Ieros stepped out onto the sands of the arena, blinking as the sunlight reflected off the sand and into his eyes. All of a sudden, a voice blared throughout the arena.

“Let’s give a warm welcome to Ieros, apprentice of Azorin and proclaimed to be the greatest mage of our time! This is his first tournament, so please, a round of applause!”

There was applause, but even Ieros could tell that it was half-hearted, the audience briefly inspecting him before they returned to their previous conversations. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he quickly put it aside as he forced himself to walk towards the center of the arena.

He looked for his opponent but it seemed that he too was late. So he waited, listening to his heartbeat thud methodically, feeling the sun slowly heat up his dark robe, and feeling his chest fill with anxious fog.

In an attempt to relieve the strange sensation, he took a deep breath, lifting up his chin and staring up into the blue sky, noticing a small cloud in the otherwise empty blue expanse. It soon drifted behind the Coliseum wall and with nothing else to look at, he returned his gaze to earth, his eyes drawn towards the royal stand.

He noted that the King and his family sat in pairs, the King and his Queen, the Prince and the Princess. The Prince and Princess appeared to be in deep conversation, the Queen was looking off into the distance and the King, the King was staring at him. Ieros studied the King for a few moments more before he turned his gaze towards the yet-to-be opened gates just opposite of him, where he assumed his opponent would emerge.

And right he was, as the gates lifted and his opponent stepped forth. He was flamboyantly dressed in red and gold, gilded in an assortment of jewelry and even holding a golden staff tipped with ruby. Everything about him was either red or gold, even his scarlet hair and amber eyes.

Right on que, the announcer spoke, “And Ieros’s opponent is Panam Kutar, Second Son of Taram Kutar, the Legendary Phoenix! I’m sure I don’t need to explain his family’s history nor his own notable feats! I don’t know about you folks, but my money is on him!”

The crowd veritably roared with excitement, Ieros frowning as he faced his opponent, trying to remember what Thunwil had told him about barriers. Panam soon stood face to face with Ieros, he wasn’t impressed.

“You are my opponent?”

Ieros nodded and the red mage scoffed.

“I was told I would be facing a formidable mage but all I see is a coward who won’t show his face and has come unarmed! Is this an insult?”

Ieros knit his eyebrows.

“I do not believe so, I merely came as I am since I do not require magical equipment.”

Panam fell silent, before he laughed, “Confident are we? Very well, if my opponent will forgo his equipment, let it not be known that I, Panam Kutar, am one to abuse my advantage. I too shall forgo my equipment as well!”

The voice of the announcer echoed throughout the Coliseum, riling up the crowd as he did so.

“Truly, he is of the House Kutar! Even though his opponent is the apprentice of Azorin himself, he will fight on equal terms!”

Ieros frowned again, Panam picking up on his displeasure despite Ieros’s hooded face.

“If the announcer’s words irk you, then why are you even here?”

Ieros took a moment to respond, wondering if he should even reply.

But eventually, his pride won over and he said, “I am here to win this competition, it does not matter if the announcer irks me or not.”

Panam disagreed, saying, “But it does, your mind is already unsettled, you are unstable and how can you cast magic then? A little bit of advice, my friend, your mind must be clear for your spells to have the greatest effect.”

Deciding that he disliked Panam, Ieros formulated his reply, saying, “Then I will use the simplest of spells, so that my instability will be of no concern.”

Panam snorted.

“By Light, if you’re as skilled a mage as you are in retort, I fear this battle is already won.”

Ieros held his tongue, instead determined to defeat his opponent in combat, in the end, words without mana didn’t really mean anything. And he had confidence in mana, he didn’t even need augury to see that. He would win and there was nothing that Panam could do to stop that. He smiled, before it faded as he began to think, how would he defeat Panam?

Unfortunately, there was not much time to think, a servant had arrived and was busy taking off Panam’s magical equipment, leaving him only with his robes, same as Ieros. Once the last trinket left his body, he raised a fist, the crowd’s volume rising sharply with it, he spun around, bowing in the King’s direction before he faced Ieros again, smirking.

Ieros said nothing and did nothing, still thinking. He recalled faintly that Azorin had said the House of Kutar was one of fire mages, the best that Athera had to offer. Their spells were nigh unparalleled in terms of offensive capability, for their fire raged hotter than any other and with it their martial spirit.

But in the end, it was fire and he need only deal with it as such. He selected Thunwil’s air barrier, it was fairly simple to do, wouldn’t impede his vision, and was the most abundant material for a barrier other than sand.

As he reached his decision, the announcer’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Are you ready, contestants!?”

Panam raised his fist again and Ieros merely nodded.

The announcer then addressed the crowd, “Are you ready folks!?”

They cheered in response, as the announcer waited for them to calm down before he recited the rules.

“Now, I’m sure that we are all familiar with the rules but I am required to repeat them.

ONE!!! No killing! It is unfortunate that we have to voice this rule but it has happened before and we don’t want it to happen again!

TWO!!! No spells of great destruction! The arena is not solely for your use! There will be other contestants who need to fight and it wouldn’t do if you ruin the arena!

THREE!!! Do not permanently cripple your opponent in any way! This includes physically as well as magically, this is a friendly competition to determine your ranking, nothing more, nothing less!

AND FOUR!!! MAKE IT ENTERTAINING!!!

The fight will begin at my signal, you may take this time to prepare your barriers!”

As the crowd resumed cheering, Ieros ignited his blood, freeing his mana and having it bond with the surrounding air, drawing it to him. Panam on the other hand, ignited his blood and ignited again, his mana bursting into golden flames.

The announcer waited for the crowd to calm, waiting until there was an appropriate pause before he shouted, “BEGIN!!!”

And on his signal, Panam burst forth, leaving a trail of golden flames as he delivered a vicious uppercut into Ieros’s gut. Ieros grunted as he stumbled back, thoroughly winded.

“Ouch, Panam just goes in with the uppercut, Ieros is winded, it seems he did not expect Panam to use his fists!”

Panam snorted as he gave Ieros some time to catch his breath, interrupting him with a sweeping kick that knocked Ieros to the ground.

“Bruuuutal!!! Absolutely no mercy, Panam isn’t giving Ieros a chance!”

Ieros coughed as he lay there, his barrier all but gone as Panam approached. He kicked him in the ribs and was about to stomp down when Ieros slashed his hand in his general direction, a wave of sand and air whipping into Panam. His golden flames burned most of the sand and the air wasn’t particularly harmful, it just knocked him back.

“Ieros manages to push Panam back, will this be his counterattack?”

There was another slash of sand and air, as a third wave, composed mostly of sand this time, sought to swallow Panam, although it melted into molten glass. Ieros, still somewhat winded, coughed a few times as he reformed his air barrier, whirling it around him at high speed so that any melee approach would be redirected by its fierce winds. Sand too angrily rose to the air, although Panam’s flames burned them before they got close.

Unimpressed, Panam asked, “Is this all?”

In the background, the announcer laughed, “By Light, I am loving Panam’s attitude, he knows he’s gonna win!”

Taking a few deep breaths, Ieros managed, “I said... only... simple spells...”

Panam chuckled, “I guess you did, but I think you’ll have to do more to beat me.”

But Ieros did not attack, instead igniting more of his blood and using the new mana to gather more and more air. His spinning barrier slowed, as it grew denser and denser, the silver hue of Ieros’s mana becoming more apparent. Soon, Ieros was surrounded by a transparent silver sphere that seemed like fog-filled glass.

“What’s this? Ieros seems to have made a new barrier, but I haven’t seen it before! Could this be a special spell that Azorin taught him?”

Believing the same, Panam accused Ieros.

“I thought you said you were only going to use simple spells, but what’s this? Am I just too strong?”

Having mostly recovered, although he was aching, Ieros said, “It’s merely condensed air, the color is my mana. It isn’t really that complicated.”

Panam snorted,

“If it’s only air, it can be burned away. Last I checked, fire burned air too.”

So saying, he raised both his hands and unleashed twin streams of fire, bathing Ieros in golden energy. It ate away at his barrier as Panam maintained the stream, the announcer commenting,

“Panam is simply overwhelming Ieros with flames, all he can do is sit there and defend! Will his barrier hold?”

With a grin on his face, Panam pressed his advantage, his flames growing hotter as he sought to cook Ieros alive. But inside the barrier, Ieros was quite alright, although he was getting worried as he felt his mana sustaining the barrier be burned away bit by bit under the assault. However, he soon breathed a sigh of relief, finally the rate at which his mana burned was slowing until it almost ceased entirely.

He had now reached the point that Thunwil liked to call, “barrier stasis,” the state where an air-based barrier would cease to be burned. It was a curious phenomena that Thunwil didn’t quite have an explanation for other than air was made of two parts, one flammable and one that was not. If exposed to flame, the flammable part of air would burn leaving the nonflammable, which would still be a part of the barrier.

He had discovered it in his own studies on barriers and had mastered it to such a point that he could immediately reach barrier stasis, he knew now how to manipulate the nonflammable air. Unfortunately, it was something that only time would teach, or so Thunwil thought. But with the knowledge Ieros knew now, specifically about the Lost Scripture and his earlier tests, he could identify exactly the gases responsible and manipulate them as well, instead of learning to feel the difference.

But to do that, he’d have to get back to the Tower and to do that, he’d have to finish this fight first. And so, as he had reached barrier stasis, Ieros began to prepare his counteroffensive. After all, he already had the perfect weapon in his grasp, he need only use it.

And so he began, rotating his barrier once again to direct the flames outward, dispersing it at the same time in preparation.

“Ieros has countered! Panam’s flames are rendered useless, what will Ieros do next!?”

Panam soon ceased his flames, increasing the strength of his defensive aura instead, prepared for whatever Ieros would throw. But, Ieros didn’t throw anything. He just stood there, Panam warily watching.

Confused, Panam decided that he should attack, perhaps whatever Ieros was planning was going to take a long time. So once again he engaged in melee, leaping into the air to perform an axe kick but air interrupted him, knocking him down. He quickly got up on one knee but that was as far as he got, suddenly, there was a strange pressure which came down on him from all sides, as if he was submerged in mud.

“Panam goes in for an attack but he was interrupted, Ieros’s air magic no doubt! But why is he just kneeling there, is he waiting?”

As Panam sought for a way to escape, his flames, which had once burned so proudly, began to sputter, as a layer of faint silver became more and more visible around him. Panam ignited more of his blood to sustain his barrier, the flames burning fiercer but it was all for naught, his flames failing to free him. Eventually, he let it die to conserve what mana he had left, instead directing his gaze to Ieros, who was busy brushing the sand off of his robes and straightening it out.

He took a breath to ask Ieros just what he did, but he found that the air he was breathing was stale, he was suffocating. He struggled to break free then, but was unable to, that brief exertion bringing suffocation even nearer. He just glared at Ieros, who had finished and turned to face him, the shadows of his hood seeming to glare right back.

Panam soon lost consciousness and at that moment, Ieros released his barrier, maintaining watch over Panam for a few minutes to make sure that his lungs began to breathe again. He did not need to worry however as Panam soon resumed breathing normally, although still unconscious. After a few moments of confused silence, the announcer spoke.

“I... I believe we have our winner! Using a spell that I’ve never seen before, Ieros has won!”

The crowd did not cheer however, they were just as confused and perhaps disappointed as well. The fight had not ended with spells of grandeur and majesty, Panam had just fallen unconscious after failing a kick. As for Ieros, he had done nothing except defend himself after being beaten by Panam’s fists. However, that silver energy which had surrounded Panam seemed to clearly be of his work, but they just didn’t know how or why it defeated Panam.

And it was in their confusion that Ieros quietly exited the arena, leaving Panam’s body lying unceremoniously on the sandy floor.