Harvey frowned intensely after seeing those memories, even more so because he evidently could not foil Patrice's efforts to implant those memories into his own mind.
(She's clearly dangerous. Hmmm...Wisdom Freak talent? Now that I think about it, there is indeed such an infamous talent and I was told about it when I was younger and being lectured about wisdom path but I cannot remember the details. Why would Patrice show me those memories?)
Harvey was confused about Patrice's intentions since her method did not harm him whatsoever, so he asked her:
"Why did you reveal those memories to me?"
Patrice lightly chuckled and then replied:
"I did so because you are from a very powerful British family and I thought that you might know what the Wisdom Freak talent is. I assumed that once you knew that I had it, you would straight up surrender."
Harvey sneered at Patrice, replying:
"There is no way that I would surrender so easily."
Patrice shrugged her shoulders and said:
"It's your funeral."
Before deciding how he was going to deal with Patrice, Harvey mused:
(During her match in the battle royal event, I don't remember her doing much but she somehow became one of the two people left standing after three of the other competitors were incapacitated. I'll have to probe her abilities myself.)
Harvey's body began exuding magic energy as he began forming the laws of a spell within his mindscape. Patrice did not simply leave him alone and her body began glowing with a pale-purple aura as she waved her right hand at Harvey:
(Revealing Thoughts)
Harvey suddenly found himself having an irresistible urge to speak:
"I'm going to first make the environment suitable for my dark path spells using an advanced grade spell to kick things off. After that, I am going to probe this woman's magic power before I end the battle."
Harvey frowned, not expecting that he would say his plans out loud to his opponent; his mood became bitter and he felt as if something was crawling beneath his skin. He pushed through the discomfort that he was feeling, however, and continued preparing his spell. Patrice did not go on the offensive just yet and that was mostly because wisdom path did not excel in battling and despite her wins against William Rollins, she was no battle maniac.
She cast and maintained her spell, Deductive Thoughts, for now, resulting in her eyes glowing with an eerie purple hue. She thought:
(He is casting an advanced grade spell so I can expect that its effect will be troublesome but I can give myself some initial protection from it.)
When Harvey's spell was ready, he cast it without fail:
(Darkness Stage)
Harvey stooped down and pressed all ten of his fingers against the ground, following which, dark, viscous magic power oozed from all ten fingers and spread to cover a radius of fifty meters all around him, within moments.
Harvey's frown then intensified when he witnessed that for some reason, his Darkness Stage avoided the portion of the ground directly below Patrice's feet and basically flowed around her.
Patrice held her left glowing index finger to the left side of her head at this time, having cast a spell on Harvey:
(Involuntary Thoughts)
Patrice reasoned the effects of her spell:
(Involuntary Thoughts forcefully and subtly injects my own thoughts into someone else's conscious thoughts, resulting in a seemingly involuntary action on their part. Harvey's magic power actively avoiding me is a result of this.)
Harvey gritted his teeth, thinking:
(That woman's wisdom path methods are clearly at work but I am at a loss. Defending against wisdom path was never something that I put any attention on and my inheritance does not seem to have methods that naturally defend against the path, at least not at rank 2. Can I really be blamed? This woman is the only Wisdom Magician that I have ever come across, even when considering the entire Nefari family.)
Harvey had to come to terms with his apparent shortcomings and persevere in his efforts anyway. He cast another spell in quick succession to Darkness Stage:
(Darkness Puppets)
Suddenly, out of the darkness liquid covering the field, the live likenesses of a crocodile, python, lion, crane, bull dog and bull emerged from the viscous fluid on the ground, completely consisting of a mix of gaseous and viscous, liquefied darkness.
All six darkness creatures proceeded to madly rush at Patrice after they were fully formed. At this point, Harvey still could not cover the ground beneath Patrice's feet with his Darkness Stage but he knew that would hardly matter after his darkness creatures tore her to pieces.
The closest of the six darkness creatures to Patrice had reached only about three or so meters way from her after six seconds and so she was forced to cancel her Involuntary Thoughts spell and this resulted in the Darkness Stage finally moving to cover the ground below her feet. Patrice mused:
(My only intention in casting Involuntary Thoughts this time was to ensure that Harvey's advanced grade spell was not directly harmful to myself. Now that I have deduced that fact, it is time to switch strategies.)
When the bull shaped darkness creature was only one meter away from Patrice, she cast another spell:
(Self-Excluding Thoughts)
Patrice's next spell had a pernicious and troubling effect. From Harvey's perspective, Patrice suddenly and completely disappeared from view; he could no longer even sense her magic power. Patrice swiftly dodged the darkness bull's full speed charge with a strange superhuman quickness and agility that made her appear like a purple blur for a short time, which resulted in her escaping to the darkness bull's distant left flank.
(Movements Like Fluid Thoughts)
The darkness bull soon stopped running forward and turned around while at the same time, the other five darkness creatures moved within close proximity to Patrice but did not attack her, as if they had lost interest in her. Patrice stared at Harvey, whose eyelids were now twitching in frustration, and smiled while her glowing purple eyes gleamed with a hint of smugness; she thought:
(I've basically broken his dark path spell that manifests those creatures. Self-Excluding Thoughts is a spell that works to destroy any thought involving his perception of me by projecting aberrant and malformed thoughts into his mind continuously, which makes me imperceptible to him so long as I don't come into direct contact with him or the one-minute duration of the spell has not expired. I deduced that his darkness creatures shared his perception and so his spell that manipulates them, which seems to be of the dark path alone and does not have anything to do with enslavement path, commands these creatures as extensions of Harvey himself, not as separate entities that can see, feel or think on their own.)
Harvey's darkness creatures searched in vain for Patrice. Evidently, since Harvey could not perceive her, neither could they. Harvey immediately grew concerned but he could not tell what the nature of the problem was.
(Did she become invisible and is hiding somewhere or did she actually leave the field? If it's the latter circumstance, Ralph should have reacted by now, right? What is going on? I can't even sense her magic power at all anymore; that should not be the case even if she became invisible because her stepping over Darkness Stage would leave traces.)
In the eyes of the spectators, Harvey's actions became a joke. Patrice was clearly standing within reach of Harvey's magic power but Harvey was not attacking Patrice, he seemed to be looking for her while she clearly stood a relatively short distance away from his front. Some spectators commented:
"When did Harvey Nefari become stupid?"
"That might not be the case. Patrice Suez is supposed to be a Wisdom Magician. I have met wisdom path Magicians in my younger days, so I know that their methods can be subtle yet have truly confusing results."
"Right, Patrice's methods must be at work to be making Harvey so aimless at this time."
...
Over at Grim Lord Academy's section, the blue haired student named, Granger, spoke to the man sitting to his right, who had dark-blonde hair complimented with black streaks:
"What's up with Harvey, Lewis? Did he lose a few screws before he went to the field?"
Lewis Nefari's eyes remained on Patrice Suez for a while before saying:
"That woman is not simple. Harvey is easily falling prey to her methods. I've long heard that wisdom path was very troublesome but it is not easy to gain methods to defend against it. Even in our family, there are hardly any wisdom path inheritances and the ones that exist are incomplete but hoarded and treated like treasures. Our Nefari family did have a wisdom path expert over one hundred years ago but he died because of a scheme and we have not been able to raise another one since then because of the lack of a complete wisdom path inheritance. Sigh, my brother will have to struggle through this difficulty on his own."
Patrice soon cast Movements Like Fluid Thoughts again in order to run up to and reach Harvey's front within moments, appearing like a purple blur. When she stopped her movements directly in front of him, she slapped Harvey on the forehead with her left palm, casting:
(Thoughts Erupt)
Harvey felt the slap and Patrice and her magic power immediately became apparent to him again while she stood at his front but before he could react, he developed an intense migraine, after which, a line of blood flowed from both his nostrils and then flowed off his face, some blood falling to the ground in droplets while the rest flowed down his neck, soon staining the top of his grey leather combat attire.
Harvey then went from a stooping position to completely falling face first to the ground. At that point, the dark, viscous liquid lining the ground began to dissipate within moments and the six darkness creatures degenerated into dark sludge and dissipated along with Darkness Stage. Harvey's two spells had apparently been cancelled.
Patrice, who was wearing a pair of red denim pants, a pair of red and white running shoes and a white silk, long-sleeved blouse bent down in an attempt to grab Harvey by the back of his head but before that could take place, black sludge flowed from beneath Harvey's body and a skeletal hand emerged from it that was made of the same sludge, following which, the hand grabbed Patrice by the throat and emitted a navy-blue hued magic power.
(Dark Abomination Level 1)
(Weakness Curse)
Patrice's knees buckled in response to Harvey's power and she proceeded to kneel in place while her arm's went lip and her throat was close to collapsing. Many spectators gasped in response to such a quick turn of events. William, who was sitting within Richter Order Academy's section, commented:
"Patrice's power is formidable for sure but she is not the only one with skills. Let's see how she gets out of this predicament."
Nick glanced up from his notes at this time; images of the battle were already being fed to him via Spatial Awareness, so he had not been watching it directly until now. He spoke in response to William's comment while keeping his eyes on Patrice:
"Patrice is about to do something to severely weaken Harvey."
William and Victoria turned to face Nick and William asked:
"How are you so sure?"
Nick replied:
"It's simple. Patrice is a Wisdom Magician and has been staying one step ahead of Harvey until now. If she decided to eat a momentary loss, there must be a scheme behind it that delivers a greater loss to her opponent. That is what I believe."
Varrow then remarked:
"It seems that you have some understanding of wisdom path, Nick."
Nick replied:
"It's just how I would think if I were going up against Patrice."
William and Victoria soon realized the logic behind Nick's prediction and turned around to face the field, waiting for the outcome of Harvey's and Patrice's interaction.
Blood oozed in large quantities from Patrice's slightly opened mouth as Dark Abomination's arm still held her throat but not long after, Dark Abomination's arm moved to grab Harvey's right shoulder and Harvey then cast another spell while still lying against the ground:
(Dark Tribute Curse)
A silent explosion that gave off soft, black light occurred, beginning at Dark Abomination's arm. The explosion then enveloped both Harvey and Patrice while Dark Abomination's arm degenerated into black sludge. Patrice was able to somehow muster her strength to raise herself from the ground and run away from the influence of the black light, appearing like a purple blur as she did so.
When she stopped running a few moments later, she was situated a little over ten meters away from Harvey. Patrice's upper-body was visibly covered in black sludge while she stared sharply at the site of the silent explosion, her eyes glowing with a more intense purple hue than before.
(Self-Sabotaging Will)
Patrice grunted and summoned two glass bottles of grey liquid from her space band and then poured the contents of the two bottles over her upper-body, which was already being gradually corroded by the dark sludge covering it that originated from Dark Abomination's self-destruction, using both hands. The black sludge reacted violently with the grey liquid, that moved like it hand a mind of its own, as it flowed to cover and consume the entirety of the black sludge. A few seconds later, the grey liquid gave off a strange smelling vapor and dissipated.
All the black sludge seemed to have been removed from Patrice's upper-body but her skin and flesh had clearly suffered from third degree burns. Her bloody and ruined flesh was visible at various parts of her arms, lower torso and shoulders; her chest, neck and head seemed to have been spared somehow. Patrice then circulated her healing spell, following which, her wounds appeared blurry and grey before developing a bright purple hue after thirty seconds; the purple hue soon dissipated and healthy skin became visible again.
(Purple Medicine)
Patrice proceeded to quickly summon another white silk blouse from her space band, putting it on over her ruined blouse in the presence of everyone else. Someone sitting in the spectator stands commented:
"Those two bottles of grey liquid; if I'm not mistaken, they should have been magic dissolve potions. Those are the kinds of potions that can dispel magic power and the basic apprentice grade variety is strong enough to work on residual rank 2 magic power but they are not cheap, costing even more than intermediate apprentice grade healing potions."
"Hmmm...the Suez family...they should be a very powerful family in Spain but I am not sure about their affiliation with Patrice here."
"Harvey looks like he is finally recovering from the previous exchange!"
...
Dark Tribute Curse had covered Harvey's position in black sludge following the explosion and when the black light had dissipated soon after and Patrice had already fled, Harvey began standing up shakily as his upper-body escaped a mound of black sludge that was four feet high. Harvey then used his magic power to force the black sludge to seep into the ground but the damage that it had done to him was already evident.
Harvey's grey leather combat armor was in tatters and his skin and underlying flesh had severe burns all over it resulting from the corrosion of his own darkness magic. He circulated his healing spell which visibly began to stitch up and mend his damaged flesh and skin using 'darkness threads'.
(Puppet Suture)
Harvey's current expression indicated his furious mood but internally, he was also confused.
(At the last second, before Dark Abomination cast Dark Tribute Curse, which should have decimated Patrice while she was in her weakened state, Dark Abomination turned on me and the curse was inflicted on mostly myself. I assume that Patrice's wisdom path methods were responsible for those turn of events. Apparently, even Dark Abomination is affected by those methods. Hmmm...Dark Abomination is a magic puppet and it does not really have a will of its own even though it has something akin to a mind of its own. Since it moves according to my will, does that mean that Patrice somehow interfered with my will.)
Thoughts and wills were the domain of wisdom path and Harvey did not qualify to discuss them in length so he was truly clueless as to how Patrice might have pulled off what she just did.
(Interfering with my thoughts is one thing but magic spells are the manifestation of one's will. Theoretically, you cannot cause a person to harm themselves directly by having them cast their own spells on themselves because that would be in conflict with the Magician's own will. That much I can reason out using the little that I know of wisdom path. One of her methods must have generated some kind of malicious will within my mind.)
Patrice somehow pick up on Harvey's thoughts and tapped her nose with her left index finger, saying:
"You've hit the nail on the head, mister Harvey."
Harvey then stared at Patrice with wide opened eyes, as if he saw a ghost and he screamed internally:
(That freak is in my head! Ahhhhhhhh! I have to find a way to take her down.)
Even Harvey now started to refer to Patrice by her nickname; that was just how unsettling Patrice's magic power was. Without fully understanding Patrice's power, Harvey sought to act in his own favor by casting Dark Abomination Level 1 again.
His magic energy reserves within his mindscape decreased by a large portion and black sludge was immediately generated at his feet; by this time, Puppet Suture had already mended most of his damaged flesh and skin although the weakness and pain caused by the burns still persisted. With his health stable once again, Harvey was ready to fight tooth and nail with Patrice.
The black sludge rose at Harvey's rear to form a cloaked skeleton that had an eerie, blue light shining within each of its eye sockets. Harvey internally commanded Dark Abomination to go after Patrice but instead, the magic puppet produced by his own spell unexpectedly disobeyed him and hugged him tightly from behind. Harvey immediately tried cancelling Dark Abomination Level 1 but he found that he could not do so. For the first time in his life, Harvey felt death loom over him because of the threat of his own power.
Patrice then began to walk up to Harvey from where she was standing and soon spoke while her intense, purple eyes filled Harvey with a sense of dread that he had never experienced before. Patrice could easily sense the feelings that Harvey was experiencing at the moment and the she verbally described them:
"The fear of the unknown. That is what you are feeling, right now. Such a feeling is fine when you take a test and the score won't be revealed for months but when the cause of that feeling puts you at death's door, it makes your mind sluggish and your spine feel like it has been encased in lead - your legs just go numb and your chest feels like it has an unimaginable weight strapped to it."
Soon, Patrice stood within just two meters of Harvey, at which point, she gave him an ultimatum:
"This is my only warning because I am not so quick to offend the Nefari family like Jessie Auburn. Surrender now, or kiss your ass goodbye."
Harvey gritted his teeth in anger but had no choice but to admit that he was at a loss.
(I have no idea how to reverse Patrice's hijacking of Dark Abomination and with the spell fully operable and strapped to my back, pretty much like a bomb, and Patrice to my front, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place...)
Seeing Harvey's predicament, Victoria asked aloud:
"What will Harvey do here?"
Nick raised his head from his notes once again and remarked:
"Harvey will surrender with certainty."
William raised his right eyebrow, and asked Nick:
"How are you so certain?"
Nick replied:
"I've lost and been cornered enough to know what a finished battle looks like. I've also fought with Harvey once and so I know that he is a 'smart' man. A smart man submits to circumstances. Me, I'm not so smart, so I've most often suffered because of not submitting. I'm sure that Patrice already knows the differences between the two kind of people."
William was a little caught off-guard by Nick's reasoning. He realized then that Nick might know more about loss than even himself. No sooner than Nick had spoken, Harvey declared loudly:
"I... surrender. I've lost."
Patrice nodded her head and cancelled Self-Sabotaging Will which resulted in her eyes becoming their normal, dark hue. Dark Abomination was also cancelled as a result and Ralph appeared hovering above the grassy field again so that he could declare the winner:
"The winner of this match is undoubtable Patrice Suez."
The spectators discussed fervently in response to the announcement:
"Forget Kirst Elthirst or Lewis Nefari, Patrice Suez is clearly the favorite to win this competition. She beat Harvey Nefari so completely."
"You have it wrong. Patrice didn't beat Harvey because of an apparent difference in their power levels. She beat him because her wisdom path methods were too mystical to him to be understood."
"Right, how would anyone at rank 2 counter Patrice's power when wisdom path is not a widely practised or taught path?"
"It's weird, huh? Refinement path and space path are not commonly specialized in because of the relatively low number of people that have high affinities for those paths but wisdom path is different. It is not commonly specialized in because of a lack of literature on the path and because no one is just willing to teach it."
"Don't forget that most wisdom path inheritances are incomplete and not widely circulated."
"That is definitely the case. The way I see it, the only way that the other competitors have a chance against Patrice is if they have a high enough attainment in their own path that would allow them to properly intuit counters to Patrice's moves."
"Don't you think that is too much to ask of rank 2 Magicians?"
...
Patrice spoke to Harvey genially after their match concluded:
"You're great but I was better this time. I see why the Nefaris are so famous."
Harvey looked at Patrice with some amount of weirdness and said:
"You are the most bizarre Magician I have ever battled."
Patrice blinked her eyes innocently and replied:
"Really? Then you clearly have not battled enough Magicians."
Patrice laughed lightly after saying that and turned around to head back to her academy's section. Harvey watched Patrice's receding back for a while before making his way towards his own academy's section.
Nick glanced at Harvey as the man left the field and muttered under his own breath:
"Sometimes, you just lose. That's life. It's not only about winning because you hardly gain anything developmental from winning. No one becomes the strongest or wisest by always winning battles or making all the right decisions. There has to be a learning curve where all the strength and knowledge earned was accumulated through loss, failure and ignorance that lead to defeat. In that way, I think that for the greatest people, they had to have lost many times before they could have ever won."
Patrice soon walked through the section's door and William gave her a thumbs up, saying:
"You made our academy proud, Patrice."
Patrice nodded her head once in acceptance and replied simply:
"Thanks."
She then sat in her original seat. Ralph soon after announced the next match-up:
"Victoria Nelson and Uriah Narco."
When Nick heard the latter name, he felt a vague sense of familiarity with it but in the end, it did not really mean much to him, so he placed most of his attention on his notes once again.
William spoke a few words to Victoria before she left the section:
"Watch out with this one. I still remember the cold of his magic power, sometimes."
Victoria shrugged off Williams warning and replied:
"You're giving him too much credit, William. Didn't you say that you beat him back then."
William kept silent and watched as Victoria walked out of the section. As she walked out, Jessie Auburn walked into the section almost at the same time and sat in the front row to watch the rest of the matches. Varrow glanced at him and said:
"It's good that you have recovered from the battle royal event. You did well but your magic power is still premature right now. Magic beasts, by their nature don't start revealing their true potential until rank 3 so the power of your transformations are artificially capped while at rank 2. Even your environmental transformations are restricted by the power dwelling within the arena."
Jessie respectfully nodded his head towards Varrow and replied:
"I understand. I will train harder, sir Varrow."
On the grassy field, Victoria and Uriah walked through opposite entrances and moved closer to each other without the slightest hesitation in their steps, only stopping when they were about twenty meters away from and in front of each other.
Uriah Narco was a white man that looked to be in his mid-twenties and had average height; he had very pale-white skin, a head full of short, but flowing silver hair, sharp eyebrows and light-blue eyes that glowed persistently. He wore a pair of fitting, dark-blue jeans pants, a pair of black and blue sneakers and a thick, black parka sweater.
Ralph gave the appropriate command in short order:
"Begin the battle!"
Neither Uriah nor Victoria were much interested in talking to each other so they got down to business immediately. Victoria pointed her right index finger at Uriah and cast:
(Shock Ray)
A blue beam of electricity shot out towards Uriah and it approached him at a speed difficult to keep up with by just using the eyes so Uriah simply used his Advanced Magic Sense talent to sense the attack in its entirety. Once the attack was 'clear' to him and he had an idea of its power, he let Shock Ray hit him directly but not before casting his own method.
(Ice Spiritual)
The instant the electric beam collided with Uriah, Victoria sensed that about 1,000 magical units of her magic energy reserves were siphoned from her mindscape and Uriah appeared to turn into solid ice and crack apart under the intensity of her electricity. Within three seconds, Uriah shattered into ice fragments that then littered the ground.
At that point, the presence of the ice fragments caused the grass at that spot to develop a layer of blue frost and wilt. The ice fragments then degenerated into bluish, cold wind, which proceeded to blow throughout the grassy field like a powerful gust.
(Influence Of Absolute Zero)
Victoria immediately cast Flash and Shock Bang in order to defend herself against the cold wind, sensing that its magic power was peculiar. Victoria's body flash with thick blue light and faint blue sparks then appeared on her skin and clothes. After the cold wind blew over her and passed her with most of its influence on her having been neutralized, the blue light and sparks of her spell abated but Victoria now felt a persistent chill within her flesh, that also persisted in the atmosphere.
Victoria observed the surroundings and she grimaced at seeing that most of the grass on the field had wilted and died while the ground was now covered with a layer of blue frost. Victoria quickly developed goosebumps as a result of the cold ambient temperature.
Over twelve meters away from her left flank, what appeared to be a humanoid shaped collection of cold wind suddenly solidified into an ice statue before becoming the flesh and blood Uriah. Victoria frowned, thinking:
(This man is not simple...)
Victoria cast Shocking Movements and many blue sparks of electricity appeared all over her body, following which, she ran towards Uriah and circled him at a two-meter-radius.
(Shock Bolt)
(Shock Bolt)
(Shock Bolt)
(Shock Bolt)
At the front, rear, right flank and left flank of Uriah, blue lightning bolts silently struck at him at incredible speed. Victoria expected him to somehow defend against her quick attacks but to her surprise, Uriah's body quickly developed a layer of blue frost and he moved with superhuman quickness and agility to side-step her four lightning bolts as they collided with each other almost simultaneously and then dissipated, having lost their target. Victoria was alarmed internally:
(Shouldn't the cold slow him down, not speed him up?)
Fire and ice spells usually had an obvious flaw at rank 2 and rank 1 in that the powerful varieties tended to mess with the caster's internal temperature, resulting in the deterioration of their bodily functions. Uriah didn't seem to be experiencing this common drawback.
After Uriah swiftly escaped Victoria's attack, he cast Embodiment Of Cold in order to transform into blue, cold wind that blew over Victoria's encirclement like hurricane wind and she was suddenly force to stop running because Uriah had somehow firmly grabbed hold of her right shoulder as he appeared at her rear, right side. Uriah appeared covered in blue frost and the ambient cold temperatures, which were now so low that Victoria's skin started to turn a light shade of blue, gave her an indescribable discomfort.
The discomfort increased significantly as her torso, starting from her right shoulder, developed a thick layer of ice.
(Chilled To The Bone)
Uriah's ice and cold invaded Victoria's upper-body but she was too slow to react by casting a defensive spell. She was already prepared to go on the offensive to presumably save her life, though. Blue sparks of electricity immediately spread over Victoria's body and multiplied manifold; the sounds of soft crackling and then violent buzzing filled the area.
(Lightning King)
In an instant, Victoria transmitted hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity from herself to Uriah in order to bombard every cell on his body with blue electricity. The ice covering Victoria's body shattered at that moment but the biting cold still lingered. Both Magicians were enveloped by thick, blue light until two seconds later when Uriah could no longer resist the lightning with just the ice path magic power covering his body and he was blasted over sixteen meters away from Victoria's direct right flank.
Uriah fell harshly onto the ground and slid in the dirt a little before stopping; his body was still coursing with electricity and his skin had visible but slight burns associated with being electrocuted. The blue light enveloping Victoria's spot abated and seeing Uriah's pathetic state, she knew that she had to press her advantage using more attacks.
Victoria tried to use Shocking Movements to run towards Uriah but she found that her feet and the ground below them had developed a thick layer of frost and those were not the only issues. He entire body was visibly being covered in thick layers of frost and her skin had become a disturbing deep-blue color. Cold bit at her bones and she trembled uncontrollably.
(Flash and Shock Bang)
Victoria's body instantly became covered with a thick, blue light and the frost developing on her body receded and her skin began developing a healthy color again but Victoria was forced to keep her defensive spell active in order to keep out the cold.
(Flash and Shock Bang can be maintained for a long time but that is not the spell's ideal usage and it will start to negatively affect my own movements if I maintain it for too long. I have to hit Uriah hard and heavy.)
The spectators watched as Victoria, who had basically become a moving blue torch, run towards Uriah at great speed. While Uriah was still on his back, reeling from the electric shocks that he had been inflicted with, Victoria approached his right side and kicked him there with her right leg, casting her spell:
(Flash Bang)
Uriah coughed out a mouthful of blood as his right side suffered a harsh impact and he was even blasted by thousands of volts of electricity at the same time. He circulated his ice magic power in order to cover his body in blue frost to deal with the electric shocks but Victoria was far from done. She kicked Uriah while casting Shock Bang an additional five times.
Uriah coughed out more mouthfuls of blood; the blood all froze once it left his mouth. The spectators saw Uriah and Victoria covered in blue light, Victoria because of the effects of Shock and Flash Bang and Uriah because of the effects of Flash Bang. Many of the licensed Magicians' blood boiled when seeing this but the students weren't so pumped up by what they saw. The students discussed:
"Imagine being inflicted with extreme cold or electrifying shocks perpetually. Neither sounds like a good time."
"I know. Victoria is basically trying to shock the life out of that Uriah guy with her kicks."
"The cold from Uriah's ice path spells are something else. It's even spreading out into the stands and the magic power of the arena has to be used to neutralize it."
"Honestly, that Uriah guy is weird. I've never seen ice magic like his before."
...
After her sixth kick, Victoria was about to hit Uriah with a far heavier blow but at that time, Uriah had circulated enough of his ice magic throughout his body to cope with the electric shocks and so he was ready to fight back again.
(Freezing White Aura)
White mist immediately began condensing within the surroundings of the field, bringing a terrible cold aura with it. The temperature within the surroundings dropped like a stone. Uriah's right hand, which had been partly guarding his torso up until then, moved with superhuman quickness to grab onto Victoria's right leg and despite, the circulation of Victoria's Shock and Flash Bang at full power, Uriah's magic power somehow overwhelmed Victoria's.
(Chilled To The Bone)
The blue light enveloping Victoria's body instantly dispersed and all of Victoria's clothes and skin developed a thick layer of blue frost. She struggled to move and was basically numb and forced stiff at that moment, the only movements that she was capable of being the involuntary trembling that resulted from the cold.
The white mist generated by Uriah's Freezing White Aura was actually scattered and light so the audience's view of the two were not hampered in the least, however, to Victoria the stacking of the cold brought about by the latter spell was disastrous for her. Uriah's magic power had overwhelmed her defensive method and breached it thoroughly, basically forcing its cancellation. Once that happened, a cascade of negatives happened to Victoria.
The cold temperatures, which was now far below zero degrees Celsius had invaded her flesh and joints and frozen the moisture and blood within them, preventing her from moving. A human being's body was made of more than 50% water and this water was responsible for all sorts of important bodily functions including, brain and circulatory functions. Now that most of the water and moisture in Victoria's body had been frozen, she was rendered almost helpless for who knows how long.
She could no longer focus her thinking like before, which basically crippled her ability to cast spells, and the magic energy that she had been circulating throughout her body since the start of the match could not resist Uriah's magic power on its own. Victoria was shocked internally:
(What the hell is going on? Usually, no one's magic power could so thoroughly invade another Magician's body so quickly unless that Magician was completely drained of magic energy that could mount a resistance. Not only did Uriah completely overwhelm my lightning path magic power with his own ice path magic power, his magic power has basically suppressed my magic energy and almost frozen me solid. Unbelievable!)
Uriah let go of Victoria's right leg and stood up in front of her, seeming to be in no rush. He looked at her expression that was filled with doubt and shock and for the first time since the match started, his expression changed from a plain one into a knowing smirk. He then said to her:
"Don't worry, you're not the first to be shocked."
By this time Victoria's mind had slowed to a crawl and her skin and lips had begun to develop a purple hue. Uriah went ahead and pinched his right index finger and thumb and all the white mist in the surroundings converged onto Victoria's position in moments and then dispersed again. After that, Victoria was evidently covered in thick layers of blue frost and ice from head to toe and could no longer be seen moving, not even trembling.
Uriah pushed the flash frozen Victoria at her chest with his right hand and she fell on her back with no resistance. Her eyes had been frozen in an open state but they did not move. Uriah knew that Victoria was still alive, though, because his magic sense could trace her magic energy actively flowing to surround and envelop her, brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and pancreas, that is her most vital organs.
Doing this kept Victoria alive but it did not improve her situation in the least. Much of her skin had already become a dark purple hue and her breathing and heart rate had slowed so much that if you did not pay close enough attention, you would think that she was a corpse. William, who was sitting within Richter Order Academy's section, clenched both his fists, the unclenched them and sighed, saying:
"I warned her..."
Varrow squinted his eyes and then explained to everyone present:
"That young man's magic energy and magic power have characteristics that intensify his ice path spells' effects and there is something else that is amplifying his magic power even further towards the limit achievable at rank 2. I suspect that he has some very interesting talents; I can deduce that from the relatively small amount of magic energy that he is using to maintain this situation."
Patrice, who sat in the back row, cast her Deductive Thoughts spell, which made her eyes glow purple. She soon added:
"The quality of his magic power is definitely at monstrous levels. But his ice path spells don't seem typical either, there is much more temperature reduction than the amount of ice that he has produced would normally indicate."
Varrow thought for a bit before saying:
"You're right..."
Back on the field, Uriah reasoned:
(Ice Flesh, Cold Influence, Cold Immunity. These three talents form such a synergistic and mystical connection that they push my ice and related affinities to a level that is above rank 2 but not yet rank 3. Ice Flesh gives me much protection from physical impact and injury as well as allows me to easily integrate my blood and flesh body into my spells' effects, Cold Influence increases the effectiveness of my ice path spells the closer my target is to me and decreases the spells' cast times significantly and Cold Immunity negates the harmful effects that the cold and ice would have on my own body and even uses the influence of the cold and ice to enhance my speed, agility, and strength. Combine these talents with my absolute cold inheritance and anyone would find themselves in a world of hurt. I recognize this woman from Never Ending Battlefield a few years ago and back then she would have probably been a tough nut to crack but I am not the same as back then.)
Uriah stood calmly and shouted:
"Ralph, when are going to announce the match's conclusion? Do you really want me to kill this woman?"
Ralph appeared beside Victoria immediately after Uriah's words were spoken and he observed her with his magic sense. Even he was slightly shocked at the results of Uriah's power:
(This freezing effect is not usually something that rank 2 magic power can accomplish so overwhelmingly and this prevailing cold isn't ordinary. Victoria is only hanging on to life by a thread because Uriah's ice path magic power has basically suppressed her own and even affected her brain and other organs at a cellular level. I'm getting to see all sorts of strange rank 2 Magicians during this competition. There is no need for this woman to die since Uriah clearly doesn't want to kill her...)
Ralph then announced:
"Uriah Narco is the winner of this match by virtue of his incapacitated opponent!"
The arena went into an uproar when the result was announced; even the licensed Magicians discussed the result fervently:
"This match unexpectedly ended with one side completely overwhelming the other."
"This result is likely due to Uriah Narco being vastly superior to Victoria Nelson in a certain aspect. The quality of the man's magic power seems unusually high...look, the field has basically been turned into a freezer and with so little ice being present."
"This is the rise of ice path!"
"What? Get real. I admit that Uriah Narco is talented but ice path has never outcompeted the rarer paths such as time path, qi path or even sword path."
...
After Ralph spoke, Uriah cancelled his spells, following which, the frost on the ground melted, the white mist in the surroundings dissipated and the ambient temperature rose significantly. Within less than one minute, Victoria's body faintly sparked with blue electricity and her healing spell circulated:
(Life Giving Sparks)
Thirty seconds after, she was finally able to stand up, the ice on and within her body having melted or dissipated and her flesh having become healthy again. Uriah and Ralph still stood in their spot, waiting for the woman to get up. When Victoria stood firmly on her feet after some swaying, she looked Uriah in his glowing blue eyes and declared:
"I'll get you back, someday."
Uriah chuckled and replied:
"I look forward to it but next time, if you haven't improved satisfactorily, I'll kill you for sure."
Uriah's expression was dead serious as he said that and immediately after, he turned around in order to make his way back to his academy's section. Victoria watched his receding back and her competitive spirit was ignited.