The Beginning after the end : Perfect Duo

First Ranking

After standing correctly again, I charged at Kaspian with my fire-enhanced sword. We clashed in the center, his sword against mine. I swung my sword to the right, pushing our blades away from each other, and punched him in the stomach with my fist. This time it landed because I had already trapped his legs in the ground.

He dodged my next punch, still trapped, and aimed his sword at my neck. A shield made of dirt rose from the ground to block his strike.

"How about that, old man?" I shouted.

He broke free of my trap; I could tell by the sound of it, but where was he? The shield I made shattered into pieces, all thrown toward me. I dodged piece after piece, but he was nowhere to be seen. His sword almost reached my face, but with Thunderclap Impulse active, I jumped back in time.

"Close one," I said.

He approached again. The earth beneath him shattered, and he fell as I enclosed him. But he pierced through that and emerged again.

"That wind boost of yours is annoying," I yelled out loud.

I noticed he started sweating. I raised the heat of the flames that engulfed the pitch even further. We clashed again with our swords, and I was the one getting pushed back in terms of skill.

How is this man still holding on even with everything I've used so far?

I had been using each element on its own, which was more than enough against weaklings, but against someone as strong as him, it wasn't working. I had to mix them up.

I sent a wave of wind bullets toward him. He jumped around avoiding them, but a tornado was now in his way, swallowing him. I turned the whole thing on fire, creating a magnificent vortex.

"Stop it!" my original examiner shouted.

As I was about to stop the vortex, it canceled out on its own.

"Who said it's over?" Kaspian said with a smirk. His clothes were burned in many spots, his sword was red hot, but his eyes were more intense than usual. He jumped again, his movements even faster, enhanced by his wind push. But now, I was manipulating the environment to my advantage. He stepped to his right, but his foot didn’t connect, creating a slight opening for my sword that barely scratched his ear as he got away again.

I sent a wind bullet toward him again. He dodged to the right, but the earth beneath him shattered again. He jumped, but my bullets were there for him, throwing him away. The pitch was now a complete mess.

It was time for the real show. Watch closely, Lucas.

"How about raising the stakes, Kaspian?" I asked.

"You're not tired yet, I see?" he replied.

I sent wind bullets again, but this time he blocked them with his wind shield.

"Nice armor, man," I noted.

Now it was fire-boosted ones. His armor started cracking, and I went underground, still sending spells through my clone on top. I sneaked behind him, muting my footsteps with sound magic. I struck with my sword on the other side of the shield. It cracked open, but as I was about to hit him, a huge sword of wind appeared heading toward me. I made my own, and we continued our clash. A hit from me, then another from him, as I unsummoned my clone.

It was now sword to sword, hand to hand, but this time I had the advantage with my better mana control. While all this was happening, I spawned a water spell to capture him inside, making it impossible for him to breathe. It worked. I had won.

The bubble exploded.

"Do that with someone who can't use magic, you fool," he said.

But now he was all covered in water. I sent a powerful spear of lightning toward him. It barely got him, but he quickly recovered. He managed to hit me with a wind arrow, and I fell down. Instead of hitting the ground, I hovered up using gravity magic and forced him to fall on his face. I conjured ice arrows and sent them toward him. They hit but weren't strong enough to hurt him much, thanks to his wind armor.

I charged a hypersonic bullet toward him, damaging his ears. He couldn't listen to anything anymore, and it knocked him out.

I won, hhhh.

The medical staff rushed to him. The crowd's clapping voices spread through the arena, their eyes focused on me. Their faces were tense and full of excitement. I glanced at my family’s side. Jasmine was... well, she was just like usual. Arthur, on the other hand, gave me a judgmental look. Lilia was amazed, as was the rest of the crowd, except for one person: Lucas. He was straight-up pissed off. It was supposed to be his show, he thought.

I turned around to see my original examiner approaching, the guy with the sword, wearing classic armor. He approached me slowly, the eyes of the crowd all on us. He slapped me and then said:

"What were you thinking? What if you had injured him badly? He's the head of the adventuring guild."

"You told us to go all out because a medical team is available, didn't you?" I retorted.

"Well, yes, but..."

"Hey, Jake, leave the man. I'll finish what I started," Kaspian said.

"I thought you were knocked out," I said.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I was, but thanks to my friends over there, I am back."

"Great medical team you have there. They rushed out as soon as you fell."

"Let's leave that aside. I never thought a quadri-elemental mage might appear, but one with all advanced forms is even more wild."

"Yeah, anyway, what rank do I get?" I asked.

"And on top of that, to have the mana reserves to endure that many attacks in a single battle, without even mentioning your sword technique that was on par with mine for the most part, I just can't understand how you're that strong."

"Oh yeah, my ranking?" I asked again.

"And I couldn’t even sense your mana usage," Kaspian continued, his eyes full of excitement.

"You're clearly an S rank, no doubt about it. Hope we can get a rematch sometime?"

"Did you hear that? We've got an S rank today!" The clatter of voices spread.

"Amazing!"