Carl opened his eyes wide as he also witnessed Nick's sword technique.
(Although my intuition tells me that Nick Capitol's use of the sword technique was rough, at best, it was still incredibly effective and I only managed to partially see it because of how quick Nick's movements were.)
Sharlene did not cry out because of losing her right arm and instead cast her healing spell on her bleeding right shoulder stump:
(Bitter Strength Healing)
Sharlene's shoulder wound gradually stopped bleeding as it closed and she readied herself to go after Nick again. Dusty looked at Sharlene's frail but heroic back and internally remarked:
(Ten Thousand Burial Academy doesn't train the faint of heart. This woman is as tough as their reputation would suggest.)
Nancy did not like how Nick moved just now; it was too mysterious from her perspective, so she decided that she would use her shadows to restrict his arms next.
(He is greatly skilled for sure. I intended to use the others to weaken him, knowing their mentality, so that I could have an easier time moving on but I'm starting to think that I shouldn't hold back against this man.)
Suddenly, however, she realized that Nick was somehow standing directly in front of her and his sword swung down in order to cleave her body from her left should down to her midsection; she found no way to react.
(Huh? How did this happen?)
Sensing Nancy's distorted reality, Nick willed and over ten ghost white blades that were hovering over ten meters above her shifted their tips towards her and shot out at her like arrows; at the same time, he swung Failed Tool at the shadows enveloping his feet and sliced into them, forcing them to dissipate without much effort.
Within moments, the ten ghost-white blades were all about to impale Nancy but the indistinct silhouette of a sword wielding man appeared above her before it became clear that it was Carl. Carl cast a spell that made his sword glow with a bright, green light and he then swung his sword at each of the ghost white-blades, only making use of milliseconds to complete each swing.
(Vigorous Sword)
(Consecutive Strike Sword Technique)
All ten of Nick's ghost-white blades were cleaved in half and destroyed by Carl, who then did a flip in midair and landed in front of Nancy, asking:
"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to die?"
Carl quickly discovered Nancy's vacant stare and was extremely puzzled; Nancy still did not react, even after what just happened. Carl was forced to slap Nancy on the forehead in order to try and get her attention. Following that, Nancy's focus returned but she was now confused about why Carl had slapped her and why he was even standing in front of her now. She asked:
"What happened?"
The spectators and competitors heard Nancy's question and felt that things had gotten weird. One orange robed, licensed Magician asked:
"What kind of battle royal is this? One of the competitors just saved the skin of someone he was supposed to be dealing with."
A purple robed Magician slowly shook his head and said:
"What Carl Jaeger did made sense. Nick Capitol amputated Sharlene Mets' right arm too easily; he is evidently very strong. It is better that they follow their original intention and deal with the dark horse among them. Saving Nancy Gratsis is Carl helping himself."
The watching students now understood Carl's actions after the purple robed Magician explained it but they were confused as to how Nick Capitol managed to be so formidable in this situation. Jessie, who was sitting near the middle of the first row in the Richter Order Academy section, asked aloud:
"I knew that Nick was strong but how comes he is dominating the field like this when his opponents have such high standards?"
Jessica, who was sitting in the back row offered her own opinion:
"The spells that Nick have cast so far are all advanced grade and their effects are non-typical. Not only that, he casts them with an ease and quickness that is not usually associated with advanced grade spells. The blades hovering over the field must also be putting the other competitors on edge. It seems to me like he almost killed Nancy Gratsis."
At this time, Patrice also commented while her eyes glowed an eerie purple:
"Nick has a spell active that affected Nancy's mind. I deduced that based on her brief stupor and her non-reactance to Nick's blade attacks and Carl's later aid."
Pearl questioned:
"What is going on? I just can't estimate Nick's full strength."
Victoria eyed Sharlene Mets and concluded:
"Nick is apparently very well trained with the sword. Sir, Varrow, you said before that Nick was your student in the past, right? Can you give us any insight into how he cultivates?"
Varrow shook his head slowly and replied simply:
"That young man is too weird. Just watch the match."
All seven students didn't know how to feel about a Regular Magician calling Nick 'too weird' but they had to admit that based on his performance, Nick was weird. William watched the fight below with intense focus, refusing to miss even a second of it.
Carl shouted at the other three 'aristocrats':
"Can we agree to work together now until we have gotten rid of that bastard?"
Sharlene and Dusty nodded their heads silently to show their agreement and Nancy said:
"All that power must come at a high cost; we just have to outlast him."
Carl nodded in agreement and turned to face Nick again. At this time, Nick was flexing his right arm, thinking:
(I only have a few minutes before my magic energy reserves run out since the consumption of my spells is so much. I can't afford to take it easy on these guys...sorry.)
One of Nick's ghost-white blades hovering above the arena instantly disappeared and reappeared with its tip pressing onto Carl's right shoe, following which, in that instant, the ghost-white blade's tip forced its way through Carl's shoe and foot into the ground below. Carl frowned intensely and gritted his teeth in pain but quickly swung his glowing green sword at the ghost-white blade impaling his right foot, destroying it completely; its shattered pieces fell away from Carl's foot.
Dusty Pembroke followed up by generating a large mass of black sand at his feet and sending it towards Nick like a wave, enveloping Nick within moments with a large dune of black sand.
(Black Crystallization)
The sand dune immediately hardened into black crystal while steam emanated from it. One second later, the black crystal shattered into pieces and at about the same time a space gate appeared above Dusty, following which, Nick came falling out of it while Failed Tool Strongly glimmered with grey blade light. Carl and Nancy saw this and were about to act against Nick but in response to Nick's will, over thirty rotating ghost-white blades flew towards Carl and Nancy like active power saw blades, forcing them to defend themselves.
Carl slashed out with his Consecutive Strike sword technique, destroying many of the ghost-white blades within moments and Nancy raised shadow tentacles from below her feet that then met with the blades and consumed them like serpents as shadowy maws opened along the tentacles' surfaces. Nick then gradually lost his connection with those ghost-white blades.
None of what was going on with Carl and Nancy mattered to Nick since his intention was only to keep them busy while he dealt with Dusty, whose earth path method was easy enough to follow because of his own earth path mastery. Nick reasoned:
(Space Rift actually opens two space gates, not just one; it's easier sometimes to think of it as one space gate, though. There is actually a short connecting space between the two space gates that I can stand in for a few seconds even after the first space gate closes, which I did the moment that I was enveloped by that black sand, so Dusty's attack did not get to me whatsoever.)
Dusty sensed Nick's space path magic power above him and raised black sand from the ground in order to form a covering but Nick was having none of it. Nick willed and Dominion Field shifted almost half the sand covering away from Nick's direct path as it suppressed Dusty's method intensely. Nick then carried out his intentions ruthlessly:
(Tyrant Light.)
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Nick's right arm and hand moved like a violent blur but a visible network of intense, grey blade light appeared, almost tracing the entirety of Failed Tool's movements; Failed Tool's blade struck at the sand, severing apart the cluster with consistent and flowing movements, similar to the convergence of many water streams.
From Dusty's perspective, it seemed as if his sand covering was blasted apart, after which, brilliant light took its place, forming a beautiful crisscross display above him. That display would be the last thing that Dusty saw in this world, however. Grey blade light shone down on him like a blessing from heaven but this was no blessing. Dusty's entire body, starting from his head to his toes degenerated into blood mist in mere moments due to the intensity of the blade light and the violent movements of Failed Tool.
By the time that Dusty was no more and the blood mist scattered, Nick landed onto Dusty's previous spot, at which point, the blade light radiating from Failed Tool dissipated. Nick critiqued his own performance:
(Right now, my movements with Cross Stream is still not as fluid as the Magician's, who I saw practise it in the dream state, but I managed to barely used it to complement Tyrant Light just like I saw the Magician do when facing the minor blade demon. My success probably has a lot to do with my blade path mastery and the copious training sessions in which I witnessed Cross Stream being performed.)
The audience went silent when they witnessed Dusty's death. A blonde haired student in the stands stood up and pointed at Nick screaming:
"Murderer! Nick Capitol is a Murderer! This is just a competition and he murdered a fellow student. Quick, someone go and arrest him."
The licensed Magicians looked at the student weirdly and a black robed Magician of middle age shook his head and said:
"Young man, sit down and stop making a scene. This is a national competition, not a school yard brawl. Deaths in magic battles are normal. If you can't even stand this much brutality, you should find another profession to be trained in."
The blonde haired student heard that and his face became awkward. The licensed Magicians obviously did not care about Nick murdering someone. He slowly sat down and swallowed some of his own saliva.
Magicians were not just scholars, they were warriors and the administrators of all academies knew that to develop the best Magicians possible, the students would have to be exposed to death during their training. That is why Never Ending Battlefield was such a valuable place for the academies, because it exposed the students to death without condemning them permanently.
But in a competition like this, there could be no such safety because it would ruin the spirit of what it means to be a Magician out in the real world; the competition was not even being held on Grand Earth so as long as the royal family, who ruled Large Garden, decided that there were no problems, there really weren't any and that was the reality for most Magicians every time that they got out of bed. The black robed Magician continued:
"It is not like Dusty Pembroke had no way of saving himself. He simply had to say, 'I surrender.' or think it and Ralph would have moved to save him with certainty. Dusty had probably been so dazzled by Nick Capitol's methods that he forgot to mind his own life. That was a childish and fatal mistake."
Varrow sighed and reminded all his students:
"That right there is why the favor that was given to Nick was so valuable. Fighting the wrong Magician can often lead to an early and unexpected grave; Dusty doesn't even have a corpse to place in a grave, now. Young people, work hard."
Back on the grassy field, Sharlene was slightly unnerved by Dusty's death.
(That Nick Capitol is too unreasonable, too savage. The exchange between him and Dusty had only lasted a few seconds and yet, he killed him during that time and I did not even see the moves that killed Dusty clearly. Talk about a pitiful death.)
Carl cursed at Sharlene in response to Dusty's death while he was still busy dealing with Nick's ghost-white blades:
"You whore! What's wrong with you? Fight him, don't give him any breathing room!"
Carl suddenly jumped into the air and made a superhuman turn with his body, swinging his sword in the motion of his turn.
(Many Mad Sword Auras)
Many crescent-shaped, green sword auras rapidly shot out from Carl's glowing green sword. The sword auras accurately struck the ghost-white blades that were pestering Carl and Nancy, destroying them and the two were now free to do what they wanted.
Nancy immediately pointed at Nick and the five shadow tentacles that she currently had formed converged and quickly moved to loom over Nick, taking the form of a twenty-meter-tall tower.
(Shadow's Shadow)
The large mass of shadows created its own large shadow that rested under Nick's feet and began dragging him down into it somehow. Nick swung Failed Tool at the shadow below him but his attack was futile as the sword and his right arm just passed through the shadow and became mired in its magical embrace. At that point, Nancy was released from the effect of Fear The Blade and Nick knew it.
Sharlene quickly used the chance to run to Nick with superhuman speeds and crossed ten meters in order to reach him, doing so within milliseconds, at which point, she attempted to stomp on Nick's head with her right foot while casting her spell:
(Miraculous Strength)
"I got you now!"
Nick stopped struggling and observed Sharlene indifferently while he continued to sink. Carl urgently swung his sword towards Nick's general direction and flew over to Nick's position at blinding speed, seeming like a blur as he did so.
(Sword Specter)
Carl's voice rang out while he moved:
"Guard your back!"
Sharlene heard the shout and within a split second, turned her head towards her back to see what the problem was. In her view, about fifteen ghost-white blade tips had already reach within an inch of her rear; she was evidently about to be skewered. Sharlene also knew that she might not be fast enough to stop the blades' movements by stomping on Nick's skull so she was in a tough bind.
In that instant, Sharlene was forced to make a life and death decision and she chose to abandon stomping on Nick's head in favor of stomping onto the ground beneath her to propel herself into the air, buying her the space away from Nick's blades that she needed but Nick's ghost-white blades did not leave her alone. Once she rose eight meters in midair, over thirty blades came flying at her, rotating like active power saw blades.
Nick had already noticed Carl approaching him at blinding forward speed because of Spatial Awareness and so at a point one meter to his right flank, the direction from which Carl was approaching him, Nick cast Space Rift at that location at the exact moment that Carl was about to pass by it.
The space gate opened and Carl flew into, which resulted in him ending up about one meter near to Sharlene's left side, in midair, to share her fate, Nick's space gate then closed promptly. Carl immediately noticed the incoming, hair raising number of ghost-white blades and internally cursed:
(Dammit!)
He then used his Consecutive Strike sword technique to guide his glowing green sword to destroy many of the blades while Sharlene cast her own spell:
(Miraculous Punisher)
Sharlene clenched her left hand into a fist and her fist glowed a bright crimson color. She then pumped it out at over ten ghost-white blades in less than one second and each blade instantly developed the imprint of a fist on its surface before cracking apart while crimson aura radiated from those cracks.
Nancy watched all of this but she could do nothing because her Shadow's Shadow spell had to be actively maintained and she could not cast any other spells during that time; usually, Shadow's Shadow had an offensive crushing element to it but in addition to the suppression by Dominion Field, Nick's body was resisting her shadow magic's crushing power somehow. She knew that if she could keep Nick stationary until the others were free, she could win, but things did not go her way.
As Nick's chest became completely submerged into the shadow along with his left arm and right arms, twenty ghost-white blades flew violently and rapidly at Nancy in rotating motions. Nancy sighed as she was forced to eject Nick from the influence of her spell and bring the shadow monolith over to her in order to protect herself. Nick quickly sensed that Nancy's spell lost its hold on him and he jumped out of the large shadow, following which, the shadow monolith moved silently along the ground to Nancy's side like quiet wind.
The ghost-white blades that were coming after Nancy were immediately caught by the shadow monolith itself and held in place amidst its shadowy figure. Nancy intended to try to capture Nick again and so she prepared to do just that as soon as she completely suppressed Nick's ghost-white blades. Nick, however, had already went on the move from his original spot. He covered his legs with Warrior Armor and jumped upwards to the level of Sharlene and Carl, appearing between them like a forgotten reckoning that appeared once again. Nick's thoughts spun rapidly at this time:
(Nancy's shadow spell was very strong. It tried to crush the parts of my body that it had submerged but by using Warrior Armor sparingly, I protected myself from that and retracted all of the armor when I no longer needed it. I did the latter to conserve my magic energy reserves which is actually at about 10,000 magical units at this point, so I need to finish this quickly.)
Nick sheathed Failed Tool and instantly covered the entirety of his left and right arms with Warrior Armor. He then moved both his hands at a speed that Sharlene and Carl could not even see. With both arms being metallic-silver, they flashed with bright-silver sparks of light and Nick quickly grabbed Carl's right upper arm with his left hand and also grabbed Sharlene's lower left arm with his right hand.
Both Magicians' movements immediately froze due to the influence of Warrior Armor's power on their souls; Nick then manipulated Dominion Field to keep all three of them airborne and in place. Carl and Sharlene were both shocked and confused by the development and did not immediately understand what happened to them since they knew next to nothing about soul path which was made even more problematic by the fact that the method that plagued them right now was created by a soul path scholar - they had no way to immediately escape Nick's grasp.
Soul Armor's power prevented them from somehow reacting for an indefinite period of time and the few seconds that had already passed since Nick had made his jump to their level was all that he needed to seal their fates. Tens of ghost-white blades immediately converged at two areas within the surroundings situated at the threes' left and right flanks and then struck at Carl and Sharlene like arrows in two different threatening encounters.
Both Carl and Sharlene could not move and they were slow in casting their other methods because Warrior Armor's suppression of their soul was affecting their minds, making them sluggish thinkers. Because of those reasons, the ghost-white blades flew into them without resistance. Two separate streams of blades crashed into the Magicians and by the time that each stream had moved past their position, Nick only held the two Magicians' mangled right and left arms while the rest of their bodies had already been ripped into pieces and were carried off by the blades.
Nick quickly dropped the useless, disembodied arms to the ground and looked towards Nancy with an expression that contained no hint of empathy. Nick's expression was indifferent and cold, as if he was concerned about nothing and looked down on everything in this world. Jessica looked on at Nick at this time and internally commented:
(That expression is different from his usual indifference. It's as if he's seen a similar scene too many times to care anymore.)
Nick floated himself to the ground and eyed Nancy while he did so. Just then, Nancy completely suppressed Nick's ghost white blades using her shadow monolith but she was hesitant as to whether they should bother continue fighting, after all, it was just the two of them now and once the time limit expired, they would both advance. As to whether she felt any pity for Dusty, Carl or Sharlene, Nancy shook her head and internally remarked:
(Magicians shouldn't waste time feeling pity for the dead. There will be many more where those came from later.)
She opened her mouth, about to speak but Nick raised his right hand to stop her; they had about eight minutes left before this match ended. Nick said grimly:
"Don't waste your time. If you chose to fight me and you and I are not on the same side, then you should be fully prepared to die. Don't ask for peace treaties."
Nick asked a question within his mind after saying that:
(Do I have that right, Slade?)
Slade, who had been silent for a long time, actually responded at this time:
[You're getting closer to being a fine Magician every day, kid.]
Nancy screamed out in response to Nick's words:
"You're a lunatic but I'm not giving in to the likes of you!"
Nancy manipulated her Shadow's Shadow spell to move like a ghost towards Nick but Nick had already designed the end of this battle within his mind. Every ounce of experience that Nick gained in battle increased his proficiency in using the spells of his various paths and gave him inspiration on how to better use them; the latter was probably due to his masteries.
Nick cancelled Warrior Armor and Dominion Field; Tyrant Blade had already been cancelled the moment that he sheathed Failed Tool - the spell could not function without Nick handling a bladed weapon. He held his right arm out and pointed towards Nancy with his right index and middle fingers spaced apart, following which, a 'red marble' appeared at his right index finger tip and a 'grey marble' appeared at his right middle finger tip.
(Mars.)
(Venus.)
As the shadow monolith was about to loom over him again, Nick brought his right index and middle fingers together and the red and grey colors at his fingertips mixed, at which point, a twinkling cream light formed and spread out to envelop the grassy field in an instant.
(Jupiter.)
Within that instant, Shadow's Shadow, which now radiated more intense magic power because of Dominion Field's disappearance, was halted and its magic power was broken apart by the violent push and pull forces within Jupiter. Nancy immediately cast her defensive method, covering her body with a layer of shadows, from her feet to her head; her eyes glowed with ruby-red light while the shadows covered her.
(Flexible Shadows)
She reasoned:
(Flexible Shadows grants my body a robustness, toughness and flexibility that would allow me to be hit by a bullet train head-on and come out unscathed. I just need to hold on until the match's duration expires. I can do it!)
She then noticed that the surface of her Flexible Shadows was subtly rippling.
(Huh? What's happening?)
At this point of life and death, Nancy's intuition quickly kicked in and her eyes opened wide in realization.
(Whatever this cream colored space is, its space path laws are coming into conflict with and suppressing my shadow path laws. My Flexible Shadow is unstable. How can this guy's command of his magic power be so much stronger than mine?)
The answer was simple, although there was no one to explain it to Nancy. Nick was a space path master and a deep seeker dragon warlock. Deep seeker dragons are fearsome space path magic beasts that thrived in strange spaces, which was exactly what the spell, Jupiter, produced. If said concisely, Nick's warlock bloodline, exceptional affinity for space magic and mastery of space path had given him a home court advantage that Nancy could not resist - the foreign dragon cannot defeat the local snake, much less Nancy, who was no dragon.
Nancy did not fare any better than her Shadow's Shadow as Nick's control of Jupiter was so precise and efficient that its push and pull forces pummeled into her and ripped her unstable shadow defense apart, following which, Nancy herself was pummeled into pieces by the same forces.
Jupiter had only been active for ten seconds before it was cancelled by Nick. The audience looked at the grassy field intensely and only saw a white haired man, grass, pieces of scattered flesh and blood stains splattered at a few places. At this time, many ghost-white blades still hovered above the field.
The audience remained silent for the moment, trying to piece together what might have happened during the time period that the cream light enveloped the field. Nick lowered his right arm to his right side and took in deep breaths; he stored the ghost-white blades into their adjacent space while he tried to normalize his breathing.
(My magic energy reserves almost emptied there. I really need to figure out a solution to the high consumption of my spells.)
About ten seconds later, Ralph appeared in midair and announced the result:
"Due to the deaths of the other four competitors, Nick Capitol will advance to the next stage."
When the audience heard Ralph's words, many students couldn't believe it. Nick had actually willfully killed four other students during their battle. One female student asked aloud out of sheer shock:
"Why did it have to be like this?"
An older Magician momentarily looked at the young woman and answered:
"When I first started my career in the military and a horde of magic beasts led by a rank 3 brass crippler murdered the other ten thousand Magicians stationed at my base, I asked the same thing too. You know what? I never received an answer."
The young woman kept silent after hearing that.
Nick cast Space Rift in order to open a space gate back to Richter Order Academy's section. When he walked through the space gates and closed them, he asked Thompson Varrow:
"How was my sword technique, sir Varrow?"
Varrow observed Nick carefully and assessed:
(He has tired eyes and his breathing is a bit labored but moving towards normal. I did not expect him to be so ruthless but you never know what anyone is capable of.)
Varrow replied honestly:
"It's good that you were able to use your sword technique to complement you blade light spell to kill Dusty but your overall execution of the technique was filled with holes. If that sword path Magician, Carl, had focused on pressuring you from the start, your technique might not have done so much damage."
Nick accepted the critique and replied:
"Thank you for your honesty, sir Varrow. If you don't mind, I'm going back to my room, now."
No one sought to ask Nick any questions even though they were dying to ask:
"How can you afford to cast so many advanced grade spells in such a short amount of time?"
"How did you use so many different kinds of magic so effortlessly?"
"How did you control so much blades while moving around like you did and not missing a beat when you cast other spells?"
"What kind of magic do you really specialize in?"
Nick didn't care about seeing the other matches. He had been awake for days and the match that he had just participated in had taken a lot out of him. He needed some sleep. Nick quickly walked to the hotel since his magic energy reserves were still recovering.
Once he finally got to his room, he took a cold shower and then when he got out, he went to bed naked and slept for close to eight hours. When he woke up, he had a meal of scrambled eggs with pancakes, maple syrup and butter bread that he summoned from his space band.
Nick then got dressed in a purple and white, striped polo shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of dress shoes without laces. He then holstered his swords at his waist and left for the arena. When he arrived within, Richter Order Academy's section, only Varrow, William, Victoria and Patrice were present.
Nick went up to Varrow and asked:
"Sir, Varrow. Can you tell me how things went for our academy?"
Varrow rubbed his chin with his right hand and replied:
"Well, all our people have fought but only you, William, Victoria and Patrice are going to advance. Pearl and Jessica were forced to admit defeat, Jessica due to her having fought Kirst Eltshire and Pearl due to her having fought with Harvey Nefari and a dark horse named, Uriah Narco. Jet lost by way of random elimination because all four of his opponents were as strong as him and the duration of their match expired. Jessie...he actually got matched up along with Lewis Nefari and was almost killed by him but he surrendered in time so he was ultimately saved. I pretty much expected the three here to make it to the last event so I am not too disappointed."
Nick thanked Varrow and turned around to walk to his usual seat. Varrow kept an eye on Nick because he noticed something different about him. When Nick was almost at his seat, Varrow suddenly shouted his name to get his attention and when Nick turned around, Varrow threw a knife at him, aimed at his right eye.
Nick instinctively drew Pressure Piece and used it to intercept and knock away Varrow's knife. Nick asked in exhaustion:
"What the hell, sir Varrow?"
Varrow explained:
"I was testing you. I could tell from the change in the way that you walked that your agility had increased sharply and I was probably not wrong based on the way that you just deflected my knife. I'm pretty sure that you would have needed magic to do that before we came to Large Garden."
Nick did not understand how Varrow would be able to measure someone's agility from the way that they walked but Nick did not feel like arguing so he just sheathed Pressure Piece and went to his seat. William glanced at Nick for a moment, thinking:
(Nick has been improving this whole time? His battle in the first match shocked me because of his apparent skill and power, which was greater than I had assumed, but maybe that's because I haven't been paying close enough attention. If I didn't already know his background, I would swear that he was someone from a legacy family. If the latter is not the case, if he is really supporting his cultivation by himself and similar to his space path movement spell, he created even some of his other spells, then Nick is a real monster.)
Patrice asked Nick a question after he sat down:
"Was your battle during the battle royal event difficult?"
Nick blankly looked at Patrice for a few seconds before answering:
"It wasn't all that difficult, I mean, compared to other problematic situations that I have been in. It was a great exercise, though."
Patrice lightly chuckled, saying:
"A great exercise, huh?"
After saying that, Patrice went silent and Nick summoned his notes from his space band and continued working on the concepts for a new magic formation. More battles occurred during this time and when they had concluded, Ralph appeared and spoke:
"This round had now ended and forty competitors remain to compete in the final round which will consist of one-on-one battles. The next stage begins in eight hours. All competitors, please rest up until then."
Varrow, William, Victoria and Patrice eventually left and Nick remained in the section alone writing his notes, that is, until someone he didn't know walked through the door.
"Hello, you must be Nick Capitol."
Nick looked up from his notes and saw an old man dressed in a silver and red magician's robe along with a gold scarf that flowed down at the two sides of his torso. The old man had neatly styled grey hair and held a wooden cane that had a gold, curved handle. He had pale-white skin, dark, sharp eyes, and a few wrinkles spread across his face.
Nick asked simply:
"Do you need something, sir?"
The old man introduced himself politely:
"My name is Desmond Eltshire and I am an administrator for this island city. I believe that I could use your help to accomplish something very important. You are skilled in formation path, yes?"
Nick thought for a moment before he answered honestly:
"I think that I am more skilled than the average person but if I praised myself any more than that, I'd feel awkward about it."
Desmond genially smiled and replied:
"Well, that is some modesty but with my position, I have the right to view the more detailed recordings of this competition and I happened to notice your skill in designing magic formations a few days ago. You see, I have a problem with a magic formation within the city and at present, I only have two Formation Magicians to fix it; labor shortages are the worst. Due to the importance of this magic formation, I would like you to help them so that the task could be done more quickly."
Nick raised his eyebrow in surprise. It was not typical that a student was asked to work side-by-side with licensed Magicians do do anything official. He asked in reply:
"What will the remuneration be?"
The old man already had a figure prepared beforehand, so he replied:
"I will pay you £300,000 for the job. Before you try to negotiate with me, you should remember your status as a student and that I cannot legally pay you the same as a licensed Magicians."
Nick thought for a moment and asked:
"Do you have the bones of any space path dragons that I could have instead of the money? I don't care about their rank or if the bones are in good condition."
Nick had his reasons for asking for the bones:
(I am planning to build a magic formation that will allow me to more easily explore realms. Although I still plan on exploring the realm that the refined blood of the jade-green wyvern led me to, it's not a bad thing to have more options. Also, since I am a deep seeker dragon warlock, I figured visiting the realm where the ancestor of a space path dragon lived might help me somehow in my cultivation; that's just a wild hope. The final reason being that dragons are cool and besides, I'd like to start collecting certain magic beast materials to see if I can experiment with making stronger blades. I can start here if my former reasons don't pan out.)
Desmond thought that Nick's request was a little strange and very specific but Magicians were often like this. He replied:
"I do think that I can find such a magic material. In that case, will you help me?"
Nick said decisively:
"Yes, I will help you."
Desmond nodded his head and then instructed:
"Please follow me."
Desmond turned to leave the section and so Nick stored his notes within his space band. He followed Desmond, who walked with the assistance of his cane and eventually led them to the outside of the arena. At that point, Desmond said to Nick:
"I'm about to take us to the site of the task so don't resist."
Nick replied:
"Understood."
Desmond then waved his right hand and two purple bolts of lightning struck down from seemingly out of nowhere, originating from somewhere in the clear skies, and each hit Desmond and Nick respectively, then the two Magicians both disappeared as the purple lightning dissipated.
Two bolts of purple lightning silently struck the roof of a certain building soon after Nick and Desmond disappeared. Purple light enveloped Nick's vision by this time and when the purple light dissipated, Nick found himself at a high altitude, about ninety meters above ground, at the top of a tall magic tower; Desmond stood directly to his left side.
The magic tower's exterior was completely white and was cylindrical in shape, having no visible windows. Its roof was flat and circular and had a ring of blue light hovering along its perimeter; the roof had a radius of about nine meters. Multiple images appeared within Nick's mind at this time via Spatial Awareness.
Nick looked up and realized that a large magic formation that glowed with white light hovered above them. The magic formation was circular in shape and its symbols were drawn in Valteese and there seemed to be millions of them that made up the magic formation; the formation covered twice the area of the roof. Nick observed the magic formation for many seconds and was so captivated by it that he did not notice the two other people on the roof besides Desmond and himself.
A man wearing a charcoal colored magician's robe glared at the distracted Nick for a moment before turning his attention to Desmond and asked:
"What is a student doing here, Desmond? Don't tell me that you're thinking of having him work with us two Regular Magicians?"