And yet, despite the diffused attack converging on him from almost all directions, Hyoken didn't panic; instead, he lunged his spear forth with a powerful blast of ice, flying forward with great speed.
Mielin's eyes widened as she swiftly changed her hair manipulation at the very final moment, instead using her hair to protect herself.
FSSSSS!!!
The air sizzled with a flush of steam as her heated strands of hair cocooned her against the Hyoken's powerful ice. Her hair manipulation wasn't merely limited to offensive whips; she could also use it to protect herself from attacks with a powerful omnidirectional shield that was very difficult to break.
And yet, that alone was enough to give Hyoken an opportunity that he seized, charging forward with a furious gait as he thrust his spear forth with great speed and power, amplified by a surge of ice that covered everything he touched.
SSSK!
His spear cleaved through her hair strands, cleanly chopping them in half as he pierced forth, stopping inches away from her chest.
SPLAT!
"ARRGGHHH!" Mielin squelched with pain as the spear pierced through the fabric of the athletic uniform, piercing her flesh and skin, drawing copious blood.
In the blink of an eye, the enchanted magic of the athletic uniform began shining at its very brightest as it immediately pushed the spear out and away, activating several enchantments to stop all bleeding and prevent the pain, while several apprentice healer mages flew right atop the combat arena to give her emergency aid.
"Winner: Hyoken Sirura!"
The students began murmuring amongst themselves with great excitement as yet another student was knocked out of the race. Unless the Elendir Institute of Magic was willing to go out of its way to provide top-notch healers that could heal all wounds in the blink of an eye, it meant that she was definitely out of the race then and there, hence the decision of the arbiter.
Hyoken Sirura took one last look at his opponent before departing from the combat arena with a stoic expression.
Cæ sharpened his gaze as he studied the man with a scrutinizing gaze.
"…Strong."
His spear-ice magic style was quite impressive even by Cæ's standards of evaluation. He was fast, strong, possessed a great area of effect, and had magic that was difficult to defend against. On top of that, his spear skills were clearly top-notch, and he possessed a powerful thrust that not even Mielin's enhanced magic-empowered hair could possibly stop.
His mana-motive force was quite powerful, from everything that Cæ could tell, and his eidos mastery, while more limited, was still quite solid.
He was a solid contender.
He was also Cæ's next opponent.
Cæ's attention shifted to the final two matches in his block of the second round.
FSSSSS…!
The air in one particular combat arena became green as it enveloped both contenders within it.
One student immediately broke down, coughing as the gaseous poison infiltrated his system quickly, causing him to lose control of his body, falling unconscious.
His opponent was one that Cæ remembered from the first round.
A young man with piercings across his entire face that brimmed and glowed with magic, serving as his magic conductors. He was unperturbed, although several magic circles were in front of him, helping him cast magic that regulated the air around him to not be poisonous.
"No…" Cæ realized. "He's using alchemy to turn the poisonous gas into the air when it reaches him, and then back to poisonous gas when it moves away from him. An alchemical domain magic spell."
That was very different from the regular manner of offense that students had been trained to deal with, and it was no wonder that they were extremely ineffective at dealing with this strange form of attack.
Cæ fell into thought as he pondered how he was going to deal with such irregular magic. He needed to create a proper counter to his alchemical manipulation of the environment around them, considering that he had drowned his opponent in a quicksand-like surrounding.
He kept that in mind as his attention shifted to the final match of the second round in the second block. His eyes widened as he spotted a single contestant in the ring with a tense expression and gritted teeth.
There was no one else in the combat arena.
Or so it appeared.
BANG
The kid staggered as a blow struck him on the face, pushing him away.
Magic circles emerged in thin air some meters away as fireballs magically appeared out of nowhere, almost burning the fallen combatant.
"Rgh…!" The boy barely managed to defend against the spell with an earth wall before firing attacks in random directions with an expression of desperation, at seemingly nothing.
"Invisibility magic…" Cæ realized. "That must be the reason I missed in the first round."
Invisibility magic was one of the electives that he could choose, although it did have the prerequisite of having taken the course on the six elements.
A course that Cæ had already applied for.
It was worth considering taking next year.
However, he could clearly tell that the invisible student was using more than just invisibility.
They couldn't be heard, either.
The only time they were able to be tracked was when they themselves activated magic, catching their opponent off guard, or when the boy they were against cast wide-scale magic.
FWOOSH!
The desperate boy unleashed a wave of wind across the entire combat arena.
It smoothly proceeded through almost all of the combat arena as though there was nothing to be seen.
Except for several meters above the boy, where it was disturbed by an invisible presence.
Alas, by the time he even recognized it, it was too late.
BANG!
A powerful beam of light crashed into his chest, flinging him out of the arena in the blink of an eye.
THUD
He fell out of the ring, skidding and rolling away as frustration and pain emerged on his face.
"Winner: Serulia Vritra!"
WHOOSH
A young lady of eighteen years of age emerged out of thin air as her body became increasingly visible. Her body was thin and skinny, and her skin was pale, white, almost as if she were malnourished, while her reserved and measured gait, her raised chin, and her straightened back instantly gave her away as someone from an affluent background.
"Vritra…" Cæ's eyes grew blurry as he tried recalling where he knew that name from. "Ah…"
His eyes lit up with recollection.
The Vritra Family was an aristocratic family in the Durmen Principality to the North of the Democratic Republic of Elendir, a minor nation that orbited Elendir. He had heard that all the aristocratic children from the nation who had an elite talent for magic tended to go to this magicademy, for it was among the best magicademies in Southwest Gruonia.
It was no wonder that she was that strong, although simply being of an affluent family didn't necessarily guarantee that one would become the strongest, of course. It was undeniable, however, that they had advantages.
His gaze returned to Serulia as he watched her depart from the combat arena with a dignified walk.
The second round was complete.
The four quarter-finalists emerging victorious from the second round were himself, Hyoken Sirura, Merun, and Serulia.
His next battle was against Hyoken, and the winner between them would go on to the finals of the second block. And the winner of them would go on to become one of the seven in the final round of the selection process.
His gaze shifted as he studied some of the other battles, seeking to understand what his competition looked like. In particular, he studied the battles of some of the touted senior students who were known to be favorites.
However, his vision kept being drawn to Virlyd.
His presence was the heaviest.
He was like a mountain amid molehills, drawing the attention of the entire student body as he effortlessly dominated his opponent, a mage proficient in the fire and earth elements, combining them together with an alchemical spell that turned the entire combat arena around them into lava.
RUMBLE
Tremors swept through the combat arena as the ground itself melted, turning into magma and lava.
"Oohhh…!"
"That's an incredible technique!"
"She's strong!"
The spectating student body admired the bright and hot lava that emerged upon the battlefield, illuminating the entire facility in addition to the bright light of the afternoon Sun. Smoke and other gases filled the combat arena, trapped in the space by the magical barriers protecting the student body.
And yet, Virlyd remained unmoved.
His light brown eyes remained fixed on his opponent, almost as if the lava didn't even exist. His opponent, a young, skinny woman with long curly green hair gritted her teeth as several magic circles emerged in front of her.
"Hah!"
A wave of lava emerged from the ground, surging towards Virlyd, who remained unperturbed.
A single gesture was all it took.
WHOOSH
He extended his fist forward in a punching motion in her general direction.
What followed exceeded the reaction time of everybody watching.
BOOM
In the blink of an eye, the wave of lava was effortlessly cleaved in half with great force, while an extremely deep dent dug itself deeper into her body, blasting her out of the combat arena.
"Argh!"
She flew out of the ring, skidding away unconscious.
"Winner: Virlyd Mir!"
The crowd absolutely erupted with excitement and awe at the domineering victory.
"That's the Virlyd I know!"
"He's the strongest!"
"No one is better than him!"
Virlyd simply directed one last look at his opponent before turning and walking away from the combat arena with an unmoved disposition.
'Damn…' Cæ sharpened his gaze. 'This… this is going to be even harder than I imagined.'
Having observed Virlyd in action for a few actions, he had started to understand exactly what his specialty was.
And how incredibly dangerous and powerful it was.
'Domain martial magic.'
He merged domain and martial magic to create a special kind of magic that allowed him to transfer the power of his physicality through the domain and into his opponents, getting rid of the range shortcoming of martial magic. It allowed him to punch and ensure that his powerful attacks always struck their target, or at least were extremely difficult to avoid.
By using heaven and earth as a medium, his striking range was everywhere inside the combat arena.
That, combined with his absurdly powerful martial magic, was extremely overwhelming to deal with. His mana-motive force was extraordinarily powerful, which meant that even if it was body-casting that he relied upon primarily, it was still far stronger than any of his opponents, while retaining all the speed advantage.
It made for an unstoppable and unavoidable attack.
Cæ's eyes sharpened as his expression grew severe.
He had yet to figure out how he could possibly deal with him, despite being aware of the problem that he was to face. He didn't think victory would be easy, even if he went all out; he would need pure magic to be certain of victory.
Thankfully, the fight was tomorrow.
"The second round is now complete!" The voice of the announcer drew the attention of the spectating students. "The third round will shortly begin!"
The excitement and anticipation in the air only continued rising with each round as only the strongest remained, making for exciting match-ups.