the crowd, and deafening cheers filled the colosseum. The female spectators were the loudest; nearly all the singles screamed with the hope to be noticed by Gale, and even some with boyfriends or husbands screamed in an attempt to draw Gale's attention.

Gale smiled at the crowd and waved at them while stepping into the arena.

"He waved at me, AHHHH!"

"No, are you blind? He was obviously looking into my eyes when he waved!"

Steve was rendered speechless; he didn't expect someone from the young bracket to be so popular, and at that even before he competed once!

"Ready? Fight!"

Gale used a weaker version of his stone barrage, which sent dozens of stones equal to third-rank spells at his opponent. His opponent was a female, which made him feel slightly bad about it, but that's it.

Generally, males and females were regarded the same in the Miyena Kingdom. It would be suicidal to be a misogynist in a society with female mages; they'd just kill you if you got on their nerves. The other side of the coin was that mostly there wasn't much chivalry in the kingdom either.

The girl used wind magic to generate wind against the stones from below and change their course so she can slide under them, but Gale's stones were part of a mage-rank spell; they could change their course at Gale's will.

The stones quickly found their target and hit the female magician in different spots. Gale wasn't heartless; he made them slow down before they hit so none of the girl's bones broke.

"ARGH!"

It was just very painful.

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