Manuel was astonished!
'How did he manage to hit me through the barrier of lightning?!?'
His martial art focused on defense, logically speaking, it had to match Noah's attacks.
However, Noah still successfully hit him.
He didn't know that after his second time witnessing that technique, Noah could clearly see through its weak spots.
'Being a rank 2 mage is wonderful. The speed of my thoughts increased drastically and I can notice details that I was completely ignorant about!'
He felt that he could see through everything!
Some merit must be addressed to his battle experience though, seeing a weakness and exploiting it were two different things after all.
"Do you surrender or you want to see if my "Breath" will last till I hit your throat?"
Noah mocked him with his own words.
He was holding back, not using any of his new spells.
He was sure that, after that match, his name would be widely known so he wanted to hide at all cost his power and, most importantly, the nature of his element.
Echo could be considered a simple puppet, just black in color.
The Shadow steps spell was hard to distinguish from rank 0 movement spells of other elements.
His martial art was quite peculiar but, since his basic forms came from the Nails of the Kamaitachi art, he could be misjudged for a cultivator of the wind element.
Even if they had their suspects though, it was unlikely that a simple rumor would reach the ears of the Balvan family.
That's why he would rather take a fast win instead of protracting the fight.
If Manuel did a mistake because of his mockery, he was confident that he could transform it into a winning blow.
Manuel didn't take the bait but pointed his sword again at Noah.
Thunderbolts shot instantly from it but Noah simply jumped back in the air and again shortened the distance between them through his flight.
In a few minutes, Noah was in front of Manuel and the latter had to resort to his barrier of lightning to evade his assault.
They were separated again but, that time, Manuel had two deep cuts on his legs.
He was also quite pale as he launched more than twenty spells without having any time to recover.
'His mental energy shouldn't be enough to continue with this tactic. What exactly is his plan?'
Noah was suspicious.
His opponent wasn't panicking nor was he resorting to reckless attacks.
Manuel's eyes were calm and focused, not those of someone that had given up.
Manuel raised his sword again a resumed launching spells.
The events occurred in the same way as before: Noah flew in the air, dodging his attacks and slowly neared his opponent.
However, as Noah was about to attack him, Manuel planted his weapon in the terrain.
A big explosion occurred as a thunderstorm expanded from the handle of his sword to the surroundings.
Yet, Noah was expecting something like that and calmly decided to enter Echo's body to withstand its might.
Echo was destroyed multiple times due to the storm and many sparks landed on Noah's body, burning and cracking his skin.
Nevertheless, Noah's eyes never flickered and remained fixed on the center of the spell.
He lunged with his right saber and stopped it as soon as it reached Manuel's throat.
Manuel raised his head and smiled madly, continuing to fuel his spell.
'This fool would rather break the rules and kill me than admit his defeat!'
Noah had deliberately chosen to not use any of his other spells and endure the attack with his body but, in the end, he found himself in that situation.
His eyes shone with a dark light as he hastily focused the entire might of his mental sphere on Manuel.
What Manuel felt in that moment, was a cold pressure assaulting his mental sphere.
As soon as a crack appeared on his sphere, the spell stopped and he fainted on the spot.
The thunderstorm vanished, revealing Noah completely covered with injuries and Manuel lying unconscious at his feet.
The crowd was silent for a moment before exploding in a loud commotion.
Noah, however, emitted pure anger from every part of his body with his killing intent clearly focused on the youth below him.
"Enough, you won."
Thaddeus appeared next to him and spoke in a soft voice.
Noah didn't raise his head but retracted his pressure.
"It's funny that you didn't stop him when my saber was on his throat."
Noah said in a plain tone, finally facing the Professor and showing him a wide fake smile.
"If you want to probe me, you should at least send Daniel."
He continued and then he simply turned toward the exit of the arena.
Thaddeus' eyes glowed with a dark light as he stared at the departing youth covered in his own blood.
Lynn appeared next to him and pressed a hand on Manuel's head.
"It's just a small injury but he needs at least one month of complete rest."
Thaddeus nodded without moving his gaze from the direction where Noah had gone.
"So, he has really done it, rank 2 mage before eighteen, unbelievable. Do you really not know to which level of proficiency his other spells are?"
Lynn shook his head.
"No, and, as you saw, he is careful not to expose his full strength. Are you sure that it was for the best to let Manuel continue?"
Thaddeus moved at last and threw a rune over Manuel's body, making him disappear on the spot.
"I had to know the extent of his growth."
"What if he ends to hate the academy?"
"He needs us and he knows that we need him for the Royal inheritance. We shouldn't push him too much though, it will be a pity if we really lose someone that can match Daniel's talent."
Thaddeus' thoughts concerned the bigger picture of the country.
With Daniel as the champion of the new generations of the noble families, the Royals needed someone that could match him in strength and talent.
However, Noah couldn't care less about the politic scene of the continent and walked with his body covered in blood toward the source of the river.