Chapter 517: Fourth Fight: Stein & Bernard VS Cathyl & Vheslia 4
Chapter 517: Fourth Fight: Stein & Bernard VS Cathyl & Vheslia 4
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"Heh…"
Despite having been caught in Vheslia\'s trap and then thrown away by her powerful Shadow Beam, Bernard laughed! What was wrong with this man\'s head?! What was inside of his head to begin with?
"Why are you laughing?" asked Vheslia with puzzlement. She didn\'t knew what was up with this man, but it surely meant trouble!
"It was all a rouse." Said Bernard, as his entire body exploded into shadows.
"Eh?! Shadow Clone?!" asked Vheslia.
"The truth is… I never left the shadows!" said Bernard\'s voice rather theatrically, his voice came from a mass of darkness right in front of Vheslia, as another one of him, and another, and another, and another, appeared! While Vheslia noticed that there were two crimson-red eyes looking at her across this shadow…
"Another clone user? I guess they\'re not so rare in this world. Clone Spells don\'t seem so rare and might be widely available around…" said Vheslia.
"Do you think a skinny, weak, and sickly man such as myself would charge up in front? I would rather use my magic for that!" laughed Bernard\'s shadow clones, as another one of him emerged from the darkness,? Vheslia noticed this one was the real one!
But wait a second! Why?
Why did he appeared out if he could be secure inside the shadows?
Bernard smiled as he lifted up his hat with all of his clones, showing his bald head.
"Let be show begin."
FLASH!
All the hats suddenly exploded with shadows shaped as doves, reaching up to Vheslia in no time!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
"You\'re one tricky bastard!" said Vheslia, as she used her Aura Guardians, telling them to wave their waves and unleashed slashing attacks, which sliced through the large flocks of shadow doves…
However!
"Shadow Bomb."
"HUH?!"
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
"Aaaagggh…!"
Suddenly, all the doves exploded, each and every single one of them was a deadly magic bomb, and there were hundreds! The combined explosions generated shockwaves that reached across the entire battlefield, Vheslia was thrown away mercilessly by the explosions, as her body fell over the ground, some of her bones were broken, and she vomited a mouthful of blood, realizing there were several daggers piercing her body!
"W-What…? When?!"
Vheslia was once more left speechless, Bernard was a tricky man! He had put daggers inside his doves, and when he made them explode, the daggers reached up to her in an instant!
She tried to take out the daggers and use her Shadow-attribute healing magic, but she discovered she had a very hard time moving her hands, it felt as if an electric feeling was zapping her muscles on place, making it very painful to move.
She looked into her status and found she was being inflicted with [Severe Paralysis (Poison)]!
Bernard slowly walked towards Vheslia leisurely, smiling cheekily.
"It\'s over now. I\'ve won." He said.
"Nngh…!"
"The moment my daggers touched your body multiple times. It is my victory. There is a toxin in them that won\'t kill you, but might end up knocking you out if they reach the brain. Also, you\'re bleeding out, quickly forfeit so your wounds can be treated." Said Bernard, looking at Vheslia as if she were an inferior being.
The eyes of Bernard towards her, they felt so piercing and intimidating, as if he were saying "you\'re nothing compared to me". And that same glare was the one she always received when she was younger.
Her memories emerged within her mind, as she recalled fragments of her past, when Vheslia used to be a student in the Magic Academy back in Terra. She used the to be looked down upon others because unlike most of the people in the country, who were all beastmen, she was a demon, an outsider, as they called her.
Of course, humans and other races were rare in this country too, but she was the only demon in her entire class, and not even other non-beastmen spoke to her, despite her always trying to approach them.
And to boot, her magic was very strange, she was born with a weird sickness that made her stomach absorb her mana constantly named [Mana Stomach], due to this, no matter how much she tried to conjure elaborate spells, it was impossible due to the constant draining of mana that her stomach did to her mana core. Despite studying so hard the theory of runes, and the magic circles themselves she never was able to conjure powerful spells and had to do with smaller ones.
When the tournaments and competitions between magicians started, she showed off that even with smaller spells she could win, and even beat two students before she was completely obliterated by a talented Blonde Lioness-kin beast-girl named Rebecca Holstein. Her amazing light magic was incredibly potent, and Vheslia was completely overpowered and defeated with a single attack.
"Agh… Ungh… T-That was… amazing!" she said to Rebecca, trying to praise the prideful lioness, but she only looked down on her.
"Don\'t talk to me, demon trash."
"Eh…?"
"You showed that demon her place!"
"Well done!"
"That\'s how it\'s done…"
"At the end, that demon will never be able to become a true magician."
Vheslia suddenly felt like crying back then, especially because she had come to this academy and had worked so hard to get here her entire life since her mother died out of the same sickness she had.
She remembered how she had promised her mother she would become a great magician one day. The best there could be, no matter the sickness that was destroying the life of their family…
She covered her head with her witch hat, as tears began to come out in that time…
As she thought she would always be alone, someone came to her.
"Hey, you\'re pretty good. You beat two of them with just low-level spells? That\'s amazing."
"Eh?"
A tomboyish red-headed fox-girl greeted her sight, looking down at her with a smile.
"Come on, stop crying… Here." She said, extending a hand.
…
"VHESLIA! DON\'T GIVE UP!"
"Ah…!"
Gwendolyn\'s expression woke up Vheslia from her daze, as her eyes opened wide. She couldn\'t hear her across the barrier, but she could see her, she was saying her name, and to not give up…
She cannot give in now, not after she had accomplished so much.
Not yet!
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