Chapter 8: (1/9)

[Flaming Familiar] can take the shape of a dog, wolf, leopard, or tiger. Each shape has its own speed, evasion rates, mana cost, and level requirement. The [Flaming Familiar] spell that was casted by a level 11 Fire Mage will take the shape of a Flaming Dog. At level 13, Flaming Wolf. At level 15, Flaming Leopard. At level 17, Flaming Tiger.

Flaming Dog = Weak and easier to kill to trigger the explosion. Low evasion rates.

Flaming Wolf = Tougher and better evasion rates compared to Flaming Dog. It will cost the caster’s fifty percent more mana to cast compared to Flaming Dog.

Flaming Leopard = Tougher to kill, quicker, and better evasion rates compared to Flaming Wolf. It will cost the caster’s one hundred percent more mana to cast compared to Flaming Dog.

Flaming Tiger = Tougher, quicker, and better evasion rates compared to Flaming Leopard. It will cost the caster’s two hundred percent more mana to cast compared to Flaming Dog.

The goal of [Flaming Familiar] is to chase after and trigger an explosion against the targeted enemy. The explosion caused by Flaming Dog, Wolf, Leopard, or Tiger dealt with the same amount of damage. Therefore, Fire Mages normally let their [Flaming Familiar] take the shape of a dog because it cost less mana to cast.

“Flaming Wolf instead of Flaming Dog? That Fire Mage really went all out huh.” Arwen calmly thought to herself while she was throwing Arthur far away from her location. Arwen drew her blue color Glowing Astral Sword, jumped on the Flaming Wolf, and repeatedly stabbed its head until a loud explosion was triggered. After all the smoke was cleared up, Arwen could be seen being injured but she still stood strong as she smiled looking at Arthur.

Everyone thought the battle was over but then suddenly a Fireball flew toward Arthur. Arwen took her Glowing Astral Bow out and shot an Astral Arrow on time to destroy the Fireball before it hit him.

“I surrender! My mana pool is depleted!” Alek shouted out loud as he walked away from the arena.

The arena announcer declared, “This match is over, Arthur Castillon won. We will take a five minutes break.”

The students of Nosh cheered out loud seeing their Student Intermediate Mages team one step closer to win the final battle for this tournament. Kain was happy to see Arthur win and was even happier that Alek’s Blood Mage identity was not exposed. It would be troublesome for Kain and David if Alek’s true identity was exposed since they can’t just stand idly by watching a fellow Blood Mage get executed. At their current level and strength, even a thousand of Kain and David wouldn’t be able to stand against one Noe Clerico. It would be impossible for Kain and David to survive if they decided to save Alek. Not counting Noe Clerico, just Vonda Hardy alone, or all the powerful magic casters present in the audience are hard enough for Kain and David to handle. Especially when Kain’s mana pool can’t regenerate at this time and the blood pools inside his Magical Blood Daggers are nearly depleted.

In the audience. Drake Hawk asked one of his warriors, "Arthur Castillon appeared to be regularly strong today. Isn't he supposed to be weakened?"

"High Priest Hawk, I do not know. I will find those guys and confront them about it. They supposed to report back to me last night but never showed up."

High Priest Drake Hawk is a Saint-tier warrior and he is one of the six High Priests in the Thirteenth Scripture under Bifjorkian Theocracy’s commands. Same Scripture with Zora Faringray, Arthur's mother.

At the time Zora was chosen to be one of the High Priest, Drake wasn’t highly against it and he was very upset to have a woman as a High Priest in the same Scripture that he served. Drake and Zora could not see eye to eye and always have arguments in the High Priests’ meeting. After finding out Zora has a son that was born with a Conjurer Soul, he was even more anxious since none of his sons or daughters were born with an Elemental Soul. Zora’s position in the Bifjorkian Theocracy will claim even higher in the Thirteenth Scripture if Arthur Castillon can win this Student Mages Battle Tournament and gain a high ranking position in the Mages’ Council. Therefore, Drake wanted to sabotage Arthur by hiring some thugs to poison him. The poison is not life-threatening and hard to detect if blended in with drinking water. The poison will only slow down Arthur’s movement by that way Arthur will secure an absolute loss in the final tournament battle.

“Break time is almost over. The next battle will be between Sofia Verardi of Mages’ Academy of Nosh. She is twenty-two years old and a Light Mage. And her opponent, Titania Wintermere of Mages’ Academy of Flumen. She is an Earth Mage and just turned twenty-one years old. Both of them are level 20 Intermediate Mages.”

Sofia and Titania walked into the arena from their chambers and waited for the signal to start. Twenty seconds later, the signal for battle to start was fired.

Sofia immediately casted [Circle of Protection] because she believed Titania would cast an offense spell against her. Just like what Sofia’s have thought, Titania casted [Earth Blast] and numerous projectile rocks were created in mid-air then flew toward Sofia. Sofia dropped more mana into her [Circle of Protection] and managed to block all of the flying rocks created by [Earth Blast]. Sofia casted [Mana Regeneration] for her mana pool to slowly recover. Sofia is an Intermediate Light Mage, the only offensive spell she had is [Holy Smite]. Sofia continued dropping mana into her [Circle of Protection] to keep it active and slowly walked toward Titania.

Titania casted [Earthquake] and the entire arena ground was shaking. Sofia was knocked down on her feet and received some damages but her [Circle of Protection] continued to shield her from any major injuries. Sofia casted [Minor Healing] to recover the minor injuries she received and continued walking toward Titania. Sofia continued receiving injuries from Titania’s [Earthquake] but all injuries were quickly recovered because Sofia kept on spamming [Minor Healing] on herself. Titania casted [Stone Skin] spell for defense because she knows Sofia will cast [Holy Smite] the moment she stepped into the casting range for that spell. Just to be sure, Titania casted [Tree of Life] to summon the Healing Tree as her companion while continuing to drop mana into her [Earthquake] to maintain it.