Rylan narrowed his eyes. The flow of mana around Oliver had changed.

It's flowing faster.

A greater amount of it was moving, too, to the point where it made Rylan think that the young man was already in the middle of casting a powerful spell.

As expected from someone so deep into the Third Circle.

He lowered his center of gravity. From a certain point of view, Oliver's options were still limited by his Circles, since he didn't have access to greater spells at the Fourth Circle and above. Through his studies, Rylan had come to understand much more about the available spells at the Third Circle and under.

But that doesn't mean he's weak.

In the tournament finals, Hayden had already shown how weaker spells could be used in a way that magnified their effectiveness considerably. There was no reason to believe this would be different from that time. No, Oliver was an even more impressive and experienced Mage. Rylan grinned.

Instead of dashing forward to stop whatever Oliver was planning to do, Rylan only remained in place with an interested expression. The earth in front of Oliver rose in the shape of a great block of pure brownish stone. It was over five meters in length and three meters tall, while also being several meters in width. For a moment, Rylan wondered if the opponent was going to simply fling the stone block at him, but this notion was quickly dismissed as the atmosphere around Oliver also shifted. Rylan widened his eyes.

At that moment, the stone block shattered, as if it had been hit by a giant's attack. It broke into dozens of fragments, all of which had pointed tips as sharp as blades. Less than a second later, they all shot toward Rylan even faster than arrows, supported by a sudden, fierce air current. Rylan blinked. The air shifted the trajectory of the projectiles. Some flew at him in a curved trajectory, targeting his shoulders and thighs, while others pierced through the air straight toward his face and chest. Others aimed for the area around him, seemingly targeting nothing but air.

He's limiting my options.

The sharp projectiles that weren't aiming directly at him still sought to force him to choose specific movement paths, weaving a complex net around his position. Each projectile was carefully controlled by the air around it, despite their considerable speed. Rylan looked at the closest projectile, feeling like the world were moving more slowly.

Could I have dealt with this?

His past self from back during the tournament wouldn't have had an answer to this. Each stone spike seemed to hold enough power to pierce straight through his past Magic Shield, and there were dozens of them. This single move would have made Oliver achieve first place in the tournament. Rylan smiled.

I'm glad.

Once more, he was happy that the Academy's students were this capable. But he wasn't the person he had been back then, though not much time had passed. Rylan tightened his grip around Silver Twilight's hilt at the same time that he waved his wand.

Magic Shield.

There was no need to cast a second spell. The Shield was enough. The blue Shield took shape around him a heartbeat later. He only needed to pay attention to the speed of his movement path, as well as to the path itself. To escape the seemingly all-encompassing net of deadly flying stone spikes, he only needed to trust his instincts.

The first stone shard arrived, aiming straight for Rylan's left shoulder. He only threw it a glance and took a small step to the side, swinging his sword. The blade landed on the side of the flying spike with just the right amount of power to slightly twist its trajectory. This small deflection was enough to make the projectile go flying over his shoulder, almost grazing his Shield.

But there was no time to revel in his abilities. The second and third spikes were already close. Rylan looked at them with calmness. The second one was coming for his head, and the third one was piercing at his right leg. Two very different targets, but the logic to deal with them was the same.

Now.

Rylan changed his posture to stand sideways while still keeping his eyes on Oliver, therefore getting his leg out of the way. It was then. The third projectile changed its trajectory in mid-air. Rylan grinned.

Impressive.

To think Oliver's control was so great to be able to change the path of one of his stone shards, even though there were dozens of them flying through the air at such high speed, all aiming for different spots. Rylan let out a breath and swung his sword, this time putting more power into the swing. He didn't attempt to move out of the way of the lower stone spike. Instead, his blade met the higher projectile dead-on. The stone crumbled under his attack as the spike was almost perfectly split in half. The impact alone forced both halves to miss him. Rylan glanced at the remaining stone spike, which was almost upon him. Barely a moment before it reached him, he abruptly moved. The attack hit nothing but air.

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In such a fashion, Rylan either entirely dodged or deflected every single one of the incoming stone missiles, even as they sped up in mid-air. The more of them he dealt with, the faster the remaining ones became, probably because Oliver stopped needing to concentrate on so many. Once there were only ten projectiles left, their speed was considerably higher than at the start. Still, Rylan only looked at them with a calm grin. It only meant that he needed to try a little harder. He swung Silver Twilight, splitting another spike vertically in half. Both halves went by his sides, failing to achieve anything.

For the rest of the attacks, since there was no longer any need to worry about more of the stone missiles, as their number had been greatly reduced, Rylan only dodged. The winds around them, which became fiercer and sharper, were simply blocked by his Magic Shield. In the end, Rylan stepped to the side to avoid the last spike, which drilled into the ground for over two meters before stopping.

He looked at his opponent. Oliver was staring at him while looking like he had been slapped. He glanced at the others, who were standing at the field's edge. In general, the student council members were staring at him with shining eyes, while Jasmine's gaze was especially piercing. Hayden only nodded to himself with a smile.

Rylan looked back at Oliver. The young man was still staring at him. He raised an eyebrow and rested Silver Twilight's blade on his shoulder, which made Oliver suddenly blink twice.

"…This is bullshit," Oliver abruptly said loudly, making everyone look at him. "Complete, utter bullshit. I thought you would raise a defensive spell, but no, you just cast Magic Shield and dodged or deflected everything. What the fuck? Ridiculous."

Rylan threw him an awkward smile.

"I mean, it's how I fight. I don't know what to tell you."

Oliver let out a deep sigh, then narrowed his eyes at Rylan.

"Yeah, I know. It's just nonsensical. I have no idea how you managed to get high enough magical stats to reach the Third Circle while also developing your physical stats to this point. I really don't get it. What Level are you?"

Rylan shrugged at the question, which had been asked for the second time since the battle started.

"…Should I go clear harder Dungeons?" Oliver said in a lower tone, almost as a mutter, but his voice couldn't escape Rylan sharp senses.

Rylan smiled.

"Don't worry about that. You're plenty strong already. You would've taken first place in the tournament a few months ago."

Oliver stared at him with a complicated expression.

"Which only makes your growth even more incomprehensible. Ah fuck," he scratched the back of his head as he lowered his gaze. "I don't know. Doesn't matter. Let's wrap up this fight already. I already know I can't beat you. Shit."

Rylan and Oliver moved at the same time. Just like before, Oliver combined spells to weave a net of destruction around Rylan, who dodged and counterattacked each time. Fire and wind joined in mid-air to create fierce storms of flames, while the earth crawled over itself to attempt to restrain Rylan. Naturally, Rylan didn't stand still. Once he got a firm grasp of Oliver's spell's speed and power, he lowered his Magic Shield and focused on casting offensively.

Oliver met the Water Bullets in mid-air with his own spells and deftly avoided the Earth Spikes that Rylan cast. His Magic Shield was sturdy enough to cope with Wind Blades, and his Earth Walls could be used both defensively and offensively. Rylan found out about this the hard way, once a Wall was sent hurling toward him at a surprising speed.

Likely because of the way Rylan had combined water spells with Ray of Frost at the start of the battle, Oliver seemingly paid special attention to keeping any water spells a good distance away from him, including when they lost their form when blocked. Even when Rylan cast Tide for the first time, Oliver managed to cope with it by carefully dual casting earth spells alongside wind spells.

The battle continued. For the first time in a while, Rylan went through his entire kit of spells. He didn't circulate his mana even once, but this allowed him to become even more aware of his spells' strengths and weaknesses. With each cast, he could tell he was growing stronger. Was it because of Dreams of Transcendence? He could almost see his development, even as his mana got dangerously low.

Eventually, after Rylan dodged a Fireball by jumping to the side, he narrowed his eyes at Oliver.

An opportunity.

Unhesitatingly, he shot forward. Oliver blinked, but couldn't react fast enough to avoid Rylan's kick, which reached his legs. Rylan felt like he had kicked nothing but air, but Oliver was sent spinning through the air, then fell hard on his back.

"Ugh…" Oliver groaned, clutching his chest and trying to breathe.

He froze once Rylan placed the tip of his blade under his chin. With a deep sigh and a pained expression, he looked at Rylan.

"I lost," Oliver uttered while furrowing his brow. "But next time, I'll win."

Rylan smiled and sheathed his sword, then extended his hand.

"It was a good fight."

Oliver scoffed and grabbed his extended hand firmly, using it as support to stand up. Rylan kept his smile.

***

Lucian stared at Rylan with a grave expression, a million thoughts running through his mind. A single one stood out among them all.

How is this possible?

What kind of Class had Rylan Flameheart acquired? His performance during the tournament had been enough for Lucian to want him in the student council, but this was something entirely different. Oliver was the council's third strongest fighter, but by a small margin. The gap between him, Ophelia, and Lucian himself wasn't a significant one. All of them had been students in the Academy for at least two years. Yet, after nothing but a few months, Rylan had returned as a monster who clearly hadn't even tried his hardest, but had defeated Oliver.

"Holy shit," Jennifer said, shaking her head. "He's incredible. Hey, remember when I said I wouldn't marry anyone?"

"I'm going to ask him to become stronger," Faye said from the side in a low tone, making Lucian glance at her in surprise. Hearing her speak was rare enough, but to ask for advice? Proud as she was?

"Of course he's this strong," Hayden said with a wide smile. "Though I admit it surpassed my expectations a bit."

Jasmine scoffed next to him.

"You had no idea he had grown to this point. Still," she looked at Rylan with a mysterious gaze, her face blushed. "I'm happy he's doing well."

Hayden raised an eyebrow at her.

As the rest of the group continued to talk and discuss Rylan's strength, Lucian only stared at the young man in question with a complicated expression.

"Hey," Ophelia said as she approached him from the side, her voice almost a whisper. "Can you beat him? Because I don't think I can. What the fuck happened?"

Lucian couldn't easily reply to her questions.

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