Chapter 524

Ajax could practically feel how everyone was now keeping a wary eye on him. It wasn’t even like he could blame them, he would do the same thing if there was someone around that could kill him without moving a muscle at a moment's notice, and that’s exactly the threat [Telekinesis] posed. 

He actually felt a little more comfortable when Xavier and Arianwyn returned. A big part of that was that Rex was one of the few people who wasn’t wary of his newly revealed Skill. The physical focused champion would only be mildly inconvenienced by the Legendary Skill until Ajax learned how to put even more power behind it.

“How do you see this fight going?” Ajax asked Lexi as he watched his brother square off with Leandra.

“Once Fluffy gets involved the fight will end quickly.” Lexi answered. “But until then it should be a pretty interesting match.” 

For all that Leandra was a gifted alchemist she was merely a mediocre mage for her level. That should still give her the advantage over Tom who had managed to work himself to match the average level and power of a noble his age.

As soon as the duel started Tom rushed forward, not looking to give Leandra a chance to cast. Tom was lucky that Leandra wasn’t at all handy with earth spells and she was forced to rely on wind fire and ice spells to keep him away. 

From the commoners point of view this duel was a lot more interesting that the one Ajax just fought. The fight was one they could actually follow and so was the win condition of each fighter. Leandra would win if she managed to keep Tom away while slowly breaking his three shields with her spells, whereas Tom would win if he got close enough to actually hit the elf.

“This is all the elf’s got?” 

“Can they get this over with already?” 

While the commoners were enjoying the fight the nobles in attendance found the fight boring after the first three minutes, Ajax had a hard time suppressing a grin when he noticed that despite all the complaints none of them made any remarks about his brother. He was glad the message he had just sent about messing with his family had been so clearly received.

In the arena Tom was performing a lot better than anyone had expected of someone who was born and raised a commoner would be, even if Leandra was just a mediocre mage she still had fifteen levels on him and Tom had managed to get within fifteen feet of her. If Ajax was to comment on his approach his only flaw would be that Tom should have been more willing to sacrifice his second shield in exchange for an opening to get in close. But that kind of thinking wasn’t something that came with regular training and was built with experience in true combat, something Tom hadn’t had much experience with. 

Five minutes into the duel Tom had made it within ten feet of Leandra before his second enchantment broke. At that point Fluffy sprung into action, Leandra didn’t stand a chance she had barely had time to realize the shadow cat was on the move and launch a short chant spell towards her when she shadow jumped behind her and with two swipes and one bite broke through all three of her enchantments. 

The audience erupted in cheers. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Fluffy was the member of House Hearthbound the people of Lessis knew best, some of them knowing her even back when she was a cub. 

“The cat can shadow jump.” Helmeth had barely regained consciousness following the healing he received but he managed to catch the end of the match. “How high of Mana infusion does it have? The cubs she and Thunder could have…” 

It was easy for everyone in attendance to know why the man was so interested now. Shadow jump was better than Helmeth’s shadow travel in almost every way. His remark however caught Ajax’s attention, how could the man be delusional enough to think they would still accept a pairing with his bond. 

“Best you give up on that pairing.” Sandor was quick to jump in. Ajax was glad to see the man twitch slightly when the imperial prince put his hand on his arm, no doubt some phantom pain still lingered despite the healing he received. 

“But…” Helmeth’s words died in his throat as his eyes locked with Ajax. Ajax didn’t try to hide how much he was against the idea of the two felines mating. “Fine.” 

The next duel didn’t turn out much better for the elves. Cal was a much better matchup against Fealin than Ramus had been. The elf had managed to taunt the imperial at the start of the duel with some sharp words and scored the first hit breaking one of the hybrid fighter’s enchantments but that was all he got the chance to do before Cal closed the distance and broke all three of Fealin’s enchantments. The last one with enough force that he managed to break the mage’s arm even after the shield lessened the impact.

“There was no need for him to hit that hard.” Arianwyn grumbled as she watched the duel end. 

“He got what he deserved.” There were a few surprised looks at Elara not siding with her Fealin. “What? We all heard what he said when the duel started. It might be a fair strategy to bait your opponent but you can’t complain afterwards if it doesn’t work out and you have a broken arm.”  

Both Elara and Arianwyn continued their undefeated streaks. Their Domains backed by their increased Stats and Skills proved their first duel wasn’t a tactical matchup the same way Fealin’s had been. 

“How come you’re fighting Emeris?” Ajax asked Lexi as the arena floor was being restored following Arianwyn’s duel. 

“None of the people we brought with us are a good matchup against Emeris.” Sandor answered the question. “At least not in this duel format. The mages we have would be able to break an enchantment in the time it would take him to set up his Domain but would then get overwhelmed. As for our physical fighters the fight would play out much like your brother’s duel with Deeproot.” 

It was easy to miss but Ajax could see that despite the efforts Sandor was making his prejudice was still showing or he would have addressed Leandra as Lady Deeproot. “You think they’ll do better against Anna or Benedict?” Ajax asked with a smirk.

It was easy to underestimate both Anna and Benedict. Unlike yesterday Benedict had ensured his match was against another physical fighter today where he could really show off the stats he had gained from his delves. Anna however was a complete unknown and Ajax was sure her opponent had written her off as just an above average fire mage born in a powerful family. 

“Is he going to use a Domain as well?” Denisa asked as Lexi and Emeris squared off against each other. It was clear both Elara and Arianwyn had left a memorable impression on the young imperial princess with their Domains and the Empire had some information on Emeris. 

“Yes, they are.” Ajax answered with a maddening grin Xavier recognised from his uncle as Lancel announced the start of the duel. 

“They?” Denisa frowned in confusion as she looked at him. 

“Did Duke Manashaper figure it out?” Sandor however was quick to figure out what Ajax had ment and he focused on the duel that had just started.

Both Lexi and Emeris started off by unleashing their Domains. While both of them had put about the same amount of Mana into it the Domains were different in size. Emeris’s Domain was twice as big as Lexi’s whereas hers was twice as dense with Mana. 

“A desert Domain.” Ajax raised his eyebrow as he used [Sense Mana] to pick out fire, wind and earth Mana from Emeris’s Domain. “I thought he favored fire and wind more.” 

“She really has a Domain.” Sandor muttered to himself as he watched Lexi. 

Lexi put Emeris on the defensive as soon as the spells started flying. Ajax had to admit that when it came to defensive spells the elf was surprisingly capable. Both mages had similar stat totals though Emeris did have more of them invested into his Mental stats since he was a higher level but Lexi’s extremely attack orientated Domain forced the elf into pure defence and even that wasn’t working out for him. 

A minute into the duel Emeris had already lost two of his defensive enchantments and he had finally managed to throw out a counterattack that was just barely strong enough to break the first of Lexi’s enchantments.

“You got one that’s not bad.” Lexi said with a sweet smile after she finished chanting the spell she was sure would end the fight.

“Fight’s not over yet.” Emeris said as he finished chanting another sand shield. 

“Yes it is.” Lexi said as she snapped her fingers while using as much Mana as she could safely control from her Domain to amplify and direct the vibrations into an attack, not just that but she had launched the spell with some of the Vibration Mana she had attuned from her pool thanks to the beholder’s boon. 

“That’s a fourth Mana affinity.” Clark said as he focused on Lexi, the young champion knew that the more affinities were included into a Domain the more dangerous that Domain became.

The shockwave smashed through Emeris’s defenses, took out his final enchantment and still had just enough left to launch him off his feet and land him on his ass, not hard enough to really hurt him but enough to prove a point. Emeris had put as much Mana as he could into those earth shields but it simply wasn’t enough, after all Vibration was a Legendary Mana type.