The Golem Mage

While Lucius was still trying to figure out how he’d been outplayed and caught off guard, he finally noticed the kunai stuck in the ground a few feet away from him lighting up.

That was when he realized there were runic spell engravings etched along its handle.

Being a sharp mage, he quickly put two and two together and understood how Vincent Whitefang, who is known for his low elemental affinity, had managed to cast a spell from such a distance.

The kunai was one of Vincent’s spirit weapons, and he had inscribed spell runes along its handle in tiny lines.

So when he cast the Wind Slam spell, even though Vincent himself wasn’t close enough, the kunai was, and it acted as a substitute for him to bypass his affinity penalty.

For someone like Vincent, whose weakness was low elemental affinity, he had trained in other areas: like reducing the casting time of his wind spells and mastering wind rune manifestation which had become some of his greatest strengths only he couldn’t show them until now.

That was why he was able to cast almost instantly even in midair, the runes engraved into the kunai resonated with the Wind Slam spell he had casted, activating as a conduit for the spell. Lucius couldn’t escape its range, as the kunai was right beside his leg, and the air above him was already collapsing.

Bang!

The compressed air pressure, having gathered momentum, slammed down with terrifying force, and for the first time before that much people Vincent , the captain of the Battle mage academy was truly displaying his magical prowess.

Lucius was driven face-first into the ground, unable to react or even raise a defense on time, the impact tore up the stage more, as debris was blasting in all directions.

Vincent came to a halt midair, as small wings of wind strapped to his feet, holding him there in perfect balance.

He then threw his sword into the air to free his right hand and began forming hand signs with both hands while Lucius struggled to break free from the ensnarling wind prison.

Seeing Lucius in a tight spot, Elise and Marek, who had been retreating, dug their feet into the ground and lunged forward with their weapons slashing toward Vincent.

Marek was the more aggressive, as he twisted in midair, with blue flames erupting around him as he drilled toward Vincent, his body wrapped in a spinning tide of fire like a flaming drill.

But with Lucius pinned, Vincent had no intention of letting him go until he was sure he’d eliminated him, cutting off a major part of Arcanis Dominion’s strength.

“LIFT!” Vincent shouted, raising his right hand up, and the wind pressing Lucius down suddenly eased up, but before Lucius even could rise, the same currents swept beneath him, and yanked him off his feet, twisted him through the air, and hurled him upward, all in sync with Vincent’s hand gestures.

For the first time, many spectators watched the Battle Mage Academy’s captain cast a spell, and were stunned by his precision and control.

“Don’t let him complete the spell!” Jared barked from the rear, by now, his drone in the air had shifted forms; the missile launcher had reconfigured into twin compact arcane machine guns.

Jared aimed his hands toward Vincent, his gaze sharp.

Until now, he’d been watching the crater where Vladimir had crashed into, feeling uneasy.

As he believed that one strike wasn’t enough to take down a vice-captain-level opponent, especially one who’d tanked the turrets earlier.

He was certain Vladimir would climb out soon.

But as time passed with no sign of Vladimir, Jared realized it wasn’t wise to leave his teammates alone against Vincent, who was rapidly getting out of hand with his battle sense.

However, just as Jared aimed to take out Vincent, a hand shot out from the ground beneath him, grabbing his leg and yanking him down.

Causing his connection with the weapon in midair to snap, and he yelped as he was dragged under.

On the other side, Vincent, who had raised his right hand, dragged it downward, as thin wind currents coiled around his descending arm like invisible chains tugging something from the sky.

The same air current that had lifted Lucius now reversed, dragging him down with far greater force, perfectly mirroring Vincent’s motion.

From that height and speed, it was clear this wouldn’t just break bones, Lucius might end up in critical condition, and Vincent wasn’t holding back.

“Ahhhh!” Marek roared as he closed in, about to pierce Vincent—

—but before impact, Vincent’s sword, which he’d flung into the air earlier, came dropping back down.

As Vincent thrust his left hand up and caught the hilt.

“Greatsword Form,” Vincent said, almost instantly, as the blade expanded, broadening just as Marek crashed into him.

Boom!

Two explosions rocked the arena, the first was Lucius being driven straight into unconsciousness; and a judge flashed in to catch and remove him before his body hit fully the ground, however the compressed wind continued forward and detonated on impact, blasting the area.

The second blast came from Marek’s divine blue flames slamming against Vincent.

For a moment, their clash blurred from sight, and when the dust cleared, Vincent stood at the edge of the arena, with his boots dug into the floor, back bent slightly as he refused to be forced out of the arena.

The upper part of his uniform had been burned away, revealing a well-toned chest covered by a thin, shimmering layer of mana armor he had casted in a rush.

His left hand gripped the hilt of his weapon, while his right elbow pressed against the flat of the blade to brace against Marek’s relentless pressure, from the edge, he could already hear footsteps rushing in behind him, and he cursed under his breath.

Vincent had finally eliminated one of their team members, but now he still had at least two more to deal with.

The next second, a loud explosion shook the arena, forcing both Vincent and Marek to glance toward its source.

There, they saw Elise crouched with her blade raised defensively, with a golden light flickering around her, though she had successfully blocked the attack sent at her, but one of the spell rings orbiting around her had cracked and shattered, leaving her with only five left.

She looked toward where the attack came from, and Vincent and Marek’s gazes followed hers naturally like a moth drawn to a flame, none of them expected what they saw.

Only Vincent looked relieved.

Standing where Jared had been was Vladimir, who was now clad in a Tier 6 spirit-equipment set, and Jared’s cannon-gauntlet mounted on his right arm which was still emitting smoke showing what had been responsible for the attack that Elise had suffered.

Beneath him, Jared was buried in the ground up to his neck, unconscious.

“Hello. Hope it’s not too late to join in,” Vladimir said, giving a small wave.

“What took you so long?” Vincent asked, forcing out the words as he summoned his strength to shove Marek back.

As the fight had shifted to an even field now, two against two—though, amusingly, the Battle Mage Academy still had more members left on the arena.