Mage Adam

"What\'s going on... how did he..." Ophelia pondered.

William was silent. He preferred to remain silent to avoid conflict, so it wasn\'t a surprise to him when he discovered that Adam was working under a tutor.

Ophelia was jealous, "I thought he was just arrogant and prideful, but I didn\'t expect him to back it up with evidence too..."

Crystal swallowed her words, disappointed at how shallow her friends were. They didn\'t know how large the gap in power between them and Adam was.

The crowd envied Adam -- Elliot was always asocial and indifferent, but it seems like he favoured Adam.

They soon came to the duel site, and Elliot spoke to his other colleagues, "This is just a duel between apprentices, did you come here to watch them stand and stare at each other doing nothing?"

His colleagues stared at him while imagining the scene, and their interest faded in an instant, "You\'re so annoying!"

"Whatever. The Academy has been boring lately -- doesn\'t hurt to see someone die today."

"I guess that\'s true. The Academy needs some drama, after all."

Adam tried looking for James in the crowd, but he couldn\'t, "What a waste of time."

Adam left, but Elliot didn\'t stop him. He knew that Adam was working hard to help James, but didn\'t have the heart to tell Adam that helping James was a dead-end road.

Soon, the crowd turned quiet -- Elliot turned his head and saw Sean and Randy get into position. The two immediately raised their hands, revealing the magic items they possessed.

Most of these magic items were weak, but they were most definitely powerful enough to kill.

The two were proficient enough to aim their spells accurately, and the duel site was littered with slashes, puddles, and faded embers.

Elliot and his colleagues were soon bored -- both of them had barely moved from their original positions.

Sean grinned, "Little rat, how many magic items do you have left?" He snickered, fully knowing that Randy would not have sufficient magic items on him, since Sean had other magical items lent to him by his group. He began to cast another fireball, conjuring it in his arms.

Randy\'s face contorted into horror -- he only had one last magic item, and it was a flying spell, made for utility. This was his last resort, so he couldn\'t use it yet.

"Damn it!" Randy cursed silently, beginning to run across the arena.

Sean was ecstatic -- Randy was going to die by his hands. Sean immediately casted a fireball, then used his magic items to cast two additional fireballs and a wind blade to block Randy\'s exit.

\'Die! Die! Die! You worthless scum!" Sean taunted.

Randy stared at the spells launched towards him like a deer in headlights, but regained his composure and stomped to the ground -- the earth arced upwards, shielding Randy from Sean\'s attacks.

Sean was stunned, "Idiot! You can\'t hide for long!"

The wind blade shattered the shield, and Randy tumbled to the side -- the wind blade slashed through his arm, and bone could be seen.

"Argh!" Randy roared in pain, and his face was painted with despair, realising he was unable to cast anymore spells.

The apprentices could not look away from the scene, and they could hear Sean laugh maniacally.

Adam\'s friends panicked, and ran towards the arena -- they couldn\'t watch their companion die.

Sean\'s companions stopped them, "Stop! Don\'t you understand the rules?"

Quentin growled, "It isn\'t fair!"

One of Sean\'s companions let out a shaky laugh, "Fair? Your friend was the one who started it."

William\'s gaze darted between Randy and Quentin and begged, "Howard, please, spare Randy."

Sean\'s friend named Howard glanced at William, "Look, did you hear what he said? You must be out of your mind! This is between Randy and Sean, don\'t try to intervene."

William\'s face turned pale, and swallowed his pride, running to the senior apprentices, "Teachers please! You simply can\'t let a fellow apprentice die like that!"

The senior apprentices frowned pityingly, but William knew they were making fun of him, "What do you think a duel is? A duel is life and death, I\'m sure you know that since you stepped foot on this continent."

Sean stopped upon seeing William run towards the senior apprentices, but grinned upon seeing him being rejected. He strolled towards Randy, who was incapacitated on the ground -- he was planning to humiliate him before killing him.

"Look -- even your so-called friends are unable to save you. This is the price of challenging me and your companions will join you shortly. It absolutely sickens me to think that I breathe the same air as you pigs."

Randy glared at him with rage, and shouted, "Go to hell!" Randy quickly rolled over and casted a fireball.

However, Sean anticipated this, having already casted a curtain of water, "How predictable. No more tricks though, you die now."

Randy was desperate and activated his magic item, which sent him flying into the air.

Randy scrambled about in the air, and his companions looked unto him with hope.

Sean conjured a fireball, "It\'s sad seeing you struggle like this. Let me put you out of your misery." The fireball flew towards Randy\'s flight path, and he was instantly blown into millions of pieces -- blood and guts splattered upon the apprentices, and his companions could only stare.

...

By the time Adam returned to his dorm, many apprentices were discussing the fight.

Adam wasn\'t surprised that Randy died, but Elliot was somewhat shocked, "Your friend with curse magic died."

"I see."

"Wow, I can\'t believe you are this apathetic," Elliot joked.

"Stop right there! Don\'t you care about his death at all?!" An angry voice sounded, and Adam found that it was Quentin. The others stood behind Quentin, looking at Adam with disappointment.

"We come from the same country... We fought the same sea monsters together, so shouldn\'t we be united in this?! Randy died this time, but it could be you next! Listen -- Sean plans to kill us all, including you!" Quentin rambled.

Adam didn\'t care, and turned around to leave.

William ran in front of him and stopped him, "Adam, come back to us. We need you."

Elliot hid behind a pillar and watched the scene with interest. He wanted to know how his favoured child would react.

"Hah," Adam snickered.

"What\'s with your attitude? Are you looking down on us?" William asked, angry.

"You\'re right. I despise you -- in the Mage World, everyone looks after themselves. I heard that Randy was the one who started the fight, so he reaped what he sowed," Adam explained.

Quentin\'s mind broke out of anger, and he trudged towards Adam.