The Golem Mage

With the Ashmaw Academy stepping out in such a display, they clearly had been able to capture the heart of the audience, but the judge wasn’t about to let them take all the limelight in this battle for two; as he raised his hands to quiet the mages outside the arena.

Immediately the whole area fell silent, waiting for him to speak.

“Now that Ashmaw Academy Team is in the open, it’s time to usher in the second academy for this battle, from the left side, let’s welcome the War God Mage Academy,” the judge announced, pointing his whole arm towards the tunnel on the arena’s left side.

“Led by their captain, Alec Gordons; vice-captain, Marionette Beatrice; and the rest of the team: Lucas Blade, Pale Zero, Endrick Gordons, Brandon Gordons, Arthur Gordons, Sophia Gordons, Agnes Gordons, Knight Gordons, and Kate Colossus.” The longer he read the roster, the harder it was for many to ignore the fact that more than half the team were from a single clan, making them what the War God Mage Academy was thinking by doing such.

#Back outside

Mages from other kingdoms burst into laughter after the names were called.

“So this is the academy team you all think will give your kingdom a second win? I don’t get it, are we watching a clan team or an academy team?” someone jeered.

“If you check the records pretty well, you would realise that the War God Mage Academy has fallen off, and most mages who still go there are the ones top academies won’t accept, or mages who couldn’t fight for top spots in their clans, from all these it’s obvious those Gordons mages are all weaklings.”

“Because no clan enrolls that many of their own into one school, and the fact that an academy with real talent would field almost half its team from a single clan just proves they’re short on gifted mages.”

“Honestly, I personally believe the only reason they’ve made it this far is because there are Ancient-clan descendants on the team who have been carrying them.”

Such words rippled through the crowd as the Northerners turned toward the screens to watch, not wanting to brag as it might come back to bite them in the ass.

Only a few die-hard fans of the War God Mage Academy, and of Alec kept cheering, despite the widespread backlash from mages of the other four kingdoms.

Unlike some capital citizens, these supporters came from lesser-rank academies.

And in the last inter-academy competition they’d pinned their hopes on War God Mage, backing them shamelessly, and the War God Mage Academy had repaid that faith by going all out to win the competition regardless of how things later turned out.

So they were the die-hard faithful who didn’t care what others said.

To them, War God Mage Academy would always be the top academy of the north, they saw Alec and his group as the ones living out the dreams they themselves couldn’t reach.

–

#Back inside the Stadium

Though many were puzzled by War God’s roster, but the other Northern academies weren’t too surprised; they knew about all these; to the fact that they knew two of those mages had been adopted into the Gordons clan after being invited by Alec to be his enforcers.

Most were simply curious to see whether the War God’s mages had progressed since their usual academy support was cut off.

The War God Mage Academy team walked out of the tunnel one by one, with Alec stepping out first, immediately he could hear the cheers for his team, but also the boos that drowned them out.

That made Alec smile slightly, behind him came Lucas and Beatrice, then the rest, though he tried to not to look like he was aura-farming, but with all eleven of them emerging in matching uniforms , it just didn’t help that much.

Alec locked eyes with Ashmaw’s captain who was across the arena, Zuberi stood tall and broad-shouldered, carrying the quiet pressure of a seasoned beastmaster.

His skin held a deep, sun-kissed tone that had been earned under the Southern heat, and faint ember-like markings curled along his arms like dormant flames, his hair was locked in thick, dark dreadlocks that fell to his shoulders.

His eyes were one of the striking things about him, a fierce molten amber that resembled a lion staring through smoke, his jawline was strong and squared, with a trimmed dark beard that framed his face.

His presence alone among his team mates just looked enough, calm, dominant, and quietly feral.

But Alec wasn’t the only one studying his opponent; Zuberi Afolayan was also staring at him like he was measuring his strength, but after looking Alec over more than once, he seemed to lose interest, shifted to Beatrice for another few seconds and shifted interest, until he finally settled on Lucas Blade, who had his hands crossed behind him.

The sight made Alec chuckle; as he realized both he and Beatrice were being underestimated, but he wasn’t annoyed at all, he didn’t even intend to fight.

His team was the only one still fielding eleven members, and he saw no reason to step in when his squad could handle the Ashmaw Academy on their own.

“I believe both teams are ready?” the judge asked, already levitating, ready to clear the field.

“Yes!” Alec and Afolayan replied together.

“Then I declare this battle begun,” the judge said.

The cheers outside swelled as the judge called for the start of the match; the crowd could hardly wait, yet unlike previous matches that exploded at the first call, this one didn’t.

Across the way, the Ashmaw’s Academy mages were surprised that the War God mage academy wasn’t rushing to impose their numbers advantage on them.

“Alec, what’s your plan for this one?” Lucas asked, feeling the Ashmaw captain’s aura lock onto him.

“My plan? Ho ho ho—you’ve got it wrong. I won’t be participating in this battle,” Alec said.

“For this round, you’ll act as temporary captain for me under the War God Mage Academy banner, and the rest will support you. I’m out.”

He turned his back on the Ashmaw Academy team and strolled to the rear.

As the whole War God team stared at him in surprise. At the edge, he lifted his right hand; and an earthen chair rose from the ground.

As Alec sat, with his left leg draped over the armrest, and his right hand propping his chin up.

At that moment, silence fell over the entire stadium and the four viewing axis outside.

Many who’d seen this before in the first inter academy competition started to wonder why Alec was doing it again, especially against such a top team.

But while his fans were worried and another set were feeling that he was arrogant, Alec didn’t really care about them as he had already scanned every Ashmaw mage with his energy eyes and knew they were ridiculously strong, strong enough to tempt him into joining the fray.

Even so, he understood that if he stepped in, it would make the fight unfair by a large margin, so he planned to sit this one out.

However not everyone appreciated his posture; someone clearly hated the way he sat there like some big shot, mostly because he didn’t believe Alec could amount to anything.

From the moment War God Mage Academy team stepped onto the stage, he’d assumed Alec was a decoy to distract the crowd from their real heavy hitter: Lucas.

“Osei, remove that one in under a minute, then rejoin us. I’ll engage two of their mages to cover numbers until you return,” Afolayan said, pointing at Alec lounging at the back, as he was feeling if Alec wanted to flaunt arrogance, then he intended to match that energy.