Chapter name

Most of the lights went by quickly, and within another hour, Ray heard his name being called again.

"Next fight, Ray Diant, and Cole Horl," Grayn announced.

Magnus also noticed Ray's name being called. "You're up. Your next opponent will have won a match already, but he should still be a level 2 mage. You should be able to win." He encouraged Ray.

"Don't worry, they won't stand a chance," Ray replied.

He walked down to the gate and entered the pit. His opponent, Cole, was already standing there with his arms crossed. He stared intently at Ray as he entered the pit.

Grayn did the usual inspection of Ray and Cole. He stared a bit longer than usual at Cole, but let it pass after a second.

He flew to the top of the arena and announced, "Start in 3… 2… 1…"

Ray cast his pillar of light the second the match started, just as in the previous battle. He expected Cole to cast a spell too, but Cole simply took out a blue sword and rushed toward Ray.

The light chipped Cole's shield a little, but Ray had to quickly cancel the spell since Cole was already out of its radius. Cole quickly reached Ray and forced him to pull out his sword and enter fierce melee combat with him. Although Ray had most of his practice as a mage and didn't have too much experience with swords, he started pushing back Cole further and further, even getting a few chips at his shield.

The reason for this wasn't his overwhelming skill, but rather his overwhelming raw power. Each time Ray swung his sword toward Cole, Cole had to use a lot of force to counter the attack. Meanwhile, when Cole swung his sword at Ray, Ray could use minimal force to block the attack without taking any damage.

After Ray landed a few shots on Cole's shield and caused a crack to form, he realized he needed to get serious. Dark blue energy started to flow into Cole's sword, making it shine with blue light. He yelled out loud while swinging his sword down with all his might.

Ray saw the energy being channeled into the sword, but he was caught off guard; there was nothing he could do in the situation. He raised his sword to defend against Cole's strike as that was the best he could do in the situation. Cole's sword smashed into Ray's sword, flinging it out of his hands and then running into his shield. The sword rubbed against Ray's shield which created small bursts of energy on contact. After a fourth of a second, the sword pushed through the shield and hit Ray with all its momentum.

While the sword was digging through his shield, he had enough time to move backward and block with his arm, although he was still flung back several meters. He looked down to see his left arm where the sword hit; the flesh was dark blue. The muscles and nerves were all frozen, so he couldn't move his arm at all. He could also feel the energy within his flesh trying to invade his body, but his body's strength was very strong; it resisted the energy well.

Ray ignored his arm and turned to look at what Cole was doing. Cole was also wasting no time and took the chance to rush toward Ray, even though he was visibly exhausted from the previous attack. Ray quickly cast another shield to protect himself from any other incoming attack, but Cole didn't seem to have much left within him.

They got back to close combat fighting, but this time Ray had a different plan. Once he started pushing Cole back, he cast a light ray at Cole, aimed right at his chest. Cole sensed something coming so he retreated backward while he could, but it was of no use since light ray was a spell where the distance didn't matter too much. The ray instantaneously pierced through Cole's cracked shield and stopped only after going through his rib cage.

Cole spat out some blood a few times but got up a second later. But that second was all Ray needed to use another light Ray, aimed again at Cole's chest! This time Cole knew what was going to happen, but he couldn't do anything but be passive! He raised his sword towards his chest, predicting that Ray would hit him near his opened wound. He predicted correctly, and the match was stalled for a bit longer, although the light ray's power ripped the sword out of Cole's hands.

What did Ray do after using a light Ray to disarm Cole? He shot another light ray! That was the difference between a level 2 mage and a level 3 mage: the energy capacity!

Cole's eyes widened as he experienced the power difference between him and a level 3 mage firsthand. All he could do was turn his body a bit, so the ray hit his shoulder and missed his damaged chest.

At this point, the battle had become a one-sided beatdown with Ray at the top, and Cole bleeding onto the arena ground.

Ray didn't have the patience to keep playing around with Cole. He took out his sword and rushed Cole who was lying defenseless on the ground. Cole tried scrambling up and retrieving his sword, but Ray smashed Cole's neck before his hand could reach it.

A loud crack reverberated throughout the area as Ray's sword crushed Cole's neck bones. As he expected, a shield stopped him from completely crushing his neck, saving Cole's life.

Before he was teleported outside the pit, he took a glance at Cole's pitiful state on the ground. Cole managed to give him a look of hatred before passing out.

Ray spat on his body and muttered, "Lucky guy."

Quickly after, he was teleported to the gate leading to the pit. He looked down at his arm, which had already started to thaw out. He could start to feel the senses in his arm coming back, but it still would have been useless in a fight.

Suddenly, a tall man with golden eyes dressed in a golden robe appeared a few meters away from Ray.

"Hello, you must be Ray Diant?" He asked politely.

"Yes," Ray replied.

"My name is George, and I'm the representative of the House of Light for this decade's apprentice fight." He spoke. He took a look at Ray's wound and asked, "Do you need some help there?"

"It's fine, I can feel it healing on its own," Ray replied.

George looked slightly disappointed but quickly changed the subject. "I'm sure you already know why I'm here. The other representatives of the house of light who came with me all agreed that you have good potential, so we decided to invite you to join our House of Light. What do you think?"

Ray was tempted to join the House of Light, but there was one big problem he still had. He didn't immediately answer the question and instead said, "I tried training my soul here, but the energy density was terrible."

An understanding look flashed across George's face. "Everyone is always confused about that," he said with a light chuckle. "Don't worry about energy density. How do you think we stay as the top House in all of the royal capital?"

After hearing George reject his doubts, he had no reason to decline him. "I will gladly accept your invitation then, George."

George smiled as if he knew Ray would say so all along. "I will inform your teacher then, I'm sure he will be happy."

"I'm sure he will be…" Ray replied.