AAOUGGHHH??! - 54
His fist continued forward and slammed directly into the warrior's armor.
BANG!
The impact rang out across the field.
The warrior's mouth opened from the force as his body was sent flying backward.
He crashed into the wall.
And lost consciousness.
..
Marc then looked toward Bell, and Bell looked back at Marc. The two smiled at each other.
The crowd erupted into cheers at the sight of the two kids defeating their opponents so quickly. Even Brea and Noria were openly cheering for them.
Meanwhile, Juro casually watched from the back with his arms crossed, smiling as he enjoyed the rare relaxation of not having to lift a finger.
The two remaining mages from the opposing party, however, were growing nervous. Both of their frontline fighters had already been taken out.
The male mage, who specialized in offense, turned toward the woman behind him.
"Hey! Come on, buff me up with some mana and enhancement magic! Give me something useful! I'll go all in on one attack!"
The support mage looked at him nervously. "But I barely have enough mana left!"
"So???" he quickly responded. "We're gonna lose at this rate! Sacrifice your remaining mana! We can't lose to some kids! I'm gonna use a big magic that I recently learned and take the three of them out, so stop whining and just enhance me!"
The support mage was too scared to argue back. She simply nodded and began chanting.
"Thetikí Energeia! Cong suat on!"
The enhancement magic covered the offensive mage.
But the moment the spells were completed, the female mage collapsed behind him.
She had fainted from the lack of mana and the overuse of magic.
"Tsk... she collapsed just from that?"
The male mage barely spared her another glance before turning back toward Bell, Marc, and Juro.
"Ahahah! Finally, I can use this magic! The three of you will be defeated by this single magic of mine! Watch me as I incant one of the best offensive magic in this match!"
He raised both arms toward the sky, spreading his palms wide open.
Then he shouted—
"Hwansangjeog-in Paieopolll!!!!!"
The moment the words left his mouth, his mana began draining rapidly.
Sweat quickly gathered across his face.
High above the field, a ball of fire began to form.
It continued growing.
And growing.
The mage looked up at it with a confident smile, sweat running down his face as he maintained the spell. Even the crowd watched in amazement as the fireball continued increasing in size. Flames ran wildly around its surface while its mass expanded higher above the field.
Juro looked up at the growing fireball with a small smile.
"Hoh... well, that's an effort."
Without looking away, he casually asked, "Marc, can you see it?"
Marc looked up and smiled.
"Yeah, Teacher Juro. I can see it!"
"And you, Bell?" Juro asked.
Bell simply smiled.
"Of course I can see it."
The mage noticed their expressions.
His confidence quickly turned into irritation.
But that irritation only made him even cockier.
"Hah! Are you all admiring my amazing magic?? That's right! All you can do in this situation is just smile! Ahahah!"
The fireball continued growing until it reached the size of a large boulder.
The mage clenched his fists and laughed excitedly.
"Ahahaha! Finally! Now taste my magic!"
With those words, he dramatically swung both of his arms downward.
High above them, the massive boulder-sized fireball began to descend toward Bell, Marc, and Juro.
As the man continued laughing maniacally, Bell simply smiled and turned toward Marc.
"Hey, Marc. Wanna test out our combo on that?"
Marc's eyes gleamed with excitement as he nodded. "Alright, Bell. I'm ready!"
Marc braced himself and gathered mana around his legs.
Bell then raised his hands into the air, signaling Marc to go.
Marc immediately sprinted forward and jumped.
"Megen!"
A barrier appeared beneath him.
Marc landed perfectly on it, but he didn't stop there. Using the barrier as another surface to push off from, he jumped again.
"Megen!"
Another barrier appeared higher in the air.
Marc landed on it and jumped again.
"Megen! Megen! Megen!"
Bell continued casting the barriers, constantly timing each one perfectly as Marc climbed higher and higher through the air. Each barrier gave him another step, allowing him to close the distance toward the massive fireball descending from above.
As Marc continued upward, he smiled and concentrated mana into his fist.
Unlike before, however, he didn't pour an enormous amount into it.
This time, he only casually gave his fist mana.
"Ahahah! Are you trying to sacrifice yourself, kid, to save your team??! Too bad! That won't work!!" the opposing mage shouted confidently.
Marc ignored him.
He stepped onto the final barrier.
Then jumped straight toward the falling fireball.
At the last moment, Marc released mana around his body, letting it cling to him like a light layer of armor.
Then he threw a straight punch.
His fist struck the boulder-sized fireball.
And the fireball immediately popped.
The enormous magic dispersed into nothing.
"AHAH—AAOUGGHHH??!?!??!???"
The mage's expression froze.
Seeing his precious magic disappear so casually and easily left his jaw hanging open in complete shock. For a moment, he looked like he had completely forgotten how to react.
Meanwhile, Marc began falling from the sky. He quickly looked down, opening both of his hands toward the ground below.
Then he remembered.
The feeling of wind.
The same feeling Bell had made him familiarize himself with back at the orphanage.
At that instant, a powerful surge of mana burst from Marc's palms.
As the mana reached the ground, it transformed into moving wind.
The force of the wind pushed upward, easing Marc's fall and allowing him to land safely.
The moment his feet touched the ground, a satisfied and happy expression appeared on his face.
He immediately turned toward Bell.
Bell was smiling at him.
"Bell! We did it! We did it! The combo worked!"
Marc excitedly ran toward him with his hands raised.
Bell sighed, though he was smiling.
"Yeah. You did well."
They gave each other a high five.
Marc was still all smiles as he placed an arm around Bell's shoulder, happily talking about how their plan had actually worked.
Juro watched the two of them.
The smiles on their faces made him feel proud.
Then he began walking toward the opposing mage, whose face was still frozen in shock.
When Juro stopped in front of him, he casually patted the mage on the back.
"You did your best, kid."
The mage finally snapped out of his expression.
"H-How did... how did my magic just disperse like that...? I was fully enhanced and used every bit of my mana..."
His voice was filled with disbelief.
Juro simply smiled.
"Instead of asking me, why not ask the kid that popped it?"
He then turned toward the two kids and called out, "Bell! Marc! Come here for a sec!"
Bell and Marc walked over to them.
Once they arrived, Juro nodded toward the mage. "Marc, this man here was asking how you were able to destroy his magic so easily."
Marc, still smiling, replied, "Oh, that's because it was empty."
"Empty?" the mage repeated.
"Yeah. Like, there was a decent amount of mana poured into that magic, but it was mainly focused on the size. Hmmm... you know a balloon?"
"A balloon?"
"Yeah. A balloon inside is nothing but empty air. The balloon can get as big as it wants, but in the end, it's still only the outer shell that's actually there, while the inside is mostly empty."
Marc continued explaining with his usual enthusiasm.
"That's how I was able to pop it with just a casual punch while my fist was covered in mana. I was really surprised when I first saw it. I was looking up and noticed mana starting to gather, but then I realized that the mana was only expanding around the outside. The inside of the fire was completely empty."
He looked up as if recalling what he had seen.
"I could see the mana swirling around like fire really clearly, but I could also see the big empty gap inside it."
Marc scratched his head.
"Hmm... anyways, that's all! But really cool magic there, mister!"
The man slumped.
"Ahaha... I see..." He laughed sarcastically. "Getting comforted by a child who easily popped your magic sure does something to you... ahaha..."
His shoulders dropped even further.
"And he said it was decent mana... I poured everything I had into that..."
Juro laughed wholeheartedly and slapped the man on the back.
And with that, the match concluded.
…
The crowd cheered for all three of them, though Marc seemed to be receiving a particularly large amount of attention. People appeared to enjoy his movements during the fight, and some had even started chanting his name.
Marc couldn't help but feel completely happy as he waved back at them.
Bell, however, glanced toward the mage as the staff escorted him away.
"That magic... he probably only copied the surface of it."
"Magic isn't as simple as everyone thinks. He most likely saw someone use that magic and even heard the incantation clearly, then tried to replicate it without much practice."
"He failed to realize that every magic has its own required amount and flow of mana to perform it properly. And he only copied what he could see."
Bell remembered Marc's explanation.
"Just like Marc said, the mana was only swirling around the outer layer of the fireball. He was so focused on replicating the massive size of the magic that he failed to go deeper into its structure."
"In the end, he had only created an empty, hollow shell."
"Copying magic from just a single glance is nearly impossible for regular mages."
A faint smile appeared on Bell's face as memories from the past returned to him.
"Nearly impossible..."
"Hah."
"Yet there was once a man who could casually copy any high-tier magic with both of his eyes closed and half asleep..."
Bell lightly chuckled to himself as memories continued to pass through his mind.