Raegan calmly waited for his brother to finish his expression of power. He did not want to interrupt, as that would go against his warrior's spirit.
"I am ready, we can go anytime!" Daren called out loud and held his staff up.
"Here I come!" Raegan replied and his feet immediately moved. The paved ground under him that was already filled with cracks exploded as a huge amount of force was transferred into it. His body blurred and Daren struggled to keep up. However, the latter's body was already moving.
Whoosh!
Daren's body also moved quickly. He did not need to touch the ground as the space around him actively bent and warped, allowing him to quickly displace himself and appear at another part of the arena. It was not teleportation, but rather, an advanced movement technique.
In Daren's current state, his sensitivity and control over the elements and mana around him was exceptionally fine. This state had nothing to do with his skills, but rather, it revolved around his constitution as a mage.
In the spot where Daren was previously standing, Raegan appeared, but he had already started moving toward Daren once again. He cocked back an arm and sent the spear in his left hand flying. The path of the spear coincidentally blocked Daren's retreat path, making him pause momentarily.
This pause was enough to let Raegan catch up with Daren who was a bit shocked at the sudden burst of speed displayed by the former. However, he had already prepared a contingency plan in the event that his brother caught up with him.
The skull that sat on the top of his staff began to glow as a ball of condensed mana within it came to life thanks to a prompt from Daren. Three beams of silvery-blue light shot out of the skull and right at Raegan as he approached, forcing him to pause his assault. The beams of light exploded the moment they came into contact with his arm shield. They were too pure and concentrated for him to redirect like how he did with the earlier spells and his kite shield.
Raegan gritted his teeth in frustration. This was where he was supposed to be showing off his strength as the first born among the two of them, but he was just helping Daren show how good he was as a mage.
'This can't go on!' He decided in his mind as his spear glowed brightly. The arm shield also glowed brightly as it morphed and turned into a larger shield. However, this was no conventional shield, as it turned into a mirror that was bent inward toward the middle. The beam of light that was already impacting the surface of the shield suddenly turned around and followed the curve of the shield before heading right back at Daren by firing beneath the initial beam.
"What?!" Daren was barely able to erect a stronger shield around himself before he was engulfed in an earth shaking explosion. He knew the strength of his earlier attack. It was something he had kept to use as a life saving lifeline, and it packed a heavy punch. That was basically his Pseudo A rank attack that he planned on using on the battlefield if the need ever arose. Now, it had been turned against him!
Before the sound of the explosion was even over, Raegan dashed into the cloud of smoke to continue his attack on Daren, but was suddenly met with several obstacles.
Heavy fists swung toward his head and several spears tried stabbing at him, but were stopped short by his armor.
With a wave of his spear, the dust was cleared, revealing a dozen golems of various sizes. Some had enlarged fists, while others wielded weapons made of stone. Spears and swords were the main weapons.
"If you think those are enough to stop me, then think again!" Raegan twirled his spear above his head before dashing forward. The golems also sprang forward, but were quickly put down by his powerful strikes. Each golem he struck blew up in a beautiful display of smoke, fire and dust.
At this point, Daren was struggling to put together a coherent spell that would be powerful enough to put down his powerful brother. He had noticed it some time ago, which was why he had no reserves about going all out, but he was beginning to run short on mana.
That was why at this moment, his spell was taking longer to form. He had to rely more on the ambient mana in the atmosphere than within his own body to cast this spell. One thing that left him lacking was the absence of a core, as not enough time had passed since his birth for a core to form.
"You lose!" Daren looked up to see Raegan dealing with the last golems before rushing at him. His spell was nowhere near done, so he knew he had lost.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Raegan stopped just a shot distance away from Daren. His spear was pointing at Daren's jaw, with its shaft passing through his hands that were held in front of him as he tried to cast the spell. No damage was done to the mage, but the earth behind him was split with a deep crack running several meters away.
"That's enough!" Nero's voice called. The arena was silent after he spoke. So silent that one could even hear a pin drop. "The winner is Raegan, but no one here is a loser today!" He declared, causing the crowd to burst out with a heated cheer. The air was abuzz as a fevered excitement spread through the people.
"Haaa..." Raegan let his spear vanish as he stepped closer to his brother that was still frozen from the shock of his sudden loss. "You okay, brother?" He reached out a hand to Daren.
"I am... I guess." Daren shook his head as he regained his senses and took Raegan's hand.
"That was one damn fine spell casting." Raegan said as he patted Daren's shoulder. Together, the two of them stood in the center of the arena, listening to the cheers and roars of the audience.
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