The Golem Mage

“War God!!!”

“Silent Night!!!”

The cheers for the two academies rose to a deafening level, as fans from the other kingdoms naturally sided with the School of Silent Night.

This time, it wasn’t just because the opponent of the Silent night is an academy from the Northern Kingdom, but it was because almost everyone believed the School of Silent Night were the clear favorites.

In comparison, despite the War God Mage Academy repeatedly surprising the crowd by winning in the previous rounds, few could only imagine a scenario where they would defeat the School of Silent Night.

Most people had already accepted that the War God team would lose the battle, only a handful thought otherwise about it.

The first were members of the Battle Mage Academy, all of whom were present to watch and were planning on showing their support for the War God Mage Academy.

The second were representatives of the Bloodline Academy, though only Dragov Dragonmir and Damien Sorin were in attendance, as the rest of their team was preparing for their own match which would begin in the next round.

_ _

From the tunnels on both sides, the participants of the two teams emerged, and the cheers immediately grew louder, yet while the Northern Kingdom’s supporters were present, their voices were drowned out by the overwhelming roar backing the School of Silent Night.

There simply weren’t enough Northern fans in the stands truly cheering for the War God Mage Academy, those who did cheer along with the fanatic fans sounded restrained, their enthusiasm muted, as if they were doing so only because the War God team represented the Northern Kingdom.

If not for a few fanatic supporters shouting at the top of their lungs, the name of War God might not have been heard at all.

But for people like Dragov and Vincent, who had come specifically to watch Alec, it only took one glance at the team to realize something was wrong, and that was because they were swift to notice that Alec was nowhere to be seen among the War God Mage Academy participants.

The judge assigned to oversee the match flew toward the center of the arena after receiving the list of participants from the deans of both academies.

_ _

“Settle down. It is now time to announce the mages who will be gracing the stage on behalf of their academies,” the judge began, as the entire crowd fell silent, with all eyes fixed on him as they waited for the announcement.

“On the right side, we have the School of Silent Night, led by their captain—Ryunosuke Takeda!”

The moment the captain’s name was called, the arena erupted again, the crowd on the right side went wild, completely forgetting the judge’s request to settle down.

Takeda appeared in his familiar ninja attire, his face covered, a long sword strapped to his back within its scabbard, yet many in the audience felt that at a glance, this was a clone body.

After witnessing two of Takeda’s main bodies during Silent Night’s previous match, the spectators were already aware that this figure was merely a clone proxy bearing Takeda’s likeness.

Rather than being annoyed by the sudden uproar, the judge seemed to understand their excitement.

“Following him are Shin Jae-Hyun, the vice captain; Liang Xuefeng; Ayame Ren; and lastly, Kenta Mori of the School of Silent Night.”

As the introductions ended, the Silent Night mages ascended the short steps and entered the vast arena that would soon become their battlefield.

The arena floor had changed once more—now a dull black, as though reinforced to withstand the violent power surges of high-level mages, ensuring it wouldn’t be easily destroyed which wouldn’t require time for repairs before the next match.

“On the left side, representing the War God Mage Academy, we have Beatrice Marionette, the vice captain; Lucas Blade; Pale Zero; Endrick Gordons; and Katie Colossus.”

As the names of the War God Mage Academy team were announced, the already sparse cheers from the stands dwindled even further.

For the fanatic fans, Alec was their God of War, and yet his name hadn’t even been called, no matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t spot him among the mages waiting below the stairs as the five selected contestants began walking up.

At that moment, Beatrice stepped onto the stage, with Lucas helping her carry the coffin on his shoulder, she wasn’t allowed to summon until she was fully on the arena floor—a minor restriction placed on mages with summons.

The remaining three followed behind them, taking their positions, the Dean had truly wanted to field Brandon Gordons too in the place of Katie, but he knew better.

That like the rest of the Gordons clan mages, Brandon shouldn’t be rushed to fight, especially not with everything happening to his clan, there was just too much at risk, and if his focus should waver during the battle, it might even affect the rest.

So all he could do was place his hopes on Lucas and Beatrice, praying that they could somehow make something work.

After all, in Alec’s note, he had specifically requested that Lucas and Beatrice be placed in charge, and tucked within that note was a line addressed to Beatrice—asking her, if possible, to use whatever she had sealed inside the coffin.

That single line had shocked Beatrice, even the Dean and Grand Dean had no idea what was inside that coffin. And yet, today, it seemed they might finally find out.

The School of Silent Night quickly arranged themselves into formation.

With Shin Jae-Hyun and Kenta taking the front line, with Liang Xuefeng and Ayame Ren forming the second, that left Takeda all the way at the back, with his arms crossed, as though he wasn’t even part of the setup.

Opposite them, the War God Mage Academy looked nothing like a coordinated team.

There was no formation at all.

Beatrice and Lucas stood at the front, with Lucas positioned slightly ahead as he set the coffin down before her.

Behind them, Pale Zero, Katie Colossus, and Endrick Gordons were spread out with noticeable gaps between them.

No synergy.

No cohesion.

Just five mages standing apart, as if each were waiting to pick their own one-on-one fight.