Riven had not entered the match carelessly.
Even if Alex was a recently awakened mage, the fact that Star Shine Academy had chosen him to participate at all meant something. This might have been only the first-year student event rather than the main tournament, but no academy would send a completely underperforming student into a public competition.
That alone was enough reason for Riven to remain cautious.
Still… what stood before him now was not what he had expected.
Across the battlefield, thick layers of ice surrounded all three of Alex's towers, forming a defensive structure far more complex than anything normally seen in the early rounds. The walls overlapped at sharp angles, leaving almost no clear line of attack toward the targets behind them.
Riven stared for a moment longer than he should have.
"…Tch."
The hesitation lasted only an instant, but it was enough for him to realize he had already lost the initiative.
He forced himself to refocus, raising his hand as mana gathered around him.
"
A Tier-3 spell circle formed in front of his palm, spinning rapidly as compressed currents of wind condensed into several sharp projectiles. The air around the tower began to howl as the spell released.
Multiple spherical clusters of pressurized wind shot across the battlefield, cutting straight toward Alex's forward towers.
On the opposite side, Alex watched the incoming attack without moving.
'Wind magic… so he's a wind mage.'
The attack struck the ice walls a moment later.
Sharp cracks echoed through the arena as the compressed air collided with the frozen barriers, but the angled layers deflected most of the force. The outer surfaces chipped and splintered, yet the walls held firm, dispersing the impact across the overlapping structure instead of allowing it to break through.
Riven frowned slightly.
"Not even a dent?"
The timer above the arena continued counting down.
Alex lowered his gaze briefly toward the battlefield, studying the layout for a moment before raising his hand again.
If his defense could already hold…
There was no reason not to start attacking.
"
The spell circle that appeared this time was much smaller.
Tier-1 magic.
Several small shards of ice formed in the air around him, each no larger than a finger. For a brief moment, the audience seemed confused.
"That's it?"
But the moment the spell released, the bullets shot forward at extreme speed, streaking across the battlefield like flashes of pale light.
Riven's eyes widened slightly.
"
Wind burst outward from his position, forming a rotating current meant to deflect incoming projectiles. The airflow caught the ice bullets as they entered its range, pushing them off course.
But only slightly.
Instead of stopping, the projectiles merely shifted their trajectory before slamming against the structures surrounding his Side Towers.
Sharp impacts rang out one after another.
Cracks spread across the tower surfaces as fragments of ice shattered on contact.
The force behind the shots was far greater than what Tier-1 magic should produce.
A murmur spread through the stadium almost immediately.
"…Wait."
"Those were Tier-1 spells, right?"
"No way… why are they that fast?"
"That much magic power isn't normal…"
Below, Riven tightened his grip on his casting focus, his gaze locked on the damaged section of his defenses.
Tier-1…?
He clicked his tongue quietly.
"You've got to be kidding."
Riven tried to hold his ground, but it did not take long before all three of his towers were reduced to rubble.
Alex had barely moved throughout the match. He had cast only two spells the entire time—one Tier-2 and one Tier-1—yet the outcome had already been decided.
The audience watched in stunned silence as the last fragments of stone collapsed, leaving Riven standing on the platform with nothing left to defend.
The chime announcing the end of the match echoed across the arena.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
The number of contestants was halved, leaving only eight out of the original sixty-four participants in the tournament. With the tournament now on its third day, the tension in the arena grew heavier as the competition narrowed with each passing round.
Among those eight, only two represented Star Shine Academy—Alex and Helena.
The announcement for the next quarterfinal match came shortly afterward.
Alex's next opponent came from Crimson Bastion Academy. This time, he would be facing a fire mage.
The moment the name was revealed, murmurs spread through the crowd. The confidence many spectators had shown earlier toward Alex began to waver.
Up until now, most people believed he had already gone farther than anyone expected.
Reaching this stage alone was impressive for a newly awakened mage. But facing a fire mage—an affinity that naturally countered ice—was an entirely different challenge.
Some spectators even began whispering that this would finally be the match where his streak ended.
Alex stepped onto the battlefield as calmly as ever.
His expression remained unchanged, as if none of the doubts surrounding him mattered in the slightest.
Across the arena, the Crimson Bastion mage immediately released waves of heat that distorted the air around his tower. The rising temperature rippled across the battlefield, signaling that he had no intention of holding back from the very start.
The elemental advantage alone made many spectators certain of the outcome.
The arena fell silent as the battle began.
Moments later, Alex proved them wrong again.
When the match ended, he had used nothing but Tier-1 spells:
Yet his opponent's towers collapsed all the same. And once again, the expectations of the crowd proved meaningless the moment the match actually began.
Alex advanced to the semifinals, but Helena was not as fortunate.
Despite her earlier victories, she was defeated in the quarterfinal round. With her defeat, Star Shine Academy was left with only one contestant remaining in the Magic Tower Siege event.
All of their remaining hopes now rested on Alex alone.
The semifinal matchup was announced shortly afterward.
Alex's opponent this time was a lightning mage from Blitz War Institute.
Lightning magic was notoriously difficult to defend against. In normal circumstances, water conducted electricity easily due to the dissolved impurities it contained.
But magically created ice was different.
Ice formed through mana was extremely pure, lacking the impurities that allowed electricity to travel through natural water.
That difference alone changed the dynamics of the matchup.
When the match began, Alex once again constructed his defensive formation using layers of ice walls, surrounding his towers in the now-familiar fortress of frozen barriers.
Across the battlefield, arcs of lightning began flashing violently as his opponent prepared his assault.
The attacks came fast.
Bolt after bolt of lightning crashed into the frozen defenses, explosive bursts of light illuminating the battlefield with every impact.
Yet the ice walls did not break.
Alex continuously supplied mana to the structures, reinforcing them the moment cracks began to spread.
Even when the Blitz War mage unleashed a Tier-4 lightning spell, the result remained the same.
The spell struck with tremendous force.
The ice walls trembled.
But they held.
A murmur of disbelief spread through the stadium.
No one had expected a defensive structure built from Tier-2 magic to withstand such a powerful attack.
Meanwhile, his counterattacks remained unchanged. As always, he used nothing more than Tier-1 magic and still won.
With that victory, Alex advanced to the finals.
His final opponent came from Crimson Bastion Academy.
Once again…
A fire mage.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
The final match felt different.
The pressure in the air was heavier than before, the arena tense in a way none of the earlier matches had been. Even before the first spell was cast, Alex could tell this opponent was stronger than the others he had faced.
Across the battlefield, the other finalist from Crimson Bastion Academy watched him carefully.
Unlike the previous opponents, this one did not underestimate him. His gaze remained fixed on Alex as if he had already studied every one of his earlier matches.
The moment the match began, flames erupted across the arena.
The fire mage did not bother with probing attacks. Instead, he launched powerful spells directly toward Alex's towers, waves of fire surging across the battlefield and forcing Alex to raise multiple ice walls at once.
Even then, the heat spreading through the arena was far greater than anything he had faced before.
'His magic power is higher… and his control is better too.' Alex thought as he reinforced the walls with mana.
He responded with his usual spell.
An ice bullet shot forward, heading straight for one of the opponent's Side Towers.
But before it could reach its target, the fire mage raised his hand and the flames around him twisted violently.
"
A swirling vortex of fire rose in front of the towers, spinning so fast the air itself seemed to burn. The ice bullet entered the tornado and within seconds it melted away, turning into steam before it could get anywhere near the towers.
Alex immediately tried a different approach.
This time he cast
The result was the same.
For the first time in the entire tournament, none of his attacks managed to reach their target.
The fire mage smirked slightly.
"Your tricks won't work forever."
Alex did not respond.
Instead, he raised his hand again and began firing ice bullets one after another, each one aimed at the exact same point in the spinning vortex of flames.
The projectiles flew in rapid succession.
Their impacts vanished inside the fiery storm as if they never existed.
One.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
The audience began whispering among themselves, unsure what he was trying to accomplish.
Then his casting suddenly stopped.
Alex remained still for a moment.
Mana gathered in his hand, denser than before. The temperature around him dropped rapidly, cold enough for frost to begin forming across the stone platform beneath his feet.
This ice bullet looked different, as it was far larger and denser.
The projectile shot forward with a sharp crack, slicing through the air faster than any of the previous attacks.
The moment it entered the Fire Tornado, the flames surged violently, trying to consume it just as they had the earlier spells.
But this time, the ice did not melt.
The overcharged projectile forced its way through the vortex. The outer layer began to crack under the intense heat, but the frozen core remained intact.
In the next instant, it burst out of the other side of the tornado and slammed directly into the Side Tower behind it.
The tower shattered.
The fire mage's eyes widened in shock.
For a split second, his control over the tornado faltered.
Alex did not waste the opportunity.
Another overcharged ice bullet followed the exact same path through the weakening vortex of flames.
The second Side Tower exploded into fragments of light.
"Match over! Winner — Alex of Star Shine Academy!"
Alex lowered his hand slowly as the cold air around him began to fade. In the end, he had not needed high-tier magic.
Just a single spell… used the right way.