Ash half expected Henry to straightforwardly order him to pick another, more sensible weapon. His brother's dull eyes behind a pair of glasses didn't show any surprise at the hairpin.

Henry took a deep breath and slung Ash's space preservation bag over his shoulder. "Don't break it."

He turned around and walked out of the waiting area. Jasper's jaw dropped as he watched Henry leave without another word. He looked from Henry's fleeting figure to Ash and then back.

"You're not going to try to change his mind?" Jasper almost cried out.

Henry's shoulder shrugged as his imperial guard escort surrounded him.. "He's stubborn."

Ash grinned. "He has faith in my abilities, Jasper."

"If that's faith, it's blind...." Jasper muttered under his breath. He looked back at Ash with uncertainty. "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to use my sword? You're a skilled fighter, Ash. I know you can use a sword."

He shook his head once more. "I appreciate your offer, Jasper. Such a sword would be extremely useful in the final round, but I will stick to what I know."

Jasper's eyes crinkled up as he lowered his gaze to the metal hairpin. His lips pulled into a disbelieving line.

Across from him, Cyrus let out a heavy breath. "If that is his decision, we should trust it," he said. Ash glanced over at him. Was Cyrus resigned? "After all, look at what he has been able to do so far. I am certain he knows what he's doing."

Ash squinted. You really don't sound like it....

Jasper gave a conceding nod. He put his sword away and looked at the two. "If you are sure." He gave them nods before stepping back. "Good luck, you two."

Cyrus returned the nod, and Ash smiled. "Don't worry, Jasper. I won't let anything happen to Cyrus!"

Jasper seemed even more concerned after he said that. With reluctance, he turned around and headed back with the Pheris guards who had escorted him.

Cyrus turned to Ash. "Are you sure about this?"

Ash twirled the metal stick between his fingers and over his hand with skill. He beamed. "Think of it as a very thin, handleless ice pick." He held it up, making sure he saw the five pearls inside the decorative end of the hair pin. "A magical ice pick."

Cyrus looked at the pearls and then nodded. Whether he was completely convinced or not, Ash wasn't sure, but it was enough that Cyrus trusted him to know how to use his weapon of choice.

They turned back to the arena, and looked towards the hour glass by the judges. "It's almost time," Cyrus said. He looked at Ash. "How are you going to explain your weapon to the other mages?"

"It's not a requirement to," Ash replied, looking straight ahead. "So, I'm not going to."

The sound of drums filled the air and the master of ceremonies returned to the center of the arena grounds. The woman who was in charge of their cues to enter the arena grounds, gave them a wave.

"You can enter now."

Ash and Cyrus marched towards the center. Cyrus had his sword strapped to his back and Ash held the hairpin beneath one of his leather gauntlets. Across from them, the two Magic Tower mages approached with an unsheathed sword and a whip.

It seemed that they were ready to start at any moment.

Ash narrowed his eyes as they stopped across from each other. The sword had wind magic in it. From the strength he could sense, it could create powerful gusts. Whether or not the mage could control those gusts or compress them into a narrow trajectory was another story.

I'd give it...six out of ten. A bit average if you ask me.... He looked at the leather whip coiled around Mage Gorantla's forearm. It was a bit more interesting, as whips were usually used with water or plant energy. Lightning was quite rare. I wonder what the old man had to do to get that....

"The fifteen minutes are over and our challengers have returned!" the master of ceremonies shouted as the drums died down. "Have you made your final selection of weapons?"

"Yes!" Several men's voices rang out in confirmation.

The master of ceremonies nodded, satisfied. "Keep in mind that each challenger can only use one magic weapon during the battle. It cannot be replaced once lost or damaged and rendered unusable."

"Question!" Ash raised his hand. The master of ceremonies stumbled in his words and looked at Ash, exasperated.

"Yes, Mage von Sails?"

"Are challengers allowed to steal a lost, damaged, or discarded weapon?" Ash asked. There was an intense excitement in his eyes that seemed to make the master of ceremonies shift awkwardly in place.

"No! There is no weapons change, including using another mage's weapon, mid-battle-"

"What about after?" Ash asked. The whip looked remarkably high quality for who was using it. When Effie was older, she could learn to use it.

The master of ceremonies almost choked. "No!" Ash clicked his tongue with disappointment.

"What happens if a mage loses their weapon or if their weapon is damaged and can't be used mid-battle?" Cyrus asked in a calm voice.

"Good question, Mage Amini!" The master of ceremonies perked up. "Should a challenger lose their weapon or if their weapon can no longer be used, they can continue to fight, but weaponless. The battle only ends when one team surrenders or can no longer physically fight, but the weapon must be unusable before mages can fight without one."

Cyrus gave him a nod in acknowledgement. "Understood."

Ash touched the metal beneath his gauntlet. The metal was forged with great pains from ore found in a crater. He was told it was stronger than any sword or dagger, and could channel magic much smoother than native metals. The pearls were elemental crystals coated with thin layers of the same crater metal, which was what gave them that sheen.

The hairpin was one of a pair.

"Mage Bo! What is your weapon?" The master of ceremonies stepped back to allow Mage Bo to move forward and face the audience, holding his chosen weapon in front of him.

"I will be using the Sword of a Thousand Winds! A class B weapon forged in the deserts of Grabera!" Mage Bo grasped the hilt of his stone and unsheathed it. As soon as the blade was pulled from its sheath, a sharp, strong gust of wind hit Ash's face. His eyes squinted as his stray bangs flew around his face.

"...Maybe I should get a headband…." Ash muttered to himself.

The audience clapped and the master of ceremonies walked forward. "Mage Gorantla, what is your weapon?"

"I have the Whip of Avarice, one of the weapons of the seven giants of the Tosere Range. One crack of the whip will send lightning strikes where directed. It is a class A weapon." Mage Gorantla let the whip rest at his side. He looked around to make sure the area in front of him was clear before pulling back the whip and flicking it forward, sending the whip forward. A snack and a crack were heard, along with a flash of yellow lightning across the arena field.

"That's not a bad weapon, but it's not suitable for close combat," Cyrus said in a quiet voice. "You'd just need to close the distance."

Ash nodded. Considering what the two other mages worked as, they likely had other weapons, but these were the most intimidating ones.

"Those are impressive weapons! They will be difficult to counter against," the master of ceremonies said with an approving nod as Mage Gorantla coiled the whip around one arm. The master of ceremonies turned to Cyrus and Ash with a shadow of pity on his face. "Were you able to find magic weapons in such a short amount of time?"

Ash's lips pulled into an unimpressed line. "Yes, we were able to find magic weapons."

"Wonderful!" His smile didn't seem to carry the genuine joy he was supposed to have. Instead, he was patronizing. "Will you show the audience and your opponents what your weapon is?"

Cyrus opened his mouth, but Ash cut in. "No."

The master of ceremonies stared at him for a moment. "No?"

Ash threw him a cheerful smile. "I'm just kidding." He held up his right hand and exposed the metal hairpin between his fingers. "This is my weapon."

People in the audience who were seated further away likely couldn't make out what it was as the arena went quiet.

The master of ceremonies looked at the thin metal object and then at Ash. "What is it?"

Ash continued to smile. "A woman's ornamental hairpin."

He could almost feel the confusion and annoyance from the audience fill the arena. In front of him, the master of ceremonies didn't seem able to control his expressions and openly looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

Mage Bo began laughing. Mage Gorantla took it differently and frowned, as if the appearance with the hairpin was telling them that Ash didn't take them seriously.

"A woman's ornamental hairpin?" Mage Bo appeared to almost double over in laughter. His words were wheezed out as his eyes watered, looking at the thin metal object in Ash's hands.

Mage Gorantla sneered and shook his head. "Are you trying to make fools of us? How is that a magic weapon?"

Ash sighed. "It was agreed upon that magic weapons must have their own source of magic energy that can be manipulated and also use the energy of the mage. The hairpin does that. There was nothing that required the magic weapon to actually look like a weapon."

Cyrus nodded beside him. "I believe your Magic Tower also accepts this."

"But that's a hairpin!" Mage Bo waved the object in Ash's hand. "Surely you can't be thinking of trying to stab us with it! The magic weapon must be used beyond its normal physical usage."

"And you don't see me putting my hair up with this," Ash replied with a roll of his eyes. "As long as I use it to attack or defend with magic, it's a weapon. Don't get stuck on the object itself, but focus on how it's used."

"A hairpin against a sword?" Mage Gorantla raised a brow. "If you couldn't find a proper magic weapon, you could've told us and we would've gladly provided you with a basic magic sword."

"To fight against a hairpin…are you trying to embarrass us Mage von Sails?" Mage Bo asked with a slight frown.

The corner of Ash's lips curled up a bit. "Yes, actually I am."

The two mages frowned and Cyrus stepped between them. "We have selected our weapons," he said, meeting both the mages' gazes before turning to the master of ceremonies. "I believe we can begin."

Mage Gorantla snorted, flaring his nostrils before turning his head away in distaste. "If Mage von Sails insists, then there is nothing more that needs to be said."

"Indeed," Mage Bo said with a sneer. He gave the master of ceremonies a small nod. "If he wants to die faster, then that's his business."

The master of ceremonies shook his head and then looked towards Cyrus. "Mage Amini?"

"I have a type of kinetic sword," Cyrus replied as he reached back, grabbed the grip of his curved sword, and pulled it out of its sheath. Like Ash, he didn't elaborate on what the sword could do.

Ash didn't want to explain it either, but watched the expressions of the two other mages carefully to see if they identified Cyrus' weapon. From their dull, unimpressed expressions, it seemed that they didn't know how powerful Cyrus' weapon was.

Kinetic swords were a type of sword that relied on motion to increase and control manipulated energy. Lower classed swords could only handle a low amount of a single energy. They were a good beginner magic weapon for those who didn't focus on a particular type of energy.

But Cyrus' sword was not for beginners. Less movement needed to be used; the faint energy vibrations against the metal would be enough to return hundreds of times stronger in the right hands. Ash was now well aware of Cyrus' abilities; the sword was very much in the right hands.

"This is almost disappointing," Mage Gorantla said with a frown. He looked at the two opposing weapons with disgust. "I thought that with your abilities and how long you've worked, you would have something more formidable than a beginner's magic sword."

Ash raised a brow. "Wow, you really can't read magic items, can you?" he asked. He shook his head. "We haven't started yet, and I'm already embarrassed for you."

Mage Bo made a show of lunging forward, only to have Mage Gorantla stop him. Mage Gorantla lifted his chin. "We'll see who'll be embarrassed."

"We'll see who survives," Mage Bo spat out in a low voice. He gave the master of ceremonies a sharp look. "Start!"

The master of ceremonies looked back at Ash, silently asking if he was ready. Ash gave him a nod. The master of ceremonies raised his arms.

"Will the two teams turn their backs on each other and begin the countdown to the final duel!" Ash and Cyrus gave the two mages an acknowledging nod of sportsmanship before turning around. When their backs were turned against each other, the master of ceremonies began the count down from twenty.

During this time, the drums began to beat once for each count. The master of ceremonies rushed back to the safety of the judge's area, which was behind the magic barrier.

"Five...."

"How do you want to do this?" Cyrus asked.

"Four!"

"I'd like to see how good they actually are," Ash replied.

"Three!"

"Can we keep it under an hour?"

"Two!"

"Yeah, Effie wanted to get spicy chicken rice tonight and we have reservations."

"One!"

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A deafening dull boom filled the arena. A wave of magic energy slammed into the barrier surrounding the arena floor, causing a visible wave of blue-white light to reverberate. Excitement filled the air as yelling and screaming from the audience surrounded them. Blasts of magic slammed against the barrier, at one point nearly blocking the view of the arena below.

In the imperial viewing suite, a second barrier muffled the noise from the surrounding audience. Carlton, the Dowager Empress' head steward, adjusted the volume through the speakers that carried noise from the floor of the arena.

At that moment, the sound of energies clashing and hitting the barrier was louder than what was comfortable.

"See if you can focus on their voices," the Dowager Empress told him as she returned to her seat. "No doubt Ash will have some entertaining quips. He never ceases to make me laugh."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Careful now, old man! You don't want to pull a muscle!" Ash's energetic voice filled the suite.

"Stop calling me old! I'm thirty-eight!" Mage Gorantla scowled and continued to snap his whip at Ash, which Ash avoided each time.

"Thirty-eight!?" Ash's voice rose with genuine surprise. "Are you sure you don't mean eighty-three?"

"Shut up!"

"What have you been doing with your life that made you look like that?"

The Dowager Empress laughed. "He sounds almost insulted that the mage dares to appear older than he is."

"...Thirty-eight?" Effie scrunched her face as she stood by the balcony wall to watch. She looked at her mother and then back at the arena field. "Momma, he's only two years older than you. Why does he look so old?"

"Lunapsar age slowly once they reach adulthood," Nera replied. Several of the imperial guards looked at her curiously. Henry also thought it was because he saw his aunt daily, but now that she mentioned it, she didn't look to had aged much since they first met.

Considering how stressful a good portion of her life was, it didn't show on her face.

"You will age slowly, too, Effie," the Dowager Empress said in a dotting voice. "Your Momma's mother was in her forties when she passed and the last time I saw her, she looked as young as she did when she had Nera."

Effie perked up and beamed. She leaned against her mother and rubbed her head against Nera's arm. "Hehe...I'm going to be pretty like Momma."

Nera stroked her hair back gently. "My baby is already pretty now."

Effie flushed and buried her face in Nera's side. The scene was in sharp contrast to the violence happening below.

"To be fair, Effie, normal thirty-eight-year-old humans don't look that old either," Henry said. "Look at Cio's mother or Terry's father."

"My mother is that old and she started getting gray hairs," Prince Max said.

"Positions of power put a lot of stress on a person, which can age them," Nera replied diplomatically. "Also, don't talk about your mother's gray hairs. She wouldn't hurt her feelings, which isn't very nice."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Effie gave Prince Max a roll of her eyes. "This is why your mom yells at you."

"Effie, watch carefully." Nera redirected her attention to the arena below. "Watch your brother's movements. Tell me how he is going to move."

Effie nodded with her little brows furrowed in concentration. "Parry, open distance...quarter step to the side...."

As she did her best to predict Ash's movements, as if the entire duel was something for her to observe and practice with, Henry sat in the row behind them, looking down at the arena as he listened to Simir report on what magic Ash was using.

At the moment, it was almost all wind energy, which was used to control air pressure and slow down or speed up movements. This could directly weaken the impact of one weapon against his, as well as respond with a shock wave to shake the opponent.

"The second young master is playing with them," Simir said, sounding more as if he were confirming what he expected than surprised.

Henry wasn't either. He was far away, but he'd still seen that greedy glint in Ash's eyes when the other mages were showing off their weapons. Ash wanted to see what those weapons could do and was making the mages show him.

Henry shook his head. "He already has so many magic weapons...."

And what Ash didn't already have, he could develop and make.

"Your brother is quite fast," the Dowager Empress said from her gilded seat beside him. "I remember when he was just a little boy...chubby and waddling everywhere. He was so cute. Now look at him. It's as if all I can see is his after image."

"Don't let him hear you compliment him," Henry replied with a slight chuckle. "It'll get to his head."

The old woman laughed. "Oh, but I'm sure you'll put him in his place. His forte is magic and martial arts comes second. Yours is martial first."

"It's more interesting than governing, you have to admit," Henry told her.

The Dowager Empress smiled and looked back towards the field below. "But there will be a day where what is needed most isn't your swordsmanship, but your way with words and policy. Boring it may be, but it is needed."

Henry agreed with a solemn nod. "I look forward to that day."

The Dowager Empress nodded. "I do, too, Your Highness."

"How did you know all that?" Prince Max looked at Effie with breathless excitement and awe as she took a breath from predicting her second brother's movements.

"Learning how a person moves by the way their head bobs and their shoulders and hips shift is beneficial when fighting. You can learn to predict an opponent's moves," Effie replied. Her mother handed her a glass of juice and she grasped it with both hands before taking big gulps of it.

"Auntie Madam Atractas, can you show me how to predict opponent movements?" Prince Max asked with wide eyes.

"You should already know a bit," Nera replied with a gentle smile. "Your mother said that you have formally started learning the sword."

"But all I do is practice swings and carefully take steps!" Prince Max's face flushed as he held out his arms, as if he were holding a sword up and then made awkward shuffles forward.

Nera's smile widened. "That is the foundation. You need a strong foundation to build upon. Perfect practice makes perfect, so being careful to make and follow through with the correct movements is important."

Effie nodded. "Then, you will have better control of your weapon and body and be able to strike the opponent when you know where they'll move."

The Dowager Empress chuckled. "She's not blood related to the General, but she's trained like one."

"Momma! Look!" Effie pointed to the arena floor excitedly. "Second Brother caught the angry mage's whip!"

"Young Miss, I'm afraid that the angry mage is the one who has caught the Second Young Master's hairpin," one of the imperial guards said with some disappointment.

Henry craned his neck to try to get a better look. Below them, Mage Bo was battling it out with Cyrus, who seemed to deflect the attacks more so than attacked back. Mage Gorantla was up against Ash, and the tip of his lightning whip had coiled around the length of the hairpin.

Ash gripped one end with his right hand and then grabbed the top with his left. Perhaps some people thought his expression was a forced grimace, but anyone who knew Ash recognized the maniacal grin of someone who just found a good toy to play with.

Effie shook her head and pursed her lips. "No. Second Brother caught the angry mage."

"Hah! Here we go! Do it!" Ash's excited shouts could be heard above the cheering of the audience. "Hit me!"

A moment later, flashes of yellow light crackled around the handle of the whip in Mage Gorantla's hand.

Henry and the Dowager Empress both rose from their seats to get a better view.

As the lightning reached the hairpin, it didn't go past the metal portion. It fizzled out, disappearing before a single spark could touch Ash's exposed hands.

"Where did it go?" The Dowager Empress' eyes were wide.

"It's in the hairpin." Henry and Nera replied at the same time.

On the arena floor, Ash's grin grew wider. "Thanks for the meal." A moment later, a blue-white light shot through the length of the whip, visible to all. It didn't crackle or bend and twist, like the earlier lightning did.

It was a straight, focused beam of energy that coursed through from one weapon, the hairpin, through the other, the whip, and was injected back into Mage Gorantla.

A cry filled the air as Mage Gorantla was thrown back, off his feet and across the dirt floor of the arena. His body landed hard on his side and he rolled to a stop. The blue-white lightning manifested in sparks around him as he curled into a ball and twitched.

A wave of gasps came from the audience, and even Mage Bo and Cyrus paused in the midst of their fight to look. The middle-aged mage's hand trembled as he rolled over. He placed another arm beneath him and dragged his legs forward, pushing himself up into a crawling position.

His eyes were wide and his shoulders shook.

"What...what did you do?" His voice was choked. Several paces away, Ash twirled the hairpin between his fingers once more.

"I used a magic weapon," Ash replied with a gentle shrug. "Isn't that what you chose for us to battle with?"

"What kind of weapon is that!?" Mage Gorantla growled as he pushed himself up and stood on shaking legs. A few sparks of electricity still snapped at his sides.

"It's a woman's ornamental hairpin," Ash replied. "And it can be used as a weapon."

"What kind of hairpin can release a current strong enough to send a man flying?" Mage Bo shouted. He skidded in front of Mage Gorantla and held his sword up in a defensive stance.

"I wouldn't have used it if it was a normal hairpin," Ash said with a roll of his eyes. Cyrus moved towards him to help defend in case both mages targeted Ash at the same time. "It's not my fault you vastly underestimated my weapon."

"It's a hairpin!"

"Ah! It's not just any hairpin, gentlemen." Ash held up a finger and shook it at them smugly. "It's a Traceras hairpin."

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Cyrus snapped his head towards Ash with wide eyes. "It's a Traceras hairpin? Why didn't you say so? Jasper and I were worried for no reason. No wonder your brother wasn't worried."

"I told you," Ash said with a smile. "My brother has faith in my skill."

"What do you mean it's a Traceras hairpin?" Mage Bo frowned.

"Are you saying it's a Traceras relic?" Mage Gorantla still twitched a bit, but his eyes was fixed on the hairpin in Ash's hand.

Ash grimaced. "I wouldn't call it a relic. It's still a useful object-"

"Where did you get that?" Mage Gorantla cut him off. "Traceras relics are rare! The largest collection of relics in the world belong to the Magic Tower."

Ash's eyes narrowed at once. "I don't like your tone, Gorantla," he said in a low voice. "Are you implying that I stole this from the Magic Tower?" He scoffed and sneered. "Is the security at your Magic Tower so weak that a teenage mage can swipe a closely guarded relic? That's poor even for the Magic Tower."

"Where did you get that hairpin!" Mage Gorantla raised his whip and Ash resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

He just saw what the hairpin did against the whip. Did he think it was threatening?

"If you must know, it was gifted to me at my naming ceremony," Ash said, bringing the pin closer to his chest.

"Who would gift an infant a Traceras relic!" Mage Bo was filled with disbelief. Mage Gorantla looked as if he was certain that Ash was lying.

"Who?" Ash smirked. He twirled the hairpin in his hand once more and pointed it at them. "My master."

He crouched to the ground and stabbed the hairpin into the floor. A dark crack appeared from the hairpin and spread out, heading towards the two mages. They jumped back and used magic to move themselves further away, before the crack could reach them.

Ash narrowed his eyes and forced energy into the hairpin. It collected in the pearls and a green light came from the cracks. Vines shot up from between them and flew towards the two mages like hands ready to grab on and crush them.

Mage Gorantla resisted with fire to incinerate the vines. As the vines were incinerated, they revealed a rapidly moving inner core of earth.

Mage Gorantla's eyes went wide and he grunted as a piece of earth slammed into his chest.

"Fire beats plants...but fire is weak to earth," Cyrus said with a satisfied nod.

"Cover me!" Ash jumped up and rushed forward. Cyrus sprung after him, his eyes on Mage Bo, who raised his sword and slashed down. Wind picked up dirt and dust off the floor as powerful gusts flew towards Ash. Cyrus intercepted the gusts, holding his sword in front of him to absorb the energy.

"Your opponent is me," Cyrus replied in a low voice. "Unless you think Guillermo is too strong for one of you."

Mage Bo let out a growl and sent multiple lashes at Cyrus, who twisted his arms and readjusted his sword to absorb the gusts one after another. The more his sword absorbed, the more frustrated Mage Bo became.

"You said you wanted to fight! So, fight me!" he cried out.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. "All right."

Mage Bo flew across the arena in an arc. His back slammed and bounced against the magic barrier, sending the audience into a frenzy with cheering.

"I didn't think the magic barrier would stop people from flying out," Ash said closed distance with Mage Gorantla.

"It doesn't. I wrapped him in magic so the barrier would reject him," Cyrus replied.

"You know, Cyrus. Every day, you keep showing me more of your skill. I will be heartbroken if you don't join us," Ash called over his shoulder. He darted to the side as the whip came towards his head followed by a crack of lightning that narrowly avoided the top of his head. "We can really use a mage of your expertise."

Cyrus laughed with real joy in his eyes, which contrasted with the dangerous feeling his stature and the slow, stalking pace towards Mage Bo gave. "The others are encouraging me. If I'm being honest, I'm leaning towards yes."

"Yes!" Ash's face lit up. He held out the hairpin and allowed the tip of the whip to wrap around it once more. Mage Gorantla's face dropped, but he was too slow and couldn't retract the whip in time. Ash could feel the energy that Mage Gorantla wanted to send out being pulled back to avoid being taken in by the hairpin. Ash didn't care. He was more excited that Cyrus was leaning towards joining Moonflower. "Hana will be so excited! She will love another like-minded person to work with on products."

The entire time he rambled on, Mage Gorantla was trying to pull back his whip, but it remained tightly wound around the hairpin, as if glued to it by an unknown force.

"From what you've told me of Hana, I am excited to meet such a talented product designer. What did you say she called herself?"

"A mechanical engineer." Ash released energy into the hairpin and Mage Gorantla let out a cry as he was thrown back by the energy. Ash furrowed his brows. Mage Gorantla didn't release the whip despite the shock. "He's stubborn. That whip hasn't left his hand since we started."

"There are some magic weapons that have enchanted grips. Unless the mage wills it, the weapon will remain in their hand," Cyrus told him.

Ash frowned. "They didn't say we could do that. Though I suppose if it's part of the weapon, it's not breaking any rules."

He increased the magic energy through the hairpin, allowing it to go through the pearls before being released through the body of the pin. Mage Gorantla let out another cry as he arched his back and fell to his knees.

Ash narrowed his eyes. The current of energy he released was continuous and burn marks should've started appearing on the mage's hand. Most magic weapons would only accept energy from one wielder, and the whip wasn't the type of weapon to absorb energy, like Cyrus' sword.

Ash released the whip and took a step back. Cyrus threw Mage Bo back across the field, slamming him against the opposite barrier before taking his time walking across, like a cat playing with a mouse.

As he passed Ash, he gave him a curious look. "Is something wrong?" Ash stood in place, in a relaxed stance, and was staring at Mage Gorantla, who was on his hands and knees trying to collect himself.

"When we entered, we were told that we couldn't bring any magic items with us, right?" Ash asked. "No weapons or products."

"Yes." Cyrus nodded. "Our things were searched, and our clothes were searched for any contraband."

Ash narrowed his eyes. For all the dust, dirt, and residue from the battle, the purple robes on the mages looked suspiciously unaffected. "But our clothes themselves were not checked as being magic...." Cyrus' brows knit together for a moment before his eyes widened. It was expected that challengers would come wearing regular clothes. Both of them wore everyday clothes they wore for quests.

But the two mages wore the standard issue purple robes of a Magic Tower mage.

Cyrus whirled around to face Mage Bo. The man was still on the ground, his arms barely moving against the dirt as he struggled to push himself up from the arena floor. Cyrus narrowed his eyes and swung his sword, sending a powerful gust of wind at Mage Bo.

"Ah!" Mage Bo let out a shout as he was swept over on his side and pushed back against the wall surrounding the arena.

Cyrus took a sharp breath. "The robes absorb direct attack energy!"

"I knew it!" Ash scowled. "Something was cushioning the attack to keep them from hitting the person at full force! No wonder his hands seemed fine! They wore a buffer!"

Cyrus swung his sword once more, slamming Mage Bo against the arena wall to further incapacitate him, before waving towards the judges.

"I want a time out to report a violation!" Cyrus shouted.

The judges and the master of ceremonies remained in place, showing no hint of interfering.

Ash shot them a glare. "I know you can hear us! Everything said on the arena floor can be heard in your judge's booth! There is a violation!"

The judges moved towards each other and the master of ceremonies leaned in. They shook their heads and the master of ceremonies stepped forward. He took a deep breath.

"There will be no breaks or pauses once the mage duel has begun!"

"What about their magic shielded robes?" Cyrus shouted as he pointed his sword to Mage Bo.

"What is now on the arena floor is legal! It is too late to make corrections!"

Cyrus' face darkened. He looked at Ash, who stood in place and slowly narrowed his eyes. Ash took a deep breath.

"All right..." he said in a measured voice. "If you won't make them get rid of their robes, I will."

Before the master of ceremonies could respond, Ash whirled around and ran towards Mage Gorantla. The mage had just managed to return to a standing position with Ash reached him, gripping the base of the hairpin. The faint sound of cracking could be heard as the smooth length of the hairpin began to extend.

Mage Gorantla struggled to jump back, only to trip on his unsteady feet and land backwards on the ground. His face was pale as he lowered his head and saw the clean cut across the front of his robes.

"My robes!"

"They're resistant to magic, but not from a sharp object," Ash said with a sharp gaze. "The thing about you Magic Tower mages is that you tend to become overly dependent on magic, forgetting that a good many people do very well without it."

Mage Gorantla's face darkened. "The rule for using a magic weapon is that it must be used as more than just the object it is! A sword must do more than cut! And a hairpin-"

"Must do more than pin hair. I got it," Ash said. He lifted the hairpin in his hand, revealing a glistening black case around its length with jagged edges. "Obsidian coating. Some of the earliest weapons were tipped with sharpened obsidian. Very basic, but still effective."

"How did-"

"Magic," Ash said. "Obviously."

He slashed forward and the black stone casing around the metal pin shattered apart. Instead of falling to the ground, they shot forward, carried by a concentrated gales of wind. Ash narrowed his eyes and began repeating the cutting motions, adding more power to more streams of wind amplified by the hairpin.

A dozen pieces of razor-sharp obsidian shards spun around Mage Gorantla, leaving small cuts against any exposed skin. He lifted his arms to shield his face, which opened the fabric around his body for easy cutting.

The audience gasped as they watched bits of fabric begin to fall to the ground around the older mage, all while Mage Gorantla frantically tried to keep the shards out of his face.

"Guillermo! Can I borrow some fire?" Cyrus shouted behind him.

Ash turned around and saw Cyrus standing not far from him with Mage Bo curled in a ball, protecting his body and the robe around him. There were several long cuts that caused some fabric to pool down, but the shredded robe was still on his body.

Ash pulled the hairpin back and adjusted it in his hand. He poured energy into it as he ran towards Cyrus. Cyrus lifted his sword across from him as Ash slammed the hairpin against the blade. A dull wave of energy rippled from the contact point as Cyrus' sword absorbed the energy.

Ash pulled back and Cyrus turned around and slashed at Mage Bo.

Three narrow blades of fire flew towards the shorter mage, who looked up just as the fire hit him. He raised his arms to protect his face, but the fire caught on to his robes.

Ash frowned. "I can understand cloth being weak to sharp objects, but they could've at least made the robes fire retardant."

"The Mage Tower doesn't think like product designers," Cyrus replied as they watched Mage Bo's clothes catch on fire. The mage began screaming and dropped his sword as he raced to tug the purple cloth off.

Ash shook his head. "All he has to do is roll on the dirt."

"At the very least, he could use water to put out the flames...." Cyrus mumbled with a hint of disappointment.

A crack of a whip was heard and Ash felt something wrapped around his ankle. He looked down and saw the tip of the whip crackling with lightning. He let out a low hiss.

"Oops. Dropped my guard."

Lightning energy shot through him and he gritted his teeth, bracing himself and refuting the energy with his own. A buzz filled his ears as he shut his eyes and grounded himself to keep from falling. The air around him was hot, as well as giving him sharp shocks of pain all over his body.

Surprisingly, the lightning was continuous. In earlier instances, Mage Gorantla was snapping away with the whip, and even when it became entangled with the hairpin, the lightning exerted didn't last this long.

Impressive, old man. Ash began counting and only stopped when the current ended at thirty-two. He opened his eyes and found that Mage Gorantla had rolled to the side to avoid being attacked by Cyrus. Dust was kicked into the air, coating the thirty-eight-year-old man in a thin layer of pale dirt, which, for Ash, was a vast improvement over his only remaining piece of clothing: a loin cloth.

Ash's lips curled up with disgust and he had to force himself not to look away.

Cyrus opened distance and returned to Ash's side, his sword still up in a defensive position. "I didn't know they didn't wear anything underneath."

"Had I known, I wouldn't have shredded his clothes!" Ash cried out.

Mage Gorantla struggled to push himself up. "It's not...it's not over." He was breathing heavily with numerous small, bleeding cuts all over his body. Without his robes, they could see his shaking, stumbling legs. The way he swayed was even more pronounced now that his thin frame was uncovered.

He hardened his face and took a step forward, lifting the handle of the whip up to appear threatening. Ash drew his lips inward and counted to three. The whip began to fall apart. When he sent the obsidian shards to cut apart Mage Gorantla's robe, he'd also created numerous cuts in the whip.

Enough energy would tear it apart, and the last attack did just that.

The look on Mage Gorantla's face as the whip fell apart in burnt chunks was enough to almost make Ash feel pity for him. "My whip! What did you do to my whip!" He pulled the whip back, trying to gather it in his hands only to watch chunks slip through his fingers. "My whip!" His painful cry reverberated through the arena as he fell to his knees, clutching the remains of the once formidable whip in his hands.

His eyes were red and glistening as he looked at the fallen comrade in his hands.

Cyrus' eyes crinkled up. "Are you crying?"

"No!" Mage Gorantla sent them a scathing glare. Ash sighed and shook his head.

"Is that it? You're done?" he asked. He sort of expected them to last longer.

"We're not done!" A voice shouted behind them. Mage Bo, bruised, covered in patches of ashes from his burnt robes, and wearing nothing else, was running towards them with his sword raised.

"My eyes!" Ash shut his eyes and turned his head away, not wanting to see the blob of flesh coming towards him.

Cyrus turned a quarter step in front of Ash, and absorbed the wind with his sword before sending it back at full strength. Mage Bo's nude, jiggling body was swept up and thrown across the arena. The sword was shoved out of his hand after the initial impact. His body slammed into the magic barrier, bounced, plummeted to the ground, and bounced once more as he landed, several paces from his sword.

Ash stabbed the hairpin back into the ground and opened a crack in the earth. It opened beneath the sword, swallowing it before it sealed once more. Now, Mage Bo's weapon was unusable.

Cyrus and Ash watched and waited for Mage Bo to get up.

He did not.

Cyrus frowned. "Is he dead?"

"No...no, he's alive...." Ash muttered. "He lost consciousness."

Cyrus nodded, satisfied. "Then, we have one to go."

They turned around and were immediately met by a wave of fire. Without his whip, Mage Gorantla turned to basic magic attacks.

"You should end this before he hurts himself," Cyrus told Ash as Ash redirected the magic with his hairpin.

He returned the attack in the form of a massive ball of fire. As it flew across the arena floor to Mage Gorantla, Ash followed behind it, carried by the wind. He gripped the hairpin in one hand and manipulated its energy along with his to condense energy along the length for one solid hit.

Mage Gorantla waved his arms out to part the fire ball, but didn't realize Ash was just behind it.

The blue-white lightning from the hairpin encased Mage Gorantla in a human-sized vortex of energy.

Ash jumped back, still feeding some of his energy into the hairpin to maintain a strong, steady stream of energy used for frying the mage. It was difficult to move, let alone breathe as the energy suffocated Mage Gorantla.

"I will not surrender!" His arms were tight against his body and his fists were at his side. "You'll have to kill me!"

Ash shook his head. "Kill you?" he asked with a slight laugh. His smile darkened. "Sorry, I can't do that."

He retracted the hairpin and slammed it into the ground once more. Mage Gorantla was about to collapse when the earth moved beneath him. Instead of a crack in the ground, the ground rose, trapping him at waist height as he was raised into the air.

Cyrus looked down as he noticed the ground beneath them was going down so that the pillar that trapped Mage Gorantla would grow higher.

Ash carefully found his energy around the pillar, making sure to keep it steady as it the mage was lifted higher than the arena was tall. Everyone's head was tilted up as the pillar began to sway. Ash was careful to keep the pillar together, preventing it from falling apart as the pillar leaned heavily in one direction before swinging back and leaning in the opposite.

Mage Gorantla's terrified screaming filled the air as he was shaken back and forth, nearly hitting the ground multiple times.

By the fifth near brush with the arena floor, the screaming had stopped and Cyrus nodded. "He's unconscious."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Then prepare to catch him." Ash pulled the hairpin from the ground. The earth that was held together to form a pillar began to crumble and fall apart. Mage Gorantla's limp body slipped out of the encased earth and fell.

Cyrus pulled his sword back to swing for a wind gust and break Mage Gorantla's fall, but before the air current could reach him, a purple streak cut through the arena. Ash didn't follow the streak, but instead turned his sharp gaze towards the judge's table.

Two of the mage judges were missing, with only the imperial mage remaining, looking confused as to why he was now seated alone.

Ash let out a click of his tongue as he crossed his arms in defiance. On the ground across from him, one of the judges landed with Mage Gorantla in his arms.

"Guillermo...." Cyrus said in a low voice. Ash followed his gaze towards where Mage Bo had fallen. The other Mage Tower judge was crouched near his body, checking to make sure he wasn't dead.

"So much for a duel to the death...." Ash muttered. "I thought there was to be no interference!"

"Both mage challengers are unconscious," the judge who caught Mage Gorantla placed him on the ground. "Therefore, the duel has concluded!"

"The duel has concluded?" Ash asked, lifting his brows curiously. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the irritated look on the judge's face. "Then...why don't you announce the winners?"

The judge opened his mouth, but another voice came from the judge's booth. The remaining judge stepped out. "The winner of the final round and the mage duel-"

"Wait!" The Magic Tower judge gasped and held out his arm. "We need to check their weapons-"

"Mage von Sails and Mage Amini!"

The crowds erupted in cheers as Ash narrowed his eyes at the Magic Tower judge. "Check our weapons?" he asked in a cold voice. "Don't think I don't know that you want my hairpin." The Magic Tower judge flinched just enough for Ash to catch it. Anger raged in his heart and Ash grit his teeth. The Magic Tower was as unscrupulous as ever. "Let me give you a warning now. If my hairpin ever goes missing, the Magic Tower will have made an even bigger enemy than Ash Atractas."

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