Cagney and I each made our way to the opposite ends of the arena, the ground lighting up as I moved through it. Agni’s flames burned with excitement. The phoenix was enjoying herself and I chuckled as I took control of the earth around me, my conscience melting deeper into the ground with each step. By the time I reached the end of the arena I'd become one with the earth around me.

I flicked my hand, and a large block of stone flew out from my inventory. It was the size of a small room, and its surface wriggled and roiled as I transformed it into shimmering tendrils of stone that weaved into the ground around me. They struck into the earth and dirt cascaded across my legs as the stone tendrils gathered around my feet like snakes coiled and ready to strike.

This time I couldn't afford to hold back. Cagney had a higher rank and had taken out her weapon early. Lightning was quick. Out of all the elements I had encountered, it was the most destructive.

Kyle had reached his position and raised his hand to get our attention. The lightning around my opponent crackled with power. Magic squirmed in her grasp, and I could feel its intentions bleeding through into my mind.

Burn. Destroy. Instant.

“Prepare yourselves.” Kyle’s voice rang out across the arena. "The match begins in three—”

My eyes narrowed. Cagney was casting a spell right now.

I kicked the ground, and a wall of dirt and stone blocked my vision as the ground rose. Several of the stone tendrils I'd laid around me immediately burst from the floor and veiled my features like a shield.

It wasn't a moment too soon.

There was a flash of light and I lost control of the wall, dirt and stone chips exploding in all directions. Cagney had fired on me before Kyle had finished the countdown.

"That's just bad manners." I muttered.

Agni’s flames fluttered in agreement.

It took me a moment to realise I couldn't see Cagney. Or anything else. The lightning had blinded me, and I saw less and less as the lights grew brighter. Even if she hadn't hit me, her attacks were still doing damage.

"That's annoying."

My vision was quickly returning, the world looking like splotches of colours, but the lightning had shorn straight through my wall, disintegrating it on impact. There was another flash of mana from my opponent's regent and lightning flew out of Cagney’s orb toward me.

Deep within my chest my manapool writhed in anticipation as I drew from it, a wellspring of golden mana flowing through my veins.

Stone rose in front of me and exploded at the touch of lightning, but this time I was ready. The moment the lightning crushed my defences, I placed my hand on the ground and three stone tendrils burst out and flew toward my opponent.

“[Earthen Spear].”

The stone shifted and transformed, pieces falling off as each tendril became a jagged spear that shot through the air toward my opponent.

Cagney didn't move from her position. Instead, she raised her hand, and the spears stopped in midair. A thin line of silver mana stretched out from her fingers toward each of the spears, shifting control of them from myself to her.

Connection magic.

I hadn’t truly lost control of them. It was a contest of wills, with our mana fighting as we pushed the spears in two different directions.

“I'm not limited to spears.” I smiled. My words were intended to catch her off guard, and her concentration faltered as she heard them.

The ground around Cagney writhed and split apart, dirt and stone reaching up to grab her. I saw her orb crackle with lightning, but it was too late. The tendrils of earth gripped her arms, smashing her down and—

Each of the tendrils exploded in unison, streaks of lightning coursing through my opponent’s robes.

"There goes the last of my eyesight." I closed my eyes.

A headache crashed through my head, pounding against my temple. Each lightning strike was brighter and stronger than the last. Through my [Mana Sense] I saw Cagney move and I dropped my connection with the spears as another streak of lightning shot toward me.

Then the world went dark.

My body dropped several feet as I opened up the ground underneath me. The lightning bolt struck empty air as it zoomed past the space where my body had been only a moment earlier.

I'd entombed myself underneath the earth. Hopefully, it would buy me a bit of time to plan.

The scent of burning hit my nostrils and I looked at my side. There was a patch of burnt earth next to me. It was part of the ground that I'd descended with. If her spell had been any faster the match would have been over.

I’d lost my eyesight and the entire world was bathed in bright streaks of light, but that didn't matter when I was underground. All around me mana danced and beckoned for my call. It guided my way and helped me orient myself.

Up above I could sense my opponent waiting. She had no way to find me, but the moment she discerned my location she'd blast it with lightning. I wasn't sure how effective it would be, but I didn't want to find out.

My hand rested against the wall of dirt in front of me and my will spread across the arena floor. Each grain of dirt fell under my purvey, and an endless ocean of golden mana rippled within me as I began to prepare spells for my retaliation.

Agni let out a cry and I looked through the ground to the surface, seeing the massive ball of lightning mana gathering around Cagney.

It was time for round two.

Cagney’s arms arced with lightning and the orb regent hovered in front of her. Symbols glowed on its surface, directing the lightning where she wanted it to go. At least, that was what I assumed they did. I hadn't gotten a good look at the regent before retreating underneath the ground.

My eyes were shut tight, but the world was a cacophony of colours as my [Mana Sense] guided me. At the edge of my robe, I could see a patch of burnt earth crackling with lightning mana.

A single direct hit would throw me out of the duel. There were no second chances with lightning magic.

"Is it cheating if I ask you for ideas?" I spoke.

The earth around me flared up with light. This was different from the damage the lightning had caused to my eyes. This light had been ignited by fire mana and flames that curled around every strand of hair on my head.

Yes.

A single chirp sounded out from my head, followed by the bird equivalent of laughter. I smiled and shook my head. She was right. It also didn't matter. My opponent couldn't touch me while I was underground.

At least, that was what I thought.

"What is she—”

My opponent knelt down onto the ground, ignoring the potential danger to herself as she laid on the dirt. Mana flowed from her palms into the orb she held, and lightning crackled around her. Both of her palms were alight, arcs of electricity bouncing through her fingers. Then she stabbed her palms into the ground.

[Earth Manipulation].

The earth around me compacted as the electric current swam through the dirt, destroying it and everything around it as it travelled toward me. I had a single moment to think before my brain flew into a panic, withdrawing my palms and forcing every stone present in the ground toward my location.

Rocks flew and formed a wall in front of me, and the electricity crashed into it. Bright light crashed against my skin as the wall started to give way, cracks forming within it. New earth flew in to replace each damaged section and a game of tug of war began as each of us tried to gain ground over each other, the wall constantly being destroyed and reforming before her lightning could touch me.

Then the attack stopped.

There was no warning. One moment the lightning was stabbing toward me and the next it was gone. The smell of charcoal choked my nostrils, and I shifted the earth around me to create a new room underneath the arena.

I saw my opponent above me, sweat dripping down her chin and her eyes clouded. The lightning around her had dimmed dramatically and I understood what had happened. She hadn’t known where I was hiding at first, so she'd sent lightning everywhere all at once. The lightning hadn't stopped voluntarily.

She was running low on mana.

That was a fatal mistake.

“[Stone Grasp].”

Before Cagney could react, the earth gripped onto her hands and I felt her struggling against its constraints. A single moment of hesitation was all I needed to gain the upper hand. Below her waist the ground exploded as rocks shot through the earth and gripped her stomach.

[Earthen Spear].

Half a dozen dirt spears exploded from the ground, distracting Cagney. Lightning flashed across her body to break through the attack. While the stone grip and spears did their work, I blasted the dirt around me into the air, a cascade of rocks and dirt blowing through my opponent. In moments she was covered by a casket of materials that dragged her into the ground. I kept her away from me, wary of her lightning.

I broke the earth around her into pieces and activated [Earthen Spear]. Each newly formed spear stabbed through the tomb and into my opponent's body, creating a reverse porcupine as she was covered in weapons.

It was an attack that would kill any normal person in a real fight.

I relaxed as the earth mana informed me that the attack was finished. The spears had hit home, and the tomb had continued to trap her. There was no way for her to—

‘She's gone.’ The revelation hit me like a truck.

Cagney wasn't inside my tomb. One moment she had been inside it, trapped and helpless. The next moment she was gone.

‘Is she a space magician?’ The thought crossed my mind for an instant before it was dismissed.

I couldn't sense any spatial mana in the area.

There was a possibility that she had made herself invisible to my eyes with connection magic. I had seen similar things happen before. But a quick check of my person confirmed that there was no connection mana around me.

With a flick of my wrist the dirt around my parted into a corridor and I walked cautiously toward the dirt tomb. Stones and rocks gathered toward me with each step, ready to form a protective wall at any moment.

I wasn't letting my guard down. Lightning mana was still present in the tomb, but it was quickly disappearing.

There was a moment of silence, my footsteps vibrating the walls around me. The tomb opened slowly, and dozens of spears were revealed within. Then I spotted her. Or rather, it.

In the middle of the spears was the glowing orb. And within the lightning filled interior was a robed person staring at me with an angry gaze.

Cagney was inside her regent.

I smacked my hands together the moment I spotted her, the walls of the earth shutting down tight onto the orb. But it was too late. Faster than the dirt around it, the orb disappeared in a flash of lightning and reappeared beside me. Within it I could see the lightning magician standing and raising her palm toward me, her skin crackling with electricity.

The rocks around me crashed into the orb and I flung myself into the air, the stones underneath me pushing me above ground. I could feel the heat of the attack as it smashed into my rocks, and I looked down to see smoke filling the hole that I'd left behind.

I was above the arena now, dirt forming a platform for me to step on, but Cagney didn't come up. My stones were keeping her orb trapped.

More and more materials crashed into the regent and forced it into stillness. Whatever spell she'd used to travel toward me either required a line of sight or more mana than she had. Given the circumstances I was willing to bet she needed to be able to see me to use it.

[Stone Grasp].

The orb groaned under the pressure of my skill, the stones around it growing stronger as they tried to crush the regent under the earth.

A moment later I felt it crack.

“NO.” A cry resounded through the arena.

A mark shot into the air, signifying the end of the duel. Cagney had surrendered voluntarily. I withdrew my dirt and stone and allowed the regent to float to the surface of the arena. Within its depths a pair of baleful eyes glared at me.

Cagney appeared next to the orb, gripping it tightly in her hands and inspecting it for damage.

"I made sure not to hurt it.” I floated down beside her, stepping off the dirt platform that had kept me in the air. “I guarantee it.”

Damaging a regent was high on my list of things to avoid. Not only were they expensive, but they were also hard to make. I knew better than most people how much care and attention went into creating even the simplest of regents.

Cagney spent a few more moments looking over the orb. Then she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw I was telling the truth. The last of the lightning mana retreated into her palm, forming a small ball that shimmered bright.

My eyesight had already come back, but I covered my eyes with a veil of dirt as the lightning gathered. Then my eyes widened as it began to communicate with me.

Now. Instant. Surprise.

There was a bright flash of light as Cagney struck at me.

She was continuing her attack.