The duo from Mystic Gate gritted their teeth as they prepare to defend themselves from the Grade 2 magic spell. No, they have to dodge when they see an opportunity. They couldn't waste too much of their mana pool to defend on something like that.

The Grade 2 Magic Spell released by Lina wasn't a simple one. It can only be released with the combination of Magic Spell she released together with Alphonse's auxiliary magic spell.

"Water Vortex!"

A large spiraling water came to the Mystic Gate's duo as they tried to use all their defenses to neutralize the spell. The water vortex covered a wide range and it first hits Edward destroying his Mana Shell before it landed to Tim.

"Aaaarrgh!! Layered Mana Barri--!"

Tim tried to further solidify his defense as he received a lesser force of impact from the Water Vortex but after the continuous assault of the Water Spell he wasn't able to maintain his Mana Shell and stopped him from further casting a spell, he soon succumbed in the penetrating force coming from the vortex and sent him flying as it destroyed all his defenses.

The referee announced the result confirming Leonhearts' 2nd victory against Mystic Gate.

"Wow! Mystic Gate's winning streak may be ending here."

"True, these 2nd-year students from Leonhearts were full of surprises. Not only their magicians were strong but also their mana technicians have brilliant minds."

"Water Vortex is a complicated combo spell that utilizes both wind and water elements, it's difficult enough to cast it but the two were also capable of controlling the spell to a certain extent."

The audiences gasp at the brilliant display of skill from the Leonhearts duo and poured a series of praises to the two. They even remembered to give a compliment on the mana technicians behind it.

After the automatons cleaned and repaired the stage, the 3rd match started.

Despite the overwhelming momentum from Leonhearts, Kyla, on the other hand, remained calm as she prepared herself for the upcoming battle. She knows that their academy has high expectations for her in this round and she can't show any weakness that could further affect their morale.

She took a deep breath and stared at Shirley on the other side. If she won this fight, they would have a better chance since their team captain and she would have a good combination once they reach the 4th match.

She actually hadn't thought that Ray would win the fight against Lawrence all because of Wallace's mana artifact. But even though that was the case, Kyla analyzed that aside from Shirley she could easily take on the first 3 students.

***

Tracy was grinning widely as she accepted the adoration coming from her fellow students.

The Grade 2 Water Vortex magic structure wasn't easy to create at all. Aside from the water spell placed in Lina's artifact and wind spell in Alphonse's, both artifacts must be activated with coordination so the other magic structure called "Chain Link" will be activated. This Chain Link, once activated will combine two magic spells in accordance with its mana technician's will when they created it.

In Tracy's case, the two spells resulted in a Water Vortex, a Grade 2 level that could easily defeat unprepared combat magicians on their level. She may be able to create more two-element combinations but the time limit did not allow her to do so.

"Well, only someone like her who has a very sturdy foundation in basic magic spell of all kinds could possibly do it in their batch."

"Maybe if Wallace and Ross tried, they could also accomplish the same thing. Who knows?"

The two from third-year combat class said, not minding if the 2nd year batch heard them. They haven't seen or known other than Tracy who could make 1 combination spell that could only be cast by 2 different individuals.

Ross has his unique magic spells and knows to combine two elements but they can be wielded by a single individual, as a matter of fact, the original mana artifact of Ross, the Arcane Sword has multiple elemental infused within it.

Wallace has even more strange magic spells that haven't been seen before. It seems that they already accepted that Wallace's magic artifacts would always have its originality.

Wallace and Ross wasn't surprised about the spell since they already know this beforehand but didn't shy away on giving some praises to Tracy as she did praise them before with their own mana artifact's unique magic spell.

***

Kyla activated her signature magic spell as quickly as possible. It is the Fire Blessed Armor together with her Domain Magic, Continuous Flame Orbit.

Of course, Shirley wasn't just watching when she completed the spell but tried to use her Ultrasonic Burst immediately in an attempt to cancel Kyla's magic casting and defeating her altogether but surprisingly, the magic spell doesn't seem to affect her.

"Impossible!"

Not only Shirley was surprised but also the crowd and even Wallace squinted his eyes as he noticed that Kyla stayed unaffected after the spell hit her.

'I see, so she has that high level of mana manipulation. This would be tricky for Shirley but...' Wallace thought as he had quickly grasped what Kyla did. He really couldn't underestimate those magicians who have strong mana fluctuations that could even detect his current Divine Sense.

"I thought Wallace had wasted placing other magic spells here in the mana artifact with how strong this Ultrasonic Burst is. He may have anticipated that someone like Kyla could resist the spell to a certain extent."

Shirley didn't cower at all even if the spell didn't affect Kyla. She was also thinking that her opponent was just keeping a strong front and has been injured by the spell.

As she waited for the magic spell cooldown on her Ultrasonic Burst. She used other spells from her other mana artifacts to defend from the assaulting Domain Magic.

Kyla, on the other hand, was delighted upon her successful defense.

'So Sheryl was right! You can't stop me now!' She was now beaming with confidence as she wasn't sure at first if her plan will be successful.

It must be remembered that mana artifacts are only a medium for casting a magic spell. Magicians could still control the mana to some extent, but due to the appearance of mana artifacts, current magicians focus only on studying its utilization instead of manipulating the formless mana.

After all, Mana-to-Element Conversion is currently impossible without using mana artifacts and using the formless mana to attack or defend is almost negligible. Battles between magicians were normally fast-paced due to how strong the magic spells released by 5th gen mana artifacts compared to bare mana attacks. The difference is so huge.

Sheryl, who was watching the battle couldn't help but feel excited as well. Although she only theorized how to defend against the spell, without Kyla's amazing mana manipulation they won't be successful in defending against the Ultrasonic Burst.