n

n

n

"Regnum Glacies.

"

nWithout even bothering to fake chant, John cast the spell, and at that moment.

n*Crackle* *crackle* *crackle*

nCrackling sounds resounded as the floor began to freeze, walls made of ice began to rise as John felt magic being poured out of him as if the seal of a cap had been broken.

nWithout bothering to dodge, she just watched and waited for me to finish my spell

nAfter the walls had risen around 15 meters, it started to close off on the roof.

nIt didn't take long for it to be completed.

nIce kingdom, a spell John had thought of after the tournament. Within those 2 days he practiced in secret, and it wasn't that hard to learn it.

nAll he did was simply mix 'Ice wall' with glacio and this was the result.

nThey were inside of his 'ice kingdom' the inside was freezing, and the ice had strange contorted shapes.

nWithout dropping her guard, she waited for John to attack. She didn't even question how he had managed to create all of that without chanting, and John was grateful.

n

"Ready...

"

nHe gathered wind under his legs and propelled himself straight at her; John cast levite to make himself lighter and moved at the speed of a canon.

nJohn went straight at her, with both daggers ready to strike at any moment.

nIn less than a second, he had reached her, and right when he was about to swing his dagger, she took a step to the side and completely evaded him.

nBut John knew she'd do that.

nWithout wasting any more time, John rotated his body mid-air and propelled himself at her again.

nRight before John reached her, he had frozen her legs so she shouldn't be able to dodge.

nAs John swung his dagger, she bent over backwards and dodged it, while at the same time, kicking him straight in the face as she somehow freed her legs.

nBut John didn't stop there. Before she could create distance between them, he imitated the black-haired guy's move. Spikes began to rise from the ground and they were all directed at her.

nHowever, none of them hit. She had managed to dodge them all by leaping away and tilting her body in the last second.

n

"Then... positumque loculum glacies.

" Translation: Ice coffin.

nAs she stood a few feet away from John, he decided to try out a new move he had recently learned. He wasn't able to use it on the exam as it was too risky, but it should be effective on her.

nWalls rose from the ground around her, they were around 10 feet tall.

nWithout trying to dodge it, she waited to see what was going to happen.

nThe roof and the walls closed off with her trapped inside. In that instant, spikes extended from the inside of the small room John had trapped her in and were directed at her.

nJohn couldn't see what happened, and couldn't hear any screaming, so he was about to retract the spell when all of the sudden, the spell broke apart, or rather... in an instant, tt was cut to pieces.

nJohn was dumbfounded. Without casting a single spell, she had cut the ice walls like butter.

nAs she stood in the middle of the broken spell, waiting for John's next attack, he knew that he had chosen the right person.

nThat was also when John noticed her daggers, they were engulfed in a dark flame.

n'What is that?' John wondered.

n

"Tired?

" She asked.

n

"Nope, not at all,

" John replied.

nJohn was panting heavily. Casting all of those spells and reinforcing his body really took a toll on him, 'Ice kingdom' was mana heavy.

n'I'll pour everything into this last attack.' John decided.

nHe propelled himself up using velox and while he was barely under the roof, John cast 'Gravitas'.

n

"Gravitas x 10...

"

nShe stared at her body, as if she realized that there was an increased amount of pressure over her, but didn't look like it was fazing her that much.

n'How about...' Thought John.

n

"x 20...

" He muttered while slowly descending from the air.

nThe ice beneath her started to crack, yet she still stayed standing as she stared at him.

n

"x 30...

" John muttered as he slowly ascended.

n'Any more than this and I'll run out of juice.' John realized.

nAgain she didn't fall but John could tell that she couldn't move. She most likely wouldn't be able to evade this next attack.

nJohn couldn't waste any more time, Gravitas was sucking out all the magic out of him.

n

"Mag...num... Flamea Glacies...

"

nThe ice which began to gather underneath John started to glow. Its size increased and its shape changed.

nUnlike magnum Glacies which was a giant version of a normal Glacies.

nMagnum Flamea, was not only forming out to be a giant version of the normal Ice spear, but its shape was changing.

nThe end product was something John had never expected.

nIt looked like a spear, but it had ice stretched out on the sides which gave the expression of wings, the tip of the spear was glowing a blue light which gave John chills, the air around it, because visible as if it was so cold, it was freezing it.

nWithout a second thought, John propelled it at her, while using Velox to increase it's speed.

nAt the same time, he felt all his strength disappear; John was now out of magic.

nAs he slowly fell from the roof to the bottom, John heard her say.

n

"Tenebrae perussi flammarum

" Translation: Dark Consuming Flames.

nAfter that, John saw her swing her blade, and flames erupting from it, causing his attack to get split in half and evaporated.

nBefore John could see anything else, while midair, he fainted.

n***

nJohn opened his eyes and was once again greeted by an unfamiliar roof.

nThe moonlight passed through the windows and lit up the room.

nAs John moved his body, he noticed that it was sore from the fight.

n

"I Lost... I guess that means she won't teach me...

" John muttered as he looked around.

nJohn nearly screamed when he saw her sitting beside the bed. He couldn't tell what sort of face he was making, but he was very surprised.

n

"Eh... ah...

"

nJohn didn't know what to say. He had thought that she would have left him there.

n'Could she actually be a lot nicer than she looks...?' John wondered.

n

"Did I pass?

" John asked.

nAs if she had nothing else to do, now that John had woken up, she headed to the door without replying. As she opened it and was about to leave, he heard her say.

n

"Lessons start tomorrow at noon.

"

nAfter that, she closed the door.

nMeanwhile, John was so happy that he shouted

"YES!!

" as he punched the air.

n

"Now, I'll finally become unstoppable...

"

nDo you want power? An unknown voice sounded.

n***

nThe next day, John went home and got yelled at by Serena, and Ariel as well seemed pretty annoyed at him for ditching them. John explained to them that he felt the aura of the person who had saved them but they just treated him like some sort of idiot.

n

"How harsh...

"

nAs for Eleanor, they brought a cake for her and got her to get out of her room, but by the time John got there, he couldn't see her. John was planning on sneaking into her room today after training'

n'Wait, doesn't that make me sound weird...?' John thought to himself.

n'Ah forget it, I'll worry about that later. Now I'm more excited about what sort of training I'll go through.' John wondered.

n

"Deprehendre

"

nJohn could still remember what the trace of her magic felt like, so he had no problems catching it now.

n'She's somewhere different today, that's not the field we were at before. Speaking of which, what happened to the ice kingdom I left there? Surely nothing bad.' John wondered.

nJohn rushed over to where deprehendre detected her and was surprised to see it was another open field.

n

"This city sure is open...

" John muttered as he approached her.

n

"Take off your shirt,

" She said as she looked at him.

n

"Eh?

" John replied.

n

"Take off your shirt.

" She repeated.

n'M-My shirt? W-Why?' John questioned in shock.

nHe did as she asked and took it off.

nJohn hadn't realised earlier, but his body barely had any bruises. Only a few scratches, also his muscles were starting to get defined and he was starting to get a 6-pack. It made him happy to think that his daily exercises weren't in vain.

nShe stared at John's body before she said.

n

"1000 Push-ups.

"

n

"What?

" John asked.

n

"1000 Push-ups

" She repeated.

n'Eh? 1000? Moreover, strength training?' John thought.

nWithout questioning it, John got in the push-up stance.

n'Believe it or not, I had been doing 100 push-ups every day for the past month.' John reiterated to himself.

n

"1... 2...

"

n

"No magic

" She said while watching him.

n

"1000 without magic...?

" John asked.

n

"Is there a problem?

"

n

"N-No! 1... 2... 3...

"

n***

n

"98... 99..... One... H... Hundred...

" John muttered before dropping to the ground.

nHe hadn't realised how weak he was. John would always keep his body reinforced with magic, and even when he trained, he did it subconsciously.

n

"30-second break.

"

n…

n***

n

"Nine hundred and... ninety-eight... Nine hundred... And ninety-nine... One... Thousand...

" John mumbled before collapsing.

nJohn could barely catch his breath. His arms felt like they were about to drop off at any moment.

n

"2 minute rest, then 500 squats.

"

n

"U-Understood....

" John muttered while holding in his tears.

n