Then as his sixth round came, both the teams became silent, the atmosphere all of a sudden became heavy-
This time one of the factions' leaders came out, Ada, she wasn't just about to let this lose streak of her team continue.
However, her action was met with a bit of repulsion on everyone's eyes, both her team and the opposing team knew this was a bold but risky move. She was their team's strongest fighter, she was their ace, and if anything, this would be playing right into their opponent's strategy, because they don't have a good answer to anyone on their team against the other team's leader, Philip.
Furthermore, even if she somehow manages to make it into the final round when they have yet to pull off a win, the chances of her winning are very slim, because she'll not be at her hundred percent.
But from the perspective of her team members, the reason they were being quiet was because they knew how strong and talented as a mage she was, probably even stronger than she lets on, so if anyone could actually pull it off, it would be her, even so they still couldn't help but be worried.
They were feeling a mixture of both absolute trust in her and at the same time frightened by her decision, so they just kept quiet as to not give away anything...
Tony, on the other hand, while keeping a stoic reaction on the outside, was smiling cheekily and were grinning ear to ear from the inside. He thought that-
'I'm exuding that aura, that aura of a MAIN CHARACTER! BWAHAHAHA!' Tony internal monologuing while drunk on his own hubris.
And finally, when the tony had finished laughing inside his own mind, he declared to himself that, 'I am TONY! and This is the start of my greatness! I finally took a step in the right direction. Just so you wait Philip! after I defeat Ada, you'll be next!'
Meanwhile, Philip who was just chilling besides the sturdy branch on top of the tree while reading a book, said in a silent but irritated voice, "Idiot." As if he already knew how this battle would go.
Philip was able to make a good guess on what Tony is thinking just by reading his body language. Because even though Philip might always look bored and disinterested with other humans besides his adoptive parents, he actually quite like observing their behavior.
This is something that he developed naturally, alongside with his personality, because just as how much he likes to observe himself and the changes that it accompanies as he grows, since he didn't have anyone to teach him about his body. He also likes to observe how others change through time and compare himself, due to his difference among his peers.
So, in other words, he had developed great information gathering skills and a keen intuition when it comes to humans, which is why at times he seems prideful and arrogant, but justifyingly so. Because there is a clear difference between the two, similar to when you compare both Philip and Tony.
And that's how Philip was able to deduct what Tony was thinking and how he knew that his arrogance would become his undoing.
...
"3!"
'2!"
"1!"
"GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
Without an ounce of hesitation Tony immediately lunged at his opponent-
Whoosh!
"Lightning Strike! Lightning Strike!" And used the magic spells that he had casted beforehand.
But as if to show her superiority, Ada didn't even conjure any magic spells to parry his attacks, instead she just dodged both lightning strikes by pure instinct and reflexes, but what she did after that was what left everyone dumbfounded...
Bzzzzt! Bzzzzt!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
After dodging both spells she immediately leaped towards Tony and casted a tier two ice spell,
"Icicle Spears Barrage!" And a hail of ice spike angling from above, attacked Tony.
Everyone was astonished, 'just how talented is this generation of kids? How could they cast spells while moving?' they all thought. This time, they even saw a full-blown magic spell manifesting right in front of their eyes while she was leaping, it was as clear as the skies and she even did it while jumping, which in of itself is another feat.
"Icicle Spears Icicle Spears! Icicle Spears!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Icicle Spears! Icicle Spears! Icicle Spea-
...
However, after a series of exchanges and blows, it had become clear that something weird was going on. Tony was now forced to be on the defensive, because after those two lightning strikes since earlier, he has not casted anything, all he was doing was barely scraping by dodging, while Ada was the only one casting spells while moving.
'Is this all just a ruse, is he just tiring her out? But why does it seem like he's the one losing stamina first.' One of the crowds' bystanders thought.
"Huff Huff" As Tony panted while moving, a clear indication that he was beginning to catch his breath.
...
Tony was never given the chance to cast any of his spells, she kept on pressing him because she had figured out his ineptitude. This is the clear difference between them, Tony can only maintain the magic spell that he casted beforehand, whereas Ada can actually cast a full-blown magic spell while moving.
But Tony has one final card to play that he can use if he's able to increase the gap between him and Ada.
...
Earlier Tony rushed in with a premature plan at hand, which later turned out to be a bad decision by him, but while dodging he thought of a plan-
"Lightning Charge! Lightning Strike!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The pattern of him barely dodging as she kept on attacking continued on, she was getting used to it, she did not realize that she was getting accustomed on taking the initiative, so she crossed out the thought of her taking a step back, she justified by believing that she had him all figured out down to his weakness and that all she needed to do was to take advantage of it.
"Lightning Charge! Lightning Strike!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As Tony twisted his ankles to dodge, he accidentally slid his foot on a stone in the ground, or at least that's what it seemed like from Ada's perspective, and in an unexpected manner she managed to get one of her lightning spells to hit him.
"Lightning Charge!"
Bzzzt!
Crackle!
'Finally got you' Ada thought.
However right as she was about to cast her next spell to deliver her final blow, tony stopped on moving and casted his own magic spell-
"Lightning strike"
"Water Ba-"
Because of this, right before Tony's spell fully manifested, her lightning spell broke and cancelled the magic circle in Tony's hands, which caused the mana surrounding it to react violently and reverse its paths, so instead of the water ball forming and firing forward, it propelled him backwards along with some of its water components.
BOOOOM!
The impact from the explosion was strong enough to send him flying with some major injuries, both from the moment of explosion and from the impact of his fall. But that didn't stop him from getting up and smiling to pretend that he was unfazed, so that the adults who were supervising this charade to let him keep on going.
Meanwhile Ada who was able to react just in time to jump away from the explosion, only suffered some minor injuries, and despite how dangerous what Tony just did, she just ignored it and smiled back at him.
So, in a delighted tone she said, "What a crazy bastard HAHAHA!"
Tony, however, was still full of himself, because this wasn't the end of his plan and in a very cocky tone he retorted with, "YOu fOOL! YOu hAvE fALlen RIGht INto mY tRaP! MWAHAHAHA!!!" As he started casting his tier three water spell, truly a Nah I'd win moment.
However, Ada, still unfazed with him, just answered him with, "Fine if that's how you want to play it, I'll play along."
She then started casting a what seems to be an ice magic spell.
Both had a fierce look that can only be seen to those who were determined to bring their opponents down with any means necessary, the pristine letters that they were conjuring by their chanting was nothing compared to the expression that they were making right now, it could've been easily went unnoticed.
"...Water, in your most natural and shapeless form, begotten and come forth..."
"...Oh, ice who freezes life and anything on your tracks..."
It became a battle on who would finish first.
...
But of course, Tony was the first to finish casting his spell-
"Water Tornado!" and furthermore, as part of his plan he had casted another spell right behind it while Ada's vision was covered.
"Lightning Strike!" His idea was to allow the lightning spell to mix with the water spell and make it pack more punch.
However, what Tony didn't realize was while that tornado of his covered Ada's vision from the little trick that he did, it also made him unaware of the tier of the spell that Ada was about to counter him with.
"ICE HAMMER!" Ada shouted while Tony's spell was in the midst of its track.
A hammer made of ice and twice the size of Tony's tornado spell slowly formed, its body was made of pure crystalline light blue ice, while its head was made of an ice that is similar in color to a lapis lazuli ore, but both were so refined that they can be seen through and can reflect the surrounding light.
CRACKLE! As it turned the entire water tornado into ice and as it fell down-
BAAAANG! WHOOOOOOOSH! As its impact created a shockwave that froze everything around twenty meters.
The hammer then disintegrated into nothingness and left a dent on to middle of the ground where its head had struck. Meanwhile Tony who was outside of that striking range was still completely frozen from head to toe, he was like one of those victims that were spoken in the legends when they incurred the god's wrath.
"A-An overwhelming VICTORY!!!"
"A-A fourth tier spell?!! Impossible!!"
"WHOOOOOAAAAHHHHH" WHOAAAAAHHHH"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoOOOHHHHHH"
The Surveyor on the other hand started inner monologuing in his own head,
'There are standards that were created by using the average human as a reference, but there are those who breaks such standards even when it's nigh impossible, and those people are leaps beyond geniuses, they are called monsters, and Ada you are definitely a monster, for you to be able to gather mana to cast fourth tier spells, when there are only so little of it in this world-
Tony you were a genius but sadly you just had to face Ada, an absolute monster' As he shaked his head concluding the duel between the two.
"That girl, I always knew something was up with her, she is undoubtedly destined for greatness" As the guy crossing his arms smirked at her.
There just has to be that one mysterious guy in the crowd who would say cryptid things that always seems to come true in every fantasy story.
...
Meanwhile while everyone was focused on what Ada just did, they did not notice that she slightly glanced up somewhere in the trees and looked at him intensely.
She was definitely taunting him...