"Begin!"
Both of them immediately sprang towards each other, one of them because of logic, the other because of absolute confidence.
And it wasn't hard to guess which one was each.
Lucas, summoned molten spikes from the ground, aiming to limit the area Cain could go to.
And indeed, Cain dodged those spikes and he could only move towards Lucas, but that was his motive too.
"I got you now!" Lucas shouted, slamming his hand into the ground.
The spikes behind Cain twisted unnaturally, curving back to trap him. He could feel the heat of the spikes in his face.
But Cain didn't stop.
Instead of retreating or hesitating, he accelerated, and went straight through the molten spikes like a madman.
Lucas's grin faltered for a split second as Cain closed the gap, his fists already raised.
Just then, Lucas noticed dirt falling out of Cain's body.
'An earth clone!?' He thought but he was too late.
"Behind you." Said Cain with a snarky tone.
Bam!
Lucas's body lifted off the ground slightly from the impact, his cocky grin replaced with a grimace.
The crowd roared in shock and excitement.
"Is this all the great Lucas Maxgrave, the youngest prodigy of the Maxgrave family has?"
Lucas stumbled back, his hands instinctively clutching his ribs as he glared at Cain with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
"You... How dare you!? You're just a nobody!"
Lucas angrily said.
His molten spikes started dissolving into a bubbling pool of magma as he waved his hand.
The ground beneath Cain's feet cracked, and a wave of magma tried to consume him whole.
Cain didn't flinch.
As the magma closed in, Cain slammed his foot into the ground, summoning a pillar of stone that launched him high into the air, right above Lucas.
"You talk too much." Cain said as he descended.
Lucas's eyes widened.
Cain punched Lucas and made him momentarily vulnarable.
He clenched him, his hand behind Lucas's left shoulder pinning his arm.
Lucas tried to punch Cain but he just ducked under and put his hand behind Lucas's leg.
He had a side choker, a good posture and a good change of level.
He wrapped his hand around Lucas's leg, and pushed towards himself lifting Lucas with his legs, then he slammed Lucas down towards the ground with all his might.
Lucas groaned, struggling to push himself up. His face was full of pent up anger.
"This... This isn't how it's supposed to go..."
Cain stood over him.
"Maybe not, but it's how it's going." He said softly.
"Usually, I like strong people and fighting with them but you... you give me a disgusting feeling that I can't understand."
"It is as if I always hated you, even when I didn't know you."
The crowd erupted in cheers and gasps, the arena practically vibrating from the excitement.
For the first time in the match, it seemed clear.
Cain Stark wasn't just surviving.
He was winning.
Lucas gritted his teeth. The molten magma around him began to ripple violently as if responding to his emotions.
"You... you dare humiliate me in front of everyone!?" Lucas growled, his voice filled with rage.
Cain took a step back, watching Lucas carefully.
Lucas's molten spikes began to reform, and circle around him like a moon orbiting its planet.
His body radiated a dangerous heat, the air around him looked weird as if the air itself was melting.
"I'll show you your place, Cain Stark."
Cain didn't flinch. He simply adjusted his stance, his yellow eyes focused solely on Lucas.
"I am not afraid of a child who is throwing a tantrum." Cain said coldly.
"Bring it."
The arena shook violently as massive columns of magma erupted around Cain, forming a web meant to trap him from every possible place.
Cain's calm demeanor didn't waver.
Instead of retreating, Cain once again moved forward, cleanly dodging the magma columns and deflecting the ones he couldn't dodge.
Lucas finally gave up on manually capturing Cain to weaken him and decided to use his trump card once again.
"Grave of Ashes"
Walls of magma covered the arena and it closed off.
"Dont spam this shit every fight fucker." Cain rightfully complained.
"Heh, scared?" Lucas's grin returned.
And it started to go right back where it came from when he realised that,
'Cain can take control over my domain!?'
Cain had realised something ever since he saw Lucas's Grave of Ashes used for the first time,
This ability could be a double edged blade.
Since magic that wasn't actively controlled by the user lost their mana signature, that meant they could be taken over by other users of the same affinity or simolar affinities.
That was why everbody manually controlled their spells until the end.
But Lucas never had to worry about that as he was a unique case among his family of fire users.
Magma was a mixture of earth and fire so theoratically it could be taken over by both, but in reality it could only be taken over by earth.
Lucas's family tried to take control over his magma, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't.
So, they all assumed magma couldn't be taken over and no one else thought otherwise until Cain did.
The reason for this was simple, fire was entirely energy manipulation and earth was mostly matter manipulation.
Fire was created, and taken control of as an source of energy while earth was either created, or taken control of while they were already there.
And as magma fell in the matter manipulation category too, somebody experienced with the earth affinity could likely take over the entire domain unless Lucas interfered first.
Anybody with a good head on their shoulders could understand this after experiencing this ability firsthand, but to understand the entire depth of somebody elses ability in one glance really proved why Cain Stark was called a genius.
Of course Cain had no intentions to share this information with Lucas, but Lucas already started to figure it out.
Cain had taken over 65% of the domain by the time Lucas managed to interfere.
Lucas's cocky grin had completely vanished, replaced with pure panic.
"This isn't possible!" He shouted.
Cain's lips curled into a smirk.
"It's possible, alright. You just never imagined someone could figure how to take over your domain."