Who are you?

Elaine drew out a dark-yellow sword from a magic circle.

Maria smiled.

"Confidence, it's truly a great willpower for everyone," Maria said after taking a simple breath.

"However, it's not so good to hold confidence more than enough," Maria added.

"I don't think it's overconfidence, especially when I'm the stronger one here."

Elaine flew toward Maria with her katana. She swung her sword toward Maria's eyes and the upper side of her head.

Maria drew a magic circle and blocked the swing with the magic circle.

"Is this the battle trick you learned from the academy? Really lame," Maria said with an insulting smile.

The magic circle Maria drew was blue, but suddenly it started to change color and turned into a whole red magic circle.

A storm of ice magic completely froze Elaine, along with the whole center of the stadium.

The range of the spell was so huge that it completely froze the surroundings of the center, and it was about to touch the audience's venue as well.

"The amount of confidence isn't useful if you're a weakling like this. What a joke," Maria said with a smile on her face, a sarcastic smile yet gentle.

Maria returned to her place with quiet grace, her steps calm and composed.

She tried to wear a smile—gentle, practiced—but something tugged beneath the surface.

A silent weight lingered in her eyes, holding her joy hostage and dimming the light behind her lips.

"Well, well, that was quite a show, but it didn't last much longer. Approximately, the ultimate winner is Maria Reinino," the announcer said with a minor smile.

The announcer was a member of the same family as Aizis, the most powerful family around the whole realm—the Liyano family. Even though Aizis was a member of the family, he refused to use their second name and thus used a different second name for himself. The announcer was known for his friendly behavior. Despite being a member of the strongest family in the entire realm, he was friendly with everyone, an entertaining and kind person. His name was Rio Liyano.

"As we finish our second grand final, it's time for the third final round. For that, I would like to ask Marco and Riyosi to enter the center," Rio said.

Both Marco and Riyosi slowly entered the center of the stadium.

"I knew it, you'll be my opponent, the infamous flame magic user, Marco," Riyosi said with a smile.

"Well, well, it seems like I'm pretty popular. So then, if you fear me, just give up," Marco said with a smirk.

"Give up?"

Riyosi drew a magic circle and released a storm of water magic toward Marco.

"I'd rather die than give up," Riyosi said while releasing the spell.

"That's some serious faith, I like it. However, it's not something that's going to help you right now," Marco said with a smile, trace of poke.

Marco drew a huge magic circle covering Riyosi's spell. The white magic circle completely absorbed the spell into nothing.

Marco redrew another magic circle and released a mini-sized red flame magic toward Riyosi.

Before Riyosi could do anything, the flame spell covered him in dark fog.

Before the spell could completely burn him to death, Marco released the spell. Due to the effect of the flame spell, Riyosi lost consciousness.

"The winner is Marco," Rio announced.

Marco opened his mouth, as if to speak to Riyoshi's unconscious body—but the words never came. They hovered on his lips, then dissolved into silence.

Marco went back to his position.

"Well, well, my dear audience, here we come to the final round of our event. As for the fourth round, I would like to invite Edward Raizel and Rafael Neiron to ascend to the center of the stadium." Rio said with his casual smile.

Both Raizel and Rafael calmly entered the center part. Both of their magic powers were so intense that their magic covered the entire stadium, and the sky and surroundings were covered with dark mana fog.

They stood in front of each other.

"I believe we're going to have a fair battle here." Rafael said.

Judging by your magic power, you are also blessed by a ruler's magic power, right?" Rafael said with a minor smile.

"A ruler? I don't know. I have the magic power, and now I'm going to use it just to finish my job. It's currently my job to defeat you here," Raizel replied, totally expressionless.

"I don't think it's necessary to say that you are holding a ruler's blessed magic power. Well then, I'm someone similar to you. I also hold the magic power of a ruler," Rafael said.

"Does it matter? All that matters here is that I'm going to defeat you and finish my job. It doesn't matter whether you're blessed by a ruler or not. It doesn't matter whether you're stronger or not," Raizel replied in a soft tone.

"This guy... his expression... it feels like he's not human... he's like a weapon who will destroy everything, regardless of his capability and limitation. What's wrong with him?" Rafael thought in his mind, confused.

His face was sweating heavily.

"Well, it doesn't matter whether he's strange or not. It's not something that concerns me. I will simply defeat him here. That's my goal now," Rafael thought in his mind.

Rafael drew a magic circle and cast red flames toward Raizel.

Raizel also drew a magic circle and cast ice magic. A huge ice barrier surrounded Raizel completely. The flame spell directly hit the barrier, causing a huge explosion.

The explosion took the surroundings under dark fog. However, the fog didn't last long.

Within a few seconds, the fog completely dissipated due to Raizel's mana presence.

Rafael's spell was completely demolished, as was Raizel's barrier.

As soon as the fog cleared, Raizel and Rafael drew their swords and clashed with each other fiercely. Their clash created multiple mana waves around them.

In a few seconds, the waves caused multiple earthquakes. Their mana was so intense that their mana waves shattered the thunder clouds into thousands of pieces, continuing to cause thunder waves.

Everyone in the stadium was struggling to keep their ground against the mana waves.

"What sort of magic power is this? Their hostile energy is insane. I can't even open my eyes properly," Marco said a bit loudly while trying to open his eyes repeatedly.

Aizis smiled.

"That's quite an interesting show," Aizis said.

Rafael and Raizel clashed multiple times, each collision creating powerful mana waves that caused the ground to quake continuously. Due to their immense magical power, running out of mana was not an issue. They continued to engage in fierce combat.

While exchanging blows with Rafael, Raizel drew multiple magic circles that encompassed both of them. The magic circles changed color, shifting from blue to red. Within seconds, all of them released a massive storm of red flames. Before casting the spell, Raizel created a huge barrier that covered the center of the stadium.

The flame storm engulfed both of them in thick, dark fog, so dense that nothing inside the barrier was visible to the audience. The fog took quite some time to dissipate. When it finally cleared, Raizel stood unscathed, without a single scratch on his body. On the other hand, Rafael was barely standing—his body severely burned to ashes. Moments later, he collapsed to the ground.

Before Rafael's soul could leave his body, Raizel drew a magic circle over him, completely healing his injuries. However, Rafael remained unconscious. Raizel then dispelled the barrier.

"Do you know why you lost?" Raizel asked. "It's because you lack experience. While we seemed equal in both physical strength and speed, you were too confident that we truly were. You might wonder how a magic spell could be faster than physical speed. The answer is simple—I wasn't fighting at my full potential from the start. I held back. My spell was fast enough to catch you off guard, and it did. That's why you lost this battle," Raizel explained.

As Raizel was about to leave, Rafael's weak voice called out from behind him.

"I thought we were equal, but there was always a huge gap, wasn't there? A person who hides their true capability will always win against an ant like me. From the very beginning, it was never a fair match. I was the loser from the moment I stepped onto the battlefield," Rafael said in a broken voice.

Raizel left without responding. He returned to his seat in silence.

"It's time for the final announcement," Marco said.

"Well, well, that was quite a show. Honestly, it was the most thrilling and dangerous event I have ever witnessed. The sheer amount of magical power, creating endless quakes and waves, was simply mind-blowing, making this event truly spectacular. Now that the battles have concluded, I would like to announce the families that will be taking you in as their students. It seems that every finalist has been chosen by a noble family. However, for now, I will reveal the name of the family that has decided to take the winners as their students. The Neiron family has chosen Marco, Maria, Aizis, and Raizel as their students. I ask the students to confirm their acceptance. My dear students, please provide your confirmation," Rio announced.