Martial Magic Tournament (1)

Every year on the twenty-seventh of April, the empire commemorates Emperor Louis Fermont's founding and coronation. On this day, every province in the empire holds grand celebratory ceremonies, with the three-day Martial Magic Tournament being the highlight of the festivities.

The so-called Martial Magic Tournament is a large-scale competition to test the cultivation level of young people. Youngsters under eighteen within the province, whether they practice magic or Battle Qi, can sign up to participate.

The top three finishers in the provincial tournament will have the opportunity to participate in the Martial Magic Grand Event held next month in the imperial capital, Koennas Ancient City. The king will personally observe the grand event and reward the winners.

It is said that if a commoner can rank among the top three in the imperial capital's grand event, they might even obtain a noble title on the spot, forever changing their status. Unfortunately, over the past century, this rule has become little more than a decoration—even within the provincial Martial Magic Tournaments, very few commoners have managed to stand out.

As the birthplace of Emperor Louis, for the first few centuries after the empire's founding, the young people of Tesri Province consistently achieved remarkable results in the Martial Magic Grand Event. However, in the decades since the Marquis of Eli became the lord of Dorn City, the province's glory has faded. Some whisper in private that this is due to the city lord's improper governance. Of course, no one dares to openly criticize.

Starting from mid-April, the Tesri Magic Academy was filled with the atmosphere of the upcoming tournament. Professors in their lectures began to intentionally or unintentionally share practical combat experience and strategies, while student groups discussed and studied past exciting battle examples.

However, overall, the magic academy students were not optimistic about the tournament results. As Mr. Victor said, competitions between magic apprentices and squires are always more difficult for the former. The fact that in the imperial capital's grand events over the years, squires have far outnumbered magic apprentices is clear proof.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with Donald. Aside from going to Dorn City once in the middle of the month to check on the loli sisters' work and enduring that dwarf's torment twice, he continued to live a highly regular life.

Magic is indeed mysterious and wonderful, but the process of learning magic is incredibly tedious. Tasks like drawing runes, practicing constructing magic models, and meditating all require countless repetitions to achieve proficiency and improvement.

Even for Donald, this tedium was a form of torment. But just as he treated meticulous work in the library as a kind of cultivation, he now regarded overcoming this boredom as another form of training.

So it wasn't until Wesley reminded him that he remembered tomorrow was the Martial Magic Tournament.

"I still think you should beat Carl up. I kind of regret not signing up now. I miss the look on Carl's face when he gets beaten," Wesley said. He wasn't usually combative, but for some reason, he couldn't let go of the idea of beating Carl.

"Then go up there for me. With your Intermediate Magic Apprentice strength, you might even take first place," Donald replied. He knew Wesley had advanced a month ago and had recently been attempting to construct a complex thirty-six-element attack magic, a spell only intermediate apprentices could master.

After over a month of practice, Donald's Twelve-Element Defense Magic had become as smooth as his six-element magic, usable at will. He could achieve this in such a short time not only because his cultivation of all five elements boosted his Spiritual Power, but more importantly, after a month of meditation, his water and fire Divine Elements had both neared three hundred, and he was on the verge of advancing.

Donald calculated that after the three-day Martial Magic Tournament, he should be able to advance to Intermediate Magic Apprentice. He hadn't yet decided whether to practice other low-level apprentice spells to proficiency or directly learn intermediate apprentice magic.

Lucia had finally come to find Donald, but Captain Kaz was always shadowing her, so the two never got to be alone together.

On the morning of the twenty-seventh, over two thousand teachers and students from the magic academy boarded hundreds of carriages, forming a long convoy heading to Dorn City. Lucia did not appear.

When the magic academy crowd arrived at the tournament venue, the packed masses automatically parted to make way. Donald followed the group into the huge open-air arena, hearing thunderous cheers. It seemed that although the Knight Academy had better results in past tournaments, the public still favored the magic academy.

Inside the arena, tens of thousands of ordinary citizens sat in the distant upper seats. The front area was divided between the province's two academies, with over half occupied by nobles.

In the front row of the noble section, the twin sisters sitting beside Adarua waved vigorously at Donald as he entered. He waved back while wondering how they ended up there. Then he immediately recalled Natia Vida congratulating him through the king at the start of the semester. It seemed these northern visitors held considerable status in the empire.

Once everyone from the magic academy was seated, the tournament finally began.

Since lower-grade magic academy students had at most just condensed their Divine Elements and couldn't cast spells, no one would sign up to compete. Knight academy students, regardless of grade, could all sign up, so the tournament started with matches between lower-grade knight academy students. After that, the subsequent pairings would be drawn by lot.

The matches between lower-grade knight academy students involved many participants and lacked spectacle, so they were held simultaneously in a dozen small areas marked out in the arena, with one-on-one duels.

This was the first time Donald saw Richard and Kelly in their standard armor. After over half a year of knight training, Richard had grown even more robust, looking quite imposing in his armor. Kelly, in her specially tailored female armor, appeared tall and athletic.

Their opponents were not strong. Richard overpowered his opponent with sheer strength after a few clashes and won. Kelly used light footwork to dodge for a while, then tricked her opponent off balance and kicked him out of the arena.

After winning, both waved toward the magic academy stands. Though they couldn't spot Donald's exact location, they knew he was there.

Several more rounds followed, producing the top eight. Richard advanced smoothly, and Kelly also made it through, though not without some close calls. This surprised Donald a bit.

After this, these eight lower-grade students, along with fifty-six higher-grade knight academy students and sixty-four magic academy students, would be mixed together for a draw to determine opponents. Until the final eight, the draw would be handled by the tournament officials.

From this point on, the competition area was no longer divided, with matches held one-on-one.

Donald quickly got his draw result: match twenty-seven, opponent was Aubrey, a fourth-year magic academy student.

The matches proceeded quickly. Magic academy versus knight academy, as expected, resulted in more losses than wins.

In the twelfth match, Kelly took the stage. When Donald saw her opponent, he immediately had a bad feeling.

It was Dick, Carl's lackey.

As soon as the match began, Kelly tried to close in on Dick quickly, but his Stone Spike spell was already launched midway, hitting Kelly's armor with a dull thud. Kelly fell with a cry.

As she struggled to get up, another Stone Spike struck her supporting right arm. A scream of pain—Kelly's arm was probably broken.

When Kelly fell, Donald had already stood up from his seat. Hearing her scream, his heart clenched, and he rushed into the arena without regard, even pushing aside the officials maintaining order.

Donald charged into the arena and picked up Kelly. The girl's right arm was clearly broken, twisted at an odd angle. Under the intense pain, her beautiful face was covered in sweat, but seeing Donald's concerned expression, she still managed a forced smile.

Dick wore a relaxed winner's expression, waving toward the magic academy.

Several officials surrounded them, moving to drive Donald out, but Merkel arrived in time and spoke quietly with them.

Donald held the injured Kelly in his arms, with Richard, who had already rushed over, by his side. The three youths from Lant Island stood in the center of this massive arena, looking so lonely and weak.

The young man looked around at the crowd. In his heart, a nameless rage was kindling. He had been avoiding provocation, the survival philosophy of the weak. But this avoidance had only emboldened those hostile to him. This draw result was clearly rigged, and Dick's ruthless attack even after Kelly had lost combat ability must have been ordered.

Since conflict was unavoidable, and he was no longer the weakling he had been half a year ago, it was time to change his stance.

Donald held Kelly tighter and said in his usual gentle tone, "Don't worry, I'm here."

Even though the broken bone had pierced her muscle, even though the pain was unrelenting, the girl in Donald's arms still felt this moment was blissful. Because the young man before her had just rushed over without hesitation, because he had said these words to her.

The girl closed her eyes peacefully. Yes, he was here.

Donald carried Kelly toward the VIP seats. As he passed Dick, he said coldly, "I hope you win a few more rounds."

His tone was so cold it seemed it would freeze solid the moment it left his mouth. Hearing this and seeing Donald's expression, Dick actually felt a flicker of fear. He couldn't understand why he felt this way, especially since in his eyes, Donald was still just an ordinary person who couldn't even condense a Divine Element.

Donald finally carried Kelly to Adarua. In front of the astonished faces of many nobles, he said, "You can do something about this, right?"

"Just a minor injury. A few days of rest and she'll be fine," Adarua replied nonchalantly. In his eyes, a broken arm or leg was nothing to a warrior, hardly worth making a fuss over.

"Adarua." Donald stared straight at the dwarf, his eyes unmoving.

The gnome sisters saw Donald reveal such a cold, even somewhat angry expression for the first time, and felt that this Donald really did resemble the Devil King a bit.

"Uncle Ada!" Both sisters spoke at once, taking out the kind of Green Potion Donald had seen before and feeding it to Kelly.

After Kelly drank the potion, her complexion did indeed ease somewhat.

Adarua suddenly laughed with relief. The youth before him had always performed like those gnome sages, his head full of wild ideas, startling people at every turn. But they all overthought things, hesitant and indecisive. Only now that someone had crossed Donald's bottom line did the emotions he showed finally suit a dwarf's taste.

"That's more like it! Whoever dares touch your people, you kill them dead!" Adarua took Kelly from Donald's hands, and as he supported the girl's broken right arm, a dazzling golden light of Golden Battle Qi flashed. "Don't worry, she'll be fine in a bit."

The VIP seats erupted in commotion, unsure whether they were startled by the strength the dwarf had displayed or by the words he had spoken.

Kelly's injury was just a minor interlude for the Martial Magic Tournament. The competition paused briefly, then immediately continued.

After handing Kelly over to Adarua and the gnome sisters, Donald returned to his seat in the Magic Academy.

"Against him and Carl, don't hold back!" Wesley, sitting beside Donald, said softly. Donald nodded silently.

The twenty-sixth match ended. Donald silently stood up and walked toward the center of the arena.

(Donald the Devil King is about to have his first big outburst! Please recommend, please bookmark!)