Silian's expression crumpled with rage as he continued his casting of magic with even greater urgency.

He understood that Virlyd was simply going easy on him and giving him the opportunity to pull off an ultimate charged magic attack. It was quite disrespectful and humiliating in Silian's view to go so easily on him to such an absurd extent.

Still, what would be even more embarrassing would be if he failed to take Virlyd down despite this advantage.

Thus, he took his time, charging his magic with all the power that he could, casting a powerful incantation and having a giant magic circle prepared for duel casting a powerful and complex spell.

His eyes glinted with ferocity.

"Tempestuous Luminar bladestorm!"

RUMBLE

Tremors passed the ground as countless little blades of light, no larger than a needle, began manifesting in the air one by one as their numbers increased exponentially. They began gathering greater and greater speed and momentum as they began circling around Virlyd with great power and momentum they forming a small tornado around Virlyd.

"Hyargh!" Silian snarled as he waved his hand, causing the small tornado to compress on his opponent, threatening to grind him into a confetti of flesh.

The students gasped as the powerful storm of light blades converged on him.

"Truly remarkable."

What ensued shook almost everybody who beheld it.

Virlyd's gauntlet glowed with magical power as he raised his fist and slammed it down into the ground with a powerful blow.

BOOM!

A tremendous impact emerged from the action as a giant wall of earth emerged from around him, glowing with magical energy, reinforcing it, as it surged forth to challenge the powerful attack.

RUMBLE

The entire facility shook as the two powerful spells clashed with each other, leading to a large shockwave emerging from the conflict. Virlyd remained steady. He weathered it with his magic, but Silian gritted his teeth as he cast a heaven manipulation spell, barely stabilizing his position and protecting himself from the impact of the shockwave.

His eyes widened with shock as the dust settled.

Virlyd emerged from the silhouette entirely unharmed.

His expression was calm as always, while his heavy, stoic eyes remained fixed on Silian.

"Impossible…" Silian's voice grew weak with disbelief. "There's no way you're this strong."

Virlyd shook his head. "My power is not impressive, young man. The fact of the matter is that I'm only strong within this magicademy. When I go outside, I'm still only an apprentice mage by the age of twenty-five. For talents of the caliber of this magicademy, it is truly not impressive. By the time you're my age, I imagine you will have already been a senior mage, let alone a mere apprentice mage. But for now…"

WHOOSH

He surged before Silian in the blink of an eye with remarkable agility.

"…you're still too weak."

BAM!

A thundering blow blasted his guard before Silian even had the opportunity to resist him, flinging him away.

It was a simple blow without any magic bolstering it.

Yet, the sheer gap in their physicality meant that Virlyd could easily kick him out of the ring with a single blow alone.

THUD

Silian winced as he fell out of the ring, immediately getting up to blast Virlyd with some magic.

"Winner by ring-out: Virlyd Mir!"

Silian's eyes widened as he glanced down at the border of the circular arena, marked by a simple line.

"Next round, soon to begin! Please step into the arena, Contestant Silian!"

Each match was to have three rounds in total, where the outcome was decided by the best of three.

Silian gritted his teeth as his hand clenched around his wand even tighter.

To even call the first round a fight was difficult. Virlyd effortlessly deals with his attacks, then lets him prepare for his ultimate magic move, and then deals with it perfectly, before bunting him out of bounds with raw physicality alone.

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Cæ could tell that it was the final part that grated on him more than anything.

When he first picked a fight with Cæ more than a year ago, he had been disarmed by a single kick.

In his second fight with Cæ in the finals of the Apprentice Program, Cæ knocked him out cold with a kick yet again.

And now, he had lost yet another fight with raw physicality alone.

He wouldn't even blame the kid if he developed PTSD from hand-to-hand combat.

"Wow, he's as strong as ever," Callou remarked as she folded her arms. "No, he's even stronger than before. He is truly motivated for the Magic Contest. Looks like he will be winning this selection process, after all. Not that that was ever in doubt ahaha."

Cæ directed a look of askance at her. "If that was never in doubt for you, then what is the point in participating in the first place?"

"Why test myself and see how I hold up to my peers, of course," she replied nonchalantly, directing a raised eyebrow at Cæ. "Why have you chosen to participate?"

"To win, of course," Cæ replied. "One way or another."

She smiled wryly. "You don't actually think that you can win, do you?"

"I do."

Cæ's tone was certain. "I don't think it will be easy or that it is even likely, but I'm confident that there exist scenarios where I emerge victorious. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother participating. I don't really gain anything that I care about if I thought I didn't have any chance of victory."

"…that's very confident of you, I suppose," she remarked with a careful expression, before a competitive smile emerged on her face. "But you will have to beat me first. You shouldn't underestimate me, you know?"

Cæ huffed lightly. "I don't have any intention of losing to you."

"Hmph… I'll have you know that I'm…"

She continued talking as Cæ zoned out, leaving his attention fixed on Virlyd as the remaining round ensued.

This time, Virlyd chose to end it as soon as possible.

His gauntlet surged forward in a punching motion midair as a blast of sound emerged from it, slamming into Silian before he could even react. The powerful attack sent him flying out of the arena, slamming into the walls of the facility violently.

A collision that would have rendered any unprotected human being dead instantly.

And yet, the powerful enchanted athletic attire that all participants wore has powerful protection around the vitals, leaving him quite injured, but very much alive and safe.

"Winner by ring-out and knock-out: Virlyd Mir!"

The students exploded into cheers as they celebrated Virlyd's inevitable victory.

The man himself, however, remained calm and composed, directing one last look at Silian before closing his eyes and walking away.

"He's so cool!"

"He's got that aura!"

"He's the strongest!"

"Damn… I had hoped that Marosi would win, but after seeing that… I don't think so anymore."

"Where was that fellow who said Silian could win?! Come out of hiding!"

Cæ heaved a deep breath as he fell into deep thought.

His battle with Silian was much less one-sided than what Virlyd had made of Silian. Even though Cæ still won, it had taken a while, and it wasn't easy. Virlyd had blown past Silian so easily that it spoke to just how enormous the gap between them was. There was no doubt that he was stronger than Cæ.

'…I'm not even certain I could beat him even with my Pure Magic."

Pure magic would make him much stronger, but he, of course, couldn't use it in an actual fight. He was curious about how well Virlyd would fare against him if he didn't have to hold back.

He shook his head as he put the thought aside.

"Oh look, it's our match."

His attention returned to his circumstances as he spotted a board featuring their assigned numbers and names.

His eyes sharpened.

It was time.

It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves facing each other on the battle arena.

He took another long look at his opponent as he studied her bright orange eyes, sparkling in the bright light of noon that illuminated the entire combat facility.

He didn't know anything about her.

He didn't know anything about any of the senior students, for that matter, having just joined the Senior Program himself nine days ago.

On the other hand, she appeared to have some information about him, giving her an advantage. He had considered trying to collect data, but ultimately, he wasn't able to.

He was simply too busy.

His schedule barely left him any time for even participating in the tournament. He definitely didn't have any time to go around collecting information on the most powerful senior students that he needed to deal with.

"Draw your wands."

Both of them plucked their wands from the holsters at their belt, pointing them at each other.

"And… begin."

Within the blink of an eye, magic circles emerged midair before both of them as he unleashed a blast of fire, a split-second after the magic circles appeared before him, just a beat sooner than her magic.

WHOOSH!

"Rgh…!" she grimaced as the flames blistered her skin, just barely warded off by the blast of wind that she conjured.

Yet, Cæ had already cast several more spells, manipulating the ground some distance away from her, launching several spikes emerging from the land itself while using the fire element to heat them up to become a powerful penetrating force.

WHOOSH!

She gritted her teeth as she evaded the attack by maneuvering around the battle with the help of heaven manipulation, circling around the edge of the combat arena.

Unfortunately for her, Cæ was excellent at maneuvering himself with magic.

WHOOSH

His feet lifted from the air as he surged through the air, charging straight at her.

She sharpened her eyes as several more magic circles emerged before her, before a wide-scale attack of powerful wind currents expanded forth from her, trying to push Cæ away regardless of how he maneuvered toward her.

Cæ's eyes lit up as he cast a body hardening spell on himself, charging through the wave of wind with powerful momentum.

BOOM

A light blast of air ensued from the collision as he charged straight through her attack, heading straight at her.

She panicked, trying to swing her wand at him in a messy physical attack, but that was hardly enough to be a threat to Cæ.

WHOOSH

He lightly shifted, evading her attack while charging straight into her with his charged momentum.

BAM!

"Rgh!" she groaned in pain as she was flung out of the ring, landing outside the combat arena.

STEP

Cæ lightly dispelled his magic as he gracefully landed.

The battle had barely lasted thirty seconds, and Cæ had already completely overwhelmed her in combat.

"Wooo!"

"Cæ is definitely strong!"

"He might actually be able to win!"

The students began cheering at the domineering display of combat magic that Cæ put out for all of them to spectate while Callou got on her feet, dusting her athletic uniform while directing a stunned gaze at him.

"How does your magic appear so fast after you cast the circle?"

Cæ simply stared at her silently, unwilling to disclose his secrets.

The truth was that this was just a portion of the power of his pure magic, allowing him to cast magic without Magia, making him much faster, and giving him endless diversity, allowing him to turn imagination into reality with just his will.

Just a portion of the benefits of pure magic allowed him to dominate his opponents.

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