Theo tossed his broken umbrella aside, his gaze locked on the sky.

Unbeknownst to anyone, his lightning bolts had stopped just behind Darius, completely within his blind spot.

As the two bolts began spinning around each other, dark clouds slowly started gathering overhead.

The chaos mana surrounding them could no longer conceal the growing phenomenon.

A small smile appeared on Theo’s face.

’Got you.’

Darius noticed it immediately.

A strange feeling settled in his stomach.

’Something’s wrong!’ he thought.

RUMBLE!

His gaze snapped up, finding dark clouds behind him.

Golden light flickered inside, quickly gathering up at several locations inside the cloud.

’’What!’’ he said, eyes wide. ’’When?!’’

Theo didn’t hesitate any longer.

With the Divine Thunder Storm spell gathering in the sky, lightning also began crackling under his feet.

In an instant, he began flickering towards Darius.

Meanwhile, Kara had just walked out of the steam herself.

Only, her breathing had grown far heavier than before.

Even so, there wasn’t a hint of fear or hesitation in her eyes.

’’WHERE... ARE YOU RUNNING!" she shouted, dashing off after Theo.

Darius’ pupils contracted.

A realization set in at that instant.

Theo wasn’t running away from her. Instead, he was charging straight towards him.

’All this time,’ he thought. ’I’ve been his target!’

RUMBLE!

The clouds above him exploded with golden light.

Three colossal spheres of lightning had gathered in the sky.

CRAACK!

Each sphere shot down a massive beam of lightning.

They spiraled around one another as they fell, twisting together into a massive storm-drill of golden destruction.

Darius’s expression changed completely.

He knew very well — there was no dodging that.

’That’s a Silver Core spell?!’ he thought grimly.

Even so, he didn’t give up.

Pure gray mana began pouring out of his body, conjuring massive metal plates everywhere.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

Plate after plate stacked firmly around him.

Within seconds, a nearly three-story-tall tower-like structure formed.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The massive swirling storm struck.

For a moment, the entire arena turned white.

A deafening roar echoed through the stadium as the spiraling beams slammed directly into the metallic tower.

CRAAAAACK!

The structure instantly lit up.

Every plate slowly turned orange, then white, and finally black.

Lightning spread through the entire construct, disintegrating it completely.

Large ashen specks soared through the sky as the metal crumbled away.

The thunder storm wasn’t done there though.

It continued dancing around the place, tearing massive grooves into the ground.

Each bolt left behind glowing trenches dozens of yards long.

Massive clouds of dust and ash rose into the sky.

For several seconds, nobody could even see what had happened to Darius.

Even while flickering forward, Theo refused to lower his guard.

’That should have done serious damage,’ he thought. ’But I don’t think he’s out yet.’

The moment the thought crossed his mind, a violent gust erupted from the center of the lightning storm.

As the remaining smoke and dust were blasted away, a collective gasp swept through the crowd.

Darius was still standing.

He stood on a tiny earth pillar, surrounded by a wind sphere, as the rest of the ground around him had completely melted away.

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

His clothes had been torn apart in several places, exposing dozens of burns that covered his body.

Even his left arm trembled slightly.

Yet despite all that, his eyes remained calm.

Theo pressed his lips together.

Just from looking at the guy, he could tell that defending against that spell had utterly exhausted him.

’He’s used around five Silver Core spells now,’ he calculated. ’So he’s definitely low on mana.’

His gaze flickered behind him.

Kara was still chasing after him and had started catching up.

But whether it was exhaustion or just that he hadn’t hurt her in a while, it seemed like she was slowing down much more compared to before.

As for himself?

Having poured twice as much mana as usual into the lightning spell and having masked it with Chaos mana, he only had 40% remaining.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

’Now let’s gather them up,’ he thought, dashing forward as fast as he could. ’Then I’ll end it in one attack.’

Darius noticed Theo’s acceleration towards him immediately.

His expression slowly grew dark.

’How much mana does this monster have?’ he thought. ’He hasn’t even used that fusion spell, and yet he’s taking care of both me and Kara?’

The realization was frustrating.

No matter what angle he looked at it from, the situation was bad.

His reserves were nearly empty.

Kara was slowing down.

Meanwhile, Theo was somehow still capable of maintaining his lightning movement technique.

’We can’t drag this out any longer,’ he concluded.

A sharp whistle escaped his lips.

WHOOSH!

The wind surrounding his body suddenly intensified.

’’ROGER!’’ Kara’s voice echoed out behind him cheerfully.

She skidded to a halt, still grinning despite her ragged breathing.

In an instant, the flames around her body moved up into the sky.

Darius also poured all his mana into a massive tornado.

Theo’s eyes narrowed, a bad feeling settling over him.

’Hold on,’ he realized. ’I’m stuck in between them like this.’

And it seemed like they were both using all their mana for one last attack.

Theo’s expression immediately became serious.

’Those two...’

They were actually cooperating perfectly the entire time.

The dark crimson fire gathering above Kara rapidly expanded.

At the same time, Darius’s tornado continued growing larger and larger.

Theo’s eyes darted between both attacks.

He too slid to a halt.

An invisible gray mana appeared around his hand.

But even he knew he couldn’t perfectly surround himself with the Chaos Room spell.

’I’ll have to take one of them and redirect one of them.’

His left hand rose towards Kara, large amounts of water swirling around it.

His right hand rose towards Darius, already shaping a round Chaos Door.

’’BURN TO DEATH ASSHOLE!’’ Kara shouted loudly.

In an instant, both she and Darius released their spells.

A massive tornado and a sea of flames rushed towards him simultaneously.

Students all across the stands jumped to their feet.

Even instructors stared without blinking.

The same thought appeared in countless minds.

’He’s done for!’