Magic is sooo much fun!

   My fingers danced over the cards, pulling out a staggering 120 in total—sixty in each hand. With one smooth motion, I tossed them high into the air, keeping only a single card in each hand.

   The card in my left hand burned with a fiery orange glow, while the one in my right pulsed with a deep, ominous purple. 

   I shattered the orange card first. A wave of searing energy rippled outward, igniting the airborne cards and staining them in radiant orange. 

   Then the purple card crumbled in my grip, releasing a second surge of energy that wrapped around the first, layering the cards with a mesmerizing violet sheen.

   The cards began to spin in orbit around me, faster and faster, until they whirled like a massive circular saw, their combined glow painting the forest in otherworldly light. With a deliberate sweep of my arm, I released them.

   The storm of Arcana shot outward like a thousand whirling blades. Trees splintered, golems shattered, and the very earth quaked beneath the destruction. Stone fragments were hurled skyward; trunks toppled in chain reactions like falling dominoes. Within seconds, the once-dense forest was reduced to a leveled clearing, the battlefield stripped bare.

   From outside, the rabbitwoman referee let out a half-stunned laugh, her voice amplified across the arena:
   “What an astonishing display! In just a single move, the young Naberius has erased the battlefield itself!”

   The crowd roared, cheers and gasps reverberating through the stands.

   I stood in the center of the devastation, chest heaving, surveying the carnage. “Guess I put on a good show,” I muttered under my breath, lips curling into a grin.

   But my satisfaction didn’t last. All around me, rubble began to shift. The shattered golems’ fragments quivered, then lifted into the air, drawn together by an unseen force. 

   One after another, they began reforming. But this time, their dull, rocky surfaces got covered with a cold metallic luster.

   “…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

   The golems’ movements were heavier now, their footsteps ringing with the clang of forged metal.

   I quickly hurled a red Arcana card at the nearest one. It burst into an inferno of fire, flames licking upward, devouring the metallic silhouette. 

   But as the dust settled, the golem emerged unscathed, continuing its relentless march.

   I clicked my tongue. 

   “…Yeah, they became the Mithril golems.”

   Rubbing the back of my neck, I let out a long, exasperated sigh. 

   “Guess this is going to be a bit trickier.”

   I shifted my stance, Arcana ready in my hands.

* * *

   Meanwhile...

   The audience buzzed with excitement as the gigantic screens displayed the aftermath of Sora’s devastating attack. In the stands, Sakura let out an exasperated breath. 

   “That was insane! Like seriously, what was that?!”

   “As expected of Master,” Luna replied, her voice calm yet glowing with pride. “What he just did was the fusion of two advanced techniques. He hardened and sharpened the Arcanas with reinforcement magic, then controlled their trajectory with telekinesis magic, creating this as a result.”

   “That’s incredible… but isn’t he in serious trouble now? They’re mithril golems! Is that even possible?”

   “It is not impossible. Golem magic uses the material around you as the base for the body, so it is usually combined with elemental magic that allows you to create a basic elements like rock, water, fire. That being said, there is no mithril around the arena and there is no magic for creating mithril. The most logical conclusion is that he used the steel floor from the arena and mixed it with its own mana to create man-made mithril and covered the golems with it.”

   "I had no idea that you can create mithril that way. Isn't it like, very rare material?"

   "Technically, yes and no. As far as mining the mithril ores is not so easy, creating one is much more simple, since it is a mix of steel with a lot of mana, but the amount of mana needed to do that is outrageous. Which means that Liam is probably planning to finish it right here, right now."

   Sakura’s brows knit in worry.

   Luna noticing that added. “There’s no need to worry. Master won't lose.”

   “Yeah!” Bel chimed in with a bright grin. “Big brother always finds a way. That’s just who he is.”

   Sakura showed a small smile. “You guys really do have a lot of faith in him…”

   On her floating platform, the referee’s voice rang out again:
   “Everyone, the tables have turned! That earlier display shook the arena to its core, but Liam's mithril golems are rewriting the battlefield. Can the Naberius overcome this impossible wall?”

* * *

   Meanwhile somewhere else...

   Liam sat in his concealed hideout, his eyes glowing faintly with the magic that connected him to the vision of his golems, showing his opponents’s struggle. 

   He clenched his fists tightly, knowing full well that this duel was a make-or-break moment for him. “I can’t afford to lose,” he muttered under his breath, his voice filled with determination.

   He focused intently as the enemy, dangled helplessly between two golems gripping his shoulders. His life points dangerously low at just 5%. 

   A third golem, towering and menacing, approached him with deliberate steps, ready to deliver the final blow.

   Liam gave him an order. “Finish him.”

   Through the shared vision, Liam watched as the golem pulled back its massive stone fist, the momentum gathering as it prepared to strike him down once and for all...

   But just as the fist was about to connect, it stopped. Dead still.

   “What?” Liam muttered, blinking in disbelief.

   The others stopped too, their bodies locked in unnatural stillness. Through the shared vision, he saw his opponents’s face, his expression warped into a wicked, triumphant smile.

   And then, impossibly, the golems began to break apart. The pieces swirled around his opponent, fusing, combining, reshaping.

   Before Liam’s horrified eyes, the fragments converged into a single form.

   A colossus. A towering golem, larger than any Liam had ever summoned—its body forged from the very creations he had controlled. And at its core, suspended within the chest cavity, was him.

   “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Liam roared, his voice echoing in his secluded hideout.