[Jack's POV]
'shit'
*Crack*
*BBOOOOMMMM*
The ice chunk exploded in front of me, breaking apart into a mix of snow, water droplets and ice shards larger than my arm.
It all shot off into the far wall, completely missing me.
It took me a second to understand what had just happened when I noticed Ark standing next to me, breathing hard as mana coursed around his hand and body.
He wasn't there a second ago, and I instantly started thinking at hyper speed, trying to figure out what happened.
*WHOOSH*
I felt mana move behind us, then form a wall, almost like it was making a shield.
*BWOOM*
Then a massive force of wind slammed into the barrier.
I felt the ground shake when it collided with the barrier, and all I could hear was the wind howling so loud I couldn't hear anything else.
It was so strong that it would probably have knocked me out instantly.
I quickly tried to brace myself so I wouldn't fall over, but realized I didn't need to.
Ark was in front of me, pushing me back against the wind and supporting me to make sure I wouldn't fall over.
Yet I also saw an unfamiliar, serious, and focused expression on his face, one that he would never normally show in this moment, almost like he was a different person.
I couldn't help but worry about what had happened to him.
But I couldn't focus on that now.
After the shockwave ended, I righted myself as the spell was almost complete.
"Move," I said.
Ark's expression returned to being a bit more concerned, and he nodded before running off, moving with the aid of wind magic.
'What's happened to him?' I asked myself before focusing everything on the troll.
Thankfully, the shattering ice chunk and shockwave seemed to stun it as it didn't move.
I smiled and raised one hand.
Using the one holding my wand, I focused on the magic crystal in front of me, still glowing with mana.
I moved it in front of the first circle and snapped with my raised hand.
*Crack*
*VWOOM*
The crystal shattered, and all its mana was released instantly, enough to kill a normal person.
But I was far from normal.
The circles started glowing brighter as they absorbed the mana.
Energy started to compress into a sphere as I felt my nose start to bleed.
Knowing time was short and following the rules set forth by the Primordial Spirits of Knowledge, Brakos, and Magic, Arcana, I began the rite of Spell Creation.
I released my aura, using the pressure from the spell to cover it up, and spoke to the universe.
"[7 Fold Fusion Magic: Elemental Convergence]"
I named the spell, locking my name down as the creator and only user of this spell in all recordings throughout the totality of existence.
*Vwoom*
*Pop*
*BRREEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM*
A massive beam of energy shot forth, easily over five meters wide and hundreds of degrees hotter than fire.
Feeling the pressure from the spell, I couldn't help but feel like it was a nuclear bomb compressed into a funnel.
'HOW THE FUCK IS THIS SO STRONG!' I thought, shocked by its power.
The light from the beam was so bright I had to close my eyes and look away as hot, dry air hit me, pushing me back and causing me to fall over, yet I didn't stop.
I couldn't stop.
I had to maintain the air shell around the spell.
If I didn't, then all the energy from the spell would be released in all directions instead of where the troll used to be.
I pulled out another air core and slotted it into one of the rings. I gathered any wind mana in the surrounding area and, even though I couldn't see, I used it to reinforce the shell, but it wasn't enough.
The spell was too powerful for the shell to hold.
'Shit.'
Then I felt the mana around me shift.
Suddenly, more wind mana flooded my surroundings, and I felt a familiar presence.
Ark.
Yet it was different now—more calm, powerful, and... whole, almost as if a part of him had returned.
Some part of him felt like he had just gotten it back.
^You need to focus.^ someone spoke to me telepathically, yet it wasn't the same way as my spirits; instead, its source was coming from something on my neck.
I instantly realized it was from the bond charms, the ones that Ark and I got a few days ago.
I was absolutely shocked.
Telepathy was one of the abilities those charms can offer, but only if we shared some sort of union bond. We don't have anything like that yet.
^Ark?^ I asked.
^Yes and no. I am his wolf. I will explain later, but you need to control the spell.^
Understanding showed on my face.
'So that's why he seemed different,' I thought.
I refocused on the mana around me and worked it into the shield, guiding the mana from Ark and also showing him how to do it himself.
We continued for what felt like forever, making sure the shell held firm and didn't break.
Eventually, the spell died down, and everything went silent.
I couldn't relax even one bit. I was so tense from holding up the shell that I felt like I had been doing it for hours, yet the time from when the spell was cast to when it ended was only around twenty-five to thirty seconds.
After a few more seconds of silence and feeling like it was safe to open my eyes again, I did so and saw absolute destruction in front of me.
There was a massive molten hole in the arena walls and stands about thirty meters in diameter, going all the way through and into the open sky. (The spell was only about five meters in diameter; the heat was just that intense.)
The ground was hot, and all the grass that used to be in front of me was dry and gray, clearly singed/melted from the spell's heat.
Finally, I looked at where the troll used to be... or rather still was.
Lying on the ground with its entire left side completely gone and the rest burned and charred beyond any saving.
Despite still being partially intact, it was definitely dead.
I let out a sigh of relief before letting myself fall to the ground in complete exhaustion.
Maintaining a spell like that was the hardest thing I had ever done.
Not only did it require immense control, but it was also several times stronger than it should have been.
I had originally calculated its strength with seven elements and made the air shell strong enough to hold it back. Yet somehow it was instantly breaking.
I heard someone running toward me and saw Ark with a worried expression, likely thinking this was the same as the Hellhounds.
I chuckled weakly.
Once he got to me, he grabed my shoulders and asked "ar- y-- -k?"
And, despite the ringing in my ears, making it difficult to hear him, in barely a whisper, I said, "Don't worry. I am fine. Just exhausted."
"W--t -- y-- me-n just ex----ted! You- ble---ng -rom you nos- --d ear-!" he said, but I could barely hear him through the ringing.
'My ears must have blown,' I thought.
Not wanting to move, I used some mana to pull out a healing and mana potion from my storage ring.
They appeared on the ground next to Ark and I.
Noticing I did something, he looked, noticed them, looked at me, and I met his eyes and nodded slightly.
A tear fell down his face, understanding I couldn't move as he grabbed them and poured them into my mouth one at a time.
I swallowed slowly and relaxed as I felt the potions start working.
The mana potion instantly refilled my mana pool, slowly relieving the discomfort and exhaustion I felt when it was empty.
Then the healing potion started healing my injuries, both external and internal.
I relaxed there on the ground as, over the next few minutes, the ringing stopped and the soreness in my joints lessened.
After a little longer, I felt alright enough to sit up.
Ark helped me as I winced from some pain.
I looked around and saw several students staring at me in shock, while others had collapsed onto the ground.
Terra was already making her way over to me, but Orin, Araki and Zek were all standing with everyone else, but not coming over.
Orin seemed fine at least—just shocked and a little sore but also giving Ark and me some space while worried about the others next to him. he is obviously shocked by the spell, but since he isn't a mage, he doesn't know how magic scaling actually works.
Terra seemed able to move on her own, and while a little shaken, she had composed herself by that point. She had seen powerful spells before from mages, but this was the first time I had cast something this powerful.
Araki and Zek, however, were frozen-unable to process the power of that spell.
And I didn't blame them.
They both know more about magic than Orin, Ark and many of the other students present. However, based on their expressions, they have never seen something so powerful.
And I can't help but agree.
Even using my knowledge of science and mixing it with magic, that spell should have been a rank 5 spell at most. But instead, it was on par with a rank 8 spell. [1]
Knowing I was missing something, I went over the calculations for the spell and how I made it. There was no way the amount of mana I had used was enough to cause this amount of destruction.
It was a lot, sure, but it was only enough for a rank 4 spell. The modifications I did and combining the elements in that specific way made it a stronger spell, rank 5, borderline rank 6, yet the power was over rank 8...
I ran over the mana fusions and whether any conflicts combining that mana could have changed something, but still nothing.
Then I tried thinking about when I first formulated the spell, years ago. I had originally formulated it to cast in large-scale combat against hordes of monsters or armies.
I chose that spell as it was easily the strongest spell I could cast right now, but I had to add in the air shell to account for the difficulty aiming in my current state and possible blowback—
Then it hit me.
When I did the original planning for this spell, I planned to use it for long-range bombardments on large armies in a wide area or to blow something up from afar.
Because of the arena walls, I was worried the force from the spell would have rebounded and hit everyone all at once from all directions, harming or even killing people.
So I added in the air shell to direct all the power from the spell in one direction, having the blowback only be from the single wall rather than everywhere at once.
However, I forgot to account for the fact that compressing the output into a funnel would also compress and compound the power, making the resulting spell multiple times stronger.
i was likely the first to try this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean I was the first mage to make this kind of mistake.
in stressful situations, when formulating or modifying spells on the fly with no previous preparation, mages commonly overlook some crucial factors or forget about some sort of drawback.
This was a major mistake that has cost the lives of many mages over the years.
However, from the ashes of those mages' failed spells, new knowledge came to be thanks to the notes they kept.
In my case, I made one error in the spell and almost killed everyone, but I also revealed how to compress spells into something much more powerful to several prospective mages.
If this gets out, the word will definitely reach the tower at some point, including my involvement. And they will start to keep a close eye on me.
~
[1]: explosions inside a contained tube or funnel, thanks to the reflection of the blast, can become anywhere from 2 to 9 times stronger than if it were out in the open.