Annabelle’s Bastion

The firebolt temporarily silenced the crowd, a surprise attack that left many in anticipation of the effects.

Heat pressed against her forearms as a black pulse spread across Anna’s arms and even her upper body—a significant portion of her mana instantly disappeared. Her barrier cracked like a near-broken plate, a terrifying sound heard by all.

Once the explosion faded and the heatwave passed, Anna lowered her arms while checking them for damage. She collected her breathing, attempting to calm her racing heart.

“That—” Anna stopped, a shiver running down her spine as she swallowed a nervous lump.

If that had hit through her barrier, how badly would she have been injured?

She was completely unharmed. But a firebolt from a new mage nearly shattered her barrier? That realization scared her more than the attack. They needed to teach them how to improve it.

“Wha—” Jared’s voice came from a short distance away.

Anna was just as surprised! Her barrier was obviously stronger than the combat class, as that firebolt was far stronger than Jared’s punch. Still, she could absolutely not handle another firebolt impact.

She dismissed the rings from her wrists and torso, keeping the flow for her speed. Jared actually kept a pile of dirt and rock from outside the arena so Anna wouldn’t catch his plan! No wonder he didn’t use his left fist as much and never opened it.

“What a cowardly trick, Jared,” Anna said disgustedly. The announcer clearly had no intention to intervene, likely not wanting to end the fight early. She scoffed. “And now your cards are revealed. What now?”

“Let’s ask your mana capacity!” A ring formed above Jared’s shoulders, and they brightened for a moment as a firebolt appeared in both. 

The crowd erupted once more.

Some begged him to launch them all as quickly as possible, others wished for Anna to overcome it, and some just wanted it to end horrifically.

“This is real strength!” Jared’s smirk recovered at the cheers, and he made a stupid-looking gun gesture as he released a bolt.

One fired slower than a bullet but packed with burning, explosive power. 

Anna jumped to the right, watching as its minor explosion created a small crater in the dirt, and the fire expanded outward a minor distance before dispersing.

“Damn,” she whispered. 

If she did meet them outside in an unsanctioned fight, she most likely would have been maimed!

Her attention returned to Jared, who kept one firebolt primed in his left ring as another formed in his right. 

Anna clicked her tongue. Jared was clearly keeping one just in case she tried to charge at him!

Another bolt rushed at her, and she dodged it just as easily.

“This is just a repeat of earlier, Jared,” Anna mocked. “I wonder who’ll get exhausted first?”

She lied, of course; her mana was running low because of that barrier, and the tiredness had already begun.

Jared’s response was a snort and another bolt that Anna dodged. Sweat had begun to form on his brow, and his breathing increased in intensity. 

He stopped, instead choosing to prime his bolts. 

Of course, such an onslaught had to be heavy on the mana—still, Jared’s capacity was impressive.

It was at that moment Anna noticed a head of platinum blonde hair in the stands behind Jared—Nora, with a warm smile directed at Anna when their eyes met. Simultaneously, Jared seemed to see something behind Anna.

A quick glance backward revealed the Barbarian Thagrin approaching the announcer with Alice to his left, who looked at Anna with almost motherly concern.

“Come on, whelps, show me something!” Thagrin shouted, his booming voice making the crowd in front of him flinch and overpowering all the noise. That was the first time most had seen the behemoth—he nearly stole the show!

Two more rings formed on both sides of Jared’s body. “You heard him, bitch… I’m going to burn you alive.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Anna said.

Firebolts began to launch toward Anna, but none fast enough to outdo her dodging. However, once she avoided them, three more would take their place. 

However, each one seemed to have a different issue. Some exploded before hitting the ground, and others didn’t explode at all. But the ones that exploded prematurely managed to graze her.

Her barrier kept visibly pulsing every few firebolts, but she couldn’t speed up anymore. In fact, she had slowed. If she didn’t, she’d run out of mana before even getting the chance for a counterattack.

She was tired.

Jared saw it, the crowd saw it, and Anna knew it—it looked like she would lose.

A non-exploding firebolt grazed her cheek, the pulse from her barrier passing over her eye. 

Her mana would run dangerously low soon, and she had yet to form an idea on how to achieve victory.

It was the barrier’s fault, ironically enough. Just as it protected her from harm, it took a significant amount of mana from her.

But even if she didn’t have that massive drain, she had no powers that would allow her to break Jared’s barrier. 

Another speck of flame whizzed past her head. 

“Ha!” Jared laughed, briefly pausing his barrage. Despite how he sounded, he was heaving, and his eyelids appeared heavy as well. “You can barely continue! Why not just disable your barrier and let me teach you a lesson?”

“Dumn bru—” Anna stopped.

Disable her barrier?

Why did he say it like it was that simple?

There was no way Jared, of all people, figured out how to do that!

However, it quickly made sense.

No wonder he could continue to launch those firebolts! He somehow had his barrier disabled and had 100 percent of his remaining mana going toward his onslaught!

“Ah...” The announcer’s amplified voice rang in the arena. “Just so you are aware, your opponent isn’t liable if you end up dead because you decided to disable your barrier rather than control it.”

“True warriors!” Thagrin boisterously laughed, and he didn’t even need an amplification.

Jared’s smile widened; that was probably precisely what he wanted—redemption in front of Thagrin.

However, his outburst gave Anna an idea.

If he could disable his barrier and ask her to do it so readily, then maybe it wasn’t that difficult to accomplish.

She almost face-palmed at the idea because of how stupidly obvious it was. To be fair, she hadn’t been in a single fight in three weeks, and controlling the barrier fell on her priority list!

But her idea was simple.

The barrier was an ability. Everything a mage had was categorized as an ability, be it a passive or an active. Sure, there were the innate behaviors of mana, but the barrier was an active thing it did for her protection.

Anna dodged another bolt, paying apt attention to each one while thinking.

The barriers only activated when her ring was out, the same as Sigils and enhancements. What if she was looking at it wrong? Thagrin, ever the Barbarian, might have misled them. He said the barrier was a natural thing, which made them ignore its importance. But what if it was the same as a Sigil? 

“Hear that, bitch?” Jared released two bolts at once, but they went to the same place, showing his lack of control. ”The crowd wants you to lose, and even Thagrin doesn’t care about your fluke anymore.”

“Shut up, ogre,” Anna shouted. “I’m thinking, and you’re voi—”

Suddenly, from the stands behind Jared, two people emerged from the entrance.

Gromak, his burly body easily recognizable as he stared down at Anna with a confident smirk and crossed uncaringly.

And beside him... was Aria.

Her friend and roommate who had been gone for two weeks. She looked a little apprehensive, but a small smile cracked that icy face once she caught Anna’s gaze.

Anna was so stunned it was like time froze, and she nearly forgot to dodge. She wanted to stop and run up there, to ask how she was… but she couldn’t. Those weren’t the faces of people expecting her to be battered.

Neither Aria nor Gromak looked like they expected Anna to lose.

It was revitalizing.

So how could she disappoint them?

“What’s up with that stupid sm—” Jared froze after he turned around quickly to check what Anna stared at. He quickly directed his scowl back to Anna. “So what? That murderous bitch can just watch as I burn you alive!”

“Shut the fuck up, you vile hog.” 

He was beyond irredeemable, and Anna lost any and all thoughts of potentially ending their dispute.

Hopefully, her idea panned out—no way could Jared do something she couldn’t.

And so, Anna did something she would have thought unthinkable only a day before; she willed her barrier to deactivate using the same mental commands she’d give to her Sigil.

Maybe that was why she could do it; because of the new feeling in her mind when she absorbed the Sigil, and she could apply that feeling to the barrier, too. To treat it like a Sigil.

Instantly, she felt like a new connection was made in a similar manner to her Hyper Enhancement Sigil.

The dam gates within her lifted, and a newfound flood hit the lake that was her mana.

A black pulse went inward along her body.

It really was that simple—but Anna felt more vulnerable than a baby bird. She felt more defenseless than when she was just an ordinary girl, like even a poke would pierce her skin!

“You actually fucking... you really think these stupid rules will protect you?!” 

Anna formulated a quick plan and smirked. “You bore me, Jared. Let’s end this here, today.”

She extended rings around her wrists, ankles, and torso, unleashing the enhancements across her body.

Next, she attempted her new idea courtesy of the announcer.

Similarly to her enhancements, she willed the barrier to return, but only part of it, and only around her hands and forearms.

She charged.

“Predictable!” Jared shouted and released his primed firebolts.

Anna dodged one, but she was too close to dodge the others.

Luckily, that wasn’t her plan.

She snapped her hand out and hit the firebolt as far from her body as she could, causing it to explode on her open palm. 

That moment proved her theory correct; the highly concentrated barrier could be made many times stronger.

A few specks of the flame reached her upper arms but dispersed before it could cause more than a wince of pain. 

The other exploded before it even hit her hand.

Jared wasn’t capable of rapidly shooting the firebolts, and his formation of new ones, while fast, was not fast enough. 

The crowd’s cheers amped up, and Thagrin’s laugh echoed in her ears; it was almost like the fight was a big deal.

Anna slapped another bolt, the burning embers earning a wince as they reached her upper arm and reached Jared.

“Eat this, you annoying bastard.” 

All her rings shrank inward, other than the one around her right arm. The firebolt hit her left hand, earning a gasp of burning pain from Anna, one she ignored.

In response, he launched his stored firebolt and dismissed his rings in a panic, likely attempting to conjure his barrier, but Anna was faster.

Jared looked horrified. “Why—”

In that instant, Anna flooded all the mana she could into her ring, stopping when she figured it’d be enough force to cause significant harm but not just shatter his jaw. 

His barrier didn’t form, and it was too late. Anna’s right hook connected unfettered with his cheek in a spot poetically similar to where he hit her in their first battle.

She felt the impact, felt the teeth break, and felt the skin on his face touch her knuckles—no barrier.

Jared hit the ground screaming as he clutched the side of his face, blood seeping through his lips along with a few of his teeth hitting the dirt.

“Marvelous! What a spectacular use of mana!” The announcer shouted, clapping as he floated into the arena. “Annabelle Frost emerges victorious, and Jared Castello walks away with a few missing teeth from a girl less than half his size! And as punishment for cheating in my presence, he will not have his teeth restored.”

With his announcement, the silent crowd erupted in cheer.

“Brilliant! Barbaric!” Thagrin’s booming voice was clear despite the crowd. “Absolutely brilliant!”

Anna dismissed her ring and the barrier. Her arm stung with more burning marks than she thought; the adrenaline must have dulled her sense of pain.

However, her knees went weak, and she fell... into the arm of Aria, who appeared beside her to catch her falling body.

“T-thanks,” Anna whispered, tired and eyes heavy.

“You did well.”