A few moments before the signal…

“Are you sure about this?” Liliana asked doubtfully, unconvinced by Max’s proposed strategy.

“Positive.”

Liliana sighed. “Aren’t you taking this too lightly? Our opponents have us beat in power and experience. What you’re suggesting isn’t really out of the box… In almost every battle, the mage is always the first to be targeted.”

“True, but it’s not like I’ve forgotten about the knight. Besides, sometimes keeping things simple is the way to go.”

“What do you mean?”

Max grinned and gave Evangeline and August a momentary glance. “Take a look at that guy.”

“What about him? Looks to me like he’s taking us seriously.”

“Really?” Max couldn't help but laugh. “I beg to differ. That’s just someone looking for a good fight, someone assured of victory, but looking forward to some entertainment.” Max’s assessment stemmed from his own experiences while occasionally rampaging on Earth. “And this is what we're going to exploit.”

Liliana gave Max a weird look to which Max responded by asking, “What?”

“Nothing. You just sound like you’ve done this before.”

Max awkwardly cleared his throat and turned away. Having lived with Robert for most of his life, he had suffered through several gruelling days of combat training. Combined with his own experience in battle, he had some faith in his ability to read people.

During this time, the stands were abuzz with chatter.

“Wow! A two on two, this should be interesting.”

“What do you mean interesting? Can't you see the pairing? Those freshmen are doomed!”

“Maybe. I don’t know about August, but there’s a chance Evangeline might go easy on them.”

“Are you kidding? There’s no way that freak even knows the meaning of going easy. I sparred with him a while ago. I was pretty confident too, but he just...” The young knight’s words were left unsaid as he silently winced from recollecting the painful experience.

August and Evangeline were among the top of their respective classes. Paired together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Even among the freshmen, perhaps only a handful placed a little hope on their fellow classmates.

Not long after Julius had announced the match up, a few nobles had gathered to secretly place bets, gambling on the duration of the battle, trying to guess when this one-sided fight would end.

News of the betting spread through the crowd.

“Ten gold coins on Max and Liliana winning the battle.” Amy slammed her coins on the betting table, fuming and stomping her way back to her seat amid snickers. It wasn’t often that these blue bloods could legitimately look down upon a proud daughter of a Duke.

The start of the match brought with it an unexpected wave of silence. Student, professor, mage or knight, everyone intently focused on one ring and one ring alone.

On stage, Max rushed towards Evangeline, but was quickly intercepted by August. Brandishing his sword, August looked like a hungry wolf. His sheathed blade made a full arc towards Max’s head as he growled, “Your opponent is me!”

The tip of the blade brushed past Max’s hair as he dodged and pushed ahead. August, strangely satisfied with Max’s reaction, smiled as he slammed his foot down in an almost practiced manner to break his own momentum. He instinctively pirouetted and launched a swift thrust at Max’s back.

A colossal blue ball of flames appeared above the two knights, catching August by surprise. He momentarily stalled, distracted by the emergence of heat and blue light. “Just as planned.”  Max had been counting on this tiny moment of hesitation and used the devised opportunity to instantly widen the gap between him and his enthusiastic opponent.

Having sensed the flow of mana, Evangeline abandoned the spell she had been building up, and instead speedily conjured a block of ice to shield August from the incoming flames. Water and fire rapidly neutralized each other and left an absurd amount of steam in their wake.

“Thanks for playing your part.” Max muttered with a grin just as he arrived next to Evangeline and mercilessly launched a punch.

Surprised though not caught off guard, Evangeline retreated as another wall of ice erupted from the ground to effectively block Max’s path. “Going for the mage first is common sense. You underestimate -” Sounds of crackling drew her attention. Max, with his feet firmly planted atop the wall, pushed against the ice and accelerated straight for her.

Clumsily stumbling backwards, Evangeline knew that she had miscalculated. As she braced herself, August appeared by her side and calmly blocked Max’s blow with his scabbard while simultaneously launching a counter with his sword.

“You’re forgetting about me.” Liliana chuckled. A hail of fire arrows made their way towards the two sophomores, giving Max the time he needed to dodge the strike. Like a lion, August let out a roar, revealing a portion of his true strength. A single slash vaporised almost half the arrows while Evangeline’s spell took care of the rest.

“Looks like my opponents weren’t the only ones doing the underestimating.” Max let out a disappointed sigh.

Liliana jogged up to her familiar and glanced at him with an 'I told you' expression.

Roused from the quick exchange of blows, the crowd exploded forth with a wave of cheers, the freshmen being the most thrilled by this development.

“Oh? That wasn’t half bad.”

“Indeed.” One of the seniors hummed in acknowledgement. “Not bad for a warm up.” The exchange had done nothing to change their opinion.

“This is going to be tough.” Liliana mumbled as she looked at Evangeline, troubled.

“Liliana…” Evangeline smiled with an obvious light of praise in her eyes. “How long has it been since you became an Intermediate Mage?”

“Not long.” Liliana replied, “I think it was in the first week when the professors confirmed that my mental energy had already crossed the threshold.”

“I see… Looks like I can’t afford to take things easy.”

On the side, August was playing with his sword as he grinned at Max. “Bare handed fighters are pretty rare. I’m quite interested in seeing how you’ll handle the difference in our reach.”

“I am not a fan of weapons.” Max nonchalantly answered before whispering into Liliana's ear, “Looks like I’m going to have my hands full with this idiot. You sure you can handle Evangeline?”

Liliana chuckled and quietly said, “Don’t worry. I may not be a match for her in a real battle, but at least in the Induction, I’m confident I’ll be able to hold my own. Just keep that fellow at bay and watch just how powerful your master has become!”

“Alright then… I’ll be watching.”

Up in the air, Julius seemed like he was standing on some sort of an invisible platform. He was observing the two pairs with great interest, knowing full well that both parties had yet to go all out.

Max sighed. “Now then… How about round two?”

“Let’s go!”

Max and August clashed as they slowly took over half the arena. With every passing moment, they continued to raise their speeds as they relentlessly exchanged blows.

Not far off, the girls mutually decided to begin a contest of their own. Liliana released one intermediate fire spell after another while Evangeline countered with water and ice based magic of a similar nature. Arrows were countered by more arrows as the stage was suddenly filled with several miniature explosions of steam.

With a flick of her wand, Evangeline conjured a giant spear made of ice. It shot straight for Liliana, intending to push her off the stage. Forced to dodge, she ran around while constantly chanting her spell. Four large flaming hands were conjured, each grasping the spear and speedily reducing it to vapor.

During his high paced tussle with August, Max had been keeping a watch on Liliana's battle. Seeing her go toe to toe with Evangeline, he was pleasantly surprised by her progress. However, the sight of her struggling with the ice spear had left Max momentarily worried.

“Pay attention!” August yelled, disappointed with Max. He ruthlessly drove his sword towards Max’s heart. Stories about Max had reached August’s ears a long time ago and had stimulated his desire for another worthy rival. He longed for someone to match him in battle, a battle that could push him beyond his limits. But the spar so far had only served to disappoint.

In spite of holding back, August had kept Max on the defensive. Each passing second had seen his advantage grow. However, this critical juncture served to remind him that he had been too quick to judge.

With most of his attention on Liliana, Max was irked by August’s sudden shout. Glancing at the incoming sword, he remembered how his opponent’s interference during his attempt to deal with Phillip and immediately felt his irritation grow.

“Are you going to get in my way again?!” Max growled as he casually slapped the sword away.

August momentarily froze, but recovered just in time to block a kick from Max that left his arm numb. He stumbled back and caught sight of Max heaving a sigh of relief. Smiling wryly, August now understood that his adversary was a familiar before he was a knight.

With the spear out of the way, Liliana created four man-sized flaming tornadoes which quickly surrounded their target. Fire transformed into ice as the difference in skill and experience came into play. Evangeline flicked her wand and the four large chunks of frozen water turned to dust. “You’re really good.” She said, patting her skirt to rid them of moisture. “Now, how about we take things up a notch?”

“Fine by me. You’re not the only one with tricks up her sleeve.”

In the stands, over the course of the battle, most of the seniors had realized that Liliana was an Intermediate Mage.

“Another one among the freshmen?” One of the sophomores bitterly smiled. “If I slack off, these juniors will leave me in the dust!”

A noble among the senior students watched the match while feeling perplexed. He turned to his friend and said, “This Liliana whatever her name is… does she have someone backing her?”

“Don’t look at me. How would I know?”

“Even her familiar is faring well against August. I wonder if I can recruit them into my family.”

Most of the freshmen were now feeling ecstatic while the ones who had bet against Max and Liliana were wallowing in sadness, having just lost both money and face. With even the members of the faculty focusing on the battle, the match being supervised by the Vice-Principal had truly become the center of attention.

However, not everyone was happy with this unexpected development. Bradley, for one, was constantly grumbling as he watched the spar. The more promising Liliana and Max appeared, the more difficult it would be for him to exact revenge.

A few of Max’s classmates were also spectating with complex expressions and shared some of Bradley’s rage and hate. These were students Max had generally kept a distance from.

During his month in the academy, Max had displayed an average aptitude. The nobles and few commoners who stood above him held no impression of him. However, to see such a person suddenly showcase such skill caused them to involuntarily gnash their teeth in anger. They began to think that Max had always been looking down at them.

Of course, that was far from the truth. Max had simply wanted to hide his unusual affinity for mana, but not stay too low-key after his experience with the Argent family. Unfortunately, his clash with August had put a wrench in his plan and forced him to reveal a portion of his amassed strength.

Looking at Max in rumination, August thought about the moment before and smiled. He knew that for reasons he couldn’t currently understand, Max was holding back, perhaps even more than he had been. With such a worthy opponent in sight, he could feel his blood boil from the excitement. As his thirst for a serious battle increased, he carefully voiced his words, “It looks like I owe you an apology.”