Don't Let Him Cast!!
"Forgot you even had Summoning Element..."
"Yes! Yes!!"
Smiles broke across the faces of Liu Xin and Ah Li Jie.
That single summon had shifted the momentum entirely in their favor. At minimum, one of the opponents would have to break off and deal with the Swift Star Wolf, while their side could draw their Star Charts without restraint.
Basic-level spell exchanges were always just a means to an end — a way to buy time for higher magic. With Swift Star Wolf on the field, their Star Charts began lighting up with increasing frequency.
"Tidal Surge!!"
Ah Li Jie was broad and built like a wall; when he bellowed, the whole arena seemed to tremble.
Both arms swept upward from below, and a rushing river materialized out of thin air behind him. Churning water gathered in from both sides, converging before him into a surging flood tide.
Spray flew everywhere as wave crashed into wave. The Tidal Surge tore across the length of the arena like a great water serpent, hammering into the position where Xu Mingcong's group stood.
"Stone Wall!!"
The muscular Stone Element student reacted quickly, planting himself at the front of the group. A defensive barrier erupted before them — like a small mountain ridge — and stopped the water serpent dead.
The Tidal Surge shattered against the stone, sending walls of water surging over ten meters into the air like waves breaking against a cliff face.
"Hmph. You think this trick works against me?" The Stone Element student held his position behind the Stone Wall, withdrawing the hands he'd been thrusting forward.
"Watch out for the wolf!" The red-lipped student cried out at once.
The muscular student spun around — and his face went slack. Through the curtain of flying spray, the long-furred star-patterned wolf was hurtling straight at him. Its white fangs blazed with bestial power, swelling to ten times their natural size...
Those fangs bit down, cracking away a chunk of the massive barrier. The man's color drained from his face. In his panic, he activated his Armor Enchanted Gear to shield himself.
The moment Armor Enchanted Gear appeared, all his cards were on the table.
Swift Star Wolf, cunning as any veteran fighter, took one look at the Armor Enchanted Gear and broke off immediately rather than press its advantage.
Several Ice Locks came flying after it in quick succession — nearly binding it in place — but the wolf's retreat was swift and decisive. Even a moment's hesitation would have brought the rest of the opposing Mages down on it.
"That beast!!" The red-lipped female Mage snarled, face twisted with fury.
Swift Star Wolf was too fast for Ice Lock to catch. The red-lipped girl had poured all that effort into drawing a Star Chart, only to waste it pushing the wolf back — and, insult to injury, the muscle man had burned his Armor Enchanted Gear in the process...
But that was the least of their problems. All the chaos Swift Star Wolf had stirred up — their opponents had almost certainly finished drawing several Star Charts by now!
"What the hell — didn't I tell you to keep eyes on Mo Fan?!" Xu Mingcong roared.
They'd all had their attention locked on the Swift Star Wolf. By the time they snapped back, Mo Fan had done the unthinkable — he had nearly completed his Lightning Element Star Chart.
***Bzzt — bzzt — bzzt — bzzt—***
Purple lightning arcs crackled and danced around his body, wreathing him like something born from the heart of a storm.
He was grinning. A Mage who commanded lightning carried a certain thunderous authority; once that Star Chart was complete, the outcome of any same-level fight was already half-decided.
"Qianjun — Thunderbolt..."
"Like hell you will!" Xu Mingcong screamed, index finger twitching — and his final Giant Shadow Nail: Pear Thorn launched.
"I've got this — Light Radiance!" At that exact moment, Ai Tutu's voice cut through the frenzy.
A milky-white sphere of radiance burst open directly above Mo Fan's head. Ten thousand blinding rays poured down in an instant, flooding every corner of the area around him with overwhelming brilliance — bright enough that nothing within it could be made out at all.
The light was absolute. Giant Shadow Nail: Pear Thorn, which depended on shadow to sustain itself, was immediately exposed and stripped bare. The nail was not particularly fast; by the time it reached Mo Fan, the searing radiance had dissolved it entirely.
Down in the stands, Gu Jian — eyes scorched nearly blind — almost lurched to his feet.
*What in the world?* When Ai Tutu had been on his team, Light Radiance had gone off indiscriminately, hitting friend and foe alike. Now here she was alongside Mo Fan, and suddenly she was sharp enough to focus it in a precise zone above his head — carving out a sphere of brilliance that dissolved that final shadow nail before it could land.
The execution of Light Radiance had been *perfect*, as if she'd somehow foreseen that the opponent would fire that last shadow nail at exactly this moment.
"We're finished!!"
"This is bad!!"
"Enchanted Gear — use your Enchanted Gear!!"
The instant Giant Shadow Nail: Pear Thorn dissolved, all four of Xu Mingcong's teammates turned pale.
The strongest intermediate-level destructive spell was not something to take lightly.
"Go on. Enjoy the wrath of thunder."
Mo Fan stood perfectly still, his mind reaching skyward to command the furious Lightning Cloud that had gathered above the arena.
His gaze sharpened. One hand pointed at the sky — and a bolt erupted from clear air, crashing down between Xu Mingcong's group with savage force. The detonating electromagnetic field shattered the arena's reinforced granite floor, sending dust and fragments flying in every direction.
"Again!"
Mo Fan shifted his Mental Intent. Another bolt — a raging serpent of violet-black lightning — drove straight down into the stage, striking Xu Mingcong dead on the crown of his head.
Xu Mingcong tried to use his footwork to escape, but two more bolts crashed down in rapid succession, one after another, leaving him absolutely no room to move.
His Armor Enchanted Gear finally materialized — but even as it absorbed the thunderous impact, the residual spatial tremors carried by Qianjun rattled through his bones.
Qianjun's spatial tremor effect had been present but manageable during the first- and second-level Thunderbolts. With the third — Thunderbolt: Frenzied Dance — it became something altogether monstrous.
Each strike sent the surrounding space shuddering. When the next bolt fell, the tremors stacked. Strike after relentless strike hammered down, and even if your Enchanted Gear swallowed the worst of each direct impact, the violent spatial vibration beneath — an all-pervasive force that felt as though it might shake matter itself to pieces — was terrifying beyond measure. After that sustained barrage, all four of Xu Mingcong's group could barely stay on their feet.
The slightly heavyset woman had fared better than the rest; she had her own defensive capabilities, and her position had been furthest back, sparing her the worst of the strikes.
The others had burned through Shield Enchanted Gear and Armor Enchanted Gear alike.
Armor Enchanted Gear tended to be expensive; not everyone's was of high quality. Against a lightning storm like this, they'd had no choice but to layer it alongside Shield Enchanted Gear...
When it was over, everyone save the heavyset female support Mage had exhausted their defensive gear.
"Rose Flame — Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces!!"
And then that terrifying voice rang out again.
When Mo Fan was the one casting, it didn't matter how many opponents stood before him or how much defensive gear they carried — everyone scrambled.
After the fury of thunder came the hellfire. The sheer overwhelming force of each pillar of flame erupting and surging skyward was something that every Mage trapped within would carry as a scar for the rest of their lives.