/
The four of us who made it to the semifinals were me and Julian, plus Berg and Kaisaf.
The winner will be determined with two matches remaining.
As it was the semi-finals of the four major festivals, the auditorium was packed.
And me and Julian’s match is first.
We are facing each other silently in the venue with loud cheering.
No words needed.
I mean, we just don’t have anything to talk about with each other.
“
Fight!”
I moved after I heard the announcement of the start.
Running in an arc from Julian.
“The Great Fireball 
!”
I shot my magic toward Julian.
“Thunderbolt.”
*Doooooooooom!*
Our magic clashed.
Even if it is rudimentary level magic, it is quite powerful.
“Hellfire, Ifrit!”
The greatest fire magic I have — Ifrit.
Without giving him time to catch his breath, the flames attacked Julian, swallowing up his surroundings.
“Black Wall.”
Julian generated a semicircle of black walls to protect himself and prevent the flames.
And,
“Wall Stitch.”
A number of tentacle-like objects of the same color emerge from the black wall.
They were closing in on me, trying to entangle me.
—Body Enhancement!
The tentacles moved faster than I thought they would, and I have to do my best to escape from them.
All the while.
“Thunderbolt!”
Julian unleashed his magic without pause.
“Fuck.”
The tentacles move as if they have a will, so it seems that one person is dealing with two people.
“Fireball!”
The attack seems to work on the tentacles as well, burning the incoming tentacles.
But there are too many of them, and the tentacles keep growing.
At last, there was no place to escape from the venue and we were surrounded by tentacles in all directions.
“Scorching Flame!”
This generates flames around me.
It’s my own take on the magic that Kaisaf used before.
It burned away the tentacles that were closing in on me.
And.
“Earth, rise up!”
—DODDODDODD
The earth rose up toward Julian’s feet.
“Thunderbolt!”
Julian smashed the raised ground with a single blow.
—In this moment of offense and defense, the tentacles were closing in right on us.
There’s no end to this.
There’s no point in running away and burning it.
Then let’s ignore it.
—Body Enhancement!
I kicked the ground as hard as I can.
“Gravitational pull!”
Maintaining the momentum of my initial speed, I quickly closed the distance between me and Julian.
And.
“Iron Fist
!”
I thrust my fist out toward Julian.
However, Julian lightly avoided my fist and turned himself around.
And.
“Go to —— and let the darkness in.”
In an instant, my vision was filled with black.
‘What, what, 
?’
Nothing is 
 visible.
The cheers of the crowd that could be heard earlier were now completely absent.
A silent, pitch-black world.
They say that people are afraid of the dark.
I know what that means now.
I realize how grateful I am for the light.
I felt something clinging to my body as I could clearly hear only my own breath.
Probably tentacles.
—Body strengthening!
With a large movement of my body, I shook off the tentacles and moved around, trying to escape the darkness.
“You can’t run away from
”
No matter how far I move, the darkness still follows.
Then

“
gravitational release.”
Even if the darkness was enough to cover the entire venue, it would not be able to cover the sky.
I tried to use my gravity magic to fly through the air.
But.
“What 
?”
My magic control was not good and I was knocked to the ground from a slightly floating position.
And then a shadow clung to my body as I fell.
“Fuck.”
I tried to forcefully untie them, but the tentacles clung to my body one after another.
Then, finally, my whole body is restrained.
“Strengthen
!”
I’m trying to shake off the shadows as fast as I can

“Stick with 
 and 
.”
The tentacles were as hard as steel, binding me.
“I don’t go easy on people like Natalie, and of course, I don’t let my guard down.”
Julian spoke to me from somewhere.
“Where are you
?”
I moved my eyes to find Julian.
But I don’t see anything 

“It’s no use, this is a world where no light can penetrate at all, now let’s end it —don’t hate me if you become a cripple.”
I felt something touch my forehead, and at that moment

—Damn.
An instinctive fear.
And then a feeling of disgust creeped into my body.
“St- oo- 

”
Then.
“Aaahhhh!”
Something came into my mouth.
A heavy, creepy foreign object.
The foreign substance slowly invaded my body to torture me—and I lost consciousness.