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Third Person POV
The blinding light of the Radiant Beam washed over the arena, forcing every single person, from the applicants to the Captains, to shield their eyes. The sound was not an explosion, but a deafening roar. The raw, superheated pressure wave washed over the crowd, making them feel as if they were standing in a furnace.
Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.
The beam cut off. A profound silence, thick with the smell of molten rock, spread over the arena. A massive, ten-foot-wide trench, its sides glowing like slagged glass, was carved into the arena floor, leading from Michael's hand to a blackened, smoking crater on the far wall.
And in the middle of the beam's path... There was nothing.
The fog of dust and superheated steam was so thick that nothing could be seen. Julius Novachrono was gone.
"Did... did he kill him?" one of the applicants whispered, his voice trembling. "He must have... he vaporized him!"
"My god... Lord Michael didn't even hesitate..."
In the stands, Acier and Ignara were on their feet, their hearts pounding. "Michael!" Acier shouted, her composed mask shattering for a second.
Michael stood in the center of the ruined arena, his chest heaving. The brute-force beam had taken a massive amount of mana, far more than his refined Sunfire Lance would have. He scanned the dust cloud, his senses on high alert. He couldn't feel Julius's mana. He hadn't felt the impact. It was as if the beam had hit nothing at all.
"He's not... dead..." Michael muttered, narrowing his eyes.
"Above you, brat."
Lucenor's voice was lazy, but it made Michael snap his head up instantly.
High in the air above the arena floor, Julius Novachrono floated, completely unharmed. The dust cloud hadn't even touched him. He was looking down at Michael, his expression no longer one of excitement, but of cold, analytical seriousness.
And floating just above his head, its pages flipping at a calm, steady, impossible rhythm, was his grimoire.
It was a massive, impossibly thick tome, bound in no discernible cover. It was just an endless stack of ancient, glowing pages, each one radiating a mana so dense and heavy it made the air ripple.
The entire coliseum fell into a state of stunned awe.
Julius slowly descended, landing on an intact piece of the arena floor, his coverless grimoire floating dutifully beside him. He looked at the molten trench, then at the smoking hole in the wall, and finally at Michael.
"You are really good, Michael," Julius said, his voice quiet but carrying across the silent arena. He had stopped calling him 'boy.' They were equals. "You made me use my Grimoire first. I had to use Chrono Leap to erase the time my body was in the path of that beam. An incredible attack. But this is where it ends. Good fight, though."
Before Michael could even summon another light-spear, Julius's grimoire flashed. Its pages flipped open to a new, glowing script.
"Time Magic," Julius stated, his voice devoid of its earlier warmth. "Chrono Stasis."
He didn't move. He simply held his hand out. The air around Michael solidified.
It wasn't a wall of wind or stone. It was a perfect, shimmering sphere of silvery-blue light that snapped into existence around Michael, trapping him instantly. It looked exactly like a miniature version of the magic-sealing cannons used by the kingdom, a bubble of pure, temporal energy. Michael stood in there, frozen, not even able to blink. Like he has been paused.
The coliseum, which had been in awe, was now in shock. "He... he just trapped him!" "What is that spell?" "It's over... he didn't even have to move!"
On the Captains' balcony, every single captain had raised their eyebrows.
Even Cael Silva looked impressed.
Skyler Sorath, the lazy Captain of the Coral Peacocks, who had been slouched in his chair, actually sat up a fraction of an inch. His normally bored expression was one of genuine, academic interest. "Hoh... to manipulate time to this extent... to just pause an area of space... what a truly debilitating magic."
"Tch!" Jackson Blade snarled, slamming his fist on the railing. He wasn't impressed; he was furious. "He stopped the fight! That's not a fight! WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT, BRAT!?" he roared down at the trapped Michael. "ARE YOU GOING TO LET A CHEAP TRICK LIKE THAT BEAT YOU?! BREAK IT!"
In the stands, Acier's face went pale. Her logical, tactical mind raced, analyzing the spell. It's not a physical barrier. It's not a mana barrier. It's... it's a concept. He's frozen him in time. How do you break... time? How can you fight something you can't even touch?
The horrifying, logical conclusion was that you couldn't.
"Will he lose?" she whispered, her voice small, her fear overriding her composure.
"OF COURSE NOT!" Ignara suddenly shouted, chopping Acier on the top of her head. The blow was hard enough to make Acier yelp, snapping her out of her panic. "HAVE SOME FAITH! BELIEVE IN OUR BOYFRIEND!"
"How?!" Acier shot back, rubbing her head, her fear turning to frustration.
"Logically, how can he break that? He can't move! He can't use magic! He's frozen!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Ignara yelled back, a wide, confident, almost feral grin spreading across her face. "I JUST BELIEVE IN THAT BASTARD!"
Acier stared at her. That smile... it was the same one Michael wore when he was about to do something impossible. It was a smile of pure, unshakeable, illogical faith.
Acier's own panic receded, replaced by a slow, dawning smile of her own. "...You're right," she said, letting out a shaky breath. "Not everything can be explained by logic. Sometimes you just have to believe."
And as if in answer to her words, the arena began to shake.
It started as a low hum, coming from the Chrono Stasis sphere. Then, a raw, terrifying, physical surge of mana erupted from it.
VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
It wasn't a spell. It was just... pressure. A golden, incandescent aura of pure, raw magical power exploded outward, washing over the coliseum like a physical tide.
The hundreds of applicants in the stands cried out. The weaker ones, the nobles who had been so arrogant, were forced to their knees, their bodies trembling, their lungs unable to draw breath under the crushing, divine pressure.
But in the stands, Acier and Ignara just smiled.
"When was the last time he released his mana?" Ignara asked, her voice filled with nostalgic glee.
"When we were six," Acier answered, her eyes sparkling. "After he accidentally let loose, after seeing a noble harassing one of the kids from the orphanage. I still can't forget that day."
"Yeah," Ignara poked her in the ribs. "You cried."
"You almost did too!" Acier shot back, her face flushing pink.
"Almost," Ignara highlighted the word, laughing.
On the balcony, the Captains were no longer just impressed. They were threatened. This wasn't the mana of a rookie. This was the mana of a monster. They all instinctively flared their own auras to protect themselves from the pressure.
"Damn," Skyler Sorath said, slumping back down in his chair, his lazy facade returning. "Kids these days are so scary."
"Skyler."
Seraphiel Kira's voice was honey-sweet, but it cut through the din.
"Could you be a dear and form a barrier around the ring?" she asked, a pleasant smile on her face. "We don't want any of our... other young knights to get harmed by the crossfire."
Skyler sighed, not even looking at her. "Can't you do that? You can do the same with your light magic. Make a little dome. It'd be prettier."
"Oh my!" Seraphiel's smile widened, but her eyes went cold, and her own golden aura flared with a dangerous, sharp edge. "I don't remember asking your opinion. Or... do you want to join me in some friendly captain sparring after the exam?"
A visible shiver went down Skyler's spine. He'd been on the receiving end of one of Seraphiel's "friendly spars" before. He still had nightmares.
He finally sat up straight, his lazy expression gone. "Whatever."
He raised his hand. His own grimoire flipped open. "Chain Magic: Shackled Dome."
A clattering, metallic roar filled the air. From the ground around the arena, dozens of massive, magic-infused chains erupted. They shot into the air and wove themselves together in seconds, forming a massive, semi-spherical cage over the entire ring, completely sealing it off. The moment the dome was complete, Michael's raw, oppressive mana was cut off from the crowd, contained within the barrier.
Skyler let out a low whistle, looking at the glowing, pulsating Chrono Stasis sphere inside his own dome. "Damn, that's a lot of mana," he said, looking at Seraphiel. "What kind of monster did you give birth to?"
"What did you call him?" Seraphiel asked, her smile still in place, her voice still dangerously sweet.
"Nothing! Nothing," Skyler said, raising his hands in surrender. "Just ignore me."
"BAHAHAHA! PUSSY!" Jackson Blade roared, laughing his ass off.
"Oh, shut up, Jackson," Skyler shot back, slumping in his chair. "Not everyone enjoys getting themselves almost killed by her every two weeks."
"That's what real men are!" Jackson replied with a grin.
Back in the field, inside the Shackled Dome, Julius was staring at the Chrono Stasis sphere, his own mana flaring to keep it stable against the unbelievable pressure from within.
Never... he thought, his eyes wide with disbelief. Never thought I would meet someone with more mana than me!!!
This was impossible. His Chrono Stasis was a perfect, conceptual spell. It didn't matter how much mana the target had. It froze them. It stopped their time. It was absolute.
But it won't change the outcome! He thought, pouring more of his own power into the spell. He can't break a concept with brute force!
CRACK.
A sound, like a glass shattering, echoed from the sphere.
Julius's eyes widened.
A hairline fracture of pure, golden light appeared on the surface of his time spell. Then another. And another.
"He's... he's not breaking it..." Julius whispered in dawning horror.
Inside the sphere, Michael, who had been frozen, was now moving. His body was wreathed in a golden aura so bright it was impossible to look at. And in his hand, having been summoned to him right through the temporal barrier, was his true grimoire. The green-and-gold spear, Lux Aeterna, was alive and burning with a rage that matched its wielder's.
"He's overpowering it!"
And then he heard Michael's calm voice.
"Radiance Magic: Solar Vow"
SHAAAAAAAA!
The Chrono Stasis sphere didn't just break; it vaporized. Michael burst out as a beam of golden-white light. His wings of pure, radiant energy flared to their full, magnificent span, and the divine, oppressive pressure of his mana doubled, pressing even on Julius.
Julius was blown backward, forced to skid to a halt, his mind completely reeling. He stared at Michael, who now floated an inch off the ground, his spear in hand, his wings blazing.
"How...?" Julius gasped, his mind unable to process the data. "How did you do that?! That's... impossible! You can't break Time Magic!"
Michael leveled his spear at him, his golden eyes blazing with the light of his Vow.
"You're right. You can't break a concept," Michael said, his voice now echoing with a dual-toned, celestial power. "If you used an equal measure of water, you would 100% kill a fire. That's a concept. But if the fire is large enough... if it's as hot as the sun... no matter how much water you pour on it, it will just turn into steam."
He pointed the glowing red blade of his spear at Julius. "My mana is the sun. Your spell was the water. All I did was overpower your concept with my own, and I destroyed your spell."
Julius just stood there, staring. The logic was... it was absurd. It was barbaric. BUT it was... correct.
He looked at the molten trench. He looked at his own smoking shoulder. He looked at the boy-who-was-a-sun floating in front of him.
And then, his entire demeanor changed.
His serious, cold expression melted away. His focused, analytical eyes went wide. His jaw dropped. And then, a massive, child-like, ecstatic grin spread across his face.
"Woooooah! That's SO COOL!" he shouted, his voice cracking with excitement. "You overpowered a time-lock with raw mana?! That's unheard of! That's fascinating! How did you do it? What's your mana-to-power output ratio? Is it a Vow with your grimoire? What is your grimoire? It's not a book! It's a spear! How does that even work?! Does it have pages?! How do you store new spells?!"
He suddenly held up both hands. "I give up!"
Michael blinked, his Solar Vow aura flickering in surprise. "...What?"
"I surrender! This is my strongest spell right now, and you just... boiled it!"
Julius said, his grimoire vanishing as he sprinted toward Michael, all sense of combat forgotten. He skidded to a stop right in front of the surprised Kira, his eyes sparkling.
"Seriously, how did you do that?! Your mana... it's just bigger! Is it genetic? Is it training? And that spear! It's beautiful! Can I hold it? No, probably not. But the creation magic you used before! You replicated it perfectly! How did you get the balance of light so stable without a grimoire as a catalyst? I've tried, but I can never get my time bubbles to hold their shape for more than a minute without my grimoire's focus, but you... you just did it! It's... it's... WONDERFUL!"
Michael just floated there, his wings slowly folding as his Vow receded, completely bewildered by the 180-degree shift. This guy was... a maniac.
"Hoh. Good job, brat," Lucenor's voice rumbled in his head. "You didn't get your ass handed to you. You used the 'big fire' analogy I taught you. Not bad."
Michael let out a mental sigh, lowering his spear. Thanks, Lucy.
"IT'S..."
Michael mentally muted him before the rant could even start.
He was brought back to reality by Julius waving a hand in his face. "Hello? Are you listening? I also have questions about that first stomp! Was that Earth Magic? Or just pure, reinforced physical power? Because if it were reinforcement, your efficiency is..."
"That is ENOUGH!"
Seraphiel Kira's amplified voice boomed across the coliseum, cutting Julius off mid-sentence. The Shackled Dome of chains clattered and retracted into the ground, revealing the two finalists. One looks confused, the other vibrating with questions.
"With that," Seraphiel announced, a proud, beaming smile on her face that she didn't even try to hide. "This concludes the final match, and our Magic Knight Entrance Examination! Now, as your names are called, step forward. If any squad is interested in taking you in, their Captain will raise their hand. You may then choose which squad to join."
The applicants below, who had just witnessed a battle that looked more like a war between gods, gulped. The real test... was about to begin.
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