The 'Explosive Barrier' was actually something that's quite difficult to learn and hardly any people from the Drak family know how to use it. It required the caster to have such extensive control over their mana that it was kind of ridiculous in a sense. If you didn't have this control then the spell would more than likely back fire on you causing the actual purpose of the barrier to be pointless.
It's purpose was exactly like the basic spell it was based off of, it forms a barrier around the caster to protect them from attacks. The thing about 'Explosive Barrier' was that it was based on a countering variant of the barrier spell, which allows the barrier to counter attack when receiving an attack if the caster so chooses. All the 'Explosive Barrier' requires to actual cast it was for you to infuse the explosive element into it, but that's also where having great control over your energy comes into play. Since the explosive element is extremely volatile with most of it's spells requiring at least some mastery over control this barrier was an even bigger case of needing such control.
If you lack this control instead of the barrier countering the attacks you receive from your opponent, it may actually be you that would be taking an explosion in the face.
Sagar wasn't sure how long it took Talia to be able to control her mana to such an extent but it would explain why he noticed her excellent manipulation of it when he had first met her. Sagar can technically learn this spell as well as his actual main element was Almighty that required good control to use because of it's domineering nature. He just chose not to as he already had enough defensive techniques and he wasn't joking about the ridiculous amount of control needed for it. If he used it he wouldn't be able to use any more spells as the barrier would take up most of his control but he would be able to use his internal energy as that was a bit different.
Anyway he continued to watch Talia's battle with great interest to see whatever else she was capable of. She herself was still standing where she had originally been and had not moved an inch towards her opponent, not that it was needed as she was a mage, mostly using ranged combat.
Her opponent didn't seem too surprised about the outcome of his first attack, he didn't even continue attacking choosing instead to start up a conversation it seemed, "I didn't think my first opponent would be against the Disintegrating Princess, I thought that if I attacked fast enough you wouldn't be able to defend yourself but it appears that I'm wrong."
Talia didn't really respond to her nickname or anything that the mage said, instead she gave him a bright smile. It may have been a smile but the air she gave off was the complete opposite of what she was showing you. This was something that Sagar had never seen from her in the past week or so that he's known her. She was usually very cheerful giving off a friendly aura that would attract people to her but now it was almost as if he was looking at someone else entirely. Sagar could only chock it up to his assumption that maybe she acted differently when she was fighting and this was the first time he had seen her do so.
At this point several spheres of energy formed around Talia that were very similar to Sagar's tiny explosions that he used so that he wouldn't harm anyone too severely. She then sent one of them towards her opponent at a somewhat slow speed, as they weren't fast enough to reach the opponent without him realizing it giving him time to react.
The mage still seemed to panic a little when seeing her use this move quickly trying to get out of it's path and raising some stone walls between him and the attack. Her opponent seemed familiar with her techniques and was able to respond to them accordingly which made Sagar wonder if she had gotten into scuffles with other children from the other noble families.
When the sphere reached it's destination the actually power of it was immense completely destroying part of the platform where it went off along with it's shock waves crumbling some of the mage's walls, but it's not like the attacks stopped there as when the first sphere went off
Talia was already sending another out.
The mage wasn't paying too much attention as he was a bit disoriented and by the time he noticed another attack coming his way he didn't have any time to move he just raised more defenses around himself along with covering himself in some earthly armor.
The second attack was just as devastating at the first one this time destroying all the walls around the mage causing a lot of smoke to kick up in the process. Almost as if she could tell that her opponent was still in the fight Talia sent her last sphere into the smoke as she didn't really need to aim with it.
The moment she released her attack some of the stone around her moved turning into pillars shooting out of the ground coming from her four directions. They all smashed with equal power into her barrier which then caused the barrier to react and send out explosions to all the pillars destroying them.
Her barrier became slightly cracked and dimmed a little but it didn't seem that Talia was worried about it as she still had a smile on her face as she placed her had on the platform. Eventually the platform started shaking so much that it was even effecting the ground around it.
Soon a large explosion erupted from the ground launching a figure into the air and at this point Talia moved for the first time during the match putting herself right under where the figure would land. Landing he hit the barrier around Talia which caused some concern for the judge as he knew the power of the barrier but he was relived when he realized that Talia controlled the output of the explosion to a non-lethal level.
The resulting explosion more than anything just knocked the mage to the ground showing that he was unconscious. He was covered in wounds and might have suffered some internal damage but he was still alive. The judge announced that Talia was the winner where she made her way to Sagar still showing a smile but it was the usual one she always showed. She raised her hand in the air requesting a high five from Sagar which he reciprocated and they continued to wait for their next matches.