Chapter 50:
Roe’s body shivered as he felt an unearthly heat approach him from the back. Turning around, his eyes widened as he spotted a ball of flames so large it eclipsed its caster’s entire figure. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was even a slightly smaller bundle hovering around the first.
Belatedly realizing his mistake, Roe hurriedly moved to the side, hoping to get out of the way.
“{Fireball}! Solar Bomb!” Rine’s voice roared throughout the arena, drawing everyone’s attention.
Roe stood still in shock as the spell shot forward with frightening speed. "C-core formation?" He muttered to himself quietly as if afraid of others hearing him.
But looking back at the young man who was able to cast such a frightening spell, he could not feel the presence of a core, what he did feel instead was an Origin reservoir so thick and condensed that one could say that it was a step away from a core.
Roe swallowed heavily. Just how much talent did Rine have? To reach Core formation at such a young age, surely he was one who either possessed monstrous talent or immense dedication and will.
Looking at Rine's frail physique which seemed to grow sturdier by the minute, he couldn't help but wonder: Would he too be able to do the same?
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Calvin's jaw clenched as he felt the overbearing presence of Rine's spell approach. Surely this attack was stronger than the last time he saw it, just how was he able to advance so fast in such a short amount of time? Recalling the exhausted figure of his sister constantly training in order to catch up to Rine, Calvin couldn't help but grow bitter.
Was this the great divide that separated the talented from the rest? Whatever the case, Calvin knew that he had to move now. Quickly disengaging from the magician he had been holding back, he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Cass, move!”
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The results of the spell were as devastating as expected; even before it hit its mark, it made a mess of the arena and scorched a straight line through it. A line that pointed toward the other team’s location; unfortunately the other team’s warriors saw the attack coming, and using everything they had, they managed to barely dodge it.
The same could not be said however for the opposing magicians who rather than try to escape, stood their grounds in defiance; their heads raised in confidence as they chanted a spell in unison.
Just as the attack approached them, a barrier of flames materialized meeting the attack head-on. The arena shook from the impact and currents of blazing hot wind ripped through the crowds causing some to shriek. Fortunately, wind magicians who were part of the wind palace had been maintaining a barrier of their own, preventing any serious damage from occurring.
The two magicians grit their teeth from the force of the blow and the effort it took to maintain the flame barrier was clearly taking a toll on them. Soon enough everyone in the audience stood with bated breaths waiting to see who would crumble first.
“Woah, this is intense!” A member of the audience said excitedly as the winds brushed his hair.
“Yeah, who would have thought we’d get to see something like this from the lower ranks!”
“Who do you think will win?”
“I’m still betting on the team with the barrier, no way a single magician can beat the combined efforts of two others.”
“You’re right, plus even if by some miracle, the barrier were to fall, their warriors are still in better shape than that red-headed kid’s team, so they might still eke out a victory.”
“Hmph, you actually think that spell will break a barrier maintained by two magicians? Yeah right-”
Just then the sound of glass breaking resounded out and the barrier made of fire shattered into the abyss. However, by then the spell shot by Rine had also run out of steam and it too faded away, but not before blowing both magicians back a few meters.
Both of them came to stop, still standing but panting in exhaustion. The magician who had managed to hit Rine was even smiling as he scanned the audience’s reaction. Seeing the looks of awe on some of their faces reinvigorated him and he held his fingers up in a v shape before beginning the chant of a new spell.
His actions of choosing an attack spell were justified in that he believed Rine would be too tired out to follow up with another spell. In truth, the audience thought this too, which was why no one expected the sudden appearance of a second spell from Rine the red-haired youth.
The face of the magician who attacked Rine paled as he hurriedly tried to cast barrier again, but seconds into his casting, he found an oddity. Turning his head to the side where he expected to see his partner chanting along his side, he was instead met with the sight of his fleeing back.
Now desperate, he clumsily finished his casting and set up a barrier that was a far cry from the previous one.
And the result was as expected. The barrier stood no chance and it broke in mere seconds, sending the magician flying through the air.
The crowd broke into cheers at the sight. Though it seemed hypocritical as moments before they were celebrating his success they did not care; the unbelievable sight of one magician beating two was enough to get their blood boiling.
“What a match, it’s over for that team; down one magician damn!” An audience member exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t count them out yet. Don’t forget, that red-haired kid must also be down for the count; no way he can keep going after firing those two massive spells in such a short amount of time.”
“Wanna bet I- Look!” Suddenly surprised gasps could be heard from various audience members and soon enough everyone grew quiet.
Rine stood in the middle of the field with his hand stretched out. His emotionless face horrifically clashed against his blazing eyes. Inches away from his glove-covered palm was another fireball that was less than half the size of his previous ones, but that was not the problem, the problem instead was where the attack was pointing toward.
The magician who was just blown away was miraculously still conscious and attempting to stand, unaware of the spell pointing toward his direction.
“Someone stop him!” An audience member cried. Though the spell was significantly weaker, it was obvious that it would still kill the now defenseless magician.
“Referee!”
“Finally something interesting is happening.”
“Shoot him! Kill him! Yeah, you rock!”
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Rine, seemingly oblivious to all of this, finally let the spell loose.
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Cort watched all of this occur without showing much of a reaction, but deep within, he was slightly anxious. He felt that Rine had been acting oddly recently, almost as if bottling all of his fear and anxiety, thus it was reasonable to assume that he would explode at some point
‘But he sure picked one hell of a stage to do it on’ He thought to himself as he heard the audience discuss among itself.
Cort shifted his focus away from them and looked toward Clint Rhodes, who remained seated with a slight smile on his face. ‘That too is worrying,’ Cort thought to himself. When Rine revealed his true strength, Cort made sure to watch the man’s expression, yet he was disappointed to find that there wasn’t anything to observe. He remained unmoved. This probably meant that he had already seen through Rine’s lie about being in the middle stages of Origin accumulation.
Rather, he had probably known from the moment Rine stepped foot on stage.
Cort’s eyes squinted as he tried to predict what would happen from now on. It was obvious that Rine would be punished for both his lie and attempted murder, but to what extent would that punishment be? He deduced from the various orientations that the life of a flame magician was not that valuable to the wind palace, so the punishment was likely not too severe, but then again a case could be made that, by the same logic, Rine was not very valuable to them either. In fact, in some ways, Rine was actually a threat. In their eyes, his strength was something that would soon be given to the fire palace.
‘Aside from all of that, there’s also Rine himself.’ Cort did not like that emotionless look on his face. It was vastly different from the boy he saw that night who cried at the fact he took his first life. Rather, the look Rine had on right now was one of a man who resigned himself to a cruel fate, making do as a cruel person.
It was a face similar to his. That did not sit well with Cort.
As he was thinking of all of this, Amelia sat by his side with a pale complexion and a complicated look on her face.
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Rine snapped out of his rage-induced haze too late.
Immediately after sobering up, he felt exhaustion wash over him, but the guilt kept him from losing consciousness. Again, he had let his emotions get the better of him, and soon he would take another life.
Or so he thought…
An explosion rang out as the spell hit the downed magicians' vicinity and the audience gasped with shock. Had they really just witnessed a death?
But as the dust settled, they realized that they were mistaken as, standing in the middle of the dust clouds, a man in a military uniform stood, unscratched, holding on to the downed magician.
Cheers erupted as Rine felt relieved. His consciousness began to fade and the world grew dimmer. But he was nonetheless relieved that he did not cause another death.
“Adventurer Rine,” An authoritative voice dispelled his drowsiness, and an immense pressure descended upon him.
The culprit was the soldier holding on to the downed magician. His fierce eyes were laser-focused onto Rine who squirmed from the pressure. “Care to explain why you lied during your initial evaluation? Clearly, your strength is not that of a second-grade magician.”
Rine stammered as he recalled the fib Cort had told him to speak many days ago.
“Lying is grounds for suspected treason which is punishable by death. I will serve justice now!” Oddly, the man did not wait for Rine’s reply and he immediately sent out an attack. Though it was a simple wind blade, the sheer speed at which it was cast and immense strength it bore, shook Rine.
Knowing that death was approaching, Rine closed his eyes. Perhaps, on some level, he deserved this. The face of Amy flashed in his mind. How long had it been since he thought of her?
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Amelia stood up with worry plastered all over her face. The soldier’s actions were too abrupt and the audience barely had a chance to catch up when the spell arrived before Rine.
“No!!” Amelia screamed.
Cort, on the other hand, remained seated. Despite the worst-case scenario happening right before his eyes, he was not as worried. His reason being the fact that at the very top of the observation tower, Clint Rhodes was nowhere to be seen.
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Rine slowly opened his eyes when he felt that something was wrong. Moments flew by yet he was still alive.
Fully opening his eyes, he saw the sight of a pristine green barrier shimmering a distance away from him.
He took a step back reflexively but he unexpectedly collided against a wall.
‘Wait. I’m not near a wall…’ He thought to himself as he looked behind him where he saw the calmly smiling Clint.
