Aethersage's performance was certainly a surprise to many, but no one discounted Alex's victory just yet. The fact was, Pill Clouds meant nothing in the end. What one truly needed were Pill Veins.
Aethersage could make seven pills at once, but if they only had five Pill Veins each, that was 35 in total. If Alex managed to handle six Pill Lightnings for all six of his pills, that was 36 Pill Veins in total.
Even if he failed somehow, there was still an hour of time to do better next time. Neither of them were truly out of the competition yet.
By the time Aethersage reached his fifth burst of Pill Lightnings, Alex had only just managed to finish refining his ingredients. The length of the recipe alone made it difficult to complete the pill as quickly as possible, but the fact that Alex had to be careful with each step of the process meant he had to go as slow as he could.