Trinity's Tournament Final Round: Valkyrie vs Knight

*Ding Dong Dong Dong*

The bell rang, marking the end of school day. The students in class 3-A started to buzz around and chat with their friends and cliques. Seagren Halver stretched, then proceeded to pack away his stuff.

Today is the big day, the final round for Trinity's Grand Annual Tournament, a friendly competition between the third years of the school. And Seagren is one of the finalists. The previous rounds were pretty boring in Seagren's opinion, his opponents never gave him a sense of thrill. But today is different, since his opponent would be the Indigo Valkyrie aka Valerie Cross, one of the best students in the school and one of his friends. She's also in the same class as him.

Seagren smirked, grabbed his stuff, and walked towards Valerie's desk and asked "Yo, ready for the big fight?"

Valerie stood up with a grin on her face. "Of course, I've been looking forward to this. Walk with me?" she suggested, gesturing him to follow. Though it was a little strange when talking to Seagren, he was one of the only ones that didn't turn competitive and avoid her if she was battling them.

"Sure, why not. You want to go to the cafe?" Seagren asked while walking towards the door. Since he knew that Valerie is a clumsy girl, so he might have to watch out when she trips over while they are walking. He always wondered how Valerie could trip over nothing.

"Sure, it's a date," she said cheerily. Teasing Seagren had almost become second nature to her.

"D-d-d-date?" Seagren stuttered and blush was forming on his cheeks. "W-well anyway, if we want to go to the cafe, we better hurry. The final round begins at 5:00 and it's about 4 right now". He faked a cough to regain his composure and started walking in the hallway.

Valerie sighed before quickly catching up with him.

The rest of the hour was spent eating, talking among many other things until the bell finally rang, alerting everyone of the upcoming match. Whispers filled the area around them. ''Who's going to win. I bet it's Seagren. Nope, it's definitely Valerie! Seagren! He's sooo cute.''

"I guess it's time, well, good luck to you," she spoke, ignoring all the whispers.

"Yeah, you too," Seagren replied.



Seagren waited in the locker rooms for the signal that will tell him when to step outside to the arena. Although he may look calm in the inside, Seagren is screaming in the inside. Valerie's magic is what he was most worried about. Her Souls allows her to fight in so many different ways, while Seagren's magic is primary long-ranged combat. He's seen her Arias Soul and that already is a huge problem. Arias Soul allows her to cast Barrier Magic, and good defense magic. And the biggest problem is that he doesn't know anything about her other two Souls, Umbra Soul and Erdeer Soul.

Seagren sighed and wondered if he was just over-thinking things. He grabbed Twilight and Gravis, hoping that his two weapons can counter Valerie's Take Over.

Valerie sighed, leaning against her locker. While she was looking forward to fighting Seagren, she was nervous at the same time. Her clumsiness often got in the way and had given opportunities to many of her opponents, though they never had enough time to actually defeat her. With a deep breath and a smile on her face, she moved forward to get up, only to end up slipping and slamming her head into the locker, slowly slipping to the floor. Great.



By the time Valerie entered the arena, Seagren was already there, armed and ready.

She waved her hands around, grinning as introductions were made, seemingly gaining a new-found courage from all the cheers.

Set in position and ready to fight, Cross stood still, waiting for the final announcement to be made. Seagren was a powerful opponent with various kinds of magic and equipment, he wasn't someone to be taken lightly. She would have to give it her all.

Soon enough, the buzzer ringed across the arena, signaling the start of the final round. Seagren grinned a little and yelled to Valerie, "I'll be nice and let you make the first move!" Seagren was hoping that if Valerie made the first move, she would use her Take Over magic. He would then counter it somehow using as little magic and energy as possible. If he could drain Valerie's magical energy faster than Valerie draining his energy, the battle could end at Seagren's victory.

However, much to his disappointment, Valerie began the match with physical combat, much like she always did. In an instance, she appeared behind Seagren, using an experimental roundhouse kick. Cross wasn't quite comfortable attacking first as she usually let her opponent do most of the fighting but she would just have to go with it for now. However, what Valerie did understand was that Seagren was mainly a long-distance fighter, and that she could possibly win if she continued fighting close-distance.

Seagren whipped his head back immediately with surprised eyes. And as if time slowed down around Seagren, he quickly bent down to a half-kneeling position and used his left arm, which had Gravis equipped on, to block Valerie's leg. "Oh my, that was dangerous", said Seagren as he drew his pistol and aimed at Valerie. If he could fire Twilight at point-blank range, it should give Valerie some sort of injury. After all, dodging a bullet from this distance is a near impossible feat.

Valerie's eyes widened as she noticed the pistol in his hands. "Arias Soul!" At once, her body glowed, shining at an instance before a girl appeared where Valerie once stood. This was her Arias Soul. She moved to form a barrier but spite of her efforts, was unable to block the magical bullet. It pierced through her right shoulder, staining the white material in thick crimson. She moved back at once, gripping onto her wound as she stared at Seagren to make a move. It was painful and would possibly slow her down but fortunately she was already transformed and so, despite the speed, would slowly heal.

Seagren sighed when he saw Arias Soul. Now this is a problem. Arias Soul can easily nullify most of his attacks. But this is if he was talking about long-ranged combat, which is Seagren's specialty. Most of the time, barriers are set up to defend people from ranged or distanced attacks; meaning that if they were to be engaged in hand-to-hand combat, they will most likely fight with their fists. Seagren's hand-to-hand combat is lacking compared to Valerie, since she is in the Unarmed Combat Department, but he has to give it a try.

Seagren opened the computer within Gravis and reinforced it with Strengthening Magic. After selecting Valerie as the target, the computer showed the number 200, which is quite impressive. "No hard feelings ok?" said Seagren as he prepared a punch. And in the next second, he appeared right before Valerie with Gravis coming towards her.

Valerie quickly moved back, immediately forming a rectangular barrier in front of her. She wasn't quite skilled enough to create a barrier that could completely absorb the blow one-handed. And so, despite it taking most of the brunt, found herself being thrown back by the impact. "Adamant Seal," she muttered, forming two rectangular barriers at either side of Seagren. At once, they moved, going right towards him. This wouldn't be easy to dodge, nor would shatter so easily, Valerie made sure of it.

Seagren destroyed the ground where Valerie was standing at, leaving a small crater the size of Gravis's fist. Just as he stood up straight, two barriers came flying towards him. Seagren had seen this before, Valerie's Adamant Seal spell, quite troublesome. His body and the two barriers slammed onto the arena wall, causing cracks to appear. Due to the immense pain on his back and legs, Seagren fell forward landing on his knees. He didn't know what affect will happen if he is inside the barrier, but he could tell it would put him in a disadvantage. He had to get out of there quickly, but first, he should buy some time for him to heal up. Using a little bit of Strengthening Magic, he somehow managed to stand up. "Since I can't really do anything in this state, can you at least tell me want you plan to do with this barrier?" Seagren shouted to Valerie.

Her eyes widened, she hadn't really thought that far ahead. "It's more of a trap really..." she tried explaining. "The barrier shrinks, getting smaller and smaller until all your bone are crushed and you're nothing but bloody pulp." Ok... maybe that was a bit too sadistic. Valerie wouldn't let it kill him but a few injuries should give her an advantage. It's effects were already taking place, so she would just have to watch for now.

"Wait what?" Seagren had a dumbfounded look on his face. Valerie is a kind girl, so she most likely wants him to gain a few injuries before letting him out of there. The barrier around Seagren is shrinking in a steady pace, but it is coming closer and closer. He had to do something fast. Seagren whipped out Twilight in his left hand (which still had Gravis on) and inputted his eternano into the gun, probably more than he needed to, but he had to break free or else he would be in an disadvantage. Twilight gave off a flashing light at the muzzle, signaling that the bullet is near complete. Seagren was hoping at a bit of Strengthening Magic and Gravis can counter the recoil. He fired Twilight and from the moment he fired, a thin ray of light was unleashed and made its way towards the barrier in high acceleration.

And like glass, the translucent blue shattered into a million pieces, finally freeing Seagren from what could otherwise be his demise. Seagren panted as the stumbled forward. He still has magical power, but not a whole lot. He has to save up his eternano until it recharges again. Seagren could go into close range combat, but he is weak right now, so Seagren loaded his gun with ice bullets, aimed at Valerie, and fired two shots.

Valerie, who herself was quite tired, jumped sideways. However, due to her tired state, was unable to completely dodge the bullets. While not exactly fatal, the ice bullet managed to graze through her left leg. Slowly but noticeably, ice began forming on her leg, growing and growing until it almost completely surrounded her calf. This wasn't good, if this kept up, Valerie would end up losing. Her shoulder wound was healed long enough, she wouldn't have to clutch onto it. And so, with a bright pink shine, she transformed once again; Umbra Soul.

"Is this your Umbra Soul? Looks pretty cool", Seagren said with a grin on his face. But in the inside, he's freaking out. Seagren's knowledge on Valerie's Umbra Soul is a flat zero, while Valerie knows practically everything about Seagren. From the looks of it, Umbra Soul is an agility-based, and cat-based Soul; so he could expect Claw Magic or High Speed to come into play. Seagren readied both of his weapons in a defensive pose, since fighting Valerie now would be a bad idea, especially when he has no information on this Soul.

On normal occasions, she would respond with enthusiasm and appreciation, but this was no normal occasion. At once, she clawed at the ice still growing around her leg, putting much more energy into her fingers then necessary. The ice shattered at an instance, forming a layer of melted ice around Valerie. Now, back to Seagren. She was quite sure that Seagren knew little about Umbra Soul, he had never seen it before nor had many people seen her in action. This would put Cross at an advantage. "So, you've never actually seen Umbra Soul have you?" she asked despite already knowing the answer. At once, Valerie charged at Seagren at an incredible speed, ready to attack full-on. The question was, was he?

Seagren looked surprise as Valerie came charging towards him. He didn't expect her speed to go that fast. Seagren quickly shot more ice bullets, but not towards Valerie, towards the ground before him. His plan was to make Valerie lose her balance on the ice so he can strike before she gets up.

Seagren wasn't one to miss so easily... he definitely had a plan. And so, Valerie responded with a faint muttering of a spell. Suddenly, the world around Halver became pitch black, almost as if he were in a vortex of darkness. The only soul left, floating off into darkness. Until suddenly, the world around Seagren molded back and it was as if nothing ever happened. Valerie still continued charging at him, eyes glowering yellow. However, it seemed as if his plan worked as she slipped onto the ice, slamming her face into the floor beneath her. A pool of blood formed around her head until slowly, she lifted her face up. The sight was truly gruesome. She tilted her mangled face, as if nothing had happened. And then, she did something Seagren wouldn't expect, Valerie started laughing. It wasn't her normal sweet laugh, no. This was... psychotic.

Seagren tried to reason what just happened in the last few seconds. Things got a bit weird; blackness, then suddenly, Seagren was hit by a wave of fear at shock him up quite badly (which explains why he is in a scared pose right now with his eyes looking like he was about to cry). Then light again, then Valerie falling on the ice he created, and finally her deranged laughter that came out from nowhere. "Are...you...okay??" Seagren asked a bit awkwardly and cautiously while offering his hand to her. It wasn't Valerie's nature to laugh like that, but getting hit on the head does sometimes mess people's head up a bit.

No answer came, only a chilling smile. And then slowly, twisting her head at unnatural angles, Valerie crawled towards Seagren.

Seagren backed away a little and put down his hand. He drew his gun once again and loaded a shock bullet that should paralyze Valerie's whole entire body. Seagren aimed at her forehead and said "Ok Valerie, I don't want to do this but please come back to your senses." It's probably no use saying that right now, even Seagren didn't know why he said that.

But she didn't stop, instead, she accelerated her speed towards him. Seagren shot his gun out of fear, but only grazed Valerie's left cheek. "Tch", Seagren reloaded his gun, but then, the crazy girl had vanished. "Wha-?" Seagren was one hundred percent sure that he didn't take his eyes off of Valerie. He paused for a second, listening carefully to his surroundings. "Archive Eye: Thermal Vision", Seagren muttered. His eyes started sending out magic waves in order to detect where Valerie as gone to. He looked around his surroundings, but everything seems to be normal.

He did this for a couple of seconds, until he heard a breathing noise right behind him. He whipped his head behind him but find nothing. But when he did this, he saw Valerie lunging towards him from the corner of his eye. He wanted to shot Valerie again, but is was already to late. She pinned him down and managed to knock Twilight, and somehow Gravis out of his hands. He struggled against Valerie, but she was way more tougher than he thought.

But one thing was weird. Since Seagren is still sending his red magic waves, how come he never detected Valerie? It's near impossible for her to not be found Thermal Vision. And before that, how come she is doesn't appear to be red like how all living creatures would look like under Thermal Vision? Thinking this, Seagren stopped struggling a little and said, "Valerie, you aren't actually here in front me, aren't you?"

"Hmm.. no..." her answer finally came. And suddenly, the world around Seagren shifted once again, spiraling into darkness before molding back into reality. Everything was the same, only with a slightly less eery feeling, oh and the fact that Valerie was exactly in front of Seagren. "Hi," she said blandly before thrusting her hand up in an attempt to claw Seagren's shoulder.

"...!" Seagren tried to push Valerie away, but he was pinned on the ground with unimaginable force. Valerie's claws scratched his left shoulder pretty deeply, he bit his lip to keep himself from screaming in pain; due to the pain, Thermal Vision immediately closed off. Spotting a chance to escape, Seagren immediately scooted away while using his right hand to stop the bleeding on his injured shoulder. Both of his weapons where on the ground away from him, he was at a disadvantage and could lose this round very quickly if he didn't do something.

Valerie had quickly noticed this disadvantage and planned to use it to the best she could. "Night Ray!" she declared, forming a spiraling black ball in her hand. Slowly, it expanded until it grew to twice the size of her hand. Thrusting her hand forward, she released the spell for all it was worth, unleashing a black torrent of darkness at Seagren. She wondered how he would block it, though she was quite certain it would be with a barrier.

"You never give me a break don't you," Seagren muttered. He held up his hand, casting a barrier before him, hoping it would block all or most of Valerie's attack. A near-invisible barrier appeared, just as the black beam rammed onto the barrier.

Valerie grinned as she spoke, "Nope. You're too cute not to." She breathed deeply, channeling magical energy into her hands so as to intensify the beam. However, she quickly stopped, therefore vanishing the ray altogether. This energy Valerie sensed, it was intense...yet oddly familiar. "Hey Seagren, do you feel that?" she asked.

Seagren lowered his hand and the barrier disappeared. "Yeah, I do," Seagren replied to Valerie. He looked around, sensing a huge wave of energy, coming from who knows where. The students in the audience must of also noticed it too, since there was a huge commotion going on in the arena. 'What should we do now?" Seagren asked.

"Ssh, I can hear someone breathing," she spoke, lifting one finger to gesture him to stop talking. It seemed as if all students stopped to her command. Valerie pointed above just below where the judges and announcers were. "There." The breathing was definitely coming from there, but the only problem was that there was no one there. This energy was threatening, and was definitely cause for investigation. And so, Valerie moved her hand again to Seagren in an offer to help him up.

Seagren had no idea that she could hear breathing from here, it's amazing really. He squinted his eyes to where Valerie was pointing to and all he saw was nobody, but the person could be using some kind of invisibility magic. Seagren used Archive Eye's Thermal Vision to scan the spot, and to his surprise, there was somebody there. Seagren grabbed his gun and Gravis from the ground and leaned over to Valerie and whispered, "looks like you are right, there's somebody up there." He raised Twilight towards the spot, and said "should I shoot?"

"Go ahead, my sixth sense tells me that he's dangerous," she spoke, looking intently towards the area in which the person, now confirmed, was. For safe measures, Valerie formed two balls of energy at either side, ready to attack the moment something bad happens. She had a really bad feeling about this. From around her, she could see the others noticed the spike in energy as well, though taking no apparent measures.

Seagren nodded and pressed the trigger. Although the distance was far away from where he and Valerie were standing, his caliber with a gun isn't something to be underestimated. The bullet sliced through the air and disappeared into the shadows. There was no counterattack or any sign of movement. Seagren lowered Twilight, thinking if he actually missed his shot. "I'm going to try again", he said charging another shot and used Strengthening Magic. But just about when he was going to shot, a wave of eternano coming at him. "Wha-", Seagren dodged the attack; but once the eternano made contact with the ground, it exploded, causing Seagren to go flying and panic spread across the arena.

Valerie reacted immediately, shooting up to catch Seagren. She grabbed onto him and jumped down. However, placing her feet in the wrong position, she found herself slipping and falling to the ground. And so, with that failed attempt, Seagren ended up falling anyway... except on Valerie. "Ugh...Sorry."

"Sorry..." Seagren muttered. He stood up and looked over at the explosion site. The blast must of been very powerful, since the crater on the ground was pretty deep. "Sorry Valerie, was I--" Seagren stopped mid-sentence. He saw something, or should he say, someone. Seagren could make out a person in the dark shadows of the entrance to the arena. The person was walking towards him with loud footsteps, as if they want everyone to know that they were coming out.

Valerie got up, choosing not to respond to her opponent's apology, it was really her fault anyway. She watched carefully as step after step, a person walked towards them. By now, everybody was starting to snap out of their confused state, more aware and on-guard. The smoke faded and from it, a man... or rather a teenage boy walked towards them. Normally, Valerie would react immediately, especially in this state, but she found herself frozen in shock. She honestly didn't know what to feel; betrayal, anger, confusion. "Why are you doing this?" Confusion... that was it. Why he would be doing this was beyond her. An aura manifested around her, glowing brightly against the gloomy sky. "Les..."

"Les?" The name sounded familiar, but Seagren couldn't think right now, he's hurt all over the place. Without answering Valerie's question, Les stepped onto the platform and faced the audience. Seagren knew Les was dangerous, but he couldn't move at all, Les's aura was too overwhelming. Feeling powerless, Seagren merely watched Les raised his hand and muttered something under his breath. Just as he finished speaking, a blue glow wrapped around Les, Seagren, and Valerie. Seagren recognized this, it was a barrier. Knowing that this couldn't be good, Seagren raised his gun to Les and said, "don't move!"

"Go ahead," the boy said with a smirk. What happened to him? That sweet little boy that had always greeted Valerie everyday in the sweet he would, he was no longer there, he was... different. His power, it was incredible. Les was never really strong to begin with, and yet, just the sheer force of his aura seemed to crush the ground around them, or atleast what was left of it.

"Tch," Seagren wanted to shoot him, but something about Valerie's expression worried him. He lowered Twilight and glared at Les. "Good choice," Les said with a sneer. The barrier was finished, completely encasing the three on the platform. Seagren had a question lingering in his mind for a while now, but just as he was going to ask, Les suddenly spoke out loud, "Seagren Halver and Valerie Cross, I challenge you to a duel. Two versus one."

Valerie gritted her teeth, starting to understand what was happening. "Well that's a bit cocky isn't it?" Asking for a duel in between their battle was a little annoying, especially in this way.

Well Seagren's question was answered (his question was why was Les doing all of this), but he never expected the answer is a dual. "If you want to dual, you should've picked a better entrance. Besides, the teachers and staff are coming down right now, there would be no dual once they come down," Seagren said whiling pointing at the teachers and instructors that are rushing down from the audience. But Les merely smirked and replied to Seagren in a very cocky tone, "hahahahahaha, you think the teachers could stop me? Don't you remember? The barrier I set up?"

"Even so, they could just break open your crappy barrier!" Seagren yelled. Almost simultaneously, the adults have reached the arena and started casting magic spells against the barrier. But for some reason, Les's barrier didn't break, even with all of Trinity's staff members.

Valerie watched as countless mages joined together, combining their power to create even stronger spells. Yet, nothing seemed to be working. That was... impressive to say the least. "Open the barrier," Valerie ordered. This entire ordeal had managed to completely destroy her mood. "Why would I do that? I already told you what I wanted. I'm going to have that damn battle with you, whether you like it or not. Now fight me so I can show you all my real power." He raised his hand to face Seagren and Valerie, forming a small white ball in front of it, before lunging his hand out. The ball flew towards the two, giving them mere seconds to react.

Valerie's eyes widened. Using the incredible reflexes this soul gave her, she quickly took a hold of Seagren's left arm, jumping sideways just moments before the ball reached them, causing a massive explosion. The sheer pressure was enough to completely send the pair flying, shoving them upwards towards, only to be forced down by the force-field above. And even then the barrier didn't crack.