The fallen leaves cracked under the boots of the Ringleaders that surrounded Isyd. None of them brandished wands and they appeared relatively serene, but Isyd could feel a certain tension in their shoulders and their gaze.

Jonn Drago was the first to speak.

“You can give up on your Blysht and forfeit the competition, Young Isyd.”

“There’s only one of me and four of you,” Isyd said. “Who should I give it to?”

“Leave it on the ground,” Prinse Krovtur said. “We will decide it among ourselves.”

“And what if I let it here but continue searching for the tokens? You may have set me back, but it’s not the end.”

“This is why I will personally make sure you go to the Fields so that you can forfeit to the Tutors,” Jonn said.

Hands clasped behind his back, Isyd pretended to ponder their proposition. Marzena Tchepwa looked fidgety and stood slightly apart from the rest of them. Seeing him hesitating, Jonn stepped closer.

“You don’t have much choice in the matter, Wybrany. Yield.”

“Yes, I can see that… I’m afraid however that I count on winning this. If you want me to forfeit, you’ll have to make me.”

None of them seemed surprised by his response. Jonn’s reaction was quick and decisive, imposing himself as their leader.

“[Bind]!” he said, snapping his fingers.

The air around Isyd suddenly turned solid and constricted around him. It happened faster than Isyd could react; Jonn had not even needed to draw the [Spell]. Isyd’s arms were clasped against his body in an invisible bind of steel.

“Aaron, you can go and retrieve the Blysht,” Jonn ordered.

Aaron raised an eyebrow in Jonn’s direction before crossing his arms. “I receive no orders from you, Drago. What about you go and do it yourself?”

There was a cold exchange of glare between the two young men before Jonn turned to Marzena and wordlessly asked her. She sighed and rolled her eyes but decidedly stepped forward.

Isyd did not give her the chance to get too much closer. The only reason he had let them corner him was due to his curiosity. He wanted to measure the level of skills of those who were deemed at the top of the Academy. From this brief exchange, Isyd was not disappointed by Jonn Drago’s performance. That being said, Isyd didn’t intend to make it easy for them either.

With a powerful blow, he kicked the thick layer of dead leaves and fallen needles on the ground, sending them flying in their direction. It served as a distraction at first, but it was only accentuated when Isyd released the [Wind Spell] he’d been preparing. The cloud of scattered dirt, leaves and needles blinded the four Ringleaders and forced Marzena to step back. Isyd took this opportunity to dash to the side, off from the clearly laid dirt path and behind the cover of some trunks. This was just enough time for him to focus on the [Spell] binding him and figuring out how to break it. It wasn’t a strong [Spell] due to the [Limiting Arcane]. Isyd strained against the invisible bonds and felt it push back against him. It only took him another burst of strength for the [Spell] to finally snap.

Now freed, Isyd immediately spun around to face his opponents. With a simple wave of his hand, Jonn summoned a gust of wind to clear the cloud of dirt, then followed by a burst of flames.

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“[Deflect]!” Isyd called forth a [Wind Spell] that blew away the attack. He then seized the Fire Essence and SHAPED it into a [Fire Ball]. Isyd didn’t have the opportunity to finish casting it because Aaron and Prinse got too close, each armed with a metallic staff. Isyd tried to step away, but his foot was trapped by wild roots spawned by Marzena. Prinse’s blow hit him on the left shoulder, but Isyd raised his right arm and blocked Aaron’s attack. The metal staff bent easily in two around his arm to Aaron’s shock. Isyd winced but didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. He grabbed the broken metal rod, yanked it off his hands and slammed his knee in the young’s man stomach. Aaron keeled over and Isyd spun to hit Prinse with the metal pipe. Prinse tried to block with his own, but the [Spell] that had materialized was already decaying and the metal fell apart in his hands. He ducked just in time to dodge Isyd’s swing, but he stumbled on the uneven terrain and fell on his arse. Isyd spun immediately toward Jonn, finger pointed.

“[Pierce]!”

A gust of wind, thin and narrow like a needle, burst forth and missed Jonn’s head by an inch. Jonn reposted instantly with his own [Spell].

“[Hammer Wind]!”

All around Isyd, the air suddenly turned into an unbearable weight on his shoulders, slamming him down. The shock of it forced him to his knees and made him wince. Before he could get back up, tree roots grew from the soil and wrapped themselves around Isyd’s left arm. Aaron quickly moved to grab the Blysht, but Isyd was faster. He threw a handful of dirt in Aaron’s eyes and profited from the distraction to kick him in the chest and away from him. Isyd then followed drawing with his left index a circle in the air and summoning a flame that attacked the vines restraining him. Once freed, he jumped back on his feet just to face Jonn Drago as he was about to finish casting his [Spell].

“[Storm Front]!” he called forth.

It was the strongest [Hex] he could cast without breaking his [Limiting Arcane]. The air around Jonn sparkled as it coalesced in front of his stretched hands before being released. Marzena threw herself to the ground to avoid being swept by the rolling wind current as it swept and crushed everything in its path.

Isyd smirked at the danger.

He quickly launched two [Wind Swipes] at it, but it did nothing to stop it or slow it down. Instead it seemed to make the [Storm Front] even stronger. Isyd followed by a [Wind Shield] materialized far from him. Upon contact, his [Hex] bent inward, threatening to yield. There was no way to cast a [Shielding Spell] below the 6th Opening strong enough to withstand such an attack, but Isyd didn’t count on it. As the two [Wind Spells] struggled against one another in an unleashing of squalls, Isyd side-eyed Aaron and Prinse. The latter had managed to get close enough despite the gales pushing him back and was now aiming another [Wind Spell] at Isyd.

This was the cue Isyd had been waiting for. On the fly, he modified the Commands of his [Wind Shield]. Instead of opposing the [Storm Front], he reshaped it so that the shielded folded into the attack. Jonn, on the other side of him, went suddenly pale as he finally understood what was about to happen. First, the two [Wind Swipes], then the [Wind Shield] and now another [Wind Spell]…

“Get back! He’s making a Resonance!” Jonn shouted out of his lungs to be heard above the clashing winds.

“What?” Aaron only had time to shout back.

It was too late, however. The two [Spells] collapsed into one another, seemingly sucking in all the air around them. The Resonance rose into higher and higher Openings while the four Pupils scrambled to get away. Finally, the [Spells] reached their climax. Like a storm exploding, the winds flattened all the trees, shrubs and bushes in a five-meter radius in a violent woosh!

Even after having run away, Jonn felt the force of the blast grazing his neck. His gaze however immediately went for what was truly important: the Blysht on his left wrist. Thankfully, it was still intact.

To bypass his [Limiting Arcane] but simultaneously threaten those of his opponents, Isyd Wybrany had turned his numerical inferiority back on them by compounding their low-level [Spells] to form a Resonance. It was a such risky move, Jonn could still not believe that this upstart Junior had attempted that!

What kind of mad man…

Jonn gritted his teeth but forced himself to calm down as he walked back toward the source of the explosion. He reassured himself by thinking that perhaps Isyd Wybrany hadn’t really intended to create this Resonance, that it was all a fluke on his part… After all, no 1st Year would ever dare play with Resonance, let alone control it. In fact, it was more likely that it had turned on Isyd and that his own [Limiting Arcane] had been blown out by the clashing of [Spells].

Jonn arrived at the scene of their fight. There was a small crater where the Resonance had occurred and the areas surrounding had been stripped of their vegetation.

Most importantly of all, Isyd Wybrany was nowhere to be found.