Code of Rainbow

by Weiqi Wang

  Watching Robert keep chanting incantations one after another at his ease, Soarame struggled with the impulse to cast a windblade — until in a flash something pierced through his mind, and an idea suddenly emerged.

  ‘I’m sorry boy, but this is man’s game.’ Robert was sneering at Soarame. ‘Oops, that isn’t discrimination, is it? We are both male and I’m older.’

  ‘But you are no man.’ With the new idea in mind, Soarame sneered back. ‘Cut the crap and try harder, I’m sleepy.’

  Everyone was choked for hearing this — it seemed Robert was not the only troublemaker here. Soarame’s friends burst into laughter; the audience on both sides had to chuckle.

  ‘As you wish, brat!’ Robert was instantly enraged; he swung his wand and chanted once more his favourite incantation. ‘Voliva…’

  At the same time, a beam of water squeezed into Robert’s mouth. Robert was caught off guard and had to cough, thus his incantation was cut off. The next second, he barely noticed a flash passing by and his hand felt buoyant — the ball was gone.

  ‘Attack!!’ Soarame roared aloud and at the same time passed the ball to Rodka, who was already on his way. The rest of the team woke up instantly and followed, making their hard bounce-back.

  I made it! Soarame was screaming in his heart. I actually made it!

  On the other side, Ben’s team hurriedly dash back into defence, and the dragon pounced at Rodka’s base.

  ‘Crap!’ Ben’s Darkness player fell over and showed himself on the ground, because Soarame “accidentally” kicked his shank. Soarame then ran to his teammates and help defend their base against the dragon. The dragon was obviously anxious; he used his magigears against the other two defenders, at the same time chanting his own incantation. ‘Petra… cough!’

  Once more, a water beam sealed his throat — Soarame was prepared for this and he was successful again!

  ‘You… cough, cough!’ The dragon hurriedly flew upwards to keep himself at a safe distance. He was surprised that the Water Boy could get him right in the mouth while he was moving so fast. This brat was way too lucky!

  Meanwhile, Rodka exhibited his superior skills and led his team to success in the attack. The game became a tie and everyone was cheering for Soarame’s splendid overturning action. Rodka didn’t say anything, but bumped Soarame’s fist; the entire team jumped over to them, roaring with joy.

  ‘You made it, man! It’s Water!’

  The girls were the most excited ones on the field. They were hugging and jumping and screaming like crazy. Even the referee of the game had to applaud, for the fact that it was the first time he had ever witnessed a Water student flipping the game over like this.

  ‘What the heck is going on?!’ Ben was utterly discomfited and yelled at his teammates. ‘His water spray wimped you out? Wake the heck up!’

  The game had to continue. Ben had always been a defender, because that allowed him to observe the battlefield and send signals to the dragon. However, this time he decided to swap to be an attacker, because he had to teach the worthless Water Boy a lesson. So, although he still used Robert to confront Soarame and push him hard, he started to watch Soarame all the time. Soon enough, Robert managed to push Soarame close to Rodka’s base again; he started to chant once more —

  ‘Cough!’

  Although prepared and trying to swing his body left and right, Robert still got choked by Soarame’s water arrow. The second he realised this had happened, his heart skipped a beat — No way! How’s this possible?!

  ‘You’re welcome.’ Soarame grabbed the ball from the coughing boy, but he suddenly noticed a beam of black shooting towards him — it was from Ben, a Darkness spell.

  The next second, Soarame lost his vision. Although this was unexpected, Soarame was trained by Scankeen to be calm; instead of passing the ball out blindly, he instantly curled up and got down to the ground, yelling for assistance. Robert recovered from the cough and dashed to Soarame, tugging his arms for the ball. At the same time, both teams dashed towards Soarame; a close combat burst out immediately.

  ‘Soarame, throw the ball away!’ Soarame’s friends were anxious. They saw a firebolt hit Soarame’s back and cause fire on his gown, but Soarame was fast enough to kill it with Water right away, and held the ball tight. The hand-to-hand combat was soon taken over by Rodka’s team, because Ben’s defenders were still only halfway there.

  It was a perfect time for the dragon to strike Ben’s base, but he was attacking Rodka’s instead. Although there was still no evidence to prove things, the audience were upset to see this obviously flawed action from the dragon; everyone started booing.

  ‘Are you okay, Soarame?’ Rodka hurriedly asked for another time-out. ‘What happened to you just now?’

  ‘Ben’s Darkness spell.’ Soarame patted off the dirt from his body. ‘I’m fine, but it cut off my vision for a few seconds.’

  ‘That’s the Nightfall spell!’ The Darkness teammate spoke up. ‘But Ben can’t spell Darkness, right?’

  ‘And he didn’t chant anything back then. So it means he has a Darkness magigear!’ Rodka’s eyes brightened. ‘This is new! Guys, I think that’s his secret weapon for this year’s Championship! He didn’t use it on me because I can quickly use Light spells to neutralise it. If it wasn’t for Soarame, he probably wouldn’t have used it today!’

  Nightfall? That makes sense. Soarame nodded. This spell was a perfect signalling method to the dragon, because only the target of the spell could notice it. Given the long distance, the dragon probably would see just a blink of darkness instead of a few seconds, which made it a perfect cheating tool.

  ‘This guy is really clever, be careful.’ Soarame warned his teammates, but he couldn’t say more. The team then came back to the game, but surprisingly found that Robert was replaced by another guy — except that it was a girl!

  ‘That’s Joanna?’ Rodka was surprised to recognise the girl. ‘Soarame, she’s also a Water wizard, probably Grade 4, though. It seems that you made the Water proud today!’

  ‘But I thought this is a man’s game?’ Soarame pretended to be confused. ‘Where’s Robert?’ They all laughed and looked for Robert, who was apparently nowhere to be found at this moment.

  ‘Don’t talk that way, Soarame!’ Rodka hurriedly tried to stop everyone from laughing. ‘Robert was talking rubbish; there are quite a few girls very good at this game. You didn’t watch last year’s championship, or you’ll be impressed by the girls!’

  Let Joanna take care of this Water Boy, see if he’s going to choke a girl. Ben had to take advantage of the gentleman card, even though Joanna was actually just a helper for the team, not a player. Ben never paid attention to Water spells, so he was also hoping that they were easy to aim, and he wanted to test it out on Joanna. The results disappointed him very soon — Soarame didn’t target Joanna, but he water-choked everyone else, including Ben. One particularly skilful shot of Soarame really freaked everyone out — the water beam curved around on its way, bypassing Ben’s palm coverage and got right into his throat. If Rodka’s team hadn’t been as shocked as Ben’s, they could have taken the chance and got another score.

  On the other hand, Joanna couldn’t manage to do the same thing at all. Rodka’s entire team was cooled by her Water spells all over their bodies, but they actually loved it — it cooled them in the burning sunshine. Therefore, the later game was no longer competitive; it felt more like a water spray party to Rodka’s team.

  Due to the early disadvantage on Rodka’s side, the time ran out before they could get another score. Therefore, the game ended as a draw, but everyone all knew who was the best player. Soarame was lifted up and thrown up to the air; the Water girls were screaming like mad. Realising the audience on both sides were actually cheering for Soarame, Ben’s team and the dragon student hurried off. They were more frustrated than they could say — the Water Boy turned out to be the hero! How could this ever happen?!

  The crew went back to Soarame’s dorm full o
f joy. Especially the girls. This time they had no doubt that even Novice-level Water magic could actually do wonders if used skilfully — incantation choker, what a thought! The girls couldn’t help looking at Soarame’s head from all angles, wondering what was in there; this creeped Soarame out sooner than they thought.

  On the other hand, Rodka was actually more surprised than anyone else, because he knew better that what Soarame had done was a lot harder than people thought. First of all, this boy figured out the advantage of Water over other lineages — water was liquid, which meant it was material in form, but light in weight and transformable in shape; no other lineage had this unique merit to allow for highly flexible and manageable aiming — windblades, stoneballs and firebolts could do more damage for sure, but it was really hard to change their trajectory after casting. Moreover, all had been neglecting the fact that Novice Water incantations were slightly shorter, which enabled Soarame to short-cut his rivals’ incantations. However, this still demanded another critical skill — the super accurate control of Water elements.

  ‘How did you do that, man?’ Rodka finally had to ask. ‘The curve-shot on Ben was just crazy!’

  ‘It’s all thanks to the mind-painting.’ Soarame pointed at his table, on which there was a canvas with a small shape painted on it. Rodka walked over and barely recognised that it was supposed to be a… pig?

  ‘It’s Snower.’ Soarame’s words struck everyone. Even Snower jumped onto the table and stretched her claws towards Soarame, signalling a complaint.

  ‘It’s improving.’ Jemario said while everyone else chuckled. ‘Last time I took it as a boar.’

  ‘That’s… understandable.’ Rodka tried so hard to suppress his laughter — poor Snower baby. Suddenly, Rodka turned to Soarame. ‘You know, you should try the Fledglings Tournament. Your Water skill is impressive enough to show off there.’

  ‘Oh yes, Soarame you should go!’ While Soarame was puzzled, Dileys clapped her hands. ‘Show everyone what Water can do!’

  With that, Dileys briefly explained the Fledglings Tournament. It was an annual tournament in the Institute of Libral for Novice students; that is to say from Grade 1 to 3. The entire school always had a week off for this event, so that all could enjoy the funny scenes of new students trying their luck — a typical example had been that two ran out of mind power and had to start wrestling each other. The Adept students always had fun watching the fresh hands trying to prove themselves as wizards.

  However, although it was a big event, Soarame had no interest because he wanted to focus on his mind-painting practice — if there was a tournament that attracted Soarame, it would be Dragon&Empires, rather than this entry-level one. Halgon and Kardiac also chose not to participate in the tournament, but Omifo had decided to try his luck. He had been working really hard and just levelled up to Grade 3 — which was definitely faster than most of his peers and totally wowed the girls — so that he could show his talents to the entire school.

  ****

  The tournament week came round fast. Omifo’s first game was happening this day.

  ‘Omifo, the winner!’ As soon as Omifo stepped onto the stage, Kardiac began shouting at the top of his lungs.

  As Omifo was picturing what his first rival would look like, a small, blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl came face to face with him. She looked like she was shaking and barely dared to glance at him. Seeing this, the sympathy of the audience naturally leaned towards the girl and some even booed Omifo.

  ‘Oh, no… how can I fight such a little girl?’ Omifo moaned. Whilst he wavered, he suddenly heard a delicately sweet voice. ‘Hi there, no… hello sir, can we start now?’

  Omifo nodded at the girl, amused. He didn’t expect that she would be eager to get started with the game; oh yes, she must be so shy that she just wanted to get done with the game regardless, and step off the stage. The girl had already started chanting an incantation, but Omifo didn’t really pay attention, as he was too busy worrying how to win the game in a decent way without hurting her.

  ‘Hey!’ With a soft shout, a translucent crescent shot out from the tip of the girl’s wand, shooting right at Omifo.

  ‘What!’ Omifo cried out subconsciously, together with everyone else. ‘Windblade?’

  This was certainly not planned. Omifo had to instantly leap aside to dodge the windblade. As a Grade-3 spell, a windblade could easily hurt him. This girl, seemingly shy and weak, was actually a Grade-3 wizard?

  However, it seemed the girl was not proud of her attack at all; she blushed as her favourite skill failed to do any damage. She appeared less nervous as she clenched her magic wand and started chanting another incantation. At the same time, Omifo could no longer afford to worry about beating a little girl; he had to start chanting his incantation or he’s not sure who’s gonna get beaten. However, before Omifo finished it, a blast of whirlwind rose beneath his feet and whirled him into the air — it was not a windblade this time, but a cyclone spell.

  Omifo’s incantation was almost cut off due to this strike. He once again realised that he had underestimated this little girl; she was not only talented in magic, but also smart. Omifo clenched his teeth as he turned rakishly in the air and swung his magic wand towards his opponent.

  The girl suddenly felt a dazzling in her eyes, and her world started spinning. It was a Grade-2 Light spell — refraction. It was not really a strong invasive spell, but more to effectively disturb the rival. Unexpectedly, although the girl’s body tottered, she was tough enough to still manage chanting for her next magic attempt. Seeing this, Omifo made an instant decision and swung his wand again, casting an even less powerful spell — reflection. This time it was merely a Grade-1 spell that simply reflected sunlight to affect the rival’s vision, but it was the best choice for Omifo at the current moment. Fortunately, this time it worked — dazzled by the strong light while still in a spinning world, the girl finally fell over and broke off her incantation.

  The effect of the whirlwind finally vanished, and Omifo landed on the ground with a thud. At this point, the girl also stood up and got ready for the next round. Realising his rival was much tougher than he thought, Omifo started to chant his most powerful spell. Meanwhile, the audience were already cheering like crazy.

  There were two Light spells that were Omifo’s best: focalization, which caused temporary blindness; and diffusion, which caused temporary blackout. Both counted as half-invasive and half-restraining spells. Omifo chose to spell diffusion because he saw the girl start the next round of chanting with her eyes shut tight in order to protect herself from Omifo’s spell. However, diffusion was not just about the light; it was more of a mind attack that targeted the brain.

  Distracted by the worry of having no vision, the girl couldn’t chant as fast as she normally could, so for the first time, Omifo took the initiative and finished his spell first. The spell of diffusion was cast straight into the girl, whose eyes were shut, so there was no chance to dodge. Seeing the girl totter and about to fall over again, Omifo hastened forward to help her sit on the ground slowly.

  The girl was heavily stunned by the spell; she knew she had lost even before Omifo took her arms. She offered her name before she passed out. ‘I…I am Alicey…’

  The audience burst into an acclaim — some cheering, others booing. After the referee announced Omifo’s victory, Alicey’s friends ran up to the stage and took her with them.

  The friends were happy to see Omifo had won his first game and remained in good shape. In the next couple of days, Omifo managed to win another two games; just when he was confident that he could keep winning, someone thought otherwise — in the next game, a familiar face to Soarame stepped on stage and came to Omifo. It was Kriagon, the chubby boy who gave Soarame trouble at college application months ago. According to the referee, Kriagon was Grade 3 in both Fire and Wind, thus a very powerful candidate in this tournament.

  On the stage, the two boys didn’t like each other very much. Omifo had heard about Soarame’s u
nhappy history with Kriagon, and Kriagon simply didn’t like anyone close to the Water Boy. So before the battle started, the two had already been provoking each other on and on, both getting upset. Then the battle started. Kriagon cast firebolts and Omifo beamed Reflections; both were attacking and defending at the same time.

  After several rounds of probing, the two both got a better estimation of each other. Right then, Kriagon cast a flamewave at the same time as Omifo cast a focalization; a beam of dazzling light struck Kriagon and a vast expanse of whiteness appeared in his eyes.

  Omifo was happy that he had hit his target, although his left arm caught fire and he had to roll on the ground to put it out. If Kriagon had closed his eyes as a defence to Omifo’s focalization, his flamerush would have missed Omifo and he would probably still be blinded due to the overwhelmingly strong light.

  Facing a rival with no vision, Omifo believed that he was at an advantage. However, he noticed that Kriagon had already finished a short incantation in the next second, and a fierce gale sprang up. The gale was so strong that Omifo had to try hard to maintain his balance and even shield his eyes from the dust. Even on the stadium, some hats were blown away and made people exclaim.

  Omifo tottered in the wind and marvelled at Kriagon’s tactic — you took my vision, I take your mobility! Omifo began to realise that although this chubby boy had a lousy personality, he had really good skills; in fact, he was probably one of the strongest candidates in this tournament. Therefore, Omifo spared no effort in chanting another powerful spell — diffusion.