Twin Soul

Carmen casted five other [Ice Spear] spells and commanded three of them to fly toward Arthur to attack him while the other two attacked the Fire Demon. The Fire Demon casted [Fireball] twice to destroy two Ice Spears flying toward it then resumed casting [Flame] spell to continue to defrost the [Ice Prison].

One of the [Ice Barrier] spells Carmen had cast earlier still had enough strength to absorb several other [Lightning Strike] spells casted by the Thunder Eagle. But Carmen knew her Ice Barrier would fade away soon and she needed to be more aggressive before the Fire Demon could defrost all of her Ice Prison to free Arthur. The Fire Demon could cast up to level 11 Fire spells and if it teams up together with the Thunder Eagle, Carmen would have a big difficulty in winning this match.

Carmen thought to herself, "I needed to kill that Conjurer Mage before he can conjure another creature or my chance of winning will be much slimmer."

Carmen casted [Death Frost], level 15 Ice spell, to create a circle on the ground where Phantom Knight was standing while it was struggling to repeatedly parry the three other [Ice Spear] spells Carmen had recently casted. Two seconds later, the Phantom Knight was frozen and exploded as one of the Ice Spear flew through it and hit Arthur in the chest. Arthur faded away but Carmen didn't seem to be astonished about it. She had already guessed that he could have activated his [Shadow Clone] spell before the match started. A few seconds later, the real Arthur appeared sixty feet away.

Carmen smiled because she was happy to locate the real Arthur now. Carmen activated the [Mana Infusion] technique, then casted [Blizzard], level 20 Ice spell, the highest spell that an Intermediate Ice Mage could cast. Not only Carmen used her strongest spell, but she put all of her mana into it using [Mana Infusion]. A giant Storm Blizzard appeared in the middle of the arena and froze the Thunder Eagle, as well as the Fire Demon at the same time. Five seconds later, both the Thunder Eagle and Fire Demon were killed and disappeared from the arena while Arthur was struggling to run away from the Storm Blizzard. If the Storm Blizzard could catch up to Arthur, he would be frozen then die as well.

Seeing how her opponent struggled to escape, Carmen laughed and said, "I have activated [Mana Infusion], there would be nowhere else for you to go. The Storm Blizzard will soon cover this entire arena. I am afraid that even the audience will feel its effect if this keeps on going longer. Surrender now while you still can and I will deactivate it."

Ignored Carmen's offer for him to surrender, Arthur continued to run away in an attempt to escape the rapidly growing Storm Blizzard. Less than a minute later, the Storm Blizzard caught up to Arthur and froze him alive while Anrod Peckgray laughed out loud thinking the duel was over. Anrod turned toward Vincenzo and was about to make fun of him but suddenly he remembered something and looked back at the arena. After carefully looking at the frozen figure, Anrod noticed it was a Skeleton Warrior that was trapped inside the Storm Blizzard, not Arthur.

[Warp Infusion], level 20 Conjuration spell. This spell can swap places between a conjured creature and its conjurer up to a one-mile radius depending on how strong that Conjurer Mage is.

Nobody would pay attention to a lowly Skeleton Warrior as there was nothing it could do to harm an Intermediate Ice Mage. Well, unless that Skeleton Warrior was conjured by a Master Conjurer Mage then it would be a totally different story.

Nonetheless, Arthur sacrificed that Skeleton Warrior so he could get out of the danger zone using [Warp Infusion] spell when needed. By the time Carmen realized this, it was too late already. Arthur casted [Conjure Phantom Knight] and immediately commanded it to attack Carmen giving her no chance to run.

Carmen had no mana left to cast any other [Ice Barrier] spell to absorb the attacks from the Phantom Knight. Despite the Storm Blizzard was still growing strong but it was heading in the wrong direction as Arthur had swapped places with the Skeleton Warrior. The Storm Blizzard had turned around but that would take at least twenty seconds for it to catch up to Arthur's current location. This was the twenty seconds Carmen didn't have as she was forced to surrender the duel or the Phantom Knight would have killed her.

If the magic caster dies, any spells that were cast by that magic caster would have disappeared as well (not all magic spells). Needless to say, even if Carmen refused to surrender and get killed by the Phantom Knight. Arthur would still win this duel after the Storm Blizzard disappeared.

The professors and students of Nosh cheered out loud because this was the first time someone from Mages' Academy of Nosh defeated another magic caster of Mages' Academy of Sinerin in a one versus one duel. The cheering was so loud that it woke Kain up in his deep sleep. Kain looked at the arena and nodded because it turned out the way he had expected.

Kain thought to himself, "Arthur is strong. That bitch is weak. This duel was a waste of time from the beginning. That Professor Anrod Dickface wasted everybody's time for his stupid ego. If he paid attention carefully, he wouldn't allow that bitch to duel with Arthur. Why would Vicenzo send a Conjurer Mage when Conjuration Magic is considered to be the weakest? It was because Arthur Castillon is too strong compared to any other Intermediate Mage that Mages' Academy of Nosh had. F*cking idiot. Use your stupid brain, Professor Dickface."

Anrod was very mad that Carmen had lost. But he remained smiling, even laughed out loud, then said, "Professor Biersack, congratulations on having such a good student. There may be some hope for Nosh after all."

"Thank you, Professor Peckgray. Too bad that your favorite student had lost this duel. It was a very close match, isn't it?"

"Carmen is just an above-average student in my class. I have predicted that this would happen but still let her participate in this duel. Sometimes the losers needed to win to keep themselves motivated. Am I right, Professor Biersack?" Anrod laughed out loud again. He then gave the command for his other professors and students of Sinerin to leave as he headed toward the dueling ground.

Carmen was ashamed that she had lost. She immediately apologized seeing Anrod was walking toward her, "Professor Peckgray, my apology. I was tricked."

"Hey, it is okay. Carmen, you are still a good student. You did not let me down at all. If losing can get you some more experience, then it is totally worth it. This was just a friendly duel anyway. In the tournament, you will fight together with five more teammates who are much stronger than you. Cheer up, there is nothing to worry about."

"Yes, Professor Peckgray."

The reason Anrod said that out loud was because he wanted Vincenzo, other professors, and students of Nosh to know that there are many students stronger than Carmen Lancaster in their Mages' Academy. Someone like Arthur Castillon would be considered a great genius in the Commonwealth of Krorg, but in the Republic of Yfari, he was just an above-average student.

Surrounded in cheering praises by students and professors, Arthur was happy and gained full confidence in himself once again. This was what he deserved. It has been five years since he lost to Kain in a duel. Today, he had proved himself to be the true genius in Mages' Academy of Nosh. He has mastered the Intermediate-tier and will soon advance into the Master-tier. Arthur turned to look at Kain only to find that he had fallen asleep again on Sofia's shoulder. Arthur was not mad but felt pity at Kain for missing his awesome duel.

Five days later, the tournament finally started. The arena was packed with audiences, estimated to be more than four hundred thousand spectators. Guild Leaders of infamous Guilds from all nations of Toria Continents and representatives of the Mages Council were also present because they wanted to recruit the best of the best to work for them.

Even though the Mage Guilds are ruled by the Mage Council, they have the right to operate independently. They receive payments through complete quests given out by leaders of nations. A lowly Baron of several villages can also hire members of a Mages Guild for quests, as long as that Baron can afford to pay. No magic casters would work for free though, that would be stupid. "Free service equals no service." That is the motto of all Mage Guilds.

There are many strong beasts and magical creatures that live in the magical forests across Toria Continents. Those beasts can cause trouble or even destroy villages and cities before magic casters from a Mages Guild arrive to stop them. There are many service types that the Mage Guilds provide including escort, transport, destroy or seal magical dungeons, and many more types of service.

One of the most famous quests for the Mage Guilds was to hunt down mythical creatures such as Dragon, Phoenix, Griffin, or even a Hydra. Those mythical creatures came from other lower realms of the same or different universes through portals. Those portals opened once every calendar (a million years) all over the places in Toria Continents which made some of those mythical creatures accidentally traveled through and trapped in here.

These portals are one-way dimensions. Any mythical creatures traveled through will not be able to go back to their realms and stuck in Toria Continents forever. Body parts from those mythical creatures can be used to create Improvement Potions that help magic casters to achieve Saint-tier a hundred times easier. There were rumors about many mythical creatures still hiding inside magical forests of Toria Continents. The Mages Council spent large sums of money annually for hiring Mages Guilds to hunt those mythical creatures down to collect their body parts.

The arena announcer used the [Whispering Wind] spell to introduce battle contenders on both sides to the audience, "Ladies and Gentlemen. For our first battle, let me introduce the group of six Novice Mages who came from Mages' Academy of Nosh. Adela Hindergrass, a Light Mage. Rosa Drumwind, a Fire Mage. Golda Coldshore, a Thunder Mage. Ana Roxley, a Wind Mage. Calley Astoria, an Ice Mage. And Jaane Almos, an Earth Mage."

[Whispering Wind], level 25 Wind spell. This spell allows its caster to deliver or receive voice messages within a ten miles radius. Because of this spell, Wind Mages are commonly selected to be scouts because they can instantly transmit their messages to allies.