Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol. 1- Novus Magus

[Revised/Edited] Episode 56: Eclipsing Confrontation

-"The moon and the sun shall see each other once again!"

*Lei*

"Draconis Terra," Iah yelled out. The earth rose up in the form of a colossal mud dragon. Iah ran towards Nyima and prepared to roundhouse kick her.

Leaping back, Nyima backflipped out of the way of his kick and unleashed her dragon on him.

He put his left hand on top of his right. "Draconis Puro." A large, elegant yellow dragon emerged from his right palm. The dragon viciously devoured the water dragon with its gaping mouth.

Nyima looked up at the dragon, it was over ten times their size, and five times the size of her own dragon. She noticed something strange about its scales, they were ejecting water from the space in-between them. The water slowly molded into the dragon's shape. She recognized what Iah was doing, he was releasing the energy his dragon absorbed from her spell and merging it with his. It was Pure Dragon's side effect, auto synchronization.

Iah was smiling at her as she backed away. "Come on, attack or are you giving up already?"

She ignored his taunt. She might be rash, but she wasn't stupid. "Your spell, it can only be used by people who harbor dragon prana."

"Right. Remember, my symbol as a Wudi clan member is the yellow dragon, which allows me to not only use Earth magic but also Dragon creation and summoning spells. So unlike your water dragon, my pure dragon is made out of actual dragon chi, thus making it superior."

"Chi, doesn't he mean 'prana'?" An asked, glancing at Adela.

"Dragon spells use chi, instead of prana. Light spells meanwhile utilize mana. All other spells use prana," Adela answered.

'Will she be fine?'

"Superior, you say?" Nyima chuckled. "How about we test that theory out?" She held out her palms and put her right on top of her left. "Lux Draconis!" A beam of light burst out of her hands. It danced around in the air like a rainbow serpent, and quickly transformed itself into the shape of a dragon. The dragon's light blinded Iah and his dragon.

Iah shielded his eyes with the sleeves of his tangzhuang.

"My eyes," Orion said, blinking several times. "I see spots."

"Maybe we should've distributed sunglasses for this," Yuzuki said, smiling slightly.

Tahoma snickered. "True."

I glanced around. Where were the Kyuu Seishinian proctors? I hadn't seen them since we arrived here the other day. I knew they left to help the students who failed get back home via the teleportation crystal, but I thought they would've been back by now. Alban was the only one of the 'flunkies' who stayed back. Maybe they'd decided to go on ahead to Nine Petal.

Nyima smiled at the sight of finally getting the upper hand. In a flash, she appeared behind the Prince of Mina, prepared to strike, when the earth swallowed her feet. "What?"

Iah turned around, he had a smug smile on his face. "You forgot about my control over earth so quickly? I can feel your movements as long as you're on some sort of land, even if it is floating over water."

Angrily, she sent out a wave of water which knocked him down. "Haha, now the mud's on you."

He grinned at her as he wiped the mud off his expensive-looking outfit. "You're just like Lei, aren't you?"

"Don't compare me to anyone," she said, breaking out of his earth binds.

"I will keep that in mind." He jumped up and smacked the ground with his right heel, causing an earth tsunami.

Nyima rolled out of the way just as the earth smacked against the barrier, sending ripples across the thing. Thankfully, Iah hadn't shattered it like An had.

"Aqua Draconis!" Nyima chanted.

"That won't work, you see, my earth dragon can absorb any nature spell that isn't plant or wind."

"Darn, how could I forget about that?" Nyima said as the earth dragon devoured her water. "In that case, I'll use Lux Draco!" The dragon rushed toward Iah, sending out pulses of energy. "Activate your special ability!" The dragon sent out a pulse of colorful light into the roof of the shield. "Fall, rainbow rain!" Waves of light struck Iah like a hailstorm.

"Protect!" The earth shifted from its dragon form into that of a shield. By the time Iah uncoiled, all he saw were craters.

"This won't be easy now, will it?" Wanikiya said.

"Not one bit," I said, shaking my head. To think that I thought I could defeat her so easily.

"Those two are truly worthy of the title of strongest freshman, well other than Arima," Zelde said, crossing her arms.

"They are," Adela said, smiling. "There's a reason for why Lei and I lost."

"Yeah, Iah will win," I said as I watched my teammates go at it.

Adela smiled. "I think it'll be Nyima."

"Nyima for sure," Hikaru said. "Anyone who could defeat Adela must be capable of taking down Iah."

"No, it'll be Iah," Yen said.

"I have to agree with Adela," Wanikiya said.

"I'm betting on Iah," Zelde said. She glanced over at Tahoma. "What about you, who do you think will win?"

"Simple, Iah," Tahoma said, shrugging.

"I think Nyima has a real chance at winning this, though," Yuzuki said.

Orion nodded.

Arima stared at the two. "Both have about an equal chance of being my next opponent."

Sarah nodded. "Betting who will win or lose is underestimating the other participant."

Iah ran toward Nyima, creating a sword of earth on the way over to her. She tried to block his sword with a half done water barrier, but he managed to throw her off balance, allowing him to pin her down. "Given up yet?" he said, pointing his sword over her neck.

She glared at the sword. She grabbed it and twisted it. "Your sword doesn't scare me," she said, hitting him with an explosion of water.

"A spell without a seal, or words," he said, clearing his face from the water. "Quite a powerful basic spell you got there." Just as he was wiping the water off of his face, she kicked him in the gut. He fell on his back but thanks to the mud it didn't hurt as much. Water emerged from the mud, forming watery chains on his legs, neck, arms, and stomach.

"Look, now I'm the one who's pinning you down."

He smiled at her. "Tsuki no Sora!" A beam of dull, silver light sent her flying back.

She stood up, coughing blood along the way. "What was that?"

"Lunar magic?" Eien said to himself. Everyone jumped as we glanced over at the door. No one had any idea as to when he had returned. "Iah no Mikoto... it was never revealed who the former Empress of Mina married... Only thing known about him is that he is a member of the Mikoto clan."

Mikoto? Ah! He had called him 'Iah no Mikoto' before! I eyed Hika and Yuzu. Then, did that make him a relative of my friends?

The others stared at Iah with surprise.

Iah smiled at our reactions. He drew the water from Nyima spells towards him. "I'm only half Wudi you know, these powers are the powers I inherited from my father!"

"So, now you bare your true fangs," Nyima said, grinning. She yanked some of the water back toward her. "You're an interesting boy!" She leaped back and held out her hand as if holding a sword. "Now, let us finish this!"

**Solar Question: Who do you think will emerge as the victor and face Arima in the finals? Iah or Nyima?**