Throne of the Grand Magus: The beginning

As soon as the battle commenced Eristo hopped back several steps, putting his back against the earth wall that divided the arena.

"Pillar!" shouted Eristo, the palm of his hand touching the wall, causing a horizontal pillar of earth to rush out towards Luca.

'Interesting, Aunt Luna never mentioned anything about casting spells using a single word before,' thought Luca as he lunged to the side, dodging the pillar by a thread.

"Pillar!" shouted Eristo once again, this time his palms were touching the ground. 

'Ahh, this might actually be fun' thought Luca as he craned his neck trying to follow the slab of earth that Eristo rode on top of as it ascended ten meters into the air.

"Oh mighty fire, rage, rage, rage, burn all those who stand in my way," chanted Eristo, shooting out a pillar of fire directed towards Luca.

"Oh mighty earth, protector of life, raise the ground, create a wall," chanted Luca, his casting so fast that he finished but a split second after Eristo, even though Eristo had started his chanting a second before him. 

Right as the fire pillar was about to scorch him, Luca's palms slammed into the ground, causing a four-meter tall wall made of earth to erupt from the floor in front of him, blocking the incoming flames.

The fire and earth collided against each other, hot flames licking the sides of the earthen wall, however at the level that Eristo was at the pillar could only push against the wall for but a few seconds before dying out

"Oh mighty earth, protector of life, punish my enemies. Motherly scold," chanted Luca, his palms slamming into the ground once again.

A large amount of mana was expanded the second Luca's palm touched the ground, causing seismic shockwaves to travel through the earth, shaking the very arena that they stood on.

"Stabilize" chanted Eristo, sending out shockwaves of his own to prevent his pillar from toppling over.

"You fought well," said a voice behind him, his vision going dark right as he was about to turn to see who it was.

'But still, I expanded quite a large amount of mana to fly up here. Should I have just run up?' thought Luca as he slid down the vertical pillar, using his hand as an anchor to prevent him from plummeting down.

'It seems we have a very interesting group this year,' thought the old man as he looked at Luca walk off the stage.

***

"What was that?" asked the green-haired Drimwel Rerarith as he felt the aftershocks from Luca's spell.

"Do you really have time to be asking questions?" asked Lyn as she slammed her palms into the ground, "Oh mighty earth, protector of life, rise from beneath. Pillar!"

The second that the word 'Pillar' was uttered from her mouth, the slab of earth directly below her feet rose eight meters into the sky.

"Oh light who brings joy into this world, guide us, luminous fera!" chanted Drimwel, causing tendrils of light to snake out of his palms, rushing out towards Lyn.

"Oh mighty earth, protector of life, raise the ground, create a dome," Lyn's chanting speed far surpassed Drimwel's, and although light moved faster than the eye could follow it meant nothing if he didn't finish the spell in time.

"Oh mighty earth, protector of life, rise from beneath. Pillar!" chanted Lyn, not a moment's delay between her casting, before slamming her palms into the inner wall of the earth dome around her.

A pillar erupted from the front of the dome, rushing out towards Drimwel.

"Kukk," snorted Drimwel as he lunged to the side to dodge the attack.

"Oh mighty fire, rage, rage, rage, burn all those who stand in my way," shouted Lyn from an opening she had created in the dome while Drimwel was dodging her attack.

"Fuc-" before Drimwel could even finish what he wanted to say his body was scorched, becoming covered in second-degree burns.

"It seems that these two are by far the strongest in this batch," said a silver-haired woman sitting next to the old man, looking at Lyn with an interested gaze.

"And what of the other two?" asked another woman who sat behind two, this one with jet black hair.

"Well, it seems they were an equal match," replied the old man, turning to look at the section they were fighting in.

Both contestants had to be assisted by healers, one was frozen still in ice, the other covered from neck to toe in earth.

"Ehem. Contestants Dayante and Kim are out of commission, as such we will move on straight to the finals," announced the old man, removing all the walls that partitioned the arena with but a snap of his fingers.

"Who do you suppose will win?" asked the woman with silver hair once the old man was seated.

"The girl's chanting speed is on par with the top performers in the third year. I'd say apart from his hand-to-hand prowess, the boy isn't much to write home about." said the woman behind them.

"Indeed. Although he could end fights early due to the short distance between him and his opponents, since the field is much wider now I'd say he's at a disadvantage." added the woman next to the old man.

"Is that what you think? Perhaps we should place bets," offered the old man, a smile on his face as he stroked his beard, watching Luca stretch at the side of the arena.

"Hey you," hollered Lyn, walking towards Luca.

"Huh?"

"Don't try holding back during our duel It would be unsatisfactory if I beat you without you putting up much of a fight."

'What is she talking about?' wondered Luca, staring at Lyn dumbstruck.

"Your hand-to-hand method won't work on such a wide field. Just a warning," said Lyn before walking away, her expression steeled by determination.

"Finalists take to the stage," announced the old man, causing the whole colosseum to go quiet.

Luca and Lyn took to the center stage, standing three meters apart from each other.

"We have reached the final round of the entrance exam, Lyn Asterosa vs Luca Draquerth. Begin," announced the old man, starting the final duel.

'I'm not going to give you a chance to move. Time to pull out everything I've been hiding' thought Lyn as she began chanting.

"Oh mighty water giver of life, wave" chanted Lyn, causing a tidal wave of water to come rushing down on Luca.

'Interesting' thought Luca as the wave consumed him, quickly percolating into the ground turning it muddy.

"Oh mighty earth, protector of life, lighten your hold, sink," chanted Lyn once again, not even a second between her casting.

"Indeed, it seems we were right," said the woman next to the old man with a smile on her face.

"Were you now?" asked the old man, watching the fight intently

Luca was knee-deep in quicksand, and the fact that it was wet made it even harder to move around in.

'Why isn't he doing anything?' wondered Lyn as she casted her final spell.

"Rage!" with a single word, a pillar of fire rushed towards Luca, the heat from the spell causing the very air in front of it to sizzle.

"Wall!" chanted Luca, causing a wall of water to erupt from the mud, blocking the fire spell.

As the water and fire collided, steam rose into the air, creating a smokescreen.

"He can single cast as well?' though Lyn, surprised that Luca had a trick up his sleeve as well.

'It's like I thought. Single-word chanting is like creating a bookmark, by saying a single phrase, you subconsciously complete the whole spell in your mind. I've thought about this while trying to get the secret of silent casting, however, it didn't seem to work,' thought Luca, as he moved swiftly through the smokescreen.

If anyone knew that Luca had just discovered his own way to single cast, they would've died from shock. The fifth Grandmagus had been responsible for creating single casting, and its method was taught without the person learning it having a deep understanding of what was going on.

They simply repeated what they were told until they had it engrained in them, almost like muscle memory, however, Luca had just broken down that complex concept and used it in real-time.