"Humph!" Styx''s eyes bulged as he manipted the two bouche shields on his sides.


    One mmed a meter before him while the other hovered diagonally above to meet the iing miniature sun.


    "RAA!" Styx roared and punched out toward the hovering shield. In an instant, the shield multiplied into severalyers that increased in size.


    BOOM!


    The miniature sun mmed on the firstyer of the douche shield, creating an earth-shattering sound that filled the hall.


    All kinds of magic defensive spells and items were cast out and deployed from the audience to avoid getting hit by the shockwave after the collision.


    One of the participants from the Montgomeray side deployed a red translucent barrier that covered the rest of them.


    On the other side, Deo mmed his feet on the floor, and a light green magic array appeared beneath their feet. Afterwhich, thick tree roots sprang from the floor and snaked around them, forming a wood barrier.


    Rake roused his magic, and light yellow magic arrays circled on his forearm. A gust of wind enveloped the area a few inches from Deo''s wood barrier to soften the shockwave in their direction.


    The male announcer also deployed his most powerful magic barrier and remained hovering on the side to watch the match.


    SHATTER!


    BOOM!


    After four seconds, the first barrier shattered from the miniature sun''s weight and mmed on the secondyer.


    Styx''s expression remained the same as he watched the firstyer of his defensive shields shatter. There were multipleyers left, so he was not really worried. However, he was still surprised that the firstyer did not evenst five seconds.


    SHATTER!


    BOOM!


    Once again, the secondyer shattered. This time it did notst for four seconds.


    ''So it''s like that,'' Styx sneered and licked his lips.


    As one after another, four moreyers of his defensive shields, he raised his right hand toward the space between him and Zuri.


    Arge brown magic array appeared on the ground, and thick earth boulders sprang up toward Zuri''s direction.


    Seeing the iing attack, Zuri cast a speed spell on herself and dashed to her left to avoid the boulders.


    But as soon as she turned to her left, a two-meter brown magic array appeared over her head.


    "What—?" She gasped and abruptly stopped.


    A huge boulder mmed down from the magic array, and if Zuri had been a millisecondte in reacting, she would have been squashed t by it.


    "You''ve got some pretty fast legs there, brat. I like''em," Styx hollered with a sneer. His intention was obviously to rile her up.


    Zuri red at him in disgust, but she failed to convey her intentions with her mask.


    "Huh—?" She stopped short as a glowing brown light appeared over her head.


    She moved to the side even as she lifted her gaze. Above, she found another two-meter brown magic array, and a pointed boulder descended from it.


    "Ergh...!" Zuri mmed her staff on the ground and barely managed to summon a red magic array beneath her. mes whirled up from the magic array and collided with the boulder.


    BOOM!


    The boulder shattered into pieces.


    At that same moment, more earth-shattering explosions resounded in the air.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Three more defensive shields shattered above, leaving only sevenyers left.


    ''Less than seven seconds,'' Styx thought and finally made a move.


    ''One.''


    "RAA!" He roared as he mmed on the bouche shield in front of him, charging toward Zuri.


    "What—?" Zuri eximed in surprise.


    There were a good twenty meters between them, yet Styx shortened the distance in just a couple of seconds.


    ''Two.''


    BOOM! BOOM!


    Two more defensive shields shattered above.


    Styx abruptly stopped, his feet digging a few inches on the asphalt.


    ''Three.''


    He arched his back with his right arm, poised to hit the bouche shield.


    BOOM!


    Another defensive shield shattered.


    Zuri mmed her staff on the ground, a three-foot red magic array appearing beneath her.


    "me Pirs!" She shouted as pirs of fire sprang out on the open space before her and Styx.


    ''Four.''


    But Styx ignored the iing mes. It was not because he was overly self-confident with his defenses— because it was already a given— but because he knew her me attack had weakened.


    That was the assessment he gathered after observing the miniature sun above.


    It took her some time toplete the miniature sun''s formation due to the magic energy the attack required. After cutting off the miniature''s sun magic energy supply after Zuri released it, she was now the sole supplier, using her internal magic reserves.


    She also told Styx that she would admit defeat if he withstood the attack because her magic energy would have been depleted by then, rendering her unable to fight.


    Aside from this, there was the matter of how fast the miniature sun''s momentum shattered his defensive shields with each passing second.


    In Styx''s opinion, this meant the miniature sun was increasing in power the more it absorbed Zuri''s magic energy. Her remaining magic energy would get depleted faster if that was the case.


    To test his theory, Styxunched a pre-emptive attack on Zuri.


    When sheunched a counter at his unexpected attack, he noticed how the miniature sun''s momentum got dyed slightly.


    It was a minuscule difference, and probably few people would notice it. Since Styx understood his defensive shield better than anyone, he could detect this.


    If Zuri wanted to continue consistently supplying her magic energy to the miniature sun, then her magic attacks would no longer be as powerful.


    But Styx did not want to take any chances. That was the reason why he got another defensive shield to block any magic attacks.


    BOOM!


    ''Five.''


    The me pirs hit Styx''s defensive shield, which rattled from the collision. However, the mes'' intensity was not enough to cause any damage to his shield.


    "RAA!" Styx jumped the remaining three meters and punched his fists toward Zuri.


    "Ngh!" Zuri jumped back and summoned a red translucent magic barrier to protect herself.


    But.


    ''Six.''


    Styx snickered as he saw Zuri''s attempt at summoning a magic barrier.


    As an Abjurer, assessing a barrier before him was easy. In his eyes, he saw how fragile Zuri''s barrier was.


    BOOM!


    Styx''s fist mmed on Zuri''s barrier shattering it like poorly made ss, at the same time, the miniature sun above hit the second to thestyer of his defensive shields.


    "Ack!" Zuri yelped as she got thrown back by Styx''s powerful punch.


    Styx tried to avoid hitting her directly but miscalcted as his fist hit her mask.


    Crack!


    Zuri mmed on the wall outside the arena, "Guh!"


    Her cracked mask fell apart revealing a surprisingly delicate pretty face of a young woman. She spat out a mouthful of blood while she slid down on the ground.


    "Sister Zuri!"


    All the Montgomeray participants, including Lev, eximed in fright.


    BOOOM!


    p Just then, the miniature sun finally destroyed thest defensiveyer of Styx''s defensive shields and hit the arena''s floor.</anda>


    Half of the arena''s floor exploded, causing a powerful shockwave to spread in all directions.


    Since the first collision of the miniature sun and the shields, the audience and the rest of the participants were forced to reinforce their barriers countless times.


    For thest explosion, they all worked together to summon a protective shield.


    However, it was at this moment that the Function Hall''s defensive array activated and contained the aftershock from the miniature sun and the shield''s collision.


    "Conve wins the third match!" The male announcer''s voice was heard amidst the confusion.


    Everyone looked at the arena and found the announcer was still hovering in ce, while Styx stood a few feet just before the edge of the still-intact part of the arena.


    Behind him, a translucent white half-sphere was trying to contain the remnants of the explosion. Yet, they were able to see that half the arena had been destroyed.


    Such a powerful magic attack was rarely seen in apetition such as this one. Thus, most gaped in astonishment at the aftermath.


    Most had mixed emotions between Zuri''s disy of a powerful Heaven''s Fall and Styx''s defensive magic that tried to withstand it.


    In the end, Zuri lost the match but won the war.


    Because Styx was unable to fully neutralize her Heaven''s Fall.


    But then again, there was no saying that Styx gave it his all. After all, he had only employed one form of his defensive magic.


    "The next match will resume in twenty minutes. Please take this time to check for any possible injuries you may have sustained from the aftereffects of the magic collisions and proceed to the infirmary for immediate care," the announcer told everyone.


    Styx watched as two Montgomeray participants went to Zuri''s side. He did not expect her to be this young. He initially thought she was already in herte twenties or even early thirties.


    Seeing her delicate features, however, it was clear she was only in her early twenties.


    ''Her mage level is almost the same as mine and she is only at this age...?'' He thought with furrowed brows. He nced at their side where Deo had only finished removing his wood barrier and looked at Kyran.


    ''That guy is also in his twenties...''


    Then he looked at Lev who had stood up from his seat looking over at Zuri. Even with the mask covering his face, Styx was sure the kid had a worried expression.


    ''And that shrimp is still wet behind the ears...''


    With a wry smile, Styx turned around and went back to their side.


    ''F*ck, this generation has a lot of monsters.''