The Golem Mage

The War God Mage Academy team were already fully dressed in their battle-made uniforms, and Alec as usual had asked for his to be made in the kimono style.

In just these few days that they had been together he was looking every bit like a samurai, with two weapons strapped to the left side of his waist, and his left hand resting on them, while his right tucked into the fold at the middle of his kimono.

Lucas and Pale, who were up front couldn’t help looking at him while chuckling, they could hardly remember the last time he drew those weapons; right now they saw him more as a fine boy than the mage who terrorized the Northern academies in their last competition in the Capital.

They were sure others were underestimating him too because of how chill he was acting, unfortunately for them, they couldn’t tell that Alec wasn’t really putting on a show; on the contrary, he was still feeling unsettled, which left him staring into space often.

He was actually spacing out, but to them, it looked like he was trying to act mysterious.

“Alec, you need to see this,” Agnes’s voice reached him at the back, as he wasn’t even paying attention to Lucas and Pale, who were busy watching their captain act cool without trying.

Knowing Agnes, he knew she wouldn’t call him unless it mattered, so he slipped to the front as muffled cheers reached his ears from outside the arena the closer he went to the opening and he stopped at the end of the tunnel, obeying the coordinators’ instructions not to step out until their names were called.

The coordinators had given the War God Mage Academy team strict orders to wait until it was time to introduce them, so Alec only moved far enough to see the arena while still covered by the tunnel entrance.

One look forward, and he understood why Agnes had called, in the few minutes they’d been changing into their battle attire, the advantage on the stage had shifted towards the Battle Mage Academy side.

“I never once doubted you guys would win this match, so show me how much more you’re hiding,” Alec muttered as he stared at the bare back of Vincent and Vladimir who is now wrapped in his special customised Tier-6 spirit-equipment set.

Though he didn’t know the set’s full properties or other attributes that augment Vladimir, but the fact that Vladimir could steal a spirit weapon from someone else and use it perfectly already revealed one of its special abilities.

–

On the stage, Elise hissed in annoyance, the loss of both Jared and Lucius stung.

When she saw that Vladimir had beaten her vice-captain and was that close to his body, she could already picture what had happened and she wasn’t entirely surprised by it.

Jared might be a genius weapon-creator with a razor-sharp tactical mind, but his reflexes couldn’t keep up with that mind of his.

He’d never been great in close combat, unless he was using his “babies” as that is what he called them.

Normally, a cautious mage like him wouldn’t let anyone get close enough to discover this flaw of his. But Vladimir had crept up using a stealth skill, tunneling beneath the arena.

That was the part Elise couldn’t wrap her head around, how had Vladimir managed to move underground?

The rest she could imagine, because after sneaking up on Jared—her most trusted vice-captain—the spell engineer, with his glaring close-quarters weakness, it wasn’t hard to realise how easily he had been neutralized before anyone could support him.

And this was all because they’d been too focused on Vincent Whitefang, who wasn’t an easy opponent either; three of them had gone at him, and he was still standing with little more than burns, bruises, and a few cuts from defending himself so far, while still eliminating one of them.

As for Lucius’s elimination, they had witnessed it themselves and now even she had lost one of her spell rings in a bid to protect herself from the surprise attack that came from Vladimir.

Things were not working out as planned, and she hated that Jared was out of the match; he was more of the planner type of mage, while she was more of the individual fighter with bursts of brilliance.

So, in that moment, she did what she believed was best.

“Marek, take care of that guy. I’ll try to deal with the captain fast enough to come join you, just make sure you don’t get eliminated before then,” she ordered, with her energy blade flaring brighter as she poured more mana into it.

But as she issued the command, both Vincent and Vladimir moved toward her at the same time, as if they could read each other’s minds.

The sudden aggression towards her shocked her; it was the first time the Battle Mage Academy had taken the initiative to attack first, and even if they meant to remove someone quickly, she had never expected they would choose her.

She had assumed they would go for Marek first, since he was weaker than she was and the move would likely succeed, what she didn’t realize was that, in Vincent’s and Vladimir’s minds, there was no room for targeting weaklings.

The Battle Mage Academy teaches mages to forge through adversity, which means they get excited to fight those stronger than themselves.

This time, it was her turn to defend against two attackers, and unlike Vincent, who had managed to defend himself long enough to mount a counterattack, she wasn’t as lucky.

Vincent closed in from the left, swinging his sword which was now wider upward with his right hand, though the cut looked almost casual, but she took it seriously due to Vincent’s battle prowess and brought her blade up to block, thereby exposing the lower half of her abdomen as she gripped her weapon with both hands.

And Vladimir exploited the opening instantly, by flashing in front of her other side and driving his left fist toward her stomach.

Bang!

Just before his fist could connect, a light-green shield bloomed around her body, coating her like a thin bubble, the glow held firm, signaling it would take more than that to break it.

The two Battle Mage fighters planted their feets and kicked at her mid-region, sending her drifting backward.

Among the five spell-rings orbiting her, one shone noticeably brighter than the rest with a green hue.

“What an annoying special ability, being able to survive about six critical hits is a cheat power, no matter how I look at it,” Vladimir grumbled after he had deciphered the power behind the spell rings orbiting around her.

He then clasped Vincent’s outstretched right hand, and Vincent used the grip to twist him midair, while he spread his legs to kick at Marek.

Marek, who had rushed over to link up with Elise, swiftly raised up his shield just in time to survive the clean hit that still made him staggered backward.

When Vladimir landed, he returned the favor back too by yanking Vincent forward instead of swinging him, he then let go at the last moment.

Boom!

The pull hurled Vincent forward harder than anyone expected.

He’d already shifted his grip, with his left hand on the hilt; as he surged ahead, while his right hand slid up to reinforce it, the blade that had expanded into its greatsword form seems to look more dangerous when covered in Vincent’s Qi.

“Ahhhh!” Vincent roared, slamming the blade across Marek’s midsection and lifting him as he bulldozed him off the arena.

The crowd watched as Marek’s body rocketed into a bank of chairs in the stands.

“And then there’s one left,” Vladimir said, raising his right arm, with the cannon-gauntlet stolen from Jared mounted on his hand like it fit just right and he pointed it at Elise, who was now alone against him and Vincent.