Xiu Li frowned at the one standing up from their seat. He hadn't expected the person to be the one who would challenge him next.
[Rank 2 is challenging Rank 1. Wei Xiu Li, Will you accept the challenge?]
"I accept."
[May you enter the Arena.]
Just like the prior matches, the instruction was unneeded. Even before the announcer finished her sentence, the challenger had already entered the Arena.
"That Magic of yours has successfully attracted my attention. I'm glad you didn't refuse my challenge," the challenger exclaimed. Xiu Li didn't immediately response. He took a good look at the challenger, "I have thought you weren't interested in tournament, Brother."
"Hahaha! The competition was so intense that I couldn't find the perfect moment to jump in. Also, you can call me by my name."
"Very well, Brother Kinsey."
Frowning his forehead, Kinsey gazed at Xiu Li in confusion. He was sure he had told the kid to call him by his name, but the kid didn't listen to him.
"Why are you being so polite? Just call me by my name! We are of the same peers after all." Kinsey thought that he wasn't being sincere enough. Therefore, he stretched his mouth as wide as he could to bring out the most amiable face he had.
Sadly, it looked terrifying to the onlookers. Xiu Li smiled wryly, before replying, "Being polite is one of our culture in the East. It's not that I don't want to be a good friend with you, but I just want to show you my respect."
"Ooohhh... Okay! You can call me whatever you want!"
Xiu Li shook his head in faint amusement. Every participants he had seen had been either lunatics or the silent type like Basil. Seeing such a cheerful personality on his fellow participants was a first.
Still, he couldn't let his guard down around Kinsey. He felt something repulsive from Kinsey that he couldn't quite point his finger to. Shaking his head lightly to clear the unnecessary thoughts, he looked at the referee.
Having a brief time to talk before a Battle was kind of a tradition in the West. However, Xiu Li felt the referee gave them too much leeway. In the East, making a referee wait was unforgivable! It was one of a culture shock that he couldn't quite cope with.
"I won't say much. By this time, you've figured everything out by yourself. So..." Raising his hand to the air, the referee then brought it down firmly and exclaimed, "Begin!"
Swish!
Xiu Li took a distance away from Kinsey. However, Kinsey was motionless. He stood in his position like a statue, while staring at Xiu Li in wonder.
"Why are you Spellcasters so afraid of us Battle Mage?"
"As a Mage we shall not afraid of anything. However, we have to fight in our area of expertise."
"Ah, that is a brilliant answer!"
Xiu Li kept his mouth shut. He had to show his courtesy to keep the fact that Kinsey wasn't really bright to himself. Materializing his Grimoire, Xiu Li flipped the page open.
"Oh, that is cool! It always fascinates me whenever I see it happening in front of my eyes!"
Xiu Li tuned out everything Kinsey said. He didn't care if Kinsey was too fascinated to counterattack. The more Kinsey was unaware of his own trance, the faster he could end the match.
"[Ground of Nightmare]!"
Boom!
Three Magic Circles revealed themselves behind Xiu Li's back. Mana surged and the Spell he had casted activated. The ground where Kinsey was standing surged upward and targeted every vital parts of his body.
"Holy cow! These earthen spikes have no mercy at all!" Kinsey cursed loudly. Each time he stepped his foot on the ground, there would be spikes surging upward. "These bastards are targeting my 'future' too!" Thus, he was was forced to jump here and there.
Despite the gruesome outcome that might happen, the audiences could relax themselves. Kinsey's commentary on each what was happening to him was enough to crack them up.
Normally, they wouldn't. However, the mood had been depressive for the previous matches. Therefore, looking at Kinsey's comical way to cope with his predicament was a good mood change.
"Darn! I have to do something about this! [Inferno]!"
Kinsey swung the axe on his back forward and an extreme amount of fire surged.
Burst!
The ground below the airborne Kinsey was quickly engulfed by the raging crimson fire. The fire was so big that it even engulfed Xiu Li. Luckily, he was quick to prepare a defensive Spell.
In the other hand however, Kinsey was cursing to himself.
"Bloody hell! How am I going to survive this?!"
Human can't fly. To do that, human have to use something like Magic or anything that makes them able to fly. Unfortunately, Kinsey had no such luxury. Looking at the burning ground, his face contorted comically.
"I'm going to be completely roasted when I touch the ground!"
Being the less bright person he was, he was cursing incessantly, rather than thinking of the way to survive. It wasn't until his clothes were close to touch the fire did he figure something out.
"Oh, I get it!" Stretching his Mana to the raging fire, he dissolved the Spell he had casted on them. Instantly, the fire disappeared like a lie. "Aha! Got you— crap!" It would've been a perfect moment to land gallantly, if not for the fact that he tripped himself.
Luckily, the ground was completely charred in black. Therefore, there was no more earthen spike coming at him as he had completely changed the ground structure.
"Kuuhh! I am safe!" Puffing his chest, he sent his gaze at Xiu Li pridefully. Only then did he realize the dumbfounded Xiu Li, and the silent audiences. Scratching his head awkwardly, he muttered, "What the hell?"
"What have I just witnessed?"
"This is miracle a miracle!"
One by one the audiences started to exclaim amongst themselves.
"Oh, boy... There is a saying that says, 'A hundred fortune signifies the coming of a great calamity!' I'm afraid this is one of that. It's a curse!"
"Dude! What in the bloody hell are you saying?! At least we get to enjoy the fortune first!"
"No, you don't understand!"
"How about the two of you shut your bloody mouth?!"
The two loud people instantly shut their mouths when Ansley exclaimed in irritation. If one were to pay them close attention, one would notice they were the same person that had tainted everyone's mind with the image of the cute Basil.
"Huuh.. youngsters these days," Ansley sighed to himself. Throwing back his gaze at Kinsey he muttered in amazement, "Yet another genius is born in our Kingdom. To be able to use [Inferno] with three Magic Circles... Amazing!"
Darwin, Ansley's friend, also chimed in, "I'm not pretty impressed with his ability to cast a Spell with his lacking Magic Circles. Instead, I'm impressed with how he erased the fire."
Ansley recoiled in surprise, then looked at the frowning Darwin, "Now that you said about it... It shouldn't normally be possible, right?" Darwin's only response was a faint nod. As if on cue, the two people's attention returned to the arena.
"Why are you so surprised, Xiu Li? I get to cast [Inferno] too, because Fire is my affinity!"
"Umm.. no, it is not the case. How could you do that?"
"This?"
Kinsey merely swung his sword and [Inferno] was casted without any casting. Xiu Li widened his eyes. Kinsey was a Battle Mage. Such a thing should be impossible for a Battle Mage who wasn't very versed in Spell Casting!
"How?! This is.. this is not Magic. Such a thing resembles..."
"Daoism? No, it is not Daoism, Xiu Li."
"Then..."
"Shush! Rather than discussing it, why don't you figure it out?"
Xiu Li was about to open his mouth when suddenly a sickening feeling was stretched out of Kinsey's entire existence. Xiu Li's mind went in disarray. A sickening thought that he had never thought he had was filling his head.
Clutching his head, he infused as much Mana as he could to wake his bewitched mind. Luckily, he managed to clear his thoughts from those sickening thoughts after some time. Coming after that was a realization. Looking at Kinsey with heated eyes, Xiu Li shouted indignantly.
"It was all your doing, wasn't it?!"
"Hoh? You have a strong mind."
Kinsey's only reaction at his outburst was an amazement.
"You! To do such a thing..."
Xiu Li gritted his teeth. The man in front of him, Kinsey, was the cause of the unnecessary deaths that had happened. Xiu Li was extremely enraged. Thus, he forgot his self-restraint.
"[Black Coffin]!"
A Spell was casted, and black sand emerged from the ground, before turning into blocks of dense iron. Swiftly moving toward Kinsey like a dolphin in the ocean, they surrounded Kinsey from each side.
Kinsey merely smirked, and proceeded to move his feet. However, he quickly found that he couldn't. Looking down, he could see his feet were shackled with dense iron that had magically emerged from the ground.
"Smart. Still, if you think— bloody hell!"
He was about to comment that he could still fend the attack when the two parts of the dense iron coffin of his size surrounded him from the back and the front. The only thing that caught his attention was the pointy spikes attached on the inside.
Quickly swinging his axe downward to free his feet, he thought he could break it in one swing. Sadly, reality often disappoints people.
Clank!
"It's exceptionally dense?! Motherfu—!"
Boom!
He couldn't even finish his word as the coffin encased his body. The audiences flinched at that display as they were unconsciously thinking what would they feel if they were Kinsey.
Such a death must be painful. Encased with a coffin while being stabbed by countless iron spikes. Imagining the horror Kinsey must have gotten when he watched the spike slowly pierced his eyeballs made them shudder.
Still, Xiu Li was unmoved. He tightened the coffin even more to the point of flattening it. His eyes were as cold as a deep abyss. However, he knew he was anxious deep inside. He couldn't see any blood coming out of the coffin!
Sighing to himself, he stretched his Mana Sense forward.
"Where are—"
"That was a nice attack!"
"!!!"
Bam!
Xiu Li was punched, and thrown away by the time he turned his body toward the speaker. He couldn't quite understand the situation, however Kinsey had magically appeared behind his back.
Skid!
Stopping his unruly flight with his feet, Xiu Li clutched his chest while looking at the nonchalant Kinsey.
"Oh? I thought you would faint by that punch. As expected of a former Daoist Disciple, you got a strong physique!"
"How?"
"Oh, that was easy! I have told you that my affinity was fire, haven't I? I just melted your shackle on me."
"That should be impossible.. I have tempered the iron with fire—"
"Very bold of you to assume your fire is stronger than mine."
"That is—"
"Well, I don't care. Let's fight!"
Kinsey shrugged his shoulders once, then wielded his axe once again. This time, his body expanded and his axe was covered in fire. The air visibly distorted due to the heat, and the audiences gasped in terror and amazement.
Some of them still couldn't wrap their heads around what had happened, while the others who were quick to catch up were afraid of the same roasted human tragedy would happen to Xiu Li.
"Using fire against fire will be useless. Mine is definitely weaker than his. I can only use Fire Magic to defend myself, and use Iron Magic to attack. Let's hope for the best."
Xiu Li clenched his fist and straightened his posture. Gazing ahead, he extended his hand forward. Grimoire materialized, and his Magic Circles shone even brighter than before. And then, a shocking thing happened.
His second Magic Circle trembled. It was rotating itself, and the pattern was constantly changing. Each second, the Mana surrounding Xiu Li was turning denser. When the second Magic Circle stopped trembling and rotating, a new Magic Circle was born.
"Another Grand Circle! He has two Grand Circles!"
"So, he was fighting with sealed power all of this time?!"
"Cheating, that's basically cheating!"
Xiu Li, who became the center of everyone's attention frowned. He couldn't understand why the audiences reacted so loudly. Like him, Basil also had two Grand Circles. Why did they react like they had never seen two Grand Circles in someone?
The answer was simple. Basil was a Second Circle Mage, while he was a Third Circle Mage. Even up to this time, people still prefer quantity over quality. However, Xiu Li didn't know that.
"Great trick. Well, best of luck, I guess?"
Kinsey smirked playfully and stepped forward. His Mana surged, and his feet were covered in fire. Grinning brightly at Xiu Li, he shot forward with an insane speed, leaving the ground lifted upward as an aftermath.
Burst!
Xiu Li was calm, he had foreseen that to happen. Therefore, he had casted his best defensive Spell that incorporated his Fire Magic and Iron Magic. Kinsey was getting closer. He could feel the heat was getting stronger the closer Kinsey got.
Then, Kinsey finally arrived in front of him. He could see Kinsey swung that large axe of his at him slowly. An impending doom assaulted him, and suddenly his eyes widened. Quickly following the instruction in his mind, he shouted loudly.
"I forfeit!"
It was loud and clear, however Kinsey was too close to stop his advance. Therefore, the audiences could do nothing but to close their eyes, while expecting the worse outcome.
Clank!
Boom!
A loud explosion occured and the arena was engulfed in a raging fire. Every experienced Mages opened their eyes widely and planted their gaze to the arena. The fire slowly died down, then revealed the ruined state of the arena.
The ground was completely scorched and a deep hole was created. However, none of that attracted their attention. Their attention was on the young man beside the unharmed Xiu Li with his sword extended, blocking the advance of Kinsey's axe.
"I, Basil Pacifer, challenge Kinsey of the First Rank."
The arena couldn't be any silent after his declaration.
