BXBX NOVEL Chapter 56 - Battle Begins
Ray took the stage as he will be fighting on the first match. He has long golden hair for a male as it reaches his shoulders and has fair skin. His looks were attractive that he immediately charmed the audiences just by standing there.
He already wore the two bracelets and placed the mirror on his left chest pocket. He felt that with these three mana artifacts he had, he could conquer all his matches.
As soon as his opponent showed up, he confirmed that it was indeed someone he knew from the intelligence report gathered by the student council.
\'Lauren Young, she\'s known for her perfect utilization of Wood Element spells. Her casting and reaction speed are both top-notch, her only known weakness is that she\'s not compatible with other elemental spells.\'
Ray remembered the report about her opponent.
\'Although she can utilize other elements, the casting time takes much longer. Since that\'s the case, I\'ll just have to use it as my advantage. But I also have to consider that our opponents are aware of our intelligence report or they know their weakness that was revealed so they can be prepared as well.\'
After the referees noticed that the two combat magicians were ready, they signaled the start of the battle. A whistle was blown alongside the referee\'s announcement.
Their Mana Shell was immediately activated. Ray immediately used a Field Magic to make the environment in favor of him.
"Freezing Mine Field!"
This magic spell was unique to the mana artifact made by Ross. Although it wasn\'t as powerful as a Domain Magic, it could still affect the environment to make it to your advantage.
Lauren didn\'t stay idle, she strengthened her Mana Shell. She didn\'t bother struggling to fight for a better environment, although her mobility was lessened due to the Field Magic that Ray cast, she decided to make one pure and powerful attack at Ray to destroy his Mana Shell.
After all, even if the field was to your advantage, the aim of the battle was still to destroy the Mana Shell protecting your body.
The stage was almost filled with ice and Ray\'s mana pool decrease by a large chunk. He noticed Lauren defending her position and made an attack.
\'It would now be difficult for her to cast Wood Element spell. Then her plan now should be attacking my Mana Shell thinking that the Field Magic is just some normal frost to affect mobility and deal some small damage when cast.\'
"Fire Blast!"
Lauren stepped on the ice field to gain some closer distance and has thrown her Grade 2 magic spell. She knows that this spell won\'t be affected by the Grade 1 field magic. Even though she was known to her Wood Element spell, she wanted to surprise them that she can also be a versatile magician.
"Archon -- Fire Arrow"
Everyone was surprised about this spell that Ray has thrown to match the Grade 2 Fire Blast Spell. Lauren frowned at this, it was obvious that an exclusive skill of a mana artifact especially those that reach Grade 2 of level would be stronger than any standard magic spell. But now, Ray even used a small Fire Arrow to contend against the massive fire thrown toward him.
She might understand if he has thrown an Archon\'s Water Bubble spell but she couldn\'t comprehend this pitiful Fire Arrow. This made her a bit worried since she felt that her opponent is planning something.
But since this happened so fast, they no longer have enough time to think and the two magic spell collided... or not.
As soon as the two spell neared each other, the Fire Arrow managed to barely dodge the Fire Blast and proceeded to hit Lauren Mana Shell instead.
She didn\'t give up her control on the Fire Blast as she already cast a defensive magic spell to protect her a while ago. Also, she was confident that even with just her standard Mana Shell, it would not receive any significant damage from standard magic so she decided to ignore it.
As soon as the Fire Blast neared Ray, he tried to dodge on the side.
"That\'s futile!"
It\'s not easy to get away from a Grade 2 spell controlled by the caster. Lauren controlled the Fire Blast but Ray already cast another spell, it wasn\'t to defend himself but was aimed at Lauren.
"Archon -- Ice Spikes"
As soon as the Fire Arrow hits Lauren\'s defenses, the collision made a bright explosion blinding her in a few moments. After noticing this, Ray used a standard magic spell Ice Spikes. If the Ice Spikes were cast without the Freezing Mine Field he could only summon one magic spell, but together with the field magic, there are six ice spikes created and destroyed Lauren\'s Mana Shell.
As soon as her Mana Shell was destroyed, the Fire Blast lost control and could now be easily dodged.
"Eh?"
Ray was surprised that he already won.
\'I haven\'t even used the Mines in the field. Oh well, that\'s a good thing I guess.\'
The Freezing Mine Field was an altered magic spell made by Ross. He was known in his wide range of knowledge on mana artifact but not in creativity. Wallace\'s appearance pumped him up to create something unique in all his mana artifacts instead of just copying the mana spells they learned.
Of course, he knows his limits that\'s why aside from the Mines in the Freezing Field. He only altered the Fire Arrow to have an explosion spell tied on it. Since that was just an Archon spell, he easily succeeded in creating that combo spell but still failing to do so with higher-level spells.
***
"Oh. Not bad!"
Wallace praised Ross a little about his creation. He wasn\'t aware of the specifics of the mana artifact they made for their fighter just like how Wallace has surprised on the mana artifact that Shirley will be using.
But with this battle, they have somehow grasped their classmate\'s ability in creating mana artifact.
"I noticed that there is something unique on the Freezing Field that Ray cast. Or was it the Field Magic I know?"
Tracy asked Ross about to confirm her observation.
"I\'ve altered it a bit."
Ross said smilingly as he fixed his onyx black hair that is blocking his eyes. It can be seen that he was proud of his work.
***
Alphonse and Lina entered the stage and fought together against the Honeysuckle\'s duo. They easily defeated them with Tracy\'s mana artifact. Her artifacts were known for its stability and further enhancements in magic casting speed. With quick casting, they could easily move one step ahead with their opponent.
After the field was cleaned, Shirley went to the stage with the three mana artifacts made by Wallace.
She wore a silver necklace with a blue gem as a pendant. This mana artifact was partnered by a ring with a small blue gem sparkling with beauty on her left ring finger. It can be seen that Wallace worked hard on its aesthetics too. The designs were superb that Shirley loved to own this mana artifact.
Her last mana artifact is shaped like a gun. But of course, there isn\'t any bullet on it and was only designed as such.