Nick stored his tablet computer into his space band and got up from his seat. He cast Space Rift, which resulted in a space gate being opened at his left flank that led to the field. He motioned his head towards the space gate and said to Patrice:
"After you."
Patrice chuckled and got up from her seat, walking towards and into the space gate. Varrow spoke to Nick before he entered as well:
"Give your best or don't come back here."
Nick replied indifferently:
"I only ever give my best. How else would I compete with these people?"
After saying that, Nick walked through the space gate and closed it. William observed Patrice and Nick, who were both now on the field, and he said aloud:
"I hope that Patrice gives Nick some decent battle experience before she finishes the match."
When William spoke like that, Varrow internally sneered but stayed silent. Varrow had a different opinion of how the match would go:
(Nick has already shown his worth and has proven to be capable of standing up to talented and privileged people. William is only suggesting that Nick will lose because of his own ego. William may be a very promising Magician but he has some growing to do as a man.)
On the field, Patrice and Nick distanced themselves by about twenty meters at its center before Ralph gave his command:
"Begin the match!"
Many of the licensed Magicians in the stands discussed at this time:
"This will be one of the most interesting matches since the start of the competition. Patrice's magic power has proven to be potent and strange while Nick's magic power has been tyrannical and fierce."
"Right. This match will likely be above the others in intensity."
"Alright, I'm starting a betting pool. Who bets on Nick winning and who bets on Patrice winning? The lowest bet allowed is £100,000"
"Count me in!"
"Ha, ha. Let's see if this daddy here doesn't double his money before the day is over."
While the licensed Magicians placed their bets, the students were also discussing. They avoided getting involved in the betting pool because they were slightly afraid of the rank 3 and other higher ranked Magicians.
"Do you think that Nick will beat Patrice?"
"Nick is an upstart but strong and stranger things have happened."
"My opinion is different. Patrice has an established track record and is backed by the mysterious wisdom path. She can't lose."
"You have a dog's brain. We have seen that Nick practises formation path, space path, soul path and blade path. What is wisdom path compared to all that juice?"
"You are the one who is confused! Practising so many paths does not imply power, in most cases, it actually indicates a weak and unfocused person."
"Shut up! They are about to start fighting."
...
Back on the field, Nick took in a deep breath and immediately moved to unsheathe Failed Tool with his right hand, following which, he cast Fear The Blade on Patrice. Since the details of Nick's methods were not very well known to the public, Patrice had no basis to know how to defend herself from his relatively new rule path and blade path spell.
She just observed Nick as he quickly unsheathed his sword from his left side while making use of seemingly superhuman hand and arm movements and then Patrice sensed a vague magic power emanating from Failed Tool and Nick. Following that, she saw Failed Tool's blade bend in an exaggerated manner before returning to its original shape.
She did not know what the blade's bending meant but she felt that she was adequately prepared to fend off Nick's magic power, anyway. Patrice quickly cast Deductive Thoughts and her eyes glowed with a bright, purple hue from then on. Nick then cast Warrior Armor and following the brief appearance of red and silver sparks of light all over his body, his entire right arm and right sleeve became covered with a metallic-silver hue and gained a metallic consistency.
Nick then pointed his left index finger at Patrice and ten ghost-white blades appeared seemingly out of nowhere, like phantoms, ten meters away from Patrice's front and shot towards her as fast as arrows. Patrice reacted perfectly.
(Movements Like Fluid Thoughts)
Patrice's body instantly appeared like a purple blur and she moved to dodge each of the ten ghost-white blades, which each then stuck into the ground after it missed its target. Patrice then cancelled her movement spell and waved her left hand towards Nick in order to cast Revealing Thoughts on him but as soon as she did that, Nick vanished from her field of vision.
The next moment, Patrice sensed that Nick appeared behind her, following which, he swung Failed Tool in order to successfully cleave her in half at her midsection using a diagonal swing from her rear; she had found herself unable to react at all:
(Huh, what is this situation? This...cannot be reality.)
Patrice's Deductive Thoughts spell went to work and she intuited very quickly that she was experiencing a false reality and as soon as that happened, the false reality collapsed; Patrice had no need to fear. Patrice's pressure did not abate, however, even after the false reality dissipated because within her view, a wide, diagonal arc of intense, grey light was about to crash into her chest. Patrice did not hesitate to counter.
She instantly cancelled Deductive Thoughts and cast another spell immediately after:
(Wisdom Buckler)
A faint, translucent layer of magic power quickly wrapped around Patrice's body like armor before the grey light crashed into her. There was no sound as the grey light and Patrice made contact; only a shimmering and intense grey glow that radiated from her position, enveloping her.
Seeing that the blade light produced by his Tyrant Light spell had made contact, Nick cast Space Rift in order to open a space gate at his front that led to what he assumed would be Patrice's rear, at which point, Nick stepped through the space gate and it closed behind him. Nick was about to make another move using Failed Tool but Patrice had already sensed his movements and was prepared.
By the time that Nick appeared at her rear, Patrice turned around and as soon as the grey blade light faded, she cancelled Wisdom Buckler, which resulted in the translucent magic power shrouding her body to vanish, at which point, she cast:
(Self-Excluding Thoughts)
From Nick's perspective, a few moments after the blade light faded, Patrice disappeared from view and he could no longer sense her magic power; he was now at a loss since there was no longer anything for him to swing Failed Tool at. He then decided to cast Warp Sense in order to scout his immediate surroundings so that he could check for anomalies. Patrice immediately sensed Nick's use of space magic and noticed the space within her surroundings subtly warping but she ignored it since she had faith in the effectiveness of her own wisdom path spell.
Nick noticed nothing strange about his surroundings using his best scouting method so he cancelled it in order to conserve his magic energy but remained vigilant using his eyes and magic sense. Nick was only about six feet away from Patrice at that point; Tyrant Light had basically done no harm to her due to the effectiveness of Wisdom Buckler. Patrice reasoned:
(Wisdom Buckler is a rank 2 advanced grade spell that produces a psychic field that surrounds my body and protects me against physical and ranged attacks; it cannot be cast while I am maintaining another wisdom path spell and other wisdom path spells cannot be cast while it is active. The spell is effective in proportion to my wisdom path affinity which is very high relative to my rank due to my Wisdom Freak talent. Wisdom Freak allows me to intuit the emotions and thoughts of beings within a certain proximity, thus increasing my wisdom path affinity in the process. The talent, however, has a restriction that obscures the information that I obtain by its use on the basis of my own 'wisdom'.)
Patrice then briskly walked up to Nick and slapped him on the forehead with her left palm, casting:
(Thoughts Erupt)
Nick suddenly felt a harsh impact on his forehead while Patrice appeared in front of him again and he became able to sense her magic power again but before he could act, he felt as if miniature explosions were occurring within his head at this time. Nick developed an intense migraine as a result, after which, he bled heavily from both his nostrils but he persevered in maintaining his focus and cast Courage In Sacrifice, which allowed him to recover about 200 magical units of magic energy in response to Patrice's attack.
Due to Patrice's spell affecting his thoughts, Nick had strained to cast Courage In Sacrifice but since it was only an intermediate grade spell, he had managed to do it within one second. However, Patrice's spell still plagued him and that resulted in him noticeably hesitating to perform a counter or even resisting her appropriately and Patrice took advantage of this.
(Thoughts Erupt is a rank 2 intermediate grade spell that detonates my target's thoughts to cause psychic damage to their mind which can manifest as physical damage too.)
Seeing that Thoughts Erupt did not bring Nick down, with her left hand still on his forehead and a faint purple aura beginning to emanate from her body, Patrice spent two seconds preparing her next spell before casting it:
(Collapsing Thoughts)
Patrice smiled and mused after the successful casting of her spell:
(Collapsing Thoughts is a rank 2 advanced grade spell that actively breaks down the thoughts currently within a target's mind and continues doing so until their cognitive ability is greatly reduced. With this, Nick should become like a baby in my arms soon enough.)
Contrary to Patrice's expectations, however, moments after her spell was cast, she met with resistance. Nick was suddenly able to focus his attention on her and swing Failed Tool in order to slice away her left arm and behead her. Patrice was confused and shocked at the same time:
(What? How did he overcome Collapsing Thoughts and why couldn't I react to his attack just now? Wait...)
Patrice's intuition kicked in and she suddenly realized that she was experiencing another false reality.
(Why has this happened again?)
The moment that she had that thought, she remembered the vague magic power that she had sensed emanating from Nick and his sword at the start of the battle and she deduced a connection between that instance and her current circumstance.
(Son of a bitch! His method has a wisdom path aspect that is being perpetuated as the battle continues.)
Because Patrice deduced the truth about the false reality, Fear The Blade's effect dissipated within moments but Patrice's Collapsing Thoughts spell had still failed to take root within Nick's mind as a result of the Fear The Blade's interference and this allowed Nick to have gained enough time to forcefully suppress the effects of Thoughts Erupt by circulating his magic energy throughout his head.
As soon as Patrice regained her sense of reality, Nick finally swung at her using Failed Tool with the intention of cutting her to pieces.
(Dreadful Aura.)
(Tyrant Blade.)
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Just as Patrice was inflicted by the fear inducing properties of the dreadful aura, Failed Tool moved towards her with a speed and power that actually made her afraid. It was easy for her to deduce that if she tried to tank Nick's sword swing with her bare body, she would die with certainty; she could not even cast Wisdom Buckler in time to defend herself because of Nick's incredible swinging speed but she did have the time to cast another spell:
(Involuntary Thoughts)
Unfortunately for Nick, Patrice's latest cast wisdom path method was effective and his sword swing halted half way to its intended destination, which was Patrice's midsection. Patrice quickly withdrew her left hand from Nick's forehead and backed away while Nick's actions were still stalled by the effects of Involuntary Thoughts. When Patrice moved back by about four feet, she cast Movements Like Flowing Thoughts and her body appeared like a purple blur as she ran away from Nick until she had put about forty meters of distance between them moments later.
Nick soon rid himself of the effects of Patrice's Involuntary Thoughts by circulating his magic energy within his head and then he observed her from afar, thinking:
(She actually managed to get away from me after all that. She's clearly not labeled as the strongest third year for no reason.)
The spectators discussed the match fervently after Patrice made her getaway. Although the interaction between Patrice and Nick was relatively brief, it was an intense yet subtle exchange, one that could have decided the flow of the match from then on.
"Patrice Suez is so lucky. If she had not found a way to escape, Nick Capitol would have killed her for sure."
"Lucky? I don't think that's what it is. With Nick so close to her and him swinging that sword so menacingly, she would need more than luck to get out of that situation."
"Her wisdom path spells are clearly effective on Nick Capitol but there was some resistance on his part that ultimately forced her to back away in defeat. I feel that Nick won their exchange even though his attacks on Patrice were not successful."
"Wisdom path does not specialize in combat in the first place while Nick is using blade path methods. Patrice's ability to keep up with and avoid being killed by him thus far is an indication of her skill."
"Let's not ignore Nick Capitol's apparent skill in defending against wisdom path. In her last match, by this time, Harvey Nefari was putty in her hands but it is clearly different with Nick. He has some way to effectively defend himself against Patrice Suez's wisdom magic but his defense is not 100% effective."
"Yeah, I've noticed that too. Nick is going to have to give it his all if he wants to beat his senior."
...
William was surprised by Nick's apparent defensive abilities against wisdom path. He also had a way to defend himself against Patrice's methods but it was not as subtle as Nick's method, whatever it was, and required him to be 'creative'. William asked Varrow:
"Sir Varrow, how do you deal with Wisdom Magicians at your rank?"
Varrow put on a thoughtful expression before answering:
"I actually don't encounter many Wisdom Magicians but when I do, the head on battling is usually in my favor since I have methods to defend against pernicious wisdom path spells. That being said, I don't remain within the influential sphere of Wisdom Magicians because scheming is their specialty and in that way, they can often have someone killed without even openly fighting them; that is their true danger, not in battles like this."
Back on the field, Patrice breathed in and out deeply, thinking:
(I almost died just now. Nick's emotions definitely indicated that he intended to kill me; his exact thoughts are a little more obscure for some reason but it's not like I haven't encountered such a situation before.)
Patrice began preparing multiple spells at once in order to increase her survivability while competing with Nick. Nick seemed to be collecting his thoughts at the moment so she had the time and space.
Nick assessed his own magic energy expenditure so far and then mused:
(The problem of my high magic energy consumption is becoming more and more apparent. The battle began only a few minutes ago and yet nearly half of my magic energy reserves are gone. That is the price that I pay for the quality of my spells being what they are but this is also the only feasible way that I can compete against these privileged people. My choices are to either finish the battle quickly or reduce my pace so that I don't empty my magic energy reserves as fast, which should give me the opportunity to recover somewhat. Hmmm...the latter option is too passive and risky; I will undertake the former option as best I can. Oh, and I've determined something about Fear The Blade's effect; the spell is supposed to lose effect and be cancelled when the blade that was used to cast it is concealed but I only intended that to mean when the blade can no longer be perceived by the target, so as long as the sword's magic power can still be sensed and isn't suppressed, even if the target cannot see my sword, the spell still remains active.)
Nick then willed and the ten ghost-white blades that were stuck into the ground near his position rose up and pointed their tips towards Patrice. Nick then dispelled his dreadful aura because it required a certain amount of his mental effort and it evidently did not bring proportionate gains against someone like Patrice.
Nick then cast Dominion Field in order to envelop the area immediately surrounding himself and Patrice and even beyond that, at which point, that surrounding space developed a slightly grey hue. Patrice noticed the change but could do nothing to stop it at this time. She had a nagging feeling that the real fighting was about to begin.
Suddenly, Nick's ten ghost-white blades disappeared from their floating positions and reappeared circling around Patrice in midair. Patrice looked all around her and frowned; she was sure of what was going to happen next but she was not discouraged. Her eyes began to glow with an intense purple light due to two of her spells resolving:
(Self-Sabotaging Will)
(Deductive Thoughts)
At this time, the ten ghost-white blades swiftly struck at Patrice but Nick soon felt the loss of control of five of them as those five blades actually moved to parry the other five blades still under Nick's control. Nick frowned and willed the five ghost-white blades that were still under his command to strike at the five blades that went rogue. Patrice used the effect of Self-Sabotaging Will to manipulate the five rogue ghost-white blades while she reasoned internally:
(Since a few of my methods had already been effective on Nick, it was easy for me to plant the seeds of a malicious will within his mind that has now taken root once I cast Self-Sabotaging Will; using that malicious will, I can partly hijack the control of his spell that controls these blades. For some reason, though, I cannot take control of all his blades because his spell is actually more complex than it appears but I can still counter him adequately for now.)
Nick was annoyed by Patrice's underhanded move; she had effectively infiltrated a portion of his Blade Works magic formation with a will that was not his and that foreign will was now using its own abilities as well as his own magic formation to fight against him. The situation left a bitter taste within Nick's mouth.
(My advantage is that she doesn't know much about Blade Works so there is little that she can actually control. That is the benefit of not using a legacy inheritance - my methods' inner workings are a mystery to most people.)
Nick then mobilized ten more ghost-white blades from their adjacent space and launched them at Patrice while having them rotate like the blades of active power saws. Patrice was forced to cast Movements Like Flowing Thoughts again while maintaining Self-Sabotaging Will and Deductive Thoughts in order to dodge the attacks of the ghost-white blades. During that period, she continued to manipulate the five rogue ghost-white blades that she had under her control to act against the other blades that were under Nick's control.
Patrice often dodged from side to side, sometimes she ran, sometimes she ducked, sometimes she jumped and sometimes she twisted and turned in order to to avoid being sliced or skewered. From the spectators' perspective, the purple blur moved so fast and elegantly, that it almost appeared like a beautiful, dancing fairy. About forty seconds into her dodging and parrying tactics, Nick suddenly appeared at her direct right flank and ruthlessly swung Failed at her right side.
(Cross Stream Sword Technique.)
Nick's sword arm and Failed Tool then moved through the air like a faint blur, almost invisible to Patrice but the malicious will within Nick's mind allowed her to better intuit the movements of Nick's sword, so although she could not completely dodge Nick's ensuing sword strikes, she could at least move in a way that would save herself from being killed or crippled.
SPLAT!
Large amounts of blood spurted out in multiple directions away from Patrice's front and both of her flanks; even Nick was hit with some of Patrice's blood as he sliced into her purple, blur like body at multiple areas on her torso and arms.
Blood also flowed to the ground and the moment that Nick's iteration of Cross Stream completed and he unconsciously eased up, Patrice used the opportunity to circle him and run away while still dodging the ghost-white blades that tried to slice into or impale her. A trail of blood was left behind wherever she went and she did not stop running until she was about sixty meters away from Nick.
When she stopped running, the blood flowing to her feet pooled and she immediately cast Purple Medicine to recover, some of the healing spell's advantages being that it was quick to cast, it resolved painlessly and healed quickly so long as the wounds did not involve amputations or complete destruction of sensitive organs like the eyes and brain.
Patrice still appeared like a purple blur at this time but a large portion of the blur had now gained a mix of red hue. Patrice also maintained multiple spells at this time, namely: Self-Sabotaging Will, Movements Like Flowing Thoughts, Deductive Thoughts and Purple Medicine. If it was Nick in her shoes, four spells would almost amount to the limit that he could maintain at the same time and this was considering that he was a master of multiple paths and even a scholar of one. Nick quickly reasoned:
(Patrice is maintaining all these spells and she is definitely not a wisdom path master. Wisdom path seems to allow its Magicians to adeptly multitask but she must be close to some kind of limit. I just have to push harder! I already gravely injured her using my sword technique so she is on her last legs...probably. I only have about 16,000 magical units left within my mindscape.)
Nick was running out of time and magic energy, so he first cancelled Tyrant Blade because he did not plan on getting too close to Patrice immediately due to him being wary of her method that allowed her to take control of his spells. Next, he focused on the five rogue ghost-white blades under Patrice's control that were still being pressure by the blades under his control. He then used the power of Dominion Field to suppress the rogue blades and force them into the ground.
Following that, he mobilized ten more ghost-white blades from his adjacent space, resulting in twenty-five of his ghost-white blades being actively under his control. Nick willed and all twenty-five ghost-white blades suddenly appeared ten meters above Patrice with their tips ominously pointed at her. Nick willed and the blades quickly descended towards her standing location and closely around it; the ghost-white blades moved as fast as canon fire.
Patrice sensed the danger above her and the hairs on the back of her neck rose in response; Purple Medicine had still not fully healed her wounds and she had only 6,000 magical units remaining within her mindscape. Nick had put her in a life threatening situation and she was beginning to notice the active suppression of her spells by Dominion Field.
Because of that suppression, she was having a hard time taking control of any more of Nick's ghost-white blades using the malicious will that she implanted within his mind. Patrice gritted her teeth, she was forced to rid herself of needless thoughts and focus on the trouble that was literally descending on her. Patrice looked above her and within a split second, she cast her another spell, momentarily bringing the number of her currently active spells to five:
(Wisdom Blow)
One moment before the ghost-white blades that were immediately above Patrice's position skewered her, a strong psychic force erupted amidst the space between and surrounding the ghost-white blades and shattered all of them.
Nick noticed Patrice's surge in magic power and witnessed his ghost-white blades being destroyed but he sneered in response and quickly raised Failed Tool above his head as it glimmered with its innate, grey blade light. Without Tyrant Blade being active, Nick's hand and arm movements were slower but using the power of Warrior Armor and his own agility, his right arm and hand movements with Failed Tool still appeared as an indistinct blur to most people.
Nick then poured over 7,000 magical units of magic energy into casting Tyrant Light and Failed Tool shimmered and glowed intensely with much more grey blade light as a result, seeming like an indomitable torch. Nick then proceeded to swing Failed Tool down at his front to near ground level with his incredible arm speed and a great but harsh collection of grey blade light flashed out towards Patrice and enveloped her.
Within milliseconds, she felt like her body was about to fall apart but within that brief time period, she managed to push the effects of Movements Like Flowing Thoughts to its limit and swiftly ran away from the grey blade light to a position close to the left of where Nick's blade light had enveloped her. Blade light was offensive in nature but it was formless and could not physically obstruct or press against someone and because of this, Patrice was able to use her movement spell to run away from its area of effect.
Despite her having only spent a split second enveloped by the blade light, however, Patrice was cut all over and severely injured. Blood poured out from all over her body like streams but with Purple Medicine still active, she managed to remain standing and moving. If the students could see through the 'purple blurring' effect of her Movements Like Fluid Thoughts, they would definitely feel pity for the previously beautiful woman.
The licensed Magicians, who had powerful scouting methods, however, saw Patrice's condition clearly and were appalled. One of them absentmindedly said aloud:
"She's basically been flayed from head to toe at this point."
The moment that Patrice found her new footing, she immediately pointed at Nick with her left index finger and cast Wisdom Blow at him, which could be effective even up to one hundred meters from its caster. At that time however, Nick suddenly appeared at her immediately front and rapidly swung Failed Tool with his right arm in order to decapitate her; this had been the second time that Patrice had experienced decapitation since the match started and each time unnerved her greatly.
Quickly realizing that this was another false reality, Patrice was instantly freed of the effect of Fear The Blade and she persevered in having Wisdom Blow resolve. Nick then acted quickly by raising his left index finger, following which, a 'red marble' of light appeared at its tip and without hesitation, Nick willed for the red marble to be launched forward like a speeding bullet towards Patrice.
(Mars.)
At the same time, however, a strong psychic field enveloped Nick, at which point, sensing the danger, Nick mobilized Warrior Armor in order to cover his entire body with silver hue and magic power. He was then inflicted with a violent, formless impact that bent his upper body backwards and bloodied his entire face while his eyes turned all the way backwards into his head. The blood on his face quickly changed from a red hue to a silver hue as it was incidentally affected by Warrior Armor.
Patrice sensed that her attack had landed with great effect but she had no time to celebrate because the red marble that Nick had launched at her appeared one meter in front of her the next moment and stopped moving forward for a split second. Following its halt in movement, the red marble burst out with dull red light in all directions, which resulted in Patrice being enveloped by its magic power.
Patrice's mind spun rapidly and that for a Wisdom Magician meant tens of thousands of thoughts being produced within one second but Patrice didn't have one second before she would meet with tragedy:
(I can intuit that the power of this space path method won't allow me to simply run away and even more harrowing, I am absolutely sure that this red light is another of Nick's likely fatal moves against me. I only have nearly two thousand magical units left within my mindscape, my body is almost in ruins and I cannot escape from this space path spell's effects. Can I defend against it? No... if I cancel Self-Sabotaging Will, Purple Medicine or Movements Like Fluid Thoughts to even attempt to cast Wisdom Buckler, I would quickly become incapacitated from my own injures or worse, die from another one of Nick's methods soon after.)
Patrice did not forget about the still lingering effects of Nick's Fear The Blade spell and she quickly deduced that if something that she could not control happened here, she would die without doubt.
(Death.)
That thought now loomed over her and she had no choice but to admit that she had been outclassed by her junior. Sensing that Mars was about to overwhelm her, Patrice made a decision:
(I surrender.)
At that time and with that thought, Patrice witnessed the red light around her vanish like vapor within the atmosphere. Ralph stood beside her and whispered:
"Well done."
Nick suddenly used the power of Warrior Armor to put strength into his muscles and he quickly raised his bent back to an upright position again and following that, his eyes returned to their normal orientation. Since he was still unaware of the surrounding circumstances because of the time he spent reeling from the effect of Patrice's Wisdom Blow, he basically took a step forward intending to finish Patrice off at all cost even if Mars left just her head remaining. Before he could focus in order to do so, however, Ralph announced the results of the match:
"Nick Capitol is the winner of this match by way of his opponent's surrender!"
Nick heard that and his forward movements halted and his eyes finally focused. He realized that Ralph was already present on the field and in the process of healing Patrice. Patrice had truly seen better days. Once she surrendered, she had cancelled all her spells and her flayed skin and sliced body then appeared on full display for everyone to see; her private areas were still covered adequately, though, but that did not mean that they escaped harm.
Many students saw Patrice's current state and vomit immediately moved up into their throats before they managed to forced it down into their stomachs again. The licensed Magicians, however, were not disturbed and many of them actually celebrated Patrice's loss:
"Pay up, suckers! I told you that this daddy would double his money. I have even managed to quadruple it."
"Hmph! Take your blood money. Who would have thought that Nick Capitol would defeat Patrice, leaving her like this? She put up a good fight but rank 2 is rank 2 and she has her limitations."
"She has limitations but so does Nick Capitol and he seems like he is still capable of fighting. Don't make excuses for her; she lost fairly."
"Yeah, a loss is a loss no matter how it happened. Patrice surrendered so there are no ifs, ands, buts or coconuts about the situation."
"I knew that Nick Capitol would win. He has something special about him. Maybe it has to do with his weird eyes or his eerie silence."
"Wow, Nick Capitol beat his senior who is a wisdom path Magician. He definitely has spectacular cultivation methods. Does anyone know who his master is?"
...
While most students and other spectators discussed and gossiped, Varrow and William stared at the field with a mix of shock and acceptance. Not shock because Nick had defeated Patrice, that was always a possibility, but shock because Patrice was in such a pathetic state right now, was close to death at the end of the match and ultimately forced to surrender while Nick seemed like he had more to give.
William soon remarked:
"We have been underestimating Nick this whole time."
Varrow remained silent because he had long since been suspicious of Nick's real capabilities. This match just confirmed what he already suspected - Nick Capitol was not to be considered a student.
In the stands, Pearl Wiles observed the scene on the field and rubbed her forehead with her left hand, feeling like the former was extremely sore at this time:
(Nick went missing for four years but in that time, he managed to outpace the strongest person in the third year. Sigh, I really underestimated him but how is it that this once poor man has grown so powerful in such a relatively short amount of time with no extensive backing. I should ask uncle Andrew if anything has changed, later.)
Jessica Jones, who was sitting beside Rebecca Jones, quickly stood up and did a silly looking fist pump using her right hand towards Nick's direction. Rebecca was momentarily caught off guard by her little sister's enthusiasm but then she smiled sweetly, saying to her:
"I can see why you have been asking so much about friendship recently. It is good to admire others for their strengths."
Jessica blushed and sat down quietly in response to Rebecca's words. Back on the field, realizing that the match was indeed over, Nick cancelled Warrior Armor and Dominion Field, and then he cast Saint Soul in order to heal himself of his injuries. Although he had been inflicted with relatively few attacks, each of Patrice's successful attacks was harsh and effective, so although Nick did not look as pathetic as Patrice, he was hurting.
Within one minute, the effects of Saint Soul healed him of all his injuries and except for his bottomed out magic energy reserves, he was basically in good shape at that point. Nick took one last glance at Patrice. By this time, Ralph's healing had already restored her flesh and skin to perfect health and she was now summoning new clothes from her space band and putting them on over her ruined ones.
Nick commented internally:
(That was a really exciting battle but it could have gone south if I was any less skilled or prepared because of my fast reducing magic energy reserves. When I return to Grand Earth, I will work on a method to rectify that lingering flaw.)
Nick's magic energy reserves were still recovering so he simply turned around and walked towards and through the corridor entrance, intending to return to Richter Order Academy's section so that he could rest. Patrice thanked Ralph for his healing and followed after Nick about half-a-minute after Nick had left. Ralph then raised himself into the air, preparing to announce the next match-up.
Kirst Elthirst sat within Great Overlord Academy's section and laughed heartily, soon saying:
"Wow! That match was really the beez-neez. Rumor is that Nick helped Desmond with a magic formation issue some hours ago and now this. He is awesome for a nobody from nowhere. Things will be interesting when I face him later on. Hey teach, you don't mind if I go crazy, right? It's rare that I get to find a rank 2 Magician that is possibly on my level."
The Magician to whom Kirst was speaking was wearing a black and green colored magician's robe and appeared to be a white man of average height that looked to be in his mid-thirties, he had a shaved head, a full beard, mustache and sideburns combination consisting of dark-brown hair and he had sharp looking, scarlet colored eyes. The robed Magician replied to Kirst with a flat tone:
"Do what you want, spoiled brat."
Kirst laughed out heartily in response to his supervisor's insult and then begun thinking of how the battle between Nick and himself would go, considering what he had already seen so far.
When Nick reached the academy's section, he entered and simply moved to sit in his seat. William looked towards him and gave him a silent thumbs-up; Varrow didn't say or do anything in response, he simply continued focusing on the field. Nick then proceeded to summon his tablet computer and continued to work on the design for his new magic formation.
About one minute later, Patrice walked into the section and also took her seat. She then called Nick by name in order to get his attention and made a remark filled with meaning:
"You might just be a bigger freak than I am. I don't mean that as an insult, I mean it as a good thing. People don't like freaks, right? I know that from experience and I can only imagine the kind of experiences you must have had. I am happy for you that you won; but I won't lose next time."
Nick stared at Patrice for a few moments before opening his mouth, then closing it without saying anything. Within a few seconds, Nick opened his mouth again and finally said something:
"Ordinary bread is relatively bland and grows stale easily but with butter bread, it might look and smell unique, maybe even strange to some, but it tastes sweet even if it spoils a little. I like butter bread way more."
Nick said that and focused on his tablet computer once again. Patrice's expression became complicated in response to Nick's words; she then put her focus on Ralph. William overheard Nick's and Patrice's conversation and thought:
(What the hell is with those two? Freaks...butter bread. Sigh, just leave it alone.)
William shook his head and also focused on Ralph. Ralph soon announced the next match-up with much vigor in his tone:
"Lewis Nefari and William Rollins. Come down to the field, immediately!"