At this moment, Phoebe had already finished her second chant during the time I was controlling Light Puppet. The dazzling pillar of light struck down again, this time much more powerful since there was no protective spell to hinder it. In an instant, the target sphere shrank rapidly, making the angel next to me nervous.
After unleashing it, she threw out another Light Sanctum, and then immediately started preparing for the third strike without stopping.
This time I could see that the Light Sanctum she released was chantless! It seems what Aria said about casting high-level spells without chanting wasn't completely unfounded.
"Amazing! I wonder how long it'll take for my Blast of Lost Paradise?"
I concentrated on manipulating the light element in my body according to the "tutorial" I saw earlier. I don't know how much time passed, but the familiar scene finally reappeared. The pillar of light successfully descended onto my target, though due to the difference in rank, the power was weaker than Phoebe's, only about 2/3.
"Wow! I'm drained this time!"
I immediately knelt on the ground, gasping heavily. Although there was still some light element left in my body, I realized after releasing my first high-level spell that this was much more tiring than throwing out a dozen Purifications together. While more efficient, I couldn't withstand the exertion! Only now did I truly admire Phoebe's abilities, to be able to throw a Blast and then immediately follow up with another one.
"XXXXX"
The vice referee stared at the stopwatch in her hand and said in surprise.
"Huh?"
I don't know whose big move happened to strike down just then, the deafening roar made it so I couldn't hear clearly for a moment.
"...Not bad, it only took you over twenty seconds to cast it."
Since the other side repeated it, I finally understood.
"That short?"
To be honest, this was unexpected. Although the method I used could also be called chantless casting, it wasn't instantaneous since the light element still needed some time to circulate within my body. It felt like a long time had passed just now!
"It's already about the same speed as Phoebe's, keep in mind you didn't have the aid of chanting. With practice...there's room for improvement, while chanting needs...pronunciation, no way...to simplify..."
The assistant referee encouraged me for a bit, but her words were drowned out again by a burst of strange rumbling noises. She shrugged and closed her mouth, signalling me to stop standing there blankly and to keep competing.
"Then I'll keep at it, go again!"
Since I was able to get this result on my first time casting a high-level spell, I was pretty excited. As my spirits lifted, I didn't feel as tired anymore.
Just as I was about to continue, I suddenly noticed that the target sphere in the distance had stopped shrinking automatically at some point.
"That was quick, is it over already?"
As expected, Light Puppet still couldn't reach the duration of high-level spells. I had infused quite a bit of light element into it earlier, and it had only been this long.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on this. I hurriedly supplemented it with another Light Puppet, then followed up with a Blast, doing it in one go! It seemed I had a slight improvement over last time.
On the other side, something happened with Phoebe. The magic she chanted for so long and released wasn't the Blast of Lost Paradise, but a different high-level spell!
I should have realized it earlier. Within the duration of Light Sanctum, if she used Blast of Lost Paradise again the power would be greatly reduced. The only way was to chant an even longer, more powerful spell to avoid that defensive period.
Therefore, the massive light giant before my eyes was Phoebe's handiwork! Unfortunately, I only noticed now, completely missing this learning opportunity.
I saw the light giant roar after appearing, then rushed towards Phoebe's target sphere, grabbing it in its hand. It then placed it in its palm and kept kneading it nonstop.
While there's no denying this method was very effective, the giant's actions made it seem like it was clowning around.
Although the giant's emergence drew all the contestants' attention, they quickly buried their heads to focus on the competition again, not daring to get distracted.
I continued using two more Blast of Lost Paradises and a Light Puppet.
On Phoebe's side, however, after the giant disappeared, the target sphere looked deflated, less than half its original size.
As expected of big sis Phoebe, ruthless in action and few in words!
Looking at my side, there was still some distance. I'd need at least two more Blast to reach that level.
Suddenly, I realized chanting had some advantages too. Although it took time, it allowed absorbing and recovering light elements! If not for too much time spent on recovery, I probably could have caught up to Phoebe already.
"Phoebe's progress has passed the halfway point, her Dark Element Sphere enters the second stage!"
Just then, the chief referee in the sky suddenly announced.
"Huh? The second stage, what's this about?"
I was completely surprised that the organizer would pull this, it wasn't mentioned in the rules at all!
"No major difference, the target just starts moving after its volume is reduced by more than half. You'll see at a glance."
The assistant referee behind me quickly reassured me.
"After all, can't have you keep hitting a fixed target forever..."
Indeed it was as she said. After the chief referee finished speaking, the Dark Element Sphere floating in front of Phoebe suddenly began moving on its own, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, making it hard to grasp at first.
"It's controlled remotely, for fairness the motions of all targets are preset and uniform."
Seeing my utterly confused look, the vice referee could only explain.
"But isn't this way too difficult! How can we possibly hit it..."
Although my target hadn't started moving yet, it was only a matter of time, just two more Blast.
"Rosalia's progress has passed the halfway point, her Dark Element Sphere enters the second stage!"
Soon after, the chief referee's voice rang out again.
No way, who was so fast? I thought I had a chance to enter the second stage second, didn't expect someone else to get there first.
Since my attention had been on Phoebe's, I wasn't too clear about the other two contestants' status. Only looking over now did I see it was that other eight-winged angel, her target was moving just like Phoebe's now.
As expected, eight-winged angels were no pushovers! All I could do now was try my best to increase my casting speed, and strive not to come in last place. It seemed I could at least compete with the remaining six-winged angel.
"Feliciana's progress has passed the halfway point, her Dark Element Sphere enters the second stage..."
Finally, after supplementing with another Light Puppet, I also welcomed the more difficult second stage on schedule.
As long as I'm not in last place, that's a win!
A long-absent sense of confidence suddenly returned to me. Still excited, I casually blasted a Lost Paradise toward the target sphere flying to and fro several dozen meters away.
Anyway, this was a range attack spell. I'd just try first!
After using it so many times, I became very familiar with it, and able to control the time to mobilize the light element within 10 seconds.
But the actual effect was mediocre at best. As guessed, the center of the Blast was where the power was greatest, gradually decreasing outward. Hitting the moving target precisely at the core was extremely difficult, and the tracking feature of Purification was more reliable.
I decisively gave up on the new spell and went back to my old trick, while Phoebe on the other side used a simple and crude strategy — she had summoned her giant again.
This move was shameless. For fairness, the trajectories of all targets were preset, so there was no chance of them dodging the giant's grasp. In a few moves the giant under Phoebe's control grabbed it in its hand, then started doing that silly kneading motion again.
Damn it, the gap will widen like this!
Seeing that, I immediately threw out a few more Purifications, then unleashed Light Puppet again.
Unlike Phoebe's Light Sanctum which could only stay fixed in one spot, Light Puppet could move, and the speed wasn't too slow either.
Since I didn't know how to summon a "big giant", my "little giant" should work fine right?
That's right! Light Puppet was developed based on a humanoid form to begin with. Although making a realistic human shape was beyond me, I could still create a rough humanoid form...
Ah, wait! Why did I have to learn from Phoebe and spend time sculpting a human shape, isn't a simple sheet just as good?
Thought of and done! Shaping the light mass into a thin sheet instantly increased the area drastically. Compared to it, the giant's palm was insignificant.
And controlling the Light Sheet, I could precisely fill in the gaps during my recovery downtime.
With this amazing sheet, capturing the target ball was no longer difficult at all, succeeding almost in one go. Unlike the giant's small palm, which still required slapstick butterfly-catching at times due to bad luck.
Of course, after catching it, all sorts of rubbing and grinding maneuvers followed!
Unexpectedly, at this moment the target sphere slowly poked its head out from under the Light Sheet's wrap...
"F**k..."
Truly, no plan survives contact with the enemy! I had forgotten that magics like Light Puppet didn't have physical substance. I was overwhelmed by envying Phoebe, completely overlooked this critical issue.