As soon as the signal was given, chaos broke out inside the arena. Some applicants would madly rush for the first Angel Sphere
TM they could see, while others would instead begin casting their magic--whether to enhance their speed, prepare some kind of binding, or even aim an attack, a multitude of colored lights flashed all over the crowd!
@ReusableSword Rio's twin barriers stopped a pair of fluttering spheres as they ran into the floating shields. As they recoiled from the impact, the halo'd orbs actually seemed to "shake" themselves with a noise like a jingling cowbell, as if they were alive rather than a construct of magic.
However, before the boy could retrieve them, he was suddenly bowled out of the way by an enormous mass! Another broom passed him, its rider clinging to it with all limbs as the bristly staff wobbled under its own speed.
The young man was a veritable giant of muscle, with unruly ginger hair and a smattering of freckles."Sorrreeeeee!!!" cried
Maverick, but he couldn't stop to see if yet another person he'd knocked down would be alright--he was heading straight towards those two spheres that had stopped up ahead! As he held up one trembling hand, the other tightening its grip (the shaft of his broom creaked in protest),
a crackling charge of blue electricity covered his outstretched palm...
@Duthguy Elsewhere in the coliseum, a wild barrage of arrows not only pinged one of the spheres, but sent several of Albie's competitors spiraling out of control. Some of them had to haphazardly dodge the volley, but others were struck by the projectiles and had to quickly recover control of their broom. Albie saw someone else going after the orb he'd hit and leaned forward as he rushed--
only for the other person to grin wildly at him before holding up a palm full of flame! Dark, beady eyes reflected the firelight from a stubbled face as his ponytail drifted in the air behind him.
"Let's see how you like it, huh!?" laughed Gunnar Einsley before releasing his Fire Magic: "March of the Wisps!"
A flurry of small flaming projectiles, like a swarm of fireflies, spread out from the young man's hand before converging towards Albie!
@Remram@SilverPaw Ludo and Solveig had certainly drawn many an eye from both the audience and the captains as they each wasted no time in battling their way to one Angel Spheres
TM apiece. The constructs struggled in their hands as dividing their attention between magic, broom, and prize. But, as both of them had risen above the messy melee going on below, the pair had a clear view of anyone that might come after them from below.
But not from above.
A sudden blast of wind struck Solveig hard from up-and-behind, as if she'd received a full body tackle from a linebacker! As she was hurled towards the ground, spinning end over end, she would see a shadowed figure descending on her with the sun at their back--
Intense, narrow gray eyes glared at her from beneath long, flowing blue hair as Alwin Dawnthorne, free-falling as his broom circled from another direction,
positioned his rapier for a mid-air thrust!"Sonic Thrust!" As his arm sprang out, a magical cavitation shot from the sword so fast it was nearly invisible! It struck the orb in Solveig's hand, knocking it free, and now one of them was falling away from it while the other dove towards it...
Ludo, however, would find himself in little position to help if such a thing occurred to him at all. For while no more attacks came from the sky, an observant opponent chose to take advantage of the moment the Poison Mage was distracted by Solveig and the other noble.
"Slime Magic: Groping Tendril!"
A thick green, translucent tentacle suddenly looped around Ludo's body, pinning his arms to his sides! A second coil covered his own poison-coated hand--but, the purple fluid within simply seemed to mix with the slime, like food coloring dropped into water! As he looked towards the one who had ensnared him, he would see gray, frizzy hair hung over a long, sallow face with hollow blue eyes set in dark sockets. The black, fur-hooded jacket he wore and the jingling chain-belt around his skinny face gave the guy an unwholesome appearance, but that predatory grin on his face was downright creepy.
"Ha! Score one for poor ol' Edward Gedman!" cackled the applicant as his tentacle squeezed tighter around Ludo. "Now, you better let go of that thing before I really pour it on ya!" In many circumstances, against another commoner, Ludo likely would've been able to use his mana to brute force his way out--but, if he attempted to do so, a
strange, cloudy blue substance would pulsate inside Edward's magical slime.
Could there be another commoner here who could match his magic power?
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Tristan had never ridden a broom in his life. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he'd
known it was something he was supposed to be aware of, but in the midst of having to learn swordfighting from scratch as well as managing his less-than-stellar mana reserves it had somehow slipped his memory. Well, there was also the possibility that if he broke his mother's good broom in the attempt she'd have beaten him half to death. But, still, how could he have messed that up?
Nonetheless, he saddled the thing, feeling incredibly stupid as some of the more skilled fliers stood atop the cleaning implements like some kind of...board...that you could...roll around on. Huh, it was weird he didn't have anything to compare it to. But then he channeled his mana into it--more than he intended--and felt himself rising quickly into the air! His balance teetered back and forth, but he managed to stop himself after only doing one roll in place!
Then they were off. Somehow, the rush of adrenaline steadied him as he accelerated, being jostled all the while by the crush of bodies around him. A hail of magical arrows came from somewhere nearby--but luckily, it wasn't near him. Still, he needed to be ready to intercept anything like that. Nervously, he lifted one hand from the broom and formed a shape in his mind.
"Create Sword!" That molten-orange aura again congealed in his hand, and this time produced a plain, cruciform-hilted arming sword. It was just in time too--someone else besides Albie had released a similar array of projectiles, only these were made of ribbon-like water streams. As Tristan slashed through one of them that came too close for comfort, he noted the area covered by the attack. The caster had cleared a bubble of space within the chaos, and at the center of that clearing was one of the Angel Spheres
TM! Tristan dove toward it, lifting his other hand from the broom and gripping for dear life with both legs.
"Oi! Back it up, Red!" Something black appeared in Tristan's peripheral, and he was forced to pull off, barrel rolling away. The weapon slammed into the sphere, knocking it into a long arc just as another mage--a girl with long black hair and sidelocks in a fancy blue dress--tried to get it as well. The three of them all locked eyes with each other at the same instant.
"Idiot! Why knock it away?!" cursed the girl, as another set of those watery ribbons formed around her. The man, who was holding a bat made of black metal, spat over his muscular, bare shoulder. He had a wild mane of dark hair and beast-like hazel eyes, but most notably beneath his sleeveless red shirt he wore a pair of black, wide-bottomed pants and wooden clogs that looked like a foreign style.
"Cause I didn't want you or Red to get it, duh!" snarled the tanned boy. Tristan huffed under his breath and turned his broom--only to see that bat once again aiming for him. He barely managed to block with his sword in time, and both weapons rang out as they vibrated in their owners' hands. "And I'm gonna
keep ya from gettin' it! Maybe I won't beat ya to it--so I'll just
beat ya!"
"Well then--you can both get out of
my way too!" The girl launched her water magic at them again, and Tristan formed another sword in his off hand as he prepared to defend himself--!