Eight youngsters once again filled the stages traced out of red chalk, amongst them, Jinto and Vitus faced each other. They both agreed to face off against each other in the second round.
Jinto looked to the side, seeing the bloody Paul, pity all over his face. Gent had now shown the power worthy of possessing a Diamond fissure. Who knew when it would be time when he fully grew, able to suppress the Fang trio.
The spectators watched with anticipation of this match.
"How unexpected, I thought Gent would seek revenge against Jinto, but he ended up fighting another Fang, and Jinto ended up fighting Vitus."
"Isn't Jinto too arrogant, he bested Gent due to his cunning, but fighting Vitus who has an Amethyst fissure." One of the youngsters thought that Jinto was too rampant.
From the side, a youth agreed, "Beating Gent had gotten to his head, biting more than he can chew, he will only end up the same as Paul."
Jinto, faintly hearing the murmurings from his classmates, looked away, he now needed to focus on his own affairs.
"Hmph! Viewing this match as if I've already lost? How can you all know if it hasn't happened." Jinto scoffed at his classmates.
He looked at the youth that had soft facial features and scruffy messy hair.
"Begin." Master Hector gave the signal.
Jinto wasted no time, immediately charging a Wind Blade towards him.
The crescent-shaped Wind Bladeflew over the arena, soon reaching Vitus, but he didn't move, instead he stood in place, not moving an inch.
It collided against an illusionary wall made out of wind, Wind Wall.
Jinto had not stopped with his attack, he knew that Vitus would have enough time to dodge or to cast his defensive spell to dispel his Wind Blade.
Jinto wasn't deterred by this, immediately casting another Wind Blade, but this time he aimed it lower, on the heels of that, he shot another crescent blade targeting Vitus' upper body. Then he changed his angle going towards the left, shooting another Wind Blade at his top left.
Swoosh Swoosh Swoosh
Almost at the same time, the three Wind Blades neared their target.
Jinto didn't stop just there.
He immediately shot yet another Wind Blade towards his right, now four Wind Blades encompassed the whole arena!
From top center, down center, right and left.
Vitus had just used his defensive spell against one of the Wind Blades, seeing the barrage incoming. He cast another Wind Wall to protect his body. Two Wind Blades both targeted his upper and lower body, under the pressure, he chose to remain on his spot. Although he could dodge to the right or left and defend just against one, he thought that if he chose to move he would lose sight of his target. As of now, he was facing him head-on, and with his overwhelming reserves of mana, he saw no issue in it.
The Wind Blade aimed at his lower body collided against his defensive measure, instantly both of the spells vanishing. Following that, he casted another one to protect against his upper body.
He breathed a sigh of relief, he was now free from the enemy's attack.
He focused his attention on Jinto once more, he was now four steps close to him, Jinto had used his offensive spells to get close to him.
Vitus knew that this was bad news, if he got close, Jinto's Wind Blades would be almost inevitable, he would not be able to react in time, resulting in injury.
As Jinto approached, Vitus chose to back up, but then he realized that he was at the edge of the stage. As per the rules, once one crossed the red chalk that made up the stage, that person would lose.
Vitus gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows, knowing that the close combat clash with Jinto was now unavoidable.
Jinto waved his right wrist, aiming at Vitus' lower body.
Vitus' mind grew aware, if he didn't put on his defensive measure now, at such a close distance, dodging was not an option.
Whooo
A Wind Wall appeared, shielding his lower body, Vitus' mind now went at ease, he was now going to channel his movement spell in order to get out of this situation.
But nothing collided with the Wind Wall!
"Huh, don't tell me…" Vitus' mind raced.
It was a fake out.
Whooo
A gentle breeze swept past Vitus, as he blinked, a figure welcomed itself– Jinto.
As soon as he got within close range, he waved his wrist.
Swoosh
A Wind Blade was shot at point blank hitting Vitus' chest, immediately, his black clothes were torn apart, revealing his skin for a brief moment, as now a long wound across his chest was carved.
"What?" The sequence of events was too fast for Vitus to comprehend.
Jinto had used many Wind Blades, once Vitus got over his hurdle he got within four steps, then used his movement spell, finally, casting at point blank, and injuring him.
Not minding the bewildered Vitus who took a glance towards his bloody chest, Jinto, with both hands, pushed him away.
The blood-filled Vitus didn't have time to react, he couldn't even catch himself, in his perspective he was struck and now his vision was turning to the sky above the training grounds.
Thud
He landed on the ground, hitting the back of his head.
As he landed he let out a painful groan.
"I win." Jinto muttered, standing above Vitus, looking down on him, as the sun cast its sunlight on his figure.
"What? I'm not done." Vitus tried to get up.
"No need, look you've crossed the chalk." Jinto pointed to the ground.
Vitus lowered his head to look, half of his body had already crossed the red chalk, meaning he already lost the battle by default.
The audience watched with their mouths open. The whole fight had taken less than twenty seconds to complete, and in that minuscule amount of time, Vitus had no chance of counterattack.
"What? Jinto actually managed to beat someone with an Amethyst fissure?"
"Isn't this too ridiculous? Somebody please pinch me, I must be dreaming!" Saro said in disbelief.
"Haha, isn't Jinto just full of surprises, that bastard really pulled it off!" Dylan laughed, he still remembered back in the proficiency test, he was overshadowed by Vitus, seeing his defeat left him in a great mood.
Balter, seeing the result of the battle, left him inspired. He, who had a Bronze fissure, saw no hope in himself, but Jinto, who wielded a Gold fissure, managed to beat the genius of their generation.
"That bastard Jinto." Melissa happily muttered.
"As expected of him." Paul cracked a smile, as he viewed the results of Jinto's fight.
Gent snorted: "What a useless lad, possessing an Amethyst fissure but losing to such trash? The heavens sure like to play jokes."
Master Hector cracked a smile with pity. "Shame, this youth, Jinto, is somewhat exceptional, he managed to best Gent with cunningness, furthermore managing to crack the correct method of casting Wind Blade despite my wrongful tips, and now having an overwhelming victory against an Amethyst fissure, his intellect and strategy paired with his cunning make him a great talent indeed. Pity that he only has a Gold fissure, his future is just that of a 2nd-circle magician. If Vitus wasn't so timid this battle would have gone in a completely different direction. He may seem like an unpolished gem compared to Jinto now, but soon he will shine brightly whilst Jinto will shine dimly."
Master Hector analyzed Jinto's accomplishments until now, marking him as someone who should be kept an eye out for, but unfortunately, the heavens liked to play jokes, bringing such a talent that had no future ahead of him. Most he would be in his lifetime is a team leader of a squad.
Vitus, now realizing his loss, could only smile bitterly.
"Friend Jinto's strength is truly overwhelming, today I've seen your might, I was truly helpless wasn't I?"
Jinto ignored his self-deprecating comment, lending a hand for him to get up.
"Sigh, it truly worked out in the end, but I'm afraid the next time won't come so easily.."
Going into the fight, Jinto knew that he couldn't win if he chose to be passive, just in endurance alone Vitus was vastly superior.
He first wanted to figure out Vitus' heart spell, he uncovered it by throwing many Wind Blades during such a barrage, the enemy would either have to dodge, defend, or attack and nullify the Wind Blades with their own Wind Blades.
Vitus had defended. Once he figured out that Vitus' heart spell was Wind Wall, he decided to close in, as he was not worried of a Wind Blade striking him at close distance, he only needed to deliver a blow with his Wind Blade, and if the opponent decided to not give up, he would've resorted to striking the wound mercilessly.
He was most thankful that Vitus had not chosen Wind Blade as his heart spell, but instead Wind Wall. If Vitus had done so, with his mana he could overwhelm any opponent with barrages, leaving others to only get hit by them.
If Vitus had done so, Jinto saw little to no chance of victory, that is why he struck first to have the initiative, he could only cancel his opponent's offensive spells with his.
If Vitus had heart spelled Breeze Steps, the battle would've been much longer, but ultimately it would've resulted in Jinto delivering a point blank at Vitus.
One thing he was grateful for Gent was his technique, against the battle with Paul, Gent had faked him out twice.
"Tsk, I guess sometimes you learn from your enemies." Jinto lampooned inwardly.
Making use of the fake out, confusing his enemy, he used his movement spell and got up close, delivering the final blow that he really needed. At that point he had already exhausted his mana reserves.
Knowing that Vitus might not give up due to injury, Jinto, without a second thought, pushed him to secure victory.
All in all, he had used pressure. Vitus could not think freely due to the onslaught of attacks, ultimately falling victim to Jinto.
Vitus, whose upper body was up, still laid on the ground, facing up, he accepted Jinto's hand, and with his help got up.
"Brother Vitus, to be honest, you should switch your heart spell to Wind Blades. With your mana reserves, you can overpower anybody relentlessly, with the enemy having little to no chance to counterattack." Jinto honestly gave advice to him.
Jinto didn't just advise him out of his goodwill, but also because he wanted to maintain a good relationship. Although this was just a simple sparring, Vitus had lost which would have led to petty negative feelings culminating. He chose to tackle it first before it had the chance to bloom.
Vitus' eyes lightened: "Thank you, I didn't think of that."
At the very core, Vitus wasn't a confrontational person, he disliked getting hurt, thus he heart spelled the defensive spell that was available to him.
With his left hand, he covered the wound on his chest, which blood was still oozing out.
The other youths who were spared paid attention to the battle that just ended. Even though they had their own affairs, they couldn't help but catch little glimpses here and there. To the surprise of many, Jinto had actually won.
After a few minutes, the other battles ended.
Prompting the mortals who stood on the side to begin cleaning up.
The majority of the youths were now all healed, all from the previous round in their natural state, the only difference was their torn-up clothes.
Paul approached Jinto with a proud smile. He said, "You are somebody alright, managing to beat Vitus, I'm afraid our classmates will look at you differently."
Jinto smirked: "Honestly, if he had heart spelled any other spell, the battle wouldn't have gone so favorably towards me."
"Your humility disgusts me." Melissa playfully added, "Although true, good job on that one, you did best an Amethyst fissure."
Seeing Jinto's success, Paul felt a little bitter due to his own failure. Jinto went against someone who was two fissures higher than him, like him, but their results were completely different from one another.
"Next time, I'll do better." Paul swore in his heart.
"Now that you've received an overwhelming victory, it's time for me to take the stage and prove to the audience that the Fang's are not that worthy of praise." Melissa ridiculed herself, she went towards the fight with the expectation of losing.
"Don't be so pessimistic about it, he likely has Wind Blade as his heart spell. If you manage to keep your distance and exhaust him, you may just have maybe, just a little bit, just the tiniest, littlest, margin of victory." Jinto said such words as if they were obvious.
Melissa fake smiled as she looked at Jinto, "Such great words, I'll keep them to heart."
She stepped away from the Paul-Jinto duo and headed towards Olsen's direction.