The Golem Mage

"My turn!" Agnes declared as her wand shifted once more into its staff form. She slammed it against the ground, and Kylian's expression darkened as glowing lights flared beneath his feet.

"Shit!" he cursed, realizing too late that he was standing in the middle of five rune circles, he hadn't even noticed when they were set, all the while Agnes had been retreating, she had been inscribing her summoning runes with each mana-laced step.

What made it unknown was the subtle trick at the start of the battle: Agnes had cast a thin, spreading stream of water across the arena floor, Kylian had dismissed it as harmless, failing to realize it was meant to mask the summoning patterns beneath.

Now, the very element he ignored had been used to camouflage a battlefield trap and he had walked straight into it.

All this time, he believed he was the one planning ahead, scheming and staying a step in front, but now it dawned on him, he had been overconfident, just like Asher.

And though he would never admit he had anything in common with the Blaze boy, the bitter truth was they had made the same mistake: underestimating their opponent. And Kylian was determined to fix it.

Before he could react further, two long muddy hands erupted from the wet ground, gripping his ankles tightly to pin him down, at that same moment, three golems appeared in a triangle formation around him.

Directly ahead stood a Stone Guard Golem, wielding a large legion-style shield as if preparing for a crushing bash.

To his left and right were two other golems one looked like a compact version of Titan in his base form, a low Tier-5 Ice Golem, and the other a Low Tier 5 Stone Gunner Golem already taking aim.

"Fuck this!" he growled.

[> Mid-Tier Spell – Frozen Kiss Touch <]

Kylian shoved his crystallized hands into the muddy restraints, as frost surged from his palms, rapidly spreading through the muddy grips and freezing them into solid ice in a desperate attempt to shatter their hold.

But while all this was happening, the Stone Guard Golem had already begun its charge toward him at high speed, letting out a booming war cry.

"Ahhh!"

The shout echoed across the arena, and Kylian's instincts screamed at him, he needed to act fast.

Something told him that if he took a direct hit from that attack, it wouldn't end well for him.

Still trapped, and waiting for the frozen mud hands to crumble and free his legs, Kylian raised his right hand and sent a stream of ice-infused mana into the water ahead of him, drawing on his mental power, he manipulated the energy with precision, instantly raising a tall, reinforced ice wall from the frozen water.

It happened in an instant, so fast that even he was surprised.

The pressure of battle had pushed him beyond his normal limits, allowing him to achieve something he hadn't realized he was capable of.

Normally, casting a similar defensive move with a spell would have drained a chunk of his mana and required casting time, something he couldn't afford right now.

But as a Tier 6 mage, his growing familiarity with his mental powers allowed him to bypass that process, with even minimal mana, as he created a more solid Ice wall defence.

Bang!

The Stone Guard Golem slammed hard into the ice wall, the impact was jarring, but the Ice shield held firm.

Meanwhile, the frozen mud hands finally crumbled away, freeing Kylian's legs, he immediately began to retreat, trying to reassess the battle but it wasn't like Agnes's golems had any intention of giving him breathing space.

He had barely taken three steps back when he suddenly felt a threat racing toward him from behind.

Without hesitation, he ducked just in time as a tightly compressed ball of earth, like a spinning bowling ball whizzed past his head.

Another followed right after, both projectiles streaking through the air, as they reached the edge of the battle ring, the arena's barrier flared to life with a dull boom as the impact echoed across the stage.

This time, the mages seated in the Royal Mage Clan's section were watching the battle with rapt attention.

Things weren't unfolding the way they had expected, at least not according to Liam's script, everything was spiralling out of his predictions.

Though the earthen balls fired by the Stone Gunner Golem wouldn't have killed Kylian, they still posed a real threat.

Even minor injuries could throw off his focus, and the biggest issue right now was that he had completely lost sight of Agnes.

That was a grave mistake.

It was after all common knowledge that one must never give a Magic Path mage time and space to cast freely, or they would pay the price for their negligence.

But saying it was one thing, doing it while being swarmed by golems was another, all the while, Agnes had quietly remained at the edge of his blind spot, gathering mana for a powerful spell.

Kylian, who had just dodged the initial combo attack, frowned deeply.

He had believed Alec was the only one capable of fielding such irregular golems, but Agnes's golems though only in the low Tier 5 range were causing him serious trouble.

He couldn't understand how she was able to control all five so precisely.

After Alec had helped Agnes evolve her golems they upgraded in rank too, and now Agnes herself had noticed the change. Commanding them became effortless, a simple order was enough for them to execute with intense precision, giving her the mental space to focus on larger spells. Just like now.

She wanted Kylian distracted and boxed in—too busy to notice what she was building up.

Kylian glanced around at the five golems, though none posed a lethal threat individually, however taking them all out would burn through a significant amount of the mana he had been trying to conserve.

He hadn't just wanted to defeat Agnes; he had planned to face another mage from the War God Mage team after this.

Though the Royal Mage Academy and the War God Mage Academy had one win each, but the Royal Mage Academy's victory had come through a surrender—something Alec had insisted on.

To him, it didn't feel like a true win, and he had resolved to secure two decisive victories for the Royal Mage Academy himself.

However, once he realized he had been thinking like Asher—arrogant and dismissive—and he changed his mind-set.

He began to view Agnes as a worthy opponent who demanded his full respect, or he'd pay dearly for underestimating her.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Blizzard <]

The moment he cast the spell, the temperature plummeted, as a massive amount of his mana was consumed to amplify the storm to the level he desired, snow and ice burst into a ferocious spiral around him, swallowing the entire stage in a freezing vortex with him at the eye of it.

All five golems were engulfed by the raging storm, their forms quickly obscured as continuous damage was inflicted.

The spectators could hardly see through the chaos, the swirling frost reduced visibility to near zero.

Then, after thirty seconds, all five golems were violently flung out of the ring, crashing hard and tearing through sections of the arena, a split second later, a deafening explosion followed, and a powerful shockwave blasted across the battlefield.

But when it reached Agnes, it passed harmlessly through a shimmering veil of water in front of her, the barrier rippled under the force, but held firm.

It was clear that taking her down would require far more effort.

"Second round," Kylian said coldly, stretching out both hands and conjuring a pair of jagged, inverse-shaped ice daggers.

Across from him, Agnes stood still, smiling confidently.

"You made the mistake of giving me too much time. Hopefully, you won't suffer too badly by the end of this," she said calmly.

Her words struck a nerve. Kylian's irritation showed.

He dropped into a battle stance, this time ready to go all out, whether or not he made it to the second match no longer mattered.

As long as he won this one, that alone would be enough for him.