The Asian appeared to be panicked, he had prepared the bees for this moment. He hadn't expected his opponents to be a shadow mage, the odds of meeting one was too rare. He became vigilant, he immediately ordered his poisonous bees to split up and surround every shadow on the dueling stage. If Clifford came out of any of the shadow, he would be immediately attacked. He had to appear on the dueling stage. If he came out of a shadow that wasn't on the stage, he would be immediately disqualified.
After the Asian ensured that all the shadows on the stage had been monitored by his poisonous bees, he had a wide grin on his face. The Asian man purposely left his own shadow unguarded, he did this so that Clifford would think he made a mistake. He planned to attack Clifford with his poisonous fog immediately he came out. But Clifford wasn't foolish, he was aware of the Asian man's trick. He decided to burst out with full power.
Some spectators were aware of this trick while some thought it was a mistake by the Asian. But they all kept looking, sitting at the edge of their seats. The outcome of the duel would be decided immediately Clifford appeared. When they start to wonder when and where Clifford would appear, a sudden burst of flames emerged at one of the shadow. Clifford appeared and burned the swarm of bees guarding the shadow. The bees were burnt to nothing, It was like they were never there. He had defended himself with his flames. The Asian immediately knew Clifford was tough, he had to sacrifice his bees and deploy another plan. He ordered the swarm to attack Clifford all at once.
Clifford immediately became surrounded by the swarm. While he was surrounded, the Asian immediately released a poisonous fog that covers an area of fifty metres. When he looked at where Clifford was trapped, he was dumbstruck. Clifford wasn't there anymore, he had trapped all the bees by creating a vacuum space with his mana. He then trapped the bees in them.
The Asian immediately covered himself with the poisonous fog as defense. Poison element mage are immune to their own poison. Using this method would prevent them suffering from melee and close range attacks.
What Clifford did next shocked every spectator, he created a tornado with his Mana. He then sent the tornado in to the poisonous fog. The tornado sucked all the poisonous green fog, even the Asian man was sucked in to it. He then threw the Asian man together with the tornado off the stage. And just like that, in one offensive move he had defeated the Asian.
Loud screams of victory were heard in the stands, Clifford's fans were all chanting his name. Clifford felt good just by hearing them chant, he made a love gesture and bowed slightly to them. This even made his fans to go wilder, everybody was thrilled. Clifford's method had never been seen, he had a crazy amount of mana that he could do many things with it.
He was surely the break out star for the year's tournament.
The other participants finished their duels as well, those that won were enrolled into the academy.
After the duel had finished, the rankings was released, they were ranked according to their ability and how they defeated their opponent. Unsurprisingly, Clifford was ranked first. He had defeated each of his opponents in one attacking move. He was simply undisputed.
Dora, Benson and Ada were shocked at Clifford's strength, they suddenly understood why he was always confident.
Even though Thomas knew Clifford was very strong and had been hiding his strength, he didn't expect him to be as strong as he had displayed.
All the top families and organization are secretly planning and preparing their enticing offers to win the race to recruit Clifford.
The thirty mages pictures were displayed on a large screen for everybody to see. The top families would now start to submit their offers for the mages. Some top families knew they had absolutely no chance of recruiting Clifford because he would most likely choose a stronger top family or even the strongest top family, so they chosed other mages.
When it was Clifford's turn, the top three families available are the ones trying to get him. But what happened next shocked every one available. The Mayor of Sun City wanted to obtain Clifford for himself, he wanted Clifford to become his personal disciple. This made all the top families to withdraw from Clifford, the Mayor had the final say. Some people were very happy for Clifford while some were jealous of him. Either way, Clifford seemed to be blessed by God himself, becoming the disciple of the Mayor of Sun City would make Clifford's magic path to be easier. He would be destined to have a great future.
Although Clifford was aware of the benefits he would acquire, he doesn't want to be a disciple for anybody. He decided to turn down the offer. He knew that he would have a great future if he accepted the offer but he was afraid the Mayor would see through him and his secrets. He doesn't know the type of person the Mayor is. The Mayor was a Forbidden mage, secrets would be hard for Clifford to keep from him because he's still a basic ranked mage. The difference in power was too much.
"I cannot take this offer, I hope the Mayor respects my decision." The words coming out of Clifford's mouth was like a bomb, everybody was shocked beyond description.
The Mayor glanced at him and he immediately felt like he would collapse, the pressure was too much for him and his legs started shaking. He even felt like the Mayor had seen right through him.
"Did he just turn down the Mayor's offer?"
"He's a retarded fool after all."
Even the mayor was surprised, this was the first time he would like to have a disciple but his offer was turned down by the boy. Many people would even kill and do more horrible things to get an offer like this but Clifford had turned it down like it was a mere thing. He was furious at Clifford, that was why he imposed the pressure on him.
The Dean of the academy wished he could beat some sense into Clifford. This was not only a great chance for Clifford, it was a great chance for the academy too. If Clifford had taken the offer, it would immediately propelled the academy to the best in the city. Clifford's reply displeased him greatly.
"Why did you turn down the offer," The Mayor asked. Even though he tried to remain calm, it could be seen from his tone that he was mad at Clifford for turning down his offer. He had absolute control over Sun City, nobody can say no to him. But a young boy had just said no.
"I wished to be a disciple of you but I want to achieve greatness through my own hard work, determination and self motivation.' Clifford replied and bowed respectfully to the Mayor, he dared not offend him.
"Hmmmm....!' the Mayor nodded gently. Even though he was mad at Clifford, he was a rational man. What Clifford said made sense and he appreciated it a lot. He calmed down and said to Clifford. "I'm impressed by your determination and I respect that, you can still come to me for pointers. I will gladly help."
Clifford bowed deeply and thanked the Mayor, this was better than being his disciple. He then left the stage. Although some people also appreciated and respected Clifford's decision, many still regarded him as a fool for turn down such a big opportunity.
The thirty newly enrolled mages joined the already enrolled one. Next thing on the list of the day was the assessment tournament. This is where the mages would take assessment tests that would determine where they would be placed at. Clifford joined Benson at where he was seated.
"You're fucking terrific mate," Benson praised Clifford
Clifford only replied with a smile, he had just dodged a fatal bullet and his mind is still settling. He was lucky the Mayor was a reasonable man or he would have been later exposed.
"I admire your guts to turn down the Mayor's offer, I want to be like you mate." He flattered Clifford.
Clifford Chuckled softly, "if he knew the weight of responsibilities on my shoulders, he wouldn't want to be like me."