Volume 2 Episode 17

TEN!

NINE!

EIGHT!

SEVEN!

SIX!

FIVE!

FOUR!

THREE!

TWO!

'Hugh, you better remove your jacket..'

ONE!

'... Because it's going to get really hot soon.'

LET'S RUMBLE!!!!

"Ignite!" As soon as the countdown ended, flames erupted from all around Lin, enveloping him fully. 

"What the hell?" Hugh, who was getting ready to attack was momentarily stunned by the literal firewall moving towards him, but quickly snapped out of it and started using his magic.

In an instant, ice particles started forming from Hugh's hands, and shot out towards the fire wall, trying to freeze it. But surprisingly, the firewall dispersed just as the ice particles were going to hit them, moving up into the air and disappearing.

"What're you planning?" Hugh was now confused by Lin's actions. He didn't know what he was doing, but felt that it might be bad for him to engage in a battle with him for a long time.

"I'll finish this!" Hugh suddenly pressed the ground, and ice started flowing out of his hands, freezing everything that it came into contact.

"Shit!" Lin, who was still emitting flames from his body, jumped before the ice touched him. But as he was in the air, Hugh shot his ice particles at him, and Lin defended by shooting flames towards it to melt it before they reached him.

As he kept on emitting flames, he continuously shot flames from his body without any care towards Hugh. Of course, not a lot of people can use this much fire magic without exhausting themselves, but Lin who had the body of an evolved human was an exception to the rule. But that didn't mean he didn't have a limit.

"How is it that he's still going? If I was in his shoes I'd have lost my consciousness from using too much magic." After watching the ridiculous amount of fire magic Lin used, the audience couldn't help but acknowledge his endurance. Even with the massive amount of heat released by Lin, the audience still didn't feel hot. There was a specifically designed invisible wall between the audience and the field to prevent any civilian injuries. Moreover, the stadium was also completely sealed at the top as well, with an invisible rooftop installed at the roof. This was to prevent any contestants that could use their ability to fly too high and attack, leaving the other party unable to attack. 

"How long are you going to emit those flames? You've been going at it for a long time, and honestly I'm impressed by how long you endured it, but you must be reaching your limits, right?" Hugh, who was exhausted and sweaty from all the fire magic he had to disperse, looked at Lin, who looked way worse than him. Hugh still couldn't get close to him because of the ridiculous amount of heat his flames released. Suddenly, Lin started laughing. Hugh, who was confused once again by the unusual actions of Lin, asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"Well, everything you've said is true. I am truly going to be completely exhausted in a few minutes. It is hard to maintain flames for this long. Honestly, I'm surprised I had it in me to come this far by continuously using the flames." Lin completely acknowledged Hugh's words, which confused the latter even more. He looked at Lin suspiciously. 'Why do I feel that this kid has a plan?' 

"But let me ask you Hugh, don't you think you're a little too exhausted yourself?"

The unexpected question from Lin surprised Hugh, who realized that he was indeed, too exhausted. Well not exhausted, but he was feeling hot from the heat.

Wait.

Hot?

He, who was an ice type magic user, was feeling hot? He looked around his body, but didn't find any sweat on him. What was happening? Suddenly a look of realization came upon him. 

"Do you get it now, Hugh?"

A bead of sweat had formed on his face for just a second, only to evaporate into water vapour. He finally understood Lin's plan.

"Your power is ice magic, but it's just a form of water magic. And water magic involves creating water from the atmosphere. Ice magic is just a variation of that magic where the water molecules are frozen during its formation. I just heated up the atmosphere, so much so that there isn't any way a water molecule shall ever form for even a second. And the arena is sealed off from the audience section without any cooling system as it may affect magic powers, installing only an air purifying system. It wasn't easy, but I was pretty sure you wouldn't figure it out. After all, increasing the temperature would be extremely obvious for a normal person, but I figured you were the type of guy who would most likely adjust your own body temperature with your powers to make it have no effect on you. That's why you wore a jacket that most people wouldn't even think of wearing in a normal day, isn't it? You were so used to adjusting your temperature that you forgot that you forgot about the outside temperature. I just had to increase it very slowly without you figuring it out, and now I think I've reached the perfect time to make a counter. It's a shame, if only you hadn't forgotten about your surroundings. You forgot that you too had limits."

As Lin talked, a large fireball started forming above his head. The flames started erupting even more than before, enlarging the firewall into the size of a truck.

"I may be exhausted after this, so I might as well go out with a bang."

Lin, now almost completely drained, moved his hands to Hugh's direction and the fireball shot after him.

"Shit!" Hugh who was now terrified, tried using his power all at once, but the heat had melted most of the ice he had formed into water vapour, leaving only a few particles that shot in the large fireball's direction which didn't affect it in the slightest. The fireball slammed on top of Hugh, but before it could touch him, he yelled, "I give up!"

The fireball disappeared in an instant as Lin had dispersed it. He had a satisfied look on his face, as he fell on the ground from being too exhausted.

The crowd was silent for a moment before exploding in a loud commotion. What they had witnessed was an exhilarating match, and they had loved every second of it.

"Match end. Winner. Lin Hamill."

The referee's decision had made the crowd go even more wild. As Lin was carried away in the strecher, the crowd was cheering his name.