SUPREME ARCH-MAGUS

Inside the Arena, a long queue formed before the gambling room with Golden Rat symbol. As Kent is one level below the opponent, many people didn't hesitate to try their luck. The glass jar beside Fatty continued to fill up with gold coins, and some even placed spirit stones as bets.

Fatty Ben's hands were shaking as he wrote the gambling amount on each slip. The golden rat symbol stamped on each slip is glowing brightly with a glitter effect.

In total, Ben only had 30 spirit stones of wealth, which are the 30,000 gold coins gifted by his father for his gambling career. But the amount of bets he received on the first match already surpassed that 30 spirit stones mark. If Kent loses this match, Fatty Ben won't have enough wealth to return to bidders.

Keeping faith in Kent's ability and his golden root theory, Fatty continued to accept more bets from the people. As the glass jar continued to fill up, the total amount is displayed outside for the audience to see.

Soon, the match between Kent and Hector reached the Hot category, and the Arena officials had already begun promoting the 289th game by displaying Kent's image on several Aurora screens outside the Arena and several smaller arenas that were present around the central Arena.

More and more people began rushing towards the central Arena as the news about the 1:3 ratio spread like wildfire.

"Larry, it's better to change our plan. The game stakes were changing. If somehow officials found that we were losing matches willingly, we might get banned permanently. Why not let me win this game against Kent?

The betting amount has already reached 50 spirit stones." Hector asked Larry while staring at the big Aurora glass of the Arena, which is displaying images of Kent and him instead of an ongoing match.

Larry didn't reply immediately. His fists clenched in anger as he stared at the glowing gambling near the Arena. "Hector, don't worry. First beat that Kent when the fight begins… After that, make a big mistake and lose in his hands. In this way, the officials won't think we fixed the match." Larry suggested while patting Hector's shoulder in support.

Hector nodded his head, as he doesn't have the guts to go against Larry, who has connections with his powerful fighters.

Soon, fight number 288 began in the Arena. But already, people began making loud noise for Hector. Everyone is praying for Hector's victory. Sitting alone in the gallery, Kent smiled at the enthusiastic shouts of people.

He never expected his first fight would turn out to be a popular confrontation. He felt satisfied with Fatty's way of handling things. Staring at the crowd, Kent tapped on the nimbus knuckles, which changed their form and wrapped around his hands like gauntlets.

Stretching his fingers, Kent thought of which spells to use for a swift win. As his opponent is a staff mage and wind element practitioner, Kent began thinking of multiple attacks at a time.

Time tickled away, and fight number 288 ended in a draw. Soon, the Aurora glass displayed fight number 289, Kent vs. Hector. The images were flickering with the Golden Rat symbol and the 69 Spirt Stones gambling amount.

When compared to high-ranking matches, the 69 spirit stones are not a big number. But the ratio of 1:3 made everyone sit on the edges of their seats. Getting up from his seat, Kent mounted his Fire Kirin and flew towards the center of the Arena where an arbitrator was waiting with a grim face.

Fatty came out of the gambling room and stood near the Arena with anticipation. Even though everyone is shouting Hector's name, Fatty ignored everyone and waited for the fight to begin.

Flying on his pet, Kent landed at the center of the Arena. Soon, Hector also landed close to the arbiter on his Griffin. With a lion body, hawk wings, and head, the griffin stood majestically without fearing the Fire Kirin.

"I hope you both know Arena rules, in any case, you can't intentionally kill your opponent. Understood?" The arbiter asked with a serious look.

As both fighters nodded, the arbiter gestured for Kent and Hector to take positions. Soon, Kent moved to the eastern side circular spot, and Hector moved to the western spot.

"Hector… Hector… Hector…" The chanting continued rhythmically.

Excited by the unexpected popularity, Hector raised his staff high into the air and made an excited cry. With Hector's command, the griffin roared loudly with a pouncing stance.

Strong wind energy struck Kent, who stood on Fire Kirin. Irritated by the taunt, Fire Kirin opened its mouth to shoot a fire ball. But Kent stopped it with a pat.

With the arbiter's call, the time count began on the aurora glass.

"10… 9… 8… 7…"

Hector leaned close to the body of the griffin to fly high into the air at the beginning of the fight. As Larry asked him to beat Kent in the initial fight, Hector prepared to unleash all his powerful spells to dominate Kent.

"6… 5… 4…"

As the countdown closed, Kent suddenly got down from his Fire Kirin, surprising all the audience. Even the arbiter, who stood at the edge of the arena, was stunned for a second. But he didn't try to stop the fight.

"What the hell is he doing?" Hector muttered while preparing to soar high into the sky.

Loud booing followed as everyone thought Kent made a noob mistake.

"3… 2… 1…"

"Ahhhuuu…" Hector shouted loudly as he soared into the air at the speed of wind. The griffin made a roar, creating a wind vortex that traveled towards Kent like a blaze.

Before the wind blaze approached Kent, the victor now surfaced in his hands. With a sly grin, he drew the bow string and circulated his aura, combined with Fire Dao.

Meanwhile, Hector began unleashing all his powerful spells one after another with loud chanting.

"Teja Vayu Udgar" [Swift Wind Surge]: Layers of wind fronts formed to push back anything Kent going to release.

"Anantha Vayu Krodh" [Boundless Wind Fury]: the wind turned into different physical forms and began rushing towards Kent.

Combined with spells, Hector used his pet's ability to fear Kent. While all the Arena is staring at the layers of wind attacks that were rushing towards Kent, he calmly chanted the mantra for "Fire Mantle of Divine Sun."

_

I hope you like the Spellmantra's. If you are not comfortable with language used for mantras, please comment. I might change to Latin or Greece.

Your's PeterPan :-)