Master Hector finally signalled to the students, indicating that the allotted time had come to a pass.
Eight young clansmen who were ready to participate stepped forward into the rectangular stages, forming two rows and two columns. There were four in total, each one of them split apart from each other by ten meters, so that each sparring match wouldn't interfere with one another. Each rectangular stage traced out of red chalk was measured at six meters wide by fifteen meters in length.
Paul and Gent situated themselves in the right bottom stage. They stood at the very ends of the stage, as they faced each other.
The other six students filled up the rest of the stages ready to commence their battle. Among them the most notable was Dylan, sparring against Aldering.
Once Master Hector saw the students in their positions, he motioned for them to start.
"You may begin."
Swoosh
Gent wasted no time, he directly activated his Wind Blade spell against Paul.
Paul wasn't too surprised about this, he already prepared himself to dodge. He turned his torso to the right, dodging masterfully the half-meter Wind Blade that approached him.
Once the danger passed, he lunged forward in order to get close to Gent, while he channeled his mana.
"From the looks of it, I can suspect that he used Wind Blade as his heart spell." Paul wasn't too sure, but it was the most likely scenario, just in case if true, he was preparing his defensive spell.
Seeing Paul closing in, Gent used another Wind Blade to stop his momentum. He knew that Paul's strength came in the realms of close combat, he had long been acquainted with that fact.
Seeing the Wind Blade come in, Paul first tried to dodge to the side, but due to his momentum if he did, he would fall to the ground, leaving him vulnerable, so he decided to release his Wind Wall spell.
Fwoo
The Wind Blade collided against the Wind Wall. Right as they impacted each other, they both disintegrated in the air, cancelling each other.
Paul continued to get closer, channeling his mana once again. He was worried that with his mana reserves, the fight would end. He only had 38% mana capacity, and every spell took 7% out of his mana, he could only use a spell five times. Unlike Gent who held a Diamond fissure, which indicated his mana sea being at least 60%, meaning at the very least he could cast eight times.
"Since you want to get close to me, why don't I do you the favor?" After some thinking, Gent came up with a strategy.
He didn't shy away from Paul, coming closer to him with a confident smile that didn't put Paul in his eyes.
"Hmph!" Paul, not deterred, continued with his pursuit.
From the previous exchange, he now confirmed that Gent's heart spell was indeed Wind Blade.
Paul slowed down, he was now within two steps of Gent, he didn't want to be disrupted by the momentum of his run.
Gent straightened his right hand, aiming it at Paul's torso.
"Danger!"
Paul, as a reflex, released his Wind Wall spell. Following that, he stopped in his tracks.
"Hm?" Paul grew puzzled, nothing had collided with his defensive spell.
"Haha, you thought I was going to attack?" Gent sneered. "How predictable."
Gent faked a casting, in order for Paul to put on his defenses!
He lowered his arm and rapidly moved slightly towards the left.
Swoosh
Blood gushed out of the left calf of Paul!
A wound appeared as if it was done by a sharp knife. Paul felt the pain from his right leg rush towards his brain, thanks to the bloody slicing wound, he now felt it was harder to stand.
Gent, instead of striking his opponent's torso, faked his attack and attacked his lower body. He was already at a slight angle when he was approaching Paul head-on, all he had to do was to aim at more of an angle. He didn't want to cause a wound straight on, as it would only hit his shin, which wouldn't have much negative effects if he hit the muscle itself.
Paul narrowed his eyes from the pain Gent had inflicted on him. He didn't have enough time to react to such an attack, if he had time, he would move his Wind Wall spell to his lower body.
This was the advantage of a heart spell!
Paul grunted, pushing the Wind Wall towards Gent. The defensive spell had the main use of being a defensive type spell, its properties were that it could move at one meter from the place it was casted, so Paul could move it around his body within a certain distance. After getting hit by Gent's move, he didn't react fast enough for him to cover the attack, so now he decided to launch it forward to prevent any upcoming barrages.
Gent was still two steps away from Paul, the Wind Wall quickly obstructed him from continuing with another attack. He now had two choices: to either destroy it or move to the side. He chose the most sensible option, not wanting to waste more of his mana.
Despite the pain, Paul continued on strong, he smiled inwardly, he now saw an opening!
Woooh
Paul's figure turned into a blur. As Gent blinked, Paul had disappeared from his vision, Paul had already vanished from the scene. A slight breeze swept past him, and in the same breath, he felt a figure looking down on him at his back, casting a shadow that covered his entire body.
The onlookers looked at this match with focus, it was just a moment ago that Gent held the advantage, managing to injure Paul, but now the tables had seemed to completely switch upon itself.
Gent, noticing the absence of his adversary, tried to look back, only managing to see half the body of Paul who stood behind him, but it was too late to do anything, he now felt the force of gravity punching on him, his body was rapidly descending to the ground, Gent tried to put his arms at the front of his body in order to cushion the incoming clash.
Paul smirked: "Am I too fast for brother Gent?"
Tsk. Gent grumbled, as he tried to cast his gaze towards his opponent, as he continued his descent.
Paul's heart spell all along was Breeze Steps!
Paul had waited for an opportunity to get in range, three meters, and for Gent to be in a situation in which he wouldn't be able to react fast enough.
It all came together, when Gent was just two steps away from him, and thought he held the advantage.
Thud
Gent's body hit the stone floor, he had landed on both of his knees and arms, softening his fall. If he stayed on the floor, he knew that it wouldn't be long before he was defeated, so he quickly tried to get up as quickly as he could.
But, would Paul let this happen?
With his left leg, he kicked Gent in the stomach. The force was so great that Gent's body rolled on the floor thrice.
Gent's expression tightened severely, he spat saliva due to the impact, his stomach now felt as if a thunderbolt had struck him. He subconsciously placed his arms into his stomach, as if trying to quell the pain that came from his stomach.
Paul, from above, looked at the injured Gent, as he came closer saying, "Give up."
Gent remained silent, slowly getting up with a solemn expression, as he held his stomach with his left hand.
Seeing Gent remaining silent, Paul let another kick, but this time to his face.
"You should've accepted defeat." Paul ridiculed.
The kick seemed to be even stronger than the last one, Gents mouth now was filled with the taste of blood, as a world of pain attacked his face. The force was so great that it almost knocked him out cold. He rolled on the ground for about three steps.
The battered Gent, felt his vision blur for a second, regaining it back. He found his face planted onto the ground.
"Fuck." Gent spat out some of the blood that accumulated on his mouth to the side.
"Doesn't this take us back, brother Gent?" Paul's voice seemed to get closer. "Admit your loss."
Seeing the domineering Paul the students watched the agape mouths.
"Paul is actually beating Gent!"
"Heh, Diamond fissure? What a waste." A student ridiculed. "Hmph, if I had such a fissure that Paul guy would be kissing my feet."
A youngster looked at him, "Quit daydreaming, Kock, Bronze fissure trash."
Kock looked at the one who had insulted him with an angry tone, "Deek, you're no better with your bronze fissure, you just have a slightly better mana reserves than me."
…
Paul was inching closer to Gent, his wound still gushing blood, he had kicked him so hard that he wasn't in range for his movement spell.
Gent watched the giant that Paul seemed to be in his lowered vision, he stretched out his right hand.
Paul slowed down, he was wary that this could be another fake out from Gent, he rather wait to see if another attack came before using a spell, prefely the best option was to dodge.
Sure enough, it was only a bluff. Paul wanted to end this fight already, he moved faster, if Gent wasn't going to admit defeat he'll beat it out of him.
Once again, Paul's image began to blur, as a breeze swept against Gent, slightly fluttering his clothes and hair.
Less than the time it took one to breathe, Paul had closed in once again, hunched he appeared right on Gent's side, with a punching stance pulling back his right hand, directing it towards Gent.
Paul's punch was fully realized, its incoming might targeted towards his opponent.
At that moment, Paul winced with pain, his right hand had hit something solid that wasn't akin to the human body.
Wind Wall
Gent faked out an attack this time, not because he was expecting for Paul's defensive spell to take form and faked him out once more, but to prepare to cast his defensive spell. He now knew that Paul's advantage was in the field of movement. With his movement, Paul's style was to get up close and strike his opponent. Now that Gent saw through it, he mainly focused on defending.
Paul instinctually pulled his right arm back. His punch left cracks on the Wind Wall that Gent had cast. His punch was powerful, but not as powerful as a Wind Blade.
Gent quickly pushed his defensive spell towards Paul's face, making him be out of range for a close-range attack. Right on the heels of that, with a wave of his right wrist, a crescent-shaped Wind Blade was shot out, targeting Paul's chest.
The sequence of events was too fast for Paul to react fast enough and use his movement spell. A horizontal wound ripped through his clothes and onto his chest. Blood flowed continuously, dripping down towards the floor, the pain this time was even greater than the other attack on his calf.
The pain woke him up. Paul used his movement spell once more, appearing about three meters away, greatly separating the distance between him and Gent, using this opportunity, Gent quickly got up as he casted once again.
Swoosh
The crescent-shaped Wind Blade made its way once again towards Paul.
Paul had just used his movement spell. Gent gave him great pressure, as soon as his figure materialized into a spot, he attacked immediately.
As if Paul was a breeze sweeping past the trees, he swiftly dodged the Wind Blade, his blurred figure coming once more at a distance away from Gent.
"Didn't you tell me to give up? Now I'll return the words to you, give up, you've already exhausted your mana sea by fighting me, you have no hope left. Haha, bastard, those kicks did hurt me, I applaud you for that one, but in the end it was all you could do." Gent calmly closed in the distance, as he leisurely spoke with his bloody mouth.
Due to Paul's Silver fissure, Gent already knew that Paul could only produce five spells before his mana sea was exhausted, as he had seen it in the proficiency test. As for him, he still had the opportunity to cast twice before his mana sea was no longer usable.
Paul grabbed his chest with his hand, turning his palm bloody from the wound. He felt the blood drip down from his chest onto his lower body. The pain he felt was great, but despite that, he answered.
"I would rather get mauled by tigers than to utter such words." He smirked, as he let go of his chest, letting the blood flow freely, soaking onto his clothes, as he got into a combat stance.
Gent shrugged as he closed his eyes: "I came well advised, but I guess someone like you wouldn't listen.
"Tch, nor like this…" Paul said so himself under his breath. His pride wouldn't let him admit defeat right here and now, he had set himself a goal in this match, and he would be dead if he couldn't accomplish it.
Gent moved his right hand, ready for another casting. Before he could deal a blow to the defenseless Paul, Master Hector's voice rang out.
"Gent stop, Paul can't no longer continue, there is no point to sparring any further. As for you Paul, you can go to Master Lithia to treat your wounds. That'll be all."
Master Hector, overseeing the matches, decided to come to a stop towards this match in particular. Gent held the overwhelming advantage. On the other hand, Paul had drained all his mana. There was little he could do, and the point of the exercise was to train their spells, not win a match. He knew that the hotheaded youngsters would see it as more than training, his job was to keep those in check.
Both Paul and Gent were displeased for different reasons, Paul because he had not finished the fight with his own means, and Gent because he hadn't dealt a finishing blow.
"Brother Gent truly has a Diamond fissure after all." Kock analyzed whilst he cleared his throat.
"You two faced bastard, weren't you insulting him just now?" Deek inquired slightly amused at Kock's shamelessness.
Melissa sighed in: "What a pity, Gent won because of his superior fissure."
"If only Paul had more mana up his sleeves, might this match have gone differently. Gent truly is lucky, receiving such a gift. Having such a fissure truly is an advantage!" Jinto added, his tone containing slight jealousy and pity.
He thought of his own match against Vitus who had an Amethyst fissure, he needed to be careful to not use his reserves up. By just existing, Vitus held an immovable advantage.
"Your loss, muscle head. Haha, as if your lowly self could compare to me." Gent sneered.
The bloody Paul didn't retort back, instead headed towards Master Lithia. Gent, getting no reply, followed behind as well. Although his wounds weren't as severe as Paul's, he felt that one of his ribs was broken, and one his teeth was missing, due to Paul's previous kicks.
Two matches ended quicker than Paul and Gent's, whilst one ended about the same time.
"Brother Dylan, I admit defeat." Aldering was bleeding from her right arm, blood dripping onto the stone floor.
Dylan was in much better shape. His injuries only amounted to the black eye in his right eye.
"I must say, you got me good on my handsome face, sister Aldering."
Aldering narrowed her eyes and scoffed at Dylan's claim.
With their match ending, they both headed for Master Lithia. A short line was formed by those whose matches had ended earlier.
The stages were once again empty. Master Hector signalled to some mortals who were at the side to go clean up the bloody mess that the youngsters had left.
One of the mortals thought: "Oh heavens! Even the youngsters of the clan wield such terrifying power." He had been newly added to the job, it was his first time seeing such a scene. The youngsters who looked no older than seventeen battled without even touching one another. For a mere mortal like him, such means were heaven-breaking.
He had heard of the methods of magicians, but he had never seen them play it out right in front of his eyes.
Seeing his disbelief, a mortal who looked more than fifty years old told him: "You'll get used to it."
He swallowed his disbelief, and with the other mortals, they quickly gathered at the bloody spots, and cleaned them squeaky clean, not daring to leave any marks on it, unless one complained, and they were implicated severely.