The battle between Anna and Fantoar was close. The Minotaur brothers were able to close the gap and prevent many long incantations, which were the spellcasters' more powerful attacks. That was not to say that the Wintoars were having a successful battle; they were not. They were being beaten badly by the sorcerers. What the warriors' guild had in strength, they lacked in speed, ultimately the defining factor in the battle with the sorcerers and the rogues.

Even so both teams had lost vital members as the battle was nearing the end. It was Anna and Declan who once again teamed up. Something that did not go unnoticed by the Onyx family. The two of them were fighting Vin. Fan had just been eliminated by a blast of fire from Declan. Declan was a fire and earth specialist when it came to magic. He had both affinities making it likely that he would become a lava wizard, as his class evolution. This, in many ways, is what made him and Anna such a powerful couple.

The pair complemented each other’s weaknesses as Anna was a Blizzard Witch. As her affinity to Ice and Water was so strong. Anna had been hiding her true power however, as she had lied about what her last name was when attending Arcross. That ruse fell the second the announcer called her name and of course, he dad came to watch this match. Anna started using onyx stones more in her fighting style. She could conjure hailstorms and rather than hail falling it would be frozen chunks of onyx, making the damage much deadlier.

She could make snowballs where the center of the snowball was an onyx stone frozen over. Anna began doing this in this particular battle, she couldn’t do the same thing with Piper because Piper had the same ability to manipulate onyx. Definitely not to the spell-casting way that Anna could. Anna had eliminated Fan with the onyx hailstorm. Believing that Fan likely thought the hail would not do too much damage to him with his enhanced strength and vitality. If it were normal hail and Anna was 2-star that would be the case but neither of that were true.

The battle showed that the end was near when Vintoar slipped in mud and lost his footing. He was now stumbling on the back foot as Declan shot fire ball after fire ball. Vin could block on so many as his stamina quickly drained. An ice ball from Anna created the small bubble shield and sent Vin back to the locker rooms. They did it.

“What an excellent battle!! Team Sorcerer are this year’s Third place finishers!!” The announcer boomed. The crowd cheered loudly as they had just watched another extraordinary battle. Many spectators were discussing how this was the best set of battles that they had seen in many years. They could not remember powerful individuals such as Anna, Piper, Levi, and Fan before all-in-one tournament. It was truly a treat to be watching this year's battle of the guilds.

That buzz kept growing as the battleground began to change once more. Preparations for the final battle of this wonderful tournament were underway, and shortly, it would be underway.

Anna and Declan were freshly showered and were on their way to the press box that the Onyx and Vendular families were present when they were stopped by Fantoar.

“That was a great battle,” Fan said, shaking Declan’s hand. “I had no idea you could manipulate onyx like that.” Fan’s expression or tone showed no hard feelings. He genuinely was happy with how the battle went.

“Thanks Fan,” Anna said. “It was a great battle.”

“Who do you think will win? Piper or Levi?” Fan asked.

“Honestly,” Anna said. “Levi.” Declan turned in surprise at that response. He thought for sure that Anna would have said Piper. He thought Piper would win. Fantoar was close and they were the slower opponent. “Do you not agree?” Anna asked Declan looking at his face.

“No,” Declan said. “I think Piper would win. The same reason we lost to the Rogues. They are faster than you all.” Declan said, gesturing to the minotaurs. “Not as powerful sure, but all they need to do is close the gap, and Levi is screwed. His staff is strong, but it deals no damage besides blunt force.”

“I understand,” Anna said. “But I have learned to never underestimate Levi. I am quite sure he will find a way to make up for that difference. I am also positive he can see trap rituals, so Piper won’t be able to set too many.”

“Does Piper know that?” Fan asked.

“Maybe,” Anna said. “But he did use those weird creatures to fight destroy the other rituals. Come, we can continue this discussion in the viewing box my family has.” Anna gestured for the brothers to follow. Understanding who they would be encountering in the room was nerve-wracking, but they knew better than to reject the offer of a princess. The three of them shared a look and did as they were told.

“Anna,” Leandro said. “You fought brilliantly! Ahh as did you young master Raya.” The king gave his daughter a warm hug and Declan a firm handshake. He looked at the three minotaurs standing awkwardly at the door. “Come in come in, you three fought valiantly! In both battles!” The king shook each of the minotaur's hands and introduced them to the rest of the people in the family. Karin, the youngest sister, looked at Fan with a big smile. She noticed how uncomfortable the big minotaur was. She patted the seat next to him and leaned over once he sat down.

“We have a silent bet going around on the victor,” she said. “Would you want in on the action? I totally think Piper is going to kick Levi’s…” she paused and saw her mother shooting daggers at her. “Butt,” Karin said rather unconvincingly. Fan chuckled and began to relax.

“I think so too,” Fan said. “Levi is an excellent combatant, but Piper is much better, and she is faster.”

“She’ll have to do it quick,” Trey said. “Once Levi gets going, he’s hard to stop.”

“That is true!” Leandro agreed. “She’ll have to be smart. This environment gives Levi the advantage.” The battleground was a snowy mountain scape. Shin-high snow covered the battleground. There were a few very tall trees and an ice-cold river splitting the halves again. There weren’t many places to hide but Levi could definitely find a way to make use of the snowy landscape. The rogues would have a harder time navigating through the snow and it would slow down their movement.

“Interesting choice,” Trey said. “It almost seems as compensation for Levi’s other fight.”

“Indeed,” Leandro nodded.

“And here we are! The final battle of this year’s Battle of the guilds!!! You know the teams, you know the rules, you know the stakes! SO, without further ado! LETS BATTLE!” the announcer boomed.

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“Good luck, Piper,” Levi said. Knowing that no one but his familiars could hear him. “Alright, gang, let’s do this. Dameion, go scout and let us know what you find. Crystal and Willow set up lighting traps in the snow.” The three entities left to go do their instructed jobs. The wisps would split into their swarm form and then send lightning currents between their bodies. They took off and hid deep in the snow and began their current.

Levi spent the next few moments waiting for his scout to come back with information on how to best use Serenity. The plan they came up with would likely be vital but would require a lot of coordination. For this battle, Anza would stay fused with Levi; her added bonus of protection against physical attacks would be vital. Vapor used the white snow to her advantage and created a deep fog that spread throughout most of the battle ground giving the illusion that Levi was stalking through the forest.

Piper set up her rituals to enhance her teammates. Everyone was ready for their fight and was eager to take down the lowly summoner. Raphael had been talking nonstop about how they were going to beat down Levi and show how real magic users do it. Piper knew getting him to be humble was not going to work with words, that was not who he was. He was a cocky man who never took losing well.

After they were all set with their rituals, they all took off into the snow forest. The trees were too far apart for them to jump from tree to tree. They had to trek slowly through the snow. Thankfully, the ritual Piper had used had allowed them to step on snow without sinking as deep; it was now akin to running in sand. As they approached the ice-cold river, a dense fog took over the other side.

“He thinks that the fog will help him,” Raphael said. “He is a bigger idiot than I thought, we are Rogues, hiding is what we do.”

The rest of the rogue team did not share that same level of confidence that he did about being an idiot in the fog. As they continued to step forward Piper heard something whistling in the air.

“Watch out,” Piper called. Fire orbs were being sent out of the fog. The were sizzling past the rogues overhead. They were larger than Levi could conjure so this had to be a summon. Levi had summoned five fire elementals and lined them up; they all launched their fire balls at the same time repeatedly.

Levi was on the back of Serenity in the air. Dameion was orbiting around them in a much larger black hole. Usually, Dameion was the size of a basketball; now, he was the size of a truck tire. The black singularity was big and could now absorb attacks. The light blue accretion disk was orbiting faster than usual as Dameion had prepared to absorb any attack while Levi was flying above.

Summoning the five elementals didn’t take too much of his mana, which was good. He spotted where the rest of Rogues were and sent orbs of chaos raining down from above them. The orbs were fired with force, and every impact on the ground was enough to cause a small crater and explosion. The rogues moved quickly as they were being attacked; they started dodging fireballs and chaos orbs, but they were too distracted to see the wisps in the ground.

Sally screamed and seized up as she was electrocuted. The bubble shield appeared around her in a moment as she fell to the ground. It sent her back to the locker room. This happened to two of the other Rogue members. Raphael and Piper were all that remained. Raphael had spotted Levi flying in the sky. He climbed a tree and flung several ninja stars at the dragon. As the stars got close, they rerouted their course and were absorbed by the strange familiar that Levi had.

Raphael cursed throwing objects would be ineffective, or so he thought. He remembered he had an item. He pulled out a special ninja star. It had a tag attached to it, Raphael threw the ninja star and like the others it was absorbed by the familiar. A small explosion happened inside Dameion. Raphael smiled at what he had just done. The tag was a magically activated bomb that dealt definite force damage. This would be able to harm entities such as Dameion. The smile quickly faded from his face as he saw nothing happen to the familiar. It simply absorbed the damage, and nothing changed.

“Dameion,” Serenity said. “Will be unable to absorb anything else. This strategy has been rendered ineffective.”

“Heard,” Levi said. “Next phase.” Serenity fused with Levi as did Dameion. Levi was free falling down to the ground a cloud formed under Levi and he stood up right and floated slowly to the ground. Piper saw his decent and began conjuring several trap rituals, all with different effects. She needed to drain his mana, that would be the only way they could win.

Raphael charged Levi, still enhanced with speed and strength he ran over the snow with ease taking care to avoid the lightning. As he got closer, he threw his ninja stars, some of them landed, most of them missed. Levi grimaced as the sharp objects dug into his flesh. Raphael pulled out two daggers and activated an ability he had, his speed increased, and his eyes turned solid blue. Running full speed with a predatory grin he launched himself at Levi. They were engaging in a one-on-one battle, while Piper was trying to draw ritual circles under Levi.

Levi pulled out his staff and expertly dodged every attack that Raphael sent at him despite being slower. Raphael would slash, stab, and lunge with different feints and counters. He was unable to find an opening, but he was patient. He constantly waited for the right moment before he could attack, he saw it as Levi looked at his feet and saw a ritual circle being formed. Raphael stabbed Levi in the side with the dagger.

Levi grunted in pain as he looked at the dagger pulsating in his side. It exploded. Levi’s flesh was gone, but under was a metallic looking flesh protecting his bones and insides. For a second Levi looked like a cyborg and it caught Raphael off guard. Levi smiled at the look and used that moment to conjure and fire two orbs of chaos. The orbs were direct hits as Raphael was too distracted that he hadn’t killed Levi to dodge. The bubble shield appeared, and Raphael was out of the fight.

Piper threw her kunai knives as Levi was dodging each ritual circle she attempted to draw. Crystal and Willow got out of the ground and now did the same thing above ground. Piper looked at where they were going and expertly dodged every current of lightning. It looked like she was a professional thief dodging lasers in an action movie. Piper was too busy dodging to notice that the wisps were forming a ritual circle, which Piper didn’t even notice that was possible.

There was a bright light in the center of the circle that Piper saw in disbelief. This was a complex ritual circle, not only a 3-star complex but there were five different shapes. The bright center kept growing and it was clear now that a massive wisps the size of a human had been summoned. It was plasma yellow, it looked at Piper created a massive bolt of lightning and threw it at her. Piper’s bubble shield prevented the attack from landing; she slumped as the bubble shield took her away.

“What was it you said about beating him?” Sally asked as they watched Piper get sent back to the locker room.

“He’s some kind of metal beast; how was I supposed to know?” Raphael defended himself.

“He’s human,” Piper said. “That was his familiar.”

“We have a winner,” the announcer boomed. Levi Winters from the summoners guild!!!” Levi didn’t stay and wave at anyone, as most people were silent. No one actually wanted him to win. Back in the locker room, he looked at his missing skin and muscles.

“This is disgusting,” Levi said. “How did this even happen?” Levi’s ability to not pass out from seeing blood had increased since reaching higher ranks. It still was awful to look at, but he wasn’t going to faint. The pain that Levi was experiencing was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He wasn’t even sure how he hadn’t fainted from that pain. He drew a small ritual circle of healing in the shower area. He did it there because the ritual was not neat. It would leave a very bloody mess.

Red beams of light shot out of the ritual circle, the lights scanned his whole body and found the wounds. A small laser-like light appeared and started regrowing the lost skin and muscles that Levi had blown up. Blood and red substances sprayed all over the place like pressure washing a driveway. Levi gritted his teeth at the stingy pain in his side. Eventually the pain died down as the skin had regrown and the bleeding stopped. Levi sighed a sigh of relief and his breathing returned to normal.

Now, all the feelings of pride could wash over him. He sat on the ground, excited for what he had just accomplished. He tried to hide his smile, but it was too strong to stop. Levi had just done what people thought was impossible. He won the battle of the guilds solo.