BOOM!

A tremendous shockwave swept across the entire battlefield as Cæ unleashed a greatly empowered manipulation spell of the heaven element

BOOM!

A tremendous shockwave swept across the entire battlefield as Cæ unleashed a greatly empowered manipulation spell of the heaven element. One that washed away with it everything in the combat arena, including his opponent.

The darkness dispelled as his opponent apparently flew out of the combat arena at high speeds, irresistibly dragged by the force of his wind. She gritted her teeth as she tried her best to keep from flying out of the combat arena, and yet, the force was too much.

THUD!

She landed outside the ring, unconscious.

The students, on the other hand, erupted with cheers as they marveled at the great display of power and the apparent victory.

"That spell was so powerful!"

"Damn, Cæ really was one of the seven finalists after all!"

"Well, he was said to be a combat genius, so I'm not surprised!"

She was flung out of the combat arena.

Or so it appeared.

Yet, Cæ remained on high alert with defensive spells of heaven and earth protecting him from any attack while his spell remained before him at all times.

Several seconds passed as the students started settling down on their excited banter.

They noticed that he was still in the combat arena.

They noticed that his magic was still active.

"Why is he still here?" one student murmured. "The match is over, no?"

"Wait…" another student realized. "The arbiter… he never called for the conclusion of his match! That means… that fight isn't over…!"

WHOOSH

The unconscious body of Serulia Vritra disappeared from the ground, simply fading into empty air.

"You are sharp."

Cæ heard her voice from behind him as he turned his head, finding a Serulia floating in the air with bruises on her body.

Below her on the ground was a giant hole, gouged with magic.

"I see…" Cæ's eyes lit up. "You dug a hole to protect yourself from the omnidirectional wind blast."

However, from the looks of it, she hadn't emerged unharmed.

Her regal bearing was slightly damaged as her expression morphed into one of disdain and frustration. "That fool alchemist. Forcing me to reveal all my cards in the previous battle. Thanks to that, I can't fool others as easily."

Cæ sharpened his eyes as he simply waved his wand, causing a flood of darkness magic to fill the combat arena once more.

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield was filled with darkness as both of them lost sight of their opponent.

"Damn you!" Serulia cursed him aloud. "What an infuriating strategy!"

He didn't blame her frustration.

Illusion magic was supposed to create an information imbalance and give the user an advantage in knowledge. But if Cæ drowned the entire battle in darkness, as he did before, then it got rid of this advantage wholesale, equalizing the knowledge battle.

After that, it was just a matter of unleashing widescale magic to blast his opponent with as many attacks as he could.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Cæ unfurled a flush of omnidirectional attacks emerging from him as the source, spreading all around. His spells were comprised of the heaven element and the sound runes, allowing him to unleash powerful blasts of sound that could shatter eardrums and knock her opponent unconscious then and there.

He also added the earth element to the magic, allowing him to pass his attack through the ground as well, in case she was hiding in a hole again.

It didn't matter if she had illusion magic or not; she was forced to defend. Of course, because these were not incantations, the attacks were much weaker, allowing her to easily defend against each attack.

Ordinarily, this move would likely not work, but he knew that his opponent was already not in a good position with her earlier wounds and the wounds that she had suffered from his prior attack.

Cæ's new strategy was simple.

Pressure.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Continuing to apply pressure and forcing her to the very limit of her magic capacity.

Even though they were in darkness, that didn't mean that he could sense nothing.

He could still hear and feel.

That meant that she would need to continue applying her invisibility magic to hide at least those while using her defense magic to protect herself from his attack. Using so many magic spells simultaneously in her condition meant that all he needed was a single mistake revealing her position.

'If I do get an opportunity, it will likely be a single opportunity after which this battle could very well end up becoming a draw.' Cæ's eyes sharpened. 'I can't afford to waste even a single moment when that opportunity comes.'

However, even for him, casting magic, or pretending to cast magic, the conventional way, was time-consuming, even if he was faster at it than most.

If he had only the slightest opening, then he would need to have his spell ready at all times.

WHOOSH

A magic circle emerged before him among the others that helped him cast his defensive and offensive spells.

However, he didn't use it to cast magic.

He just used it to keep the eidos in his mind at all times.

Thus, when the opportunity presented itself, he would be able to cast magic almost instantaneously.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

The students began growing amazed despite the fact that they couldn't even see anything. Darkness swamped the entire combat arena, while recurring loud blasts from Cæ's omnidirectional magic continued ringing across the entire combat facility.

Cæ's expression grew grim as he diluted his defense to strengthen his attack once more while keeping his senses sharp. He closed his eyes as he focused on catching even the slightest hint, while chanting an incantation under his breath, double-casting simultaneously.

All he needed was the slightest hint of her location for him to rapidly unleash a powerful attack in her general direction. Something that the darkness would obscure and prevent her from reacting until the very final second. Illusion magic was a highly mentally-intensive field of magic, making it highly demanding of attention and stamina.

Considering that she was tired, having abused it before, and especially in the previous battle, there was a very high chance that she would eventually make a mistake.

That was all he needed.

A single opportunity.

A single misstep from his opponent.

And his patience paid off.

The moment came abruptly.

A single sound.

Collision.

He could feel his spell being resisted at a certain location.

Her illusion magic had failed to keep up for just a moment.

And that was all he needed.

His expression grew intense as he unleashed a powerful beam of light in that general direction, dispelling his blanket of darkness.

BOOM!

The first thing he saw as soon as the light hit was a floating Serulia slammed by a beam of magical light.

"Ahhh!" she screamed as the attack blasted her out of bounds, flinging her away.

THUD

She landed outside of the combat arena, skidding away.

"Winner: Cæ!"

A profound surge of relief washed over Cæ as the battle finally came to an end. He heaved an exhausted breath at his victory as he crumbled to the ground, panting heavily. He had pushed himself tremendously, allowing him to barely extract victory by virtue of a failing in his opponent.

The students erupted in cheers as Cæ barely managed to pull himself up, shakily. He squinted with discomfort, shielding his eyes from the harsh glare of the afternoon Sun peering through the windows.

He took a deep look at an unconscious Serulia Vritra who was being carted away by healers, entirely unconscious.

Normally, the selection process was supposed to be comprised of three rounds, but he had knocked her unconscious, leaving her unable to come back for more. Something that had occurred more frequently than one would imagine.

She was a strong opponent.

So much so that he wasn't sure if he would have beaten her if not for her one misstep, something that he had essentially been praying for. However, perhaps she would not have made that flaw if she hadn't been as exhausted as she had been.

Then again, he, too, was exhausted.

"I need to learn some anti-illusion divination magic as soon as possible."

It was absurd that he had to rely on such an insane strategy, such as drowning the entire battlefield in darkness, so that neither of them could see each other. It was a dangerous and perilous strategy that required blinding himself, something he would never do in a real battle outside of such a controlled environment.

Thankfully, he had also taken the divination course and would naturally learn a bunch of cutting-edge general divination techniques, including how to see past illusion magic.

Even as the students grew louder and louder with the excitement of what they had seen, Cæ turned around to witness the other six matches.

His eyes widened as he realized he was the only one left in the combat arena.

The other six finalists had all won their matches.

He found them standing at the edge of the combat facility.

Each of them had a heavy and distinctive presence.

A short girl with a prosthetic arm serving as her mana-conductor.

A tall man who was engrossed in a thick book.

A woman with a highly affluent bearing, gazing at him with a hint of contempt.

A younger adolescent boy, covered in chains across his entire body.

A hooded man whose face was drowned in shadows.

And, of course, a towering boulder of a man that imposed on those around him like a mountain.

They were among the very strongest of the strongest among all the students in the entire magicademy.

They had clearly witnessed him fight, although they didn't get to see much due to the darkness that Cæ had cast, which protected him from being analyzed by his opponents next time.

His attention shifted to Virlyd, who stood at the very forefront, gazing at Cæ with an inscrutable expression, before walking away.

"The preliminary tournament of the selection process is now complete." The announcer's voice drew attention as the screen hanging from the roof of the combat facility lit up. "Our seven finalists are Cæ, Mira Mierta, Dranst, Kyrell Singe, Miranda, Seol Gordnt, and Virlyd Mir!"

Their images appeared on the screen in a collage.

"The final showdown will occur tomorrow!" the announcer declared. "And the tentative candidate representing the Elendir Institute of Magic for the Vertir Combat Competition of the Magic Contest will be the victor!"

"Woohoo!"

"Oh man, those seven going at it with each other?!"

"I can't wait!"

The students erupted in cheers and applause as the air grew charged with their anticipation. The students began dispersing bit by bit, while Cæ simply focused on recovering his stamina, desperately chugging a lot of water as he tried recuperating from his exhaustion.

"You better win tomorrow."

He turned, finding a patched-up Serulia Vritra gazing at him with a serious expression. Her dark skin, characteristic of the race of people of the Durmen Principality, was bruised and scratched as a result of their battle.

She gazed at him with an imperious gaze.

"My defeat at your hands hurts the prestige of my family," she spoke with a slow drawl, in a Durmen accent. "You must win. Should you lose quickly, I will lose even more face."

A part of Cæ wanted to retort that he didn't give a damn about her family, but the more rational side of him recognized that it was a childishly petty and pointlessly hostile retort to someone who was ostensibly quite powerful.

"I have no intention of losing."

Cæ's tone was calm and composed, yet intense.

"That's not enough," she replied with a slow drawl, leaning in even closer. "I will help you maximize your prospects of victory with all the intelligence that I have on those seven, and help brief you on their strengths and shortcomings. This should help you not lose and not harm the great name of Vritra. Now come, we have a lot of work to do!"

"…What?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.