Hearing their names called out, the two of them came up the ring. On the left side went up a short girl, covering her head with a hood; the only giveaway that she was a girl was her short skirt mixed with black shorts. From the top side went up a young boy, with wavy blonde hair, a sharp face with white short pants, wearing a white chlamys with bits of yellow and an undershirt. Merlin stood at the left side, meanwhile Hermes walked towards the right.

As they were preparing themselves, Melos said to Xavier, "Look, the one you kept staring at is next." while hitting him with her knee."."I know, I know." he replied watching earnestly at her.

Now that the two examinees are ready, Jack shouted "Whenever you're ready!!". Hearing this Hermes immediately ran towards his opponent chanting Windrun and Spark Steps. Boosted by 2 speed enhancing spells, his sudden movement caught Merlin off guard, hitting her with a tackle nearly removing her from the ring.

At the corner of the ring, Merlin quickly boosted herself upwards with the help of her robe; on her way up to the sky she quickly summoned Igni whom she could summon instantly. "Use Flame Spitter." she said as she fell to the ground.

Startled by his opponent's sudden flight, Hermes wasn't fast enough to disrupt her summon. As such he quickly jumped backwards with the help of Thrust avoiding the attack.

"Hmm, so it's a Summoner versus a Fighter. Really a bad matchup for a summoner" said Hermond, one of the testers.

"She took that first attack quite well though." replied Elfilna, another of the testers.

"You're right. Looking at how she quickly managed to propel herself up shows she can think quickly. As for the boy using two speed enhancements, that too of different elements is itself quite good." said Meril, the last of the testers.

Among the spectators, one of them asked "How was she not knocked out by the first attack?" while another followed saying " Yeah, she reacted so quickly."

Merlin was given no time to breathe as Hermes continued attacking her as she reached the ground. Initiating the fight with Shock Step again, Hermes dashed towards Merlin.

However, unlike before, Merlin managed to block the first attack with Light Shield. Hermes continued his attack with several forward punches; managing to break the Light Shield, he quickly followed up with a right hook then an uppercut.

As her shield broke, Merlin saw a punch coming from the right; not having enough time to block the attack, she was hit right in the face. The impact of the hit made her lean sideways a bit and already anticipating an uppercut, she casted Water Ball and shot it towards Hermes' right leg.The force of the Water Ball knocked back Hermes' leg making him lose his balance ,knocking him down.

Making use of this opportunity, Merlin summoned Rock Golem telling him to hit Hermes who was on the ground.

Seeing the Golem's fist falling down on him, Hermes quickly responded with Spark Step narrowly dodging the heavy hit.

Retreating to the side of the ring, Hermes thought to himself "She's faster than I thought"; knowing now that her reaction to his first attack wasn't a fluke.

Merlin too, was thinking "He's quite fast. How will I win this?"; seeing how he managed to escape all of her attacks.

Merlin, deciding to go on the offensive this time, said to her summons "Follow me Golem, and Igni use Fireballs to try and occupy him.". Hearing her orders Igni started casting multiple fireballs towards Hermes, Rock Golem too followed Merlin as he ran towards Hermes.

"Windrun." Hermes chanted again dodging the raining fireballs. Merlin, seeing this realised that his speed boost lasted for around 10 seconds and that she would have an opportunity to hit him during the short period where he has to recast the spell.

Putting this in mind, Merlin decided to engage in close combat with Hermes. Although she used to have hand to hand combat training with his father, most of her attacks got blocked by Hermes, which was to be expected as he was a Fighter. In fact, Hermes started counter-attacking Merlin making her go back into the defensive as she tried to block his attacks completely nullifying her plan.

"Ooh, what an unexpected turn of events. A summoner engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a Fighter." said Elfilna. "Although I must say, she seems to have proper training in it." she continued.

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Watching the fight, Areti, also surprised by Merlin's move, said "She's quite daring, to engage in a fist fight with a Fighter."

"You're right brother. All her attacks are getting blocked or countered." said Melos.

"So who do you think will win then?" asked Xavier.

"I'm not sure, but it's likely the Fighter." answered Areti to which Xavier simply nodded.

Overwhelmed with the continuous barrage of attacks by Hermes, Merlin was unable to command her summons to attack. Realising this, Hermes decided to try and end their match.

"Hoof Stomp!" he said as he stomped the ground, releasing a strong wave of force sending Merlin more or less flying backwards. "Flash Step : Knee Strike" he said swiftly flying forward, towards Merlin with the intention to knock her out of the ring.

Merlin was caught by surprise with the stomp. However being knocked back gave her an opportunity to command her summons. She sent back her two summons to reserve her mana, and used Defense Bubble just in time to shortly delay Hermes' attack.

Just when Hermes' knee strike destroyed the Defense Bubble, Merlin resummoned Rock Golem behind her, blocking her from falling off the ring as she got hit.

Although she managed to put her hands up before getting hit, the sheer force of the impact on her head and on her golem rocked her, stunning her. Luckily though, this was instantly dispelled by her robe which had Basic Status Dispel enchantment on it. However the damage she took from the hit was still there.

Hermes was shocked to see his opponent survive his attack. In fact, it was her reaction speed which shocked him the most. Within just a second or so she managed to release her summons, cast a defense spell and resummon again. This prompted him to ask "How much experience do you have fighting?".

Merlin's head felt hot from the pain. This hotness was enough for Merlin to pull down her hood as she asked in a monotone voice "Sorry but can you repeat what you just said." while stroking the back of her head.

Removing the hood revealed a cute grey haired girl, with bright yellow eyes. This surprised Hermes for a moment but he quickly repeated his question "I was asking how much experience you have in fighting.".

"Oh, ok. Not much. Just a few monsters from the forest." Merlin replied in her usual tone.

"So that's how she managed to stand her ground." said Hermond.

"Yeah, that explains how she managed to propel herself up before falling in the ring. And also her reaction just now." replied Meril.

"Hey hey, she's rather cute ain't it." said Melos to Xavier.

"Yes... but just now she was so fast." said Xavier.

"You're right although what she just said covers that up. For a summoner she's quite well-rounded." said Areti.

"Ooh, is that praise coming from you brother?" asked Melos, smiling.

"More or less." he answered.

Hearing his opponent's answer, Hermes felt satisfied. "That makes sense." he said while thinking to himself "She has used a number of spells and summons, her mana is probably near its end". So he decided to resume their fight with full-on attack.

"Windrun, Lightning Essence." he chanted as his body started producing light sparks of lightning. Lightning essence allowed him to continuously use Spark Step without chanting while increasing his power at the cost of his mana being drained per second.

Seeing his opponent seemingly about to go all in, Merlin returned her Rock Golem. Her mana had reduced to 30% so she had to focus all of it into defending herself. Although she hadn't intended to use the enchantment of her clothes besides Air Control, the automatic use of dispel had already interfered in her match; as such she decided to fully use her equipment to survive the oncoming attack.

Hermes seeing his opponent ready herself, instantly boosted himself towards her leaving trails of spark behind. Since his mana was getting drained per second, the only option for him was to use his fighter skills to attack. Instantly reaching his opponent, he used a front-leg axe kick which Merlin blocked with Light Shield enforced with Barrier 3 enchantment.

Hermes continued his assault while Merlin continued blocking them. However now that his attacks were upgraded with the lightning attribute, the neutral Light Shield was unable to block the sparks of lightning Hermes' attacks emitted thus each hit hurting Merlin even if they got blocked.

Punch after punch, kick after kick, Hermes' attacks got stronger. Merlin's Light Shield was becoming more and more weak, if not for the Barrier 3 enchantment they would've been completely useless. When finally her shield shattered from an attack.

Now with an opportunity to end the fight, Hermes quickly knocked up Merlin into the air, as he too jumped up. "Skyfall!!" he yelled as he prepared to strike Merlin.

But, suddenly a surprise attack came. Not from Merlin but from Hermes' own Mana Pool; he had depleted his entire mana reserve as such his body shut down and fell straight to the ground.

Merlin too would've fell straight to the ground if not for the dispel which removed her stunned condition. As she reached the ground first, seeing as how Hermes' was falling like a ragdoll and being too fatigued herself she summoned Rock Golem to catch him. And just like that the fight ended, rather anticlimacticly.

The people watching thought that Hermes' would win with the last attack. Some were even unsure of what just happened until Jack, the tester/announcer said "The winner due to mana depletion is Merlin." in order to clear up the confusion.

"That was a great fight, you just have to wait till tomorrow for the results." he said to Merlin as he went up the ring to carry Hermes to the healing station.

Although there were gossips about the match, Merlin paid no attention to them as she too went to the healing station to replenish herself, no longer minding her face being shown. And after regaining most of her lost mana, she decided to head back home to rest.