The Golem Mage

While the flood dragon struggled to push Kylian off the stage, its body was slowly freezing over, because the sheer amount of ice mana Kylian was releasing had already turned the dragon's entire head into what looked like a detailed ice sculpture.

As the cracking sounds of spreading ice continued to echo through the arena, Agnes made her final move.

Though she had used most of her mana to conjure the lifelike demonic beast in water form, it was her infusion of mental energy that had given the spell its complexity and purpose.

Without it, the flood dragon would've been just another predictable spell, with the option of being read and counter.

Thanks to that mental energy, she'd managed to conserve a small reserve of mana, though she looked completely spent, however she could still cast one last spell, and with Kylian still locked in his desperate struggle against the dragon's water body, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

She raised her hands with the right hand still gripping her wand, and a barrage of jagged earth shrapnel shot toward him.

Bang!

Strangely, the impact didn't create a scene of piercing violence—instead, a frosty mist exploded outward, coating Kylian entirely.

His body became a statue of frost, frozen stiff, even the flood dragon, with its head long turned to ice, shattered as it slammed into Kylian's supposed frozen body and knocked it off the stage.

It all felt surreal. Agnes felt a strange mix of triumph and dread until she noticed the cold bite of an ice dagger resting against her neck.

She shook her head in silent defeat, victory had been within reach, but in the end, she still lost.

Yet she didn't mourn the outcome, instead, her eyes burned with anticipation—she could already imagine the kind of threat she'd become once her golems reached Tier 6.

Though she knew it was incredibly difficult for Golem mages to push their golems to that realm, even within the Gordons clan, however, if there was one thing Agnes had learned from staying close to Alec, it was that he always seemed to have an answer to all their problems.

No matter how impossible things looked, he found a way.

"I surren—" she began, but before the words could leave her lips, Kylian struck her on the head with the base of his dagger, knocking her unconscious.

The sudden act made the War God Mage Academy team flinch, but the reactions from Alec, Brandon, Arthur, and Knight were far more intense. Alec, without hesitation, had appeared on the stage without many realising how it happened, he lifted Agnes gently while brushing her hair aside before slipping a pill between her lips.

"The winner of this round is the Royal Mage Academy!" the judge declared, as Kylian stared at Alec, who remained calm and focused, his movements precise and unbothered.

Though Kylian couldn't see the exact runes on the pill, the surge of potent energy it emitted in those brief seconds was unmistakable—it was a Tier 6 pill.

By now, it was no secret among the top eight academies that Alec Gordons had access to such high-grade healing pills.

For a student from a supposedly underfunded institution, carrying around Tier 6 pills was more than suspicious—it was alarming, many among the great academies had suspected that War God Mage academy was backing a high-tier alchemist, however they never found evidence or were they able to poach the alchemist.

Unfortunately for them, the War God Mage Academy had now broken away from the Kingdom's central authority, making any direct investigation difficult.

"Why did you do that?, you had clearly already won. After casting that ice decoy, not only did you avoid elimination—you secured a flawless victory."

"But to strike her after she was about to surrender? Don't you think that was too excessive?" Alec questioned

"Don't lecture me about what's right or wrong. If you want to correct me, then come on stage and fight me," Kylian snapped, his voice sharp with irritation as Alec calmly pointed out the truth behind his actions, exposing the real source of his anger.

Kylian had believed that no matter how skilled Agnes was, he would ultimately win.

He had confidence in his superiority, but instead of dominating the match, he had been pushed to the brink of elimination and forced to use his Ice Decoy, sacrificing a rare and valuable ice puppet in the process.

The Ice Decoy spell was a precious technique that only a selected few of the zero clan's genius mages are allowed to learn, a last-resort spell that could save the user from fatal danger.

However it required rare materials and expert craftsmanship to form the ice puppet, and only the top-tier prodigies chosen by the clan, which the clan believes in their future achievements are assisted in creating one ice puppet.

For Kylian, who didn't fully understand the complexities of the spell, crafting another one by himself was impossible at this stage, even with the full materials before him, losing it in a tournament battle rather than a life-or-death situation gnawed at his pride.

Deep down, he knew what it truly meant: if not for the Ice Decoy, he would have lost.

His only real advantage in the battle had been his longer time in the Tier 6 realm, his firmer foundation, and the overwhelming resources of his clan. The shallow taste of victory, earned not through dominance but survival, filled him with frustration—and that frustration had spilled into his actions.

But rather than give Alec the satisfaction of a reply, he simply snorted and returned to his side of the battle ring, silently awaiting the next opponent War God Mage Academy would send.

Exhausted from the last fight and low on mana, he still refused to back down.

He wasn't expecting to win again, but he wouldn't hand over an easy victory either, he is ready to force the next War God Mage Academy participant to earn it—and, if nothing else, show his team members exactly what kind of opponent they were up against before he lost.

And while at it, Kylian was planning on deliberately prolonging the battle, intending to harass his opponent and drain as much mana as possible from whoever came next.

He smiled slightly at the thought of his plan, believing it would redeem his unsatisfying victory.

"War God Mage Academy, you have 60 seconds to send out your next participant," the acting judge announced, just as Alec carried Agnes' unconscious body toward their academy's resting area.

As he gently laid her on the back seat, as he saw Pale standing nearby.

"Alec, let me take the third round and make quick work of him. I still have a grudge to settle—because of what his grandfather tried to do to me last time," Pale said.

But Alec shook his head.

"You can settle your family matters at your clan house, this is now a Gordons matter, and only a Gordons is worthy of punishing him for that action. Besides, we're still sticking to the line-up I created. Wait your turn."

He tapped Pale's shoulder lightly, but with each tap, Pale felt a strange weight pressing down on his left shoulder, as if he were carrying something invisible.

It was at that moment he understood—Alec, though more composed than the rest, was furious.

The blindfold he wore obscured his eyes, and his lower face remained unreadably stoic, but that subtle pressure revealed how deeply his anger ran.

"Brandon!" Alec finally called.

Brandon stood immediately, no further words were exchanged between them, but something passed in the air—an understanding deeper than speech, and Brandon knew exactly what Alec wanted, down to the finest detail.

"Don't worry," Brandon said calmly as he made his way toward the stage.