After a couple of minutes, all of the matches were done. Astra had seen a lot of different types of battles.
Some mages were just chanting one long spell and finished the match in one move. There were some who had low mana pools and began slugging it out with fists and kicks after a single spell. The ones that lasted longer were the people who were running around and casting small balls of magic.
“Look at the person next to you. Fight again. Same rules as before.” The instructor bellowed.
Astra looked at the person next to him. The teenager was as tall as him and held a seven-foot long spear. The teenager grinned at him and started walking towards the stage.
Astra followed behind.
The teenager twirled his spear several times and got into an offensive stance.
Very intimidating, Astra thought. It seems like the teenager had practiced a lot with the spear.
“START!”
The teenager threw his spear at Astra’s head and sprinted forward.
“???” Astra sidestepped the spear reflexively. Why would the teenager throw his spear? Wasn’t that his only weapon?
Astra looked in front of him and saw the teenager two meters in front of him.
Was the teenager going to fight Astra bare-fisted? Astra took a defensive stance, not willing to take the risk.
The teenager jumped in the air.
Suddenly, a spear appeared in his hands.
“What?!” How did another spear appear in the teenager’s hands? Astra parried the blow and quickly rolled to the side. Astra instantly got up and distanced himself.
Astra looked behind him, “The barrier!”
“Shame.” The teenager grinned at Astra. The teenager had finished his first match by using this exact move. His opponent had let his guard down and prepared to attack the teenager with a spell but was suddenly struck by a seven-foot long spear which appeared out of nowhere.
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The teenager continued throwing the spear and catching it off the barrier.
The spear was too fast. Astra was barely able to dodge it.
The teenager caught the spear and spun around, firing the spear continuously off the barrier. The ricochet had helped the spear sped up so much that a loud boom could be heard every time the barrier was struck.
Astra focused on the spear. He had to get used to the speed quickly, or it would pierce right through him. It was a battle of reactions. Every time the spear flew back, the teenager also had to catch the spear before throwing it back. If Astra just focused on dodging, he should be able to last to the point where the teenager couldn’t grab the spear anymore.
The teenager seemed to have read Astra’s thoughts. He caught the spear and twirled it around to kill off the momentum.
“Nice reactions.” The teenager complimented.
“Tha-”
Before Astra could finish his sentence, the teenager stabbed into the ground.
“Heed my call, Earth fissure!”
Spikes of rock came from the ground and headed towards Astra.
Astra leaped to the right but was cut off by another row of rock spikes. He was trapped between the spikes and had nowhere to go.
Astra fired off a fireball, waterball, and windball at the teenager.
“What the heck? Triple elements?” The teenager gasped in shock.
“Protect me from my foe, Earth wall!” The teenagers stabbed the ground again, and a massive wall came in front of him, blocking all of Astra’s attacks.
“Tsk.” Astra did not have the luxury of having someone teach him any spells. His attacks were too basic and did very little damage.
Astra was afraid of making this a melee battle. The spear obviously had more reach, and the teenager’s twirling demonstrated mastery over the weapon.
The only thing Astra had left was the huge mana pool that he had and the sword that he held.
Astra circulated all of his mana through the sword and used it as a wand.
The Sword of Gale had a bright, white glow around it. It was as if the sword was happy that it was fighting.
“WATERBALL, FIRESLASH, WINDBALL, WATERSLASH, FIREBALL, WINDSLASH!!!”
It took all of these spells to crack apart the earth wall. Astra continued the barrage of magic.
“Ugh…EARTH WALL!” The teenager kept on stabbing the ground, forming a layer of walls in front of him.
An instructor looked at their battle with curiosity. This was one of the most intense battles he had seen in an entrance exam. It was a pity that the fight was about to end.
Astra continued his bombardment while the teenager put up his earth walls.
“Urgh…” Astra groaned. His mana pool was almost depleted. If this continued any longer, Astra would pass out soon.
Suddenly, the teenager yelled.
“Stop! Stop! I surrender!”
“Finally,” Astra sighed a breath of relief and released the ball of wind that was at the tip of his sword.
The badly cracked earth wall in front of the teenager fell apart on its own.
The instructor signaled the end of the battle, “Arena eighty-seven finished!”