The woman's face reddened at the man's answer, she couldn't believe that there was a man who could speak those kinds of words. He was not a gentleman at all and to think that he came from an aristocratic family even made it worse.
"If you want to have this place then defeat me first. Since you have been using this area for a long time now, you should be stronger by now," Cygnus issued a challenge with a smirk. His laziness suddenly disappeared.
With no hesitation in her actions, she accepted the challenge with a smile. "Alright, just because the elders give you importance it doesn't necessarily mean that you are stronger than me."
She turned around and went back to the group of apprentices who were watching on the side. The other apprentices started to fawn at her and gave Astro and Cygnus a glare.
"Are you really going to fight her Lilia?" one of the women from her group asked. She was concerned that the man might use some petty tricks to defeat her.
"Yes, I can't let that man do whatever he likes." Lilia sounded confident as she flipped her hair.
She was known as one of the strongest and most talented apprentices in the Hall of Time. She was also under Grand Archmage Renya, who was considered at the top five rankings of the elders. She couldn't let the man sully her reputation.
She also took it upon herself to teach the man some manners that he clearly lacked even though he grew up in a prestigious family. Since both of them were from an aristocratic family and she was older than him, she thought of it as the right thing to do.
Just as the duel was settled, the instructor came and Lilia immediately informed him of the situation. The instructor welcomed the fight and was even willing to stand in as the referee.
Cygnus walked up to the center of the room followed by the woman. They faced each other and Lilia was still smiling like a sweet girl. The master looked at her lazily and that's all.
The instructor saw that both were already ready so he signaled for the start of the fight. Nobody made the first move which made the audience's anticipation rise. This persisted for ten minutes now but they were just staring at each other.
Lilia was becoming more and more impatient the longer the stand still was. Since the man was not willing to make the first move, she did. Her body suddenly became blurry as she moved at an inconsistent pace and stepped towards Cygnus. When she was close enough to the man, shadows in the shape of claws appeared below the master.
Cygnus looked down and when he wanted to jump back his feet and even his whole body became heavy. There was an incredible pressure pushing him down. The shadow claw wrapped around him as it twisted high and grew pointed shadows that bent down and pierced the shadow that was enclosing Cygnus.
Lilia skidded on the floor and smirked at the direction of her masterpiece. It's only the beginning of the fight and yet she already won. The audience was awed at how swift and fast Lilia did her attack. There was really no doubt that she was one of the top apprentices.
When everyone was already celebrating, sharp ice spikes pierced through the shadow and slowly froze it. Slowly the black shadow was replaced with the blue white ice that surrounded Cygnus. He managed to put an ice crystal around him and also used it to disintegrate the shadow that tried to pierce through him.
"How scary, are you trying to kill me? If I wasn't able to put up that ice crystal, I would be bloody right now." Cygnus chuckled as he ice crystal broke into tiny pieces. "Since you are done, let me return the favor."
The master disappeared from where he was standing and appeared behind Lilia. His ice sword was ready to pierce through her but his movements suddenly slowed down so the woman managed to escape the attack. Cygnus did not stop though as he continued to try and attack her but just like the first time, his movements were being slowed down by the invisible force that Lilia was using.
He attempted once again and when he forced through, his ice sword broke as the tendrils of the shadow formed a sturdy black shield in front of Lilia. Cygnus jumped back and created a distance between them. He narrowed his eyes and stood up to pat the dust on his clothes.
"Very good, you have good control with your magic but you are far from defeating me," Cygnus chuckled. He shook his head and grinned.
Lilia felt that he was looking down at her and she felt anger. He was insinuating that her skills were not enough. She summoned the shadows around her and created an armor on her body.
She did not waste time and went to attack Cygnus. With the shadows as her weapon, she placed her hands on the ground and the shadows started to crawl up to Cygnus. Once the shadows reached the master, spikes appeared and attacked Cygnus.
He dodged the attack but wherever he landed, there would be shadows waiting for him. This continued for at least five minutes when Cygnus suddenly jumped in the air with both of his hands raised above his head and a silvery blue magic circle appeared followed by ice falling from the above. These pointed ice crystals pierced the ground and froze the area around them.
The shadows wriggled but no matter where they went, the biting cold would disperse them. After a while, the whole ground was covered in ice and Cygnus continued to float above. The audience gasped in surprise when they saw that he can use other kinds of elemental magic.
"You are not the only one who can use two elements." The master raised both of his hands with his palms opened towards the upward direction.
Wind slowly gathered on his palms and formed a shuriken shaped wind. The wind grew in size then he suddenly flung it towards the woman. Lilia controlled the gravity around her to slow down the attack coming her way and when it got to the area of her control, she used the pressure of gravity to crush it.
She was a magic user that can use gravity. She could change the weight and speed of things around her and around a certain area. But she could only control gravity at a certain distance and when the enemy was not really moving.
Cygnus immediately saw this flaw so he decided to show his wind element and use it to float in the air which gave him a much better mobility. Now that he was above, Lilia wouldn't be able to use her magic against him.
Lilia grimaced after seeing that the man has no intention of coming down and she did not expect that he could use other elements. She then used the shadows to reach Cygnus but the man easily dodged and severed them. If she could just pin him in place, she can use the gravity to keep him there and use another attack to defeat him.
Cygnus did not give her the chance though as he created three whirlwinds and threw it towards the woman. She started to avoid the whirlwinds but she did not expect that the whirlwinds would have ice spears that flew out as the whirlwinds rotate.
With her shadow armor, it was easy for her to defend against those ice but she did not notice that Cygnus was already nowhere to be found. The man suddenly appeared behind the woman and used a hammer made of ice to hit her. The impact was lessened but she could still feel the pain from the hit.
Lilia hit the ground and before she could stand up, Cygnus used ice spears to pin her on the ground. He clapped his hands and an ice crystal enclosed Lilia. Her feet and hands froze but what's dangerous was that she couldn't breathe.
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