"Are you two ready?" asked Mr. Elgin.

  "Ready," we both said.

  "Then, the match begins!" said Mr. Elgin.

  Mr. Elgin stepped to the edge of the arena.

  Senior Darryl immediately charged toward me as soon as the match began. He tried to slash me with his greatsword, but I managed to block the slash with my sword.

  Senior Darryl took a few steps back and began attacking again. This time, Senior Darryl attacked repeatedly with his greatsword. But I was able to block all the attacks with my sword. But as time went on, the attacks became more frequent until Senior Darryl finally delivered his finishing blow.

  ~Ground Shattering Slash~

  I blocked the attack with my sword, but the attack was so powerful that it sent me flying, nearly crashing into the arena wall.

  Senior Darryl seemed to be preparing for his next attack. He launched a slash from a distance.

  ~Ground Splitting Slash~

  The long-range slash was launched and headed quickly towards me. I chose to dodge the attack by moving to a place out of reach of the slash, as I felt it would be dangerous to block it with my sword.

  Because I avoided the slash, it struck the arena wall, leaving a deep cut in it.

  But Senior Darryl's attacks didn't stop there. Even though I had dodged his previous attack, Senior Darryl launched another long-range attack at me. I continued to dodge his attacks.

  After several dodges, I immediately launched another long-range attack at him.

  ~Flame Sword Art : Great Flame Slash~

  My flame slash headed towards Senior Darryl. Seeing this, Senior Darryl continued launching his long-range attack at my flame slash. Our attacks collided, creating a powerful explosion. The explosion also created a thick cloud of smoke that covered the arena.

  I used the smoke to approach Senior Darryl. After successfully approaching Senior Darryl, I immediately launched an attack at him.

  ~Sword Art : Half Moon Slash~

  But Senior Darryl noticed this and immediately prepared to block my attack with his Greatsword. He managed to block my attack, but Senior Darryl was knocked back several meters after blocking the attack.

  After being knocked back several meters, Senior Darryl lowered the Greatsword he had previously used for defense. The tip of the Greatsword was now touching the arena floor.

  ~Earth Magic : Ground Spikes~

  Suddenly, the tournament arena felt like it was shaking, and from beneath the arena floor where I was standing, something seemed to be about to emerge. A spike made of earth emerged from beneath me. It was quite large and was about to strike me. Before it could hit me, I quickly dodged the spike and moved to safety. But the spike continued to appear beneath me even after I had moved to safety.

  "It seems these spikes won't stop if the tip of the greatsword is still touching the arena floor," I thought.

  When the next thorn appeared beneath me, I dodged again and moved to a safe spot, attacking Senior Darryl to distract him and stop the thorns from appearing.

  ~Fire Magic : Fire Lanterns~

  I conjured several bright fireballs and aimed them at Senior Darryl. The fireballs didn't hit Senior Darryl, but simply surrounded him.

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  "Fire lanterns? What's he using this magic for?" asked Senior Darryl, looking confused.

  Then, I formed my hands into small guns and aimed them at the fireballs.

  ~Fire Magic : Fire Guns~

  I fired a fireball from both hands. The fireballs hit the fireballs surrounding Senior Darryl, exploding. The explosions also caused the fireballs that hadn't yet exploded to explode.

  *Boom *Boom *Boom

  The fireballs exploded in succession, filling the tournament arena with smoke.

  "Luckily, I managed to confuse Senior Darryl. Fire Lanterns generally can't be used offensively, so Senior Darryl seemed relaxed. I combined Fire Lanterns with Fire Blast to make the Fire Lanterns explode,"

  "Thanks to that attack, the spikes that appeared beneath me have disappeared. It seems I managed to distract him with that attack, but I doubt it will have any effect on him," I thought.

  Moments later, the smoke surrounding the arena cleared. In Senior Darryl's place, a large ball of sand appeared. The ball slowly disintegrated and turned into ordinary sand. As the ball slowly shattered, Darryl senior was seen inside the sand ball. It seemed he was using it to protect himself from the attack.

  "I can't believe I was hurt by an attack like that. Luckily, I managed to use my magic to protect myself. If I had been any later, I would have suffered significant injuries," senior Darryl said.

  His right hand bore a significant burn from the attack.

  "I now understand why the chairman is interested in you, Rid. This time, it's time for me to get serious and end this match," senior Darryl said.

  Senior Darryl crouched down, touching the arena floor with one hand. He held his greatsword with the other. The tip of the greatsword also touched the arena floor.

  ~Fill this arena with abundant sand~

  ~Sand Magic : Sea of ??Sand~

  Suddenly, the tournament arena transformed into a sea of ??sand.

  After that, senior Darryl rose to his feet, but the tip of his greatsword was still touching the arena floor, which had now turned to sand. Suddenly, senpai Darryl darted toward me, dragging his Greatsword to keep it in contact with the sand below. Then, senior Darryl launched a slash at me, even though he hadn't even gotten close.

  ~Great Sand Slash~

  A large sand slash shot toward me. But I immediately prepared to block it with my own attack.

  ~Water Sword Art : Great Water Slash~

  I launched a large water slash equal in size to the sand slash. The two slashes collided. But the sand slash immediately dispersed after being hit by my water slash. The water slash headed straight for senior Darryl, but he managed to block it with his Greatsword, although he was knocked back slightly.

  "Water magic, huh? This is really troublesome because my sand magic is a bit weak against water magic. But I managed to defeat Charles, a water magic user, so I'm sure I won't have any trouble fighting you. Besides, you can't create an area of ??magic with your water magic. You can create an area of ??magic with ice magic, like you did when you fought Amelia, but I've prepared for you to use your area of ??ice magic," said Senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl pointed one hand at the sand beneath him again.

  ~Sand Magic : Quicksand~

  Suddenly, the sand I was stepping on slowly pulled my foot into it.

  I tried to pull my foot out, but the suction was too strong. As I was trying to pull my foot out of the quicksand, Senior Darryl suddenly launched another long-range sand slash. I immediately countered the attack with another long-range water slash. The sand slash aimed at me scattered again when it collided with my water slash. Senior Darryl continued to launch long-range sand slashes, even though I managed to block them. It seemed his goal was to prevent me from escaping the quicksand, even though I kept destroying his slashes. My legs were almost completely submerged, and it would soon be my turn.

  "Looks like I'll have to use another area magic to get rid of this sand," I thought.

  I switched to holding my sword with only one hand, while using the other to touch the surface of the quicksand beneath me. Senior Darryl looked confused at my actions.

  "What are you planning to do, Rid? If you use your area ice magic, instead of escaping the sand, you'll stay buried, as the quicksand itself freezes," Senior Darryl said.

  "Of course I know that. I'm currently going to use area magic with another element," I said.

  "Another element?" Senior Darryl asked.

  "You said before that I couldn't use area water magic, right? You were completely wrong because I can use area water magic," I said.

  "What?!?!," said senior Darryl, shocked.

  ~Water Magic : Blue Ocean~

  Suddenly, the tournament arena, which had become a sea of ??sand, was flooded with water. This water inundated the sea of ??sand and slowly spread the sand. The quicksand that had sucked me in also spread, and I finally managed to escape the quicksand.

  "Damn, I didn't expect you to be able to use area water magic. Even my area sand magic was spread by this water. But that doesn't mean our match is over," said Darryl.

  "Yes, let's get serious now. I'll face you with my friend's technique. I haven't asked permission to use this technique, but I'll apologize to him later for using it without his knowledge. You must know about this technique, senior. Because it's the technique that injured you when you fought Charles in the top 8 match yesterday," I said.

  "Don't tell me...," said senior Darryl, surprised.

  ~San Fulgen Art Water Technique: Rain Swords~

  -To be continued