Capítulo 1081: Domination Match 1.

“War God!!!”

“Bloodline!!!”

The names of the two academies echoed loudly through the arena, the chants were so intense that even the spectators who had intended to remain neutral gradually found themselves picking a side to support.

For the Northern Kingdom fans, this was the long-awaited rematch they had been hoping to witness for a long time.

“Walk toward the middle of the arena and place your hands on the Creation Stone,” the judge instructed.

At the center of the arena stood a jagged stone glowing with an icy blue light, embedded firmly into the ground, the ground closest to it also emitted a faint bluish glow, though much dimmer in comparison.

Even so, that didn’t stop the mages of War God Mage Academy and Bloodline Academy from approaching it, the stone itself was massive, tall enough to block the two teams from seeing each other clearly as they stood on opposite sides.

Although the structure appeared somewhat transparent, however; the view through was blurred and distorted, preventing them from making out any details.

The moment each of them placed a hand on the Creation Stone, they immediately closed their eyes, almost as if they had fallen into a deep trance, and their bodies went still, resembling people who had suddenly fallen asleep.

Meanwhile, the judge overseeing the match slowly levitated into the air. Soon after, a transparent barrier appeared around the group, similar to the protective shield that normally surrounded the arena to protect spectators.

However, this one wasn’t meant for the audience, it was meant for the ten mages whose hands were connected to the massive Creation Stone.

Many spectators even began to question whether it was appropriate to call something of that size a stone. To them, it looked more like a giant rock or a miniature mountain embedded in the battlefield.

The protective barrier formed a dome-shaped shield that covered all ten participants. Once it sealed completely, thick smoke began filling the interior, quickly obscuring everything inside until the spectators could no longer see what was happening around the stone.

Just as the crowd began murmuring in confusion, wondering what exactly was going on, several large water screens suddenly appeared in the air before them, blocking their view of the stage itself.

These screens were linked together from multiple angles, forming one massive display, almost as if the audience were now watching the battle unfold on an enormous television-like projection.

And then the screens came to life, as a collective gasp erupted from more than half of the mages in the stadium.

_ _

While the crowd was still reacting in shock to what appeared on the screens, the ones responsible for that reaction had already found themselves transported to an entirely different location.

Alec looked around and couldn’t help admiring the effort that must have gone into creating the environment before him, their temporary astral bodies had been deployed into what appeared to be an abandoned battlefield.

The terrain was completely circular, enclosed by what looked like a reinforced barrier surrounding the outer edges; from where he stood, Alec could see five glowing white pillars of light stretching into the sky.

He immediately realized that those must be the rune circles embedded across the arena.

Since the battle hadn’t officially begun yet, he levitated slightly into the air to observe the field more carefully, from his vantage point, he quickly determined that each rune circle was roughly ten meters wide, and the ground around them was carved with ancient symbols that faintly pulsed with the mana present in the air.

The largest rune was located directly at the center of the battlefield, and it rested on a slightly elevated floating stone platform, which would undoubtedly make it the most fiercely contested point if either team wanted to gain a decisive advantage.

The remaining four runes were positioned near the outer quadrants of the arena, to the north, south, east, and west.

Each one was spaced far enough apart that a team would have to split its forces if it wanted to control multiple points simultaneously, the two closest to Alec’s team were the southern rune and the eastern rune, though the eastern one appeared to be slightly adjusted in position, making it somewhat closer for them to reach.

The terrain between the rune points had clearly been designed with strategy in mind, the ground was uneven, scattered with broken stone pillars, large boulders, and raised ridges, all of which provided natural cover while also blocking clear lines of sight.

There were also shallow trenches and small depressions cutting across parts of the battlefield, allowing fighters to move across sections of the arena while staying partially concealed.

Floating above the entire area was a massive projection array displaying the current score, the countdown timer before the match began, and the status of the rune points. At the moment, all the runes were still white, indicating that none of them had been captured yet.

Seeing that there were still about thirty seconds before the battle started, Alec descended back to the ground and looked toward his teammates.

They were busy stretching their hands and examining their bodies, clearly still trying to adjust to and understand their astral forms.

“Come over here. We don’t have much time,” Alec said to his team as he crouched slightly and pushed his right hand toward the ground.

Instantly, the earth beneath them began to shift. In the next moment, the terrain Alec had just surveyed was recreated on the ground in miniature form, like a detailed battlefield model.

Every feature he had seen—the rune circles, the uneven terrain, the pillars, the ridges, appeared within the small map he had constructed.

“Look at this carefully and engrave it into your heads,” Alec said, gesturing toward the miniature terrain. “This is the layout of the battlefield we’ve been placed in. We have about thirty seconds before the match begins, and I’m sure the other team is already making plans.”

“Were any of you able to survey beyond this area we have been deployed?” Alec asked as he raised his head, while he had been flying up to inspect the terrain earlier, the others had been busy experimenting with their astral bodies instead.

“No,” Knight answered.

“Alright,” Alec replied calmly.

“Then we’ll move quickly to capture the first two rune points before pushing toward the central rune.”

He pointed at the miniature terrain as he assigned roles.

“Brandon and Endrick, you’ll take control of the southern rune.”

“Lucas and Pale, your job is to bypass the southern rune and move to secure the eastern rune as quickly as possible.”

“As for me,” Alec continued, “I’ll bypass all of that and head straight for the central rune.”

He looked up at them with a faint smile.

“I have a feeling the Bloodline Academy won’t prioritize the center immediately, but go for the two runes closest to them, however by the time they realize what I’m doing, I’ll already have the advantage and the central rune will already be ours.”

“Keep this in mind, once you finish capturing your runes, drop everything and come support me immediately. Understood?” Alec concluded, looking at each of them.

They all nodded, signaling that they understood him clearly, at that exact moment, a mechanical voice echoed across the battlefield.

[ Battle Begins Now ].