Erick accepted the goodwill of the referees, before he slowly got down of the platform, although the way he won was quite cool all the hype of the spectators, disappeared as they saw him walk swaying as if he was drunk.
The other guy without any visible beast characteristics which was left to participate, sighed and stood up to help Erick get to the entrance of the resting area.
The referees facepalmed feeling ashamed but they feigned ignorance about it, this time there was no need for them to go through the selection process as there were only two participants left, besides the ones that will be participating in the team battle later of course.
"Rank number 14, Paul Ileas".
"Rank number 16, Kyle Revy".
While the spectators in the stands and the people at the skyboxes were confused about why the referees simply stated who will fight without the selecting process, no one said anything, if the Half Emperors didn't complain how would they dare to raise their voices against it.
That being said Aura told stella to explain why it was done like that, but only when it was the time for the team battle.
The screens changed their focus to the new participants, Kyle Revy was from the sun alluring side of the Revy family, but unlike Liz whose lineage was probably the most concentrated, Kyle's hair was dark brown, he was tall reaching about 1.75 meters but his body constitution was slim, like all the members of the Revy family which were in the star realms, he had two foxlike tails.
The other guy reflected on the screens was about the same height, Paul had shoulder length green hair, and glasses, he was wearing a white robe with some metal elements here and there.
Once both of them were on the platform, the referees gave then greenlight and the match started.
Not even a second later the area ten meters around Paul glowed in a red light before a pillar of flames emerged from the ground engulfing him.
Silence fell into the arena for a moment before some of the students shouted.
"That's cheating!".
"He used a fire spell which was stored in a scroll!".
And other comments like those kept being shouted, all that while Kyle extended the duration of the fire for about ten seconds, before he stopped, a hairless slightly burned body fell to the ground and didn't move, making others believe Paul was done for and that this was the shortest and probably the most disappointing match so far.
Kyle heard the people shouting and he snorted.
"Bumpkins who haven't heard of the spirit fire of my Revy family!".
Kyle's voice was loud enough to be heard by all the people in the stands, and as expected they didn't take the answer in a good way.
But as they were about to answer him, one of the second-year students explained to the first years, with a slightly disgusted expression on his face.
"That wasn't a scroll… some of the members of the Revy family have what they call "spirit magic", not too much is known about it because only those of the main branches can use it, but it is said to allow them to prepare spells which will activate with conditions".
"B-But that is still cheating isn't it… preparing a spell before the match starts is against the rules, right?", asked one of the many first years who thought Kyle broke the rules, just for Kyle to directly answer him.
"I knew there was people from low ranked families who attended the Wild Claw academy, but to think they can't even read properly, the rules only state we can't cast a spell before the referees give the greenlight, but while about 90% of the spell was prepared beforehand I only "casted" it after the match started".
Seeing that the referees weren't interfering Kyle smiled with sufficiency.
"See if I was lying then the referees would have kicked me out of the platform but they aren't doing anything".
While Kyle's attitude left a pretty bad taste in the mouth, and his actions might seem despicable, he didn't break any rules, so the referees didn't say anything.
From the skybox of the elite class, a glint of disdain flashed in Liz's eyes as she heard Kyle saying that was spirit fire.
Since Daimon's classmates seemed to be curious about it, she took the chance to show a bit of her skills to them.
A wisp of flames appeared in front of her which changed its shape to be similar to a bird, without she saying anything, the bird flew around the room before returning to her and exploding into flames which formed a few words in the air.
"17 people".
"That is spirit fire, explained in a few words is fire which can follow a certain number of orders to fulfill a purpose, the previous is the most basic fire spirit spell, used for recognition".
"That Kyle guy's fire isn't spirit fire, only the punishment elder, his son and lastly me can use spirit fire in the whole sun alluring side of the Revy family, what he used is a simple imitation called "trap magic", while they can prepare the spell beforehand like us, they have to set a condition and only then their spells would activate, also their range is limited and they have to be close to their target for it to work".
While Liz didn't explain what her spirit fire was capable off, she did speak about the limitations of Kyle's magic.
Daimon who didn't take off his eyes of the platform interrupted them.
"The match isn't over yet, but it will be soon, look at that", he said as he pointed at the platform.
Kyle's smile froze, he felt the ground below his feet and his pupils contracted as he tried to jump away, unfortunately he was a second slower than what he should, and spikes of earth pierced the soles of his feet and came out the other side, splattering blood and pieces of flesh on the ground.
"Aghhh… illusion mage bastard!", Kyle rolled on the ground trying to make distance from where he was standing, flames raised all over the place as he tried to hit Paul thinking he was standing somewhere on the platform.
A couple of seconds later the flames extinguished as all the traps he prepared beforehand were triggered.
Kyle gritted his teeth and used his flames to cauterize the wounds on his feet, before he stood up to look for Paul's body which should be charred by now.
'I won't let you off so easily, you dared to pull a trick on me, I will break you fucking legs and arms before kicking you out of the platform!", he swore in his heart.
But after a couple of seconds, he frowned not finding any trace of Paul, with the exception of some dust remaining from the robes he was wearing.
"W-Wait, earth spikes and burned clothes, don't tell me!", he shouted realizing where was Paul, but it was already too late.
The ground behind Kyle waved as a Paul who was only wearing boxers and his glasses, when Paul tried to turn around, he suddenly vomited blood as fist made out of earth hit him on the chest, sending him flying a couple of meters away from where he was standing.
Paul then stomped and the ground below him cracked, a few sparks floated as specs of mana came out of it.
"You know, for someone who thinks so high of himself, you surely are a letdown, yours isn't spirit magic but trap magic, and unfortunately for you… my eyes suffer from hyper sensibility to mana", said Paul as he took out his glasses, showing his eyes which seemed to be glowing in a dim blue light.
Kyle still couldn't accept he lost to miserably, not only that he was tricked by something as basic as a decoy made out of earth wearing a robe, while Paul dived into the ground and lead him by the nose to use all the traps he prepared.
Paul cleaned his glasses with the corner of his boxers before he slowly walked towards Kyle.
"I forfeit… ughh!",
Kyle tried to give up but he couldn't finish his sentence before the ground moved and compressed his body making his words die in his throat.
"Shhh, my sensibility might only allow me to detect sources of mana, but my training with the army allows me to feel bloodlust, and your face was quite scary when I pierced your feet, it seems you didn't even consider the possibility of getting harmed in this match… you aren't a strategist, you are just an idiot who thinks he is smart while others are fools".
Without allowing Kyle to answer, Paul kicked him out of the platform, and the referees didn't stop him from falling to the ground, the screens also focused in his now miserable state.
Only after a couple of seconds, the referees approached him, which was clearly a small revenge for having looked down on them earlier.
After confirming he wouldn't die, the referees gave their verdict.
"The winner, Paul Ileas".
The crowd went crazy, and so did the Half Emperors, some of them were especially happy for the last results.
"Well, Argent matriarch, it seems the young generation of both yours and the Revy family are a bit disappointing", said Arthur as he smirked.
Unfortunately for him, Aura simply ignored his petty tries to insult their families, but the field marshal did say something.
"Big words for someone who only has one member of his family in the to fifteen of both first- and second-year's elite classes".
The other Half Emperors nearly fell from their seats.
'That Parzival has answered to a provocation!", they all yelled in their hearts.
The man who is known to be always taciturn and strict, actually spoke on behalf the Revy and Argent families, making Arthur grit his teeth.
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