Taming My Vampire Servant - Chapter 171

…

There were only six days left before the Servant Competition. Most of the students who wanted to win resumed their training, while a few decided not to participate.

Like before, Ivory and her two Servants trained by the gulf shore. They were not yet aware what terrain would be assigned to them on the first stage of the competition, and they talked about it while waiting for the tuna to be grilled for their lunch break.

“According to the rules, there will be four possible terrains: Forest for Earth element, Torched Pillars for Fire element, Pond Bank for Water element, and Windy Mountains for Air element,” Ivory explained, “These will be randomly selected once the principal picks a colored marble from a bowl.”

“It will be up to fate, then,” Lycus uttered.

Sigmund crossed his arms, “If you get either the torched pillars or the windy mountains, you’ll have an advantage, because those are the main elements of your manas.”

She nodded, “Now the problem is, who am I going to fight first, and what is that person’s weakness?”

“Let’s assess your strong classmates,” Lycus suggested. He pulled out a small scroll from his back pocket, “I’ve secured a list of your classmates’ information, plus their Servants.”

“How smart. Nice move,” Sigmund complimented and chuckled. He read the scroll with Ivory.

“So…. who among my classmates should I watch out for?” Ivory scanned the names listed on the scroll.

“Watch out for Rich boy,” the Vampire said. “The Ice brat as well. He almost killed you back then. Plus, he already mastered the Water element in ice form.”

“For Caspian Reagan, I can use fire against him. But our victory might lie on how we can outwit him,” Ivory checked each Master and Servant, and checked which one would be the strongest and the most challenging opponent as well as their possible weaknesses. “This Diamond Golem Servant, I might have a hard time with it.”

“Hmm…” he read the name of the Master, “He’s the clumsy boy who always trips as if there’s an obstacle somewhere down his feet. I think you can handle him if he’s going to be your enemy. The Servant may be your weakness, but if the Master does not do well, you can still win.”

“Still, I will remember him. Fire and Wind might not be able to give a lot of damage to him,” she continued to unroll the bottom part of the scroll. “Hmm, Clown Spirit? What’s that?”

“Ah, the creepy Servant who summons daggers out of his cloak… I met them back when I found the black gemstone in Rubia town. The Clown Spirit Servant’s Master and that spear guy helped me.”

“Spear guy?”

The Vampire pointed at his name, “The guy who had a Shadow Horse Beast Servant.”

Lycus informed them, “By the way, Shadow Beast Servants are agile and they can easily hide their tracks. In your class, there are two Shadow Beast Servants, a horse and a tiger.”

“Tiger? You mean that cute black cub when in its inactive state?” Ivory asked.

Sigmund nodded, “The Master of that cub was one of the women who bet on your graduation. She was the one who gave 500 silver coins to annoying Arcea.”

“I see…” she muttered as she read more on the scroll. Although she knew the faces of her classmates and some of the Servants, most of them weren’t sociable enough to have a conversation with her.

“I heard the two support specialization students in the Blue Gem section forfeited the competition, so there will only be sixteen who will compete within your section. The winner in Blue Gem will fight with the champions in the Green Crystal, Yellow Shard, and Red Stone sections,” Lycus explained.

“I do not know my classmates that well, since I have only spoken frequently to Arcea and Lucius. Oh, and Zephie too.”

“That woman, Zephie… Until the graduation ceremony, her butterfly nymph Servant kept on bugging me to be friends with him. He even offered an apple juice after putting three spoons of sugar…” he narrowed his eyes on his companions when they laughed at Sigmund’s story.

After their discussion, Ivory realized that she shouldn’t lower her guard. She didn’t get any awards or recognitions, but she was already expecting that her grades would be lower than the others because of her poor performance during their first year. She almost got expelled before, but she stood her ground.

She had a lot of enemies, and in the Servant Competition, her friends could be her enemies as well.

But she shouldn’t give up. Whoever her first opponent would be, she’d never let him or her have an advantage over her, even for just a second. She swore to the heavens, she would do everything to win the competition. Besides, her victory would be for the Sprucemint family, who took care of her all these years.

…

The day of the long awaited Servant Competition came. The gates were opened to the public so that they could watch the big event. The strict gatekeepers were busy checking their identification scrolls, especially that this was a special day. As expected, many people wanted to witness it.

It was because it came to the people’s knowledge that during Ivory and her batchmate’s first year’s orientation, the Goddess had openly blessed them with orbs of holy light. It was an indication that she had given her approval for a competition to be held after their batch’s graduation. The people were very curious about what kind of magic abilities they had.

Everyone gathered inside Qawiun Academy’s coliseum that morning. The arena was renovated especially for this special competition. It became wider since it could now accommodate ten times more people than before. The stage, where the students would duel, also became wider for the graduates to have a maximum experience of the terrains.

Everything was set, including safety magic barriers which would protect the audiences from any type of magic that would possibly fly towards them unintentionally. The Educators were already positioned around the arena because they would be the ones who would change the terrain later on, using a secret magic technique exclusively taught to Educators.

The principal appeared after the seats were all filled. While using a conical object to amplify his voice, he spoke, asking them to settle down and keep quiet.

With full energy, he announced that the Blue Gem section would be the first to have a heated competition. After a loud cheer from the audience, the graduates of the first section lined up at the side of the arena, nervous about who would be the first competitors.

“I will now announce the first battle!” While looking away, he picked a marble from a jar. He examined its color. Seeing that it was of red hue, he then said, “The first battle’s terrain would be… Torched Pillars! And the first to battle each other is…”

He unrolled the scroll that was previously given by the Educators, “Miss Ivory Sprucemint and Miss Arcea Knightwing!!! Please come here onstage!”

The audience cheered loudly, but the two close friends, with widened eyes, looked at each other dazed and confused.