The Greatest Sinner

Boom.

The cube consisting of the energy of the explosion touched the ground. At the same moment, there was a deafening explosion and part of the arena was destroyed. Moreover, Lars had cast another spell beforehand.

He knew that if he blew up the cube right under his feet he would be seriously injured, so he decided to do something to reduce the damage from the blast.

Whoosh.

Moments before the detonation, a wall of water had appeared between Lars and Draven. It was the best defense Lars could come up with.

The shockwave threw the young man to the side, while Draven didn't even move. To him it was nothing more than a gust of wind. He lunged toward Lars and a second later, he was in front of the young man, delivering his blow.

Whoosh.

Lars reflexively stepped aside and Draven's fist had gone by a millimeter from his face. Draven turned and kicked Lars with lightning speed. The young man had no time to dodge this attack, but he didn't intend to.

At the moment of Draven's attack, the young man began casting the "Blast of the Edge" again. The amber threads quickly turned into a glowing cube. Lars swung his arm and Draven's blow hit right into the cube.

Boom.

There was a deafening explosion and Lars flew several meters away. Last time he had been able to protect himself with a wall of water, but now he had no such option. His arms and chest were burned, but Lars was neither a suicidal nor an idiot. He was prepared for such a violent development, and that's why he took two silver bracelets with him.

One of the bracelets glowed brightly and Lars cast a spell he hoped, could help him to last ten seconds.

A layer of light appeared around his hands. There was a slight warmth from it, and while looking at it, it gave a peace of mind. The burns on Lars' arms and chest began to gradually heal, not very quickly, but it was enough to keep the fight going.

Unfortunately for Lars, Draven wasn't going to wait for him to heal. Draven instantly reached Lars and dealt him another blow.

Whoosh.

Lars's second bracelet glowed brightly and a dense and very massive wall of water appeared between them.

Thanks to the power of the Magic Artifact, the spell was powerful enough to slow down Draven's attack a bit.

Whoosh.

Lars quickly bounced to the side and miraculously missed Draven's blow. Lars had almost no mana left and could no longer use his Magic Artifacts. It was the end for him.

Whoosh.

Draven dealt Lars a crushing blow and sent him flying. Lars was seriously wounded and put his body under serious strain, but he had a contented smile on his face.

"Eleven seconds, well done, next." Calmly Draven said without even turning toward Lars.

Draven's words stunned everyone in the arena. Eleven seconds was, until now, an unprecedented result. No one would have thought that one of the students could achieve such a level. Nevertheless, Lars pulled it off. He was able to achieve such a feat by sacrificing himself, despite the terrible explosion from his own spell.

...

After Lars' fight, no one else could break his record. There were a few students who lasted ten seconds. One second seemed to be incredibly short, but it wasn't so.

Everyone who had passed that exam, failed in a moment after reaching ten seconds. It was as if there was a chasm between ten and eleven seconds.

Evan thought to himself, "I don't know if I can even make it ten seconds, but that guy made it for eleven. Maybe I should just do it my own way and that's it? Either way, the main thing is strength, the rest isn't that important".

While he was thinking, a tall guy with amber hair and green eyes entered the arena. It was Kent Waage, the "Summoner" and the magician with the purple "Warp".

Their duel began rather unsightly and ordinary. Draven was the first to attack and unleashed a crushing blow on Kent. The young man tried to stop Draven with iron chains and ice spikes, but all to no avail.

When the ice spikes reached Draven's body, they simply shattered, as if they met an insurmountable obstacle. The same thing happened with the chains, they couldn't stop Draven for even a fraction of a second.

Everyone thought the fight was close to its conclusion, but it was not. Kent was seriously injured and should not have had the strength to continue fighting and fighting back, but one moment changed everything.

When Draven's fist almost reached Kent, the young man suddenly for himself and the others, went into "Gust".

At the same moment, he reflexively dodged Draven's attack and the whole arena was filled with iron chains and hundreds of ice spikes. Of course, it didn't matter how many there were, they couldn't stop Draven, but the chains could help Kent.

With the ice spikes he was trying to buy himself time, and he used the iron chains to speed himself up.

Bam.

Draven hit Kent, but the young man managed to dodge. The chain wrapped around his arm and threw him off to the other side. It wasn't a bad move, but it couldn't work forever.

Draven once again tried to hit Kent, and the young man was going to dodge the chains in return, but suddenly things didn't go according to plan. In fact, Draven's punch was a simple feint. His original goal was to destroy the chain Kent was going to use, and he achieved it.

Whoosh.

Draven appeared next to the chain and with one precise palm strike from top to bottom, cut it in two.

In the next moment, he took a turn around and kicked Kent in the stomach with a swing. The young man could not withstand a blow of such power and immediately lost consciousness, nevertheless, he had already achieved what he wanted.

"Ten and a half seconds, well done, next."

Kent's fight was not as awesome as Lars'. By and large, Kent was only able to last the time he needed because he managed to go into a "Gust". But, it showed that he was a very promising magician.

Unlike newbie magicians, most of whom didn't even know what the "Gust" was, the teachers were well aware of it. Not every magician was capable of such a thing, let alone an inexperienced and weak Kent by the teachers' standards.

Also, the ways and reasons for passing the exam were unimportant, Kent lasted just over ten seconds and that was an amazing result.

After Kent's bout, no one was in a hurry to get out. The students were trying to make sense of what had just happened. For many of them, the "Gust" was a new and uncharted phenomenon.

Step. Step. Step.

The pause didn't last long. A minute later, a tall, black-haired young man with amethyst eyes entered the arena. He walked slowly toward Draven, holding a long scythe with a snow-white blade.

Swing.

Evan swung his weapon toward Draven and said calmly: "More than ten."