Jessica was at first a little caught off guard by the drastic change in the floor's composition but soon, she adjusted her expectations within moments.
(This basically proves that Pearl is a Metal Magician or at least uses metal magic. To change the green mat made of unknown magic materials into liquid metal is no small feat. I saw Jessie's flames turn the ceiling molten-orange as a result of the heat but the mat did not change color, even a little, at that time after being enveloped by the same flames for tens of seconds.)
Pearl, who was standing steady on the surface of her mercury field, noticed that Jessica wasn't sinking into the mercury field and so Pearl focused her attention on Jessica's feet. Pearl immediately noticed a faint magic power that was emanating from both of Jessica's feet but there was no visible manifestation of the magic power.
Jessica slowly walked away from her current position at the other end of the battle stage and moved towards Pearl, saying:
"Neat trick, but useless."
Pearl replied simply:
"Oh..."
Jessica took ten steps forward but did not attack; she had her reasons:
(I wanted to first get a decent grasp of the terrain by trying to use my Tension Grip spell to see if I could successfully walk on the silver liquid's surface without sinking. My spell forces fluids that are in contact with me to increase in surface tension until I'm able handle them like solid objects. Tension Grip is a water path spell so I was a little concerned that it would not be effective against Pearl's metal path influence but luckily, her spell seems to be somewhat compatible with water path, otherwise, I would have needed to be more creative.)
Pearl squinted her eyes and made a guess internally:
(She perfectly countered my spell without much effort. My mercury form inheritance has origins partially related to water path so she seems to have some advantage here. Wow...it looks like Varrow gave me an opponent perfectly suited to cause me trouble. That old bastard...)
Inheritances were legacies left behind by previous Magicians containing information about their spells, other methods, magical knowledge and/or life experiences. Not all inheritances were made equal and the vast majority of them were incomplete but there were also many that had been developed to a high standard by their previous holders.
Because the process of developing magic spells and methods was so complex, it was very often the case where the methods in one inheritance had roots belonging to multiple magical paths even if they were really representative of one or two particular paths.
Such circumstances tended to be based on the experiences and unique attainment of the past holders of an inheritance and there was nothing that the current holder could do about it unless they endeavored to alter the inheritance themselves, which without the required attainment levels, would only amount to a bitter joke.
Once Pearl realized that Jessica would be no push over for her, she stopped waiting to see what her opponent would do in response to her spell and acted:
(Mercuric Geyser)
Pearl's left arm transformed into a sloppy mass of silver, viscous liquid that poured onto the mercury field below her feet and the silver liquid continued to pour from her left shoulder stump seemingly without end. Pearl willed and the silver liquid pouring from her body began to move like a live snake as it rapidly flowed towards Jessica.
In mere moments, the silver liquid reached within two meters of Jessica and circled her before enveloping her and amassing into a dome like form of flowing liquid. Pearl immediately cast another spell, the silver dome being the target of its effect:
(Hard Fluid)
The silver dome immediately went from being liquid to being a hard, solid metal dome, about three meters in height and covering a radius of about two meters. Pearl raised her right eyebrow in confusion and muttered:
"Why was that so easy?"
Only seconds after she said that, however, the metal dome developed many cracks in its surface and water slowly flowed from them at first until two seconds later, the entire metal dome gave way as the water gushed out of the cracks with such force that the dome crumbled from the inside out.
When the metal dome fell, becoming pieces of rubble sinking into the mercury field, Jessica remained standing at her position, taking deep breaths. She then put on a stern expression and declared aloud:
"I'm ready now. This liquid metal, its mercury, right?"
Jessica immediately pointed three of her right fingers at Pearl, her right middle finger and the two fingers to the left and right of it, while casting her next spell:
(Tension Spear)
A foot away from Pearl's chest center, right and left thigh, three finger-width poles of condensed water formed from the moisture within the atmosphere and stabbed into those three locations, exiting through her rear. The attack was so quick that Pearl had no time to dodge and she grimaced after all three Tension Spears impaled her. At that point, blood did not flow from her wounds but instead, mercury did.
Pearl took in a deep breath and with Mercuric Alchemy and Mercuric Geyser still active, she willed for her entire body to degenerate into a flowing mass of mercury that combined with the mercury field. At that point, Jessica's Tension Spears dissipated after their laws came into extreme conflict with the laws that existed within the mercury field.
Jessica felt troubled:
(Pearl morphed into mercury and merged with the terrain. Is this metal path achieving the effect of transformation path? That is an incredible result at rank 2. My Zero Tension Armor has a similar effect and I know for a fact that the spell was created by a rank 6 Water Scholar.)
Spells created by expert Magicians could often mimic other paths that they seemingly had no relationship with. Pearl's metal path spells mimicking transformation path simply meant that one of the previous owners of her inheritance had a very high metal path attainment level.
No sooner than Pearl made her transformation, Jessica decided to do something about the terrain since it seemed to represent an unknown danger. Jessica body erupted with azure colored magic energy and she pointed at an area of the mercury field in front of her, casting a spell:
(Miniature Sea: Deep Sea Pressure)
Jessica Controlled her spell to the finest degree possible which resulted in a thin layer of water forming directly over the mercury field and thus over the entirety of the sparring area's floor. The layer of water subtly pressured the mercury field with forces akin to what you'd find at the bottom of a deep sea trench; Jessica's azure colored magic energy soon faded and she reasoned:
(The Miniature Sea series of spells allow me to manipulate water in the atmosphere to produce phenomena similar to what you'd find within a large water body but on a smaller scale. Deep Sea Pressure should prevent any surprises from suddenly popping up from this metallic pool. Now, all I have to do is find where Pearl is hiding.)
Jessica then tried using her magic sense to detect Pearl's possible location but for some reason, the mercury field was interfering with her magic sense. About one minute into her search, the mercury field surged with magic power as a silver mist emanated from it, even passing through Jessica's water layer. Following that, the thin layer of water developed a silver hue and thickened, after which, eight six-meter-long tentacles of mercury shot up from the mercury field and moved towards Jessica rapidly, trying to capture her.
Jessica reacted by casting her Mini Torrent movement spell and after she was enveloped by a torrent of free flowing water, she skillfully dodged each of the mercury tentacles, each of them coming very close to capturing her every time they closed the distance between Jessica and themselves.
This exchange went on for two minutes before Jessica was finally able to sense the source of the magic power that was controlling the tentacles from within the mercury pool. Jessica acted ruthlessly by casting two spells while keeping her focus on a certain spot over seven meters away from her.
(Torrential Raiment)
(Tension Edge)
Moisture from the surrounding atmosphere instantly condensed and flowed around Jessica's Mini Torrent in a violent self-spiral that seemed to make Jessica's advance appear more intimidating. The Torrential Raiment flowed rapidly around Mini Torrent in a screw like pattern, completely complementing it aesthetics and movement. Soon, Jessica's speed suddenly increased and she propelled herself into three mercury tentacles that were approaching her front.
The moment that these tentacles came into contact with Jessica's water path methods and tried to wrap around them, the tentacles were torn apart as if they had been sliced simultaneously by many jagged blades. Following the destruction of the three mercury tentacles, Jessica moved rapidly towards Pearl's supposed hiding place and crashed into it head first.
SSSSSSPPPPPLLLLLLAAAAASSSSSSSSHHHHHH!
The impact of Jessica's maneuver displaced mercury in about a one-meter-radius area and after, she forced her way through a three-meter-depth of pure mercury to find her target. Jessica moved through the area where she was sensing the distinctive surge of magic power, then performed a U-turn with Mini Torrent to escape the mercury field.
When Jessica rushed out of the mercury field with her Torrential Raiment still swirling violently like a powered screw, once the mercury field's surface stilled, a trail of blood gradually appeared on its surface where Jessica had been. The five remaining mercury tentacles then soon began flailing around and eventually fell towards the mercury field, soon merging with it and a mass of mercury jutted out amidst the trail of blood and morphed into Pearl's upper body.
Pearl's black, flowing hair was clearly disheveled and there appeared to be blood all over her face with some still flowing from her mouth. She quickly slapped her left palm against the surface of the mercury field and a silver colored magic power erupted from her body and invaded the entire mercury field in an instant.
(Mercuric Cancer)
Pearl's body quickly rose out of the mercury field, following which, the floor gradually reverted back into the original green mat that lined the sparring area, giving off a silver mist in the process. During the current change of the terrain, the rapidly moving Jessica who had just turned around with the intention of crashing into Pearl, noticed that her Mini Torrent and Torrential Raiment had developed blotches of silver hue that were spreading and enlarging by the second.
Before Jessica reached half way towards the standing and bloodied Pearl, her water path methods morphed into mercury and she lost control of them which resulted in her falling three meters to the floor while the mercury enveloped her.
SPLAT!
Jessica fell hard against the floor at about five meters from Pearl's feet and the mercury that enveloped her stained her clothes and body as it spread out away from her. Pearl did not hesitate in forcing the mercury to immediately concentrate over Jessica again, after which, she cast Hard Fluid, sealing Jessica in a cuboidal coffin of hard mercury.
About two seconds later, just as Pearl was catching her breath, the metal coffin developed severe cracks from which water flowed violently and crushed the coffin from the inside out.
(Miniature Sea: Torrential Burst)
The coffin soon crumbled apart, freeing Jessica, who quickly cast Mini Torrent in order to retreat to the end of the sparring area opposite to Pearl's front.
Pearl's right eyelid twitched and her face grimaced but soon eased as the blood on her face and that was slowly flowing from her mouth morphed into mercury and was absorbed through her skin; she appeared healed of her injuries after that.
Jessica cancelled Mini Torrent as soon as she reached the end of the sparring area and sat cross legged while casting her Healing Cleanse spell that caused water to flow all over the surface of her body in order to heal her hidden injuries. Jessica's face was visibly paler than usual and the white of her eyes seemed to become bright-red and blood shot.
Even while healing herself, Jessica coughed out two mouthfuls of blood but still stood up about ten seconds later with the intention of clashing with Pearl again, her healing spell having done the best it could during the time that she had maintained it up to that point. Now, she cancelled Healing Cleanse and mused:
(I injured Pearl using Torrential Raiment in combination with Tension Edge. The latter restructured water molecules and increased their surface tension in order to basically create sharp blades all along Torrential Raiment's surface; it was an effective combination since I injured Pearl in her transformed state. But man, her method that infected my Mini Torrent and Torrential Raiment, turning them into mercury, really got me. All that mercury that came in contact with me gave me acute heavy metal poisoning; not to mention the internal injuries that I suffered from the mercury hardening around me. If not for my healing spell, Healing Cleanse, I'd be in real trouble. She's good...)
Pearl had used the time that Jessica convalesced to sort out her own injuries and form a plan of action going forward. She was now ready to put Jessica to the test; she thought:
(Her water path attainment is definitely higher than mine so directly countering her water path spells takes a lot of effort but my mercury form methods are very effective against her fighting style which seems to be either ranged or using her body to direct water based hit and run maneuvers. I can also see that she was mostly able to overcome the toxicity of the mercury but assuming that she has a good enough healing spell, that is no surprise. I can win so long as I weaken her endurance and let her fatigue accumulate. There's no way that this woman can outlast me in a tooth and nail fight in the mud.)
Varrow observed the two with an approving gaze and soon said:
"These two clearly share a similar attainment but with significant differences in cultivation direction. I expect this spar to be fairly close if there are no surprises. Also, Pearl's inheritance is of an extremely high quality. Her ability to transform her body and environment into mercury at will and even combine the two so well is indicative of a scholar's hand."
William asked:
"Sir Varrow, so you're saying that one of the persons who previously owned her inheritance was at least a scholar Magician? The Wiles family is one with a long history so her having a good inheritance is not surprising. Even my own bright light inheritance has similar qualities. Do you think that Magicians with ordinary backgrounds can really compete with legacy Magicians; the influence of scholars and archmages is not something to sneeze at?"
Varrow answered honestly while revealing a brief, bitter expression:
"Throughout my cultivation journey on Grand Earth, most of the Magicians that I've seen come out on top have had strong legacy inheritances and even I have lost to those Magicians many times but that does not mean a good inheritance guarantees anyone supremacy. There have been many examples of first generation Magicians wiping the floor with legacy Magicians after years of focused effort and hard work. Legacies make things easier in the beginning but later on, they probably become a sort of crutch. Make sure that you never get complacent and you'll be fine, though. I know of at least one first generation Magician that is likely to be trouble for you legacy Magicians."
Varrow slight motioned his head towards his rear right flank and everyone could guess who he was talking about. Nick ignored Varrow's insinuation and stored the bag that his butter bread was packaged in back into his space band. Nick then muttered aloud:
"These two have been trained well."
On that note, everyone placed their attention on Pearl and Jessica once again. Back in the sparring area, Jessica's body once again erupted with azure colored magic energy as she raised her right arm all the way up, pointing to the ceiling with her right index finger, casting a spell:
(Tension Spear)
Twenty finger-width, one-meter-long poles of condensed water were formed in midair using the moisture within the atmosphere and they remained floating about fourteen meters above the sparring area, scattered and situated at seemingly random positions. Every other second after, however, one more Tension Spear appeared overhead, positioned just like the others.
Pearl did not intend to just watch Jessica have her way so she raised both her hands all the way out in front of her and four seemingly solid spheres of mercury the size of apples emerged from each of her arms, each floating an inch away from her skin. The mercury balls' surfaces rippled before Pearl somehow launched all of them at Jessica simultaneously.
(Mercuric Warheads)
Jessica lowered her right arm in response and tapped the space one foot in front of her with her right index finger and the water within the atmosphere started to condense at that point to form a thin water wall all across the width of the sparring area, having a height of about six meters.
(Tension Wall)
The eight mercury balls hit against the Tension Wall and bounced off it without making much impact but they all bounced on the ground to hit against the Tension Wall again and when they bounced off it without having much of an impact, they bounced off the ground in order to get to the Tension Wall again. This happened over one hundred times in eight seconds and after the twelfth second, Jessica noticed that the impact that the mercury balls were making against the Tension Wall had increased, now causing her wall to ripple with each hit.
(What the hell are these things? The Tension Wall shouldn't be rippling from anything less than the full brunt of at least a rank 2 intermediate grade offensive spell. Does the current situation suggest that each of the balls' strikes have that kind of power?)
Pearl just stood in her spot observing her Mercuric Warheads while at the same time keeping a look out for the Tension Spears above the sparring area; they were giving her a subtle mental pressure.
(The Mercuric Warheads are a result of a rank 2 intermediate grade spell. The warheads start out with the same power as a basic apprentice grade weapons but as they bounce off surfaces, they gain momentum and power that can eventually rival advanced apprentice grade weapons if they are not destroyed. Jessica seems to be stalling but right now, that works to my advantage. I've also got something else in store for her...)
Pearl began forming the laws for one of her advanced grade spells within her mindscape and this resulted in a cloud of magic energy being exuded from her body.
Jessica noticed the Pearl's surge in magic energy as soon as it happened and although she was concerned about the mercury balls continuously beating against her Tension Wall, her preparation was about done so she began to cast her next spell. Jessica's right index finger had long been unnecessary for maintaining the Tension Wall but she kept it in place just to have an accurate measure of the strength of the attacks hitting the wall; she already knew that the mercury balls were gaining a greater power at a quick rate.
Jessica removed her right index finger from the wall and joined her right and left index fingers together to cast her next spell:
(Tension Accumulator)
By this time, the Tension Spears above the sparring area numbered ninety-eight and the water that they consisted of suddenly lost their shape and flowed to a central point and mixed together, soon condensing into the shape of a two-meter-length scythe that had a curved blade and staff. Pearl creased her brows as she realized that the water scythe radiated an intense magic power rivalling that of a rank 2 advanced grade spell.
The scythe immediately began to rotate like the blade attached to an active power saw and just as Pearl's spell became ready for casting, the scythe moved through the air with the speed of a bullet, maybe even faster, so much so that none of the students could even follow its trajectory, not even William; Pearl's advanced grade spell resolved at about the same time:
(Mercuric Monster)
No sooner than her spell had resolved, the rotating scythe crashed into her lower abdomen and split Pearl in half. The two pieces of her body fell to the floor while the scythe flew up into the air and remained rotating violently over eight meters above the sparring area.
Nick frowned in response to Jessica's move and wondered:
(Did Jessica just kill Pearl? Jessica's spell moved too fast; even I might of had difficulty keeping up with it if I were in Pearl's shoes.)
Nick glanced at Varrow to observe his attitude and seeing that the Regular Magician did not say or do anything, Nick figured that things had not taken an ugly turn.
(Just based on Andrew Wiles' strength alone, I would not want to have to be the one to give Pearl's family an explanation for her death.)
The two pieces of Pearl's body suddenly transformed into small puddles of mercury that quickly merged together before rising two meters from the ground to take shape into the likeness of a humanoid figure with the upper body of a muscular and well-toned male with indistinct facial features, a bald head, long blades in place of fingers attached to both its hands and a lower body that took on the shape of a looped and flexible tail that merged with the green mat, turning it into mercury at that position.
The change unsettled Jessica somewhat because of the strange appearance of the creature in front of her.
(Is that Pearl? It should be, right?)
Whatever the answer was, Jessica did not plan to hesitate since the mercury balls bouncing off her Tension Wall were starting to give her a strong mental pressure as her wall began rippling vigorously and losing surface area more rapidly than before with each passing second as the balls bounced back and forth.
(My Tension Accumulator spell combines the forces of surface tension that exist on the objects that were created by my previous tension spells and converts those accumulated forces into speed and power. The effect is simple but deadly; befitting an advanced grade spell.)
Jessica willed and the rotating water scythe rushed towards the creature that seemed to be made entirely of mercury and once again, the creature's fast speed made its movements untraceable to the other students. The creature, who was presumably Pearl in a transformed state, slightly shifted the blade that took the place of its left index finger towards itself and in response, one of the eight mercury balls at the far right that just hit the ground, instead of bouncing towards Jessica's Tension Wall, bounced towards Pearl.
The incoming mercury ball moved at blinding speed and the moment before Jessica's scythe was about to cross into the space directly in front of Pearl's head, the mercury ball bounced onto the floor space directly below Pearl then bounced straight upwards to come into contact with the water scythe's blade. As soon as the two objects made contact, their movements halted in an instant and silver and blue hued magic powers emerged from them and spread into the surroundings.
The pressure within the sparring area intensified but at that moment, Pearl went on the move past the magic weapons and using her flexible tail, she propelled her body across the floor at cannon fire speed, moving towards Jessica's Tension Wall.
Pearl quickly shot past her mercury balls and collided with the Tension Wall but instead of being stopped by it, the Tension Wall developed a silver hue and let Pearl pass effortlessly through it, following which, Pearl swiped at Jessica with her left arm in order to attempt to cleave Jessica's upper-body with her five, sharp hand-blades.
Jessica reacted to Pearl's encroachment immediately by recalling her water scythe that then quickly flew away from the mercury ball that it still had been in a stalemate with and moved towards Pearl while rotating wildly at the same speed as before; Pearl's Mercuric Warhead fell to the ground and bounced off it in order to rapidly follow the water scythe. Before the other seven mercury balls could even perform another bounce off Jessica's Tension Wall, the water scythe reached the water wall first, where Pearl had breached it, and sliced it in two, slicing Pearl in two pieces along with it.
Pearl's mercury body fell to the floor in a puddle but Jessica's pressure did not abate as all eight Mercury balls bounced towards her with threatening momentum. Two veins bulged on Jessica's forehead as she used all her focus to control her rotating scythe to meet with and deflect all eight mercury balls one by one which took about two seconds, the first seven being deflected in less than one second and the eighth ball that had to travel a farther distance being deflected sometime after.
After all the mercury balls had been deflected, Jessica was immediately forced to recall the water scythe and hold its staff in both her grips as Pearl quickly reformed near to her left flank and slashed at her with all ten of her hand blades. Pearl's hand blades met with the top of Jessica's water scythe's curved blade and bright orange sparks were somehow created as a result of the clash.
Jessica held her own with Pearl for three seconds before all eight mercury balls came rushing at her again at blinding speed; the only reason that she was able to notice their quick advance towards her being her well trained magic sense. Jessica gritted her teeth and cast Miniature Sea: Torrential Burst.
Water rapidly emerged from her pores and through her clothes with the pressure and speed of a deep sea volcanic geyser. Pearl and her eight mercury balls were all hit with an enveloping blast of water that sent them flying in an instant, forcing them meters away from Jessica in different directions.
Jessica then used both her hands to barely throw her water scythe into the air before it started rotating violently again and flying six meters above the floor within milliseconds. When the scythe got to Jessica's intended spot above her in midair, it rotated in place, horizontally, for a short time while Jessica prepared another method and within a second, instead of sending it to attack Pearl or the Mercuric Warheads, Jessica cast a spell:
(Tension Artillery)
The rotating water scythe immediately broke up into nine water bullets that then shot out towards Pearl and each of her eight Mercuric Warheads, which had just recovered from the forced move backward resulting from Jessica's Torrential Burst and were now bouncing towards her again at blinding speed.
Each water bullet was imperceptible from the students' perspectives as they flew through the air and quickly hit each of their intended targets, destroying the eight Mercuric Warheads and Pearl's head, but the now headless Pearl still countered by pointing all her hand blades at Jessica, following which, they extended towards Jessica at the speed of a runaway train, all of them impaling her torso in short order. Jessica wore shock on her face after she was gruesomely skewered.
(Zero Tension Armor)
Jessica's body immediately degenerated in to a mass of clear water that fell to the floor to form a puddle and that then flowed away from its current position to a place a little over ten meters away before reforming into Jessica's flesh and blood body. Jessica partially lied on the floor and coughed out many mouthfuls of blood continuously that dyed the floor below her red.
Pearl's head quickly reformed and upon seeing Jessica in the state that she was in, Pearl willed and her body quickly rose up eight meters into the air with an arc like trajectory and then she dived down similarly at Jessica's position. Pearl's upper-body quickly morphed into a two-meter-radius, hard sphere with coned spikes lining most of its surface. She moved down towards Jessica with imposing force as a silver mist emanated from her magical form, radiating intense magic power as it move to crush Jessica.
Jessica looked up at the incoming threat from her half-lying position and raised her right hand towards Pearl, mustering her focus in order to attempt to cast another one of her spells at her opponent, even while blood still oozed from her mouth; Jessica's body began radiating with a thick cloud of azure magic energy once again.
(Miniature Sea: Magnificent Conver...)
Before Jessica could finish casting her spell, however, she heard Varrow's stern voice sound from a distance:
(Alright you two, that's enough. This is only a spar, remember, not a fight to the death?)
Both Pearl and Jessica were both instantly enveloped by a pale-green wind and dragged towards the observers. Jessica's magic energy was suppressed and Pearl was forced to revert back to her human form. The pale-green wind healed them at the same time as it dragged them over to Varrow.
The two women soon landed onto their feet in front of the Regular Magician and he commended them with a stern but approving expression:
"You two are going to make great combat Magicians, if nothing else. Whatever training that you have received, you have displayed that it was not wasted. I declare your spar a draw so you can take your seats now."
Pearl and Jessica opened their mouths at the same time, each about to complain but Varrow instructed them again:
"Take your seats ladies. Wanting to win is good but there is a time and place for the kind of effort that you two were just about to make; that time is not now and that place should not be here."
The two women both internally sighed, knowing that they had gotten carried away. Pearl looked at Jessica and said:
"One day, you and I will settle our fight properly."
Jessica replied:
"Don't go wishing for your own destruction so eagerly."
Pearl chuckled and took her seat in the second row while Jessica took her seat in the front row, each remaining silent thereafter. William just couldn't hold in his praise any longer so he directed it at the two women:
"You two are awesome! Your standards are even better than many licensed rank 2 Magicians. You both should be proud of yourselves."
Both women looked away from William when faced with his enthusiasm but they discreetly smiled in response to the acknowledgement of their skill by this powerful senior. Victoria and Patrice smiled as they glanced at the two younger women; they felt like they were seeing remnants of their younger selves when looking at the two female Magicians.
Nick silently mused:
(Their spell sets were definitely designed by Magicians with at least scholar attainments in their respective paths, maybe higher. Although my own spells approach their standard, if their spells do in fact belong to inheritances, I will be out matched once we get to rank 3.)
Nick had to do everything for himself and that required a lot of effort as a Magician. The two women's performance reminded him that if he did not keep improving, he could easily be outdone by them someday.
(That cannot happen!)
Nick's eyes developed a sharpness to them in that instant of internal resolution. Patrice noticed the subtle change in Nick's disposition but said nothing. Jet, Edward, and Calder clenched their fists discreetly, resolving in their hearts not to be outpaced by these two women and other female Magicians. Jet declared internally:
(I'm no misogynist but there is no way in hell that I am going to keep getting my ass beaten by women or I might as well just give up the right to inherit my family's legacy and feed my ambitions to a dog.)
Varrow soon instructed:
"William Rollins and Edward Keslow, you two are up next."
William's body flashed with a bright white light, following which, he transformed into a thin beam of light that bounced off the ceiling, then moved towards the sparring area, soon standing at the closest end with both his hands in his pants pockets. The other students did not even have time to blink before William's movement spell resolved.
Edward breathed out deeply and then briskly walked towards the sparring area from his front row seat. As soon as he got to the opposite end of the sparring area, Williams said to him politely:
"Give me your best, Keslow. I can promise you that if you don't, this spar won't last very long."
Edward took up a battle ready stance with his feet slightly apart and his fists pointing at William. Edward muttered:
"I'm ready."
Varrow heard him speak and decided to give his instruction at that moment:
"Begin the spar!"
Edward exuded magic energy from his body and in response, a five-meter-high, one-meter-wide, human shaped arm that was made completely out of brown rock and soil jutted out of the floor behind Edward, seeming to have pierced through the green mat.
(Earth Handler)
Edward then unclenched both his fists and rapidly clasped his hands, which resulted in a surge in the magic power emanating from the Earth Handler and also a surge in the magic energy emanating from himself. The floor of the sparring area then began to rumble and William felt the floor below his feet slowly being raised, that is, slow from his perspective which had already been enhanced as his eyes shone with a shimmering white light.
(Glorious Perception)
William internally sighed:
(Too bad, if he had gotten another opponent, he might have gotten to show off a bit)
Not even three seconds after Earth Handler appeared, William's body flashed with white light and he transformed into a thin beam of light that shot out and bounced off of Edwards chest, then rose into the air at a ninety-degree angle.
(Instant Ricochet)
At that moment, Edward suddenly felt overwhelmed by William's magic power and found his vision enveloped in white light as he was carried off into the air along with William's light beam at pseudo-light-speed.
(Instant Smuggle)
Half way to the ceiling, Edwards vision was cleared of the white light and he could see his surroundings again but he was now in a precarious position, about to free fall from a little over ten meters. Edward decided quickly:
(Shit! I have to counter.)
But before Edward could do anything, seemingly within an instant, William's light beam bounced off the ceiling and moved towards Edward again.
(Martial Light)
William's silhouette that was enveloped in white light briefly appeared in Edward's vision, directly in front of Edward; William's right arm glowed more intensely than his ambient white light at the time. William quickly grabbed Edward by the throat with his right hand and forced his body downward towards the floor of the sparring area at a speed that everyone except Varrow could not follow; all they saw was a bright, white halo of light cascading through the air.
(Glorious Javelin)
BOOOOOM!
Varrow witnessed as the white light hit the center of the sparring area, which caused a massive impact that shattered the underlying floor, destroying Edward's Earth Handler in the process and forcing the entirety of their sparring area to sink by about four feet; the green mat, however, still remained intact.
When the eight other students were finally able to see the two competitors again, they saw William slightly stooping beside Edward while still holding onto Edward's throat with his intensely glowing right hand. Edward was a little pressed into the floor, on his back, with the whites of his eyes on full display and his irises and pupils nowhere to be seen. Edward had clearly lost consciousness.
William released his right grip, cancelling Martial Light and stood up straight, following which, he observed Edward for a few seconds. He then turned to Varrow and spoke awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head:
"Sir Varrow, I think that Edward needs some of your healing."