Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress' Knights Tournament

Chapter 45

Elincia stepped back as the crowd roared, some jeering and others shouting their approval. She wished they wouldn't be so loud. Her ears were ringing from the sound. However, she knew that was a vain hope.

"An excellent speech," Lord Fuzen Taiga said to Elincia as she stepped back.

She gave him an unsure smile. "T-thank you."

"You are quite welcome. It must have taken a lot of time to rehearse for this speech."

"Um..."

"Please do not give our newest sorceress a hard time, Lord Taiga," Lady Akane smoothly inserted herself between them. "She's still not quite prepared for her role."

"Ah, yes, the youngest ones are usually quite frightened for the first few months. Such a shame," Lord Fuzen Taiga lamented as Lady Akane led him away. The shinto sorceress winked at Elincia before moving over to her knight, who engaged the lord from Takama no Hara.

Sighing in relief, Elincia looked around at all of the people in the viewing box with her. The headmaster and Lady Sylvia stood together, discussing something. It looked like the headmaster was doing most of the talking. The Nueva twins were flirting with their knights. Meanwhile, Hilda and Dolten were in a corner of the booth, working on some kind of invention. She frowned when she noticed that Cleopatra and her knight weren't there, but then Instructor Murdok's voice rang out, and she forget all about the elusive sorceress from Elysium.

***

"Will the two knights get into position!" Instructor Murdok barked like a military man.

Caspian moved away from Gustav, standing on the opposite side of his foe. He took several deep breaths. His nerves were shot, but he couldn't let that control him.

His opponent gave nothing away. Holding his staff in his left hand, the blond-haired man from Helheim appeared completely calm, perfectly composed. His investment in this battle wasn't as large as Caspian's. He didn't have as much to lose.

"Are both fighters ready?" Instructor Murdok asked.

"You bet," Caspian said. Gustav merely nodded.

"Then let this, the semi-final match between Gustav Falborne and Caspian Ignis del Sol... begin!"

Almost from the moment the words left Instructor Murdok's mouth, Gustav moved into action. His crystal emitted a faint purple light before lightning blasted from it. Caspian moved to avoid the lightning, but it followed him.

He swerved to the left, gritting his teeth as several tiny volts leapt from the lightning bolt and struck his arms. His muscles spasmed and twitched as the electric current messed with the signals that controlled his movement. Caspian ignored this and continued moving as the lightning bolt swerved around and chased after him again.

Is it following me because metal attracts electricity?

As a knight, Caspian learned the basics of science. He knew many scientific theories, and he'd learned about the elements and how they applied to real-life situations. It was important for a knight to understand how the world worked.

Metal was a conductor of electricity. It attracted lightning. While this purple lightning might not be real lightning, there was a chance that it acted the same as a standard bolt created from nature.

Let's test it.

Unstrapping one of his shoulder pauldrons, Caspian yanked the object off his shoulder and tossed it at the incoming lightning bolt. He'd thrown it so that it would go just a little over the lightning. He wanted to see if the lightning would change direction and follow the metal. It didn't. Unlike regular lightning, which would have curved to follow the closest natural conductor, this lightning bypassed the object and continued traveling straight toward him.