Reader Mage 178-This Is The Last Time I’ll Try To Be Civil

Chima and Maya graced the arena, standing across from each other just like every contestant before them. There was a stifling tension in the air that found a way to make it past the TV screen and nestle upon rlin, prompting his heartbeat to race and his palms to beco clammy. Or perhaps it was just because he had begun to reconsider his earlier proposal. No one had said anything since Chima had left the waiting room, and most definitely not since Yuri had returned.

Despite how torn rlin was now, though, he still had no intention of advising anyone to ignore him. At the end of the day, just like Chima had said, it was up to them to decide if they would take the risk or not. He had been insensitive, but, goodness, he wanted to win so badly that he didn’t mind painting himself dark in the eyes of his mates.

Instructor Park signalled for the duel to begin, and imdiately, both contestants channeled their mana. However, they made no moves as their Grimoire hovered in the air.

“I promised,” Chima began, “that I would win. I’m sure you did the sa with your peers, Maya.”

Maya frowned. “Don’t talk to so casually. We’re not friends.”

Chima raised his hands. “I apologize. Regardless, I’d love it if you went all out right from the get-go.” He lowered his hands and the mana spilling out of his body turned more intense. It was the most intense Chima had ever produced, and it bled out of him so much that the air warped from the stinging heat of the sparks of flas that began to dance around him. “Because I’ll be going all out myself, and right from the start.”

Maya’s posture stiffened as Chima’s mana exploded, turning from the calm blue it initially was into a fiery red. His eyes glowed the sa color in that instant, and as he brought his hands together, the mana he had produced began to condense right in front of him.

Thick beads of sweat rolled down Maya’s face, and she began to gulp excessively. Her deanor worsened by the second as her battle wear beca soaked with her sweat.

Hesitating any longer would be a problem. Just like Chima had said, he really was going all out.

So Maya attempted to do the sa.

Mana spilled out of her, initially blue, but as it moved and nestled upon her back, its color turned into sothing iridescent. Maya groaned as she leaned over and her scapula shifted, like it was constantly being dislocated and repositioned. Her battle wear tore apart, revealing the gory sight of two straight lines being carved into her skin. Everyone spectating frowned out that, but instead of a fountain of blood pouring out of the gashes, a pair of four, thin and delicate mbranes sprouted, each supported by a rigid vein-like network. As Maya straightened on her feet, the wings shimred like stained glass bathed in the light of sumr. They flapped, and she rose from the ground, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She was almost like an angel.

But that mirage was quickly broken, when the wings refracted the light from the surroundings, condensed them into tiny, countless thin beams of light, and fired them all at Chima.

However, unlike the crowd, Chima had not once lost his focus—not on his spell, and most definitely not regarding his defense.

The chunks of mana he had left around his body split apart. They each sparked to life, and took the shapes of shields of fire, hovering in the air.

Maya’s beams of light slamd into them, but was unable to break them apart.

At least, at first.

She kept her barrage going, which seed to be no problem for her at all, considering light was an endless source present to her at this very point in ti. And then her persistence paid off.

Several of her attacks made it through Chima’s defenses, striking him at his shoulders, arms, and thighs. He managed to keep himself from being hit in any critical spot, but Maya had succeeded in wearing him down.

“What’s he doing?” Hakyun voiced, frustrated as he noticed Chima’s expression turn pale. “Whatever spell he’s casting, he should have been done by now.”

rlin wanted to say sothing to calm Hakyun, but not only did he not have zero clue as to what Chima was doing, he also felt like he had spoken enough for the day. So he could only tell it to himself that he believed in Chima, and he knew that the lad had sothing up his sleeves.

Chima proved it in the next few seconds.

As soon as Maya took a split second break to catch her breath, he gave his spell its finishing touches.

A spherical ball of fire floated where a chaotic compression of mana had once been. It reminded rlin of Yuri’s mini-sun, but unlike hers its edges were smooth—very smooth—as though shaped out of a glassy material. It was almost like an orb of fire—a core—and even Maya was so amazed that she was unable to attack him for a mont.

Then she snapped back into realization, and resud her barrages of light beams.

This ti, Chima held the shield of fire that manifested as his spell, dropped to his knees, and hid himself behind its fra, just like the gladiators of old, protecting the core as he did.

He gritted his teeth, feeling the weight of the barrage, along with the pain coursing through his body from being hit earlier, but the barrage didn’t make it through.

anwhile, the core began to spill out mana bit by bit, like it could no longer hold its structure. But Chima didn’t look one bit bothered by it. After a few seconds, the spilled mana slowly took shape while the core shrinked into a smaller size, almost like a pebble, and nestled in a corner of what was appearing.

rlin’s brows pulled in as he watched. For so reason, he felt like he was watching the process of child formation in the womb. The mana moved from sothing shapeless, into a figure curled into itself, and then the figure grew arms and legs. Everyone gasped at this point, but the spell wasn’t done. The figure dropped to the ground, standing on its two feet; it enlarged, growing taller and wider rapidly. Maya, just like everyone else, gaped at what was now standing behind Chima after three seconds. Her light beams fizzled out as she lost concentration. And who could bla her? Because behind Chima towered a giant of fire, clad in a blazing helt and a loin cloth, like a roman gladiator.

“Holy shit,” Hakyun muttered both excitedly and in surprise. “When the fuck did he learn that?”

Chima took a deep breath and stood up. Holding his shield of fire in one hand, he cauterized his wounds and turned back to face Maya who now had a deeply troubled expression.

“Go all out,” he said. “This is the last ti I’ll try to be civil.”

Maya gritted her teeth as her chin quivered. Imdiately, her Grimoire flipped a few pages and her wings glowed brightly.

Chima nodded, dispelled his shield of fire and dashed around his giant.

In the next instant, countless tiny particles shot out of Maya’s wings, striking the arena and spreading cracks all around as they dug into the floor. However, when the sa scales struck the giant of fire, they simply lted like they never existed. It was burning hot, and everyone around the arena could feel it. They were all sweating profusely now, but Maya had it worse. She was too close—far too close.

Realizing this, she tried to put so distance between herself and the giant, but it didn’t seem to want to let her. It stretched its hands forward, reaching for Maya, and answering the question that had been moving around in rlin’s mind ever since its manifestation, that it didn’t need Chima’s input to act. After all, Chima was busy casting another spell, crafting a bow and arrow of fire.

“Fuck!!!” Maya voiced, her desperation seeping deeply into her bones.

The giant was burning as hot as a furnace. If it managed to grab a hold of her, she could suffer a third-degree burn. She knew she couldn’t let that happen, not only would she lose, she would end up receiving high intensive treatnt and could be out for a month at worst. Which ant that she knew she had to do everything in her power to take out the caster.

But the fact that the gladiator was moving without Chima’s input begets the question of if taking out Chima would truly stop it.

rlin fell into his thoughts at that consideration. And he found the answer way faster than he might have thought.

The core was the answer. As long as the core was intact, the spell would continue to function. He was certain about it.

If Maya figured that out, then Chima wouldn’t be her target but the core.

However, the core had beco so minuscule that it had practically blended into the body of the giant. The only way she could have a shot at defeating the giant was if she could guess just where exactly the core was located. It was like finding the heart of a being. If one knew its location, they could just target that spot until a guaranteed hit landed.

Chima, though, was not a fool. He was one of the best fighters in Prestige Academy. There was no way he hadn’t taken that into consideration.

He nocked his bow of fire, and shot an arrow at Maya. She easily evaded it by swerving out of its path. What was more fascinating, however, was that as she did, her body creaked like it was being broken. A second later, her size visibly reduced. It was like she’d gotten thinner—undergone so sort of tamorphosis. And she definitely had.

Maya’s speed greatly increased after her little change. She flew through the arena, evading Chima’s persistent shots of arrow and the giant’s attempt at catching her. While she did, her eyes scanned the body of the giant furiously.

That was not surprising. Crown Academy students weren’t dumb. She was seeking the core.

Chima clenched his chin when his attempts at foiling Maya t a consistent roadblock. She was moving too fast—almost as fast as the beams of light she had fired earlier. And it was written on his face that he knew that if he didn’t stop her soon enough, things could take a drastic turn.

He stopped with his ranger attempts, and rose to his feet. As if that action of his was the defining mont, Maya’s brows rose up and she froze in the air. Then a smile parted her lips aside. In the next instant, the scales on her wings separated and gathered around her hands, forming gloves of iridescence.

Chima clicked his tongue, noticing this.

He channeled mana to his feet and turned towards his giant. At the sa ti, Maya burst through the air, heading straight for the monstrosity as she bypassed its attempts to swat her down like a fly. She managed to get far enough, before she t resistance.

The giant took a large step forward, angled its body, and sent an elbow downwards. Even though the action was clumsy, it covered a wide enough distance for it to hit Maya. Blood poured out of the young lady’s mouth as she was sent spinning downwards from above. Luckily for her, she had managed to gather her scales around her back at the last minute to prevent the burn that spread across her back from going deeper than it had.

Maya pushed herself up on all four as she coughed heavily. Then she threw her gaze at the giant to see Chima still running up it.

She picked herself up instantly, repeating her previous attempt of bursting through the air heading for the core. It seed like they both were. Chima perhaps seeking to reinforce it, while Maya wanted to destroy it.

Maya was faster however. She blasted upwards, past Chima and the several extra attempts of the giant at stopping her, to arrive at an area close to its chest. Without so much as a second to think, she took a deep breath and propelled herself forward. Just before she broke into the giant’s body, she wrapped herself in her wings, preventing the heat from directly pouring onto her. Silence spread across the arena as everyone watched, anticipating how it would end. And it ended in Maya’s victory. She found the core, tightened her fist, and punched it with all the force that had carried her forward. The giant burst into chunks of flas.

Maya freed herself from the embrace of the wings to see the beauty of her destruction. However, her victory was short-lived. There, above her, in between the countless flas that resulted from the giant’s explosion was Chima.

Just like her he was obviously exhausted, pale, and breathing through his mouth rather than his lungs; and besides, his greatest spell had just been broken apart, he ought to be wearing a look of defeat, succumbing and giving up. And yet, he hovered in the air in the most magnificent way possible, clenched his fists and compressed the split fire into a single large fireball that he directed at Maya.

She tried to fuel her wings with so life, but her speed was greatly reduced. Before she could fly away, the spell would have landed upon her. And without any form of protection, that would be devastating.

Maya made her choice. She settled on defense, and once again wrapped herself with her wings. Chima’s spell blasted into her, plunging her straight into the arena. A cloud of dust rose into the air in the wake of the explosion, covering the contestants completely. Everyone shifted on their seats, staring straight at the cloud like they could see into it. All they could do was wait and gulp. Instructor Park looked rather torn. It was obvious that she was wondering if it would be best to rush onto the arena to check on the students, but was also wary about how doing that could disrupt their fight if it was still ongoing.

Her expression shifted into one of resolve soon enough, but when she took a step forward, a silhouette appeared through the cloud of dust. It drew closer, giving everyone pause, then at last Chima erged with Maya on his back. She had suffered burns, but nothing that was so severe it cost her life.

Instructor Park imdiately gestured for the dics and they rushed onto the scene. Maya was hauled onto a stretcher, and Chima was offered the sa services, but he rejected. He would walk to the infirmary by himself.

With a smile of relief, Instructor Park announced, “The winner of the fifth round is Anozie Chima Ken. Prestige Academy, three, Crown Academy, two.”