Chapter 107: Knockout 5.

Whenever Castiel used his flames, either it was blocked by earth or dodged with the increased speed granted by lightning reinforcement. The fight had gone on for a while and his opponent who had been playing safe because he was still yet to see Castiel's second element, had decided to end the match.

He pumped in more mana into the spell causing the lightning arcs to squirm more vigorously as he dashed towards Castiel with his saber in his hand. When he got within range, he made the ground beneath Castiel to quicksand as he followed with a quick jab to his chest.

'Now's my chance...' Copying Luciano's trick, Castiel used his flames to heat his surroundings preventing the ground from softening. His flames were not as hot as that of Luciano's to turn the sand to glass, but once he got his footing, he quickly analyzed the attack and knew this was the chance he had been waiting for.

"Darkbringer!" When he activated darkbringer, both Castiel and his presence were erased from all of his opponent's sensory organs.

'How?! The darkness element!' Castiel's opponent was shocked to the core. Although it looked like his attack had left him defenseless, he still had many countermeasures because he was wary of Castiel's unknown element.

He had already thought of different measures he would take for every possible element to prevent any surprises, but to his utmost surprise, Castiel had one of the 2 elements he thought would have been impossible for the rank 22nd to have awakened.

Having no plans of wasting such an opportunity, Castiel used his increased speed gotten from the darkbringer to dodge the jab and move behind him.

The rank 14 could not see or sense him, meaning he had no idea of the direction in which Castiel's attack would come from and since he had no area of effect spells, he no other option than to conjure earth barriers around him.

It was quite slow to conjure rock walls all around him, but the more walls he conjured the lesser the attacking options his invisible opponent.

When he wanted to cast a rock wall, he felt an eerie feeling behind him, but before he reacts four dark ethereal tendrils strapped his limbs, and instantly, he began feeling his energy leaving through the tendrils.

"Dark siphon." Castiel's voice was heard behind him as he finally revealed himself.

Dark siphon allowed the user to produce dark ethereal tendrils that drain the energy of anything they come in contact with. The energy siphoned from the target can be used to replenish the mana of the user and can also be used to increase the grip of the tendrils.

His opponent tried forcefully to break out of the grip of the tendrils but Castiel had used the energy siphoned to increase the strength and rate of energy absorption of the dark ethereal tendrils, leaving him to be rooted to the spot.

After few more minutes of helplessness, a golden glow was produced from his opponent's badge freeing him from the tendrils and causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

…

"What an interesting development…" Prince Bryon said in a pondering tone as he instinctively looked at Blake who was spectating the match.

"I thought that either his second element was a non-combatant element like the light element or he had awakened the wind elements just like his highness Luciano who used it as a supportive role, but the hiding the darkness element is quite pointless." Principal Lovren said in a calm tone because he has lived for a long time and things like this couldn't surprise him.

"What do you think about moving him from the fire mastery class to the darkness mastery class after the exams?" Prince Bryon asked.

"I must say he is quite skilled in the fire element for being able to last so long with only fire, but getting training in the darkness element is a must." Principal Lovren replied.

The darkness element is close to being on par with the space element, but unlike Blake who had the 'AI' as his mentor, Castiel had none which would increase the difficulty in mastering the darkness element.

"Alright enough of talking about him, besides even with his darkness element he didn't make it into the category of the stars of the day." Prince Bryon said as he looked at the screen with an expectant look on his face.

…

The four had returned together, but there was an awkward silence between them because they were all experiencing different feelings.

Castiel was feeling kinda guilty for not telling them about the darkness element, Brian felt betrayed because he was the only one with lame elements, while Luciano and Blake were in a different category altogether.

Luciano was in no way thinking about Castiel because if he was to worry about someone with the darkness element it was Damon and as Blake, he didn't wrong because he knew everyone had their secrets, but the funny thing was that he was looking for a way to counter the abilities of the darkness element.

[To counter the dark siphon you have to do everything in your power to avoid the tendrils, but if you eventually get caught you have to use a burst of energy to release yourself and that should be done immediately because the longer you are held the lesser your chances of escaping.]

'Damn! That is deadly. Now I know why the darkness element isn't compared to light element just like everybody thinks.' Blake became wary and decided to be more cautious when facing either Damon or Castiel.

…

Unlike the 3rd round that was long, the 4th round was quite shorter. Luciano and Castiel had easily won their matches, but there was a little complication when it came to that of Blake and Brian.

Brian had them being paired against each other. The match went very smoothly, literally.

When their match was signaled to start they both stood a the same spot for some time before they finally decided to sit down and watch the matches of other students.

Their action was dumbfounding and even though the spectator wanted to end the match, it wasn't against the simple rules made by instructor Zirrack so the professor in charge of their match had no other choice than to sit and watch too.

It was after the other matches were over did Brian decide to surrender, finally bringing the match to an end giving Brian the 5th position.

The break (match) had helped Blake rest and replenish some of his mana because the next fight was a tough one.

After some minutes of rest, the 5th round was signaled to start.

Blake was paired against Beyoni the student with the light element that everyone was talking about.

'Seems the heavens aren't happy about his sudden rise, so they sent me to put an end to his run.' Blake chuckled.

[Although your conjecture is self-praising I have to agree because apart from the darkness kid and the golden flames boy no one else can counter his illusions.] 

"Why the smirk on your face?" Beyoni asked with a furrowed brow.

"Nothing..." blake maintained his smirk as he scanned his opponent.

Beyoni was an average height, blonde-haired boy. He was quite skinny, with brown eyes and abnormally smooth skin for a boy.

Ever since he made it into the normal class, he had been looked down upon and bullied by those who had offensive elements. He had bid his time until he had advanced to the champion realm before he began settling old scores and pushings his way through the ranks with his newfound powers.

"You are no different from them, well its time to show you your place." Beyoni's furrowed brow changed to an evil grin as he spread out his hands sending for rays of light towards Blake.

The rays moved at very high speeds that even Blake was unable to dodge and when they hit him a sharp pain spread to every part of his as the rays of light had solidified and became two light rods that pierced through him.

'So this is the illusion of a lumomancer, it feels so real.' Blake was fascinated but didn't let it show.

Although he could break out of the illusion, it would be quite troublesome if he was continuously put under an illusion. So he decided to act like he was under the illusion to make Beyoni let his guard down and to make a convincing act he had to be under the illusion.