Aries quickly rotated his body, allowing the spear to fly past him. When he did that, Leo was able to see his predecessor's face for the first time.
Aries was a very handsome mage who didn't look a day over 30. His features were very angled like Leo's. Aries even had bright blue eyes like him. The similarity between the two was uncanny.
Leo wasn't blind. He realized that there was a very obvious similarity between the two, but he passed it off as a coincidence.
As he was thinking about the similarity between the two of them, Aries finally attacked Jared.
"Solar Nova," he said.
It started off in the same way that Leo's Fire Nova did. Aries gathered a bunch of flames in his hand, ready to release it at once. But it wasn't as simple as a 4th Star Spell. The flames in Aries's hands were white in color and the heat from them could be felt by Leo who was standing on the peak of the mountain.
He released the flames, creating a tremendous explosion. A vortex of white flames expanded out in the blink of an eye but stopped when they reached 100 meters away from him. After that, they compressed back into his hands.
He let go of control over the flames and an explosion engulfed the area around him. It created a sphere of white flames around him. The radius of the flames was only 100 meters so it didn't include the girls that were helplessly watching the fight.
The heat and shockwaves from the nova reached Leo and pushed him back a little. He recovered his footing and looked back at the fight. He wanted to see if the Scheming Ghost could survive a blast this powerful.
As the flames were about to die out, a figure jumped out of the ball of flames. It was Jared. He pointed his staff at Aries.
"Blood Domain!"
Leo immediately felt his body press to the ground. He felt a huge pressure pressing him down but he forced his head up to keep watching the fight.
The effect of the spell was that the entire area was filled with magic that felt like blood. It made it hard for him to move and the magic suppressed him. Since the magic already had an owner, he didn't like it like he normally liked magic.
Aries seemed unbothered by the spell's effects.
"Shadow Domain."
A darkness spread out from his feet and covered the same area that the Blood Domain covered. It cancelled out the effects of the Blood Domain on Leo so he was able to stand properly again.
After the spells canceled out each other, Jared and Aries stood facing each other. Neither of them made a move for an entire minute. After that, Jared coughed out a little blood. He wiped it with his robe and looked at Aries with an angry expression.
"You have forced me to employ this move. You should be proud of yourself for making me go this far," Jared said.
"Eternal Blood Flames!"
He pointed his staff at his own arm and then pointed at Aries. Suddenly the left arm of Jared exploded, splattering a little blood and flesh around him. No one was close enough to be hit by it, but everyone was confused by the decision.
Only Aries seemed to know what was happening. He also prepared a measure for this. But he had less time to do so since the spell that Jared had cast was already coming toward him.
From his staff, a blood-red flame launched itself toward Aries. As it got closer to him, it got bigger and bigger. When it got near Aries, it had grown to a size of 100 meters big. It was going to engulf all of his body at once.
"Fire Cataclysm," Aries calmly chanted. As he said those words, the flames engulfed him. The women who were watching with hope that he would win fell into despair. Jared smiled when his spell finally seemed to overwhelm his opponent.
Just as everyone was thinking that the battle was over, an explosion radiated from inside the red flames. They blasted the flames out of the way and expanded out without any regard for who was in the way.
A thin barrier formed around the two women who couldn't move a split second after the explosion had started. The blast expanded out in seconds, covering dozens of kilometers in a matter of seconds.
Leo felt the explosion head-on, feeling a huge amount of heat and a shockwave that should have killed him. But he stayed in his place as the explosion expanded past him. He stayed inside the explosion, observing what was happening around him.
5 minutes passed and the explosion died down. Aries looked at the former location where Jared was standing. He shook his head.
"I know you are trying to hide. It won't work," he said.
The space distorted a little before the battered body of Jared came out of it. He almost dropped out of the sky to the ground because he had no energy left.
"You are a lot more powerful than you look," Jared said.
Aries nodded. "Yes. And you are as sneaky as ever. Don't worry. I won't leave you alone in the afterlife. I will personally hunt down your favorite disciple to let them accompany you," he said.
"Ha! That useless person. He claimed you were an 8th Circle Mage. If I knew you weren't one, then I wouldn't be dumb enough to even take this fight," Jared said.
"How did you reach the stage you are at now? You were supposed to be an 8th Circle Mage," Aries said.
Jared laughed. "Why do you think I sacrificed those many cities? The blood I obtained was used to make my 9th circle. I tried to make my 10th circle like that too, but it wasn't successful. I wish I got to that stage so that I could kill you today," he said.
"I will take those as your last words," Aries said. He swiped his hands at Jared, slicing his body in half with magic.
The minute that happened, Leo found himself back inside the white room. It no longer shined gold like before, but he didn't realize it. His eyes were closed shut as he replayed the scene he had watched in his mind.
The battle between giants like that was so important to him for one reason. It gave him a first-hand experience of how extremely strong mages handled elements and used them in their spells.
In the case of Aries, he had only used flame and shadow elements. Jared only used the blood element. Clearly, they were picking a single or two elements to become the best at.
By watching the Shadow Domain spell up close, Leo could interact with Shadow Element magic that was several levels higher than him. The same with the Fire Cataclysm. The two magic spells gave Leo a very valuable experience. it changed his understanding of the two elements.
Once he replayed the scene two times in his head, he immediately started to practice his magic spells. By using his newfound concepts in elements, he knew that his efficiency in training spells would double at the least.
