“Wow, what a bunch of fights!!!” Harry declared to the crowd cheering before their voices began to chant the same word.

“Encore!!! Encore!!! Encore!!!”

“So you crazy kids want an encore?!!! Hey Linky, can we do that?”

Lincoln, in response, paused in thought before looking up to the VIP booth. Sloth in his seat gave a single hand gesture to indicate he was unbothered if they wanted to do another round. Turning back to Harry, he gave a nod.

“Good news folks, we have been informed that we are permitted to have an encore bout… real question is who will it be between?!”

Lincoln, in response, snapped his fingers, summoning some of the arena staff who scurried over. Understanding his desire, the trio of diminutive beastlings bowed their heads and headed off to the waiting rooms to speak with the individual classes.

“How about you, Bea, up for another round?” Harry asked.

“No thanks, I am knackered; all the tricks I did before stepping in here already put me down to the line,” Bea replied as all twelve of her copies waved their hands to waft away the notion.

A small beastling that appeared to be a feline sub-race stepped out hurriedly and gestured for Harry to crouch down so he could tell him the news. Doing so, Harry listened to the message before standing up.

“Good news, you most impeccable of audiences!!!! We have two willing participants for the encore round. They may have both lost their designated rounds, but those watching would not fault them for such losses. The man who faced a wall of steel and did not falter even in defeat… MAXWELL!!!!” Harry gestured to the left-hand tunnel as Maxwell walked out, passing the baker's dozen of Beas returning to the back rooms.

“Who will his opponent be, you may ask?!!! Well, folks, she has regained consciousness… and wants a good ole retry at a fight facing someone who won’t induce nightmares…. MANA HANNAH!!!!” Harry gestured to the right-hand tunnel, out of which a still pale-looking Hannah stepped.

“Thank you for coming out to give it a second go, kids,” Harry said as he gave a welcoming nod to each of the new contestants.

“I’m sure anyone watching now can tell that this is a far more balanced match-up. So first off, Hannah, do you have anything to say to your opponent?”

“A-a-a-a-are y-y-y-you l-l-like h-her?” Hannah stammered out as soon as she reached her mark, looking Maxwell over.

“Like who?” Maxwell asked. He had a suspicion, but one of the lessons Sithy had drilled into him is never to assume because, in his own words, ‘It makes an ass out of you and me’.

“T-t-the crazy elf,” Hannah replied, gripping her wrist, which was already shaking.

“Tash-,” Maxwell began before stopping seeing how badly Hannah recoiled just with the first half of Tasha’s name. “Sorry, you mean my elven friend?”

“Y-yes,” Hannah replied hastily, nodding.

“You needn’t worry. My training consisted mainly of collecting rare knowledge and methods of fighting not… whatever she was doing…” Maxwell replied before shuddering, remembering the sight of Tasha the moment she stepped back into the class's waiting room.

In response to Maxwell’s words, Hannah began to visibly relax, seeing her opponent wasn’t some ungodly monster that her attacks would be useless against.

“Heh, then be prepared to lose twice in one day,” Hannah said as her composure began to return.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself; you aren’t anywhere near as armoured as Ironsides is… I will win this with ease,” Maxwell replied with his own smirk. Both found solace in the fact that they had each gotten stuck against an opponent they had little to no chance of winning against.

“Ok, you kids ready?” Harry asked.

“Yep, I had my classmates all apply spells to buff my magic and defences before stepping in, so I am as ready as ever,” Maxwell replied.

“I did the same thing…. It would be fascinating to see what buff spells you have placed on you,” Hannah said, looking ever happier as they neared the start of the encore round.

Harry and Lincoln returned to their booth as they had done half a dozen times. The moment they sat down, they rang the gong to signal the start of the final bout. The moment the gong rang out, Hannah jumped backwards with her left hand out, ready to chant her spell.

“Come forth, for I seek the greater beyond!”

A bright flash shot out as a large form appeared in the arena between Hannah and Maxwell. Stood between them was what many in the arena recognised as a Fractagle. A giant eagle-like bird from the frozen north that was entirely made of magic ice crystals. With only a few flaps of its crystalline wings, the bird began to rise up into the air creating space between it and Maxwell.

“You sure it’s wise to have your familiar leave you alone?” Maxwell asked as he readied to approach Hannah.

“Snowcone will keep me safe, don’t you worry,” Hannah replied as she held out her left hand again and began to chant a spell under her breath.

Seeing his opening, Maxwell shot off from his position towards Hannah. Seeing this, Snowcone dove down, sending a gust of ice-cold wind in his direction. Going low and sliding along the floor, Maxwell watched as shards of ice the size of kitchen knives flew over his head.

In no time at all, though, Maxwell found himself in front of Hannah, who was still mid-chant. Sending three direct and precise jabs into her casting arm, he stunned her mana channels and retreated backwards. Retrying a different spell, Hannah began to look panicked as she found herself unable to cast.

“What did you do?!!”

“I stunned your channels, is all… A little trick I learnt about… upside to you not wearing thick armour, it actually works!!!” Maxwell cheerily replied.

“Ok, my turn to attack then,” Maxwell muttered as his mouth and hands began to blur. Soon a sizeable blurry mass formed in front of his body through which he jumped. The moment he passed through the other side, his entire body began to get cloaked in blue flames.

The flames themselves circled around Maxwell like a whirlwind before settling down, taking the rough shape of a knight's full set of armour. Everything from a full helm to a kite shield but all made of blue flame.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Almost done,” Maxwell said as he held up a finger; his fiery hand began to blur again. Soon a powerful gust of wind began to blow around his hand. A wind that sucked up the flames of his newly conjured armour, creating a fiery blade to match. Recreating the technique Hadean had shown them that day he lectured.

“There we go, all ready?” Maxwell asked as he began to approach Hannah.

“SNOWCONE, USE YOUR ICE AGE BLAST!!!” Hannah shouted, a frantic panic overcoming her voice again.

The giant icy bird swooped around and began hovering directly above her. With each flap of its wings, more and more ice began forming in the arena. Every so often, ice bolts larger than that had been previously launched shot out at Maxwell. Only for them to evaporate before they could even touch him.

“YOU LIED!!!!!”

“About what?” Maxwell asked cocking his head in confusion.

“YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T LIKE HER!!!”

“AQUIAS!!! FLOODIASH!!! FORTIANTH!!! DAI!!! SEZZ!!!” In her panic, Hannah finally used her non-dominant hand that hadn’t had its channels stunned. Using the same spell as her last bout, she conjured a flood of water into the arena in the blind hope that it would extinguish Maxwell’s flames.

A wall of water taller than he began storming towards Maxwell, who remained unmoving in the face of it. The moment the water reached a foot away from him, it all started to evaporate into steam rapidly. As the water filled the arena, there were only two dry spots. One around Hannah, the one conjuring the effect and the other around Maxwell.

“WHAT IS THAT SPELL?!!!”

“It’s called the Fire Giants Cloak… it grants you near total defence against ice attacks, and with all those buffs Gunter slapped onto me, clearly its more than a match for water spells as well,” Maxwell explained.

“THAT IS A SPELL FROM LEGEND!!! WHERE IN THE HELLS DID YOU LEARN IT?!!!”

“Where? Why I learnt it at ouR local library,” Maxwell replied as he gave a thumbs up; now he was close enough to Hannah that they were both free of water.

“STAY BACK!!!” Hannah cried out as she began retreating backwards. Snowcone detecting their master's distress, began ramping up their ice attacks to no avail.

Despite these attacks, Hannah kept stepping backwards, trying to increase the distance from the slowly approaching Maxwell. Feeling the mana flow return to her left arm, she began launching every spell she could think of to try to pierce his flaming armour. Only for them to dissipate effortlessly against it.

Even her attempts to use solid projectiles using earthen magic, her weakest affinity, didn’t help as Maxwell effortlessly cut it down with his fiery wind blade. Soon she found her back against the arena wall. The only thing between her and Maxwell the wall of water that her magic was maintaining.

To her ever-increasing terror, his helmet had now warped its shape. No longer stylised like a knight's helmet but now in the form of a wolf's skull as its core with the blue flames making up a giant wolf’s head. The terror began to take over Hannah as she couldn’t help but curl up in a ball on the floor and wait for it all to be over with.

The audience watching this display was shocked. Many had assumed that Maxwell was likely one of the weakest of Alex’s class, which was why his had been a throwaway bout. But seeing the power he was displaying, such as using ancient magic, none could now say with confidence if he was the weakest.

One thing they could all come to a consensus on was that all of Alex’s students were definitely monsters. Facing off and besting some of the strongest fighters their school had amongst its student body. Even forcing a draw against one of the duo of famed dragon slayers.

“Do you give up?” Maxwell asked in as kind a tone as he could.

Unbeknownst to him, the Fire Giants Cloak added what the giants' considered authority to their voice. So Maxwell’s voice would now give even hardened battle veterans nightmares. As with her first bout, Hannah’s eyes rolled back into her head as she lost consciousness out of sheer terror.

Lincoln seeing this stepped out into the arena and checked on Hannah before gesturing to a still-flaming Maxwell. Harry beamed at this result and held the device to his mouth.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR OUR FINAL ENCORE BOUT… MAXWELL HAS WON!!!!” The crowd cheered for Maxwell, who dispelled his Fire Giants Cloak, as Hannah was taken back to the medical suite on a stretcher.

“Can I get both teams to the arena, please?! Harry asked.

Slowly but surely, both Michael’s team, minus Hannah and Alex’s team, stepped out into the arena and lined up as they had in the opening ceremony.

“We have a definitive winner. The winner of the first and hopefully annual tournament is TEAM ALEXANDER!!!!”

The whole arena broke out into cheers as flowers sold by some enterprising students began to be thrown into the arena. Flowers that would later to be discovered to have been pilfered from the magi-botany department's greenhouse.

As Alex’s class looked triumphant, Michael’s team looked despondent. Many had their educations riding on winning the tournament, and while they could accept their loss, it didn’t mean they would be happy about it. Nonetheless, they applauded their opponents, who had given them one hell of a fight.

“Well, now…” Michael began as he looked down at his former students.

“This is my loss then,” he said as he took off his professor's pin and handed it to Sloth.

“I shall accept the outcome; it is what I agreed to. My only hope is that you will at least hold his leash more to stop his reckless endangerment of the school and students,” Michael said as he knelt in front of Sloth and lowered his head.

“Not going to contest the result then?” Sloth asked.

“No, there is no need. I played my hand and lost; that is all there is to it. If the most I achieved was getting him to reconsider his teaching approach, then it wouldn’t have been for nought. Though with the human, it is hard to tell.”

“Tell me, Michael… I remember you when you were so young. You were wide-eyed and loved to teach and learn. Where did that warp into an obsession with my troublesome apprentice? It can’t just be that he is human.”

“As always, sir, you see right through this old man. In truth… He was the sort that brought chaos. As I said, I see only a monster within him. I fear one day it may break free and bring destruction to many innocent people.”

“That can’t be all, Michael?” Sloth pressed.

“You wish me to lower myself further? Very well… he always published his research at the same time as mine. He being your apprentice, garnered more attention for his slapdash research compared to my hard work… IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?!!!”

“Is… is that true, Michael?” Alex asked.

“You, of all people, should know. You and your friends always made it an effort to torment me… you publishing your papers were one of the too many barbs in my heart.”

“I assure you it was not intentional… Did you read any of my papers?”

“I did not… human research is not worthwhile,” Michael replied, only to recoil as Sloth hit him on the head with his staff.

“Only a fool discounts information due to the source. A true researcher would boldly embrace all research to prove it wrong or right… never to ignore it. It is unfortunate you never read my apprentice's papers. He credits your work quite a lot throughout many of them.”

“He did?” Michael asked as he looked up at Alex with a mix of shock and shame.

“I did… a lot of your work was revolutionary, and I always wondered why it didn’t get more attention… seems I was oblivious to the issue myself.”

“Enough of this pity party… Michael, you were a good teacher for many years. You may continue to research here should you wish. ‘The Order’ would be loathed to lose a skilled researcher such as yourself. However, as per the terms of the agreement, you shall no longer educate.”

“By you will, my lord,” Michael said as he lowered his head in respect.

“YOU WEAKLING!!!” A voice boomed as a hooded figure rose up in the back of the VIP booth.

“You failed to win as agreed, and now you bow like a beastling? I shall proceed with the plan regardless!!” the figure took out a horn from beneath his cloak and blew into it. The noise echoed around the arena, and the audience began to go quiet as more and more hooded figures stood up, all drawing weapons.

“Nobody move!!! We have taken the student body hostage… Anyone try anything… should I be harmed in any way… they will all suffer for it, and I am sure they are nowhere near as skilled as those we have seen display their skills today!!”

“What do you want then?” Sloth asked, already looking too tired to be dealing with this.

“Simple…. I want Princess Elissa!!”