A fight between master magi is like watching flowing water or taking in a sculpture. It is an art to watch the experts dance with mana.

A fight between students is little more than children hitting each other with wooden sticks believing they wield swords. In war position and strategy are important, ensuring supplies and the like.

There is a similar thing for Magi in conserving spell but no, this fight was like stags battling their antlers bashing.

It didn’t matter.

We have won the first bout. A few spells down but they will recover during the break.

We walk out of the arena and back to the preparation room with big smiles across our faces.

"Well done, everyone." Says Gareth as he pulls us into a group hug.

I embrace him back with a half-smile, Rina happily jumps in and with a gentle tug by Gareth, he pulls Borei in. A small smile breaks out on Borei's face.

"One down." Says Rina.

"Two to go." Answer Borei back.

A knock on the door sounds and a group of employees of the academy come into the room. They distribute food and drink with polite smiles before leaving.

We tuck into the small meal and take our drinks except for Borei who begs off stating "I’m not hungry. Maybe later."

About an hour passes, a long time to wait. We try to strategise and entertain ourselves. The attempt ends after a few exchanges. We fall into a tense silence and wait for the next bout.

Professor Trew arrives to call us into the next match.

"Two more wins and we stay another year before the next assessment. Right?" I say.

"Yes." Gareth replies.

"Of course." Says Rina.

Borei smiles a little, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards and she nods.

I make my way, with the group, to the arena floor. My steps are stiff, but I am ready.

The Hammermaw team have two in grey and another, their leader, in golden robes. He stands at the centre of the three-member group.

Their leader is a human man with green eyes and unblemished skin with a healthy shine and a light tan. Short dark hair and a clean-shaven jawline. He is tall with a muscular frame in addition he wears many gold rings inlaid with emeralds that compliment his eyes.

Jerrick and his two followers The Twins Tim and Tam. Identical from birth with blue eyes and brown hair. Tim has tufts of facial hair still growing in while Tam has a little stubble.

"Welcome back teams Goblin Tooth and Hammermaw! Students and teachers as you know Goblin Tooth won with the Earth Move finisher. Meanwhile, Hammermaw lost in one spell attack being flung from the arena." Professor Tenace informs us and the new audience members.

I look toward my team. "One spell?" I mouth in a whisper.

"The stakes are high if Hammermaw loses this bout and they are out. However, Hammermaw defeated Goblin Tooth in an early practice match this year. Goblin Tooth will history repeat itself? Let us find out! Ten seconds of preparation." Booms the voice of the Professor.

Both teams start forming barriers to encase their skin, a few of the quicker casters begin a second spell half forming them before…

"Begin!"

Flashes of blue flow out from Rina and Borei’s hands while at the same time Tim and Tam do the same.

They weave their hands so they are near impossible to hit.

If you can’t hit their hands you can’t disrupt their spell formations.

Their bodies shift subtly so a few mana bolts miss or deflect off their barriers without damaging the barriers.

Ten seconds into the battle; a blazing light comes from Jerrick’s body.

My eyes shut tight. Blinded, I cannot see because of the contrasting white and red light filling my vision and burning pain as tears start to pour from my eyes.

I focus on the spell, the images from books I have read dozens of times and the hand movements I have done until it was rote. Memory harkens to the practice I have done thrice a week for two years.

I centre on the goal in mind, to summon a stone in the shape of a humanoid.

A torrent of spells hit me.

Like a flurry of blows, each spell hits like a punch, and I stumble backwards. The shock blackens my vision and I gasp for air.

After about another ten seconds my vision starts to return.

However, my barrier is starting to break from the focused onslaught by the Hammermaw team.

A bolt of mana hits me and I struggle with the flashing pain but I manage to keep my focus. I sink into the pain letting it become me for a terrible few moments and the intensity increases then wanes.

I just need ten more seconds, and I can summon the golem.

Jerrick conjures a mana whip with a flick of the wrist.

In a swift motion, he wraps it around Rina’s barrier. The whip curls around her arm and he evokes another incantation.

Rina flies towards him.

Meanwhile, Tam spells a gust of wind. While it is not powerful to knock a person firmly standing on the ground it is enough to send a flying person out of the arena as Jerrick lets the tension out of the mana whip.

Rina lands painfully out of bounds.

Gareth meanwhile puts another barrier around Borei after she loses her in a one on one duel with Tim.

Gareth shouts, "Borei, I have your back. Crush em."

As he speaks Jerricks flicks his wrist to entangle Borei.

She spells a small bowlful of water in an orb capturing the tip of the whip.

Boeri grins, as the hunter does when they have trapped their prey.

She freezes the whip inside a block of ice.

The whip still in motion drops under the extra weight.

The ice shatters, and Borei, as quick as a fox, steps on the whip. She sends a mana bolt flying into it. The fragile mana construct shatters.

However, she takes four mana bolts from Tim and Tam as she is doing this, her barrier soaking up the damage.

Jerrick with a scowl of frustration steps back behind the cover of the twins and begins another spell formation.

I begin to let out my spell when flying through by the narrowest of margins a mana blot nicks the edge of the barrier around my knuckle the clash of spells causing a minor interference in the spells formation.

The interference forces me to partially reverse the spell construction and begin again the last few steps. Consequently, delaying the casting by roughly five seconds.

It is all Jerrick needs to cast his next spell.

It is truly beautiful.

A dragon the size of a cat, but this is no summon it is a fire shaped bolt of terrible destruction in the form of a dragon.

It begins to weave past Gareth locked onto a different target. Fortunately, Borei’s mana bolt flies from her hand over and above Gareth’s head and smacks into it.

The dragon arrow busts apart. The spell of intricate complexity breaks under the ease of cast and good aim of Borei.

Before we can take stock, a fresh attack comes as a spinning mana arrow launches from Tam’s hands.

Gareth leaps in the way of the spell. The magic pierces through his barrier and the arrow punctures through his shoulder.

Gareth twists and aims at me, his burrows furrowing in concentration and he casts a barrier.

The mana arrow hits me but is weaker from going through Gareth.

My barrier holds as does my concentration on the spell formation.

At the back, operating as the barrier buster is me. I play to my strengths as a conjurer.

I summon a stone golem from the Minoth plane. It charges forward.

Jerrick fires out a fork of lightning, the dark blue streak crackles, and draws excited cheers from the audience.

The golem's arm blasts off, and the chunk of stone flies through the barrier and crashes into the stone stairs of the coliseum.

Unfazed, it pushes onward grabbing two of them, Jerrick and Tim, and taking them out of bounds of the arena.

Out of the match.

Under an onslaught of spell attacks, Borei's barrier crumbles and she takes more blasts and falls as the Golem hits Jerrick and Tim knocking them from the arena.

With a grunt of resolve, Borei starts sprinting in a diagonal line.

Tam sends mana bolts after her but it narrowly misses.

I begin an attack of my own taking the three seconds to form it and then releasing a mana arrow at Tam.

They now start sending mana bolts at both Borei and me.

The ones firing at me hit and eventually break my barrier. I concentrate on Mana arrows breaking their barrier.

But before Tam or I can take advantage, Borei casts a small wave of water high enough to reach the ankles and with the snap of her fingers the water freezes around Tam's ankles.

Tam blasts the ice, they try to right their balance but Borei casts a magical whip just like Jerrick had done before. She pulls Tam off the arena but Tam pulls Borei with them and they tumble off.

Borei goes from having no barrier to doing a mutual knockout.

I let out a gasp in exhaustion.

I took two of them out of the bout in one spell, but it had been close. Gareth took a risk to buy me the time to do that construct.

I look over to him to say thanks and notice he is pale with blood flowing out from his shoulder, his eyes are closed and he has passed out from the shock and blood loss.

"And we have a winner! Goblin Tooth triumphs by a narrow margin. Amazing craft from both teams. Hammermaw with their superior spellwork could not overcome the teamwork and combat experience of Goblin Tooth. Remember first years this is not a demonstration in who is the better magi but who is the supreme war casting team gets to move on to the next year." Booms Professor Tenace speaking with growing enthusiasm, his hands waving wildly.