Alaric stood at the centre of the second-largest crowd he’d ever seen in his life. It was a far cry from the gathering of Aspirants he’d been a part of during the Appraisal Ceremony.

The crowd at the Colosseum in the Five Hills had been large as well but had comprised mostly of spirits so he didn’t count it. The difference between this time and the Appraisal Ceremony, however, was the fact that he was the centre of attraction. This crowd was here to see him fight.

How had this happened? Well, it was quite simple. He’d taken it too far teasing an insufferable brat who happened to rank higher than him in Body Tempering. The fact of her higher rank still bothered him considering her obnoxious behaviour and obvious lack of experience.

How had the girl made it that far in Body Tempering with an attitude as rotten as that? Alaric had spent so many months diligently training and staying disciplined, honing his skills… and when he’d jumped the entire Glass Rank within a single Tempering Ritual, he’d felt more than elated.

He was on cloud nine…

So how had this childish brat managed a similar feat? He could tell she couldn’t be that much older than him so naturally it bugged him. A small part of him was impressed… but the rest was bugged.

There was no room for these thoughts though. Currently, the crowd was filled with quiet anticipating murmurs. A barrier had been erected around the two, creating an invisible dome in which they were trapped with a large azure stingray floating above them among other flying guardians.

Atop the stingray, a knight stood, appearing most out of the multitude of flying Protectors that had gathered to watch the battle.

Some of the Protectors had even made themselves comfortable on SwiftWind’s wings to get a better vantage point as their guardians weren’t capable of flight. Garin’s irritation was only slightly visible with the occasional twitch of his eyebrows.

The sound of numerous fluttering wings filled the air as a squad of flying guardians watched them from above. In this crowd, Alaric could see the familiar flying two-horned black unicorn and a golden lion.

[ It appears even the Protectors want to see this ] Alia swooned.

[ They’re just bored. I take it this is one of those fights where you’re not going to help me ] Alaric sighed.

The lack of a response told him everything he wanted to know. He stared at his dishevelled opponent. Her hair stuck to her face slightly and yet, even that sight seemed to enhance her looks. ‘So unfair.’

“Let’s have a fair duel, guys… Begin,” Garin announced.

‘Wait… what… No countdown. No…’ Alaric’s body moved on its own, leaning back so low that he saw the sky. Wind bullets shot past the spot where his torso had been and crashed into the barrier with thundering electric shocks.

The barrier held.

Before Alaric could think, however, he was performing a cartwheel, narrowly avoiding the wind bullets that put cracks in the white marble slabs of the courtyard.

Time slowed for the boy. His eyes trained on the girl as aether rushed through his system, empowering his whole body in a wave of energy.

She pointed her wand at him right before he darted off at a tangent, dodging the line of Wind Bullets that followed him.

Alaric hadn’t got time to perform the Shield Spell and even then, the magic on his eyes that had allowed him to see the Wind Bullets was gone.

His survival up until this point was dependent on three ambiguous abilities which, together formed a powerful set of detection abilities: Observation, Pure Instinct coupled with his reflexes, and the fact that the wind bullets emanated a chill a split second before they hit.

While rudimentary, the combination of these three allowed him to predict where the Wind Bullets were headed. Still, he wasn’t about to fight this entire battle blind.

‘Aether Sight,’ he mentally chanted in the Old Tongue.

In the next moment, the irises of his eyes shone with a kaleidoscopic effect. Suddenly, all the Wind Bullets were no longer invisible and were instead compact shells of aether filled with air and icicles intended to explode on impact.

Alaric had already seen this spell numerous times and witnessed enough of the damage it was capable of to risk becoming a victim of the vicious attack.

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It did surprise him that the girl kept using the same attack though. It was powerful… but what use was it if it never hit its target?

It was getting a bit sad to watch her try time and time again to use the same attack. ‘Perhaps it’s the only spell she can fire off so many times without showing much… fatigue.’

Alaric had gone a full circle around her whilst she kept her wand steadily following him with a never-ending stream of Wind Bullets on his tail.

With a dissatisfied grunt, the girl yelled, “Let’s see how you handle this.”

She waved her wand around and all at once, the air within the barrier grew several degrees colder.

Alaric felt his blood rushing through his system, ‘So she does know a few more spells…’

Icicles coalesced within the barrier, spreading out in a perfect dome around Crystal before shooting off with bullet-like speed.

Time slowed for Alaric as he watched the spikes coming for him. His mind shifted into overdrive… There were several ways he could evade this… but at the same time, the indecision was killing him.

In the end, He dropped to the ground and then dived forward with his arms shielding his head, five Shield Spells covering them. His timing was just so the icicles that would have hit his legs and head went right past him.

As he supplied the spell protecting him with aether, he shifted part of his attention to the girl, watching to make sure she wasn’t using this moment to unleash another attack while he was unable to move.

What he found was underwhelming. Crystal was the kind of person to cast a spell and wait to see the results before deciding on her next attack. Especially if that attack was a powerful one such as this one.

The icicles struck the barrier in a chaotic shower of shards as they shattered. Mist covered the edges of the barrier, obscuring everyone’s view for a moment.

“Where did he go?” Crystal yelled out… “Did I get him?”

“Haha! Not quite…” Alaric chuckled from behind her.

With the boost from the aether circulating through his body, Alaric had dashed off, taking advantage of the cover made during the time the icicles were striking the barrier and creating a large misty commotion.

The girl leapt away from him, putting distance between them. Fear was written all over her face. “How?”

Alaric sighed, “I don’t even know where to begin. You have a lot of aether though. I’ll give you that.”

“And you don’t know any offensive magic,” the girl countered with a snarky remark.

Alaric rolled his eyes, “This match would become unfair if I used too much magic.”

“That’s quite the remark for a peasant,” Elder Caspro remarked, “Show us something.”

“Oh, you’re dying to see something, aren’t you?” Alaric was quick to counter.

“Those basic Shield Spells are getting boring. Show us more,” a boy yelled out from the crowd.

At this, Alaric didn’t know how to answer. Instead, he looked back at his opponent, “Still have some fight left in you?” he asked.

She was quiet for a bit, noticing he’d not listened to the crowd and turned to her instead. Now a bit calmer, her mind was working better.

Alaric still looked perfectly fine… as though her spells hadn’t fazed him.

He also used the basic spell Shield like it was second nature to him. It was safe to assume he wasn’t bluffing about knowing more magic given how proficient he was with the basic spell. Not to mention there weren’t the slightest signs of aether exhaustion on his body.

Crystal also noticed something most hadn’t since the start of the battle. The Five Hills boy’s eyes had turned kaleidoscopic with the magic of a spell she knew all too well: Aether Sight.

“You’re not weak… I’ll give you that,” the girl composed herself, “So I’ll stop messing around too.”

The air around the girl began to shimmer in a way Alaric was familiar with, creating odd fissures in the space around her. A dark grey mist began to pour from the fissures in space around her… Out of one of them, a furry dark blue arm as thick as a tree trunk emerged, then another… and another. The first two arms pulled a large bestial Gorilla-like head from the ripple in space.

The difference between this creature and the gorillas Alaric had heard stories about was that this one had menacing ivory tusks coming out of its lower lip and pointing upward. Its smoky grey eyes shimmered with sparks of lightning and ice as though a raging blizzard had been trapped within them.

Alaric thought he saw lightning flash inside the grey chilly mist coming from the Guardian.

One more hand followed, for a total of four, and then a set of legs. When the creature finally stood, it easily towered at the height of two tall grown men, with two pairs of fearsome bulky arms and one pair of legs.

By this point, the crowd wasn’t just made of scholars but the Elders had arrived as well, pushing the scholars out of the way so they could have a front-row seat to all the action. Of course, Alaric didn’t miss the smirk on Elder Casper’s face when Crystal summoned her guardian.

“Now he’ll have to summon that guardian of his… and I hadn’t even got the chance to use my position here to threaten him to reveal it. Ah, the world really works in mysterious ways,” Alaric had heard him declare happily.

Alaric didn’t let his deep natural fear win. This was a guardian just like any other. He’d faced off against Alia hundreds of times, despite losing every time. Still, Alia didn’t use any insidious abilities when fighting him, which made Alaric wonder what ability she really heard.

She was insanely strong and fast but was that enough to make her an S-class guardian? He tucked these thoughts away as he’d had them plenty of times. He also knew her reply would be, ‘Am I not strong enough for ya?’ so it was useless to ask.

The guardian’s chuckle filled his mind, [ You’re afraid of Gurlag’s power of the storm elements. ]

[ So, Gurlag’s his name. Does she know his name? ] Alaric wondered.

[ Yes, she does. There must be more to her than the brat we see. In any case, good luck ] Alia whispered the last part with a hint of mischief.

“Gurlag, that’s our target,” Crystal pointed at Alaric with a triumphant smirk.

The mighty beast stared at her hand briefly, then followed it to the boy standing a few meters from them. Gurlag’s mighty appearance looked slightly comical when he froze, eyes wide staring at Alaric. The giant gorilla then sat down and crossed his large arms…

“No,” he said with a defiant grunt.