They stood in the large arena. The stands were packed. Infront of Simeon and Julia, the two brothers stood, both staring right at Julia and him, "Julia," She turned to him, "You are ready, do think about them, I'll defend you."
"O-Okay."
"We are going to beat them," The loud speaker came on and one of the commentators began speaking.
"Welcome to the 33rd ISMC, for our first match of the day, we have the Valtori School of Magic against the Highlands Institute of Magic! I wish the fighters good luck, and may the best win," His mic cut out and the bell rang as both of the brothers instantly cast their magic.
"Combination Tome, Mech Core, Hell Burner Body," A large robot formed around them, lifting them from the ground.
"Air Tome, Air Bolt," A small arrow of air flung into the robot's visor and cracked it. A flame formed in the hand of the robot before firing a ball of flames, "Simeon! That is an ultimate spell!"
"Pain Tome, Spirit Break," He jumped in front of Julia and stopped the ball of flames, barely moving, before it fizzled, "Julia, the bolt."
"Okay, Air Tome, Ultimate Bolt."
"Pain Tome, Unbroken Will," He put his hand back as she placed the bolt in his hand, "Ready?"
"Go," He hurled the bolt towards the mech as they tried to block it. As they were practicing, they learned that the bolt was affected by the magic of the user and also the throw. The bolt pierced into the mech's armor and then through the hand of the mech before sending it crashing the the floor, Simeon blocked another fast cast spell as Julia cast her Ultimate Storm. The bolt slammed into the mech as they went to get up and knocked them down again. Julia cast spells on rapid-fire, tornado, air bolt and hail of arrows. The timer was nearing the end of the round as they kept getting up. He took a spell by diving in front of Julia as she cast another Ultimate Storm. It hit them and they shook the arena as they hit the wall. A bright light came from the mech as their magic faded.
They slowly got to their feet as the second round was going to start. They seemed totally beat up, "Julia, use Hail of Arrows."
"I was going to," He placed himself in front of her as the bell rang, "Air Tome, Hail of Arrows!" Hundreds of arrows appeared above the two brothers and then plummeted towards them with several arrows hitting them. The arrows stopped they vanished as both of them lay still on the ground. A countdown began. It was a long silent moment as both mages were down. The round bell rang once more and the second round started. They both created armor around themselves and then a spell began casting in front of them, "Is that? Simeon, it's an ultimate spell, it's Doomsday!"
"Okay, Pain Tome, Unbroken Will, Spirit Break, Unforgiving Rage," His body flared with several auras and power seemed to emit from his body, "Just get ready to finish them," A massive fireball flew towards them. He ran towards it and then took the impact with his entire body. He placed his hands on the spell as its force pushed him back, leaving two lines in the sand of the arena, "Come on, just break already," The spell slowly began decreasing in size but still pushed against him as before. He saw one of the brothers smile as he held a thumb up and began turning it. Simeon pulled away from the spell and then dashed towards Julia as he covered her as the brother's thumb was now pointing down and a massive detonation happened in the arena. He got up from the floor as the countdown started and pulled Julia up from the floor, "They have one spell left, do the honors."
"Air Tome, Ultimate Bolt," A golden spear formed in her hand, "Here you go," Simeon took it and hurled it at the brothers. It exploded into a small cloud of lighting before quickly fading, revealing the two downed brother, the countdown begun once more.
The countdown hit zero. Julia threw herself into his arms, "We won!" The students from the VSM roared into cheers, "Thank you."
"I am just a support mage, thank you," He grabbed her hand and raised it and looked back at the crowd, "This was better than any training we have ever had."
"I agree, Simeon."
They sat down next to each other in the interview room, it was how the competition worked, fight, interview, rest, repeat. A journalist sat down in front of them, "Do you mind if this is recorded?"
"I don't mind," Julia said.
"Okay, so, this is your first fight together in any competition and you eliminate the Mech Brothers, how do you feel?"
"I think we did well, I don't think that they expected Simeon, since he has never been in a competition so you know, surprised by his tome."
"About that, what tome do you possess, Simeon?"
"I have the Pain tome."
"And you, Julia, you have the Air tome, correct?"
"I do, but I have to give our success to Simeon, he protected me throughout the fight, without that it would have been much harder."
"I noticed you used several spells that you handed to Simeon, how do you that?"
"How does he do it? His magic is special, so he can, it is not of my making."
"You both did extremely well in today's first round fight, do you expect to win the competition?"
"Expect? No, but we hope we will."
"Good luck for tomorrow's fight, Julia and Simeon."
"Thank you," Simeon spoke up. They both left the interview room and Simeon sighed, "What did I tell you?"
"I have never had a support mage, I didn't think that it would be like that."
"It is always like that," He said as his hands gained a black aura, "I wonder how I will find my ultimate spell," He plucked a flower from the ground and it quickly wilted, "But I have a feeling that I will find it soon, my magic has been listening to me more than before."
"What does that mean?"
"I have been able to gain more power than pain."
"Oh, you know, I never really discover my ultimate spell, I was told it."
"I don't have a common tome, but I hope it is useful and not something that leads to more problems in my life, like gloom."
"I hope it isn't either."
They sat in front of each other as they ate, "Are you okay?" She looked up at him confused, "I nearly tackled you."
"Oh," She giggled, "It is fine, I never saw it coming."
"The spell reactivates when the caster does a thumbs down action, so when they duo cast it means that only one has to detonate it and then, well, you know the ending."
"Hey, you know, that question you had for me, when you agreed to join me for the competition, I don't know, I need more time to actually think about it."
"Oh, no problem, it's fine, you will have time to think," He said before eating once more, "I think that the duo tomorrow will be, slightly stronger than the Mech Brothers, lovers, one with a Aqua tome and the other with a Frozen tome, so we'll have to be careful."
"Okay, that is fine with me, if you defend me as well as you did."
"I'll try."
"Be my shield, my arcane shield."
"Of course, I will be what you want me to be."