Both Gerri's palms burned in vivid purple. In the previous game, Emery had had a taste of the purple flames power and it was enough to break through the [Granite Skin] spell, leaving him with only one choice: to be cautious and keep dodging, so the flames would not hit him.

"I see, you're already rank 7, Emery? I'm not going to go easy on you."

Emery replied with a smirk "I don't ever remember you going easy on me… Didn't I manage to take you down to the point you had to lie flat on the ground last time?"

"Haha! Nah, it was all just my trick. If that Lodos didn't come, you would go down in one strike after being fooled by my incredible acting!"

"…"

Emery had a retort in mind, but he decided to swallow it and shake his head. It felt like, in this academy, he had enough of shameless acolyte encounters for the whole year.

"Okay, if our smart talk session is done, I'll start!"

Gerri raised his hand and cast [Fireball], causing the arena to become hotter with each sphere of flames he conjured. However, unlike before, this time each fireball was adorned with purple flames dancing in the air. It was enough of a warning for Emery to not drop his guard – Gerri was taking the fight seriously and the spell he was using was a far cry from the usual fireball spells.

In order to counter the attacks, Emery decided to cast the ever-reliable darkness spell.

[Enfeeble Blade]

Blades made of pure darkness appeared one by one in the air. Emery raised his hand and pointed forward, letting the flames and the blade-shaped shadows clash against each other. Whenever a ball of flame met a shadow blade, a small explosion shook the arena.

Bammm!

A blade bigger than the previous clashed with a larger fireball, sending a deafening shockwave mixed with dust everywhere. When the dust settled, Emery saw his shadow blade had completely disintegrated, while the purple fireball veered off-course.

It was to be expected that a tier 3 spell [Enfeeble Blade] would lose against such a powerful fire spell, but Emery's spell still managed to serve its purpose. The purple fireball exploded in the arena ground three meters away from Emery.

Gerri's spell won in strength, but witnessing Emery's tier 3 spell affect his attack shocked him.

"What the fuck! With just an increase of one rank, why would your silly shadow spell be able to do that!" Gerri shouted in disbelief, still unable to believe what he saw. But, he recovered quickly and continued casting his spells no-stop.

[Fireball]

[Fireball]

[Fireball]

Barrages of purple fireballs flew towards Emery. They looked like a swarm of purple meteors, making the air feel scorched and sticky with heat. Emery casted [Enfeeble Blade] several times, conjuring a swarm of shadow blades pointing upward to welcome the fireballs.

Once again, the two forces clashed. The resulting explosions were fiercer this time and parts of the arena blackened due to the relentless flames.

Emery finally saw his chance. He abandoned the passive approach of waiting for Gerri to attack and decided to start going on the offensive.

[Shadow Binding Root]

The ground cracked, spawning three shadow roots from the ground that proceeded to move towards Gerri's direction.

Gerri clenched his flaming fists and decided to dodge the shadow spell by dashing closer to Emery, ready to strike.

Realizing Gerri was aiming for a close combat, Emery touched his ring and took out the Reunite Blade given to him by Magus Xion.

It was time for a close range fight!

[Immortal Gate Stage 3]

[Battle power increased by 8]

[Current battle power: 53]

The increase in battle power brought an increase in both strength, speed and defense. The three physical stats would prove an invaluable asset during a close combat fight.

Emery was ready. He used [Heroic Slash] to intercept Gerri's fast movement.

It was clear that both of them possessed superb martial art skills. Without breaking a sweat, Gerri used his quick footwork and sidestepped out of the sword slash before countering with his own strike.

[Flaming Palm]

Emery had suffered a hit from that technique once, he knew first-hand the flame would burn his body from inside, if he got hit. He decided to cast [Blink], reappear behind Gerri, following the spell with another sword swing to the side.

Gerri raised his burning palm to block the sword and the force of the strike threw him a few steps away.

"Not bad, not bad at all, Emery! I see you can now cast your blink spell almost instantly… I have to admit, I am rather impressed."

"You're not so bad either, Gerri. Your movements are unpredictable and your palm could block a strike from my sword."

"Nah, I'm telling you… Your sword slash really hurts. Probably this is my cue to learn weapon-related skills next. Haha!"

Gerri kept on talking, while Emery did not waste time. He tried to use the lowered momentum of the battle to let the three shadow roots he cast to slowly approach Gerri from behind. With a flick of his wrist, the three shadow roots pounced towards Gerri from three sides.

Gerri was ill-prepared for the strike. While he ended up being able to dodge the attack, his footwork was a bit sloppier and he landed after stumbling a little bit.

"Damn, Emery, you are shameless! You purposefully made me talk so you could attack me from behind, didn't you?"

"..."

Emery stared at Gerri in disbelief. Wasn't he the one who initiated a conversation? Did this Gerri hit his head too hard in one of the battles or something?

Gerri kept on dodging the three shadow roots, while Emery used the chance to cast more of them.

[Shadow Root Binding]

Two more shadow roots appeared, merged with the three from before, The roots assaulted Gerri from all directions, leaving him no longer able to dodge. He resorted to flying to the air with his fire spells in order to escape the roots.

"!!!"

With all the five that slithering on the ground, He did not expect to see another pair of shadow roots already waiting on top of him.

In an instant, Gerri was entangled in mid air by seven shadow roots, each tying him up with an iron grip.

"Argh! Dammit, I hate fighting with your type the most, Emery! Stop fighting with your brain!"

"…"

"I caught you already, Gerri. It'd be best for you to give up."

"Hahaha! Now, that's quite the funny joke. Of course not."

Gerri's body started to emit an orange glow, before releasing a surge of power all around his body.

[Ignite – Tier 4 Fire Element]

All the shadow roots binding him instantly disintegrated, leaving Gerri free to fly around in the air. Not wanting to be caught unaware again, Gerri cast another spell [Fire Aura]

It was a tier 3 spell capable of buffing the caster's speed and strength. As his title implied, Gerri's version created a wreath of purple flame shrouding his body.

"No more playing around, Emery."

"…"

"Isn't that what you already said before?"