The spectators could not take their eyes off the battle going on in front of them right now. They were apprentice sorcerers who dreamt of advancing to higher levels in the sorcerer profession so seeing two strong intermediate sorcerers fight each other was a good opportunity for them to see what lay ahead of them. However, this battle that was supposed to be an even contest between the two turned out to be a one-sided affair so far as August injured the black and white-clothed sorcerer after exchanging only a few moves.
"I shouldn’t have doubted Sorcerer Storm! He is a genius after all. He managed to injure an intermediate sorcerer with a single attack. He is amazing!" one apprentice said amongst the crowd.
"I won’t be so hasty to conclude if I were you. I have heard that Sorcerer Gaius is an elite rank-0 sorcerer and he is the Apprentice leader of the Great Sorcerer Reynard’s Tower. I don’t think Sorcerer Storm can defeat him as well," a friend of the apprentice who spoke earlier cautioned.
Meanwhile, in one corner of the hall, Mayra had her back against the war and observed the battle with gleaming eyes. If there was anyone in the hall who had a close to accurate grasp of August’s true power then it was her. After ’sparring’ intensely with him for many weeks now, she knew how strong he was and she was excited to see him shine in the spotlight, showing her and everyone else here today his true ability. She had never doubted him and unlike others, she wasn’t worried about him losing.
Seeing his handsome appearance and his composed demeanour, she blushed. "What will you do now August? I look forward to your dominating performance again," she whispered in her heart.
Gaius, on the other hand, did not have any excitement on his face whatsoever. He stared coldly at August on the outside, but inwardly he was surprised at his strength. He noticed the accuracy of August’s attack sorceries and the power of his other sorceries as well. However, that was all. In his eyes, August was just an interesting ’thing’ he encountered over here and nothing more.
He turned his eyes away from August before glaring at the black and white-clothed sorcerer, his subordinate, who was half-kneeling on the ground holding the wound on his arm with his other hand wincing in pain.
"Get up, Arjen! Is that all you have got? Let me remind you even if you know this already- I don’t need useless people by my side!"
When the black and white-clothed sorcerer called Arjen heard the cold words of his leader, his body shuddered in fright. He knew that Gaius was ruthless to those he deemed a threat to him and people who held no value to him. He did not want to be thrown away by Gaius for being deemed as useless. He enjoyed many perks- women, status and cultivation resources just being his subordinate and was not prepared to give it up!
August who did not attack and simply stared at what was going on when heard what Gaius said simply laughed lightly. "You say that you do not want useless people by your side, however, it was you that chose him in the first place. Doesn’t that.....tell you something?"
Gaius’ eyes flashed with murderous intent but he did not take action just yet. "You better watch your next words carefully, newbie," he said icily.
"You did not caution your subordinates to watch the way they spoke to me, don’t expect anything different from me. However, let me help you out a bit. That subordinate of yours is indeed useless."
August did not give Gaius any face at all. He knew that in this world, it was one’s power that mattered. There weren’t many laws that protected the weak. Laws formulated here were done in the interest of higher-ranked sorcerers.
Therefore August could not afford to show any weakness here or be ’bullied’. Unless he showed how powerful he was, nobody here would give a damn about what he said or what Gaius did to him. No one would stand up for him- everyone would prioritize his or her own safety. That was the selfish nature of sorcerers! He was weak right now but he was determined to change the status quo.
"Don’t you dare mock Master Gaius! You will pay for your words!" Arjen shouted angrily. He gritted his teeth and stood up weakly. He stretched forward his hand towards August and tightened his grip as the earth elemental particles in the air around August started transforming into metal elemental particles.
Metal Sorcery: Metal Restraints!
In the blink of an eye, the metal elemental particles quickly gathered together to form the shape of a hard, solid metallic hoop and rapidly enclosed August who was in the middle. The attack was almost impossible to dodge and was about to squeeze him from his shoulders down to his waist.
Gaius finally smiled as he knew the power of this attack. He had experienced this attack before and it did not leave him time to react. He could only destroy it due to his very tough body. Hence he was confident that the newbie did not stand a chance.
However, his mind froze when he saw what happened next. The metallic hoop that almost enclosed August ended up binding nothing as August as if knowing what was about to happen flew up in the air and evaded the encirclement.
Wind Sorcery: Float!
Arjen did not waste time thinking about how his attack was evaded and continued his offence. He controlled his hoop upwards and targeted August again. The ring expanded and tried to capture him but this time August shot out two wind blades towards it. The wind blades hit the metallic hoop at certain spots on its surface and to everyone’s surprise, the previously intact metal hoop suddenly split into two halves.
August landed neatly on the ground and gave a light smile towards Arjen, who had a pale face and looked like he was about to collapse due to his excessive blood loss. "Your hoop was not evenly formed and had many weak spots. All I had to do was exploit them." Just after he said this, Arjen fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
Gaius now looked visibly annoyed and he shouted to the sexy-looking female sorcerer. "Ivrea, your turn!"
Ivrea nodded, "Leave this to me, darling. I always told you that he was not up to par."
"Turns out you were not wrong. Now teach this guy a lesson for me," Gaius responded.
"Alright"
Ivrea stepped forward and walked towards August while taking out a whip that was on her waist like a belt. The whip was black in colour and looked threatening. It was a piece of magic equipment just like August’s magic staff.
Lightning began coursing through the entire whip and it created scorch marks just by touching the ground. All the apprentices that saw the whip took in deep breaths. They knew instinctively that if this whip were to make contact with them, they could suffer serious injuries.
"I am not like that guy lying over there, don’t say I didn’t warn you," Ivrea chuckled.
Lightning Sorcery: Lightning Whipping Slash!
The lightning whip extended to almost ten meters and lashed out at August who also responded with his wind blades. Ivrea snickered when she saw this and she expertly controlled her whip to deal with the wind blades flying towards her.
The clash between the two sorceries created a booming sound and the wind blades that came into contact with the whip managed to tilt the trajectory of the whip slightly and it flew to the side, preventing the whip from landing on August’s body.
However, the whip seemed to have locked onto him as it corrected its course and slashed at August’s waist. August performed his float sorcery and dodged the whip and he drew some distance from it. This bought him some time as he lifted his staff and pointed it at Ivrea, ignoring the whip that was still coming after him from below.
Wind Sorcery: Wind Spear Rain Shower!
About ten wind spears formed immediately in the skies and shot towards Ivrea in the blink of an eye which did not leave her with any choice but to call back her whip to defend herself.
Lightning Sorcery: Lightning Coil!
Like a snake that had coiled itself, the whip retracted back to her position and formed a coiled shape around her and blocked the wind spears. However, the wind spear rain attack was no weak sorcery! The wind spears battered Ivrea’s defences and she felt as if she was simply holding an umbrella in heavy rain and she was forced to remain on the defensive and withstand the onslaught.
She had to be grateful for having a piece of magic equipment like the whip, as she could only remain safe due to her defensive sorcery being used in conjunction with her whip.
After the clash, she observed that her precious whip now had nicks on its surface. Although it was still battle usefulness she knew that she couldn’t allow him to use that sorcery too many times or else her whip would be destroyed.
"Your attack was a pain, but I won’t let you use it again." She stared at August as she channelled even more magical power through the whip.