The Golem Mage

Kylian moved in to close the distance, but this time Agnes no longer retreated, she calmly twisted her staff before her as Kylian launched strike after strike, jabbing and slashing with precision.

Yet every attempt proved futile, as the water veil surrounding her remained perfectly still, only rippling under the pressure of his attacks.

"Water Arrows," Agnes commanded.

From the veil, dozens of water-formed arrows shot out toward Kylian, he twisted his body at unnatural angles, narrowly avoiding each one.

For the few that came dangerously close, he countered by hurling frost Qi at them, freezing the arrows mid-flight and severing their link to Agnes, causing them to crash to the ground uselessly and breaking.

Just as he finished evading the barrage, he noticed something behind her, it looked like a miniature flood dragon.

Its eyes lacked intelligence, but its presence loomed with a dangerous aura that instantly made Kylian wary, this wasn't an ordinary spell he could brush aside.

It reminded him of when Asher had attempted to use his mental energy to control ten fireballs, but this wasn't ten small attacks—it was one massive creature, and its sheer size and concentrated power made up for the lack of numbers.

More importantly, it wasn't a modeled spell like Asher's; it was a mental construct Agnes had formed herself crafted and sustained directly by her mind.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Ice Prison <]

Without hesitation, Kylian cast one of the strongest defensive ice spells he had: Ice Prison, although commonly used for restraining opponents, it could also serve as a powerful barrier in dire moments.

He knew he couldn't afford to take chances with the incoming attack.

In a flash, a large coffin of solid ice formed in the air before him, with thick chains extending from its four corners, it slammed down with a deafening thud, encasing Kylian within.

As frost energy immediately coated its surface, making it difficult to see what was happening inside.

At that very moment, Agnes completed her incantation, her flood dragon momentum surged forward, ready to be unleashed.

"Just so you know, I won't be able to control this once I release it," Agnes warned, her voice strained.

"It'll move on its own, if you want to back out and surrender, now's your chance."

Her mana was close to being completely drained in the process of conjuring the water-based flood dragon, as layer upon layer of compressed mana had been infused into its form, shaping a more defined and lifelike body.

At this point, it looked more alive than any spell construct she'd ever made, all because it had a lot of her mental energy inserted into it which passed her will to the Flood dragon —yet she still had no control over it.

Unlike Asher, who prioritized control with his Fireballs, Agnes who had willingly pushed beyond her limits didn't, she had instead created the flood dragon not to maneuver it with precision, but to make it so massive and overwhelming that no matter where Kylian hid, he would be forced to face it.

"Too much talking, less fighting. Let's get this over with," came Kylian's cold voice from behind the coffin.

The audience leaned in, knowing this moment would most likely decide the match.

On Kylian's side, the upright ice coffin stood like an unbreakable fortress, frost and mist blanketing the area in an ominous fog trying to breach into Agnes' side of the ring.

On Agnes' side, the contrast was striking, her half of the arena resembled a flowing water kingdom, while the flood dragon loomed behind her, small water serpents danced and leapt from shallow pools forming across the stage.

Both sides stood in stark contrast: ice and fog against liquid clarity and life.

Among the Royal Mage Academy spectators, there had always been the belief that ice, as a higher sub-element of water, held the advantage in a clash.

But seeing the flood dragon's presence, its lifelike aura, the raw force behind it and after witnessing the poise of Katie earlier, many of them thought twice and wisely held their tongues instead of bragging.

"Go!"

Agnes finally released the flood dragon, her control slipping away as the massive body of water surged forward, with a piercing cry, the creature weaving through the air before dashing from behind her like a spear.

Zoom!

It tore through the icy fog, cutting a straight path as it smashed its head into the center of the ice coffin; there were no dramatic sparks or explosions—just an immense wave of cold Qi spreading outward from the impact.

At first, the coffin held firm… or so it seemed. Then faint cracks began to snake across its surface.

Ten seconds later, the cracks spread like fractures in fragile glass, and the coffin shattered with a shattering sound that echoed across the arena, with the barrier gone, the flood dragon slammed into Kylian, its watery body swirling to engulf him as it opened its jaws, intent on swallowing him whole.

But Kylian wasn't going out like that, he had risked too much for this fight.

[> Innate Spell – Absolute Zero <]

As he invoked the spell, a dome of pale ice burst outward with him at the center, as his once-grey hair turned snow white in a flash, and he raised one arm above and the other below, forcefully grabbing the open jaws of the flood dragon, stopping its bite in its tracks.

He knew instinctively that if he was swallowed, he would lose—not just the match, but something more.

The fear gripping him wasn't logical, but primal.

The flood dragon pushed him relentlessly, dragging him across the stage until his heels dug into the very edge of the battle ring. Normally, touching a creature made of water should have been impossible, however Kylian had coated his arms in Qi and ice mana, extending his energy with precision.

Every second, he focused his mana on freezing the parts of the dragon he gripped, turning fluid into solid just long enough to hold on and resist.

That was how he managed to accomplish such a feat, though his hands now looked more like blocks of ice than flesh and blood, for someone who wasn't a high-rank mage yet—nor blessed with an ice-elemental body—pushing himself to this extent would definitely come at a cost.

But he didn't care, he had already gone all in, the only reason he wasn't groaning in pain was because of his high affinity for the ice element, which granted him a natural resistance to the cold ravaging his body.