The fist sized ball of fire came racing at Leon's head. He reacted quickly, drawing upon the reserves of mana and his prior experience to create a defensive barrier before him. With is mana, complex lines of magical formulas were drawn in the air before him, all in a short moment, to create a simple, but sturdy and reliable shield. The glowing blue lines of formulaic mana pulsed before blending and creating a three foot wide circular shield just before the fireball crashed against it, spraying hot flames in all directions.
"You could have dodged that." Anna said as she looked at the unscathed shield.
"But you said I should block it." Leon raised his brow as he looked back at the tester.
"Haha, good job. You have a good ear for instructions. Now, give me your best and don't hold anything back." She narrowed her eyes as the mana around her became tense and volatile, ready to be melded into a spell at any moment.
Upon hearing her words, Leon's eyes shrunk. He pulled on the mana around him, condensing it and bending it to his will, all without discarding his barrier spell. A hot, orange, flame burned around him, and he stepped forward through the flame, allowing it to spread over his body. But shockingly, the flames did not harm him. Instead, they seemed to sink into his body and meld with him to give him a new, fiery state.
"Interesting. He is both a Caster and a Combiner? That is a rare talent that is enough to label one as a genius!" One of the judges exclaimed with interest as he leaned forward.
"Indeed. Now, I see why he was assigned to the main campus."
"This is going to get interesting."
After combining with the flames he had summoned, three glowing red formulaic matrices appeared around Leon. They quickly drew flames from his body, combining the flames with the spell matrices to great an even more potent spell. Three flaming fireballs that were the size of Leon's head came into being.
"I will start now." Leon said before one fireball exploded into action.
Whoosh!
Boom!
The sound of the air giving way for the fireball rang out before an explosion shook the arena.
Dust and smoke rose into the air, but Anna did not falter. She quickly waved her hand to disperse the cover of the dust and smoke, while creating a spell matrix that formed a barrier that covered all the space around her. She quickly summoned a few more spell matrices as she conjured a couple of unmanned fir whips and five more fireballs.
The fire whips tore through the air to strike at Leon's shield, making the shield quiver. Leon did not relent, though. He sent the two other fireballs he had on standby forward before dashing straight at Anna behind them.
"Not so fast!" Anna exclaimed with a wide grin. She was starting to like how Leon fought. He did not remain conservative for one moment. The moment he sent out the two fireballs, several more were already being conjured!
Her fire whips and fireballs exploded into action as they were sent forward to batter Leon's quaking shield. Some of her fireballs were blocked by Leon's but most of them went through to slam on the barrier protecting him. A few thin cracks were already present. The fire whips only made the situation of the barrier worse!
Leon quickly placed his palm against the barrier to fix it and reinforce it to bear the brunt of her attacks. Even though he was trying his best, he was not able to match her casting speed and firepower. He was losing.
"How long can your mana last you to keep on reinforcing your barrier> Let's end this!" Anna saw that Leon was struggling and decided to put in one more move to destroy his barrier. That would mark the end of the fight.
"Flaming Sparrows!"
The fireballs that floated around her barrier suddenly morphed and adopted a bird's shape. The fire birds then blasted forward in a barrage against Leon's shield.
Pang!
In just a few seconds, Leon's barrier shattered, sprinkling glowing blue particles all over the floor. The sparrows veered on their path and went back to Anna before dissipating into the ambient mana in the surroundings.
"Good job, Leon. You actually got me excited." Anna laughed and turned to the judges. They had to wait for over a minute as the judges discussed a bit more on what class to put Leon in. After some time, the man who had assigned a class to Zeke turned to face Leon.
"In this school, there are special cases where mages are able to dabble as both Combiners and Casters. We usually have those mages take mixed classes so that they can shore up both aspects of their spell casting. We will have you do the same. A schedule will be made to split up the essential classes for you. You can leave for now." The man nodded and turned away.
"Alright, goodbye Leon." Anna smiled at Leon before walking to meet her colleagues that were coming down to the arena floor to begin discussing again before they called in the next student.
"Thank you." Leon nodded and walked away, taking the same path that Zeke had taken to leave.
"He's a good mage. Sharp and all." Anna nods her head to the dozen figures that stepped up to her, waiting for her to share her personal thoughts. "His control of mana is fine, if a bit rough around the edges, and his ability to condense mana is a bit rudimentary. The trick he did with the flames her combined with is probably to help him on that front." She said.
"So, do you think it is worth it to have him take mixed classes? We do not need a waste of resources." The man who had spoken to Leon asked with a quirked brow.
"Definitely. Who knows, he could become a human elite in a few years." Anna shrugged with a small grin.
"Alright, then. Call in the next one."