Kael's casual declaration detonated like a thunderclap, plunging the arena into stunned silence.
"Senior Kael, he…" Ivy gaped, her words trailing off in disbelief. While Kael had dispatched Jared and Grant with ease, Simon and Jessica represented Nankur's true powerhouses. Challenging both simultaneously bordered on madness.
Evelyn's initial worry gave way to grim calculation. If he loses, we can claim Nankur resorted to unfair tactics. The academy's honor remains intact.
Simon and Jessica exchanged wary glances. Pride warred with pragmatism – their earlier confidence in solo duels had crumbled under Kael's frostfire onslaught.
"As you wish, junior." Simon's reply dripped venomous courtesy.
Booes erupted from Flamecrest's ranks. "Cowards!"
"Even their pretty face can't hide that stench!"
Jessica ignored the jeers, her sun-kissed features hardening as she and Simon darted to flank Kael from both sides.
"Nankur Academy, second year: Jessica."
"Third year: Simon."
Their coordinated assault began instantly.
Nebula Flame!
Jessica's staff blazed, a constellation of fireballs materializing overhead like vengeful stars.
Windrend!
Simon's spell answered – razor-edged gusts coalesced into scything blades that howled toward Kael's left flank.
Kael stood motionless, frostfire swirling in fractal patterns around his scepter. The moment stretched – twin cataclysms milliseconds from impact.
Then he moved.
Stellar Evasion: Meteoric Shift!
His form dissolved into frostfire particles, reforming behind Jessica. The dual attacks collided mid-air, detonating in a firestorm that shook the arena.
"Composite magic isn't just mixing elements," Kael murmured as smoke cleared. Jessica whirled to find frostfire tendrils encircling her ankles. "It's rewriting reality."
Permafrost Pyroclasm!
The ground erupted. Frostfire geysers intertwined with magma streams, birthing a paradoxical hellscape of burning ice and freezing flames. Simon's wind blades shattered mid-air, their shards refreezing into glacial daggers that homed toward their caster.
True composite magic – not mere spell fusion, but alchemical transmutation of magical essence itself.
Kael retreated strategically, his incantations flowing like dark poetry. "Voidfire Deluge!"
The training grounds transformed into a paradox of frost and flame. Jessica's celestial firestorm dissolved into Kael's frostfire maelstrom – a humiliating display of elemental dominance. Her Nebula Flames, once radiant constellations, withered like dying stars before the all-consuming paradox.
"Impossible!" Jessica hissed. No fire mage should command such sovereignty over flames.
Simon's Windrend blades sliced through the inferno, carving temporary sanctuaries in the chaos. Yet for every gale-born refuge Kael eradicated, three more frostfire cyclones surged.
The spectators retreated further, frostfire's contradictory chill searing exposed skin even as it froze armor joints. Evelyn erected a protective barrier, her eyes wide with revelation – this wasn't mere spellcasting, but the birth of a new magical paradigm.
Jessica's hands trembled. Her flames, perfected through years of study, became puppets dancing to Kael's tune. Simon's precision winds destabilized, their razor edges blunted by frostfire's mercurial nature.
"Composite magic isn't additive," Kael lectured mid-retreat, frostfire serpents coiling around his arms. "It's exponential."
Frostfire Convergence!
The serpents merged into a draconic apparition that devoured Jessica's remaining flames. Simultaneously, Kael's left hand sketched arcane sigils mid-air – Mana Turbulence targeting Simon's storm core.
The Nankur mages stumbled. Jessica's staff cracked under paradoxical thermal stress. Simon's winds rebounded, slicing shallow gashes across his own robes.
"Your turn." Kael's whisper carried glacial finality. Twin frostfire comets materialized above each opponent – perfect mirror images glowing with annihilative promise.
The arena held its breath. This wasn't a duel, but an execution.
"If Senior Kael can win…" Ivy's imagination ran wild. Though initially deemed impossible, Kael's consecutive victories had reignited hope across Flamecrest's ranks. Even Evelyn's eyes gleamed with cautious optimism.
Unaware of the shifting sentiments, Kael focused on the duel. Jessica's fiery assaults proved manageable, but Simon's calculated precision demanded vigilance. Both adversaries maintained cautious distance, neutralizing his close-range disruption spells like Arcane Silencing.
The Voidfire Deluge swirled protectively around Kael, frostfire tendrils lashing like guardian serpents.
"We need to dismantle his defensive matrix!" Simon barked. Earthen Bastion!
Massive stone walls erupted from the ground, their jagged edges hurtling toward Kael. Simultaneously, Jessica unleashed Aqua Barrage – pressurized water spheres exploding against the frostfire barrier.
Kael retreated strategically, his incantations weaving through the chaos. Twin Silverstar Runes blazed across his scepter as composite magic's primal energy coalesced.
"Meteor Shower!"
"Tornado!"
The dual incantations merged into a singular resonance. Simon and Jessica froze mid-cast, their blood running cold as reality itself warped.
True Composite Magic: Pyroclastic Storm!
The training grounds erupted. Frostfire meteors spiraled within a howling vortex, their trajectories defying natural law. Stone walls disintegrated into molten gravel. Water spheres flash-froze mid-air before shattering into crystalline shrapnel.
Jessica's scream pierced the maelstrom as paradoxical flames seared her mana channels. Simon's storm barrier imploded, frostfire tendrils snaking through the cracks to freeze his staff solid.
"Impossible…" Simon croaked, collapsing to his knees. "This… this is beyond seventh-rank…"
Kael stood unscathed at the eye of the storm, frostfire corona blazing. "Composite magic isn't combination – it's ascension."
The vortex dissipated, revealing two broken mages and a cratered battlefield. Flamecrest's silence lasted three heartbeats before erupting into primal roars. Ivy fainted dramatically into a classmate's arms.
Evelyn's lips curved into a predatory smile. Nankur's calculated humiliation had backfired catastrophically – their delegates now served as stepping stones for Flamecrest's rising legend
"True Composite Magic!" Evelyn's eyes lit up, her voice trembling with uncharacteristic fervor. Kael's evolution from the mage she'd mentored months ago to this force of nature left her awestruck.
The other magic instructors leaned forward, breath caught in their throats. What unfolded before them wasn't mere spellcraft—it was revolutionary.
Meteor Shower entwined with Tornado, their fusion birthing a cataclysm that transcended elemental limits. Flames roared with amplified ferocity, their trajectories warped by cyclonic winds into spiraling pillars of annihilation. But the true marvel lay deeper—shimmering threads of spatial energy wove through the maelstrom, reality itself groaning under the strain.
"This… this isn't just amplified magic!" one instructor gasped. "He's bending dimensional laws!"
Where Kael's earlier composite spells against the Golden Lion had been crude prototypes, this was refinement incarnate. Spatial fractures spiderwebbed through the vortex, each micro-tear allowing frostfire to burn colder and meteors to strike faster than physics permitted.
The audience recoiled as oppressive force compressed the air—chests tightened, breaths shortened. Ivy clutched her pendant, its protective enchantment glowing faintly against the metaphysical onslaught.
For Jessica and Simon, trapped within the spell's heart, the agony transcended physicality. Their mana channels screamed under paradoxical assaults—flames that froze, winds that crushed, spatial distortions unraveling their magical cores.
"Impossible…" Simon croaked, blood trickling from his ears as his storm barriers shattered. "This violates every arcane axiom!"
Jessica's Nebula Flames snuffed out like candles in a hurricane. Her knees buckled, frostfire tendrils coiling around her limbs in mocking restraint.
Kael hovered at the eye of his creation, frostfire corona blazing. The composite matrix pulsed with his heartbeat—not merely controlled, but harmonized.
Evelyn's analytical mind raced. The spatial infusion… It's not augmentation. He's using dimensional energy as a catalyst, not a component!
The revelation struck like lightning. Where traditional composite magic stacked elements, Kael's method transmuted them—fire and wind becoming conduits for manipulating reality's fabric itself.
As the vortex reached critical mass, Kael's voice cut through the roar:
"Yield."
It wasn't a request.