Chapter 44: Grand Gathering, Fierce Battle

"The grand gathering of genius magicians, the focus of everyone's attention, the Academy Exchange Tournament, between magicians, is now beginning!"
"Vladimir Dushenko, the Deputy Principal of the Revis Academy, a member of the Azek Federation Parliament, a sixth-tier Magus, announces the official start of the magician's duel."
The duels between magicians are more shocking, dazzling, and entertaining compared to the duels between warriors.
Correspondingly, the duels between magicians and warriors have opposite modes.
That is to say, the Mage Duel first adopts the knockout mode, determining the top eight on the eight platforms, and then proceeding with group elimination.
Because the person defending the platform is at a disadvantage at the beginning, there is a high chance of being eliminated.
So every year, the defenders are chosen either voluntarily or through a lottery at the scene.
But this year, it seems to be unusual as all eight defenders volunteered.
First, three members of the Ur Four, Ur, Rooney, and Stephanie, all chose the challenging task of defending the title because of their agreement with the President of Lyon.
Although they don't have much choice because of the Dark Lord's rule.
The fourth one is the Reavis Academy, the genius of the Saucedo family, Cyril Saucedo, the necromancer.
Fifth to eighth, we'll deal with the rest later.
It is worth mentioning that Ur, wearing a mask and light armor, captures people's attention.
No more words, these eight defenders of the stage live up to the audience's expectations, with only one magician from Gudistan being eliminated, the remaining seven firmly hold the stage.
After a lunch break, the most intense battle began in the afternoon.
One, one, one
"In the first match, representing the Gekpardes family from the Achilles Empire, Stephanie Gekpardes, against the Dimitris Froklias from the Bakt Empire's Bendokar Academy."
In front of the turquoise-haired girl Stephanie, there was a young man with a magical staff in his hand and a magical robe with two crossed upside-down N-shaped lightning bolts on his chest. He smiled and greeted her with a bow.
After Stephanie returned the greeting, the referee Vladimir lifted his magic wand, and a bright light rose, indicating the official start of the duel.
On the field, both sides began with binding-type magic, as the lightning coil and water ring collided in the air.
Stephanie held a water seal in her left hand and threw it directly at Dimitris.
Dimitris, who didn't know what effect this magic would have, released a Resistance Barrier, which is the most widely spread magic for dispelling on the whole continent, and has the most comprehensive effect.
However, the water imprinting of the Gelge Prélasse family's ancestral magic does not belong to this category.
The water imprint is directly imprinted on Dimitris, but the damage is somewhat surprising.
Dimitris, who hadn't noticed any changes, looked even more serious. This completely unknown magic was more troublesome than those higher-level spells.
Dimitris dodged yet another Water Mark and no longer wondered what use this magic had. As long as he defeated Stephanie, everything would be solved.
"Raging Thunder!" Seizing the opportunity to avoid Stephanie's water seal imprint, Dimitris, who had accumulated a great deal of power, planned to use a decisive move.
Blue lightning bolts flickered from the magic staff in his hand.
Stephanie, who was wandering around the field, clasped her hands together and said, "Seal!"
The magic runes of the Water Chronograph lit up, directly sealing Dimitris' source of magic power, causing the lightning gathered in Dimitris' hands to quickly disappear.
"You lost," Stephanie raised her hand, and a water balloon slowly enveloped Dimitris.
"Not necessarily!" Dimitris, with only his head left uncovered by the water balloon, suddenly shouted angrily.
A series of thunderbolts emanated from him, turning the water ball into gas.
"The power of destruction? Break through my seal directly," Stephanie said as she watched Dimitris, who was surrounded by flickering lightning bolts, raising both hands from her side.
Around the square, water columns condensed one by one.
"Although I haven't comprehended the essence yet, with my bloodline advantage alone, my strength is no less than a Fourth Rank."
"Lock!" With a command, the water columns shot out like a dragon, aiming straight at Dimitris.
"The same move again? Dimitris slammed his magic staff on the ground, and swirling thunder protected him in the middle."
"Misty haze enveloped the field, temporarily obscuring the presence of the two individuals. Only occasional dialogue could be heard, and everyone watched the field nervously."
On the field.
"You can't escape." Sensing the electrical energy surrounding him, Dimitris raised his magic wand high and unleashed the gathered thunder, "Thunderstorm!"
With the help of the misty water vapor in the field, violent thunder poured down around Stephanie.
Compared to warriors, mages have fragile bodies and even a minor and natural fourth-order magic can cause injury, let alone this powerful magic.
Compared to warrior battles, mage battles often result in casualties without notice, so the organizers have provided each participant with fifth-tier defensive alchemical items.
Users can choose to activate a protective shield when they are under physical attacks from elemental entities, or choose not to activate it but assume the consequences.
When users are under attacks from the mental realm, the decision to automatically activate or not depends on comparing the spiritual energy of the two parties involved.
"Don't think that I only have sealing magic." A voice came from the left, and Dimitris looked in astonishment ahead and then to the faint figure in the mist on the left.
"With your current condition, you can't even unleash a second-tier spell. Give up."
Dozens of spears made of condensed water surrounded Demetrius, waiting for his decision.
Demetrius sighed and shouted to the sky, "I surrender."
"In the first match, Stephanie Grace defeated Vladimir. Vladimir raised his magic wand and a gentle breeze dispersed the mist."
"In the second match, Rooney Fahed from the undead city of Sodröst, against Bai Junze from the Kingdom of Cloud Dreams."
One, one, one
"Is there a prominent family named Bai in the country of Yunmeng? And when did Yunmeng send such a person?" Liu Yun frowned, while Qu Hong quickly spun the gossip compass in his hands.
When the pointer in the gossip device stopped, Qu Hong let out a sigh of relief, "I can only determine that he is indeed related to the country of Yunmeng. I can't figure out more than that."
After a moment of silence, Qu Hong spoke again, "There is great danger. If I had forcefully tried to figure out his situation just now, I would have definitely been killed by the backlash."
One, one, one
In a gray wizard robe, Rooney stood with several humanoid alchemical creations by his side.
Opposite him, Ur stood behind a group of alchemical creations as well.
This is a duel between alchemists.
The humanoid puppet charged at the opponent under the command of the referee Vladimir Ivbo.
Meanwhile, Ur and Runi stood behind the alchemical creation, casting spells from time to time.
One, one, one
"How come someone from the Eastern Continent is using our Western alchemy techniques? Shouldn't he be using their Eastern machinery?"
"And on top of that, this guy is using magic. Unbelievable." Some powerful individuals with discerning eyes took notice of everything happening below.
"Maybe he is a being like the Levis family, not suitable for their Eastern supernatural system."
"I don't think so. He still wears a mask and light armor. If it weren't for the familiar magical fluctuations, I would have thought he was a warrior."
"Alchemy creations used on the field (excluding magic wands) must undergo inspection by the Academy Alliance to confirm they are the player's own work."
"But, uh, this is just absurd."
The audience on the stand were buzzing with discussions, while the battle on the field showed no signs of stopping.
One, one, one
"Let's settle this once and for all!" Rooney shouted out, the grey energy coalescing in his magic wand.
"Death beam."
The necklace on Ur's neck shines brightly.
"Freezing Ray."
By classification, both of these attacks can be considered as fifth-level magic.
After a burst of explosive sounds, Roonie flew backwards into the smoke, declaring Ur's victory.
One, one, one
In the semifinals, Stephanie narrowly lost to Cicero Sausedo, making this psychic wizard gain widespread fame among the nations.
On the other hand, Urr was defeated by Mark Redail from the Radiant Empire at the right time.
In the final game, Xililo used a fifth-order magic to annihilate the soul, breaking through Mark Reddall's soul protection shield and winning the duel.