Cardinal: God Spell

Jun Wie mentally prepared himself to go all out as for once, he wasn't up against a control-type mage, meaning the fight was likely to be more straightforward than what he went through in the Qualifying rounds- One Wenqing's side, he was annoyed by Sebastian's showboating in the group fight and sought to get his frustration out of his system with this match. Regardless of who ended up winning this match though, it was clear that this was going to be entertaining for all onlookers, including Sora who was only waiting to see Sebastian's match.

The match started and Wenqing didn't waste a second launching a barrage of [Perfect] Wind blades at Jun Wie before taking to the skies- Unfortunately for him, however, Jun Wie was ready for it and blocked them with a [Perfect] Earth wall before firing a [Perfect] Hydro Pump at Wenqing it the sky. The Battle God weaved seamlessly past the beam of high-pressure water that followed after him before raining down another wave of Wind blades at his opponent on the move and keeping his distance. 

Outright abandoning his Rock Fists, Jun Wie covered himself in a mobile [Perfect] Water barrier as he used [Perfect] Earth Ripple to move around and track Wenqing, pressing on with his Hydro Pump blast. Wenging used Solid Air to layer multiple shields of wind in front of him before diving down at Jun Wie, seemingly going in for the kill. The Water beam tore through Wenqing's wind barriers with ease though shooting straight into the sky but 5 twisters emerged from the collision and began approaching Jun Wie from different directions. Jun Wie unhesitantly abandoned the two water spells he was originally using and manipulated his Earth ripple to back away from the 5 approaching twister-like wind path spells.

The 5 wind paths collided at Jun Wie's original position before imploding on themselves where 10 Wind blades were shot out at Jun Wie from the fanfare. Jun Wie suddenly stopped and double-cast the Hydro Pump to double the overall power, pressure and size of his spell, destroying the wind blades with ease and attacking in the same spell clearing up the dust all the wind spells raised in Wenqing's position. When it did, however, the platform was empty and Jun Wie couldn't see Wenqing anywhere. Just as he took a breath to think, Wenqing shot down from the sky like a bullet and blasted Jun Wie back with a wind-powered drop kick that broke Jun Wie's spirit Beast manifestation thoroughly as Jun Wie was blasted off of the stage and crashed into the walls separating the Arena from the stands.

Wenqing backflipped into a perfect landing and shot out another barrage of wind blades while pinning Jun Wie to the wall with solid air- The wind blades never got to hit their target as Jun Wie used Earth ripple to let himself be sucked into the wall he was pinned to, which the wind blades struck and cracked deeply. By the time they had hit though, Jun Wie had emerged from a part of the wall that was 10 yards to the right and stared at Wenqing with caution.

Sora found himself leaning forward in mild anticipation as he witnessed the first proper battle between mages he had seen since he took over this body and life after reincarnation, He was trembling in anticipation, ready to see what either of these two challengers would do next. speaking frankly, there wouldn't be much Wenqing could do to the effect of beating his opponents with the meagre wind element. But his application and use of spells were beyond genius. From as far back as when he launched the 5 twisters, Wenqing had been casting wind spells from a distance to give himself some time to build up that last attack of his and as a result, when it finally hit, he managed to shatter the reinforced hide of a Chieftain class Rhino Beast man.

Jun Wie looked visibly exhausted and shaken up after that last hit and while he wasn't anywhere near running out of mana, his stamina and concentration were draining in spades throughout this fight. He was running on fumes and needed to end this fight quickly before Wenqing began another one of his combination spells. Wenqing abandoned everything else and rushed straight at Jun Wie in a Wind Path spell, as such Jun Wie used his [Perfect] Rock fist and prepared to deal the knockout punch. When Wenqing approached range he suddenly released his spell to kill his momentum.

Jun Wie struck out at Wenqing with his rock-coated fist and Wenqing twisted with the punch to dull the impact before striking Jun Wie's chest with his palm. Wenqing then used Wind Path to rapidly shoot all of the air out of Jun Wie's lungs before following up by using solid air to blast himself away from Jun Wie as well as all of the air within a 100-yard radius of Jun Wie in an instant. Jun Wie barely registered what was going on as one moment he was about to win the match, and the very next he was very suddenly deprived of oxygen and collapsed where he stood. Only once Wenqing was announced the winner did he let the air rush back towards the already unconscious Jun Wie.

Sora wasn't sure of much relating to this school's upper class, but he was sure of this, Ji Wenqing's title as the Battle God of the Fourth Year Elites wasn't an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination. His decision-making, spell control, execution, and on-the-spot strategy were flawless- He ended the fight without ever taking a clean hit from Jun Wie who had access to a Chieftain Class soul beast throughout the fight, it was a strategic win as much as it was a victory of skills- On this one instance, Sora couldn't hate on the fact that Team 1 had secured themselves another Divine Tower pass, and now he was even more excited to watch the Academy's strongest student fight.

Jun Wie was resuscitated on the spot before being carried off on a stretcher to check for any internal damages he may have suffered during the fight while Ji Wenqing strolled out of the arena with a calm gait, there wasn't a single moment where he was on the back foot in that fight and everyone knew it, he was confident that at least nobody with their head screwed on the right would try to challenge him over the next month. His mana and spells could be saved for the truly crazy and mentally deficient individuals who genuinely believe that fighting a man who can take the air out of your lungs is a good idea. So he can carefully and intimately educate them on why that is not the case. 

In the short intermission before the final match began Sora left his changing room for the last time, to settle one more thing before the challenge month began. As he left the Stadium grounds Sora thought back on his previous life and the journey he went on before he turned 19 and died not too many months after- More specifically he thought deeply about his equals back then, and more specifically about the man that killed him.

He wondered how they could let magic deteriorate to the level where for a moment he considered a mage like Ji Wenqing to be strong when such a belief only applies in this era. People like him were a dime a dozen back in his time, and he wasn't just saying it either, every student and family he helped out were wise asses to a greater or lesser degree, everyone and their mother could apply their elements in a way that could truly kill you- and it was exactly that kind of destructive and primitive magic that Sora aimed for humanity to grow out of.

Instead, they had regressed to the point where killing techniques could be considered something worthwhile to partake in, besides the fact that developing spells to kill humans was a waste of your time anyway thanks to the progression of medicine back then which had seemingly only grown ever since, magic itself had deteriorated to the point where it couldn't even efficiently serve its original purpose of keeping other races at bay while humanity thrived, instead, It is slowly being reduced to just another tool that doesn't do much to the benefit of people.

Keeping that in mind Sora gathered and set fire to his worn and torn clothes before packing the rest into a bag and returning to the stands once more. As disgusting as it was for him to find someone like Ji Wenqing genuinely impressive, it didn't mean he would ignore the chance to study someone like Sebastian who to date was still the closest thing Sora had seen to the standard of his time, and this was someone who was destined to stand among the very greatest in Modern China.

The crowd settled down in anticipation of what was guaranteed to be the greatest showcase of magic ability today as it was finally time for the final match of the Tournament. The 4th turned technical 2nd strongest student in the academy and Captain of team 4, Mu Lima, would be going up against the big man on campus himself; The Strongest student in the Academy Period, The Captain of Team 1 and the person with by far the most dominant performance of the Divine Tower trial by far, Sebastian Salvatore.

On one end there was a Profound mage in the best shape he had been in years, going up against an Entry level Master Mage, an existence that would stand at the peak of even the 5 great academies of China, talk less of some lower-middle rung Academy like the interstellar academy that could barely bring out a Master Mage every other year. Mu Lima calmed himself and stepped onto the stage with a display of self-assurance he was certain he didn't have, despite the 'inspired' fire people could see in his eyes, Lima was wondering whether even survival of this match was possible to talk less of actually winning.

On the other side, Sebastian didn't decide to walk onto the stage, appear in a pillar of fire, or even emerge from the earth, no, no, no. He descended. Sebastian Salvatore descended from the cloud with 3 legitimate pairs of Angel wings sprouting on his back as steps on fire formed before him coming down from the sky to the platform. "Well, shit... You can't go wrong with presentation, can you?", Sora shrugged as he couldn't even hate on Sebastian's more than necessary extravagance. Ignoring the fact that it was a tactic to psyche Lima out that had worked with critical effect, it just looked much too cool to hate on, Say whatever you want about the standards of power in this generation they knew how to posture like no man's business.

While Sora and most of the crowd were taking in the sheer awe of Sebastian's entrance, despair set in for Lima as he couldn't fathom Living past the moment Sebastian launched his first spell, in his head he had exactly 30 seconds, how long it would take Sebastian to land, to think up a way to land a hit, something tangible that would give him the morale boost he desperately needed to take Sebastian on with all he had. Little did Lima know that his worries were for nought, he never stood a chance anyway, and what Sebastian said once his feet touched the stage and he put his wings and flaming steps away only went on to cement that fact.

"Tell you what my old friend... As a reward for making it this far, I will give you a once in single chance, you get one free shot to do whatever you want... You have a maximum casting time of 30 seconds and I won't counter until the spell you choose dissipates... I won't take a step from where I stand currently, I won't block your attack... I won't even Blink", Sebastian declared in a clear and unrushed tone, "If you manage to make me move even an inch from this spot within the 30 seconds you have from when you start casting I will surrender and count it as your complete victory... No special conditions... No tricks... Do you accept my friend??", Sebastian suggested with a 'harmless' smile that belonged to no one but the devil himself.