Chapter 217: Mysterious Pink-Haired Girl (Part 1)
After more than twenty combat matches ended, the tournament went to an intermission of a few minutes, giving me time to get to my post as it would be my turn to be the judge.
I saw that the other referee was holding a staff in his hands at all times, so I took my bo in order to copy the veteran.
The reason they had their weapons out while judging the match was so that they could stop the fight quickly in case it got out of hand, and while I didn’t really need my bo with me, I took it out for the sake of it.
The first few rounds were relatively easy, with the combatants either getting pushed out of bounds or surrendering after spending most of their MP.
Don’t get me wrong, I was glad that I didn’t have to do anything rash as the referee, but I definitely expected some fights to get more heated later on in the finals.
Yuki had her first battle while I was there, with her opponent being a graduate student from Kyotora.
When she stepped into the arena, I looked up at the royal stand, where the king and queen were watching the match, and saw their looks of disdain for their daughter.
The concubines and other step-siblings weren’t allowed in the same area as the king, so they were watching the fights from inside the castle, where they were also being transmitted, thanks to Headmaster Lang.
"Begin!" I shouted, making Yuki’s opponent instantly rush at her with his sword raised.
However, the man’s movements were suddenly halted as his own shadow popped out of the ground and ensnared his arms and legs, binding him in place.
With focus in her eyes, Yuki used wind magic to propel herself across the arena, reaching the man who couldn’t get away from the grip of his own shadow and punching him in the face with a wind-charged fist.