The Showcase Match.

The battle opened with Viktor's attack. He swung his golden staff as he released the spell.

"Ab baculō fulmar ferrit!"

The lightning released and quickly flew in Fabian's direction. The boy responded with a spell of his own.

"Mure dereme ante me voco."

A wall of earth came forth in order to block the lightning.

"And the fight begins with a quick thunderbolt from Viktor! Fabian uses a wall of earth to block it!"

The caster's voice rang over the coliseum energetically. A part of his job was explaining the battle in a way that could be easily understood by the audience.

Seeing that his first blow was blocked, Viktor decided to continue piling up pressure.

"Augitar Fortior!"

After activating enhancement on himself, he quickly began to close the distance with Fabian. But instead of rushing straight at him, he ran around the boy to prevent the wall from getting in the way of his projectile spells. Once he made it far enough to shoot past the wall, he leaped to the side as he prepared another incantation.

"Ab baculō fulmar ferrit!"

"Mure dereme ante me voco."

But Ayumu replied with the exact same defensive spell he had used previously. Once the new wall sprang from the ground, the previous one disappeared. This wall was much smaller than its predecessor. Being about half of his height, it couldn't even completely cover Ayumu. In order to successfully defend himself the boy had to duck as the lightning struck the wall.

Seeing another one of his spells blocked, Viktor narrowed his eyes and continued his assault.

"Ab baculō fulmar ferrit. Elle fulmare—"

In response to his cast Ayumu also started his.

"Mure dereme..."

"—cun baculō modeo."

The projectile released from Viktor's hand. 

He was confident that Ayumu had already gone wrong in his defense. He responded to Viktor's controlled projectile with a static wall. While Ayumu could finish his incantation in time before the spell struck him down, there was another important issue.

You fool. I can simply curve the lightning around! Viktor thought, mentally celebrating his victory.

In the time Viktor's projectile made it to the boy, Ayumu had finished his cast.

"...cun manīs modeo."

As he did, he thrust his left hand into the wall in front of him. Despite Viktor's expectations, Ayumu's spell wasn't aimed at creating another wall. Instead—he chose to control the one that was already there.

Viktor bent his lightning to dodge the obstacle in its way and attack Fabian from above. At the last second, Fabian managed to direct his hand upwards. The earth wall followed the movement in his hand, covering the boy from the lightning.

The sudden obstacle surprised Viktor, and his spell clashed into it, almost disappearing in the process. At the last second he was able to pull his staff back, preventing the projectile from being destroyed. Still, the partial clash significantly reduced the spell's size. It would take some time for Viktor to recover its original potency.

"Viktor released a controlled projectile, and Fabian replied with... a controlled wall?!" the commentator exclaimed, "how fascinating!"

While the casting of the match continued riling up the crowd, Ayumu simply stood there with a make-do shield of earth in his left hand. At the sight of that, Viktor widened his eyes in surprise.

While there were spells that could showcase similar to or much more powerful effect than Ayumu's, none of them had the manipulation of the wall itself as the end goal. In the first place, why would you use something as clunky as a wall instead of casting a proper shield to defend yourself? But for some inexplicable reason, Ayumu did precisely that.

Why wall specifically? Is he just not good with shields? Viktor thought as he tried to figure out the reason behind Ayumu's choice.

It was very important for the user to be able to visualize a concept when casting magic, so people who had never used shields in battle could very well struggle with summoning them. That was the first explanation that came to Viktor's mind.

And beyond that, how the hell does he control the spell?

Controlled projectiles were an explored area of magic that had long research and generations of accumulated knowledge behind it. Over the years, as people watched true experts control their ranged attacks and manipulate them as if they were an extension of their limbs, those spells became a part of the norm.

The techniques that were used for controlling the projectiles had a long history. A well-defined system assigned specific hand motions to commands that changed the spell's trajectory and velocity. It was by memorizing and learning that system over the years and then visualizing it whenever one cast a controlled spell, that users could achieve such great control over their projectiles. But what Ayumu had shown was something completely different.

It was obvious that manipulating an earth wall couldn't rely on the same system. In the first place, it was a static object that was far removed from zipping across the battlefield. And even if you created a new system, mastering and honing it would require years of practice and experimenting. But Ayumu didn't have that much time. Since their last duel, he only had a single week to learn the technique. So he either held back the previous time, which was unlikely, or...

Just as that doubt creeped in the warrior's mind, he saw something that explained everything to him. Fabian's hand was directly touching the wall in question. His fingers were slightly bend as if he was holding onto the spell. Obviously, he didn't have enough strength to dig his fingers into wall of solid earth so this was likely a part of his spell. A predetermined control gesture.

So that's what it is! By requiring touch to manipulate the wall, he could greatly simplify the level of finesse needed to utilize it. At this point, it's basically just attached to his hand.

The tradeoff was that Fabian lacked the ability to manipulate the wall from distance, but considering it was mainly there for defensive purposes, it wasn't too bad of a downside.

Interesting idea, Mr. Genius! But it's just too slapdash to use in an actual fight!

The spell that Ayumu conjured impressed Viktor with its creativity, but there were too many problems with it. Controlling walls was an unusual idea that no one had ever thought of before. Or at the very least, Viktor had never heard about such thing happening. But there was no way that the concept itself had never flashed through a skillful mage's mind. To Viktor, it seemed very likely that it was thought up and then simply rejected. At the end of the day, the spell wasn't very practical.

The wall was bulky and hefty. Unlike a shield that could be slim and wieldy, yet still dense and durable, a wall was just not something you could move around very quickly. That was precisely why Ayumu had shrunk it so much. But it wasn't enough. It was still much too slow to keep up with an intense offense.

The only thing that Viktor needed to do was to outpace Ayumu's defense.

Viktor smiled. While he formulated his strategy, enough time had passed for him to recharge his controlled projectile. In that short period of time, Ayumu simply watched him with a wall of earth attached to his hand.

You fool, you should have attacked while you still had the chance.

Viktor then began attacking Ayumu ferociously. The controlled lightning flew at the boy time after time. In response, Ayumu swung his hand to deflect the projectile with his wall. But every time he did, Viktor would redirect the spell before it could collide. The lightning would either completely avoid Ayumu's spell or barely scrape it by.

"Viktor's assault is relentless!" the caster exclaimed, "Fabian is put on the back foot—he's completely stuck in defense!"

Viktor completely ignored the commentary as he observed his opponent.

First, I will exhaust him completely. He might have an enhancement spell activated, but his physical stamina still has limits. There's no way he can keep up with the lightning for long!

While the warrior continued his assault and the lightning zipped around Ayumu, the commentator continued to rile up the crowd.

"Since the beginning of the fight Fabian hadn't attacked even once! What happened to the confrontation of roaring flashes?! Is he, perhaps, too afraid to contest Viktor directly?!"

As he spoke, the audience began to harbor doubts towards Ayumu. What was originally an exciting clash between wielders of lightning had turned into a one-sided beating where one side was permanently stuck on the defensive.

"Could it be that the rumors were true?! The roaring flash that the supposed genius has proudly presented was a mere fake that pales in comparison with the original?!"

The more commentator spoke, the more Ayumu's image crumbled in the eyes of the public.

Viktor didn't know if the caster was someone hired or bribed by the Dariuses, or if he was just trying to get into their good graces by saying those things. It was even possible that he just honestly believed those rumors. But frankly, any of those outcomes annoyed Viktor.

He didn't need to play mind games outside of the battlefield to defeat Ayumu. And he most certainly didn't need others' input to prove that Ayumu wasn't a deserving wielder of roaring flash. Thunder was something that Viktor and many of the Dariuses had trained since early childhood to master. The arrogant upstart brat couldn't match their resolve. Otherwise, Viktor didn't deserve to be called the heir of the legendary household.

Look at you, Mr. Genius, struggling desperately to defend yourself. I know what your goal is. I know exactly what you're planning, but I'm not going to give it to you. I will crush you long before your infantile plan will come to fruition.

Viktor firmly gripped the staff in his left hand, putting a temporary stop to the lightning it controlled. The sudden stop in projectile's movement stunned Ayumu, who was carefully keeping track of the spell.

Viktor then began rapidly moving the tip of his staff, drawing circles in the air. His lightning began moving accordingly, spinning above Ayumu's head. He was trying to throw the boy off. 

Ayumu tried to keep up with the zipping lightning. His head traveled back and forth as he desperately tried to keep his gaze on the spell.

Viktor smiled as he watched Ayumu struggle. Ayumu's every single motion was reflected in the warrior's eyes. He was waiting for the perfect chance...

Then, Ayumu stumbled ever so slightly. 

Now! Viktor exclaimed internally. 

He swung his staff downward with his left hand, and the bolt of lightning stopped its rotation and descended on Fabian. Luckily, the boy was able to react and recover in time. He shifted his left hand upwards to block the upcoming spell with the wall.

But it was then that Viktor's right hand came in motion. It pulled the base of the staff to the side, redirecting its tip towards the other direction. 

The bolt swiveled and curved its trajectory. The spell flew unnaturally and headed towards Ayumu's right side. Seeing that, the boy desperately swung his hand with all the weight of the earth wall attached to it. Unable to control the momentum, his posture broke. He was only able to stop the his uncontrollable movement when his hand was close to the ground.

But Viktor didn't stop there. He gripped the base of his staff with his right hand and quickly pushed it forward, making it go farther from him, past Ayumu. Then, he pulled it backwards forcing the spell to once again get pulled towards the boy's defenseless flank.

Ayumu's eyes widened in shock as he saw the lightning swivel out of the collision with his shield. His posture was broken, the wall in his hand was flung to the ground, and he wasn't even standing upright as the lightning headed directly at him.

The sound of an impact resounded in the arena.