Silence reigns over the arena, students holding their breath, waiting in anticipation for what seemed to them a fight worth imprinting in the history books.
The son of one of the strongest noble households vs a commoner who was blessed with an otherworldly affinity of mana.
"FIGHT!"
Their fists collided in an instant once the fight commenced. The crowd roared in excitement as the two exchanged blows and blocked with equal force, creating a small cyclone of wind around them.
Their instructor watches in excitement as the fight goes on. His blood was pumping with adrenaline, wishing it were him in combat. Among the spectators, there was one who questioned the fierce battle. That was Oscar, wondering why they don't use their mana.
[Why are they dragging this on with just fists? Right now, they should be well aware that they are on par with each other in hand-to-hand combat. Is it to entertain? Or is this just a warm-up?]
He sighs in exhaustion and looks at his friends, shouting and encouraging their comrade to win this. But his focus turns to Eleanor, showing the most enthusiasm.
[Might as well join in]
He stands up and gives a loud shout to Nathan.
"NATHAN! DON'T YOU DARE LOSE THIS FIGHT AND EMBARRASS HER, YOU HEAR ME."
Eleanor hears this and rushes over to him, covering his mouth and calling him a moron. She then turns her attention to Nathan to see if he heard that outburst. And of course he did. A slight glance is shared between the two, with Nathan giving her a quick smirk before concentrating on the fight at hand. She blushes and repeatedly hits Oscar's head. The others giggle at this for a brief moment and give even more cheers and support to Nathan.
A small smile comes across Nathan's face as he notices his friends' increased support.
[Those idiots. Might as well go all out. Can't let them support a loser.]
William, a bit angered by his smile, asks,
"What the hell are you happy about!?"
Nathan breaks off from William's strikes, and malice envelops around his mana, starting to exude.
The whole arena goes silent after feeling this overwhelmingly dark pressure in the air.
Oscar nervously smiles and says,
"Guess they're really taking this seriously, huh?"
Noah
"Tell me about it."
Seraphina
"Will this place end up in one piece after this?"
Ariel
"I'm more concerned about whether the school would still be standing."
William arrogantly smiles, not because of confidence, but because of how the two of them are about to go all-out in their first-ever fight. He responds in the same manner, with fire pouring out of his body like an inferno, equal to Nathan's power and pushing to exceed it.
Eleanor
"This is too much! Shouldn't the instructor stop this!?"
She tries to locate him in all of this madness and sees him only paying attention to the two fighters, like a baby drooling over the sight of a piece of candy.
She cries out to him, but it proves to be useless. But she tries to talk Nathan out of it, and she notices his hand trembling.
"Oh no, his body's about to give out!"
Ariel
"Same with William. Oscar, do something!"
"What do you expect me to do!? Both our flames would just make things worse."
Seraphina
"All we can do is hope."
Noah
"Fuck that. WHOEVER CAN MAKE A BARRIER, DO IT NOW!"
Only 5 students came forward, but still not enough to go through their next onslaught.
"Shit, what now?"
Oscar
"I have an idea."
He tells those 5 people to have groups of people around them.
Barriers are then formed around their groups, except for Oscar and the others.
Seraphina
"What about us?"
Oscar asks Noah to create a stone wall in front of them to lessen the damage.
"Sera, I want you to help Noah concentrate and surround his hands with water."
Noah asks,
"I thought the whole plan was to take cover, not have a spa treatment."
"If your hands lose focus and this wall breaks, we're all toast."
Seraphina starts to cover Noah's hands with water, then the instructor proceeds to walk forward to witness what is taking place in front of him.
His eyes widen with joy and anticipation as both his students overflow with power.
"This… THIS IS HOW YOU FIGHT. PUTTING YOUR BODIES ON THE LINE FOR VICTORY."
Ariel responds after hearing what she heard from him.
"This guy is insane."
The instructor resumes what he was saying.
"ATTACK, BOTH OF YOU, AND DON'T HOLD BACK!"
Veins start to appear on both their bodies as they've reached their limit of power, but adrenaline flows in their bodies, ignoring what their bodies are going through.
William spreads his arms wide and screams out to Nathan,
"COME AT ME!"
Nathan and William charge towards each other with their battle cries harmonizing with each other.
The arena turns into a scorching hot pot with those inside, being the cooked food. Nathan's shadow attacks clashed with Williams' flames, devouring each other with each strike. Light shines through the arena as small portions of the walls start to break off, piece by piece.
Nathan looks over to his friends struggling to keep the wall in front of them intact, but gets a clean punch thrown at him by William, and the force of it drives him into a wall.
"Is that all you got! I can keep this going all day long."
A small stream of blood comes down from Nathan's mouth, and he coughs it up. William sees his weakened state and charges at him.
As he was about to land a devastating strike to end this, with his fist covered in flames, Nathan catches it, and his shadows extinguish it to pitch-black embers. He softly groans and looks deep into Williams' eyes.
"This is getting annoying."
He lands a blow on his stomach, leaving him gasping for air, and throws him across the arena.
William's nose drips with blood, and he angrily clenches his fists and screams out.
"HOW DARE A COMMONER TALK TO ME LIKE THIS. I AM WILLIAM BEAUMONT, SECOND SON OF THE BEAUMONT FAMILY, AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS. I WILL BURN YOU UNTIL THERE'S NOT EVEN ASHES LEFT!"
His flames grew uncontrollably after saying this. His hands were concentrating an immense blast and pointing it at Nathan.
Nathan then surrounds the arena from the ground to the walls, glaring at William in bloodlust.
"Let's finish this."
William blasts his fire towards Nathan, but he immediately hides in the shadows that he's placed around the arena. This causes a frustrated William to blast fire everywhere, almost hitting the students hiding behind the barriers. Growing tired of this, he aims at the ground and fires the blast, and the light destroys all the shadows surrounding him, and when they were all almost gone, Nathan comes out from his blind spot and tries to land the ending blow.
But William immediately reacts and throws a punch of his own. His attack lands on Nathan's abdomen, and his attack lands on William's face.
The collision of both their strikes landing on their bodies creates a shockwave, destroying all the barriers and the stone wall covering Oscar and the others. The strong wind from it pushes everyone back.
After the dust around them settles and starts to clear up, they witness them both lying on the ground and unconscious. The instructor steps in a flash and calls for one of the students to inform the nurse of immediate attention and help them heal from their wounds.
The sight of the fallen titans astonished everyone and left them in awe.
The instructor looks at both of them, grinning at what he has witnessed.
[This generation of mages has shown to be extraordinary.]