'I've got more bad news.' Solus said. 'The fucker wore a cloaking device that kept me from noticing earlier that he has a blood core. Kwart is a thrall.'

Unbeknownst to her, Solus was dead wrong. Deirus had predicted how things would have gone and what kind of demonstration the King would have opted for down to the smallest detail.

He had not only forced all the Archmages of his group to practice first magic like madmen and to pass unto each other the tips they had collected their whole lives, but he had also hired a Vampire from his contacts in the Courts to give them just enough juice for the task at hand.

Vampires didn't take thralls easily since it drained from them the power that they bestowed upon their servants, but the price that Deirus paid would allow the undead to keep enjoying his luxurious life while also staying out of the war.

'Fuck me sideways.' Lith replied as whispers filled the room.

No one wondered why Manohar had given up defending his honor. They were too busy making bets and discussing the most likely win rates.

"I give Verhen 3-1 and Kwart 6-5." Marquis Xenth said.

"Bullshit! I give Verhen 1-2 and Kwart 5-1." Orion said.

"I bet 10,000 gold coins on Verhen." Manohar said to Xenth, obtaining a receipt. "If I win, I'll prepare a baby-sized lab for Junior in their crib."

"Let me go. I'm going to kill this fucker!" Marth roared while Vastor needed all of his Abomination strength to keep the Headmaster from putting his threats into practice.

"10,000 on Verhen for me as well." Ryssa said, making her husband freeze in a stupor.

"He is my student! How can you do that?"

"I like human clothes and you keep saying that I need to get my own money instead of spending yours." The Dryad pouted.

"I wanted you to get an honest job in the academy, not to become a gambler!"

Meron inhaled sharply, not knowing whether to be more enraged by the bets or by the fact that they all knew what was at stake and yet no one but Marth seemed to care.

"Dick move, dear." Jirni glared at Orion who was swarmed by those who had inside knowledge of Kwart's skills and by Deirus's allies who wanted to ruin the Ernas by sucking their finances dry.

"Not at all. We've both seen the little monster fight. This way, I can make up for the money that your crazy experiments are draining and suck Deirus's cohorts dry at the same time." He shrugged.

"Do you think that Lith can win?" Phloria asked while shaking Tista as if she was a tree whose ripe fruits would fall.

Phloria looked lovely in her golden evening dress that emphasized her olive skin and the blue shades of her long hair.

"I think that I will puke if you don't stop immediately." Tista replied. "As for your question, I don't know. Lith has gone through a lot, but chore magic can still cut his skin. On top of that, no one becomes an Archmage for nothing."

Kwart was almost double Lith's age and everyone assumed that it also gave him a similar head start in magical practice. Aside from Solus, no one knew that Lith had started his career as a magician from the crib.

"Before Lightkeep, I would have said no." Quylla replied. "I've seen Manohar cast so quickly that you can barely see his fingers. Most Archmages don't even need to chant the hardest runes if they want to cast silently.

"Yet now that he's got the you-know-what, it should be enough to make up for the gap in experience."

Alas, Quylla had no idea of the Vampire blood coursing through Kwart's veins that boosted his abilities.

"Don't worry." Friya said, trying to keep people from looking down her V-neckline. "You're forgetting that beside you-know-what, Lith also has you-know-who by his side."

Too bad that the mystical seal had turned Solus into just another spectator, leaving Lith alone.

Lith was the only one to know all the truth about his own odds and started to cast his spells the moment Meron announced the fight. Too soon would drain his focus, too late and it would have been meaningless.

Kwart did the same because no matter the title bestowed upon them, even an Archmage could keep only so many spells at the ready, and reaching his limit too soon would have wasted tons of precious mana.

'I'm almost sorry for you, Verhen. Almost.' Kwart thought. 'You have an amazing talent and a seemingly limitless potential, yet you chose to squander it all.

'You could have easily climbed the ranks of the Association. You could have helped me to save it from the pinch the Association has been in ever since Balkor started to attack the Kingdom.

'You and I could have made Mogar a better place for all of our fellow mages, no matter if of noble or commoner origin. Yet you chose to become the army's lapdog instead, helping our rivals just to feed your own petty ambitions.

'And what did you get for your trouble? A rank you don't care about and a power you never used except that to get discounts when you shopped with your girlfriend!

'Defeating isn't enough, I need to destroy you. I'm not going to waste time with pointless banter or playing around. I'm going to win so quickly that everyone will think that you are an incompetent mage who betrayed his own race to get the help of the beasts.

'You and I know that it's not true, but with all the rumors that Deirus's has been spreading around, people will believe it. After all, people don't give a damn about the truth, the only thing they care about is having fun.

'And there's nothing funnier than seeing a so-called hero fall from grace. Reading the records of what happened to Lady Nerea made my stomach churn, but it also inspired me.

'I'll make sure you end up like your master so that once the Balkor copycat kills your whole family, the rest of the young mages will learn the consequences of not being on the good side of the Association.

'In this world, truth and talent are pointless in the face of power and influence.' Kwart thought while gritting his teeth and remembering Lith's past feats that had made the army stronger and weakened the Association.

"Begin!" Meron's voice allowed both mages to unleash their respective first volley of first magic spells.

Much to everyone's surprise, Lith included, the result of the clash was a draw.

Lith had a quicker cast thanks to his deep violet core that allowed him to weave spells with his body, but Kwart with his bright violet was capable of keeping a greater number of spells at the ready.

Kwart snarled, activating air fusion to move beyond the limits of a human. The Vampire blood coursing through his veins gave him an unnatural affinity to air and darkness magic and Kwart had trained specifically for that event.

The combined effect of his bright violet core, the Vampire's blood, and his relentless practice allowed him to cast a second barrage of over 45 first magic spells while the first volleys were still clashing against each other.