I agree, if she had just waited a few more seconds the potion would have been able to get closer to Alice, not much but still enough I would say. Can’t say how much damage it would do to her, but at the very least she would get hit by the blast radius if not by the explosion itself.
“(The nerves are getting to me... I’m scared dammit! I don’t want to be here! Why was I chosen? That girl with those weird scissors would have been a better candidate… Why me? What did I do wrong!?)”
Anger, frustration, sadness, everything that you are feeling, I understand you, Anya. The world can truly be unfair and cruel just because it wants to. However, you are doing good by standing up and fighting against its injustice. Keep at it, even if it’s hard, I believe in you. She’s right on something though, from all the mock battles, all the data that the teacher got, he could’ve chosen a better candidate and from what Kiana said, he does not seem to be that weak, weaker than Alice yes, but stronger than anyone currently here, if we exclude Kiana that is. Somehow, even with all of this, he or they have decided to be a draw contest instead of hand picking the best candidate. But why? Are they afraid that Alice might lose? But if that is the case, everything he said about her, all that praise, all that ego boost, all of it is meaningless, untrue, a charade to fool, to the ignorant that believes his pretty words. Is that even fair for her? With one look anyone can easily see all of her hard work and yet, these people seem to not trust her, her abilities. Quite the shame really, I think that they might be more worried about the Academy reputation than Alice's well-being.
Swoosh!
A smoke cloud emerges with the explosion easily obstructing the view between them. Though that seems to not matter for Alice at all, however we cannot say the same about Anya who is desperately looking for Alice but she does so without moving a muscle. Fear has got her feet stuck in place. Without saying anything at all, Alice casually summons a claymore or is it a longsword? It sure looks dull and simple looking, the blade of it is completely smooth, with that I can say that, it is meant for these types of scenarios as it won’t “hurt” as much if she hits someone with it. Anyway, from there, with her right foot forward, her left knee bent slightly and her body slightly tilted to the left, she prepares to take a swing at the air, and the moment she does so, it clears up the smoke with a “shockwave” from said movement. Even though Anya didn’t see how Alice did it, thanks to her final position when she was revealed, she can draw the conclusion that it was a swing with the claymore. That realization brought even more despair to her entire body.
“No way… With her sword? I can’t win… I really can’t…”
She looks defeated, more so than that ever. Her face is pale just like a vampire, fear really is mere moments from taking control of her, this is too much for her as she has been thinking and even saying it. Seeing this from another perspective, from the bystanders, everything is different. They scream with excitement upon seeing Alice's small display of strength, after all, seeing someone clear up a smoke cloud with a simple swing is something else. To those outside of the field this is nothing more than a simple show, one meant to entertain them. But how about Kiana? Well, this odd ball seems quite normal as if she’s used to seeing this type of level of strength, in fact she seems…
Bored.
Roxy on the other hand she seems quite excited, ah yes, I am more than sure about that! After all, I can clearly see how she is feeling with her sunglasses on! Yep, believe me in that!
“(I-I have to move! I have to do something! But what can I do against someone like her?)”
Panic and fear are consuming her whole, the despair is stopping her from making any decision, but even then, she’s doing her best to keep calm and think of something, trying to think of her next move. But at the end, it simply is too much for her, making her make a rash decision.
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“Ta-Take this! Lightning Spark!”
Magic noises! Sparking noises!
As the desperation finally took control over her, she quickly raises her left hand towards Alice and from the palm of it, she launched the same spell as before towards her. Desperate times require desperate measures, at least this is what it seems. Just like before Anya is simply too far from Alice, making the spell render itself useless even before she even activated the magic circle. There is also a good chance that her current emotional state reduced the spell efficiently as it stopped shortly after 10 whole meters, not the 15 meters as before, no, less than that even. It’s over and she knows it, but what else can she do in a situation like this unless struggling?
“This is why it shouldn’t have been a draw… I told him this could happen…”
Quietly and basically to herself, she murmurs her thoughts, her regrets for allowing this to play out. She has pity on her eyes as she looks at Anya for brief moments, as she understands her current feelings, her current emotional state, her desperation to not get hurt, her panic to do something and even her despair of getting made fun of. All of it are valid emotions and Alice being Alice, it makes it worse, after all, Alice is no more than a monster to Anya eyes. A monster that is far stronger than her, magnitudes stronger, just mere moments of ending her life like it’s nothing. This is an exaggeration of course, I doubt Alice would dare to harm Anya in any way at all, but that still does not make Anya is feeling invalid. It’s time to end this, to end this unpleasant charade.
“Fire! Heel to my command and do my binding!”
This small incantation erupts everything, literally. With a firm tone of voice filled with confidence and with a dead serious look on her face she shouts this.
Fire noises!
Her claymore is ignited with fire the moment she finishes saying this, the blade of her claymore to be more precise is the one that is ignited with fire, one that seems to be quite hot. A beautiful display of magic, after all, it’s not easy to do something like this. You need to have enough magic energy of course, but you also need an even more magic control to be able to pour magic into only the blade of your weapon and from there, use such spell or spells. Although Kiana does not bite an eye to this, she is just a tad bit surprised as you can see her left eyebrow raised just a bit. The rest of the people there on the other hand…
“YEAH!!!”
As loud as they can, with as much enthusiasm as they can, with as much excitement as they can, they shout the moment they see Alice using that spell. Some of them jump around as they cannot contain their emotions, others look at it with their eyes wide open and their mouths touching the ground, others scream and so on, they truly are amazed at what Alice is doing. Understandable so, after all, it’s not always that you can see something like this, quite rare in fact.
Excited Young Man- Oie! Oie! Did you see that!?
Happy Man- Don’t touch me you weirdo! And I’m right next to you, so of course I saw it! It is amazing! She’s amazing! Ah, I want to be her boyfriend!
Excited Young Man- Nah, she’s mine! I will conquer her! Just mind your business and don’t get between us, “friend”!
Happy Man- Ha! If you think a weirdo like you can even have a chance, you’re also crazy it seems! Never in your life will you have a chance!
Way to Happy Young Lady- Ah, she’s so graceful! Those flames combine so well with her stunning hair! Ah, I can’t contain my happiness! Miss Alice! Gime your babies! I’m also a woman, so I can have them too!
Both of them- What!?
And you get the idea of this joke. Some of them sure are going way too overboard with it. Anyway, even Roxy, who still has her sunglasses on, seems excited or at least surprised as she is slightly leaning forward. Maybe it’s to see Alice better as there are a few people in front of her, so I can believe that’s the case... Just like I said before, it’s understandable they are reacting this way, some of them that is, the normal ones to be precise, what Alice just did and is doing, it’s something unthinkable. To have enough magic energy and control to ignite a weapon is uncommon, rare even, therefore almost all of their reaction is justified. But what about our lovely Kiana? She seemed bored a few moments ago. What about now? Did that change?
