"Okay! Betting is over! We'll be starting this fight in... three! ... two! ... one! ... go!"

'Go James!' was what people expected the Headmaster to say immediately. However, he did not.

He waited five seconds, trying to act an adult before his excitement got the best of him. If it just cost a little bit of money to be involved, he saw no reason to excited. Even if his secretary, Watsan, was raising an eyebrow at him.

There was more paperwork to be signed off on. It was tedious, but he'd do it later.

After the fights.

All of them.

"Go! Go, go, go, go, James!"

He drowned out the other students who cheered as the two circled around one another. He could only contain himself for so long as he heard the others. One had to remain true to themselves.

Lisanna's sabre was covered in azure flames and James' kite shield had a layer of white stone. Even his blade was reinforced with the stone as he saw her shift her stance.

"Fire Lance!"

A block of scarlet flames hit his shield and he was forced back a step.

Lisanna struck from behind the veil she created. A cut appeared on his upper arm, back, and she nimbly danced to his other side as he instinctively tried to follow the path of her cuts, blinded as he was by the surge of light.

He pushed the block of flames to the side and it bit into the transparent barrier.

And Lisanna's blade was reaching for his neck.

"Stone Pillar!"

White stone and sediment rose up directly from underneath him and the blade was wedged inside.

She retracted it and jumped back as James was nowhere to be seen.

"Erupt!"

The stone encasing him exploded outwards, catching Lisanna off-guard.

She blocked the attacks to her face, but her torn uniform could do nothing to block the bruises that came from the smooth stones hitting her body.

"... Woah, a full-enclosure! Ah, James! You're almost as good as I was at your age!" The Headmaster cheered.

It was difficult to control and he likely had a set space in the middle more than being completely enveloped in the stone.

However, it was a very effective defensive tactic.

"Fire Bullet."

Lisanna said, testing a form spherical round.

It shifted from red, to white, to blue, before she settled on a deep, pulsating azure mass.

She called four more.

It was perfectly circular.

Lisanna grinned.

James stepped forward and settled into a defensive position as the five orbs floated around Lisanna.

She had gotten the idea from Jennifer and wanted to try it out.

"Uh, be careful," she warned as she put the first orb in the palm of her hand.

"Understood. Stone Shield. I'm ready."

White stones expanded the kite shield to cover down to his waist and nearly the other shoulder. The shield was bordering on being called something else at that point, but it maintained its general form. He even added a screen that lifted past his head with a section in the middle to see out of.

These battles were more for exploring their new capabilities than anything else.

Even if it was much more exhausting than the methods they used before. It would get easier with time.

Lisanna hurled the blue orb, adding to orb as much mana as it could conceivably hold internally, and it landed two feet in front of James.

"Erupt!"

James crouched down and trenched the shield's bottom spike into the ground as he closed the eye hole.

Blue-white flames exploded five-meters around ground-zero - and the air screamed as the heat burst up and out of the barrier as fast as it possibly could.

The transparent barrier filtered out the blinding light before it could burn anyone's retinas; however, the flare was visible for a mile around.

When it finally disappeared, the ground was burnt to ash as azure flames clung to the unharmed Lisanna, being siphoned into her blade and the other orbs, and the only segments of ground not charred were behind the two.

Ash covered the white stone, James' body staggered in the heat, but he turned the shield to the side to speak. "I'm glad. I was worried about not being able to deal with that fire, but..."

He swung his broadsword unto the shield and the entirety of the ash collapsed.

He nodded respectfully. "You have more. I'm ready."

Having fought a half-dozen fire mages at this point, he was able to better adjust to it than most. Lisanna grew somewhat nervous about using it full-force, but James had no real damage. He was sweating profusely, but even she thought it was toasty in the arena now.

Fires spontaneously burst out in the patches of unmolested grass behind them.

"Well, here goes!"

She launched two of them. One in front, one behind.

"Stone Wall" James shouted as the flash appeared.

Since she did not charge them as much, she was more comfortable as the heat passed over her.

Except as she recollected the flames onto her blade, she saw a figure dart out.

She hastily rose her blade to intercept.

James just left a circular wall behind him after it burst open and charged into the lingering flames. Before his sight even returned.

Lisanna adjusted quicker, but as she hacked at his back, James shouted, "Stone Shield!"

The azure blade smashed into a wall. On his back.

The smell of burnt flesh persisted in the air, but Lisanna was forced back as the ashen shield was swung into her free arm.

"Flare!"

Light appeared from an ever-expanding fireball and she managed to retreat as she hacked again. His vision was doubly robbed from him.

"Stone Shield!"

His hip was covered in armour.

It was locked and he could hardly move, but James managed to react to the heat.

Even so, the sheer heat from the sword scorched his training uniform.

She cut again.

And was blocked as James slowly immobilized himself.

She grabbed the two lingering orbs and stepped in front of him as he could no longer turn.

He was white-faced and sweat, but so was she.

"... Ready?"

"I am."

"..."

Lisanna sighed.

Two-thirds of his joints were covered in the inflexible - but impenetrable - armour.

He could only move his knees and press himself down as he stabbed the shield into the earth.

"Stone Pillar..."

A white stone pillar surrounded him, but it was intermixed with more sediment, ash, and simple stone than the round, white stones.

"... Here goes..."

Lisanna lobbed one directly at the stone pillar, tossed the second immediately below it, and had the two quake in mid-air.

"Erupt..."

The impact took her last wave of her energy, but she drove the sword into the ashen soil to lean on to keep herself upright as the force and flames washed over her.

The stone pillar was completely blackened as the force sent the ash and burnt sediment into the air, rapidly retreating to the sky, as everyone felt the barrier squeal and were hit with a heat-wave.

Once the sediment holding it up collapsed slowly, a figure collapsed along with the stone.

"... Wh, what is he made of?!" Ayla commented. "Not even a scratch from that!? Ah, the winner is Lisanna!"

The only wounds he got were from Lisanna's blade's heat earlier - something one could not defend again. Aside from the original cut on his arm and back, he had nothing. He just over-heated and passed out inside the oven he made for himself.

The healers' treatment involved just poured icy water over him.

They were sweating so profusely that they had to take turns just cooling themselves down as their palms recoiled just from touching James' skin.

But it was just ice. That's it. The burns were minor and took only a minute to deal with, after all. His internal organs seemed to not exposed long-enough for it become an issue. They were just fixating on lowering his internal (and consequently external) body temperature as Lisanna shuffled off the stage in disbelief.

One of the healers passed out from the heat. Thankfully, there was still another.

"... W-what... was that...?" She asked Mathias who was sitting on the ground lazily.

"...?"

He could not convey his feelings well without writing it out so he just shrugged. If he spoke, he'd endanger his further sanity.

She collapsed beside him and he shifted some of the water on his arm and neck to cool her down as he looked back out to the arena.

"Ugh, no fair!" Ayla grumbled loudly when she noticed the preferential treatment. "Anyways, I'll be stepping down for this one - so Erik, don't screw it up!"

"Yes, yes," Erik said, taking the stage. He deftly stepped up on the white stone barrier and paced back and forth. "Okay! With Lisanna and James' match decided, we'll be introducing our next contestants! But first, collect your bets!"

The Headmaster was okay with losing a paltry fifty gold to see the advancement of the youth - and their interesting abilities manifesting earlier than most. However, he was getting irritated that not one earth mage won yet in the line-up.

"... Well, from what I recall, it will be that Jill and Wendy... Jill is going against the undefeated champion, but, but! I can't back down now! Eldrich! Take my money!"

He put another fifty gold on the earth mage before there were any introductions.

"Okay! Seems like the bets were collected! Ayla and Jill, please enter the stage!"

Ayla was already at the edge and entered excitedly. "Yeah!"

Jill snickered and whispered to Ayla, "no hard feelings, yeah?"

"Nope, none! You're one of my best friends!"

"Okay! Touching moment aside, in the first corner, we have Ayla! The undefeated - even if she fights dirty! - champion of the arena!"

"Hey! I heard that!"

"She has not lost once, and has awakened to a glittery, shiny wind thing! Both contestants have fought against the wretched sand snake and survived! She has a weakness for all things sand and mud - so Jill be sure to use that accordingly!" Erik laughed at Ayla's outburst but continued on. "Jill style is still forming, but she is on the way to becoming one of the top girls alongside Synthy, Lisanna, and Fara - and, of course, Ayla when she doesn't play dirty! Contestants, are you ready?!"

"Yeah!" Jill said immediately.

"Hey, do a better intro for me! But yes!" Ayla complained as she wiped the sweat from her brows. "Ahh! So hot! So hot! Lisanna, just because you're hot doesn't mean you put us in that, too!"

Jill, Stacy, and a few other girls laughed. The boys held wry smiles, not commenting so as to not endanger their potential odds with another in the class.

"Without further ado, we'll be starting this match in... three... two... one... go!"

Ayla shot off like a rocket towards Jill.

"Earth Wall!"

"Air Step!"

Ayla cleared the wall, flipped and pointed the rapier down.

"Earth Bullet!"

"Gust!"

The spell was blown away before they could form and Ayla landed with legs planted on either side of Jill - and the point of the rapier to her neck.

It was already over.

"No! Jill! Jiiiiiiill!"

The Headmaster mourned the passing of another non-earth mage into the victory seat.

However, Ayla grinned broadly and helped Jill up. Jill laughed, extended a hand, but Ayla swiftly hugged the girl.

"Okay! The winner is Ayla - she gets to keep her crown for today! Please collect your bets!"

Erik saw many were dumbfounded at the swift victory; however, being in the same citadel as Ayla, he saw that she was rapidly improving. Of course, she concentrated on speed rather than strength, but it worked very well against opponents who did not have the trained reactions to be able to respond.

Those that were confused were more the newcomers that opted to drop-by. Since gold still flowed from their pockets, and the result uncontested, it only benefited the class as a whole.

"Okay! Now we're onto the second last fight of the night!" Erik scanned the crowd before stuttering. He ran and grabbed Ayla as the audience was left curious.

Church was in the audience as he was trying to spy on the class - and keep an eye on Wendi.

"A-ahem, we'll be having a short break now! Ju-just give us a moment!" Erik shouted as Ayla ran towards Wendi.