Auros felt his blood pumping, he had never been in a drag out fight like this. If he was honest he had expected his team to lose fairly handily. Kaiser was just that much of a monster, but Elismera buffed to the max, had managed to exe out a draw. Now he and Azura just had to deal with an exhausted 4th year and a slightly less tired 1st year. A difficult proposition, but not an impossible one. They were tired too, but less so than their opponents, and they had a powerful defense that Elismera had left behind. That would handle some punishment while they focused on offense.
The half dome in front of the 4th year hadn’t come down yet, but rather than try to break it, he decided to go for Gareth and force the 4th year to bring it down to support his ally. A serpent of water formed and swiftly launched towards Gareth. It whirled as if swimming through the air. Gareth created a giant lion of metal, and had it charge the serpent. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed with how tough the first year’s metal constructs were. His water attacks were strong enough to pierce most metals even without any buffs from Azura, and with his buffs had even managed to damage the 4th year's rock shield, but not a scratch was left on the lion’s metal hide.
He grit his teeth, the lion was being pushed back, but not fast enough the attack would take too long to reach the first year. Before he could cast another spell his focus was split by the slight blur of movement above the 4th year's half dome. A loud crash echoed across the field as the metal rhino he had launched up earlier in the fight came crashing into the rock dome shattering a good chunk of it. The 4th year barely reacted fast enough, with a powerful wind spell barely diverting the rhino from its course that would have eliminated him from the fight
He had to hand it to Azura, the kid was resourceful as hell. He had completely forgotten about the rhino he launched into the sky, the odds of it hitting anything on the way down were extraordinarily low, and at the speed this fight was moving at he expected it to be over long before that rhino hit the ground. Azura had probably been casting spells in preparation for this very moment from the second the rhino had been launched into the sky.
Not spending any time staring in awe he immediately cast a spell at the 4th year. It was a simple crescent of water, his fastest and most damaging spell, but in exchange it lacked any adaptability. It was the right choice magic circles apparead in it’s pat making it far more powerful than it was when he had fired it. 6 in total buffing its offensive force. 4 spells were around the 4th year acting as minor annoyances to make sure he didn’t have time to properly defend.
The 4th year didn’t even try to defend. It seemed he had been building an offensive spell the entire time the half dome was up, and had decided that switching gears would only result in a loss. A blazing phoenix swept across the field and slammed into the roots defending him. His eyes widened when his defense was blown away and the flames blinded his vision. The lightning bolt that went straight through him signified that the fight was taking on a bit of a pattern. Once again the sound of glass shattering rang out twice.
***
Azura grit his teeth. The phoenix spell had burned away the roots shielding both him and Auros, and Gareth had released a perfectly timed attack of his own. With Auros and the 4th year out of the fight it was down to the 2 first years. It was funny in a way, in this 3v3 clash of the titans the deciding factor would be between the weakest member of both teams. At least they both had a similar sense for dramatic flare, because neither of them did anything as the smoke slowly cleared.
The smoke finally cleared revealing them both staring gravely at each other. This was going to be a close match. He had only beaten Gareth last time because of the surprise factor his copies had provided. If Gareth had known his full abilities he would have lost. He had gotten a lot stronger since then, but he had no doubt that Gareth had as well. It was time for the rematch, and this time he was forced to only fight at range which also played to Gareth's strengths.
“Can’t say I ever expected this fight of all things to become our rematch.” He smiled, it was hard to find time to talk in the chaos of a 3v3, but now that it was down to just them he couldn’t say he minded a chance to speak with his rival.
“Part of me wants to say this was the plan the whole time, but that would obviously be a lie. Even I'm not so reckless as to purposely lead things in a direction where the winner might as well be decided by a coin toss” That was his best estimate here. The fight could easily go either way. He almost wanted to laugh. All the effort, all the planning, and all he had managed was to get their odds up to 50/50. He had managed to topple Kaiser, and had still only managed to get the odds that high.
“A coin toss huh. I figured you’d rate your odds higher since you beat me last time, I suppose I should have known your arrogance is practical enough not to blind you too much.” He laughed off the barb. That was basically just him admitting that 50/50 was about right. Both of them were aiming to win.
“So you about ready to end this once and for all or you want to banter so we can recover some more?” Anyone looking could tell they were both tired, neither of them was wasting the opportunity to recover as much as possible. He was shooting himself in the foot by trying to kick the fight into gear, since thanks to his core he’d recover far faster than his opponent, but he didn’t regret it. If there was 1 person he’d want a fair fight against it would be Gareth. Gareth was probably the single closest person to him, at least in terms of power. There was no better opponent to truly test himself against.
“If you’re so eager to be beaten, I’m happy to oblige.” A crimson flock shot to life as Gareth swiped a card. The hundreds of flaming birds shooting at him. He swiped a card in response causing blades of ice to launch at the birds, both attacks canceling each other out. Most of his cards were multiple spells stacked onto a single card, which would be nearly impossible for most people, but was yet another advantage to his skillset in this game, and he was going to need it. He’d have to use every advantage he could if he wanted to come out the victor now.
“Not with attacks like that you won’t!” He swiped 2 cards. 1 of them blinked the giant metal lion that had attempted to gore him, while the other card created a small sphere of lightning in the center of the arena. Which made it slightly off to the right of where the fight between Gareth and him was raging. Gareth's control of his creatures proved to be incredible even when they were cast like this instead of manually maintained. Perhaps a unique magic of some kind. The lion that had been swiping at him stopped instantly once Gareth was the one on the other side of its attack.
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The time for talking had passed, and they both focused on their rapid exchanging of offense and defense. Gareth had clearly decided the ball of electricity he had summoned was a threat, and sent his lion after it along with a pack of wolves made of a dark rock. He cast 8 spells at once. Auros had shown him the weakness of Gareth’s constructs. They may be hard to destroy, but they could still be blown away. Lessened gravity in the area and an incredible force of wind sent the constructs flying violently into the air. Piercing Gareth's defense would be a near impossible proposition, but so long as he held out against the offense while his spell finished, he was confident he’d manage.
Learning his lesson about ground troops Gareth decided to focus on constructs that could fly, and created a metal chimera. He grit his teeth, that was going to be a pain to deal with. 5 spells were swiftly casted in retaliation. Golden chains wrapped around the construct, even as its movements slowed as if moving through molasses. A time distortion spell along with an extreme increase in gravity and air pressure. Hopefully with the magic chains that would be enough to keep the beast down, and he doubted Gareth had enough mana to churn out constructs like that at will. At least he hoped not, because he certainly wasn’t capable of casting spell combos like that regularly.
He cast another spell chain sending enhanced ice spikes towards his opponent. Gareth responded by creating panthers of flame to attack the ice. They spent a while trading small attacks back and forth, probing for weaknesses, or at least that’s what he wanted it to look like he was doing. Just like last time he carefully navigated the fall of the constructs he had shot into the air. This time he made sure they fell a lot faster, he didn’t think he’d last that long this time. A few minutes was a long time when you were fighting this intensely.
Gareth summoned a pack of rock wolves again, and this time he decided rather than the long route of having them fall on his foe from above he’d try blasting them at him directly. Same spell chain as before, but the wind sent them rocketing towards Gareth instead. His rival used the same method to divert their path. A powerful gust of wind knocked them slightly off course. That was fine, Gareth didn’t seem to have any special method to stop them or divert their path, so as long as he was able to keep his rival distracted the aerial assault should work.
“Dealing with you is such a pain, somehow trapping my construct is way more aggravating than fighting someone who can break it.” He laughed. He knew that feeling well. Fighting someone who simply eclipsed you in power had a certain calmness to it. You knew they could handle anything you threw at them, so there was no real concern when they countered a spell. Fighting someone on the same level as you on the other hand, well there wasn’t much in the world that was more stressful than a close fight. Well unless you were Lily and enjoyed fighting, but that was a separate issue.
“I’m not exactly over here having the time of my life either.” The flying constructs were much more annoying, because he actually had to deal with them one way or another, and Gareth had created nothing but since he shot that lion into the air. Thankfully at least Gareth seemed to be tapped out as far as metal constructs go, or at least his rival wasn’t using them at the moment. He knew better than to equate disuse with inability.
Gareth frowned. “Doing well enough that you haven’t lost concentration on that ball of lightning.” He smirked. He had a whole copy consciousness focusing on that 1 spell, and another focusing wholly on directing the descent of the ground troops Gareth had used earlier. He had 2 ways to defeat his foe lined up, but it cost him a good chunk of his resources. He wouldn’t last long like this, he had 7 spells he was consciously maintaining constantly, so he was doing his best to only cast singular spells to stay within the 8 that he could consistently do, but Garet had forced him to use as many as 5 to stay in the fight. As long as he used that many sparingly he should last, at least he hoped he would.
“Well focus always has been a strong point of mine.” The spells once more came down like rain between them. He grit his teeth, as Gareth not only renewed his assault, but also managed to break the chains keeping the chimera at bay. He wasn’t too worried at first, the other 3 spells should suffice to keep the chimera at bay while he fended off the countless birds of every element that Gareth was bombarding him with. Lightning rushed through the cloud of birds even as large chunks of them froze solid and shattered. Even more suddenly collapsed under their own weight as they entered a gravity field he had set up around him that crushed them into the ground.
He couldn’t risk them getting above him and using the gravity to make their assault even more brutal, so he had to take out as many as possible before they realized the dimension of the gravity field he had set up as a defense. When the birds were finally dealt with enough that he had some room to breathe he heard a crash. He turned towards the prison he had set for the chimera, only to find it missing, a giant hole in its place. He cursed. He should have waited until Gareth had sent the beast into his zone before imprisoning it. As it was, Gareth had managed to tunnel it out of the spell's range. Unfortunately he doubted that Gareth would call it out recklessly right now. The gambit to free it may have paid off, but the cost to Gareth’s mana must have been immense.
Not that he was exactly in peak condition either. This fight was going to end soon, one way or the other. His lightning spell was fully charged and ready to go, but it wasn’t the time for it yet. When Gareth turned his focus to the threat nearing him from above, that was the moment that spell would be unleashed. This was easily his most devastating offensive spell, but it came with a mana consumption that warranted that kind of power. Even using natural mana to help power it, it still put him in a position where he was using more mana than he recovered, even if he wasn’t fighting all out on top of that. At least it was a slow drain and not the fast drain of casting a spell all at once or his circuits would already be fried.
It was funny how much more intense the fight got now that he was actively participating, especially considering it was likely the opposite for everyone watching. 2 1st years fighting paled next to the spectacle that was Elismera and Kaiser’s fight, even if they were talented 1st years. Still boring to watch or not, Gareth and him continued to exchange spells at a breakneck pace. Flashes of fire, lightning, ice, and every other element came and went as they both put their all into overwhelming the other.
Finally the time came for the climactic end to the most intense game of cyvran he had ever been a part of. A gravity enhancement spell increased the velocity of the falling flock of wolves led by the huge metal lion. His eyes widened when Gareth, who had apparently predicted that attack created an overhang of metal to block the onslaught. “You think you’re the only one that can attack from above!” His eyes widened as a fast moving blur entered his sensory range. The hole had been a diversion, the chimera flew down at him with incredible speed. It was too late to defend.
So a coin toss it was huh? The only question now was which side it would land on. He shot off his lightning spell towards gareth. A huge flash of light followed by the sound of thunder as a wolf made of lightning eclipsed the battlefield, racing towards Gareth even faster than natural lightning. The shadow of the chimera approached him, and the sound of glass shattering filled the air.