Only a quarter of the participants were left by the third round for a total of twenty-eight contestants, making for fourteen matches in total, just two matches per block. They all occurred simultaneously, much to the disdain of the student body that wished to observe all of them one by one, not to miss anything, and to enjoy all of them to the fullest.
Of all the battles that took place in the combat facility, none drew more attention than Virlyd's, of course. Even if his match-up was what students were most certain about, they still looked forward to his battle, his dominance the most. Perhaps it was because his victory was so domineering that even those who supported him felt like they had won.
Regardless, Cæ didn't focus on any other match.
He couldn't afford to.
STEP
STEP
He arrived in the combat arena, finding himself face to face with a frosty Hyoken who gazed at him with icy eyes. He was several years younger than Cæ, at about twenty-one years of age, a rather remarkable alter of power to achieve the kind of power that he had. His ice magic had proven to be quite formidable in the first two rounds, overcoming not just an ordinary participant but also a more formidable opponent in Mielin and her hair manipulation.
In both battles, Cæ hadn't gotten the feeling that he had been pushed to his limits. This only made him more confident that he still had more to show.
Of course, the same could be said for Cæ.
"Draw your weapons or wands."
Cæ held out his wand, pointing at his opponent while Hyoken simply took a wide stance, gripping his spear tightly with both hands and pointing it towards Cæ.
"And… begin!"
In the blink of an eye, magic circles emerged before both of them.
And despite that, Cæ's magic activated first.
VMMM!
A beam of light emerged from the tip of his wand, flying straight towards his opponent.
Light magic was the fastest magic when it came to conjuration, and it why Cæ hoped his superior magic activation speed would allow him to take his opponent out from the very moment the battle started.
Alas, the beam of light crashed into a wall of ice that his spear jab created.
Not only could he use magic circles, but he could also use body-casting that was even faster than magic circles.
BOOM
The collision of powerful spells immediately caused a loud explosion to emerge on the combat arena as the Hyoken emerged from the steam, thrusting his spear at Cæ.
Unfortunately for him, Cæ was an extremely mobile fighter.
WHOOSH
His feet lifted off the ground as he stepped out of range of the spear attack, coursing through the combat arena at great speeds. Hyoken's eyes sharpened as he activated magic on himself, surging forth with great speed as he tried catching up to Cæ.
Something that Cæ wasn't willing to make easy for him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Several blasts of wind emerged from his spell as he launched attacks at Hyoken, threatening to knock him out then and there.
And yet, each and every wind blast was countered by Hyoken's proficient spearmanship. His Martial Magic allowed him to cleave through wind itself, parting the attacks in half, as he barely lost a step or two.
His eyes sharpened as he pushed himself, wielding his icy spear to increase his range as much as possible within the combat arena to make it as difficult for Cæ to keep away from him as he could.
And yet, to his surprise, Cæ was extremely difficult to pin down; the speed at which his magic was activated after being triggered was incredible, and while body-casting was marginally quicker, it was also weaker, allowing Cæ to evade his ice as he continued blasting him with magic.
Not just any magic.
But fire and heaven magic to create an inferno of not just great heat but also great force.
FWOOSH!
The combat facility lit up as the bright light of his intense fire illuminated the entire facility even more than the light of the afternoon Sun peering in through the windows along the side of the combat facility.
The students cooed at the display of power as Cæ's fire and wind magic effectively dealt with all of Hyoken's attempts to attack with a wide-scale attack of expanding ice.
While his mastery of the fire element was limited to a handful of runes that he had mastered in his first year in the Apprentice Program, his proficiency in the heaven element, one of the six greater elements of magic, was significantly greater.
Most importantly, he used them together.
The heat of the fire magic weakened and melted much of the ice and weakened its internal constitution, while the wind magic then shattered the ice with great force, preventing the attack from reaching Cæ.
On top of that, he constantly raised the temperature of the combat facility, making it ever more inhospitable to ice magic.
FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH!
Cæ's flared with a fierce intensity as he unleashed a myriad of blasts against his opponent. Hyoken's expression, on the other hand, sharpened as he exerted even greater mana to strengthen and reinforce his ice while his body-casting allowed him to keep up with Cæ.
If a spectating student were asked which one of them had an advantage in combat, they would have likely said that Hyoken appeared to have the advantage, given that he was the one chasing Cæ.
And yet, a professor would know better.
Just because he was the aggressor in the fight did not mean that he had an advantage. The boundary of the combat arena was protected with magic to ensure that none of the effects of the magic within the arena would escape and reach the students.
That included the heat generated from Cæ's spells.
It was all trapped within the combat arena.
The more fire he launched, the more he raised the temperature in the combat arena, as he appeared to be purposefully doing so, the harder it became for Hyoken to cast ice magic across the entire battle.
The energy released into the environment from a magic spell generally could not be harnessed by a mage unless they cast a manipulation spell of the elements of heaven and earth on the environment around them.
However, in Cæ's case, the heat released into the environment after he cast his magic was working in his favor passively, and it only grew stronger and stronger. Cæ didn't even need to worry about overheating, because Hyoken's ice magic would naturally suffer from the heat by absorbing it, providing relief to Cæ.
Hyoken was clearly aware of the fact that his ice magic was helping Cæ's strategy in this way, but his displeasure showed.
His ice grew icy cold while his expression crumpled with frustration.
And yet, the only thing that he could think of to mitigate this strategy was to defeat Cæ as soon as possible.
His eyes sharpened as he pushed himself to the very limit, using the most powerful mana-motive force that he could muster at that point.
"Hyargh!"
He halted his chase of Cæ as he swung and thrust his spear midair.
It was a body-cast spell that manipulated heaven and earth.
Cæ's expression darkened as he sensed Hyoken's magical power manipulating heaven and earth, changing the motion of the air within the combat arena. Cæ's eyes widened as he sensed the air around him getting colder despite the fact that Hyoken wasn't targeting the environment immediately around him.
He couldn't, of course, due to the interference field that Cæ had cast.
And yet the air around Cæ grew colder not because his opponent was directly cooling it but because he was transferring heat parts of the combat arena away from Cæ. The amount of heat within the arena couldn't be changed, so Hyoken had decided to go for the next best thing.
He chose to distribute it where he had the most to gain from it.
However, this was a momentary respite; the moment he dropped the spell, heat would distribute itself again in adherence to the laws of nature. Hyoken had already begun sweating profusely while Cæ felt the chills of cold crawling across his skin.
And yet, the former gritted his teeth, charging at Cæ with every ounce of power that he was able to muster to take Cæ down once and for all.
"Hyargh!" Hyoken snarled as he launched a furious spear thrust along with a maelstrom of ice surging forth with the attack, eager to devour Cæ.
Cæ's eyes sharpened as he chose not to activate fire magic.
No.
This time, he activated darkness magic.
WHOOSH
Hyoken's eyes as a wave of darkness emerged from Cæ, consuming the entire combat arena.
One moment, Hyoken could see his opponent.
He could see victory.
The very next moment, however, there was nothing.
He had lost sight of his target.
He had lost sight of victory.
"Damn." He gritted his teeth as his spear thrust forward, unleashing the most powerful and wide-scale attack he could in hopes of tagging Cæ.
FWOOSH!
A wave of ice emerged from the sphere, rapidly expanding in many directions and angles, covering everything it touched.
The ice spread and settled.
And then, the darkness disappeared.
FWOOSH!
Hyoken's eyes widened as he spotted a tremendous fireball emerging toward him from his left side with great power and speed, threatening to consume him where he was.
His reflexes sprang into action with desperation as he activated a defensive ice magic spell.
FWOOSH!
An explosion of steam blasted across the entire combat arena as the spectating student cooed with amazement.
"Shit!" Cæ cursed at the sight of steam.
Steam meant that his ice managed to make contact with the fire.
Cæ, on the other hand, gritted his teeth as he cast fire magic at the ice that covered his right foot.
Moments before he could get out of the way completely, Hyoken's ice spell had managed to catch on to his foot, completely covering it in ice up to his ankles, causing an excruciating icy flare of pain to emerge from his foot.
Grave severity entered his eyes as he glanced in the direction of Hyoken as the steam cleared, desperately melting the ice without burning himself.
His eyes lit up at what he saw.
"Winner: Cæ!
On the ground lay an unconscious Hyoken.
His body had suffered serious burn wounds, while other parts of his body were covered in ice.
He had managed to only partially protect himself from the fire at the very final moment.
Even if body-casting was fast, that was in comparison to other forms of magic. After a spell was released and had already crossed much of the distance, it was very difficult to make it in time.
The students exploded in cheers and applause at the heart-racing battle that Cæ had come close to losing while he heaved a sigh of relief, melting the ice off. He found it curious that the spell was still active despite the fact that Hyoken was unconscious.
It was likely the fourth fundamental form of Automation, allowing magic to continue without the will of the mage. Cæ had only just begun learning it in his Advanced Eidos Theory, so he wasn't particularly surprised that a senior mage like Hyoken could use it.
It showed that despite these shortcomings in theory, he was still extremely strong due to his great affinity and talent for magic that came with being a pure mage.
Still, this was merely the third round of one block.
He still had the final round of his block.
And after that, the final round of the entire selection process.
He had no intention of losing.