Bab 64: Last Battles (Part 3)

The group of three were related to the Ministry of Magic Education that has sponsored this competition.

The one who organized the forging competition's materials was this stout middle-aged man who felt his heart bleeding because of the wasted Ancient Abyssal Glass.

The 12 of this Ancient Abyssal Glass that's available in the competition are the only existing genuine material that can be found in Zairus, legally.

Although the scarcity of this item stops many magic engineers to explore what the material could further do, this item had many theories published by researchers on how it can be used if it was successfully forged.

Because of these theories and research on how to utilize the material, many aspiring mana technicians or even magic engineers felt that once they have the material, they could also create an amazing mana artifact from it.

Even Wallace's classmates, Tracy and Ross, felt that they could also create an artifact using the Ancient Abyssal Glass similar to what Wallace made but they needed a longer time, maybe half a day would be required to finish the Mirror of Trace. All because they know the theory from the books they have read on how to make it.

Also, the magic structure for the Mirror of Trace is an open secret since few could manipulate or mold the material to create one. With Tracy and Ross resources, they could get a copy of this magic structure easily but unfortunately, the materials were tightly held by the Ministry.

What others do not know was how difficult this Ancient Abyssal Glass to be processed and to successfully create a mana artifact from it. Only those who were lucky enough to use the material knows how difficult it was to forge the material.

If not for an additional memory crystal he consumed that was given by the Pathfinder as a reward, he won't be able to forge this Mirror of Trace.

[ High-Level Unhindered Mana Gathering Formation ]

[ 12 Cycles of Mana Stabilization Array ]

These 2 memory crystals that he consumed was what Wallace relied on to be confident in forging the artifact. Without this 2 knowledge prior to this competition, he would not pick up this mysterious material that can only be normally found in the northern continent.

Not only that, together with Wallace's knowledge, he perfectly assimilated his other Magic Structure that could be used in any mana artifact, Mavis Prayer.

The known successful Mirror of Trace that was ever made can only be used 3 times, but what Wallace did here can be used twice that number before the Ancient Abyssal Glass loses its power. It was all because of the combination of his skills that it was made possible.

Of course, if Sir Mace here learned about this, he would be even more surprised and may directly hire Wallace to work for the Ministry.

"Sigh... The 12 pieces of Ancient Abyssal Glass that we put there should only be for decoration so I can use it to make a speech at the closing ceremony about how they are still incompetent and needs further exploration and improvement in their judgment."

Sir Mace took a deep breath thinking what he would do now in his prepared speech.

The man beside him whom the young lady called Uncle Kurt twitched his mouth on what this bald man said.

"You can just call your secretary to make you a new one. There's still a couple of days before the closing anyway."

Kurt said as he shook his head and given him advice.

"Let's continue watching the battle for now.." Kurt glanced at the young lady beside him before continuing. "The battle between your friend and Kyla is nearing."

"Shirley will win." The young lady said confidently. She has already forgotten the grumbling Sir Mace and focused on the current match.

***

The battle between Ray and Lawrence brought everyone watching the fight on their edge as it made them feel how exciting the battles between magicians could be. Magicians are full of mysteries and couldn't be judged on how they looked. They seem to always pull surprises and a battle between them could always change its favorability in an instant.

Because of this, everyone was expecting that the second battle or in the next battles would also be intense.

Now, the couple Lina and Alphonse fought against Edward and Tim.

The style of combat of the former would be one assigned for defense and the other is for the offense. Lina took the attacking position as her Multiple Active Air Shots were also giving them an easier time to defeat their previous opponents. This skill requires high-level skill comprehension and she had practiced these magic spells for years that she could perfectly manipulate each Air Shot. Not anyone could just copy her style.

Her partner Alphonse was used to take magic spells as he was always Lina's target practice. He uses "Five Layered Elemental Coating" to protect himself. Although it is a common Grade 2 Defensive Magic Spell and easy to maintain, it is still a Grade 2. Tracy also did a very good job creating this magic structure allowing Alphonse to have a very smooth usage of the skill. The spell was very stable, whatever hit him, his mana artifact wouldn't malfunction and the Five Layered Elemental Coating will only be destroyed when his mana pool was all consumed. No other Grade 2 Mana Spell was yet to penetrate his defenses. If he has a larger mana pool, he would be a perfect meat shield.

Because of Alphonse other defenses, Edward and Tim's Mana Shockwave weren't able to deter them. But their opponent was more diverse as no one is assigned for offense or defense. They worked together and whatever opportunity that rose up, they would take it.

They attack whenever there is a chance and defend when required.

"Royal -- Earth Rend!"

"Royal -- Water Chain!"

The two attacks at the same time giving Alphonse a wider range to defend as they attacked from a different angle and he also needed to protect Lina.

"Archon -- Vortex Barrier"

Alphonse used his body protected by Five Layered Elemental Coating to defend Edward's Earth Rend but used the barrier to nullify Tim's Water Chain.

"Tsk... His defense is annoying."

Edward said as he couldn't penetrate his opponent's defense with his quick casted Grade 1 Spell. He needed some Grade 2 spells to break that defense but...

"It's coming! Careful!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

They were always being interrupted by an attack coming from Lina.

As soon as Tim shouted, Edward knows that Lina has attacked again and immediately dodged and cast a defensive spell. The Multiple Active Air Shots hit nothing at first but some Air Shots hit their defenses and their Mana Shell trembled at the impact of these Air Shots.

Drops of sweat can be seen on their forehead as they couldn't think how to defeat the enemy. Luckily, their mobility was enhanced to extreme allowing them to dodge these attacks that were coming almost instantly.

Before Tim shouted to warn Edward, he tried to use the Mana Shockwave to interrupt her but to no avail. They were the one who was unable to cast Grade 2 spell because of these stationary orbs that could be Air Shot spell anytime. They always use Mana Shockwave in their previous fights to gain advantage to their enemies and although it won't always succeed, after 3 or 5 times their attempts would be fruitful.

But this time, their opponents weren't being affected by Mana Shockwave for some reason as they could no longer count how many attempts they already made. Either they are lucky or they have some sort of defense is what they thought.

They immediately shook their head as they remembered that Ray was affected by Mana Shockwave. So they shouldn't have learned a way to neutralize their Mana Shockwave completely. As they reached this thought they heard a soft voice from their opponents.

"Let's end this." Lina said softly as she suddenly stopped attacking, it was enough for the two to hear her and she glared mockingly towards her opponents.

Alphonse twitched his mouth upon hearing this as he knows that his partner always likes to show off her skills.

Edward and Tim didn't have time to attack anymore as they marveled at Lina's another Grade 2 Magic Spell before them.