Chapter 1463: The Storm Devours All
The spell hanging over the arena was vast, a large-scale construct that burned through enormous amounts of mana. Typically, a mage would never have the chance to weave such a spell in the middle of a heated fight. At best, one could layer attacks, set up a spell in the background while still fighting on the front lines. But this?
Kayzel had cast several grand-scale spells at once, allowing them to linger, each one brewing power until they reached their peak. Five different elemental cores, five different incarnations, all converging into a storm of destruction.
It was pure elemental force, nothing delicate, nothing subtle. Just overwhelming torrents of mana.
As the barrage rushed toward him, Raze smiled faintly to himself. He could admit, if only in the quiet of his own mind, that Kayzel was indeed a powerful student. From what he had displayed so far, few others in the tournament could compare to him. With this level of magic, Raze guessed Kayzel could already stand at the level of a Six Star mage. For most, that was more than enough to be called a prodigy.
But for Raze, it was nothing.
By his own judgment, he had already reached the Seven Star level. His control and refinement eclipsed most, his knowledge reached that of a Nine Star mage, his dark affinity gave him unmatched lethality, and, beyond that, he was one of the highest-ranked middle-stage warriors. All of these layers stacked together made him a force far beyond anything Kayzel, or anyone else in this arena, could comprehend.
’I almost want to step aside,’ Raze thought calmly, his red eyes tracking the incoming storm. ’To let the spells hit the stands, just to see how the teachers or the principals would react. Would they intervene? Would they finally step in? But… no. I already know the answer. They wouldn’t risk themselves. And if I did that, innocent people would be caught in the crossfire.’
He exhaled quietly, shaking his head.
Throughout his journey, Raze had refined his mastery across multiple affinities. Darkness was his strongest by nature, but his true foundation, his specialty even in his past life, was wind.
A faint smirk touched his lips.
“I suppose it’s a good thing I’ve been preparing for this exact situation,” he murmured under his breath. “A circle laid at my feet, feeding on my mana all this time. That’s the problem with these students, they’re far too predictable.”
The spells bore down on him, the air vibrating with elemental fury. And just before they struck, the circle beneath Raze’s boots ignited.
With a howl like a hurricane, torrents of wind erupted upward. The current didn’t simply deflect, it consumed, pulling in the elemental blasts, unraveling their structures, tearing them apart one after another. Fire, lightning, water, earth, and air, all of Kayzel’s conjured forces were shredded by the gale.
To the spectators, it looked almost like a barrier, a wall of roaring wind that devoured the magic as it struck. The air was filled with crackling energy, dust, and sparks, but through it all, Raze remained untouched at the center, his cloak unmoving, his stance unbroken.
Gasps echoed through the crowd. Many of them had never seen wind magic displayed at such a level before. It was artistry and devastation in one, control so absolute it silenced even the most excitable spectators.
And to the sharp eyes of the teachers and principals, the truth was obvious: this was not the work of a Six Star mage. Not even close. At the very least, Raze stood at Seven Star level. Perhaps more. The realization would not go unnoticed, and by a particular someone, it would raise questions he intended to stir.
In essence, what Raze had done mirrored Kayzel’s own strategy. But where Kayzel had scattered his mana across five simultaneous spells, Raze had funneled all his strength into a single, perfected construct. More mana. More control. A greater spell to erase them all.
He could have ended it in several other ways. Darkness, fire, or even brute force. But in the end, this method was the most efficient.
Finally, the storm subsided. The last traces of energy scattered, the currents fading into nothing. The battlefield fell eerily silent.
And Raze still stood, unmarked, his faint smile lingering.
Mana lingered in the air, heavy and oppressive, the remnants of Kayzel’s vast spellwork. Every mage in the audience could feel it, how much power had just been unleashed. And yet, when the dust cleared and their eyes found Raze standing there completely unharmed, the silence shattered.
The crowd erupted.
“WHOAAA!”
“Did you see that!? He blocked all of those spells like they were nothing! I didn’t even know wind magic could be used like that!”
“I thought his last performance was underwhelming, but maybe that’s just his way of fighting… He always uses just enough magic to counter his opponent, no more, no less.”
“Yeah, but did you sense that level of power? That wasn’t basic spellwork, that was a high-star technique. Even Kayzel’s magic felt like it belonged to the higher tiers. Is it possible he’s already on the level of the teachers?”
“If that’s true… then why isn’t someone like him a Central Academy student?”
“Who knows? Maybe he has a grudge against them. Either way, I’m glad he isn’t. Otherwise, we’d never get to see a fight like this here. It always sucked before, every strong student went straight to Central.”
“I’ll tell you what, he’s so strong I bet he could even give one of the teachers a real fight.”
“Right? The problem is, Kayzel’s clearly the strongest opponent here, and even he can’t seem to push him hard enough. Makes you wonder what it would be like if someone else, someone even stronger, fought against him.”
“Maybe… maybe we’re looking at the future Grand Magus.”
The arena buzzed with awe, voices overlapping in disbelief and excitement. To the majority, the match was already decided, Raze had won. But not everyone shared that opinion.
In the Wilton section, two students sat stiff and serious: Moze and Piba.
“He hasn’t used his unique affinity yet, has he?” Moze asked quietly, eyes fixed on the stage.
“No,” Piba answered, his tone grim. “But after everything that’s happened so far, he doesn’t have a choice. He’ll have to use it now.”
And they were both right.
The fury on Kayzel’s face faded, replaced by calm determination as he drew in a long, steady breath. His aura shifted, his presence sharpening.
“I can’t believe I have to use something like this here,” he admitted, voice echoing across the arena. “I thought I would save it for the next event… to wipe out all ten students at once. But you, ” his eyes locked onto Raze, burning with pride and defiance, “you leave me no choice. Now you’ll see what sets me apart. What sets me apart from Idore himself!”
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Chapter 1464: The Punch That Failed
There was one thing everyone could see clearly, Kayzel’s words carried absolute confidence. Whatever his unique trait, whatever affinity or special ability it was, he believed in it completely. He stood with his chest high, his eyes locked on Raze, a confident smile tugging at his lips.
The audience leaned forward in their seats, watching with sharp anticipation. Then, in the very next instant, Kayzel was gone.
He vanished from sight.
One moment he had been standing in plain view, and the next his body was no longer in the same place. In the blink of an eye, he had reappeared on the opposite end of the stadium. The distance covered was so great and so sudden that murmurs erupted instantly.
“What was that?!” one of the spectators gasped.
“Invisibility? Is it the same trait as that other Central Academy student we saw earlier?” another asked, bewildered.
“No, that can’t be it,” someone else argued quickly. “Even if he were invisible, that wouldn’t explain it. Look how far he’s moved! His position completely changed in a single instant.”
“I saw it,” a sharper-eyed spectator muttered. “If you don’t pay attention carefully, you’ll miss it entirely. Everyone, watch closely this time.”
Down on the field, Kayzel’s expression only grew more smug. His lips curved into a smile as he spread his arms slightly, soaking in the crowd’s confusion.
“Did you see it?” he taunted.
And then he was off again. His body zipped across the battlefield, cutting left and right in rapid bursts of motion. Dust and loose debris sprayed up into the air as his movements tore across the stone floor. The crowd struggled to follow, their eyes darting back and forth. To most, it was nothing more than a blur, an afterimage racing at impossible speed.
“What is this…?” a voice trembled from the stands. “Is this really magic? Or am I imagining things? He looks like he’s moving with actual super speed.”
“I’ve heard of wind mages boosting their speed,” another said. “They enhance their bodies with mana, ride the air currents, even glide, but this… this is different. This isn’t wind. This is something else entirely.”
“That must mean… this is his unique trait!”
Kayzel’s laughter rang faintly as he darted through the arena. In a flash, he appeared right beside Raze, close enough that his breath brushed Raze’s ear.
“Are you afraid?” Kayzel whispered, his voice dripping with amusement.
And just as suddenly, he was gone again. His figure dissolved into motion, reappearing only briefly before vanishing once more, as if he were a phantom. He dashed around the arena in an endless loop, pausing only for split seconds to let the crowd glimpse his silhouette.
He was enjoying it, reveling in the spectacle, savoring the chance to show the world the power he had hidden for so long.
The guesses from the crowd were correct. Kayzel’s unique trait was, indeed, super speed. It was the ability he had discovered the moment he first learned to manipulate mana. With the flow of energy, he could amplify his speed to terrifying levels, shifting across the battlefield faster than most eyes could register.
At first glance, it might not have seemed like the most fearsome of traits. Speed alone could be dismissed as simple utility, something useful, perhaps, but not overwhelming. Yet in truth, it had far more applications than anyone imagined.
For ordinary mages, battle often meant standing still, anchoring themselves while weaving their spells. At higher levels, they might gain the ability to float or fly, gliding through the air as they hurled their magic. They could reposition themselves strategically, but even then, their movements were nothing like this.
Kayzel was different.
With his trait, he didn’t just move, he tore through space like a storm, turning the battlefield into his playground.
Being able to move at such speeds gave Kayzel countless advantages. He could dodge at the very last possible moment, slipping past attacks as if the world itself slowed around him, and he could deliver strikes that came from the most unexpected angles. Already, he imagined himself advancing to the next stage of the competition, darting between each contestant, eliminating them one by one. In his mind, he saw himself standing as the final victor, the crowd chanting his name, the world recognizing the sheer dominance of his unique trait.
And right now, it seemed his plan was working. Raze hadn’t cast a single spell. To Kayzel, it was proof that his opponent couldn’t even follow his movements, let alone retaliate.
In the Wilton students’ room, where the match was displayed on a shimmering magical screen, the atmosphere was different. Concern colored their faces, and Piba, in particular, wore a grim expression.
“It’s exactly as I thought,” Piba said, his voice low and firm. “When he attacked us before, he hardened his body with earth magic. At that speed, with that kind of impact, he created enough force to shatter our bones. I thought it might have been some kind of illusion or trick at the time… but no. For a unique skill to have such a direct, physical effect on the body, this is almost unheard of.”
His words weighed heavy on the others. But those from Pagna had seen things most students of Central or Wilton never would. They weren’t entirely convinced. After all, they had once faced a mage capable of splitting his own body into multiple parts, compared to that, speed seemed almost tame.
Even so, worry crept into the room.
“I can’t lie,” Panla admitted, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “I’m nervous. At the speed he’s moving now, Kayzel could cast spells from any angle. And we’ve all seen his ability to conjure lingering spells. Raze has handled everything so far, but if Kayzel starts mixing his speed with fast-acting attacks, ” she shook her head. “Even something simple, combined with his physical strikes, could be devastating. The teachers won’t be able to react in time.”
The reminder silenced the room for a moment.
The teachers, after all, were stationed to intervene if the duels became too dangerous. The tournament had been designed with balance in mind, so that no one competitor would utterly overwhelm another. But here, with the speed Kayzel displayed, even the protectors on standby might not be able to step in quickly enough.
“Raze will be fine.” Liam’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. He leaned back lazily in his chair, waving his hand dismissively as if brushing away their fears. His eyes were steady, his lips curling faintly. “If you ask me… he’s kinda slow.”
The others turned to him, incredulous, but Liam didn’t flinch. His confidence in Raze was absolute.
Back on the field, Kayzel had finished showing off. The time for spectacle was over. His hand crackled with lightning, mana pulsing up and down his forearm until it glowed with raw power. He tightened his fist, his lips curling into a grin, and then he charged in again, darting straight for Raze’s side.
His arm whipped forward, his lightning-clad fist aimed squarely at Raze’s head, the full force of his speed driving it like a thunderbolt.
But before the blow could land, a hand rose up calmly.
Fingers closed tightly around Kayzel’s wrist, halting the strike in its tracks.
The crackle of lightning sputtered against Raze’s palm.
“You…” Kayzel’s voice trembled, his eyes wide, disbelief plastered across his face. He swallowed hard. “You grabbed my punch?”
The confidence drained from him in an instant. His heart pounded in his chest, the unthinkable reality sinking in. How was this even possible?
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Chapter 1465: The Hardest Lesson
Raze’s hand was wrapped in lightning, the crackling glow coating his skin like living chains of energy. Just like before, his flawless control allowed him to neutralize Kayzel’s attack completely, snuffing out its destructive force. But this time, it wasn’t just the control that was impressive.
It was the fact that he had blocked the strike at all.
Even with Kayzel’s super speed, even when attacking faster than the human eye could track, Raze had still managed to catch the blow.
’This makes no sense,’ Kayzel thought frantically, disbelief flickering across his face. ’Even if he got lucky, if he just happened to raise his hand at the right spot at the right moment, the sheer force of my speed should have blown his arm back. But it hasn’t. His grip… it’s solid. It’s like he physically stopped my hand itself! How is that possible?’
Kayzel ripped himself free before Raze could counter. He zipped away in a blur, only to reappear from another angle, lightning coursing down his leg as he unleashed a vicious kick.
But Raze was already moving. His own leg shot out, shrouded in crackling lightning, and the two collided with a thunderous snap, sparks exploding outward.
Kayzel skidded back, his teeth gritted. He wasn’t finished. Mana surged through his veins as he cast in rapid succession, not only lightning this time, but fire as well. Flames curled around his limbs, his strikes glowing red-hot as he charged in again.
And every time, Raze blocked. His hand intercepted a burning fist. His arm deflected a scorching elbow. His body twisted, parrying kicks and redirecting blows with clinical precision.
The arena roared. The crowd could hardly contain themselves at what they were witnessing. This wasn’t the image of two mages hurling spells at one another from a distance. This was something entirely different. To the spectators, it looked like hand-to-hand combat, infused with the raw power of elemental magic. The speed, the clash of fire and lightning, the sheer variety of the fight, it was unlike anything they had seen before.
Excitement boiled over.
“I told you,” Liam said calmly, leaning back in his chair as if he had predicted it all from the beginning. His voice carried a trace of amusement. “Kayzel is actually quite slow. Raze isn’t going to have any trouble handling this.”
The other mages in the room exchanged baffled looks. None of them could even process the idea. Kayzel’s movements were so fast they looked like blurs, faster than any mage they had ever seen before. Who could call that slow?
But Liam wasn’t looking with their eyes. He came from Pagna, where speed was measured differently. There were assassins who could vanish and reappear before a target could even draw breath. There were warriors like Zon, whose sheer velocity made them into living shadows. Compared to them, Kayzel’s super speed was impressive… but not extraordinary.
Even Liam himself could have intercepted Kayzel’s strikes, though perhaps not with Raze’s effortless precision. To the mages, Kayzel’s power was unbelievable. To the Pagna warriors, it was only a familiar kind of fast.
Finally, Kayzel came to a stop. His chest heaved as he glared across the field, his confident grin gone at last. For the first time, his face was shadowed with frustration.
“I don’t understand!” Kayzel shouted, his voice raw, carrying over the arena. “How can you move just as fast as me? You’re reacting to everything, I can see it! Do you have the same unique trait as me?!”
The question echoed in the sudden silence, the crowd waiting with baited breath for Raze’s answer.
For the first time since the fight began, Raze moved from his position. His steps echoed lightly across the arena floor as he began to walk forward, each step deliberate, each step carrying a quiet finality.
“I told you before, didn’t I?” Raze’s voice cut through the noise of the stadium. Lightning sparked to life at the soles of his feet, arcs of electricity racing up his legs, trailing behind him like snapping chains. “That you’re not anything special.”
And then, just like Kayzel had done at the start of the match, Raze vanished.
But this was different.
Kayzel’s power allowed him to process information at incredible speeds, his mind able to follow even the quickest of spells and the blur of fast-moving bodies. Yet when it came to Raze, he saw nothing. His brain, trained to track the impossible, failed him completely.
The only thing he felt was the sudden grip of a hand on the back of his head.
And then the world spun.
With brutal force, Raze hurled him across the ground. Kayzel’s body skidded and crashed, dirt spraying as he dropped hard into the floor.
Snarling, Kayzel scrambled to his feet, mana surging, his body blurring again as he activated his super speed to flee and reposition. But before he could even blink, before his body could fully accelerate, Raze was already there.
Another hand gripped the back of his head. His skull slammed into the ground, the impact resounding like a hammer blow.
Gasps spread across the arena.
“What’s happening?! How is the student from Wilton able to keep up?!”
“Keep up? You fool!” another spectator shouted back. “Don’t you see? He’s not keeping up, he’s faster! Faster than Kayzel himself!”
Kayzel groaned, the world spinning as Raze hauled him upright with one arm before tossing him effortlessly across the field. His body bounced, skidding violently before coming to a halt.
And it wasn’t over.
Time and again, Kayzel tried to use his trait to escape, to gain distance, to mount an attack. And time and again, Raze was there first, grabbing him, dodging every desperate spell, and slamming him into the ground or hurling him across the arena.
Five times in total, Kayzel was thrown like a ragdoll. The crowd’s cheers dimmed into murmurs of confusion. None of them understood. What was Raze doing? Why wasn’t he finishing the fight?
At last, Raze stood over his battered opponent, his crimson eyes calm, his tone even.
“You know,” Raze said, his voice carrying clearly through the mist of dust and smoke, “I’m going to teach you something today. A lesson, one you won’t forget. For someone like you, being knocked unconscious, or having the fight stopped for you, that would be too easy.”
He leaned closer, his words sharp as a blade.
“The worst loss for you… will be admitting defeat yourself. Giving up, with your own mouth. That’s how you’ll lose. And whether it comes easily or whether I make it very, very hard, that’s your choice.”
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Chapter 1466: A Cruel Display
Although Kayzel had heard the words that came from Raze’s mouth, he didn’t quite process them. His mind refused to accept what they meant. To him, the match was still going. He could still channel his magic. He could still draw on his unique trait. His body, battered as it was, could still move.
No one had declared the fight over. No official call of defeat had rung out. That meant there was still a chance, however slim, for him to win.
For him to move like that… that speed can’t come without cost, Kayzel thought frantically, his breath sharp in his chest. He must be consuming enormous amounts of mana. There has to be a weakness. That’s why he’s not using anything but those lightning spells. If I can last long enough, he’ll burn himself out…
With that thought, Kayzel burst to the side, his figure flickering with unnatural speed. But in the very next instant, before he could even plan his counter, Raze materialized right in front of him. Cold fingers gripped his blazer, and then,
WHAM!
Kayzel was hauled up and hurled over Raze’s shoulder. He slammed into the ground, his body bouncing painfully across the floorboards. A groan slipped from his lips, his bones rattling inside him.
But Kayzel was not one to stay down. Teeth gritted, he forced himself to rise. Blood streaked his chin, his muscles screamed in protest, yet his hands thrust forward all the same. The ground beneath them quaked violently, stone and dirt rising like a cresting wave as he tried to smash Raze with the earth itself.
For a heartbeat, the attack seemed solid. But Raze simply lifted his own hands, and two enormous slabs of earth surged upward to block the assault. The rumble died instantly, Kayzel’s effort smothered in seconds. And Raze kept walking toward him, unhurried, unshaken.
Then came the crackle, his feet sparked, lightning crawling over his body. In a blink, he vanished from sight, only to reappear again at Kayzel’s flank. Another vicious grab, another brutal throw. Kayzel hit the ground with a dull, sickening thud.
And again.
And again.
That was the pattern the crowd witnessed: Kayzel lunging, clawing, trying desperately to land a strike, and Raze snatching him up, tossing him aside as if he weighed nothing. No spell of great spectacle, no fiery explosion of power, just relentless, merciless domination.
Kayzel’s body grew heavy, his muscles raw with pain. His lip was split open, blood dripping freely where his face had struck the ground. Each time he forced himself up, his frame wavered, his movements sluggish. His eyes, once blazing with determination, now carried a dull glaze, almost defeated before the final blow had even landed.
And the audience felt it. A shift of unease rippled through the stands. Whispers turned to murmurs, murmurs to questions. What exactly were they watching unfold?
The match should have been decided long ago. Everyone could see that Raze had already won. Yet he never cast the grand spell that would finish things cleanly. Instead, he kept hurling Kayzel over and over, small beatdowns piling into something that looked crueler with each repetition.
Why doesn’t he end it? one thought echoed in the crowd. Why doesn’t he just strike him down properly?
And then, an even darker thought pressed itself into their minds. Why aren’t the referees stopping this?
It was undeniable. Kayzel’s life was not in danger, yet. But only for now. Against any other opponent, against any other student, a decisive spell would have already been unleashed. A single blast of magic could have erased the outcome beyond question.
Or was it something else entirely? Perhaps even the teachers officiating the match, the ones who should have stepped in, were afraid as well. They had seen the speed and power Kayzel had displayed earlier, power beyond what most of them were capable of handling themselves. If they could never hope to stop him, then how were they supposed to stop someone like Raze?
The thought lingered in the air like smoke, thick and heavy.
“I told you already,” Raze’s voice cut through, cold and direct. “You can make this easy, or you can make this hard. You should just give up!”
He hurled Kayzel’s body once again, but this time with a sharper motion, flinging him slightly higher into the air. The extra distance was cruel, because when Kayzel came crashing back down, the pain was worse, rattling through his bones as the floor shuddered beneath him.
For half a second, Kayzel lay flat against the ground, breath knocked from his lungs. But his pride refused to let him stay there. Mana flared once more, just enough for him to force his battered body upright again.
“I can’t… lose,” Kayzel muttered through clenched teeth, his words meant more for himself than anyone else. “Someone of my caliber can’t fall to a nobody like you.”
The crowd’s reactions fractured down the middle. Half of them looked at Raze with unease, thinking the display had turned cruel. The other half questioned why Kayzel still resisted. Why not surrender? Why cling to pride at the expense of his body? Was it stubbornness? Or desperation?
If it had been any other mage, perhaps some might have admired his tenacity, even called it bravery. But this was Kayzel. The memory of what he had done to other students, injecting lightning magic into their cores, still lingered like a bitter taste. Those acts, combined with his arrogance, made it difficult for anyone to see his struggle as anything noble.
Finally, Raze reached him again. With effortless strength, he grabbed Kayzel by the collar and lifted him from the ground, holding him upright like a parent scolding a child.
“Do you even realize?” Raze said, his tone calm but sharp. “I’ve stopped using my own magic skills. I’m not sure you even noticed. Right now, I don’t need spells. I don’t even need to run. I am simply walking toward you, and I can still catch you every single time.”
Kayzel’s chest heaved, sweat dripping down his temple, but Raze continued without mercy.
“The mana you had, it’s gone. Depleted. Even if you wanted to keep fighting, your body wouldn’t let you. Everyone here has seen it. They’ve seen that you’ve already lost. And deep down, you know it too.”
Raze’s eyes narrowed, his grip tightening. “You took the hard path. The painful way out. You had the choice to stop this, but you refused. And you know what? I know what you did to those other students. I know you injected lightning magic into their cores, crippling them. Maybe I should do the same to you. Maybe I should make sure you can never use magic again.”
The words froze the air. The crowd gasped. And then Raze’s gaze drifted, lifting up toward the principal’s viewing area. What was Ibarin doing right now? Why hadn’t he interfered? Surely, he had to be furious with how far this had gone. And yet, he hadn’t moved.
“I… resign.” The words were weak at first, but Kayzel forced them out louder, his pride finally shattering. “I give up. I’ve lost this fight.”
At once, Raze released his grip and let Kayzel’s body fall back to the ground with a dull thud.
“I guess,” Raze muttered, his voice steady as he turned away, “today is not the day I face the Grand Magus.”
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