After a few more fights between other Tier 1 classes, the final match of the first round came down between Ishani and a Thief. Out of all the magical based classes, the only would who could sweep this entire tournament could be Ishani.
Marcus was hoping to cultivate Ishani to reach her potential faster than she had in the past. She had a unique ability to be at least average in every elemental school. This was unheard of and it would eventually culminate in her unlocking one of the most destructive Hidden Classes in the game, the Archmage.
The thing about a Hidden Class was that it didn't follow the normal progression system publicly available in the game. Almost every Hidden Class didn't promote up but simply increased in tier when you hit that mark. However, there were some, who had a Hidden Class that could "evolve" once they hit a certain tier.
As the duel started the Thief immediately used [Vanishing Strike] and immediately closed the gap and tried to land a hit on Ishani. As if she had foresight, she had casted [Ice Barrier] which created a frozen globe which encased her blocking the attack and causing a frostbite debuff which reduced the Thief's attack speed.
She followed up by casting another spell [Gale] which shot a strong cyclone out of her outstretched hand which dealt minor damage to the Thief but pushed Ishani backwards to the other side of the sparring grounds creating a gap between her and the Thief.
The crowd cheered as she had used two different schools of the elements which was a difficult thing for most wizards to utilize. The Thief responded by using [Stealth] and disappearing from view of his opponent. This didn't dissuade Ishani as she began to cast another spell.
The only AoE spell in her current spell book, she took a few seconds chanting before she unleashed [Earth Blast] which caused the ground to lift up and blast out in a conal area spreading out in front of Ishani. Unfortunately for the Thief he was directly in the center of the blast and was knocked away and landed on his back and was briefly stunned.
The crowd went wild as she had unleased three spells from different schools! The crowd was chanting:
"Ishani!"
"Ishani!"
"Ishani!"
Even the chat in Marcus' stream was spamming "Ishani!" no one could even get another word in as the chat was flying with her name. Taking advantage of the stun and the gap, she began chanting as she unleashed a barrage of [Wind Bolt] and followed up with [Ice Bolt] finishing off the Thief and advancing to the second round.
"Congratulations to our 16 contestants who managed to make their way through to round two! We shall take a short 5 minute break for every player to recuperate and prepare for their next round!" Marcus announced.
A lot of the crowd began to flock around the winners with most gathering around the nominees from the Guild Master. The energy was high as everyone was laughing and cheering. Those that lost didn't show any signs of anger towards those that won and they flocked towards the winners of their class asking for tips.
Marcus was standing with his arms crossed around his chest as he overlooked everyone in his guild showing great sportsmanship and was busy talking to his chat not noticing that two people had gathered around him. Raia and Lisa were quietly talking amongst themselves while Marcus was overseeing the entire crowd.
"Who do you think is going to win?" Raia asked Marcus alerting to his surroundings and turning to look behind him seeing the two girls.
"Hmmm, difficult to say at this time. Everyone here has the potential to be a top level player in the game. Unless an upset occurs, I don't expect those I recommended to be taken out before the semi-finals, all four of them will make excellent Elders and lead an alliance of parties to many successful raids." Marcus replied seriously as he continued to stare out to the rowdy group.
Raia and Lisa nodded in unison as Lisa asked a follow-up question, "Do you know how Ishani is able to utilize so many spells from different schools? I could barely learn Earth based spells and when I came out here to practice with it I saw all this..."
"She's a special case, don't compare yourself to her. Everyone has their own path to follow, what she can do and what you can do may be different but it doesn't diminish what either of you can accomplish and both will contribute to the betterment of The Phantoms." Marcus replied.
Lisa smiled and looked down towards the ground blushing silently to herself. "You're right... Thank you Guild Master" She softly replied.
Marcus nodded and began to speak loudly again "Alright everyone gather around!" The crowd turned and seeing two beauties standing by the Guild Master the players cheered loudly as the stakes in the tournament had just went up a notch.
"Round two will begin! Group 1, enter the ring!" Marcus shouted.
The Warrior jumped into the sparring grounds as Mete entered. As the duel began Mete began by trying to summon his imp once more, but the Warrior didn't let this happen as he used [Charge] lowering his shoulder and rushing towards Mete.
Mete jumped out of the way as he was forced to cancel his summoning and decided to unleash an [Eldritch Bolt]. As he retreated by jumping backwards a few times as the spell was casting. As the Warrior began trying to close the gap, the deathly fireball was lobbed towards him causing him to avoid it by retreating to avoid the splash and had to go around the area of effect but this had given Mete enough time to finish his [Summon Imp] spell as his companion joined him in the arena.
The Warrior cursed under his breath knowing this fight just got more difficult. He charged forward once more parrying the imp's attack and ignoring it and charging towards Mete. Mete smirked as he had unleashed another spell [Binding Tendrils]!
His grimoire began glowing and flipped through the pages stopping seemingly random once more as the ground under him began to turn a pale black ooze which expanded out and began bubbling as if it was made of tar. As the Warrior entered the zone, numerous black tendrils shot up out of the ooze wrapping themselves around the Warrior's arms and legs halting his approach.
His eyes went wide as he couldn't move and was unable to break from the bind. The imp behind him began to wave it's hands above it's head as magical aether began to rise up around it as a fireball was forming in it's hand. At the same time, Mete was beginning to cast another [Eldritch Bolt] in front of him.
Unable to do anything he continued to squirm and right as both spells finished casting and were launched towards him the bind had worn off but it was too late as both fireballs collided against him causing a minor explosion ending the match.
"Once again Mete does it without a scratch!!!" Marcus announced loudly! The crowd was going crazy seeing the combination and co-ordination Mete exhibited during the match. Everyone was saying that the finals was most likely going to be Mete against Ishani, which really irked Wrex and Syrenis, they wanted to be in the finals just as much.
Wrex was up next and was already in the ring when Marcus had called for group 2. Once again another Swordsman which disappointed Wrex as the strength disparity between the two classes once again lead towards another easy victory. A Knight and an Archer progressed as the quarterfinals were locked in for half of the bracket.
"Next, we're onto group 5! Syrenis and her opponent is...!" Marcus announced as Syrenis entered the sparring grounds and her opponent entered, he was a Dwarven Warrior. "Can Syrenis keep up her dominating fighting style against such a strong Tier 1 class?" Marcus continued.
Syrenis took her two daggers out and swirled them around her tail smacking against the ground kicking up small tufts of dust as she glared down her opponent. The Dwarf raised his massive axe above his head with one hand and slammed it down and roared loudly pounding his chest with his fist.
As the duel began he began bounding his way towards Syrenis who just smirked a vile grin as she charged in herself. This was not what the Dwarf was expecting but preferred the head on fight anyways! As the two collided, Syrenis was showing off her superior agility easily avoiding all of the Dwarves sluggish swings of his great axe.
She had been slashing at him barely leaving scratches on him and weaving her body through each of the Dwarf's attacks. He used his yelled loudly and went to use his skill [Fell Cleave] and as he wound the axe up over his head and began to bring it down on Syrenis she used her skill [Vanishing Strike]...