"Finally..."
I muttered under my breath in relief as it was finally my turn in the ring.
'I can't help but pity her.'
She stood across from me, the typical short brown-hair girl you could find relatively easily.
She was adorable yet beautiful, and somehow, she was also rugged and tense as she readied her bow.
'She kinda reminds me of a cat.'
I couldn't help but picture cat-like features on her as she stood there still completely on guard.
The two least-known figures in the S section, two commoners who rose from stardom to make it here today.
Maria Helunt vs Lucien Polstrey.
'She needs to get into S class.'
I asked the referee something and told him I even made the headmaster agree to it as well.
Restrictions,
for me.
A blindfold and handcuffs that forced me to rely on limited spells and mana.
The crowd was audibly shocked as whispers and murmurs flickered through them.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't underestimate me."
"I don't underestimate you; I understand your skills perfectly fine."
Of course I did.
I mean I've read about her time and time again in the novel.
I saw utter pitch black and the tightening of my arms as they adjusted to the restrictions.
"But it's truly a pity. This is the worst matchup you could ever get."
They had already placed a protective bracelet on me, and they soon did for Maria as well.
[Space Magic: Spatial View]
The blindfold restricted my vision, of course, but not as much as you would think.
It instead limited my mana usage as I had to be careful with it to maintain my vision.
To me, I was looking down on the entire battlefield and even the stadium.
Arrows rang across the sky as she drew her bow, but for a space mage, they would never land.
[Space Magic: Teleportation]
The crowd grew even louder, maybe because what I did is an incredible feat for most spatial mages, or simply because I'm a space mage.
"Hmph..."
She exclaimed her burrow furrowing as lightning began channeling throughout her whole body.
Lightning from her arrows twisting and turning in tendrils of electrifying energy.
Like a net, it flung across the ring aimed directly at me.
[Space Magic: Teleportation]
Yet it simply didn't hit.
[Stormshooter's Style: Lightning Volley]
It happened again and again as I teleported evading each and every one of her attacks.
Teleportation takes time
for most space mages at least.
You need to find the exact coordinate on the axis of space to perfectly ensure your safety every time you teleported.
Each terrain and ground were different so no ground level would be the same and teleporting mid-air was still not favorable as enemies had an easy attack.
Lucien trained this spell day and night, and so did I at the very start.
The axis of space?
Basically, my home with the number of times I've teleported.
Just that would qualify me to be an expert at space magic, weak yet highly proficient in the magic.
[Stormshooter's Style: Clouded Thunder]
She didn't yield even as I evaded her attacks,
she drew her bow back once more and dark heavy black clouds surrounded me.
Yet, it had absolutely no effect on me.
I could see almost perfectly fine from above here as the dark clouds swirled and twisted encircling me.
Flickers of thunder and lightning streaked across the heavy cloud, and
bursts of lightning erupted in arrows that rained in every direction.
Crackling thundering arrows continuously poured into me flashing before my eyes.
However, they never even nicked my skin.
Slowing down a few inches before my body as I stood there my arms restricted behind my back.
[Unique Skill: Singularity]
[Space Magic: Condensing Space]
I barely maintained it, but it held out better than I thought it would.
Singularity, making something infinitely as big or infinitely as small.
It's an overpowered skill, no doubt.
But Singularity isn't like a switch to make something infinite it slowly makes something infinitely as big in an instant.
x2
x4
x8
x16
x32
Though, actually it's horrible small multiplications down to decimal points.
It simply works its way up infinitely.
Singularity multiplies the amount of mana needed to sustain the spell and each multiplication takes a bit of mana too.
So, if you don't cut it short, you're basically just asking to run out of mana.
Sparks of lightning crackled from the arrows surrounding me like some sort of barrier.
'I really am a copycat.'
I thought as I stretched out my hand while remembering a certain anime character.
More concerningly, my mana reserves.
I was gifted in the department of mana reserves, easily beating almost everybody in it.
Yet, my mana reserves were around 40% of its max.
Before I used Singularity, it was at around 75%
I saw the clouds began to slowly fade away and the streaks of lightning dancing across them happened less often.
The arrows of brilliant lightning started becoming a light shower instead of the pouring rain it once was.
35%
'Goddamnit.'
To the crowds, I was getting bombarded by arrows and seemed to have no way to survive.
They must have thought it was divine punishment for my arrogance dismissing me as some arrogant mediocre mage.
After the clouds dispersed and the thundering arrows encased me like a rat caught in a trap,
I simply waved my hand in a circle surrounding me.
And to the crowd's utter shock, I stood completely unscathed.
[Space Magic: Pocket]
"Hah..."
'I'll end this fast.'
"It is truly sad to face me as I am your perfect counter. Henry or Christina, heck even Lucas, would have given me trouble. However, with archery, you can't even touch me."
I said with no mockery or malice as if it was a simple matter of fact.
Yet, Maria stood there, her brows furrowed and she looked at me as if I just burned down a small orphanage.
I adjusted the handcuff restricting me and the blindfold got a bit itchy after wearing it for a while.
[Space Magic: Hardened Space]
I created a few jagged shards of space itself and manipulated them, raising them up into the air.
[Space Magic: Spatial Manipulation]
'30%.'
The shards all rushed into a single point that had basically nothing of mention.
[Space Magic: Teleportation]
I teleported her there exactly as the shards began to move ensuring a sure-hit attack.
However, I had underestimated her.
Specifically, her reaction time as lightning surged from her body crackling in tendrils of fiery light.
Her beautiful face, even more determined to beat me as she dashed across the stadium firing arrow after arrow at me.
Some were infused with lightning, some with just normal mana.
'Why do you think that'll work?'
I teleported around the arrows, she hoped I'd run out of mana before she ran out of stamina.
So, I just made it so she can't run.
I can't use telekinesis because of her constant moving, but I simply have to confine her to a space.
30% was all I had left in terms of mana reserves, so I knew this had to be my final attack.
"Capture."
That single word, mellower than most incantations, but still clear enough so every spectator with decent ears could hear it.
She looked utterly distraught as a wall of hardened space met her advance.
She kicked around in the barrier of space like a hamster, but she simply couldn't get out.
Unlike Christina, Henry or Cale, her moves had more quantity over quality.
Sure, they do damage, but not with a single attack, and with the confined space I doubt she could use a move like her [Arceon's Divine Punishment]
safely and without me utterly destroying her first, but she still tried, a last-ditch effort at victory.
"Break."
"Sharpen."
[Stormshooters Style: Arceon's Divine Punishment]
[Space Magic: Spatial Manipulation]
Our incantations both said at similar times echoed across the battlefield once more, her's was obviously a bit louder than mines.
Jagged spikes of space etched across the insides of the barrier.
Long arrows practically the size of spears began emerging crackling through the sky.
Heavenly thunder and divine lightning encased them as sparks of light flickered off the tens of them.
The spears as if bolts of lightning streaked down the sky pouring into the barrier of hardened space.
Space cracked under its weight, but I was simply faster than it could break my barrier.
"Haghh..."
[Space Magic: Contracting Space]
"Contract..."
"Lucien Polstrey has won."
The weight of my win bore down on the audience, a simple commoner mage destroyed a genius archer with a blindfold and handcuffs.
Lily may have been a one in a century genius, but simply put I was one in a millennium.
Two incantation spells? Try three.
Each magic had a special forum dedicated to them on the internet somewhere.
Including space,
and that's where it started.
Noticing the similarities between me and a certain fraud in anime, they began referring to me as "Discount Honored One," "Esteemed One," the fucking "Temu's Acclaimed One."
Until a single title went trending on the internet, "The Exalted One."
'At least that one is kinda cool.'