“And the first round shall be…” the announcer, Elemental lord of vast nothingness, paused as he drew two lots. The second day of the competition had just begun in the Black arena. Irwyn and Elizabeth were seated next to the beaming Crowley. It was rather awkward how the boy almost swooned when he first met Irwyn a bit ago, but Elizabeth seemed to be rather enjoying the fact that Irwyn had a fanboy “elements of Time and space against the element of water.”

As the participant stepped forward, Elizabeth had question marks written all over her face. In order to improve her ability in magic as rapidly as it had Irwyn was forced to skip quite a few part of her education in the lore and deeper intricacies of magic. There was no point in teaching her just random tidbits without the greater picture so he instead opted to explain things as they came up “you are wondering why he announced Time and space would be competing together, right?” Irwyn asked and Elizabeth nodded “that is quite simple. Time is one of the 7 major elements, in other words an element represented by one of the first 8 aspects, Logos excluded. Each of the major 7 elements has a sub element: A shadow of itself. Like void has darkness and Light has radiance. Among them the sub element for time is space,” Irwyn explained and Elizabeth nodded with an: I see.

Meanwhile the fights on the stage were about to begin as the Elemental lord explained the rules: “The most important thing to remember is that each participant will be wearing a wristband like the one I am holding,” he said as he raised a silverish bracelet with a large green gemstone imbued in its frame “it is bound to a specific magic field within the arena which will negate a certain amount of damage to the wearer. The gem will also change colour; orange is equal to a grievous wound; red signifies fatal damage; and black means the wristband is about to break. Those whose wristband turns red are considered immediately eliminated for the rest of the round. Today all rounds will be determined by 1vs1 matches until one team loses all participants. Once a participant steps into the arena they cannot leave until they lose, and the format for the competition is knockout. With that I will ask both the teams to enter the arena and send in their first participant,” once that announcement was finished 2 groups of 3 came into the arena. Unlike Irwyn’s team both consisted of mainly of 11 or 12 year olds in the robes of mages guild. In fact the only person not wearing those robes was the girl who had miraculously made it through the qualifiers yesterday. Although that was all the interest he was willing to take in that otherwise boring match. The group of time and space had the disciple of an elemental lord among them so it was barely even a competition: The seeded boy decided to show off and single handedly defeat the enemy team by himself.

However, Irwyn could not ignore the second match. For a very simple reason: “And for the next match I will ask the participants of Void and darkness to stand against the competitors for flame,” naturally Irwyn and his team stepped out into the arena and were greeted by the smug grin of Irwyn’s brother, Brite. It was a great coincidence that they would meet so early in the competition. In fact it was such a coincidence that it might not be a coincidence at all. Brite was in the end the seeded participant for Void and naturally had some bargaining chips which might make even an Elemental lord willing to curry a favour. His average talent by Blackburg standards was actually just a bit short of genius for those who lived without the presence of people who dared conquest a chunk of the North.

“Irwyn! I challenged you to fight me as the first participant!” Brite even yelled in a futile attempt to provoke him. But either way it did not matter whether those lots were honestly drawn or not. There was only one conclusion to those who stood in his way. Perhaps he might appear to be like Avys: Efficiently misleading his foes into one disadvantage after another, trapping those who defied him in a snare out of which there was no escape. But there a major difference existed between Irwyn and Avys. When despite all that they were forced into a direct confrontation Avys would have no choice but to withdraw. Irwyn on the other hand...

“As you wish,” Irwyn smiled and stepped forward, that same fake smile he gave Efora yesterday. Usually one would enter a combat stance and wait for the starting signal. Perhaps enter a state of alert where they would be quickly ready to draw upon the elemental energies within and without themselves. But instead of closing his eyes or getting into position Irwyn just stood with his back straight, a smile plastered over his visage, as he intently stared at Brite.

“Begin!” the signal sounded and Irwyn’s opponent immediately sprung into action. A layer of black ooze covered his form as void energies gathered for his spell.

"Void dash"

He pronounced a shortened incantation and his speed instantly increased 10 fold. That multiplication was rather impressive for a mage of his level, perhaps even enough to make most opponents lose track of him, but not Irwyn. Irwyn just calmly stood there as his eyes were constantly plastered on his brother’s dashing form.

“Crushing nothingness”

Another incantation was made the moment Brite made it within melee range, perhaps convinced that his evasive movements completely threw Irwyn off. Even a thicker layer of void energies began to gather on the youth’s fist, preparing to unload the chaotic power directly into Irwyn’s body. Brite’s proficiency with the two spells would be perhaps even impressive for his age, were it not for the fact that he could barely cast any other magic. Even if Irwyn did not have the vast knowledge and understanding of magic it would not be too difficult to counter such a one trick pony with that knowledge. But that would just be a defeat, it had to be crushing to get the point across. The boy’s constant hostility was starting to become a minor annoyance, and today was Irwyn’s opportunity to sear into his flesh the difference between them.

So Irwyn did not open his mouth to chant, instead he caught that fist heading for his chest. For a moment time seemed to have stopped as Brite’s fist was tightly grasped within Irwyn’s palm. His victorious smirk reverted back into surprise as their eyes met, and went a step further into fear as he witnessed the eerie deadpan eyes of Irwyn. At that point a string of words, transferred and comprehended much more swiftly than sound could, entered Brite’s mind: You can’t use an axe to make mountains crumble. And then the fighting grounds were swallowed by brilliant light.

From outside it appeared as though ravenous maws of raging flames swallowed both their bodies in a single instant. Only a second passed, but in that short moment the victor was unquestionably decided. As when the flames receded they revealed the two youths; Irwyn still valiantly standing, without a scratch, his wristband still vigorously green; and Brite, barely conscious on the ground, his wristband black and cracked.

Irwyn just looked up, ignoring his brother’s barely twitching body, and stared down the rest of the enemy team. To them it looked like he just disposed of his brother wordlessly and effortlessly. It was not unheard of for a seeded participant to be defeated by another in the first round, but to do so in a single instant without breaking a sweat felt a bit surreal. It was thus no wonder that the two remaining participant’s morale hit rock bottom as they stepped forward once Brite was removed by the medical staff. Next one to stand out was the direct disciple of the Elemental lord of vast nothingness, who was currently serving as the tournament’s director, so the stress imposed on the young boy was only further amplified.

This time Irwyn did not hesitate in crushing his opponent. Without a chant 10 spears of radiant flames manifested behind him, hovering there for a split second and then striking the opponent at breakneck speed.

“Void aegis”

The boy managed to chant, creating a pitch black half sphere in front of him, but just as the spell formed it was struck by Irwyn’s violent attack. It managed to hold the first 6 at bay, but then cracked like an eggshell. With nothing left to protect him the spears exploded right in front of him, blowing him off the stage as well as churning the bracelet gem black. Thus Irwyn eliminated another opponent with a single attack, his breathing still not even ragged.

Seeing this outcome, and the still deadpan expression that Irwyn maintained the last participant withdrew. And like that Irwyn single handedly eliminated one of the 7 major elements from the competition, an act that summoned rampart cheers from the crowd.

When Irwyn turned back around he found a widely smiling Elizabeth and Crowley who seemed to have entered overdrive and actually swooned. When they returned to their area away from the eyes of the audience Irwyn still hadn’t spoken a word.

In his eyes today would be boring.