Losing the Mugwort

"Lose?" Aurora naturally did not think she could possibly lose.

"Are you kidding me? I graduated from the Imperial Academy! I am the youngest Tier 5 Fire Mage in history, and the absolute best below Tier 6!"

"What are you blabbering about? What happens if you lose?" Ye Chuan asked.

"If I lose, I will be at your disposal." Aurora flicked her red ponytail, completely unbothered.

"Oh, that works." Ye Chuan immediately broke into a smile.

"Hey, Aurora." Kaiaolen, on the other hand, felt that his granddaughter might not necessarily be a match for Ye Chuan. After all, this guy had many tricks up his sleeve.

"Do not worry," Aurora said, brimming with absolute confidence in her own strength.

Helpless, Kaiaolen had no choice but to agree.

Ye Chuan still looked entirely indifferent.

The news of a magical duel between Ye Chuan and Aurora naturally spread throughout the entire Miral Territory, especially attracting a large crowd of mages and guard soldiers who came to watch.

Not only that, but even Elara and Princess Irena heard about it and came straight over.

"Sister Princess Irena, why is Sister Aurora dueling with the teacher?" Elara was very surprised when she heard the news. After all, Aurora had been back from out of town for less than half a day. How did she end up dueling the teacher so quickly?

"I am not too sure myself." Irena was also a bit confused, but she asked Elara curiously, "Is Her Excellency Aurora very strong?"

"Very strong! She was the strongest mage student at the Imperial Academy and qualified for early graduation. Not only that, Sister Aurora can even cast the Tier 6 magic, Heavenly Star Flare."

"That is indeed very impressive..." Hearing this, Irena subconsciously looked down at Ye Chuan below the stands.

If that was the case, would Lord Xi Xi be alright?

"But it is fine. Sister Aurora should know when to hold back," Elara said.

"Mhm."

Below the stands at this moment, Aurora held her staff. After doing some light stretches to warm up, she pointed at Ye Chuan.

"Do not give up too early, Lord Xi Xi."

"Is that so? The only ones capable of making me surrender are the few at home who squeeze me dry," Ye Chuan laughed.

"What, where is your staff?" Aurora noticed that Ye Chuan was empty-handed.

"I do not need one."

"Hah?" A magic staff was a treasure that could drastically reduce incantation time and amplify the power of spells. Just like a sword in the hands of a swordsman, a suitable weapon could elevate a spell's destructive force to a whole new level.

What did this man in front of her mean by not using a staff?

Aurora did not believe that Ye Chuan simply lacked a staff. It was obvious that her opponent was completely looking down on her.

"Very well, I will make you pay for your arrogance!"

Aurora raised her staff. "Mana Burst!"

In the next second, the mana around Aurora began to surge wildly, and her entire body was enveloped in a red glow. This was a buff that could massively boost one's mana level, though it would leave the user slightly weakened for a short while afterward.

"Guji, Pyroblast!"

A magic circle condensed from Aurora's staff. Immediately after, a red magic circle appeared with Ye Chuan at its center, followed by a violent eruption of crimson flames that swallowed him whole, much like a volcanic eruption!

The flames flared brightly, and Ye Chuan disappeared from sight.

"Hmph, you could not even dodge in time? Your strength is far weaker than I imagined."

Aurora smirked. Her casting speed for the Pyroblast was so fast that it left the spectating mages in shock.

"How terrifying! Can a Pyroblast actually be cast in just a few seconds?"

"It is over. Lord Xi Xi could not dodge in time. He is probably going to be heavily injured."

The mages in the audience chattered among themselves, but Aurora quickly sensed that something was wrong. She noticed that the flames of the Pyroblast were collapsing at a bizarrely fast rate. In the end, as if swallowed by something, they vanished in an instant.

Soon after, a figure slowly emerged—

Xi Xi?!

Ye Chuan's figure reappeared. The fact that he was completely unharmed was a bit hard for Aurora to accept.

"How is this possible... A point-blank hit from a Pyroblast, and it had no effect?!" Aurora gripped her staff tightly, staring in disbelief.

"It could not even burn through my clothes. A bit weak," Ye Chuan said as he patted some non-existent dust off his body. He looked at the red-haired ponytail girl.

"I say, if you do not have any other tricks, you had better start thinking about how you are going to get screwed later."

"Heh, you have got some skills." The flames of competitiveness ignited in Aurora's eyes, and her red ponytail whipped around with her movements.

"How about this? Can you block it?"

She fiercely thrust her staff into the ground. The fire-attribute magic crystal embedded at the tip suddenly burst with a blinding red light as she rapidly chanted a lengthy magic incantation.

"...In the name of the raging flames, I summon the fire that scorches the heavens—Multiple Flaming Meteorites!"

As her voice fell, five or six crimson magic circles, each over ten feet in diameter, instantly appeared in the sky. Runes flowed within the circles as fire-elemental mana condensed into tangible waves of heat, distorting the surrounding air.

In the following second, dozens of giant fireballs, five to six meters in diameter, surged out from the magic circles. The surfaces of the fireballs were wrapped in swirling vortexes of flame, with dark red cores flashing in the centers. Trailing long red-gold tails of fire, they bombarded down toward Ye Chuan like a devastating meteor shower!

"Lady Aurora has actually advanced the Fireball spell to such a level!" a spectating mage exclaimed in awe.

The rain of fireballs tore through the air, emitting a sharp, howling screech. The intense heat scorched the surrounding vegetation, leaving the grass curled and yellowed, while faint scorch marks were seared into the ground below.

Yet, Ye Chuan remained standing in place, completely motionless.

The first fireball crashed down. The moment it touched the area around Ye Chuan, it was as if it had hit an invisible gravitational field. The red-gold flames were forcibly pulled and compressed. The originally berserk fire-elemental mana seemed to have found an outlet, pouring madly into a chaotic void.

The explosive runes on the surface of the fireball were dismantled into tiny specks of light by the chaos just as they were about to trigger. Along with the entire fireball, they were devoured by the shield, leaving only a faint wisp of blue smoke in its wake.

Immediately after, dozens of fireballs crashed down one after another. A dense cacophony of explosions echoed continuously, and the crimson firelight almost entirely engulfed the dueling arena.

But bizarrely, none of the fireballs could breach that faint layer of chaos. They exploded upon the surface of the chaos, but the flames could not spread a single inch. Instead, they were continuously swallowed and assimilated by the chaos.

"What?! What kind of magic is this?!" Aurora frantically channeled her mana. The red glow of the magic crystal atop her staff dimmed a bit, but she gritted her teeth and continued to summon wave after wave of fireball rain.

"Impossible! No magic can indiscriminately devour this many fire-elemental attacks!"

Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and a wave of dizziness hit her from the massive mana drain. However, the scene before her left her in utter disbelief—Ye Chuan stood in the center of the sky-filling flames, and that invisible power acted as the most impenetrable fortress, blocking every single attack.

The brilliant light from the exploding fireballs illuminated his face, revealing his entirely nonchalant expression.

"What, can't keep going?"

"If you can't keep going, then it's time to get screwed."