“This guy is insane! What the hell!?” Was all that William could think inside his mind as he watched Sylvester’s ever absurd attitude.

All bound up in chains and yet somehow, still in control. Just when he thought he had figured him out, Sylvester then reveals a twist in this ever intensifying contest.

Letisia wasn’t faring any better, as Sylvester’s train of thought continues to be an enigma to her. He never outright attacked them, nor did he ever try to defend himself, always choosing to run away and hide if he could.

It was starting to feel like their efforts were futile. Even with their opponent all bound up in chains, it still seemed like they were dancing on his palm.

After sinking into the floor, Sylvester appeared from one of the many doors floating high above them. But as soon as he popped out of one of the doors, Sylvester fell down and started dangling and bouncing, as if he was held up high by a rope.

It was now or never, the last chance for victory. William and Letisia no longer cared about any other seemingly pointless details, all they wanted to do now is to win.

“Don’t fall for his provocations!’ William shouted as he moved in, leaping into the air to try and close the gap using mana fortification and a simple floating spell.

“Yes I know, you don’t have to tell me what to do!” Letisia replied, still with her usual arrogance sounding through.

“Phew, she’s still holding on given that she has the energy to mouth off.” William thought as both of them prepared to cast a spell to try and take away Sylvester’s hat.

As Sylvester hung in the air upside down, a gleeful grin was forming on his face.

“Oh dear, this is pretty tight!” Sylvester complained in a loud voice as he twisted his arm over and over, trying to free it from bounds.

“Damn this guy, does he not care about what’s happening at all?” Letisia once again shouted in response.

“I’m starting to get tired of repeating myself. Sorry this whole chain business is a little bit tougher than I thought and it's a little annoying.” Sylvester replied.

“Your big talk isn’t gonna help you now! You have nowhere to run!” William replied.

“Why would I need to run? The two of you are going to stop in your tracks anyway.” Sylvester then smiled and said, “Activate.”

“Wha-”

Before William and Letisia could react they were suddenly pulled away by a force tugging at their legs. All of a sudden the two of them were bound by a ridiculous amount of strings similar to Nylon. Like insects trapped in a spider’s web, the pair found themselves wriggling in place in their confusion.

“What is this?” William yelled in frustration. Time and time and again, they have failed and now it was starting to take a toll on him.

“HOW!?” Letisia however was teetering closer to insanity as the seconds went by.

“Did you like my little trick?” Sylvester exclaimed in a calm and boisterous voice, still maintaining a showman’s persona.

“I did tell you I prepared for your arrival didn’t I? Well I guess you two would want an explanation. What you are seeing now is a spell I learned by using the rewards I got from the S-rank trials; Dark strings.” He explained as he continued with his bounded struggle.

“It’s a spell that can create invisible strings that will remain both intangible and almost undetectable until I activate it. In this hidden state I can choose to make it behave like a spider’s web or not. Once activated however, it becomes a pretty strong string that looks similar to Nylon and elastic like rubber. It also has another function that I don’t think is applicable at the moment.” He then paused and smiled as a realization came over William and Letisia.

“It's the sort of spell that you can explain to your opponent and it wouldn't even matter, pretty awesome stuff right? And it’s a one chant spell too, no wonder it was expensive. However, a string is just a string. If you want to capture something big, you have to use a lot of it!” Sylvester slyly continued.

“This is absurd! Are you saying you filled this entire area with this spell?” Letisia lashed out but in her mind she figured out how he was able to do this and why, despite having relatively low mana, he was chosen for the S-rank trials.

Sylvester was using Capacity refresh.

“Of course! Is there a rule that says I am not allowed to do such a thing? You were the one who walked into it.” Sylvester replied.

“If you think this will be enough to stop us you’re dead wrong!” William used a basic fire spell to free him from the nylon strings.

“Yeah sadly, these things can easily be destroyed but worry not!” He replied. “Because I made sure to place a whole lot more! Activate!”

Once Sylvester said those words, William was then pulled a few meters away, this time via his arm and once again wrapped in strings.

"If only you two could see what I see. Both you are like little worms wrapped up in a cocoon!" Sylvester declared.

“I won’t lose, NOT LIKE THIS!” Letisia screamed as she broke out of her bounds, her eyes dead set towards Sylvester’s hat.

Sylvester however, did not try to bind her again but instead cut himself loose causing him to come hurtling downwards. Using gravity shift to change his direction midair he then came crashing through a nearby trapdoor attached to an invisible platform.

His figure then re-appeared meters away from Letisia and William’s position, once again dangling in mid air.

At around this time William had freed himself from the strings and immediately joined Letisia in her assault, only for Sylvester to evede them time and time again using the same tricks.

Sylvester appeared out of another door and fell towards the ground. Letisia and William then saw Sylvester’s arm contort in an unnatural way, as if his shoulder was dislocated. This twisting gave him enough leverage to pull one hand out of the bounds and use the key to free himself.

As the ethereal chains and key start to disappear, Sylvester smiled upon the pursuing pair and gave them a salute using his unharmed arm.

Gracefully landing on the floor, Sylvester then immediately popped his arm back into its socket and gave it a little stretch as he narrowly evaded another attack from William.

He then paused for a short while to merely bow in front of an unseen audience, his back turned towards his opponents who felt the pressure continue to mount on their shoulders.

Sylvester then continued dodging ever more desperate attacks and binding spells from his opponents until he brought them in front of the clock once again.

“As the clock wittles down we enter the final moments, the most crucial seconds in our little game! Will the heroes win? Or will the trickster get the last laugh?” Sylvester exclaimed as William and Letisia struggled to keep their cool.

“11:28:01. We got less than two minutes left!” William shouted in desperation. His blood almost saturated with adrenaline as he started letting go of all caution.

Sylvester then jumped off the clock post and landed behind William and Letisia forcing them to turn their backs from the post and face his way.

“Earth pulse!” William then punched the earth beneath him causing a small shockwave that cracked the floor underneath him. This shockwave then traveled through the ground and went towards Sylvester’s position.

Sylvester easily avoided this attack by shifting his gravity towards an invisible platform hovering above him. Letisia tried to follow up this chance with another attack, but as she was nearing the activation of her spell she was immediately interrupted.

“Activate!” Sylvester yelled and soon Letisia found herself pulled towards and a random direction and tied up in strings once again.

“Damn you!” Letisia then let out a loud scream as she burst through the strings via a violent explosion. Her face filled with anger and frustration born from the realization that Sylvester was actually just toying with them.

He barely brought out his fangs to strike at them, and even the one moment that they saw a small light of hope was immediately crushed as it ended up being a means to his end.

No matter what spell she used, no matter what angle she attacked from, the trickster who calls himself a magician always had an out, a way to avoid her clutches.

Just as she was about to give in to despair, a voice called out to her from above.

“Letisia! Lend me your strength!” The voice declared as she looked up towards the origin. She then found William floating in mid air, his hand raised far above him. At first she didn’t understand what he was planning but his next few words and actions made her realize his plan.

“Take my hand!” He yelled as he stretched out his hand.

“It can’t be, is he planning to use spell resonance!? I don’t care anymore, this is our last chance!” Letisia then steeled herself and fully committed herself to cooperating with her former opponent. Raising herself to his level she then took his hand with no hesitation.

This act would have been something unbearable and humiliating for her, but now, those thoughts were drowned far into the background.

“Spell resonance huh? I didn’t think you had it in you to try this.” Letisia then said as the two of them combined their mana. “Do try and keep up, you third rate mage.” Letisia said in her usual boastful tone.

“Even to the very end, you are a snobby woman, but sure fine. This time I’ll prove to you my strength!” William responded in turn.

The two then closed their eyes as they began to chant their spells, the same spells they almost used on each other the moment they met.

“O fire and brimstone, heed my call-!”

“Biting frost, eternal ice-!”

A surge of heat and cold can be felt throughout the room, and yet Sylvester simply stood there without a care. He smiled and looked back at the clock behind him.

”Hmm, 11:28:50 huh? Almost time.” He then jumped towards the clock post and stood on top of it. Taking of his hat and placing it near his chest.

William and Letisia paid no heed to Sylvester’s motives, because they know that with their next attack he will have nowhere to run.

Spell resonance is similar to elemental mixing, in the sense that greatly enhances the effects. But this method is far more effective but at the same time a lot more difficult to pull off, as a lot of factors can affect two people’s synchronization.

But that didn’t stop William and Letisia, and now it seemed like the two of them were at the cusp of something great. They're intertwined hands outstretched towards a shared goal.

“With righteous flame, purge my enemies!”

“Cover the land under oppressive white!”

The pair continued as their spells began to take shape, mixing and melding into a dance of fire and ice.

But down below, their opponent simply smiled and raised his left hand into the air.

“Now ladies and gentlemen. For my final trick!” He then formed a snapping gesture with his hand.

“I will make time itself disappear!”

As he snapped his finger, the Headmaster's voice rang throughout all the quadrants, it was especially loud inside quadrant three since it was a closed up space.

“Congratulations! Congratulations! This Festival’s winner is Sylvester Clearsight!”

These words alone shook William and Letisia’s concentration and their spells fizzled out into non existence. The two even lost control of their flight magic and plummeted into the ground, thankfully they regained control upon landing.

An indescribable expression was plastered on their faces as Sylvester smiled down at them. They then looked towards the numbers on the clock and a horrifying realization came to light.

“11:38:05?” William said with a trembling voice.

“I did tell you right?” Sylvester then paused and snapped his finger once again causing the number “8” on the clock to fade away like smoke and reveal the heart breaking truth beneath.

11:30:10

“I told you both didn't I? Do not trust your eyes."