The Wish Game

The Showdown at the Castle

I put on the protective gloves and sighed at my condition. “This one stint caused me a lot of trouble. Mineva’s gonna kill me.” The scratches in the face were left open and actually had dried up. I didn’t activate my presence concealment and began to move ahead.

After walking for a while, I saw that the landscape began to change. Instead of the sandy desert, it was more concrete below the feet and broken walls began to emerge. “What kind of place is this?” I mumbled and stopped to have a break. I drank some water and tried to sense anyone’s presence.

There was no one around and no signs of any ambush. Satisfied, I continued walking and the walls began to get bigger and bigger. ‘I wonder if Paras is alive, I told him not to die before I kill him.’ I thought as I finally reached an archway that looked like an entrance.

I went inside and the place looked like a castle’s ruin, completely covered with moss and algae. The interior was almost a maze and after considerable effort, I managed to reach what looked like the terrace.

“This place seems good,” I said to myself and sat down thinking of a strategy. I took out twelve contestants already, so in the worst-case scenario, there would be thirteen left. “So, let’s begin the endgame. Plant and Activate Trap Magic.”

I began planting different trap spells in the periphery of the courtyard. These weren’t those spells that I used earlier. Since I had a lot of time in hand, I used it to cast highly sophisticated and complex spells. The process took about an hour and cost almost all my magic.

I went to the highest platform of the castle and sat on a broken piece of wall. “Now for the bait.” I smiled and thought of Mineva’s reaction to this stupid strategy. ‘Have you gone insane? I’ll have the healer check you for insanity, you stupid…’ I chuckled as the thought crossed my mind.

I had my suit give me an illusion crystal. I recorded the message that my illusion would say and buried the crystal in the ground. “And now…” I yelled as I stomped on the crystal, activating it. A gigantic illusory image of me came out of the crystal and said the recorded message.

“If any i***t is listening to this message, then I suppose you’re probably hiding in some dingy corner. Cause if it weren’t so, someone like you would’ve been dead by my hands. I am at the summit of the castle’s ruin, come and get me if you dare. I am waiting…”

The message paused for a while and continued, “I don’t think anyone here has enough guts to come and face me head-on. After all, you more coward than idiotic, so have my good luck from the summit of castle’s ruin.”

I waited for quite a long time looking at the trap display and wandering back and forth the small platform. I whispered to myself, “I don’t know if anyone would take that challenge seriously.” The wait almost lasted for two hours and I seriously thought of leaving.

“Maybe it was worth nothing,” I mumbled and prepared to leave when the trap display showed triggering of a trap. “Huh…” I looked again carefully as traps began to be triggered one by one.

“It worked,” I said and went to the edge of the platform to see almost eleven people fighting desperately against my zombie spawning and spike traps. I smiled at their struggle and muttered, “So they are idiots.” Someone among them seemed to notice me and threw a spear at me.

I dodged the spear and retreated, sitting on the same piece of wall and waited for the battle to be over. I removed the trap monitor and focused on the screams and clangs of the weapons. “Please end fast.” I prayed for the struggles of the others to end fast.

The noises ceased soon, but I didn’t have the courage to go and look at the c*****e. I just sat there, waiting for an announcement about the end of the nationals but it never came. A voice came instead, “How disgraceful! You set up all those stupid traps but don’t have the guts to see their effectiveness.”

I turned towards the direction from where the voice came. “Where are all that guts you were talking about?” The owner of the voice showed himself as he came up the platform. “So, you’re alone? Paras…” I asked and he replied, “Yes, I am. You don’t even know what I had to see.”

I knew it must’ve been grotesque, but I tried to be indifferent, “Why should I know what you had to see? You’re about to die as well, so why should I care?” His expression changed to rage and he shouted, “We’ll see that!!!”

“Supreme Fire Magic – Phoenix Slash.” He cast a very powerful spell and I began a counterspell. “True Earth Construction Magic – Golem’s Cricket.” His magic formed a giant flame phoenix while mine formed a giant earth golem.

Both magic entities moved towards each other, his phoenix, however, flew faster than my golem. I counted as the golem punched the phoenix, “One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and you’re gone for a Six.” The golem’s sixth punch landed on the ground and as the two entities disappeared, they created a smokescreen between us.

“If long range won’t work then…” Paras shouted and charged at me with his sword. I immediately drew out two daggers and began to parry his attacks. His every strike was parried at the cost of one set of daggers.

But due to the fact that they are made using magical power, I had a seemingly unlimited supply of them. The game continued for a while before we were locked in an overhead block. He gave a treacherous smile and said, “I don’t even remember how many sets of those knives I have broken.”

“68 complete sets, meaning 544 knives,” I replied trying to push against his sword. “I have a series of upgrades, we can go on whole life and this will never end. I have unlimited blades, this is just a war of attrition.” I added, trying to build some frustration but he instead put more pressure on the sword.

Our block broke as his sword destroyed my daggers and went through. I backed off to avoid the tip of the blade but he dropped the sword and instead grabbed my arms, preventing me from taking out any more daggers. “What are you doing?”

“Even though you have infinite daggers, you still have only two hands.” He grinned, his eyes brimming with the joy of victory as he said, “Supreme Plant Magic – World Tree.” It was the same spell that caused my defeat in the second test.

The plant vines emerged from the ground and began to grab me. The vines completely wrapped my body only leaving my head partially free. I saw as he grabbed his sword and walked towards me, “As much as I’d like to kill you by your own mechanisms, I could not bring myself to commit such barbarity. Instead, I’ll kill you with one decapitation strike.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” I tried my hardest to move but couldn’t. In that position, I wasn’t even able to cast a spell. ‘I’ll use it now.’ I thought and grabbed the vines by the palm of my hand. A bright light shone as the magic from the world tree spell was absorbed by me.

Paras stopped in his tracks and squinted as he was blinded by the light. Within minutes the vines were completely gone along with the light. I saw him as he opened his eyes with shock, “What was that?”

I winked, “A new type of skill I made, it’s called Magic Absorption. Customized for battle against you.” He gave me a sour look and said, “You’re such a trickster.” I teased him, “What happened? Impressed already? Then how about this…” I began casting another spell and just in case that he tried to attack me, I had my magic resistance at maximum.

“True Trap Magic – Destiny’s Trap,” I shouted as magic came upon me. “I saved this one for this instant only. Anyone who’s responsible for my death will die as well.” He watched me as the spell disappeared, connecting our destinies in a one-way path.

He suddenly dropped his sword and I too purged all dagger holders. We said in unison, “Weapons are stalemate. Magic is of no use. Then, let’s settle this by brute strength.” We charged at each other punched the other one in the face.

The impact had both of us back out. “Never thought that a scrawny girl like you could dish out such a powerful punch.” He said and I shot back, “Who are you calling scrawny you plum?” We exchanged blows and insults for quite a while.

We paused for a break as we ran out of stamina at the same time. Even though we weren’t holding anything back, neither I nor he took any considerable long-lasting damage. I took off my gloves and looked at my arms, “What’s going on?” I whispered as there wasn’t even a scratch.

I jumped on my feet and turned to see that he was also ready. “When did you recover?” I asked surprised and he taunted, “I never

trusted that you’ll honor your words, so I was alert.” The taunt got me as it meant that he could’ve struck me down anytime he wanted.

“Why you…” I gave into my rage and charged towards him. This time though instead of going even, I got into a disadvantaged situation. ‘Mineva told me that he always manages to overpower me because he knows how to catch me off-guard.’ I thought as the brawl continued.

I disengaged and looked at the manipulative and victorious smile. ‘Calm down, calm down…’ I said to myself, slapping myself. He didn’t attack me, the whole time I took to convince myself. I asked, “Why didn’t you take the opportunities and strike me down?”

He gave a carefree smile and said, “I am an honorable man, and no matter what, I won’t attack a woman from behind.” I crouched down and said, “Activate all trap magic.” It was an area effective command that enabled every single trap on the platform.

I couldn’t place any high specs traps there and there were only mid-level spawning traps that summoned any random monster. There were seven such traps and as soon as they activated, Paras ran towards his sword and began fighting the monsters.

For anyone of his caliber, those monsters were nothing more than distractions. I collected my daggers and sighed, “These might be the last ones.” I was continuously using my magic to summon the monsters and that meant I was running short on the material to produce daggers.

I charged on the sword-swinging Paras while he’s distracted by the monsters. “Are you mad? These are trap monsters; they’ll attack you as well.” He shouted as he saw me approach with my eight daggers. “I am the trap master and one of the finer details about trap magic is that the caster is immune to his own spells. So, I can even do this…” I shouted as I phased through a monster to attack with eight daggers held between my fingers.

He deflected the attack and said, “So be it. Self-enhancement magic – Amplification.” After a multi-pronged scuffle that lasted for about ten minutes, Paras managed to overcome the assault and slammed me against the ground.

The shock shattered my concentration and the traps seized. I rose to my feet comforting my head which hit the ground very hard and was bleeding. “So, you know enhancement magic as well,” I asked noticing that I lost all the daggers.

“You weren’t the only one who prepared for this engagement. I also came prepared for your cowardly traps and anything that you can throw at me.” He said and held the sword in front of me. I taunted him, “Where’s your honor, Mr. Honorable?”

He didn’t waver and said, “You just showed that you don’t have any honor or any respect for it. So, I’ll deal with you in your language.” He pulled the sword to his ear and charged towards me. I ducked and dodged his strikes while using any opening to strike him in hand-to-hand combat.

“Honor means nothing to me…that’s because I don’t care about anyone or anything other than me. You fight for your honor and family name, I fight only to survive and I’ll use any underhanded trick to win.” I shouted as we went all out against each other.

“So, you’re going all out. Well, I think I should go all out as well. It’ll be insulting for me to hold back.” I said and used the last of my magic to cast a spell. “True Self Enhancement Magic – Magic Enlightenment. 5%”

I could feel the reserve magic flow through me and I sprung into action. “Let’s Dance…” I charged towards him and outmaneuvered his sword. “Even with enhancement magic, you’re too slow.” I taunted him yet again, trying to get bigger openings.

As we disengaged he cast another spell, “Weapon Enhancement Magic – Full Realization…” His sword engulfed in a pale yellow aura and he began attacking me, with more ferocity and speed. “Jeez…He’s fast now.” I cursed as I went into back foot. “True Self Enhancement Magic at 10%.” The magic flow in me increased and I leveled the field.

But there was something about his sword that was giving me a strange gut feeling. I suddenly wanted to destroy his sword and the urge of destruction was strangely unique; I never felt it. “What is this creepy feeling? It’s coming from that sword. I don’t know why but I must destroy it.”

I stopped for the briefest moment and hesitated. He perhaps sensed my hesitation and attacked me without any. “Twenty Percent…” I shouted and countered his enhanced slashed with my bare hands. His expression changed to surprise as I punched his sword and broke it. “Take this.” I hit him with a palm strike on his chest and sent him flying towards the stairs.

“Aah…” I groaned with pain as the magic flowing through my body was just at the limit to which I could bear at the moment. “Any further and my body will break itself. But…” I looked towards the stair as Paras came back up. “No, it can’t be.” I was shocked to see him almost fine as if my entire attack was negated.

I gritted my teeth both due to the pain of the spell and frustration and he pointed out. “You aren’t the only one to have pinpoint defenses. My armor absorbs any physical attack that might come as a shock.” He was grinning to his ears and I was getting madder every passing moment.

“Damn you. I’ll kill you.” The sudden surge of rage diminished the pain as I went to full throttle at the current output. He matched me blow to blow and used his armor to absorb any blow that went past his defenses. His armor was a strange one though, every hit destroyed some part of it but the next moment it rebuilt itself.

“You’ll have to go beyond this if you have to win. But I don’t want to drag this, so take this as a gift.” He said as we wrestled against each other. “What gift?” I retorted and he ducked, throwing my balance off guard and throwing me off the platform saying, “An easy, quick and painless death.”

We were fighting at the highest point of the castle and this cliff must’ve been at least 200 meters away from the summit. It was a guaranteed death, I was pretty sure that there was no way to survive the fall until a dangerous thought came into my mind.

I looked at the top as Paras came to the edge looking at me with sadness and perhaps pity. I felt hope after I made my mind to execute that dangerous plan. ‘If it failed, I’ll die but I’ll die even if I don’t try so why not make a shot.’ I thought as I reconfigured my body for landing.

My feet went below and I braced myself for the shock as I cast my perhaps final spell, “True Self Enhancement Magic – Full Release…” I hit the ground and felt a tremendous jolt going through my body. All of my magic energy was rerouted to my feet to absorb and redirect the shock.

“It’s not over yet,” I shouted as I went flying up the same path. It was a thrilling experience and I clenched my fist to redirect any remaining energy to my fist. “Yeaaaaaaahhhhh…” I shouted savagely as I came near the frozen Paras and hit the platform with my punch.

The platform broke as I went through it and Paras right in the chest through his armor. “I’ll see if you can survive this.” With a massive shockwave that destroyed the ground beneath us completely, Paras was sent flying to the other end of the courtyard while I rolled down the stairs into the courtyard.

I looked at him lying there for a few moments before the pain from my legs and right arm wrecked my body. “I am broken…” I muttered as I looked at my tattered battle suit which tried its best to protect me in those blasts of concentrated magic energy. The pain continued to intensify until I passed out due to it.