The battle that was happening on the field started to come to a conclusion. In the first circle, Cinn claimed her victory as she sent all of her opponents flying outside the line.
While in the third circle, Kreigster stood strong as he knocked all of his enemies out. He was doing his best not to kill them or even let them suffer serious burns.
The fight happening in the fourth circle, where Priscilla participated, also got its winner after a ruby-class mercenary who controlled lightning eliminated all of the remaining participants.
Then, in the fifth circle, an old man wearing a simple white battle robe came out as the winner. He didn't perform any grand moves or even use any abilities.
Instead, he struck those who approached him with his hands and feet. Despite his age, he was able to move without any hindrance, and his movements flowed like an art, suitable for war.
The only ongoing battle was in the second circle. The phasing of the area was slow due to the fact that almost all of the participants formed teams to benefit from each other, which made the fight a little longer.
"Move! Get out of there!" yelled a man as he signaled for his comrade to come.
"What in the hell is that thing?" The other man asked as soon as he dashed to dodge several projectiles coming from the sky.
It came from a blue magic circle that almost covered the entire area. It released spheres of water that flooded the area along with heavy rain, which caused the participants to get wet.
Then, the blue runes inside the magic circle were replaced with yellow ones, and flashes of lightning struck down the field.
"We're doomed!" a man exclaimed while he and the other people ran for their lives to escape the heavy electrical discharge coming above them.
"Damn it! There's a mage among us. Find him first!" Declared a woman who was acting like the leader of a group.
Afterward, not far away, a man wearing a robe and a plain white mask that covered his whole face was looking at the phenomenon without any care regarding his safety.
"What is he doing?" Muttered those who had seen the man's strange behavior.
Then what happened next made them drop their jaws. The lightning bolts hit the man, but he remained unscathed. He looked to his right, where a lot of people were hiding from the lightning, then pointed his arm towards them, and a magic circle appeared before his hand, which fired a sudden blast of condensed electricity.
However, a shield made of water protected the group of people as soon as a woman raised her staff into the air.
She was the owner and the creator of the strange phenomenon happening above them. A mage and a ruby-class mercenary who could use the elements of water and lightning.
The masked man stared at her before he whispered. "Come forth."
A white grimoire materialized in front of him. And as soon as the man waved his hand, it flipped its cover and page on its own, then stopped on a page with a circle containing an octogram with five smaller circles surrounding it. The center of it had another circle surrounded by triangle shapes, which gave it a resemblance to the sun.
Then two dots of red appeared in the sky before they moved to draw a pattern that caught the attention of all the people in the field. After several seconds, the dots transformed into a magic circle before it overlapped and shattered the first one.
The design and the lines of it resembled the drawing from the grimoire.
"Scatter!" The man said, and the magic circle glowed an orange hue, and beams of light rained on the field, which made the people cower in fear.
A strand of light was thinner than the blade of a rapier, and it plunged downward at an unbelievable speed. It pierced every participant's armor with ease, and it was hot enough to burn their flesh. Even those who had shields couldn't help but wilt as their piece of equipment ignited before their eyes.
The beams of light continued, yet no one died. The other participants chose to run outside of the circle and save their lives, while those who were caught by the magic spell lost an arm or a foot, but they still survived the horrendous attack.
Seconds later, smoke coming from burning flesh rose on the field, and the magic circle vanished into thin air. But the man waved his hand again, and the grimoire flipped its pages once more.
Then, another pair of dots moved to create a new magic circle, but this time the color of it was blue, and instead of a sun, a tree was inside the octogram.
"What is it this time?" One of the participants complained before pulling back the beam of light that struck him in the knee.
However, in contrast to their expectations. The magic circle produced a single drop of sticky, transparent liquid, and its volume was enough to wash away all of the people who were inside the circle's line.
They were sent outside the battle area by the flood, but they didn't expect what happened next. All of their injuries from the battle were healed, and those who had their limbs cut or burned were restored as soon as they got soaked from the sticky liquid.
"It's a miracle," said a man, crying in tears upon seeing his hand, which had been crushed earlier, return to its proper form.
Then, the spell didn't end like that; the barren field drenched with water became greener as grasses started to grow, plants crept onto its scope, and several trees rose on the horizon.
. . . . .
The people couldn't find the right expression to wear upon witnessing the incident. Even the grand mage gasped at the scene unfolding before him.
'Am I seeing things?' He thought.
"Do you know him and those spells he used?" The king asked what captured Seth's attention.
"I'm not sure, but those are fifth-circle magic; the smaller circles with runes inside them indicated their tier," the mage replied.
"And I don't remember anyone from Bluelion Kingdom capable of casting two high-level spells with a massive area of effect in a matter of seconds, aside from the pillars of the magic tower," he added.
'I need to know him, an existence that even the highest elder didn't know of,' Seth thought before he excused himself from the king's presence and vanished from his seat.
While Lexel was still staring at the man with the mask.
"I think I've seen that magic before, but I can't figure out where," she murmured, then closed her eyes upon seeing a purple ball of flame going straight at her place.
Afterward, she heard Kreigster's voice beside her.
"That was awesome; I'm looking forward to the fights tomorrow, especially with that mage," he said, expressing his satisfaction with his battle.
"Great! I congratulate the crown prince for his overwhelming victory!" The king exclaimed, pleased by what he heard.
Then Kreigster looked at him and smiled before answering.
"I claim it back, my words... Upon seeing the prowess of the other seven, I realized that the duels wouldn't be easy even for me," he said with a bright expression.
His statement brought shock to the people's ears and made them speechless for a certain period of time.
. . . . .
The host announced the victor in the second circle, and the crowd slowly returned inside the capital while knights and healers tended to the wounded.
Cinn went into where Aichelle was standing, while Lux followed her behind.
"Congratulations Mistress! Your movements are flawless as ever," Aichelle said, praising Cinn for her battle.
However, the white-haired vampire didn't answer and just smiled at her maid before she sat down in a seat.
"Should I now open the portal leading to the inn?" Aichelle asked.
"It's fine; I want to walk back," Cinn replied while shaking her head.
Then she stared into the open field once more, recalling the fights of her possible opponents for tomorrow. She was quite excited upon witnessing the battle from the other circles, though she still believed that they were nothing compared to her.
'Even Lux will mop their faces on the pavement,' she thought after looking at her butler.
"Is there something wrong, Mistress?" Lux conveyed a question while smiling.
Cinn shook her head and didn't reply, then she looked around and watched as the people faded from her line of sight.
Then she waited until almost all of the crowd had dispersed from the field and stood up.
"Let's go!" She said.
She walked towards the gate while Lux and Aichelle maintained a distance behind her.
However, upon stepping several meters, they felt a suffocating presence coming from a man walking towards their group.
Lux was able to identify the man as soon as he saw the red dice hanging from his ear, and he dashed at his mistress's front.
Cinn stepped back a little upon seeing her butler block her path.
"What do you want from us?" Lux yelled.
But the man didn't reply to his question and stared at him without any emotion.
Upon seeing that he didn't have any intention to communicate with them, Lux activated his ability and focused it entirely on the man.
Heavy pressure crushed the man's surroundings, but he continued to step forward as if it were nothing.
'How can it be?' Lux thought, and his eyes widened upon seeing the man endure his gravity manipulation.
However, instead of being disappointed, he grinned and raised his hand to increase the pressure around the man. A large dent appeared, and the man's feet stuck on the ground, but he still didn't pay attention.
He even leaped to get out of the crater, and this action of his made the smile on the vampire's lips disappear.
Then Lux prepared his fist and walked forward; however, he was sent flying with a single flick of the man's finger as soon as he approached him. He tumbled several meters and was stunned upon realizing what had happened.
"I'm not in the mood to play," the man said.
The two women failed to hide the amusement in their eyes to the point that Aichelle immediately grabbed Cinn's hand and opened a portal, but the man dashed at them, intercepted Aichelle's hand, and threw her away from her mistress.
"Aichelle!" Cinn yelled, and she was about to snap to produce a shockwave when the man spoke.
"That's useless," he said, then faced the vampire.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Cinn asked as she stared at the man's lifeless eyes.
Then the man leaned downward and closer to make his height proportional to the vampire's before answering.
"I don't have anything against you; however, your father did something I cannot forgive," he said.
. . . . .