The Golem Mage

After a few minutes of rest, the next match was about to begin, and with the War God Mage Academy’s victory still fresh, the northern fans cheered at the top of their voices directly to the face of the fans of the other Kingdoms.

For the moment, the fans from the other four kingdoms barely matched that energy, they were waiting for at least one win on their side before they could earn the right to banter with the northern crowd, who were clearly now acting like they’d grown wings.

Just yesterday, it had been the other kingdoms laughing at them, because the northern academies were getting eliminated so easily, but now that a northern academy had taken the first match victory, the momentum had clearly shifted.

“Just you wait. There are still four matches left, and out of that four there are two of them which have northern academies in them, let’s see how they ’ll both fall,” many of the stubborn fans shouted back at the rowdy northern crowd.

“You’re in for a surprise if you think the Bloodline Academy is going to lose,” the northern fans clapped back, unwavering as always, as they were going to stand behind their kingdom’s mages no matter what, and many of them truly believed the Bloodline Academy wouldn’t fall here.

From the Solarium Sanctum, the five chosen were: their captain, Lucien Aurex; the vice-captain, Elara Sunfall; Caelum Brightward; Seraphine Vell; and finally, Orion Vale.

On the Bloodline Academy side, it was their usual five-man squad, their top five mages: Captain Dragov Dragonmir; Vice-captain Damien Sorin; Carmilla Sorin; Connor Lupus; and Kira Nightfang.

Both teams took their places at opposite edges of the battle arena, as Dragov stood with his face half-hidden behind long grey-white hair, his posture lazy, as he looked bored, almost too uninterested.

Yet the Solarium Sanctum mages didn’t react to the attitude at all, they already knew the Bloodline team was dangerous, out of every northern academy they’d watched so far, they believed only Bloodline Academy team looked like a real problem, so they weren’t about to underestimate Dragov Dragonmir, no matter what kind of expression he wore.

“BEGIN!”

The moment the judge gave the signal, the Solarium Sanctum team spread out in a clean, system-like formation, as Lucien strode forward, raising his greatsword as it lit up with an intense brilliance.

Many in the stands, who had been staring directly at the blade, had to squint from the sheer brightness, and that was when watching from a distance, and it made them wonder how it felt for the Bloodline Academy mages standing right across from it.

On Lucien’s right and left stood Caelum and Seraphine. Caelum clearly wasn’t taking chances, as rune-like tattoos flared across his body as he summoned his Tier 5 spirit equipment set.

It happened in an instant, that by the time the light faded, he was already fully clad in knight-like armor that glowed faintly, with a halberd gripped in his right hand and a towering shield in the other. He looked every bit like a knight of light.

Seraphine, on the other hand, didn’t look as physically imposing, but the flames burning in her hands weren’t normal flames either.

Just like Alec, she too wielded a variant flame. Hers, however, was closer to light—a fire that radiated holiness itself, while Alec’s dark flame variant was known as Hellflame, hers was called Holy Flame, and her title reflected it perfectly, she is called the Holy Pyromancer.

Behind their front line, the rest of the formation locked into place, as Elara and Orion held the rear, though Orion stood a little further forward while Elara stayed deeper behind as support.

Orion wielded a Light Bow, already nocking an arrow that shone so brightly it was hard to look at directly, from their positioning alone, and how naturally their auras blended with each other to rise to a higher level, anyone could tell their affinities were aligned, built to amplify one another in battle.

On the other side, the Bloodline Academy mages still looked completely unbothered, almost like they had no plan at all. Clearly, aside from the Sorin siblings, each of them carried a different bloodline.

Though they could fight together and chain combos when needed, but there was no way they could match the unified pressure the Solarium Sanctum team gave off just by merging their bloodline pressure together.

“What a drag,” Damien muttered, running a hand through his hair as he watched the other team’s clean coordination.

Damien had always loved structure, having everything in place, and having everything controlled, as someone who leaned heavily into strategy, seeing a team blend that perfectly annoyed him, because it was exactly the kind of cohesion he’d been trying to build with his own team

Bang!!

From afar, three solar arrows streaked through the air at unnatural speed, heading straight for the Bloodline front line. Connor flashed forward, his fingers elongating into glowing claws as he swiped through the air.

For a heartbeat, time seemed to stall, then a savage Claw Qi tore across the arena and collided with the arrows mid air, as sparks and lightning snapped from the clash of opposing forces.

Boom!

Both attacks dissolved, leaving a thin smoke screen that briefly swallowed the Bloodline team from the Solarium mages’ view.

“Damien, what’s the game plan?” Connor asked, lowering his arm as the last wisps of smoke curled away, Damien looked tense, after all the hard thinking he had been doing.

“Honestly? I love their formation,” Damien admitted, then smirked. “But we’re never going to be that kind of team.”

His expression sharpened as he reached into his uniform and pulled out a faintly glowing flash vial.

“So we do what we do best,” he said, smile widening.

“We hunt.”

The moment he smiled, nearly eighty percent of the women in the Northern stands began to squeal, unable to resist Damien’s daunting charm, even some of the low-tier ladies from the other kingdoms found it hard not to stare, while only the mid-tier women kept clear heads, quietly reminding themselves that a human mage with a vampire bloodline had a charm way too alluring that it was usually too terrifying.

But Damien wasn’t just a pretty face, the fact that he’d risen to vice-captain under Dragov and had earned the respect of every teammate, Dragov included, proved how capable he truly was.

Still, while the Bloodline Academy mages took their time, the Solarium Sanctum team had already closed the distance, with Lucien leading the charge.