A faint burnt stench hung in the air.
"What's that smell?"
The crowd could not help murmuring among themselves.
Clearly, one of the two combatants had used some sort of magical reagent... That was not against the rules!
The smoke cleared...
The two inside came into view. Thanks to their protective robes, both were completely unharmed.
But Khadgar's white robe had been dyed entirely red from top to bottom.
Meanwhile, Karin's robe still had a few streaks of white across its chest and back.
In other words, had this been a real fight to the death, Khadgar would already have been crushed to pieces by the flames, while Karin would have had only a few last breaths left...
Khadgar's gaze grew somewhat bewildered.
"How did you do that?" he asked Karin loudly.
"Just a little trick!" Karin waved a hand, then pointed to the remnants of the bags on the ground. "I used these things to increase the concentration of phlogiston around us, which also increased the power of Flame Shock. If you're interested, I can teach you!"
"Then why did you..." Khadgar murmured.
Karin had cast Flame Shock several times earlier, but those spells had been nowhere near as powerful as the final one!
"You have to save your big move for when it'll work best, don't you?" Karin replied casually.
Although Khadgar did not quite understand what he meant, he had a vague inkling...
"The winner is Mr. Karin!" Archmage Modera's commanding voice rang out behind Karin.
Cheers immediately rose from the crowd.
No matter the era or the plane, an underdog defeating a stronger opponent was always a spectacle the crowd loved.
The next pair of combatants approached, but Karin and Khadgar did not return to their previous places.
"Mr. Karin, Mr. Khadgar, please come over