"Y-you! Bastard! Die!!"
The battle escalated
Wind screamed across the arena slicing through stone into ribbons as Jake unleashed a flurry of strikes too fast for the normal eyes to follow, but everytime a blade of wind should have cut his opponent space bent attacks either overshooting, twisting aside or slamming into distorted walls of air that shimmered faintly like broken glass
"Dammit!"
Jake screamed as he saw Adam fight with precision using his affinity precisely not just to defend but to control the battlefield. He shortened the distances between himself and his opponent, appearing at angles too sudden to predict.
("Using Space not just as a skill but as if it's a part of me seems to be helping. I shouldn't just rely on skills and should work on bending space to my will even unconsciously") He thought to himself
At times he stepped forward and reappeared an instant later behind the Jake forcing him to make frantic mid air parries, at other times he stretched space making his own blade swing farther than it should catching Jake by surprise
"Stop squirming!!"
The audience roared, Duke and Selena watched the battle with growing interest the way Adam fought against Jake was beautiful he wasn't only pushing him back but was also dismantling him each time
Steel against steel and wind against void they classes exchanging blow for blow but frustration began to crack through Jakes composure, with each near miss his strikes grew even more desperate and reckless
Finally with a snarl he leapt high and gathered the full fury of his magic, wind condensed into a violent spiral around his sword, pressure so sharp that even the protective runes around the arena screamed in protest
"Die!!"
He dove aiming to end it in a single stroke, this wasn't a dueling move it was an execution meant to kill him the moment it strikes that not even the protective runes could sustain it might not kill him but if will sure leave him bedridden for months
(In The VIP SECTION)
The vice-headmaster mastered screamed as she shot a deathly glare towards Duke Bazel
"Duke Bazel!! That's an execution move that isn't a move meant to be used in a duel! Is this watch house Bazel teaches it's heirs!?"
It wasn't the vice-headmaster who was displeased but it was everyone in the section that couldn't help but be disappointed and angry at what Jake was doing but duke Bazel merely scoffed
"Hmph if he can't handle this much then he doesn't deserve the no.1 spot" Duke Bazel dismissed their protests like it was just flies buzzing around his ears ("if he ends out crippled it would be better, if he dies even my family can't escape the backlash of one of it's members trying to kill an opponent during an academy duel")
The headmaster though looked calm and didn't say anything but still shot a glare towards Duke Bazel and he flinched, and the Duke knew that he was gonna be in a bit of trouble after this exam
(Back to the arena)
Adam did not move from his spot, the wind blade slammed into him as the whole crowd screamed even duke and Selena looked anxious and worried
Dust exploded across the arena floor, for a moment it seemed like it was over that was until the haze cleared and he stood there untouched. The attack bent, space itself folding in layers around him scattering the deadly gale like harmless breezes.
Jake was visibly shocked as he froze mid strike "What-how!?"
His answer came in silence, Adam lifted his blade violet cracks spreading in the air around it. "Wait-Stop!" Jake pleaded but Adam didn't flinch
He stepped forward and the distance collapsed, in one brutal swing he dragged Jake across the folded space and slammed him on the ground
The arena floor split shockwaves rippling outward as Jakes sword shattering in his hands. His violent winds sputtered out reduced to just a faint summer breeze, his body layed there beaten coughing and his body still trembling from the weight of the collapse
Adam stood over him stood over him, his silver hair falling across his face violet strands glimmering faintly in the ruined arena. His blade hummed with a cosmic resonance, cold and merciless.
He had not simply won he had crushed, brushing aside a killing blow as if it were nothing
Above the nobles and the king muttered in awe and disbelief, guild leaders whispering about the power they had just witnessed. The headmasters sharp eyes narrowed but the Vice-Headmaster allowed herself a faint knowing smile
The duel was finished and Adam had just proved himself not just as a student but as a force that bent reality itself
"Nighty night"
Adam said as he raised his fist up high mana pulsed through it as he slammed his fist across Jakes face
* BOOOOMM!! *
Dust scattered and Jakes body went limp as he passed out, his handsome face was now filled with bruises, blood and snort as he fainted right then and there