Max and Klaus were sitting in the front of the formation. When Max announced that he will be creating a make-shift formation Klaus asked him to be the main tank of the team. Max opposed the idea but after hearing him out he thought that it would be better to let him in the front. He was more powerful and sturdier than Max while his abilities also aligned themselves towards a main-tanking position. Klaus also recommended Max to stay behind him and only attack after giving him the opportunity to do so, for such suggestion Max accepted right away, if he wanted to help him unleash his ability then so be it.
Silvia was placed in the back of the formation; she would mostly be offering support to the front lines while Ragnar defended her if anything happened. Her brother Karl would also stay in the rear, his fast movement speed would create an advantage if used correctly, Max was aware of this and wanted to exploit it at its maximum.
On the other side of the arena was the enemy team. Unbeknownst to either of Max's teammates the enemy team also had a distinct arrangement of elements. In front of the formation was Jae, he was also the one that defeated Mark in the last battle. He was an ice mage that could unleash low-leveled abilities on a whim, such abilities were considered powerful before as the majority of the first-year students were still struggling with the basic breathing technique and had no knowledge of elemental abilities.
His position was right in front of the formation, beside Aron, a water mage that would provide Jae with back-up during fighting. It is known that during a fight certain elemental pairs are offered different synergy bonuses; such elemental pairs were Ice and Water. Knowing this they both were staying in front to be able to fully utilize the synergy.
Behind the two of them was Loreen, a lightning mage. There was a major difference between thunder mages such as Ragnar and lightning mages such as her. Lightning mages had an advantage against the other speed-wise, they were able to conjure power from inside their bodies before unleashing it toward their target. Thunder mages weren't able to do like so, they had to conjure power from nature before bringing it down upon their enemies. Thunder mages were a lot slower when using their abilities but in turn, the power they had was superior to the lightning mages.
In the back lines were Lili and Abe, they both had elements and weapons unsuited to fight in the frontlines. Lili was a light mage, a powerful asset in any team. She could replenish magic and stamina to her teammates, this was the special characteristic of the rare Light Element as everyone knew it. It was mostly a support element but paired up with the right method it would also lead to detrimental power.
Abe on the other hand was a Poison Mage, one of the most unsuited elements for a fight. The poison element, while being the rarest of the elements present inside the arena, was extremely hard to control. The only bright side to his ability was that it was still low-leveled, so he wasn't able to experience the drawbacks that other Poison Mages did when fighting alongside a team. He on the other hand adapted to his own power after awakening and began using a bow. Wielding one and shooting arrows infused with poison brought different effects on a person if he hit, he wasn't strong enough to kill people with poison alone yet.
Jae sprinted toward Klaus trying to get the first attack in, Aron followed closely behind him.
Klaus looked at the two of them closing in and decided not to move, he was waiting in place which made Max quite nervous. Max was behind him and he wondered what he was thinking to do, after all, he didn't have a weapon on him yet; but still decided to trust him.
Jae swung his sword at Klaus who moved his hand in place to where he thought the strike will hit. A sharp clanking sound vibrated in the air before Jae retreated backward.
'How?' He wondered as he looked at his sword which had its edge cracked in multiple directions
He looked at Klaus but more exactly towards his hand where his armor was shifting around, making it look like his armor was made of molten metal.
"You are backing up already?" Klaus taunted, he tried provoking his enemy so that the fight will end faster.
His taunt seemed to work as Jae's expression turned ugly. He deeply inhaled and as he exhaled mist began enveloping his blade. Slowly his hand developed a layer of ice that froze the handle in his hands while his blade was fortified by another layer of ice going all around the blade.
"I'm just getting started!" And with this warning, he once again closed the distance between Klaus and himself. He swung toward his unprotected head before another clanking sound resounded, shocking him.
"Attacks like these are not effective" Klaus snorted while an arrow was shot from behind him. Jae heard the sound of the bow and immediately jumped backward. Or at least he tried to but his feet were tangled in thick roots holding him in place.
He didn't know where the arrow was going to hit but he still raised his hand trying to protect himself. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the piercing pain to settle in but it wasn't the case. He felt his hand being enveloped by something cold before a crunching sound echoed.
He quickly opened his eyes and was met with an ice wall separating him from the enemies on the other side. He looked back at Aron that had his hands risen in the air towards him, giving him an idea of what happened. He nodded toward him with a grateful expression before backing down.
He didn't look upwards where thunder gathered, the black clouds roared as purple lighting fell on the place he stood a few seconds before. The wall of ice was decimated as it met the powerful attack, pieces of it flying in the air.
"Almost got him!" Ragnar complained to himself before closing his eyes once again, thunder began resounding as soon as he did.
Jae heard the sound of air being sliced so he backed down once again on instinct. He hit Aron accidentally as he backed down but was able to see that his call was right, Karl swung at the spot where Jae stood before, barely missing him before disappearing once again from sight.
'This is not going to be a fair match' He thought while looking at the way the enemy team moved. They had a decent formation and used their abilities to always instigate an advantage over them.
The fight went on and it was pretty one-sided, Max's team was using quick and efficient ways to deal with Jae and the others. Klaus and Abe's worst enemy, any arrows he shot were always intercepted by him, the few arrows that he wasn't able to stop were taken down by Max with his shield. Lili wasn't able to do a lot in this fight, her abilities being spread over to four people wasn't that useful and it drained her significantly. Aron tried his best to assist Jae but the latter always rushed alone not counting on his team for any help.
Max and the others slowly chipped away at their stamina and magic before realizing that Lili was constantly helping them replenish their stamina at the cost of her own. Max thought of a plan to attack so he called Karl by his side. He used him to transmit information to each of the individuals in his team, after all, he wasn't going to shout it all out for his enemies to hear.
The fight was long and tedious until now, Max's team had too much defense and support while Jae's team had too much offense. Neither of them was able to finish the battle quickly and could only try to chip each other away as time went on.
"Ready!" Silvia said, raising her voice enough for Max and Klaus to hear her.
Max nodded at Klaus before rushing forward. They were planning to end the fight.
Jae rushed toward Max as he saw the latter approaching him, he swung his sword repeatedly at Max that kept blocking his attacks before feeling extreme pain in his abdomen. Klaus had changed his armor, making a long and sharp-edged sword extending from his hand. He punctured Jae's stomach before retracting it.
Silvia moved from the backlines, wrapping thick roots around Jae which was slowly entangled in them, his attempts weren't enough to stop it. Aron tried helping him but Max once again stood in front, blocking any attempts made to free him. Aron got close enough and shot his spear at Max who didn't block for the first time but evaded, attaching his shield to Aron's body before letting the black flames rampant.
Aron faced intense exhaustion with a tint of pain all of a sudden. Falling on his knees he received a nice and hefty shield to the face that left him unconscious. Abe shot his arrow forward trying to help his teammate but it was too late.
The arrow was approaching the unsuspecting Max that was taking Aron's weapon from the ground at that moment. But that didn't matter, the arrow split in two as Karl made his appearance once more before thrusting his body towards the attacker. He intercepted Abe before being knocked down by him. Abe had quick reflexes and when he was attacked he swiftly blocked the blade with his bow before using his palm to hit Karl right on the chest.
Shortly after, Karl began coughing. He kneeled down, clutching his chest feeling like he couldn't breathe and that his lungs were on fire. He got back up on his feet a few short breathes after, he didn't know what was happening but he wasn't going to fall so easily, especially on the last stretch. He looked at Abe that just shot an arrow towards him.
He groaned in pain as the arrow was shot in his right leg, just above his kneecap. Abe loaded another arrow and was ready to shoot Karl once again in the other leg, trying to render him immobile. The sky roared just as he was about to let the arrow fly, thunder fell on the oblivious Abe. He screamed in pain before it was cut short. The light dissipated leaving Abe, charred black and with torn off clothes, to be seen by everyone. His bow and arrows were obliterated and turned to ash as well, if he didn't fall unconscious, he wouldn't have been able to do anything else either.
Klaus held down Loreen while all this was happening, she was channeling lightning around her but to no avail, Klaus's armor resisted each of her attacks. He formed a long spear and a small shield while fighting her for better control as she wouldn't be able to use her lightning while defending against other attacks.
Lili was being held back by Silvia; she was able to help Loreen with magic to keep on fighting Klaus but soon will run out of stamina. She was panting heavily while evading the arrows that Silvia shot towards her alongside the roots that always tried to bind her.
The battle was already decided, the push that Max's team was able to execute was extremely successful, being able to eliminate two of the enemies almost instantly and a third one shortly after. The battle finished a few minutes later, Lili fainted from the extreme use of her ability while Loreen gave up as soon as she saw herself being circled by Klaus, Max, and Ragnar at the same time.
"Congratulations to the winning team!" Azel said, appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the arena. He had a satisfied smile on his face, showing that the battle was enjoyable to him as well. There weren't a lot of injured individuals, the only ones that suffered were numbering less than half of the total number, this is why he was satisfied. Lili and Aron weren't injured but seemed extremely exhausted, this will solve itself after some sleep. Jae was punctured in the stomach which was also a fairly easy injury to heal and the only highly injured individual was Abe who was struck by Ragnar's thunder.
"The reward of the winning team is pretty good this year. Each of the individuals is able to ask for any single thing that they desire. This of course is limited to only materials about Magicians, Breathing Techniques, or any information about other topics. Our academy sadly doesn't offer money in such competitions." He announced which brought a firm smile on each of the standing individual's faces.
Max's eyes were glistening with anticipation as he already knew what he's going to ask for.