I cupped my hands and gathered the cooled air around me. Now was my chance to finish Carter off.

"Glacies Spica!" I yelled. Multiple ice spikes flew out of my hands.

Carter took a deep breath and sidestepped the first and the second and so on. How could he move like that? Wasn't he running out of prana? Wait, he had stopped using his magic entirely. This was entirely the doing of his physical prowess.

My opponent slammed his arm against a spike that had gotten too close. Using his left hand, he grabbed another incoming projectile. Both of the ice spikes melted into water as soon as they touched him.

His body had that much heat? Hmm, come to think of it, it did take me a while to heal him the other day.

Carter smiled as he finished off the last of my spikes. "Thanks for the cooldown." He pointed his hands toward the floor and ran toward me. A stream of explosions trailed behind where his hands had passed over.

He was merely overheating earlier? I jumped back and created a giant ice wall between us. Carter raised his arms and caused a torrent of flames to erupt from the ground. They were smaller than those Huo had used but no less impressive.

So, his magic was never weak. He just couldn't control the output. Or maybe he didn't get to awaken his true potential until now. Not that his body could handle the intensity of it.

My research backfired on me. I had to come up with another plan. No, I couldn't, not with Carter pursuing me like this.

"Jude!" a voice called out. I glanced at the audience and saw Hal waving his arms at me. Beside him was An.

"Brother?" I called out. He did say that he might watch my match.

"Think on your toes, little brother!"

Think on my toes? How could I do that? Doing things on the fly while discarding the plan entirely was his thing, not mine.

Carter grinned as he stomped the ground, shattering several of the tiles around him. My body flew back as the floor underfoot gave in.

"Got you now!" Carter said as he towered in front of me with a raised fist. "No hard feelings, kid, but I have to win this for Rob."

I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms. My ice failed, but I still had my psychic powers! Carter's fist stopped like it had before. My left foot swept the floor, knocking him back. He grumbled as he hit the floor, wincing.

I smiled and raised a hand covered in a pink aura at his neck. "The tables have turned," I said.

Carter chuckled. "It appears like it, but-" Air left my lungs as his hands struck my chest, sending me flying in a straight line toward the barrier.

I coughed up blood as I stopped my ascent with my telekinesis. No, I'd let my guard down again!

My opponent took a deep breath and spread out his arms and legs.

What was he doing? My eyes widened at the sight of smoke coming out of his mouth. He was trying to cool off. I still had a chance to win!

If only An had a chance to teach me some spells before the others arrived. Only had my telekinesis and Psycho Gladius. My eyes scanned the debris below. There were a lot of tile shards I could use.

I raised a hand, causing the debris around Carter to gather around him. He slammed the broken tiles on the sides with his elbows. Thankfully, I managed to get a few cuts in before he reduced all of them to dust.

Dust, could I use it? My brother had shown me a video of his class's matches from last year. Iah had turned the tables on Yen by taking advantage of all the sand and dust the latter had produced by destroying his rocks. If I could do that, I might have a shot!

"Looks like I will need to finish this with a knockout hit after all," Carter said, jumping toward me.

I held both hands in front of me and swung him toward the barrier with my telekinesis. Carter unleashed another flare and kicked me in the stomach, propelling me into the crater he had made earlier.

The ground shattered as I used my telekinesis to soften my landing.

"Woah," Carter said. "You sure got more stamina than I expected."

I smiled. "As I said, I might look frail, but I'm not."

He took another deep breath and held his fists to his sides. That stream of flames had to have heated up his body once more. If I could get him to use his fire some more, victory would be mine. The only issue was avoiding getting hit by them. My telekinesis could redirect his attacks, but being on the defensive wasn't good either. I had to balance it with an offense, or else Carter would catch on and take the time to rest.

"Psycho Gladius!" I yelled, pointing my glowing hand at him. Carter jumped to the right as I rushed toward him. He winced as the tip of my blade cut him slightly.

Maybe I could win this thing by going completely offensive. No, I was getting ahead of myself. I had to think logically. Couldn't allow the heat of the moment to make me act rashly.

Carter grinned as he looked over his shoulder. I smiled back. Both of us were starting to run low on prana and stamina, but it felt as if the match was barely starting.

I could probably finish it quickly if I stopped him with my telekinesis and stabbed him, but I didn't want to kill him. My ice attacks could backfire on me. For now, I would carry on with what I was doing.

Carter breathed deeply.

"What?" I yelled, jumping out of the way. Is he making a fireball? He's going to burn his mouth doing that! He doesn't have Huo's and Nate's heat resistance!

The blondie released a stream of black smoke from his mouth, blinding me.

I gritted my teeth. If only I had the sixth sense ability of psychics. Using my telekinesis, I pushed the smoke away. "Gah!" I screamed. Carter appeared in front of me as the smoke cleared. He slammed his elbow against my back before I could even react. My body dropped to the ground like a potato sack.

Carter smiled and raised a fist in the air. "Thanks for the match. It was fun."

I removed my mask and slammed it against his fist. Partially melted shrapnel flew in various directions. Carter grunted as his arm bled from the cuts. Black skin lurked beneath the torn bandages. Any further, and he could lose his arms.

"C-Carter, give up," I said, jumping to my feet. "Y-your arms aren't in any state for you to continue."

He gritted his teeth. "I told you already, I won't quit!" He held his hand forward and flicked a miniature fireball my way.

I held my hands out and stopped the fireball from hitting me, but the next thing I knew, I was sent falling back. His spell had exploded.

Carter walked toward me with teeth gritted and brow furrowed. He clenched the finger he had used just now.

"Carter," I said, standing up. "Time to finish this. Glacius Draco!"

He smirked as soon as he saw the ice dragon behind me. I didn't want to use my ice powers, but I can't let your body continue to overheat either. If I can win with this, then it'll be even better.

My opponent jumped back and held his hands in front of him, taking the full brunt of my ice spell. Vapor covered the battlefield as my ice melted a few seconds later.

He had that much heat in those arms? Carter was crazier than my big brother!

"You were saying?" Carter asked as he leaped forward. He raised both fists into the air and covered them in flames.

I held out my hands, stopping them like before. However, the heat proved to be unbearable. Was this how Kanja felt when faced with Nate's Ignis Angelus?

"Given up?" Carter asked, smirking.

"N-no! You didn't surrender, so nor will I!" I said, thrusting my arms forward. Carter's eyes widened as he flew to the opposite of the ring.

Carter pointed his left elbow at me and ran toward me. I stepped out of the way and aimed for the back of his neck. Hopefully, what I read in the book about acupuncture would help!

My eyes widened as Carter grabbed me by the wrist and twisted it slightly, sending me falling to the ground in agony.

"Jude!" Hal yelled.

I raised Carter into the air and slammed him down with my telekinesis. He let out a yelp.

I dropped my head to the ground. Hopefully, that was enough to win.

"I-It seems that they're both down," Ms. Key said, shocked. "Will either one get back up?"

"Jude?" I said, stunned. Both Carter and he remained on the ground. Did my brother win or not?

"Is a tie possible?" I overheard one of my brother's classmates ask. No, it wasn't. The victory would go to whoever got up first.

"Your brother's psychic powers are incredible," An said, keeping his gaze at the ring.

I chuckled. "I'm sure even my little bro would say that yours are more so."

"This match sure brings back memories of our first-year tournament," a voice called out.

"Lei?" An said as the honey-loving mage calmly walked over to us.

Lei grinned and waved. "Nice to see you awake. I heard from Adela that you had gotten better."

An smiled. "Yeah, it was all thanks to the care of her people and Sarah. Say, is she here too?"

"No. She went ahead with Nyima to Nine Petal Academy. Kun went with them too. Yen, and Hika are the other students from our class onboard other than Adela and me. Yuzu and Renshu are also here, though."

An's smile faded somewhat. "I see. Was hoping to see Sarah and Xue here. I went to see Vermeil, but she had already left for Nine Petal as well."

Lei smiled. "Relax, you'll see her soon!"

"So, where are Adela and the others?" I asked.

Lei glanced at the ring. Adela, Yuzuki, Yen, Renshu, and Hikaru stood just outside of the barrier.

"They're on standby to heal them, but they can't do so until the match is decided."

"Isn't that risky? What if one or both end up dying due to lack of care?" An asked.

I bit the nail of my thumb. "I'm sure that the proctors are monitoring them."

Lei nodded. "That's right." He took out a device from his pants. "Though, it looks like both are in critical states. Carter's arms are badly in need of healing."

"And Jude?" An asked.

He sighed and put the device back into his pants pocket. "His wrist is sprained. If it's not healed soon, it will take some time for it to recover."

"Jude, please get up," I whispered, turning my eyes back to my brother. I stood up as I saw Jude's good hand twitch.

"I'm not giving up," Carter yelled, getting up before Jude could.

"No," I said, falling back into my seat.

An patted my back. "Hey, Jude did great."

"Yeah. If not for Carter's sheer willpower, Jude probably would've won," Lei said, chuckling.

"So, it's similar to my win against Aida," An mumbled.

Lei nodded. "Yeah. It might just come at a high cost too." He watched as Adela ran over to tend to Carter as he collapsed once more. 

Jude remained on his knees, crying. This was the first time I'd seen him try this hard at something that wasn't an intellectual endeavor. Both of his opponents must've lit a flame under him. Hopefully, he wouldn't let this loss bring him down.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter ^^. Glad to see Hal and An pop up once again alongside Lei?**