(Note: In the last Chapter I referred to the vice-captain of Shinsei Academy as Kurogane Oni. That was a mistake on my part. His name is Takeda Shun; Kurogane Oni is actually the name of his bounded spirit, My Apologies.)

After bypassing Shun by making him believe he was the target, Alec appeared before Aoyama Kiri and Kagura Yato.

Kiri had merged with her spirit, allowing her to manipulate wind in a unique way, her spirit was a Whispering Wind Wraith, granting her mastery over wind manipulation, sound manipulation, and an increased heightened perception.

Yato, on the other hand, was the only mage who had an assassin-type spirit among them, his spirit allowed him to perform short-distance teleportation and conjure shadow-formed spirit daggers and other weapons at will.

Looking at him, Alec couldn’t help but compare him to Knight, the moment Alec appeared before them, they attacked simultaneously.

As Yato took the lead, bending low and raising a shadow dagger high as he aimed to drive it into Alec’s right ribs.

At the same time, Kiri clapped her hands together, even before she released them, Alec could already sense that the backlash of the energy she was gathering would be able to destabilize him for a moment.

Suspended in midair, Alec calmly observed and analyzed their coordinated assault, silently acknowledging how impressive their teamwork was.

But he was done admiring, as he finally made his move, by slashing his weapons outward and releasing an X-shaped arc of dark flames that tore through the air toward Kiri.

At the same time, he twisted his body in midair, the sudden maneuver made Yato’s gaze tremble, as he couldn’t understand how Alec had managed to reposition himself like that while he was in the air.

In reality, Alec had used his flames to alter his posture, by manipulating the fire beneath his feet like a pair of rocket thrusters, he had been able to change direction in midair with ease.

As he completed the twist, Alec launched a kick straight toward Yato’s head, executing a brutal overhead strike.

It all happened so fast that neither the crowd nor even Yato could fully understand what was going on. Meanwhile, the wind blast Kiri had been preparing was crushed before it could even go far.

Alec’s twin flaming slashes not only canceled it out but continued surging forward trying to take her out even with a reduced power, this forced her to keep casting additional spells while retreating and trying to drain the energy in the strike.

That was why she couldn’t get close or assist Yato, as Alec had deliberately kept her occupied because Yato had been his target from the start because he believes that Yato was more of a drag to leave in the battle his irritating teleportation.

Bang!

The kick finally landed. All of Alec’s strength crashed into Yato’s head, driving him straight into the ground.

The moment his face struck the arena floor, he lost consciousness and couldn’t even attempt to stand again.

The power behind the kick alone was overwhelming, but when that was combined with the speed at which he had slammed his head into the hard ground, Yato simply blacked out instantly.

With a fluid motion, Alec twisted again and landed.

“Arrgh!”

The instant his feet touched the ground, he realized someone was already in front of him — Shun.

The vice-captain, who he had once used his shield as a pillar to launch himself forward, had now swung it horizontally towards him, aiming to cleave Alec with its sharp, pointed edge.

Alec just calmly stepped backward, evading the attack with ease as he watched the shield miss him by a few inches , and in one swift motion, he swung his bone katana out toward the right side of the shield, targeting a precise point.

Clang!

The moment the blade struck, Shun felt the strength drain from his arm, as his right hand, which was strapped into the shield, was forced wide open, leaving his body exposed.

His eyes widened in that moment, as Alec took full advantage of this and closed the distance with a burst of terrifying speed that was beyond what he was used to, holding the changdao in an inverse grip in his left hand, Alec drove the hilt forward, slamming it into Shun’s neck.

Shun choked violently, gasping for breath, though Alec wanted to finish him off, however; his mental senses picked up a new presence approaching.

So he decided to let him be, knowing he wouldn’t be able to do anything anytime soon in his condition, and in the same smooth motion, he turned again and swung his bone katana in the opposite direction, but this time, he was outplayed and stopped.

And that was because Ren had arrived.

Having finally broken free from the inverse gravity that had restrained him for about five seconds in the air, Ren rushed in and executed an upward slash aimed at Alec’s back.

However, at the last moment Ren saw Alec twist and swing his bone blade out towards his neck, immediately Ren swiftly altered the direction of his own strike, aiming to disarm him instead.

Yet even after doing that when their weapons clashed, he couldn’t hide the irritation rising within him when he saw the faint smile still hanging on Alec’s face.

He stepped closer imitating Alec’s earlier move to close the distance with Shun, but he changed the weapon initiative by placing his right hand at the base of his katana’s hilt while his left hand remained nearer to the guard.

Continuing the motion from before, he thrust the blade forward.

[> Low Tier Spell – Black Ashes Body <]

In response Alec cast a spell, while he moved directly into Ren’s range, Ren’s katana stabbed forward and sank into his flesh, yet Ren immediately felt something strange about it all, despite poking into Alec he could feel as if his weapon hadn’t actually pierced anything solid.

Puchi!

Then, while still glaring at Alec’s smiling face in anger, Ren heard the unmistakable sound of a blade piercing real flesh.

At that exact moment, Alec’s body burst apart into drifting black ash, dissolving before his eyes, and beyond that vanishing figure, Ren suddenly saw the truth, his blade had pierced slightly into Shun’s body.

Though the wound wasn’t deep enough to remove him from the battle, but the implication was clear, Alec hadn’t even been taking them seriously.

He had been toying with them like he had everything under control.

“How dare you! Where is your mage’s pride? Fight me head-on instead of running around!” Hoshino Ren shouted, turning just in time to see Alec’s body reconstructing nearby as the black ashes reformed.

“Hmm.” Alec glanced up at him and frowned, he didn’t like the way Ren spoke to him at all.

“No problem then. Playtime is over. Titan, come out.” Alec said, as beside him, a large icy-blue portal formed, big enough for a towering figure to step through.

Immediately, the surrounding air turned unbearably cold as Titan emerged from the portal, he appeared in his humanoid form, while cladded in a full-body ice armor, his light-green eyes glowing faintly.

The first thing Titan did was bow respectfully toward Alec, many in the northern crowd already knew Alec possessed an Ice Golem, but seeing Titan again after so long made them realize something had clearly changed, they felt there was something very different about him now.

It was then they saw him run a hand over his bald head, pushing it slightly backward, and when he raised it again, a floating ice crown hovered a few centimeters above his head.

“All of you — come at me!” Titan said, his gaze sweeping across every mage on the battlefield who didn’t belong to the War God Mage Team.

The entire crowd fell silent after his statement, the remaining Blade Clan members and the three Shinsei Academy mages that were still conscious were all stunned by the sheer arrogance radiating from the golem.

It was even acting more unrestrained than its own master.

“If you don’t make your move,” Titan continued, “you’d better believe I will make the first one instead.”

This time he didn’t just speak, he released his aura, the oppressive pressure spread across the battlefield, and every mage present, even those from the War God Mage Team, felt a cold chill run down their spines, they could all tell that without any illusion what was before them was a genuine Tier 7 Golem.