The crowd erupted once again. Murmurs rippled through the stands, low voices swelling into shocked gasps, then into open exclamations. "Oohs" and "ahhs" echoed like waves, rolling across the vast colosseum. The entire arena trembled, not from magic, but from the sheer disbelief of what had just been declared and, more importantly, what had just been accepted.
Ibarin, the Grand Magus himself, had answered. He had accepted the challenge of a student.
Many among the audience clapped their hands together, half in admiration and half in stunned approval. Some muttered that this was humility at its finest, that the Grand Magus, a man with no obligation to respond, had chosen to descend from his position of power to grant the wish of a mere student. To them, it seemed like a display of kindness, a gesture to make the final day of the event all the more spectacular and memorable.
But in the Wilton preparation room, there was no mistaking the truth. They knew Raze too well.
