Magic Island new wetlands

"Gahahaha! More! More!" Nomtrix roared in the middle of throwing school of Piranha Poppers at Nathan. So far, most of their engagement was a back and forth volley of attacks as they tore through the water created by Nomtrix after she swiftly and brutally dealt with Coalass.

"Tch!" The young mage was trying to catch his breath on a boulder above the water as not to get caught in whatever spell this scaly woman could splash his way. "Mana Lustre!" So he stood what little footing he had and fired beams of mana at the oncoming school of living bombs. "Ngh!" And as with every other spell he used on Nomtrix's it was chewed apart by those watery fangs and soon erupted in a powerful blast of water. "More like piranha bom-"

"Flood..." Breaking both Nathan's thoughts and the aftermath of Piranha Poppers was Nomtrix rushing at the young mage with a deadly palm strike. "...Force!" And following right behind her was a raging twister of water looking to smash whatever was in its way in a vortex of unending torrents.

"Ah!" But with his Lightning Cloth active, Nathan jumped high and over the swirling stream of deadly waters. "Bashing Chain!" Then with his chain enforced by the lightning surging around him, he threw out his own swirling blow.

"GAH!" Which was slapped away by Nomtrix's thick and sturdy tail. "Yes! Don't think! Just do! Feel what is right! And act on it!" She cheered as sparks were jumping off her after she stopped Nathan's Bashing Chain. "GAHAHAHA!" Yet none of it did a thing to stop her from laughing to the sky with enough force that the water around her began to ripple.

While that was going on, Nathan brought his chain back in and shot it at a boulder a few meters away. "Dammit! On top of feeding her spells with my own. She can handle the element that is best suited to deal with her like it was the opposite!" Then raked his mind for any way to defeat this Lizardfolk mage. "It's much to earlier to use 'that' spell and this environment would do me no good." His eyes went to water that Nomtrix had brought with her.

"Where are you looking!?" Taking Nathan's small moment of distraction as her chance, Nomtrix leaped into the air and came crashing down on Nathan with a two-handed slammed.

"Tch!" Nathan shoot off the boulder as Nomtrix's raw strength obliterated it. "If I had to guess she is a little below you in power and speed." In the middle of a backflip, Nathan's gaze went to the stands where he found the V.I.P box his supporters were in.

"I asked already! But where are you looking!?" Again Nomtrix found Nathan's eyes elsewhere and again she shot after him once he landed on large dune now a small hill after the water claimed the area. "I'll crush you this time!"

"That means, can I fight her like this at the very least!" Instead of jumping away or firing off a spell, Nathan held his ground in a boxing stance.

"What?!" Nomtrix nearly stopped in her attack at the sightly of that. Why was a mage who was previously only using ranged spells and always making some distance between them at any chance, suddenly staying in place as she came right at him? "NO! Don't think! Just do!" But she pushed all of that out and pulled a claw back as she landed on the dune to stand tall over Nathan. "Flood Force!" A roaring stream of water followed the path of her claw with every last bit of it aimed at Nathan's face.

Blake's group in the V.I.P Box

"What is that useless mage thinking?!" Blake screamed with the image of Nathan's body getting replaced by a vast whirlpool coming to the mirror before him.

"Nathan/Sir Nathan!" Following right after Blake was the cries of Natula and Risabeel both bringing a hand to their faces and either looked away in hopes that once the water cleaned Nathan would be standing with somewhat of barrier or other spell keeping him from harm.

"..." But a blast of water strong enough to part wetland battlefield left most of those inside V.I.P box with a face full of worry and fear, even the usual uncaring (unless it's Blake) Mari had a bit of grimace and tried to find something else to look at.

"Uh, oh! Uh oh! UH OH!" But worst of them all was the little witch Morgen currently having a nervous break down after watching one of if not the most important of her 'interesting people' get taken out with one move no less. "Uhhmmm! Uhhmmm! Ughhh!" Sounds like that and many others got passed her quivering lips as she shook back and forth with the brim of her hat pulled over her...well everything since it was so large and wide.

"Heh! He's fine, you crybabies!" However, the only one unaffected by the last big event in Nathan's fight was Gwyn, who simply had her head in one of her hands after resting an arm on her seat and thought back to the time she was training Nathan's body up for this day.

2 days ago outside the Guild House

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! Now, this what I like to see and feel!" Nathan was confidently standing while clad in his Lightning Cloth and wasn't experiencing that much discomfort from shooting electricity throughout his body in a successful attempt at mimicking a bolt of lightning.

"Hah! Told ya more training never hurts!" Gwyn laughed at the walking light show that was Nathan. "Alright! Now come at me! ~Mr. Mage~" She lightly teased with her hands wrapped in some cloth. The two were about to start step 6 of Gwyn's Knightly Training Regime: No rounds boxing until Gwyn has her fill of flying fists.

Nodding to the ready knight, Nathan brought his fists up. "Have at you! Brutish knight!" In a flash of yellow lightning, the mage made his move on the knight going straight at her one moment. "Hah!" Then quickly blinked to her left with a fist pulled back. "ARUGH!" But it never met its mark as a fist was being driven through his gut.

"Not fast enough!" Gwyn roared while sending Nathan flying into the air with a right uppercut. "Haha! You think just cause you're faster than me that'll get you an easy hit in?!"

"Ahhh! Arugh!" Nathan's flight came to a stop after he oh so ungracefully smacked into a tree and fell right on top of something very muscular and very furry. "Ugh!" It turned out to be Gram having one of his naps in the shade. "Thank you and sorry, Gram?" The mage and thanked/apologized to the Greater Wolf before swiftly getting off him.

"No problem." Gram lightly grumbled as he licked some of his fur back in order after it spiked up from Nathan's Lightning Cloth.

"Ugh! Now could you tell me how you are always able to know where I am going and strike me down?" Nathan asked, standing with a hand to his chin. This was more or less the usual outcome of when he tried fighting Gwyn with Lightning Cloth.

"Heh! Did you forget who my captain is?" Gwyn asked in return and brought a look of a realization to Nathan's face. "Yeah, I train with him like I'm doing with you and he's a lot faster. Hell, even Blake could get a hit or two on you at that speed."

"Oh? What makes you think that smith could do it?" Nathan challenged before darting from side to side, trying to mess with Gwyn's reflexes. "Hmm!" But the moment he got close enough to strike from the knight's back a backhand was already getting sent to his face. "AH!" He immediately stopped short of getting smacked in the face.

"Got you!" And was then instantly taken into a one-arm headlock by Gwyn. "Haha! Why'd you stop like that!? You could've jumped out and went back to zapping around like a firefly!"

"Ugh!" Sadly Nathan couldn't answer as his face was stuffed between the hard muscles of Gwyn's arm and her beefy chest. "How is she able to handle being this close to me in Lightning Cloth?" The mage asked himself since at this very moment, he was putting more mana into his spell, meaning anything he was touching should be getting a taste of a few volts of electricity straight to its core.

"Hahaha! Come on! You got to try a little harder! Magic can't always save your ass!" Gywn smirked at all the grabbing and patting Nathan was doing to get out of her headlock. "A 1 and a 2!" Then brought her free arm up to crack it down on Nathan's head as she let him go.

"Ahhragh!" And sent him rolling backward while clutching his head with holy bells going off inside it. "Ugh! If a simple person like is able to stop my attacks with this spell, then I am starting to believe that it is useless!" He nagged, sitting on the ground cross-legged with his eyes closed in thought on how better to use Lightning Cloth. "Hmm..." In the middle of doing that he kept having this feeling of something near his head. "Would you stop that, Gwyn."

"Eh?" The something turned out to be Gwyn's hands which were being waved at some of the off sparks of lightning coming from Nathan. "How'd you tell?" She asked as her hair started to spike when some sparks got to her hands.

"What do mean you're right in front of m-what?" Nathan snapped his eyes open and found Gwyn a full body's length away. "Hmm? I was able to tell what you were doing from my lightning? Interesting, very interesting indeed." Another thoughtful look came to the mage's face after that.

"Ugh, can't you do that with your magic feeler thing?" While the knight's face was one of simple confusion.

"Mana Sense..." Nathan corrected Gwyn with the knight rolling her eyes. "...and yes, you are correct; Mana Sense does allow me to see anything that gives off mana even if it is out of my sight...but this is...different?" He pondered further and moved some of his lightning around at some random things with his eyes closed. "A rock...that training dummy...a brutish knight standing behind me about to strike..." He opened his eyes and looked up at Gwyn.

"Eh?" Said knight was planning on whacking him over the head with a training sword. "Stupid magic feeler thing!" She grumbled as the training sword was used to tap on Nathan's shoulder lightly.

"Mana Sense and it does not work this way..." Nathan wiggled a finger at her and went on to explain. "...it merely allows me to tell where things are. I do not know what they are or what they are doing in great detail...but this discovery could be put to good use, hmm, hmm, hmm! I scare myself at how brilliant I am!" He combed an electrified hand through his hair and spiking it up even more.

And staring all the while was Gwyn with a little smirk coming to her face as Nathan was having his moment of genius. "I have no idea what he's talking about, but he looks happy I guess?"

Back to the present The group's V.I.P Box

"The hell is that!?" While Blake and everyone else but Gwyn was fearing for the worst, a bolt of lightning shot straight up to the air. "The mage's alive!" Staring back at the mirror as the waters cleared and showed the unbelievable sight of Nomtrix's head thrown back by what looked like an electric uppercut from Nathan.

"Hah! See? I told you!" Gwyn cheered with a hand-thrown to the mirror and an all too proud smile on her face. "Come on! Mr. Mage send that crock back to her eggshell!"

Magic Island Nathan and Nomtrix's fight

"Impressive!" Nomtrix snapped her head back at the smirking face of Nathan. "From one mage to another! How'd you do it!?" She growled as she stood over him with her claws outstretched to keep the young mage from backing away.

"Why don't you use your own mind, friend?" Nathan asked back while tapping his head with a finger which sent a spark of lightning on each tap. "But I must say your movements are even more simple than the knight who trained me! Hmm, hmm, hmm!" He chuckled as he brought his fists up again.

"Is that so? Well, I was trained by a beast of beasts! And you will feel my wrath!" Nomtrix held her arms to the sky as 2 pillars of water shot up from behind her. "Grace me with the great fluidity of your body! The weight of your being! And the endless currents of your will! Hydros Armor: Shark head!" She brought her arms down and as she did the pillars of water shot to her arms and began wrapping around them, twisting and turning until her claws !were replaced with a pair of large shark heads. "Gahaha! Let's see you do that again!" From there she threw down the gaping maw of a shark.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! Simple-minded fool!" Nathan smirked as he let off sparking bolts from his Lightning Cloth at Nomtrix. "Hah!" And although it had no effect in stopping her attack, he was able to swiftly move to her side as if he knew where she was going to strike. "Take this!" Then landed a series of quick jabs to Nomtrix's face before she could make a move.

"I felt NOTHING!" The blue scaled lizard woman yelled before snapping 3 fangs at the young mage; one was her own jaws while the others were the pair on her claws. "Grrrr!" She growled when the only thing she chewed on was the air while Nathan was slightly floating above her about to bring down a fist.

Magnus' tower

"Oh? So, he came up with his own version of Lightning Sense, did he?" Magnus mused, watching Nathan's fight through a mirror just as Nathan brought a bolt of lightning down on Nomtrix, who laughed at the attack like anything else Nathan hit her with. "But he's lacking some good might in his attacks."

"Care to explain, brother?" A mirror appeared on Magnus' side that showed the grim face of Ruleek. "Hmm, wait don't tell me...?" Which turned into one of deep thought. "...He's using the electric current from his spell to pinpoint the movements of mana throughout his opponent's body giving him a better understanding of their movements...in other words, Lightning Sense but used through another spell."

"Hmph, I don't see the reason in you coming here to discuss magical theory, but then again your choice was the first to fall, hah," Mangus smirked once Ruleek rolled his eyes. "Oh, come now, you were the one that didn't want to pick Nathan but still went with someone from our school anyway."

"Instead of mocking me about my choice, should you not be looking at your own?" Ruleek shot back as another mirror came up to Magnus's face. "Oh my..." And all that was on it was someone trapped in a block of black iron. "...and here we thought getting first picks would allow us a chance at beating the old man." The mirror with Ruleek's face turned to Rhwystrau mischievously rubbing his cloaked arms over eachother.

"Indeed, but then again using us as filters to weed out the precious gem might have been his plan..." Magnus looked away from his failed choice to see Nathan throwing a barrage of useless strikes at Nomtrix. "...but, even still that boy needs to some more polishing if I were to give it my honest opinion."

"And what better polishing is there than pitted against the strongest of magic users in the kingdom? Besides our group, of course." Ruleek countered Magnus' words until another mirror came up to show nothing but a black storm of purple lightning. "However, I believe something far worse is coming to him...Do you think that fool is going to stop any of this."

"Unlikely, look at him..." Magnus nodded his head over to Teihoon whose eyes were only on Nathan and Nomtrix, swinging his claws, roaring out loud and erupting in flames anytime Nomtrix did something that seemed over the top. "...By the Goddess on high, Lady Morgen has the strangest taste in people...and that includes ourselves, brother...?" He turned to the mirror Ruleek was speaking through, but all it showed was Magnus' own face. "Why must he be so shy?"

Magic Island Nathan vs. Nomtrix

"Come! Is that all you can do!?" Nomtrix took another set of swift strikes from Nathan that still didn't so much as scratch her. "Grrr!" But thanks to that damn lightning spell she herself couldn't get a hit on Nathan even with her fastest of attacks. "In that case! Hydros Armor! Squid Tentacle!" With a flick of her tail at some water, Nomtrix added another dangerous limb to her arsenal.

"A tentacle?" Nathan leaped back from a pair chomping strikes. "Ah!" Then came under attack by the giant tentacle controlled by Nomtrix's trail. "Well, no matter I will just deal with this like her other att-hmm!" His thoughts and gaze were pulled to the wiggling tentacle when some of his lightning was sucked into it, and the magical limb got bigger.

"Gah!" Which Nomtrix then used to extend her range. "Tch!" But still missed Nathan as he used a Grasping Chain to pull himself towards a stone pillar sticking out above the water. "Guess what?! Now I can do that!" She chased after the mage by sinking her tentacle into the water, and as if it was stabbed into the ground, she used it to launch herself forward.

"Ah!" Forcing Nathan to stop his flight short as he made his chain let go of the pillar and fall to the water while Nomtrix missed the chance to tear him in half with her shark heads. "Mana Barrier!" But before hitting the water, a ball of mana formed around him and kept him afloat.

"You're mine!" Nomtrix's face broke into a toothy grin as she drove into the water and disappeared.

"Dammit! I need to get out of this befor-" The moment Nathan made a move to find dry land a pair of giant shark jaws packed with dagger-like fangs made of water bit into his barrier and was pulling him down into the depths. "You!" When he looked down, he saw Nomtrix grinning at him as she was chewing on his barrier just as quickly as her water shark was.

"Nowhere to run now!" Nomtrix growled, breaking through Nathan's barrier to let water pour in.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! As if I was planning on that!" A bit of sweat rolled down Nathan's face as he shot back at the snapping jaws trying to take a chuck out of his legs. "Skin Of Steel!" Before it got that far, he turned himself into a moving steel statue. "Ngh!" But still felt sharp fangs sinking into his flesh.

"Gahaha! Didn't you get it?! If it's magic, I can chew through it!" Nomtrix thought as she continued to drag Nathan deeper and deeper into the water while chipping away at his barrier. "GRRRAAAAH!" Until the stinging pain of something stabbing through her right shoulder forced her's and her water shark's jaws open.

"You forced my hand, friend!" Nathan had sent a Snarling Chain through Nomtrix's body and made it coil around her tightly with a few swipes of a finger.

"You think this can hold me!" Nomtrix thrashed about, clawing and snapping at the chain. "See!" And was already mostly free if it wasn't for the chain going through her shoulder.

"Indeed! Your strength is mighty, but what of your held breaths?" Nathan wrapped more of his chain around Nomtrix then held a set of fingers above his head. "Release!" After snapping them with great fanfare, he kicked off Nomtrix's head and landed back on the dune they were fist fighting on a few moments ago.

"Get back her-UGH!" Nomtrix tried swimming after Nathan, but her arms, legs, and even tail suddenly felt 10 times as heavy. "What!" As she sunk, she found all of her limbs wrapped in Nathan's chain with metal balls running along its length that pulled her down into the depths. "Gah! I just need to cast a sp-!" Before that thought was done running through her mind, a beam of mana slammed into her and pushed the Lizardfolk down into the water. "Grugh!" Followed by another then another until the only thing that her eyes saw were rays of mana.

"Hmm?" Back above, Nathan was roaming through the pages of his Iron's Call tome while orbs of mana were shooting down at Nomtrix even when he lost sight of her. "Now then if I remember most aquatic Lizardfolk can maintain a held breath for an hour when not put under stress..." He closed the tome to count out the number of Mana Lustres he had out. "Is this enough to force her into panicked breathing? Well as that knight would say; 'hit 'em harder!' Hmm, hmm, hmm!" Taking some words from Gwyn, he doubled the orbs and fired an even fiercer barrage of attacks on Nomtrix. "Quick Bolt!" Then shot a blast of lightning at his shadow.

"ARRAGHH!" And screaming out of it was Coalass having worked his way into Nathan's shadow after Nomtrix blasted him away and was waiting for the time to strike. "Gauh! Well, well, and here I thought I was the only one who didn't trust his own shadow." He groaned as he crawled away from the lightning coming off, Nathan. "If you think that lizard or I am going to give up you're wrong."

"I feel the same." Nathan agreed with the shadow mage as his Advanced Mana Control spellbook opened to show a full map of the magic island they were battling on. "It appears the other fights have been decided?" He took a closer look at it and found 3 sources of mana coming towards him. "Wait? The numbers are wrong! I felt at least 4 other sources get put down, yet that would mean there were 10 participants...that's 2 too many..." His gaze went to the members of the Sigil Sect trying to figure out which one was making this happen, but none of them showed any sign of an answer. "Tch! No. I will merely take them on without fear!" He surged with mana as he readied himself of the coming attackers.

"This kid is too much!" Coalass was crouched in the sand while looking at Nathan who was continuing to shoot down at Nomtrix while keeping her chained down, kept his Lightning Cloth going, and had the time to work on a map of the area while doing all of that fighting. "If anything this guy has the most right to join up with them." He was beginning to sink into his shadow to get away and recover. "Eh!" But the sight of Nathan before him got slightly tilted to aside for some reason. "Shi-!" It appears a fist clad in armor made of purple lightning had found its way to the side of his face and sent him flying off. "Argh! Gauh! Ugh! AHHH!" to skip across the water until he was thrown out of the island's area.

"Ah! He's coming this wa-wha?" Screamed someone in the stands as Coalass was coming right at them but before his crash landing, a portal appeared to warp him away.

"They're already here!" Nathan could feel the mana roaring behind him as the form of a large bulky man became known to him through his improvised Lightning Sense yet the more important fact was the purple lightning was shooting at the corners of his eyes meaning the newcomer was another lightning user. "Hmm!? She's coming up!?" The next thing he knew was his chain being pushed back up from the water.

"Gah!" Being launched out of the water by a tower of black iron was a knocked out Nomtrix. "..." Who flew through the air until another portal appeared to take her out of the battlefield.

"Good day to you, Great Mage, Nathan..." The voice of a woman whispered into Nathan's ear through some magical means as no one close to him and the lightning user had not moved yet, even worse the mana coming from the voice was different from the mana from the iron pillar. "...I believe it is time to end this little game and see if you are worthy." She stated as an almost overwhelming sense of danger washed over Nathan from all sides.

Chapter End