"Without further ado, let the match begin!"

With another swirl of wind, the headmaster disappeared, leaving Art and Flint alone on the stage.

Resounding cheers rang out for Flint, who was by far the favorite to win. A betting circle had been set up in spite of it being prohibited, with the odds being 1:25 in favor of Flint. Although it was technically not allowed to bet on school matches, a certain headmaster may have bet heavily on Art himself...

Flint's eyes shone with arrogance and satisfaction as he listened to the crowd cheer for him.

"Hear that, freshman? Everyone knows who's gonna win this duel before it's even started. Heh... maybe if you give up now and agree to serve me in any way I ask for a week, I'll let you off with only light injuries. Either way we'll see how long the reputation of the 'mysterious perfect freshman' can hold up." His thoughts once again turned to Sarah's enthusiastic greeting for Art.

All mages could use pure essence (essence not related to any element) to achieve basic spells, one such spell being the 'sound limiter.' The spell could direct voices to only be heard by certain people by preventing particles in the air from vibrating, making it an incredibly practical and popular spell. It had a major drawback, however, and that was its limited range - it could at most be used to control air particles within a twenty meter radius of the user. Flint used this to mask the second half of his words from the audience.

Art smirked in response, and used the same spell to respond so only Flint could hear, "Funny. I was planning on making you the same offer. But seeing you now... you're not even fit to serve my pet snow leopard. I guess I'll just cripple you instead."

Flint's face distorted in rage.

"I'm not sure exactly where you get that disgusting confidence from you braindead fool!"

Fiery red characters flared out around Flint's raised palm in a single glowing circle.

"Greater Fireball!"

Wisps of fire gathered in front of Flint's palm, quickly condensing into a scorching orange-red ball of flame.

"Kah!"

Flint pushed his arm forward, sending the fireball shooting towards Art. A complacent look emerging on his face as he saw that Art hadn't even began using a spell to defend.

Art, however, merely snorted at the fireball shooting towards his chest.

Serenely raising a palm, a dome shaped wall of water shimmered into existence, rippling out in circles from palm.

"Azure Tide: Limitless Ripple."

The previously dazzling fireball was extinguished with barely a poof when it came in contact with the layers of water, all heat snuffed out by the water and all explosive force washed away by the powerful ripples as Art easily neutralized the spell.

Flint frowned and conjured another fireball, shooting one after another at Art, each at a different angle. Art blocked them all with the same spell.

The exchange between the two continued, a stunning competition between the two opposites of fire and water flashing across the stage in a battle for dominance. Flint shot an almost continuous stream of fireballs at Art, each blazing brighter than the last, as Art continued to casually block each attack with his watery shield that seemed to grow in density each second.

Flint's attacks focused on explosive power, while Art's Azure Tide spells incorporated the concepts of endlessness into their structure. Even as Flint's fiery spells evaporated Art's shield, more water would immediately condense out of the air to replenish it with jaw dropping speed.

Flint snorted in anger, again raising his palm, this time conjuring three fire balls in front of him. One shot straight towards Art, while the other two curved to the sides in a pincer attack.

"Grand Fireball Tripartite!"

"Hmmph. Azure Tide: Flowing Veil."

A dome shaped curtain of water surrounded Art, flowing out and around him from a point directly above his head. Flint's fireballs were again neutralized.

Flint paled at Art's mocking look.

"Humph. Try putting this out. Fire Titan's Fist!"

Again gathering fire mana in his hand, a brilliant array of scarlet characters appeared around his arm as flames condensed around his clenched hand, forming a giant fist of fire. Taking a step forward, he blasted out the giant flaming fist towards Art with scorching shockwave. The air distorted around the blazing manifestation of fire as it shot towards Art.

The audience roared in anticipation, wondering how Art would react. This spell was on a completely different level to the previous one.

"Condense!" Art shouted.

The layers of water rippling out from his palm folded back in on themselves forming an arching, almost lotus like structure in front of him.

"Azure Tide: Lotus Shield!"

Bang! A powerful shockwave was produced as the two spells collided, mist exploding out from the point of contact to cover the arena.

The audience shot to their feet, desperately trying to peer through the mist to see if Art's defense had been broken.

A shout broke through the hissing steam.

"Dawn of Fire - One Thousand Rays of the Rising Sun!"

Countless streams of condensed fire shot out from Flint's side of the arena, evaporating the mist streak by streak.

The audience gasped in shock - this was one of the most famous spells of the Daymore family from their Dawn of Fire spell set, which all incorporated a principle of condensing fire like the sun.

Feeling the heat coming off from the rays of fire shooting towards him, Art decided to get a little bit more serious.

"Vast Ocean Kraken Emergence!"

Multitudes of huge tentacles formed of dark blue water sprang up from around Art's feet and viciously circled outwards, exactly like the probing tentacles of a kraken in search for prey. Flint's Rays of the Rising Sun were easily absorbed into the tentacles with only slight ripples.

Flint quickly responded.

"Evaporate! Surging Flames!"

A sea of fire shot out from Flint's raised palms.

Art formed a hand seal, causing a different set of deep blue runes to spiral around his hand.

"Vast Ocean Tidal Wave!"

The tentacles of water collapsed into a roaring wave of water that smothered the billowing sea of flames and continued rushing on towards Flint.

A small smile formed on Art's face as he finally decided to go on the attack.

"Vast Ocean Current Splitter!"

A circular ripple of water shot out from his palm at incredible speed, splitting apart the wall of water between them as it gained in size and mass. Finally an enormous ball of extremely condensed water zoomed out of the sea of water, smashing towards Flint like a freight train.

It was too fast to avoid. Flint could only form a hurried mana shield with a desperate scream as the audience held their breath in shock. Flint's shield immediately shattered like the frailest glass when the ball of water smashed into it, and then continued on to Flint's body.

A horrifying crunch could be heard as Flint's ribs splintered under the tremendous impact, sending his frame miserably sliding backwards across the floor, almost to the edge of the stage. A few splotches of Flint's blood that he had spit up were left behind.

Silence fell over the arena. None of the audience could believe their eyes. Some were even pinching themselves and rubbing their eyes red, not believing that the body miserably trying to stand back up belonged to the powerful Flint.

Art patiently watched as Flint struggled to his feet.

"To think... that you couldn't even defend against one spell of mine..." Art's mocking voice caused another mouthful of blood to rise up in Flint's throat.

Trembling in pain, rage and shame, all traces of rationality left Flint's mind. Forming a hand seal, an enormous six point array of scarlet red runes appeared before Flint. Flint spit a mouthful of blood onto the array, sacrificing a portion of his life force to power the array.

"Life Force Sacrifice! Incarnation of Flames - Descent of the Fire Titan!"

A shocking burst of power swept out from Flint's body, causing a hint of gravity to appear in even Art's eyes.

Incarnation of Flames - Descent of the Fire Titan. A forbidden spell classified as a strategic level power. If cast at its peak, its destructive power could rival a nuclear bomb or a natural disaster like the eruption of a volcano.

Of course, Flint's Incarnation of Flames - Descent of the Fire Titan was nowhere near this level. He had only scratched the surface of understanding this spell. But combined with him sacrificing his life force to strengthen the spell, it was something no mage of the younger generation could take lightly, even Art.

Huge amounts of fire essence gathered in front of Flint, slowly taking the form of an enormous warrior made of solidified flames that radiated a crushing heat and pressure. The lines of its body slowly became more distinct. Standing at around 3.5 meters tall (12 feet), the titan seemed to be a god of war and fire. Its muscular orange-red body was covered in a heavy armor of flames that gave a feeling of unmatched destructive power. A long spear of roughly the same height was gripped in one of its enormous hands. Just standing there it caused indents and cracks to appear in the stage below it.

Art slowly raised his head, an indiscernible light flashing through his eyes.

"Revolve! Mystic Ice Deity Bloodline!"