The Golem Mage

The reserve team of the Royal Mage Academy wasted no time, as they swiftly carried Asher Blaze's unconscious body off the stage while Liam clenched his teeth in frustration.

The battle had barely begun, and things were already slipping out of his control—something he couldn't stand.

Though the Royal Mage Academy had brought in a new fighter to replace Lucas' twin brother, who is a part of his old main team and hadn't returned to academy after the first year holidays, and the new addition was stronger, however he had expected all this as he new addition was from the Tudor family, just like Liam, and clearly strong.

Still, none of them had anticipated that the War God Mage Academy would be hiding someone with such a special ability too.

They didn't even recognize Katie, despite having seen her before.

Because she hadn't stood out during the previous encounter in the capital, they had dismissed her as unimportant and failed to realize she had been an original member of the War God team.

As they waited for Liam to select the next fighter, Kylian Zero rose to his feet.

"Let me take this one, captain," he said. Liam nodded, confident in Kylian's strength.

He was sure Kylian would have no trouble defeating Katie, in his mind, if Asher hadn't been so focused on showing off, his loss wouldn't have been so humiliating.

He blamed Asher's defeat on his excessive underestimation of Katie. But that didn't matter to the War God Mage Academy, they had secured the first win, Kylian stepped onto the stage, standing opposite Katie, who was doing her best to recover some mana before the next round.

"Are you both ready?" the levitating judge called from above, scanning the arena. Kylian grunted his confirmation, however before Katie could reply she heard Alec's voice in her mind.

"Surrender."

Her eyes widened slightly as she turned to look at the War God Mage team's section, just to realise Alec was no longer lying down, he was now standing close to the battle ring, watching intently.

There was a fire in Katie's eyes that said she could still fight, even if it meant she lost, even Alec, who is still blindfolded, could read her feelings with unsettling precision, this time, instead of sending a mental message, he spoke aloud.

"Seriously, you've already proven yourself. There's no need to push further. It's not like we need you to be hard on yourself. If you were at your best, I might have let you continue, but not only are you not his match right now, you've also burned through most of your mana in the last fight. How long do you think you'd last against him in this state?"

He paused, then added calmly,

"I'd rather welcome you back with a win and no injuries than see something happen to you because of their revenge."

Katie let out a long sigh, then turned toward the levitating judge and raised her right hand.

"I surrender," she said.

The judge shifted his gaze toward Alec at the edge of the battle ring, his eyes glowing faintly as he tried to decipher the strange dynamic surrounding the War God Mage Academy team, especially their blindfolded leader.

It was clear that, despite Alec having the lowest cultivation realm, the rest of the team respected his judgment without question.

Just as the judge tried to peer through the restriction device on Alec's body, he too received a mental message urging him to hurry things along since the War God Mage Academy had forfeited from one of his colleagues .

"The win goes to the Royal Mage Academy. War God Mage Academy, you have 60 seconds to choose your next fighter," the judge announced.

"Agnes, you're up," Alec said, turning toward her.

When she stepped forward, most of the War God Mage team didn't look particularly hopeful.

They assumed Alec was simply giving her a chance to gain some battle experience, since she had barely fought during the last tournament.

But while many of their teammates thought that way, the Gordons, Sophia, and Endrick exchanged knowing glances, they had a feeling Agnes was about to shock everyone.

As she passed by Alec on her way to the battle ring, he said just one thing: "Go wild."

—

With both fighters now in place, the atmosphere shifted.

On Kylian's side, his hands were already coated in a sheen of crystallized ice, frost hissing into the air around him, on Agnes' side, she calmly swiped her hand, revealing a wriggling tattoo like runes on her left palm.

With her right hand, she dragged at it as she extracted her wand out of her hand.

Although Agnes owned a complete set of spirit equipment, she had long since outgrown it in terms of realm.

Alec simply hadn't had time to upgrade her gear yet. Still, her wand which is capable of transforming into a staff and her Aquatic Stride boots remained powerful tools that enhanced her combat ability slightly.

The moment her wand was drawn, the judge deemed both sides ready and gave the signal to begin.

Instantly, Kylian vanished in a blur, racing toward Agnes from across the stage, she didn't let him close in so easily as her wand shifted into staff form with a flick of her hand.

Clang!

She tapped the staff lightly on the ground, and a wave of water rippled outward from her position, spreading across the battle ring, as she retreated to maintain distance, two ice blades suddenly streaked through the air, one from the left, the other from the right, both aimed directly at her neck.

It was a ruthless tactic, as if Kylian was inviting her to choose which side she'd prefer to be cut from, as even if she chooses to move forward, she would be playing into his hands, however Agnes remained unnervingly composed.

Her calm demeanour shocked not only those in the War God Mage Academy team who hadn't expected her to stay collected under pressure but also the Royal Mage Academy team, who had been eagerly waiting for signs of panic, her tranquility only unsettled them further.

Without hesitation, she shifted her staff back into wand form, as a small earth rune shimmered at its tip as she pointed it toward the approaching ice blade from the left, at the same time, she raised her left hand to intercept the one coming from the right.

When Kylian saw Agnes raise her bare hand to block his attack, he grinned darkly.

He assumed she was acting on impulse and would regret the reckless move once it backfired, but nothing went the way he expected.

A compact beam of energy shot from her wand, cancelling the incoming ice blade from the right, at the same time, her left hand caught the spinning ice blade coming from the other direction, it seemed to slice into her hand, triggering a sharp ice explosion that spread across her forearm.

Kylian was already preparing to celebrate, thinking he had disabled one of her hands, until he heard a distinct cracking noise.

The thick ice casing shattered and fell away in chunks, revealing Agnes's hand completely unharmed.

Like Alec, she had also advanced her Stone Skin spell to the mid-rank level, and what appeared to be her hand caught in the ice was actually the stone-encased version, acting as a solid defence.

The ice blade hadn't pierced her flesh at all, it had latched onto the hardened stone layer, and with the Stone Skin absorbing the impact and isolating the cold, she calmly retracted her hand without a scratch, completely unfazed by the supposed trap she had averted.