The two mages faced off against each other in the same arena.
Silian fiercely glared at Cæ with a ferocious glare.
Cæ eyed him with cold bloodlust.
The air in the entire combat arena facility was intense.
A perilous tension hung in the atmosphere.
The students watched with uncertain expressions as the two mages stood on the same arena facing off against each other. They gathered around the arena with eyes of anticipation and nervous excitement.
They were the two undefeated mages with a clean win streak in the combat magic exam. Their combat power was so overwhelming to the other students that literally none of the others had any chance of being able to hold off against them.
Their power. Their speed. The complexity of their magic. Their mastery of eidos. Their mana-motive force.
All of it was overwhelming. They were completely unstoppable to the other students of the Apprentice Program.
Even Professor Lioxin was excited about the prospects of this battle as it was soon to unfold.
"Take your positions."
They each took their spots precisely ten meters away.
They drew their wands from their holsters, pointing them at each other.
Their concentrations honed in on each other while their focus intensified.
The world may as well have ceased to exist as the two of them dedicated every ounce of their conscious mind to fighting each other.
And soon enough, the battle began.
"…Begin!"
In the blink of an eye, their interference fields emerged around them, encompassing their entire body and mind.
The very next moment, all hell broke loose.
FWOOSH!
A magic circle with a pentagon and a triangle embedded in it, with several runes, emerged before Cæ as he unleashed nothing short of a fiery inferno upon Silian. A spell that would have burned him alive then and there had it actually struck.
It didn't.
WHOOSH!
With a single wave of his wand, an intense stream of powerful winds emerged from him with great speed, dispelling Cæ's inferno before it could touch the young adolescent. Simultaneously, a second magic circle appeared before his eyes as he unleashed an extraordinarily intense beam of light towards Cæ.
And yet, moments before the intense beam of light incinerated Cæ whole, a wave of darkness emerged around Cæ, enveloping him in the shadows, protecting him from the light.
WHOOSH…
In the blink of an eye, the light melted into the darkness that Cæ surrounded himself with as another magic circle appeared before his eyes.
RUMBLE
The ground beneath their feet shook as the ground before Cæ began deforming with several projectiles emerging from within the bedrock. Projectiles that launched themselves at Silian with enough force to crush him where he stood.
And yet, not even that was enough to defeat the young adolescent.
BANG BANG BANG!
Numerous students grew shocked as Silian's body hardened tremendously, allowing him to withstand the incoming attack with a simple guard, protecting his vitals.
Body enhancement.
A field of magic that deployed the life element and the Fundamental Form of Change, allowing one to manipulate one's own life and enhance one's physicality to greater levels. Even as the students gaped at Silian's remarkable proficiencies, he had already waved his hand as a magic circle with a triangle and a rune relating to the heaven element emerged.
VMMM!
He unleashed a powerful blast of organic sound waves towards Cæ, threatening to blast his eardrums and knock him unconscious then and there.
And yet, Cæ had already foreseen the attack.
BOOM
A timely earth wall had emerged before Cæ just the briefest moment before the attack had commenced, protecting him from the impact. A triple-circle spell of the earth element with two operations of the Fundamental Form of Change for manipulating the shape of land and increasing its acoustic impedance, while using the Fundamental Form of Change to shift the land to shield him.
FSSS…
The sheer energy of the sound, impeded by the wall, had turned into a tremendous amount of heat, causing the earth shield to grow molten hot. Something Cæ had used to his advantage with yet another triple circle spell that heated up molten rock to lava before using manipulation to launch a wide-scale attack against his opponent, leaving no room to escape.
Silian's eyes narrowed as multiple magic circles appeared before his eyes, and he cast multiple magic spells all at once. He manipulated the temperature of the air, causing it to grow colder and colder, sapping away heat from the lava while the other spell conjured immense water to cancel the lava that threatened to burn him alive.
Silian's eyes flared with bloodlust as he pointed his wand towards Cæ as multiple magic circles emerged before his very eyes, while a myriad of beams of light emerged from his wand, threatening to impale Cæ where he stood.
WHOOSH
Cæ took to the air, flying about across the atmosphere with great fluidity and agility, winding about as he evaded light beams one after another, spreading darkness across the atmosphere to impede Silian's aim and accuracy.
The spectating students simply gaped with amazement and awe as the two most powerful apprentice students went at it with each other displaying their extraordinary talent in the realms of magic.
Cæ displayed an absurd casting speed, eidos complexity, and remarkable eidos reading while Silian displayed an intensely powerful mana-motive force and a greater versatility as far as the fields of magic he had gained proficiency in.
The sheer intensity and power of the battle escalated to even greater heights as the two brilliant apprentice mages unleashed their extraordinary power against each other. Even Professor Lioxin watched with impressed excitement.
"Raaah!" Silian unleashed a flash of light that scourged away all the darkness Cæ used to conceal himself, only to discover that he was missing.
He had lost his opponent for just the briefest moments.
And that was enough.
FWOOSH!
A conflagration of flames emerged from behind him, swallowing him up faster than his delayed reactions could cast magic.
Cæ's eyes lit up with a cold light as he watched his spells consume his opponent alive while a wave of gasps and shocked murmurs erupted from the students.
"Professor, won't you intervene?" one student asked with a concerned expression.
Professor Lioxin smiled confidently. "The battle is far from over."
The students turned back to the battle with a surprised expression.
Their eyes widened at what they saw.
WHOOSH
A small tornado of wind erased the flames as the burned figure of Silian emerged from the flames. The students staggered with horrified expressions at the first degree and second degree burns that covered his entire body.
His skin was blistered with a burned red tint.
The anger on his face had intensified as several magic circles emerged before him in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly his burns began healing at a quick pace as the students grew even more stunned by his mastery of different fields of magic. Healing magic was not something that they were accustomed to seeing in apprentice students.
While it was predominantly used in medicine, there were plenty of magetants who had gained some degree of mastery over it since it was useful in dealing with wounds in combat.
Evidently, the young prodigious Silian was among them.
And yet, Cæ wasn't kind enough to simply watch him heal his wounds patiently.
He unleashed a maelstrom of attacks with heaven and earth as well as light and dark. The sheer onslaught that he unleashed upon his opponent was intense, forcing Silian to grit his teeth and mount all of his mana-motive force towards defense while he healed his wounds.
Cæ exploited his healing preoccupation while pushing harder and harder with all manner of attacks, forcing his opponent to direct most of his power and attention towards defending against Cæ's offense.
Cæ continued changing and altering his offensive magic quickly, pressuring Silian to also alter his defensive to keep up with Cæ's offensive.
With each passing second, Silian's breathing grew more labored.
His expression grew strained.
He gritted his teeth with grim severity as he struggled to defend against Cæ's heavy and pressuring offense that threatened to blast him the very moment he slipped.
FWOOSH
With a single wave of his wand, he conjured a powerful bout of flame threatening to burn Silian where he stood while simultaneously causing a converging gust of wind that intensified the flames' temperature.
Silian gritted his teeth as he conjured a wave of water to douse the heat while conjuring a wall of earth to curb the winds.
WHOOSH
Cæ shot across the battlefield as he deftly manipulated heaven to allow him to fly with a shocking proficiency, allowing him to easily circumvent the unidirectional defense, launching blasts of fire and wind, and the occasional curveball to constantly keep his opponent busy with him.
Silian grimaced as his healing was constantly interrupted.
The pain of the burns was agonizing, requiring him to exercise every ounce of willpower to withstand such pain while simultaneously fighting off Cæ's aggressive attempts to pressure him in battle.
FWOOSH!
Cæ unleashed several more fireballs at his opponent, who grew increasingly frustrated at Cæ's relentless offense.
And yet, Cæ had yet to unleash everything.
His dichromatic gray eyes flared with fierce intensity as a whopping four single-circle magic circles appeared before him. Four conjuration spells centered around heaven and earth, as well as light and dark.
All at once.
And yet Silian displayed a ferocious tenacity as he conjured four of his own defensive magic spells to counter the four attacks that Cæ conjured upon him simultaneously.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion erupted as magic on both sides collided with each other in a great explosion of mana. Siian's eyes flared with determination as his wounds finally healed with the moment of respite he got from the collision of spells. His burns disappeared as his expression grew relieved with the reduction of the pain in the moment of respite he had gotten.
He waved his wand at the ready, all but itching to blast his opponent with magic.
But alas, he was too late.
WHOOSH
Cæ emerged from the dust and the smoke from the collision, appearing before him in the blink of an eye with a ferocious speed. Silian gritted his teeth with alarm as several magic circles appeared before him at a rapid pace.
And yet, Cæ's kick was faster.
POW!
A blazingly fast and heavy kick blasted into the young mage's hand with thundering impact, knocking his wand out of his hand.
Time slowed down in Silian's eyes as a painful wave of deja vu swept over him.
This was the second time that Cæ disarmed him with a simple physical attack. The memory juxtaposed over what was happening to him in real time as Cæ smoothly transitioned to the next kick.
A heavy roundhouse kick to the jaw with all the torque and weight he could muster into the attack.
THWACK!
The impact rattled his skull as the blunt-force trauma exceeded the critical threshold, causing his brain to shut down as he lost consciousness.
THUD
He fell down unconscious.
For a moment, not a single person could move.
And yet, the outcome was clear.
"Winner: Mr. Cæ!" Professor Lioxin smiled with an impressed expression while the students around the arena felt the need to clap in applause at the stunning victory that Cæ had managed to pull off in an otherwise riveting battle.
Cæ, on the other hand, couldn't help but study the unconscious adolescent with a surprised expression.
Even if he was holding back by not using his pure magic, he was still pushed very hard by a kid who was several years his younger.
It was a good reminder to him not to get too arrogant.
He was indeed extraordinary, but that didn't make him invincible by any means.
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