The defeat of Shin hit the School of Silent Night mages like a shockwave, as none of them had imagined him losing and definitely not so soon at the beginning of the battle.

But the thoughts of his defeat only lingered for a moment before they shoved it aside, refocusing on their own fights, as a fierce determination rose in them, many of them starting to feel as if they needed to take down at least one War God member to even the score.

Elsewhere, Kenta had finally closed in on Pale, as he whipped his right hand forward; the tonfa twisted mid-swing, its bladed end slicing toward Pale’s throat like a hidden dagger.

Pale swiftly raised his left short ice blade just in time to parry, as metal rang against frost, but Kenta’s left fist was already coming, a vicious jab aimed at Pale’s face.

Pale twisted his second short sword up to deflect it at the last second, which caused the trajectory of the blade to shift, but the blade still grazed his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.

While the rest of Kenta’s fist slammed into his nose with a dull crunch, this caused Pale to stagger back, as he could feel his vision blurring.

Kenta pressed the advantage instantly with a lightning-fast triple kick: one to the knee, waist, and head, with each impact sending Pale reeling sideways, overwhelmed by the relentless martial onslaught from Kenta.

Blood now trickled from the corner of Pale’s mouth, and from the edge of his vision, he saw Lucas standing victorious over Shin, and already scanning the field for his next target.

Pale’s pride flared, he was a mage who craved the spotlight; so he didn’t want to be the one who needed rescue , as he believed that would only serve to ruin his reputation.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Cold Zone <]

Pale planted his feet wide, dropping into a solid stance, and the frost that had only faintly trailed his footsteps now exploded outward, spreading rapidly in a twenty-meter circle around him—an icy domain of slick ground, biting cold, and slowed movement for anyone but himself.

But he wasn’t finished. Pale’s fingers flashed through another series of hand signs as ice runes flickered in mid-air around him, when the last seal locked in, he thrust both palms forward toward Kenta, who was already closing the distance in a hard sprint.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Glacier Spike <]

Immediately a massive ice spike erupted from the edge of the twenty-meter frozen domain, lancing upward and outward in a deadly arc aimed straight at Kenta who was charging forward.

The spike rose like a spear thrown by a giant, climbing toward the sky. Kenta’s eyes narrowed, he knew he couldn’t block it head-on.

Instead, he waited until the spike was almost upon him, then leaped high, planting his left palm on its surface to vault over and continue his charge.

But if he thought of that, even Pale, who was watching him closely, could already predict his next move before he made it.

[> Low Tier Spell – Ice Explosion <]

Pale clenched his right fist, as the glacier spike mirrored the motion and detonated in a wide, violent burst of razor-sharp shards and freezing mist, filling the air with a lethal cloud.

[> Mid Shinobi Technique – Mirror Phantasm <]

Kenta’s deep voice rang out from within the explosion.

Causing Pale to spread out his mental senses towards the location around him, inside his mental scope, he suddenly detected a second figure materializing from a completve opposite direction, identical aura, identical presence to Kenta.

Pale couldn’t tell how Kenta had managed to cross the distance to the other side without him knowing as it would require an almost impossible speed, but he wasn’t taking chances.

Instantly Pale raised his right hand as if lifting invisible weights, as ten ice lances ripped free from the frozen ground around him, hovering like spears ready to fly.

“Fire!”

He then thrust his hand forward, the lances shot toward the approaching Kenta in a deadly volley, then surprise flashed across Pale’s face.

As from the opposite direction, the side he had turned his back to, he could feel another identical Kenta aura finally appearing in his mental scope, and it was closing fast.

Without turning, Pale could tell he’d been deceived, that was because the ice lances had finally struck the figure he’d targeted and all he got was flickering as the ice lances passed straight through it.

“An illusion.” Pale muttered.

From the opposite side, the real Kenta burst out of the lingering explosion fog,Pale managed only a half-turn before Kenta was on him.

Frozen patches mottled Kenta’s skin; blood streaked from cuts and grazes, his disheveled state confirmed this was the genuine body, but Pale had no time to react.

As Kenta’s leg swept low, hooking Pale’s ankle and robbing him of his balance, following that was a rising kick almost instantly, slamming into Pale’s chin and snapping his head backward.

The tonfa were gone from Kenta’s hands, in their place he gripped a wired hook with both fists.

In one fluid motion, Kenta spun behind Pale—back to back, and looped the wire around his neck, as he yanked it tight.

Pale choked, his hands flying up to seize the wire before it could bite deeper into his neck, blood welled instantly as the thin metal cut into his palms.

Kenta then leaned back, using his full weight, as Pale could his feet leaving the ground., before he could mount any real resistance, he was been hurled over the arena’s edge, and crashed outside the boundary.

“Good riddance,” Kenta muttered, waving dismissively as Pale tumbled, he knew he had survived only because of his illusion arts.

Had Pale not been fooled by the phantom body, he would still have been facing elimination now, because after that ice explosion, Pale would have had his ice lances poised and ready.

Even Kenta knew he wouldn’t have survived that barrage.

So when the fog had risen, he had shattered his own smoke bomb, in a bid to suppress Pale’s mental senses just long enough to cast the Mirror Phantasm, which was designed to perfectly mimic his movements, and since Pale couldn’t locate the real body.

He had mistaken the illusion for the genuine one, and that was how the mirage he had up had flipped his disadvantage into a decisive advantage.