The beast began lumbering towards our foes, the Tier 4 had regained his backbone obviously rationalizing the fact that it was a Tier 1 summon and would most likely be unable to do anything to his shields.

I hope he was wrong, either way it would be another variable that Iirin could then make us of for another mode of attack. We just had to tire him out and we would win.

We just had to alternate attacks and hope that my summons could do at least enough damage to outdo his passive recovery, which we really couldn't be certain about.

The beast reared up taking aim, the fist seemed to split the air, my mind began to clear, all it would take was for this blow to deal some damage then we would be in with a chance of winning.

The blow was fierce, the result was not.

My summon was sent reeling back, I could feel the amount of pain it was in through the link.

He lifted his shield slightly, diverting the beam of fire from Iirin straight into the path of one of my lesser summons, killing it instantly.

The ache in my body told me all I needed to know about both the damage that it caused and how it felt to lose a summon.

I was sent sprawling to the ground, in turn causing my other summons to lose direction and stand still, letting the Shield-bearer maneuver however he wanted sending nearly all my lesser summons in turn, before turning to my major summon, the greatest piece of magic I had performed in my short career was sent back prematurely with a great hole burned into its body, fading back into magic before his giant from could topple to the ground.

I was completely out of the match by that point, my head was reeling, my stomach churned, it took what felt like hours to get back in control of my faculties.

Raising my head I saw Iirin wasn't in a much better condition, his face was white from mana use. His attacks came slowly and without the power they once had. It was clear to me and also from the massive grins on our opponents that everyone knew the result of the match, except seemingly Iirin, who wouldn't stop his attack, even when it was obvious it was having no effect other than to keep them in the same place, which they seemed happy enough to do anyway.

It took him a few more volleys before he ran out of steam.

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The captain called an end to the match soon after.

"Iirin, micael and impressive idea, unfortunately the gap between tiers is large enough to be absolute, no matter the match up. Lirop and Wren, congratulations on sticking to your strengths and not over extending yourself."

Iirin was in no state to listen as he tread sullenly towards the sidelines. I didn't feel too bad now that I had gotten over the mana backlash, the fact that my summons had been so useless had hurt a little, but I knew the difference in strength made any other actions pretty much obsolete.

He then called up the team that had got a pass, to fight the team that had beaten us after they had recovered.

"There is no point for any of you teams to face Urtil and his team."

He was quick to sing Urtils praises, which I suppose was fair. He was far and away the most powerful, mixed with his incredible skillet and talent would make him a true force to be reckoned with.

The next match was anticlimactic.

Lirop was weaker than his opposing Defensive specialist, while Wrens healing was useless offensively, leading him wide open to attacks from the Tier 1, as weak as they were, there defense was more than enough to wade of any blows Wren tried.

The defeat was swift, setting the rankings in place as the team with the two offensive specialists easily took second place. So we were last. Which would mean last for all resources as the Captain so kindly explained.

Iirin did not take that well, he was completely silent on our trip back to the rooms, downcast, not looking at anything other than his feet. I was afraid to say anything to risk his wrath.

Still we got to our rooms without an issue.

That was until he punched the door. He continued doing that, all I could do was watch. He was going through something, and I could do nothing.

I was in complete shock as well, my world had been completely ripped apart by his people and I had been responding with far too much rationality.

This guy who claimed to be so superior was reacting so badly to such a minor loss, what was I worried about.

Mindset was an incredibly important component to continued growth in power.

Someone who acted like such a petulant child would never be able to grow as a Mage, so I was in a team with a lost cause pretty much.

"We need to get better"

I was broken out of my own musings by Iirins intense and earnest gaze.

"What?"

"We have to improve, we have a great team, we just both need to get more powerful"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, where did this complete 360 come from. A while ago I was a simple lesser being, now I was an equal on the team.

"So how are we going to do it than?"

He put his hand in his robe, emerging with some pendant with a flourish his expectant look spoke volumes about what he wanted my reaction to be.

"So what is that?"

His gaze brightened even more.

"This my ignorant teammate is a synergy talisman, it helps synchronize your magic with the outside world, not very helpful for battle-mages and offensive casters. For summoners however, it will change you whole paradigm of magic."

If that could let me cast like Urtil then I was very much interested.

"Now shall we begin"