SUPREME ARCH-MAGUS
Chapter 72 - 72: Running late to the competition

The Guardian Sun woke up on the horizon, painting the sky a pleasant orange color. The shimmering rays were falling on the calm pond water, creating a tranquil effect.

Mohini is staring at Kent, sat silently, devoid of all worries from the real world. Lambu, who sat in a sleeping posture below the rock boulder, stared at Kent with a lazy look.

There are no words to speak, as both of them were waiting for Kent in a silent stare. The Fire Kirin, who had sat on one side for the last two days, stood beside Mohini.

The fire Kirin is happily licking the fingers of Mohini, who is feeding bone fire to her.

Inside the subconscious mind of Kent, images of hundreds of wind chains formed, painting his vision with black and white color.

Without his intervention, his understanding of wind element and the nature of wind currents is growing at a rapid pace. All he is waiting for is the spark that will end this eternal awakening.

_

Sky family, Magus school... 2 hours left until the start of the competition...

Master Chen stood at the center of the arena, guiding all the elders of the school to place them in their respective positions. Elder Cha stood beside Master Chen with a golden box.

Thea stood at the north-east corner with a worried look. Last night, she contacted Kent through her glass orb several times. But there has been no response from Kent.

As there is still time left for the competition to begin, the arena is still empty, with very few disciples. The cheerleading gang, including Luna and her senior sister Mo, were preparing their props for the show.

"Master Chen, I brought all the grade two barrier inscriptions from the Treasury Master. There are 13 inscriptions in total. What shall I do with them?" Elder Cha asked Master Chen, who is busyly checking all the arrangements.

"Give it to me." Master Chen took the golden box from Elder Cha and flew to all corners of the arena to place them in the formation Yantra sockets. As he fixed all the inscriptions, he came back to the center and raised his wand high in the air.

Master Chen closed his eyes while lifting his wand into the air with both hands. He read several scriptures as he cast a powerful magic spell.

"Custodia Umbrae"

With a loud shout from Master Chen, a glowing blue energy rose into the air, and all the 13 inscriptions placed around the arena activated, releasing 13 streaks of light that merged with the central blue energy beam.

Soon, the light energy spread, forming a barrier around the fighting arena and separating the audience.

_

Even though the arena is empty at the moment without disciples, the outside situation is entirely different from the inside.

A quarter-mile-long queue formed at the entrance of Arena Gate, stretching far into the class rooms. At the head of this long queue, a colourful stall is situated. Inside the stall, before a strong iron table, Fatty Ben sat with a straight back.

Fatty's hand is moving like a machine as he collected the coins and wrote off a ticket for the betting amount. At the head of the stall, the 1:2 rollout number is displayed in large text.

At the moment, the stalls of Red Fox, Blackie, Whitey, and Fur's were empty without any disciples. But Red Fox and his lackies were happily grinning while looking at the situation at Ben's stall.

Blackie is purposefully using his few lackeys to bet a large amount in Fatty's stall.

"10 silver coins against Kent." A tall 7th-grade Magus disciple said while placing the silver coins on the table.

Fatty counted the coins and tossed all coins inside the mouth of the hallow Golden Rat statue. 33 gold, 3 silver, and 13 bronze coins are displayed at the head of the statue, showing the live counting of the betting amount.

With a serious nod, Fatty picked up the ink brush, wrote 10 silvers on the yellow ticket [given by the Fortune Hunter syndicate], and stamped his Golden Rat symbol over the written number. The stamp covered the ticket, restricting any sort of tampering or rewriting.

The process continued, and Fatty didn't even budge while looking at the staggering number of coins against Kent. Even though he got busy, he constantly inquired about news related to Kent's arrival. Till now, no one has seen Kent.

Today morning also, Fatty contacted Kent's sky orb, but Fatty didn't receive any response. Keeping faith in his last chance, Fatty opened the stall and began his duty as collector.

_

Time passed like a flowing wind. There is half an hour left for the competition.

The betting amount for fatty reached a staggering 233 gold, and it is still counting. The arena seats were occupied with disciples, and all the remaining participants occupied their respective seats.

As the names of Kent Clark and Arul were called for first warning (Preparation call), an enthusiastic uproar rang among the crowd. Soon, the Sky family patriarch, along with family members, began entering the arena.

_

Before the large pond in the small crow forest inner area, Kent opened his eyes with a solemn gaze.

There is no hurry or confusion in his eyes. He stood up calmly while staring at the tranquil pond water.

Mohini and Lambu hurriedly stood up and walked towards Kent to see his situation. The Fire Kirin also followed them in excitement.

"Are you okay?" Mohini asked with a doubtful gaze while staring at one side of Kent, who is facing the pond water.

But Kent, keeping his mouth shut, took out the Victor bow from his Pegasus bracelet and took a warrior stance. As I leaned back and pulled the bow string, an aura arrow formed, flickering with an orange glow.

"Vinus Ventorum Sagitta" ["Wind Chain Arrow"]

With a soft whisper, he released the arrow spell while aiming at the pond. The flickering arrow turned into a distinct black and white color and transformed into several wind chains.

In the next second, all the fish moving on the surface water came to stand still. Including the finger-sized small fish, utterly stay still without any movement. Even the ripples on the pond water stayed still as wind chains of black and white locked the pond surface.

After three instances [6 seconds], the chains lost their energy and faded into thin air. With a satisfied smile, Kent turned towards Mohini and replied, "Thank you, madam... I'm all okay. Can you tell me how much time passed?" Kent asked Mohini with a serene smile.

Mohini took a long time to come out of daze. She couldn't believe Kent, who doesn't have any mastery of wind, was able to perform such a breathtaking spell. But soon she remembered her position and put up a grim face before replying.

"You have been sitting before the pond for more than one full day. You better leave for the city. Otherwise, you will miss the competition you are talking about." Mohini replied, struggling to stare into his eyes.

Kent hurriedly took out the Sky Orb from Pegasus bracelet and checked the competition timer playing on the top of the school forum.

"Sh*t… only half hour left." Kent muttered as his gaze moved onto Kirin, who is still staring at the pond with a confused gaze.