"My disciple, I will allow you to decide how to go about this match, but it seems like this Grant kid is going to go all out in the very beginning. You should rely on what you have learned so far in your studies as a mage and hope that since you are also a rank one warrior, that you will be able to close any gaps there may be since I can tell he has some experience in combat while you are still lacking in that area."
The artifact was clearly also a spectator but it would not be right for it to not give Timothy some pointers, since after all, it was his master in name and wanted to gain something in the future by using Timothy. What it did not know, was that Timothy since the very first technique he saw in the first match, was able to increase his understanding of how combat worked in this world, to the point where he was growing at an unbelievable pace!
Grant was the first to move as he unleashed a small wind blade through the air towards Timothy who was still just standing in place. Grant did not need to use a weapon, but he did have a staff in his hand and a necklace both with a very common demonic beast core of the wind element. Using the additional power of his staff and necklace, he would be able to unleash stronger wind elemental techniques in combat, but due to both being the lowest of quality, it was not enough to cause Timothy too many headaches.
Pulling out his normal sword, Timothy just barely dodged the wind blade which still landed a small cut on his left cheek as he charged directly towards his opponent. Earlier, he realized that warriors in order to move faster would concentrate a portion of their battle qi into their legs while the remaining portion was concentrated on their weapon during an offensive maneuver. Since he was not willing to showcase the movement technique he did not have time to learn and grasp entirely in front of the public, all he could do was copy the tactics of those he saw while throwing in some of his own combat style he solidified as a hero in his home world.
Grant seeing that Timothy was approaching him, understood that Timothy wanted to narrow the distance between them as quickly as possible since Grant was a wind element user. The wind element was an element that's specialty came in movement whether floating, flying, or just increasing one's speed outright. Barely losing to the lightning element when compared solely in speed, wind element users were able to still have many techniques that would cause headaches for the average veteran warrior.
The reason was simple, if it took until a certain rank for a warrior to be able to use their battle qi to fly, any time below that rank, wind element users had the complete advantage! And so as Timothy and even the crowd had expected, Grant began floating high enough for Timothy to be unable to land a single sword strike as he let out small gusts of wind to slow him down. This would normally be considered a cheap way to spar, but wind element users fought like this so it was expected. Plus, the female announcer mentioned that Timothy was a rank two mage, so even if he fell short with the current weakness as a warrior against a wind element user, he still had a chance to even the playing field!
Still, this pissed Timothy off because in his past, he was not someone who used techniques like mages do in this world. Therefore, if it was going to end up being a battle between two mages, he was indeed at a big disadvantage. However, he played along and quickly began to dodge the gusts of wind as he threw some fireballs towards Grant's direction. As the gusts of wind and fireballs clashed in mid-air, it was clear to everyone that the two teens were evenly matched, but it was still surprising since Timothy did not have the assistance of a staff and necklace to increase his mana output!
As the battle raged on, the spectators began conversating with one another, majority wanting to inquire in the future about this teenager from the Grey Imperial Academy and some even going out of their way to directly approach Andrew and Ian or send attendants to deliver messages to them. This angered their rivals because from just age and overall experience, this should have been a sure and swift win for Grant, and since this was not the case all they were doing was allowing a follower of theirs to boost the reputation of their lifelong opponents!
Several more minutes passed and Grant at times switched from one technique to another in order to try to find a weakness of Timothy, but due to them being so equally matched, it was very difficult to find any openings. On the other hand, Timothy was becoming used to fighting against a mage as an opponent and was actually thriving in the match and at times even able to gain momentum against his opponent.
It was very clear that given just a little more time, Grant would be unable to continue putting his mana into floating high enough for Timothy to not swing his weapon towards him and it would end up being his loss. What surprised everyone, was instead of waiting it out, Timothy actually chose to take the initiative and poured almost every bit of battle qi he could into his legs before jumping as high up as he could towards Grant's position. "Waiting it out is not my style." Timothy said as he approached Grant and was only a foot away from his sword being in range to make contact.
Timothy felt really bad for the teenager because he knew what it was like to be thankful towards others when one had nothing. But, it was also very necessary for him to end the match in this way so that him and his friends would be able to take a step forward with their own reputations. If this teenager in the future were to approach him in the outside world and genuinely apologized or needed assistance in a life or death struggle, Timothy was unsure if he would take tonight's scene into account.
