The voices were the last thing Alec heard before a moderate Earth Dome, slightly taller than him, formed around his body, but even though his vision was completely blocked by the dome, his teammates’ defensive preparations didn’t stop there.

The second and third spells layered themselves over the Earth Dome to reinforce it.

The Glacier Guard spell summoned multiple floating ice shards shaped like runic symbols, and they began orbiting around the dome like a protective formation. Meanwhile, the Ironwood Barrier manifested as a wall of hardened wood.

Thick roots burst from the ground and twisted together, forming a reinforced barricade in front of the dome.

However, despite the number of defensive spells that had been cast, they all had one thing in common—they had been deployed in extreme haste.

Then the crushing wind pressure finally descended.

Boom!

The impact thundered across the battlefield.

The Glacier Guard formation was the first to collapse as the orbiting ice shards shattered under the pressure, the Ironwood Barrier managed to hold slightly longer, acting more as an obstruction that prevented Damien from attacking Alec in perfect coordination with Dragov.

With the Glacier Guard destroyed, the Earth Dome became the final layer of defense standing against the remaining force of the Wind Slam, but even that didn’t last long.

Cracks quickly spread across the dome as the overwhelming pressure crushed down on it, and within seconds the wind force broke through and surged toward Alec inside.

However, Alec had already been preparing for that moment.

Thanks to his teammates’ quick intervention, he had gained just enough time to prepare his escape, the instant the dome shattered, flames ignited beneath his feet, launching his body backward at incredible speed.

Boom!

The remaining wind pressure slammed into the ground, and the shockwave that followed still struck Alec, sending a violent gust across the battlefield.

“Spread out!” Alec immediately commanded.

He had already realized that Damien had shifted his target toward the central rune, intending to interrupt the capture and seize control of it for the Blue Team, and above the battlefield, the projection array was still updating each second.

Red Team 76 – 44 Blue Team

Alec quickly glanced up at the projection array and saw that there was still a decent gap between the two teams, but he also knew that if Damien succeeded in what he was attempting, then the Bloodline Academy would be able to close that gap very quickly.

“Lucas, Brandon! Get rid of that guy by any means necessary—and make sure you recapture the rune!” Alec shouted.

He knew exactly how the system worked, it took five seconds to cancel the opposing team’s control of a rune, and another ten seconds to capture it for your own side, which meant that Damien would be needing at least about fifteen uninterrupted seconds inside the rune circle in order to bring it under the Blue Team’s control.

And that was something Alec had no intention of allowing.

However, he also understood better than anyone that the central rune might soon fall into their hands regardless, which was why he wasn’t stubbornly clinging to it as the only objective.

While he loudly issued orders to Lucas and Brandon, to ensure that Damien and Dragov could clearly hear him, he had already secretly assigned Endrick and Pale a different mission.

One of the reasons Alec had chosen them for this battle was because he believed they would be especially useful in this particular format.

He instructed both of them to move together toward the nearest rune point currently under Bloodline Academy’s control; at the moment, that rune happened to be the one located in the western quadrant.

As soon as they received his message, they immediately turned and slipped behind Alec’s position, moving toward the left side of the battlefield; they intended to travel through the concealed sections of the terrain, using the trenches and broken structures to reach their target unnoticed.

Alec had already tried to predict what were Damien’s likely orders to his team members, and he had two scenarios, and in the first one it’s about Damien probably calling all of his teammates toward the center to strengthen their chances of reclaiming the central rune.

Alec was putting himself in the position that if he had been playing this format for the first time, that would have been the most logical move, to regroup with the rest of the team and fight for the central rune they had lost early.

He also predicted that Damien might leave at least one mage guarding each rune they had already captured, while sending another teammate toward the middle to assist in contesting the central point; this was the second scenario he thought about.

That was precisely why Alec had sent Endrick and Pale together instead of splitting them up, all because he was confident that if only one mage had been left behind to guard that rune, then Endrick and Pale would be able to defeat that mage together, secure the rune long enough to capture it, and then retreat safely.

Even if the Bloodline Academy later reclaimed it, the War God team would still gain valuable points during that window of time it was under their control.

These were the two scenarios Alec had already calculated in his mind.

In the first scenario, if all the Bloodline Academy mages gathered at the center, Alec believed he would eventually have to retreat with his team toward their own rune points for defense, since facing the entire opposing team head-on wouldn’t be favorable.

However, during the time it would take Bloodline Academy to reclaim the central rune and close the point gap, Alec estimated that Endrick and Pale would already have captured the western rune, which was closest to the Bloodline Academy’s deployment side.

In the second scenario, if Damien left one mage behind to guard that rune, Endrick and Pale would defeat that mage together and still capture the rune successfully.

Either way, Alec believed the situation would still put the War God team ahead, and if he wanted to win this match, he needed to maintain the advantage throughout the entire duration of the battle.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Brandon had already jumped onto the central rune, confronting Damien directly, their presence immediately halted all capture progress, since any hostile interference inside the circle reset the control process.

The rune beneath them quickly returned to its neutral white color.

“Ahhh!” Damien shouted in frustration.

His outburst surprised many spectators who knew him as the calm and composed Blood Prince, but right now, he felt as though every move he made was being anticipated by the War God team.

Finally abandoning his restraint, Damien pulled out the gin flask he carried in his pocket and flung it forward.

As its contents spilled out, a massive pool of blood suddenly formed in midair, suspended like a floating lake, the sight shocked many who were witnessing the technique for the first time.

At the same moment, Alec had already taken to the air, his sword drawn and coated with black flames which were intertwined with crimson fire, Dragov also responded immediately.

With a flick of his finger, he spun his massive greatsword before bringing it crashing down to meet Alec’s blade in a direct clash.

A loud clang rang out as their weapons collided, the pressure in the air turning heavy from the clash between the two powerful mages.

On one side, flames burned fiercely around the edges of Alec’s body, while on the other, sharp wind blades hovered and spun behind Dragov, slicing through the air with a faint whistling sound.

“This won’t be like last time,” Dragov said coldly, without warning, he suddenly slammed his head forward into Alec’s, delivering a brutal headbutt, the move was so sudden that Alec was forced backward a step from the impact.

But that brief distance gave Dragov exactly what he needed.

He twisted his body, gathering even greater momentum before unleashing a devastating strike.

[ Mid-Tier Spell + Skill – Tempest Execution ]