Chapter 294: Father?

The arena became filled with outraged audience members as Haru and Kazuo disappeared before their eyes and were concealed within a cage of red flames. Both uncertainty and disappointment filled the air as the show of a lifetime vanished before their eyes.

They had never seen such a thing where an audience member stepped into the ring with the reigning champion of the Izu area, and that was something they were all eager to see even if they did think that it would just lead to Haru's demise.

But having that sight taken away from them made them upset. Food and drinks were thrown all around as the audience members tried to protest to make the event organisers do something about the flames blocking the ring, but they were already trying.

The man in charge of the arena, Mr Izu, was in the VIP box above the arena, and as soon as he saw the flames swirl around the stage, he tried his best to cancel them out using the spell [Break], but his mana seemed to be cancelled out as soon as he wanted to use it.

It was almost as though all of the mana had been sucked from his body, and nothing he tried was working.

"What is this? The ring has mysteriously erupted in flames. It seems to be a secret skill or something. Could Kazuo Satou be showing us that he also specialises in fire magic alongside ice? Or is this the power of that young man who entered the ring?" The announcer spoke out through the speaker, making the crowd calm down a little as they wondered about what was going on instead of feeling angry.

Chattering emerged from the crowd as they made their own assumptions on the situation and wondered if that could indeed be a second power that Kazuo was hiding, but many of them also believed that Haru was the one who caused it and began to theorise that he was an S ranked mage in disguise.

But the person who was most confused was Kaira as she sat down watching the flames circle around the arena. She didn't have a clue what Haru was planning, but she finally felt afraid that her husband could be killed. She didn't know how or why, but as she looked at the fire, it seemed to be giving out a feeling of anger as though it would burn through the very fabric of reality.

The more she looked at the fire, the more it seemed like she would be absorbed and burned by it, although she was standing at a distance.

It was her relation to the flame. Kaira was a fire mage, and she shared a bond with fire just like Haru did.

"You look so angry," Kaira said softly as she looked at the impressive sight of the flames.

"No, it's not just angry. You're suffering. Haru? What kind of hardships have you faced to feel this way?" Kaira asked herself as she looked at the flames. They gave off a faint feeling of death, but it wasn't vicious. It was more like the fire was waiting for death, and the emotions burnt their way into her soul.

'I've never seen something like this before? Fire is supposed to carry strength and light. But this flame is shrouded in weakness and doubt.' Kaira thought to herself as she sympathised with Haru's emotions.

Fire mages understood the flame to such a high degree that they could feel wielders mental state by just looking at the fire, and that was made evident by a number of people watching, beginning to have tears drop down from their eyes as they looked on.

"What's going on?! How is it possible that you have this much power even though you have been slacking off?" Kazuo asked while looking at Haru, who was standing at the opposite side of the ring.

"I never said that I was slacking off. I just took some time to see the world. But you can bet your ass I trained every single day." Haru said, referring to the fact that he would often cultivate during the night instead of sleeping.

"Well, I have to congratulate you then. I do think that you are worthy of sparring with me. This power is similar to the S rank fire mage Krista Kitagawa's flames. Wait, you share the same surname as her, don't you? What is your relationship?" Kazuo asked with a look of fear on his face.

"She's my mom. But that's nothing to worry about. We're going to spar, aren't we?" Haru asked with a smile. He thought for a moment that Kazuo would back down after finding out Haru's mother was a famous mage, but that just seemed to motivate him a little bit more, and he, too, grinned from ear to ear while looking up at the fire above their head.

"Well then. Since we are hidden from the eyes of the public, I think I can give you a demonstration to show you the difference between you and me. I will show you one of my original spells. If you can withstand it, then I will admit defeat." Kazuo said with a smile before putting his hand out.

Suddenly Haru vanished from his line of sight before Kazuo felt something impact the back of his neck, and his feet were soon torn from the ground before he hurdled across the ring before crashing into the barrier.

"You think I am willingly going to let you attack me first? Aren't you a combat mage? What kind of sense does that make?" Haru asked with a disappointed expression. He felt as though anyone could be called a combat mage. And as the person who was first awarded that title, he felt as though everything he fought for in his past life meant nothing if they just gave that title to anyone.

"Hehe, That was a good kick. I didn't even see you move. It looks like I'm not the only one who can use chant less magic." Kazuo said with a smile before a flash of blue light erupted from his hand and flew towards Haru.

Haru held out his index finger and drew a long blade made from the fire that surrounded them before splitting the chunks of ice in two and avoiding the attack.

'Chant less magic? It seems that he had reached an amazing understanding of the flow of Qi within his body. If he spent his time cultivating instead of learning magic, I am afraid that he would be stronger than me.' Haru thought to himself as he looked at the shards of ice that didn't have even a sign of imperfection to them. It looked as though he had practised that particular spell hundreds if not thousands of times.

But before Haru could react, he felt the presence of Qi brewing once again in the air as Kazuo launched another attack. This time he caused shards of ice and snow to tumble through the air and blast against Haru's skin as though it was sandpaper.

But little did he know that Haru's body was constantly protected by the heat of the flames that burned within his soul ocean. Even the deadliest of winters wouldn't affect his body. The ice immediately melted without so much as making contact with his body.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Haru called out before vanishing once again and appearing behind Kazuo. But as soon as he disappeared, Kazuo anticipated the fact that Haru would appear behind him and began to cast another spell as soon as he had gone.

As Haru was about to strike against the back of Kazuo's neck again, he felt more resistance as his foot came to a stop as a sheet of ice blocked his kick. He didn't mean to cause him harm, so he held back on the attack but even, so his strength wasn't something that was easily blocked.

Haru smiled slightly as he had been outmanoeuvred by Kazuo. Suddenly a spear of ice shot from the ice that had blocked his leg and made its way towards Haru's eye.

Kazuo expected him to retreat from the spear, so he used more mana to create a wall of spears behind Haru, but as the single stick of ice shot towards Haru's face, he couldn't help but feel despair as the magic spells were all cancelled.

The ice quickly turned into water and dropped to the floor.

"What happened? How did you manage to see through my attack?" Kazuo suddenly stopped fighting as he realised that he was completely outclassed. He looked down at the ground to where the water was splashing around the ring and then snapped his fingers.

Ice quickly formed across the floor and ran towards Haru before encasing his body within a giant ice cube.

Kazuo sighed as he thought about how embarrassing it would have been publicly defeated by an F ranked mage. He looked at Haru in shock.

"Who would have thought when I met this guy all those years ago that he would be able to rival me after becoming an S rank? It's amazing." Kazuo said to himself before noticing that the flames still enclosed the ring.

If someone was knocked unconscious, then it was only natural that their power would fade. But that wasn't the case for Haru.

His eyes became wide as he looked back at Haru to see that he blinked while inside the ice cube.

Suddenly the ice that surrounded Haru's body exploded into a million pieces and cut Kazuo's cheeks as it flew past him.

"I didn't think that you would make me let my guard down like that. Well done. You truly deserve to be called a combat mage. Because combat isn't just about strength, it's about conquering your opponent's mind and tricking them.

But I've seen everything that I wanted to. I can rest assured knowing that you can protect your family." Haru said with a smile as he turned his back to Kazuo.

"Protect my family? What does that matter to you?" Kazuo asked, confused as to what Haru meant.

"Well, I interfered with your fight earlier because that Siberian man was cheating. He was taking mana from someone in the VIP box, and I didn't want your child to grow up without a father. I hope you don't hate me too much for it." Haru said before raising his hand, causing the fire to spiral in the air but still blocking the ring from the cameras on the outside.

"My child!? What do you mean!?" Kazuo asked.

"Oops, I said too much, didn't I?" Haru chuckled to himself for a moment for vanishing into thin air. Kazuo was expecting him to appear behind him again, but as the fire disappeared too, he knew that he was gone for good. But after locking eyes with his wife, waiting patiently outside the ring. Haru was the last thing on his mind.

He looked down at Kaira's stomach to see her gently holding it and then back up at her eyes which had tears in them.

"I'm going to be a father??" Kazuo whispered as he looked at his wife before rushing out of the ring to hug her.

"That's strange. I could have sworn that two people entered that ring. So why did only one come out?" The announcer asked as the audience became just as confused as he was.