"Explosion magic? Is that even possible for a berserker?" Jurgen asked and looked at Lylia with confused face. Even him was wondering, a berserker's mark bearer could only use magic in their inner body and explosion magic was very incompatible with that kind of mark. But Johan seemed to be on a different case.

"Of course it is. But it was rather rare since he came from a family of mages." Lylia replied. Her eyes looked at Jurgen this time before getting back at the scenario in front of him. "At first it was unfortunate, but you know... people could only accept their spirit's will and find a way afterwards."

"That's right." Johan commented, smiling mischievously at Grey. "My magic is indeed explosion magic. By channeling mana through this sword, I can create explosion everytime it came in contact with anything." He added, grinning while flaunting his regular-looking sword

"Explosion after coming in contact with anything? Don't make it sounds like you're downplaying it." Grey interestingly laughed and pointed at the man. "Since mana released by weapons depends on how much a user channels it, that means you can adjust the scale of the explosion by simply pouring more magic through that sword. That was such a broken ability and you've been holding back all this time."

"Holding back? Don't make me laugh. I always fight to win." Johan sneered before slashing his sword to the ground, causing a straight and massive explosion that traveled towards Grey.

"KABOOM!"

Luckily, Grey survived somehow by simply protecting his body with mana and then flying towards Johan using wind magic. His sword was at normal length when he slashed it towards Johan, followed by yellow flames that burned through the entirety of his sword's blade, increasing the heat in the surroundings. He swung the sword left and right, sometimes doing it in a confusing pattern while leaving traces of burning smell into the air that Johan could taste everytime he evades.

It was a close battle, Johan could react and block but Grey immediately switches position and counter it with another blow, leaving no choice for Johan but to use his explosion magic.

'This cocky child is really getting on my nerves.' He annoyingly swung his sword in the air, causing everything in front of Grey to explode, temporarily blurring his vision. He eagerly followed it with a horizontal slash but was quickly blocked by an unknown hard object, hidden in the dust. Explosion occured upon coming in contact with it, causing him to step away from the explosion. But the moment he jumped back, suddenly...

"What the fuck—" A stone wall was already placed behind him, disabling him from escaping away. "When did he—" His thoughts were suspended upon gazing at the human figure hidden in the dust. Soon after all the dust were cleared, several balls of fire are already floating in the atmosphere, ready to be thrown at him. This brought a shocked expression on his face.

"That child... I remember him also using that stone wall trick against me." Jurgen suddenly brought back a memory from his past sparring with Grey. It was quite interesting to see him with his habit of doing things repeatedly and Jurgen finds it interesting.

"Blazing rainfall!"

Grey fired the fireballs all at once towards Johan, causing a massive simultaneous explosion that are almost deafening to hear. It formed a black smoke in the entire area where Johan was standing, leaving burned spots on the ground. The explosion was strong enough for an average human to die instantly, but Grey was surprised to see Johan standing firmly on his feet after all the smokes are cleared out.

Johan suffered with a few burns from that attack and he was lucky, considering how much damage it can cause to an average human. He was smiling intensely while looking at Grey with excited face. "That's one heck of a spell."

The man's statement caused Grey to be even more cautious. He was taking him lightly and the boy could feel the man's overwhelming presence that could even suffocate his lungs. "How could someone possess this much power?!" He whispered to himself, trying to stabilize his breathing while calmly standing on his feet. He knew what will happen next and inhaled deeply. 'Here he comes.'

In a blink of an eye, Johan moved towards him and vertically swung his sword, causing Grey to react accordingly, blocking the attack. But the after-explosion didn't spared the boy and hit his face. If not because of the mana protecting him, Grey would've lost his adorable face.

Johan commended him with a smile and proceeded to swing his sword in different angles and pattern. Although Grey managed to block all of his attacks, it causes explosion that he couldn't avoid. This forced him to fight on defense instead of thinking how to counterattack.

'This is annoying.' Grey thought. He knew for sure that he couldn't keep fighting like this. To win, he must attack. Then suddenly, a realization crossed his mind, drawing a grin on his face before flying several feet away from Johan. 'That's it, that's the thing I've been missing out. This man's weakness was obvious.'

Johan quickly realize what the boy was planning and followed him at full speed, ready to swing his sword. 'This kid has figured out something.' He told himself, annoying gritting his teeth.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Your weak against ranged spells aren't you?" Johan was a second late and Grey was already finished visualizing his spell. The young wizard clasped both of his hand and then faced both of his palm at his opponent. He followed his actions with a chant, "Hellfire tempest!" Grey knew the man's weakness. He knew that a berserker lacks range and took advantage of it.

The moment Johan realized, he was already inside a tunnel of flames that rotates like a vertical tornado, swallowing everything inside it and destroying everything outside. The entire guild training ground was filled with yellow flames. Johan was inside, trying to stop the attack by strengthening his entire body with mana, forcing his spirit mark to give him more magic that he needs.

Even the queen was quickly protected by Lylia and Jurgen as they continued to watch. The little princess beside them was terrified by the site and covered her eyes while hiding in her mother's arms.

"Who could expect a kid to be like this?" Queen Leonor chuckled awkwardly after watching Grey cast that destructive spell. It was almost unbelievable for him to see a child using magic at that extent and what's worse, she couldn't spot any glowing marks from his body. But she quickly shrugged it off and concluded that it must be hidden somewhere else. "That kid has a strong magic, I wonder what kind of spirit mark he possesses?"

Hearing this caused Jurgen to just ignore the question and continue watching the fight. He knew that telling her the truth could only lead to two things: Either he'll look like some sort of clown or the queen will ask more intriguing questions that will eventually lead to investigation. Obviously, the stubborn old man don't want to go with all those troubles, that's why he refused to answer.

Meanwhile, Johan inside the 'Hellfire Tempest' was struggling to breathe. His body seemingly refused to move and was trembling uncontrollably. "What's going on?" He felt the mana coming from his mark getting stronger and denser. Soon after, he was surrounded by a yellow aura that he seemed to recognize. "This is—"

On the other hand, when Grey was about to deactivate the spell that might cause serious damage to his opponent, he felt a sudden increase in pressure in the surroundings followed by an overwhelming wave of mana resonating in the atmosphere. "What... the hell?" He knew something was off, until he focused his glance at the person in front of him that caused him to almost widen his eyes in surprise.

Grey saw Johan enveloped in a yellow aura, his eyes are glowing with a menacing golden color. He stared at him like some sort of ant with furious eyes. He looks calm but Grey could feel his anger towards him. "Insolent fool!" Johan said, swiftly dashing behind Grey.

"BOOM!"

An explosion occured behind Grey that blew him a couple of meters away. At that moment, Grey already knew that his life is in absolute danger and was in serious trouble. After somehow managing to land on his feet, he put three 'Stone Wall' all around him to protect himself. At this point, he was feeling the urge of fighting back to protect himself at all cost.

The barriers will quickly broken off into bits by an explosion that Grey swiftly moved away from. "This isn't a sparring anymore. This is a death match." He flew up in the air to take advantage of the distance and fired a couple of fireballs at his opponents that quickly landed and exploded near Johan.

But Johan stood on his feet unfazed. He looked up at the child with his menacing golden eyes and annoyed face. He was unimpressed by the sight. The man raised his sword parallel to his body in front of him, holding the handle with both hands while the blade pointed up.

Seeing this caused Lylia's expression to quickly change. "That guy, don't tell me he's planning to—" Before she could even finish her words, a blinding light surrounded the entire area followed by a massive explosion of mana.

Then, Johan suddenly screamed a few words, "Armor of discharging explosions, grant me your protection. Release! Spirit of falling star: Fragor!"

The surroundings shook momentarily before all the blinding lights disappeared, causing a sudden stabilization in the atmosphere. The mana around them seemingly calmed down. But when Grey looked down at his opponent from where he was flying he saw Johan on a different attire.

Wearing a yellow cloak that reaches his lower thighs with a wrist armor made with mana. Yellow markings are all over his body, spreading from his spirit mark that also changed in color to match his new look. His hair was glowing in a flamy yellow and at first glance, he looks like some kind of highly human being that descended from the heavens. His appearance causes shivers down everyone's spine and even Grey was speechless to see him in this form.

"Are you kidding me?" Grey uttered, smiling awkwardly while trying to swallow his fear.

"That man," Lylia uttered. "He said he wouldn't use it, but did it anyways." She buried her face on her palm while shaking his head. "That form looks terrifying though. Just seeing it makes me want an all out brawl with him."

The queen looked at Johan and said, "It was rather interesting to see Johan using his full power against a child... releasing his spirit form I mean."

Speechless as he is, Jurgen just looked at Johan in awe.

Mana spirits are nameless devine beings that merges with human souls. After the spirit fusion, human gains the spirit mark and thus having the ability to use magic by drawing power from the spirit domain. Bounded by limitations, humans are only allowed to draw power through their marks at a given time limit depends on their resistance to the spiritual domain, that's how the limitation should be.

However, people who surpassed their limitations through will or desire will be able to step into another dimension. After several thousand of training and fighting with their spirit marks, the fused mana spirit reacts with the person's feelings and desire, following it. The mana spirit then gains its own name and acquire its own power and personality to fill its host's inner desires, attaining a form that resembles those desires and will.

This power is also called "Spiritual release" or "Spirit form" in other terms. Once this form is acquired, a person override every limitations including the time limit of spirit mark activations. This is the state where a human could access the spiritual domain without any restrictions and also enhancing their speed, reflexes and stamina. As spirit markings occurs when soul and mana spirit became one, releasing one's spirit form is the state where the mana spirit completely became one with the host's body.

That's why Grey was surprised to see something this rare to happen in front of his eyes. "Did I go overboard and annoyed him to the bottom?" He scolded himself. "This is bad."