“Hello. Nice to meet you. I am Narias.” Narias introduced himself to his opponent.

“Hello, my name is Mark and I intend to win this match,” the boy introduced himself before lifting his hand up high in the air. A huge flame burst out of his palm, forming a massive fire which grew tall and wide before disappearing into the thin air when Mark clenched his fist. It was obvious he wanted to show off or intimidate his opponent.

“Yes, likewise,” Narias said calmly, showing a smile instead of cowering in fear.

“All ready?!” Ranga was about to give the signal to start.

The moment Ranga said that Narias raised his right hand in front of him, all of his five fingers pointing forward.

“Huh? What’s with the gesture? Oh, I see. Surrendering was the right choice,” Mark said, throwing his right hand to the side.

“Begin!” Ranga announced.

“Auto Bullets,” the moment he heard the word ‘begin’, Narias cast his spell.

“Bhah... ghaa... wha... Aaahhhh!” And Mark was showered with the rapid, non-stop flashes of green light that hit him all over his body. Narias’s opponent, being completely unaware of what was about to happen, was smacked and smashed by the barrage of Narias’s Auto Wind Bullet spell. Before Mark could do anything, he was blasted backwards by the sheer force of the continuous bombardment, losing consciousness and falling to the ground with the match ending in less than five seconds.

“Eh... Oh, ahem. N... number forty five is no longer able to fight! Winner – number nineteen!” The person overseeing Narias’s fight declared after snapping out of the shock of what just happened.

“Whaaaa!” The spectators who saw it happen exclaimed in astonishment.

“Woah! What just happened?” Flavia exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat.

“I believe that was an improved version of Narias’s Wind Bullet spell,” Ileena told her, her eyes not leaving the field where Narias was still standing.

“But... he shot so many of them in such a short amount of time. When did he learn to do that?” Flavia asked, being shocked and impressed at the same time.

“Narias was training at Miss Alifur’s place for the last two weeks, remember?” Ileena reminded her.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. But Narias winning so fast was so cool. I’m so excited to get to fight him,” Flavia couldn’t sit still in her seat.

“Hah, that Crazy Mastermind...” Flamiris spoke more to herself than to anyone else, a smug, menacing grin appearing on her lips.

Narias friends, as well as all the other spectators who saw Narias win the fight, watched him walk back to one of the several participants lounge where his girlfriends were waiting for him. He also received a few stares from the other participants as well, some of the students looking impressed, some slightly intimidated, but all who saw his performance knew right there and then Narias was an opponent who shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“Hi. I’m back,” Narias spoke to his girlfriends after reaching his seat.

“That was totally awesome, partner,” Flavia exclaimed, standing up from her seat.

“Congratulations on your win, Narias,” Ileena said calmly.

“Nice going, you, Mastermind Hero,” Flamiris added.

“Good win,” Growly commented last.

“Thank you all,” Narias said, showing a smile.

The other three fights still happening ended soon enough with Ranga coming out to announce who the next participants would be right away.

“I go now,” Growly said, standing up when his number was announced. None of Narias’s girlfriends were to fight in the next matches, however.

“Let’s see how Growly will do,” Narias was curious to see how much Growly had improved.

“Growly will win for sure. He was training like crazy for the last two weeks,” Flavia said, not doubting one bit about what she said.

Growly’s opponent was a boy who was a magic user. It could’ve been a first-year student, because neither Narias nor his girlfriends recognized the boy’s face. Everyone was waiting with anticipation to see how Growly would fare against his opponent.

“All ready? Begin!” Ranga gave the signal.

“Grounding Roaaar!” Growly unleashed his roar on his opponent, rooting him in the spot.

The boy was preparing to cast a spell, but Growly’s ferocious roar forcing him to shudder, interrupting his spellcasting. Growly’s opponent couldn’t even make a single step from his spot, the boy’s legs refusing to move even when Growly appeared right in front of him.

- ‘Slap!’ –

Growly slapped his opponent on the head, the boy smashing himself face down on the ground and not able to pick himself up. That one Growly’s slap was more than enough to knock his opponent out cold, winning him the match as a result too.

“Did he just slap his opponent into the ground?” Flamiris asked, having a somewhat strange expression on her face.

“It would seem so,” Ileena commented, not looking surprised about Growly winning.

“Hah, Growly was holding back for sure,” Flavia commented.

“How do you know?” Flamiris wondered.

“Because the protective belt his opponent was wearing didn’t activate,” said Flavia.

“Hey, you’re right. Sick,” Flamiris grinned menacingly.

If we get to fight, I need to make sure Growly’s slap never reaches me. Narias had a valid reason to think that.

For the next set of matches Flavia and Flamiris were called out to fight while Ileena still had to wait for her turn.

“Good luck to both of you,” Narias wished them.

“Thanks, partner,” Flavia smiled.

“Hah, it’ll be over faster than your own fight,” Flamiris declared confidently.

“Ok,” Narias smiled.

“You’ve grown strong, Narias,” Ileena said when Flavia and Flamiris were gone.

“Thanks,” said Narias. “But I think I got lucky by surprising my opponent. He looked to be a strong spellcaster himself.”

“Humph. That’s just so you. But you don’t have to hide it from me. I know you are very serious about winning,” Ileena said, closing her eyes while adjusting her glasses.

“Hmm... Yes, you are right. Sorry,” Narias said, his eyes looking in front at the arena but at the same time they were not.

“Ready! Begin!” Ranga finally gave the signal for the following fights to start.

Seeing Narias win so fast during his first fight, Flavia and Flamiris were eager to go all out from the beginning as well. Both of their opponents weren’t exactly impressive, so Flavia and Flamiris had won their matches fairly easily. Well, considering. Flavia had to run and hop around to close the distance between herself and her opponent since she was against a spellcaster who could use Wind Magic, but once she reached the other girl, Flavia ended the fight quickly.

It took about a minute for Flamiris to win however, only because her opponent was a Water Magic user. But since Flamiris wanted to win faster, it really got under her skin when she couldn’t defeat her opponent with her first spell. The girl was able to defend herself at the beginning, but the longer she held out, the angrier Flamiris had become. The poor girl surrendered when she saw she couldn’t do much in the end, but it also could’ve been that she became intimidated by Flamiris’ about to unleash the flames of hell on her.

“Congratulations on your wins,” Narias congratulated Flavia and Flamiris after they came back.

“Thanks, partner,” Flavia was happy to hear it.

“Tss... it took longer than I planned it would,” Flamiris said, pouting her lips.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“You shouldn’t let your overconfidence get in the way of your judgement, Flamiris,” Ileena said, sounding like she was scolding her. “You should know you might fight against an opponent who is much stronger than you eventually.”

“Pfff... I’ll just blast them away,” Flamiris waved Ileena’s concern away.

“Ileena is right. We should focus on winning our fights over anything else,” Narias seconded Ileena’s comment.

“Eh? Well, I was... intending to win, only... faster,” Flamiris didn’t want to admit it openly, but she knew both Ileena and Narias were right.

“In any case, it is my turn to fight now. If you excuse me,” Ileena stood up when she heard her number being called out next.

“Do your best, Ileena,” Narias wished her.

“Thank you. I will,” she said before walking down the stairs.

“You don’t have to be so serious. Jeez...” Flamiris grunted, crossing her arms in front of her and turning her face away.

Just like Narias, Ileena wasn’t messing around. She was probably lucky too, because she got paired against the first-year student, but that didn’t mean Ileena was would hold back. Pairings were pairings and all the participants were intending to win. Unfortunately for Ileena’s opponent however, the fight ended pretty quick with Ileena being the winner. The fight lasted longer than Narias’s fight had, but it was still over in under thirty seconds. After Ileena came back to her seat, all four of them had one win each, but round one of the current matches wasn’t over yet. There were a lot more students competing compared to the last year turnout, so Narias and his girlfriends had to wait for the rest of the fights to finish.

“Hey, isn’t that...” Narias suddenly pointed out, noticing a familiar face among the newly called out participants.

“Yes, that’s Zhanna. I expected to see her participating in the Solo Arena Battle competition,” Ileena said in a calm voice.

“Eh? Zhanna who?” Flamiris asked, crinkling her nose.

“She’s from the Sweet Puppies student club. The one that Vivia belonged to before she had been kicked out by Zhanna herself,” Flavia explained.

“That’s her? Pfff... She doesn’t look like anyone special,” Flamiris said, looking not impressed at all.

“No, that’s not who I meant. I was talking about Nalitta. Look, over there,” Narias said, pointing to the furthest arena field from where they were sitting.

“Huh? Yes, that’s Nalitta Rasakila. But... why is she here?” Ileena sounded almost shocked to see her.

“Why? Maybe because she is participating in the tournament?” Flamiris might’ve not tried to sound sarcastic but it still came out that way.

“And that’s my point. Why would Nalitta Rasakila, Louneus Vilmanos’ personal assistant, participate in the Solo Arena Battle tournament?” Ileena couldn’t understand it.

“To win maybe?” Flavia asked, adding a shrug.

“Who cares? We came here to win ourselves, didn’t we? We’ll just have to beat our opponents no matter who they are,” Flamiris wasn’t bothered about Nalitta participating at all.

“That is true, however, that just shows how serious the Elite Magicians are about winning these Magic Power Games, which also means we should expect to fight many strong opponents going forward too.” Ileena added, her words carrying a warning with them.

Hmm... I had never seen Nalitta fight. I wonder how strong she actually is? Narias thought to himself, his eyes looking only at Nalitta and her opponent.

“The next set of matches are about to begin! Ready?!” Ranga was about to announce for the matches to start. “Begin!”

“Eeeh! What?!” Flavia exclaimed two seconds after Ranga Dreknor gave the signal to start.

“With a single spell too? I’m gonna blast her to bits!” Flamiris flared up, jumping from her seat, clenching her flame enveloped fist in anger.

Wow, amazing. Nalitta won after casting only a single spell. Narias was impressed with the girl’s performance. After winning her match, Nalitta calmly stepped down from the field to go back to the other designated lounge for the participants to sit down. She definitely looked confident, a gracious elegance following her walk.

“Sigh... You still like to play with her opponents, don’t you, Zhanna?” At the same time, Ileena spoke while watching Zhanna’s match which she won in the end.

“Zhanna won too, huh?” Narias turned to Ileena.

“Yes, she did. I am certain she could’ve won her fight sooner, but I guess she wanted to show off,” Ileena shook her head.

“Maybe... she was simply careful?” Narias speculated to which Ileena simply smiled. “Ok, maybe you are right. In any case, let’s watch the rest of the fights, because we might end up fighting the winners in the next round.”

The fights continued. The winners had to wait a while until all of the fights concluded. It took some time because there were a lot of participants. Once the round was completed, the next one started right away. Narias wasn’t the one to go fight first this time. It was Ileena who was called out to the arena between the four of them. She had won her fight without much trouble again. Next it was Flavia who snatched another win for herself and then it was Flamiris’ turn with Narias and Growly needing to wait their own turns.

After seeing how easily Nalitta had won her fight earlier, Flamiris was burning with fierceness, wanting to obliterate her opponent even before her fight had started and she basically delivered on her promise after the sign to start the fight was given. Narias even felt sorry for Flamiris’ opponent when the boy became so scared from getting burned, he literally ran out of the field, making Flamiris yell at him to get back and fight. That also created a lot of laughs from the spectator seats who saw it happen. Unfortunately, Narias’s number hasn’t been called out for the following matches, but Growly’s was. With a mild nod and an ‘I’ll go win now’ comment Growly made his way to his designated field.

Growly’s opponent was a girl student this time. She was a human and so was a magic user. Growly looked slightly disturbed seeing a pretty girl as his opponent or so it looked from the seats. However, the moment the signal was given, Growly showed no hesitation but rushed forward by curling into the ball and rolling towards the girl.

“Frostbolt. Icicle Shot,” the girl student quickly cast her spells in an attempt to freeze Growly. Her Frostbolt spell and few of the icicles that were released by her Icicle Shot hit Growly, freezing part of his body and only mildly slowing his roll. Before the girl student could cast another spell, Growly jumped out of his ball, frost crumbling away from his body. “Wha... Aaaah!”

- ‘Slam!’ – The ground shook and cracked at the spot where Growly slammed at with his hands.

Whether it was coincidence or because the girl student hit him with her spells, Growly’s slam didn’t reach her and landed about a foot away from where the girl was standing. However, the force of the slam was so strong it blew Growly’s opponent away, the girl falling backwards and rolling on the ground a few times. The girl student wasn’t blown away from the field however, which meant she was still in the fight. She had received a few bruises from the fall, but her injuries weren’t serious and she would’ve been able to continue the fight if not for Growly reaching her before she cast another spell.

“I give up!” The girl student shouted as loud as she could when she saw her opponent was about to slap her good. She must’ve seen Growly’s previous fight and did not want the same thing happen to her. Growly stopped his swing right before it landed, straightening up and then helping the girl student stand up. She was visibly taken aback by Growly’s such gesture. “Thank you.”

“Good fight. Bye,” was all Growly said before turning to go back to his seat.

“Nice going, Growly. Congrats on the win,” Flavia was the first one to congratulate him.

“Thanks,” Growly said after everyone else offered their congratulations as well.

“You didn’t hit her with your slam on purpose, did you, Growly?” Narias spoke in half whisper after Growly sat down next to him.

“I don’t like hitting girls,” Growly said, scratching his cheek with one finger.

“I hear you,” Narias said, showing him a smile.

The matches continued and after a bit more waiting, it was finally Narias turn to fight again.

“Hello, my name is Narias. It is a pleasure to meet you,” he met his opponent on the field, not forgetting to politely introduce himself too.

“Hi, I’m Christopher. I saw your very first fight and I can tell you right now you won’t be able to beat me so easily,” Christopher returned the greeting, adding a warning too.

“Let’s give it our all,” Narias told him with a smile. Narias couldn’t remember Christopher or how he won his first fight, so Narias had no idea what to expect. But it was the second round now which meant that Christopher had one win under his belt and Narias knew better than anyone he shouldn’t let his guard down no matter who his opponent was.

“All ready?!” The sign to start was about to be announced. “Begin!”

“Stone Wall,” Christopher instantly cast a spell to erect a wall in front of him, probably to protect himself from Narias’s direct attacks.

“Humph,” Narias reacted right away.

“Huh? Where did he...” Christopher became dismayed to see Narias disappear in front of his eyes before his Stone Wall was even fully up.

“Fire...” Christopher heard a spell being cast from his left side, turning his head to see what was happening.

“Wha... How...” the boy exclaimed, the red flames growing in size right in front of his face.

“...Blast!” Narias finished casting his spell, the Fireblast hitting Christopher directly in the face and blowing him away.

“Bhaaaa!” The boy was thrown into the Stone Wall he had built to protect him, the force of the blast smashing Christopher so hard, his magic protective belt activating and shielding him from getting hurt badly.

“Winner – number nineteen!” The appointed judge announced the next seconds. “Medics!” He shouted right after.

“Wow, did you see that? Narias is so strong,” Flavia was on her feet again.

“Hah, that guy should’ve given up the moment Narias stepped on the field,” Flamiris smirked, grinning wide.

“I believe it was Narias’s opponent’s fault for losing so badly,” Ileena pointed out.

“What do you mean, Ileena?” Flavia wanted more details.

“That Stone Wall that he built worked against him, because when Narias got close to his opponent, the boy had no time nor enough space to get away in order to avoid getting hit by Narias’s spell. That Stone Wall also obscured his own vision, preventing him to see what his opponent, Narias, would do,” Ileena explained in greater detail.

“Figures that Narias would find a flaw within his opponent’s actions and use it against them,” Flavia said, not looking surprised about Narias winning.

“He’s a real Mastermind alright,” Flamiris added, her eyes following Narias who was now coming back to his seat.

{at the teacher’s lounge}

“Wow, another fast win. Quite amazing, wouldn’t you say, Estella?” Milenna spoke to her, smiling happily.

“Humph. I certainly didn’t expect him to fall on all fours to pull a stunt like that. Were you the one to teach him that, grandpa?” Estella turned to Grandpa Yojee instead of answering Milenna’s question.

“All I did was give him an advice or two. My grandson is quite resourceful indeed,” Grandpa Yojee sounded happy when he spoke about Narias.

“But how could he move on all fours so fast? I could imagine you, Estella, or Mister Yojee here to be able to use both feet and hands to propel yourselves forward faster, but...” Milenna wondered and her point was quite valid.

“Narias Talrone used two spells to achieve that,” Jean intervened, making everyone turn towards her.

“You could tell what spells he used from this distance, Jean?” Milenna wasn’t exactly surprised about Jean’s insight.

“Hmph...” Jean showed her a smile, but since everyone was waiting for an explanation, she spoke up again. “The moment Narias Talrone fell on the ground, he used his speed increasing spell which he calls Boost and his Wind Burst spell one after another to propel himself towards his opponent. Not directly at his opponent as you saw, of course, but just enough to the side to go around the growing Stone Wall which also obscured his opponent’s field of vision, making it easier for Narias Talrone to get closer to him. With another of his Wind Burst spells Narias Talrone was standing almost behind his opponent soon after and you all saw what happened in the end.”

“Hah, I’m so proud of him,” Grandpa Yojee said, brushing his beard.

“Humph,” Estella didn’t say anything, but she was smiling.

“I’m happy to see him win too,” Milenna added cheerfully.

The Solo Arena Battle tournament continued, with many more fights yet to be fought and won. Having two wins each, Narias, Growly, Ileena, Flavia and Flamiris were waiting for the remaining matches to end, so they could find out who their next opponent would be in the following round.