As soon as Lucas was done… raising the flag, something stirred inside the rising mushroom cloud of black smoke.
Soon, a halo of bright light flashed inside its darkness, resembling a single shiny star amidst the vast expanse of a nightly black void.
In the very next moment, a radiant pillar of blinding white light shot towards the sky, as if attempting to reach the heavens itself… or split it in half.
The smoke that obscured the vision dispersed after the appearance of the radiant pillar of light, which vanquished the darkness.
A lone silhouette of a young man, holding a sword that appeared to be the source of the pillar came into sight.
The halo around the young man made it almost blinding to look at him, but it nevertheless prompted beads of cold sweat to roll down Lucas' forehead.
"Fuck!" Lucas cursed out under his breath but before he could react, he felt his body being frozen in place.
No, it wasn't out of fear or any other whimsical emotion like that.
In reality, the pillar of light stretching out into the sky like a tower over Lucas' head had started to move.
It was falling down… on him!
The force of its descent sent pulverizing pressure crashing down on Lucas, and it felt like a mountain had fallen on his shoulder even though the pillar of light had yet to reach him.
"Arghaa!" Lucas gnashed his teeth and willed mana into his legs and forearms before falling onto all fours.
He then pushed back on the ground with his feet and pulled with his hands, swiftly galloping across the field like a tiger.
Nero brought his sword down in one fluid motion, causing the pillar of light to descend faster as it struck the ground.
Thwoooom—!!!
A thunderous shockwave coursed through the Arena, causing the whole vicinity to tremble like a deck of cards as the pillar of light hit the spot where Lucas was present a few moments before.
The land was obliterated, shards of concrete once again flew off in the air as a wide vertical crack was formed on the soldering ground.
Lucas, however, had already moved from there. This was his chance! After deciding that he was safe, he got up on his feet and moved like a human.
He still didn't stop running, of course.
As he moved in an arc around Nero, who looked sickly pale after performing that last attack, Lucas weaved a few quick hand signs.
This was indeed his chance! A few seconds ago, Lucas hit Nero with Flaming Lance— a high-level spell— without holding back anything.
It would've killed or at least seriously injured even the strongest of cadets, and Nero would've shared that fate too if not for his true Martial Aura.
But could he survive being hit by another high-level spell? That's what Lucas wanted to find out.
A few seconds… That was all the time he gave Nero to catch his breath because, in the next moment, a blazing aura of fiery crimson flames engulfed Lucas' figure.
Seeing that, Nero gritted his teeth and sprang into action. He was getting ready to face another artillery spell, but instead, Lucas did something strange.
The silver-haired boy abruptly stopped running and came to a complete halt, facing Nero, who stood a few meters away from him.
Flames started to accumulate around Lucas' right fist as he raised his arm.
He then fell on one knee and punched the ground, striking it with his fist clad in crimson flames.
Thwaam—!!
The ground cracked and crevices spread across the concrete like vines from the point where Lucas had punched the ground.
Nero looked in confusion as the cracks started to widen. It almost looked as if something was trying to protrude out of the ground, before suddenly…
Thwoom—!! Booom—!! Booom—!!
Several blazing pillars of crimson flames erupted from the ground one after another, reaching toward the sky like dragons awakened.
The razing explosions of fiery pillars started closing in on Nero at a concerning speed.
The swordsman's eyes widened as he realized the type of spell Lucas had unleashed.
"An AoE spell?!" Nero raised his eyebrows in utter shock.
Obviously, there were many types of spells one can learn to cast. Some spells favor a specific group of awakeness with specific affinities.
For example, barrier-type spells are mostly meant for water, ice, or earth elemental users to cast.
Artillery spells can be used by mostly all the existing affinities like fire, earth, water, lightning, and so on.
There are some healing spells that are divided into two groups: Self-healing and Target Healing. Those are mostly meant for water elemental affinity users.
The last and most fearsome type of spells are AoE, or Area of Effect, spells. Instead of a single target, they influence the whole area.
AoE has many other variations like crowd control or crowd healing, but the ones to look out for are an area of destruction spells.
Lucas had, just now, unleashed an Area of Destruction spell. It was a high-level spell at that!
Nero couldn't help but wonder how did the young Morningstar learn two high-level spells in such a short time?!
However, he couldn't think about it much because the scorching waves of heat spread over him as the pillars of fire started exploding all around him, entrapping him in a circular ensnare.
Without thinking much, Nero held his sword in a reverse grip, his left hand clutched the hilt of his bastard sword and his right hand grabbed the far end of his blade with its flat side.
Holding it like a sledgehammer, Nero flooded his sword with mana and bashed it down on the ground with all his might, not holding back anything at all.
THWAAAAM—!!!
The ground trembled as if a meteor had crashed against its surface, sending violent quakes in every direction.
The crimson pillars of fire erupting from the ground disrupted a little before Lucas himself lost his balance and swayed to his side a little.
Only then did the spell he had cast dismissed since he lost his focus. The young Morningstar widened his eyes and picked himself up from his kneeling position and stood up.
The vibrations still coursed through the ground. Lucas looked at Nero, a huge crater was dug out beneath him from the impact of his last attack that literally summoned an earthquake.
Nero met his gaze and rushed at him before Lucas could cast his previous spell again.
The silver-haired boy gritted his teeth. Since he still didn't have his spear, Lucas summoned his yumi bow and drew its string taut.
The yumi bow shimmered slightly in a dim azure glow before a shimmering arrow, seemingly made completely out of a bright blue bolt of lightning, appeared on its string.
Lucas had used his Edit Pen to turn the bow into a relic. Now he could use his mana to create elemental arrows that his affinities could support.
Gritting his teeth and locking his target on Nero, who was darting toward him, Lucas relaxed his finger.
The blue bolt of lightning shot forward at Nero, leaving behind a trail of crackling electricity with blurring speed.
Nero raised his sword, but before he could do anything, the lightning arrow split into ten darts and rained down on the young swordsman.
"Tsk!" Nero clicked his tongue and stomped his foot on the ground to gain proper footing.
Clang—!! Thaaam—!! Clang—!!
He then swung the glowing blade of his azure sword and unleashed a swift fury of powerful yet surgically precise slashes at the incoming lightning arrows.
One after another his sword hacked down the blurring bolts of lightning as if he was cutting paper, not at all taken aback by their speed.
The audience was left utterly baffled. The lightning arrows were traveling nearly at the speed of thunderbolts. Yet, not only Nero precisely tracked each one of them down, but he also managed to destroy it with his sword!
Truly, he was befitting of his title!
It was, however, very bad news for Lucas!
…Or at least it would've been if Lucas had already not anticipated this situation to occur.
By the time Nero was down cutting down his lightning arrows, Lucas had already hopped back several meters.
Not only that, but he had also cast his previous spell. Once again, Lucas punched the ground with his fist clad in crimson flames.
In the very next moment, once again, pillars of immolating crimson fire burst out from beneath the concrete ground.
"Damn it!" Nero cursed, knowing he couldn't do what he did to cancel Lucas' cast last time.
His mana reserves were already running dangerously low. One more move like the last one, and Nero wouldn't have any mana left to counterattack.
So instead of trying to avoid Lucas' spell, Nero decided to tank it and attack with his own!
"Fine!" Nero bit his lower lip and raised his sword once again. A blinding pillar of incandescent white light shot upward from his blade as the fiery eruptions started closing in on him.
Before long, Nero was surrounded by several dozens of fiery fountains while a tower of light shooting up from his sword only grew brighter.
"Arghaaaa!"
"Come on!"
Both Nero and Lucas let out a beasteal battle cry and braced themselves for the incoming, inevitable impact.
The ground beneath Nero's feet shattered as if it was glass and a destructive explosion erupted from under his very feet.
Simultaneously, Nero brought down his sword, and the pillar of light that was being projected out from his sword descended on Lucas.
THWAAAAM—!!!
BOOOOM—!!!
