Ascension Of The Failed Mage

>FWOOOOSHH<

Her body blended with the wind as she shot herself downward, diving to Jerry, who could only make a flustered face while quickly shrouding himself in yellow aura.

"Hehe, you're not piercing this layer of dense mana, Ciara! I might have been mostly using earth spells since our fight started, but my specialty is Enhancement!"

His body became hard as stone, taking on a dark brown complexion as his shocked face turned into a reckless smile.

"Come!"

Everyone watched in anticipation, already concluding the end result of the match, but Sam and Serah knew otherwise. A hopeful smile formed on their face as they already knew who the winner would be.

Opening his arms wide, Jerry anticipated Ciara reaching him.

Once she did, he would tank whatever attacks she had planned, and then capture her in his arms before finishing her off. Of course, not literally.

Ciara's smile formed as she realized what Jerry was intending, and sped herself more using a wind enhancement.

'If you only respond to brute force... I'll show you!'

"[Iron Fist]. [Wind Layered Fist]. [Super Boost]. [Flame Fist]. [Maximum Potential]. [Hard Skin]."

Using six Tier 2 enhancements at once, Ciara charged toward her enemy with a devastating force.

"T-That's impossible... all at once?!" Jerry exclaimed.

However, the feat was occurring before his very eyes, so he could not dismiss it so easily. Though his body was not fast enough to follow through, his mind instinctively knew that he would not be able to handle what was coming!

'Ciara... you may not be a Tier 3... but you're the strongest Tier 2 I've ever seen!'

And with that, Jerry made his last statement, bracing himself for impact.

"I'm screwed!"

>BOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

The loud explosion caused an eruption of wind that swept through the area, easing dust everywhere. The people had to cover their eyes for a moment since dust blinded their eyes. However, as soon as the commotion began to settle, and their eyes opened, they saw an incredible sight before them.

A large dent had been made on the ground, rushing an entire ten-meter radius around both Ciara and Jerry. The hole was still steaming, and at the center stood the accused Tier 3, as well as the unconscious challenger she had.

Clearly, she was victorious!

"Huu, for real... this guy just had to push me to get serious!" Ciara mumbled to herself.

Yes, he was a jerk, and a stubborn one at that. Still, she couldn't help but feel a sense of respect for the guy. After all, he had fought her fair and square, and even at the last minute, he didn't ask for any assistance.

Looking around her, everyone appeared awed and some frightened.

'Good. With this, I've shown that I'm not a Tier 3, but I'm very formidable as a Tier 2!' She thought to herself, walking off from the battlefield

However... she couldn't be any more wrong.

"W-where do you think you're going?!" A loud voice suddenly rang in her ears, causing her to halt abruptly.

Ciara's eyes widened as she saw the rest of the thirty students all glaring at her with no intention to back down even after their leader had been defeated.

"What are you guys doing? Wasn't the deal just to defeat your representative? I already defeated Jerry, so why are you-"

"Shut up! When did we ever make such a promise to you? That was all Jerry's saying!" A disgruntled student bellowed, stepping forward.

Ciara recognized him instantly. He was the one who was acting dissatisfied a few moments ago but was forcefully silenced by Jerry.

'Was there some form of bad blood between the two of them?' She began to wonder.

If that was the case, with Jerry now out of the picture, she was prey to their more oppressive tendencies.

"Hehe, I'd like to see you run your mouth and display your arrogance again! Even though you won against Jerry, you must have used up a lot of your mana. I wonder how long you'll last against us!" The boy snickered.

His statements made the rest of the students burst out in malicious laughter. This wasn't looking too good for Ciara.

"Ciara!" Serah and Sam shouted, trying to reach their friend and escape together now that things had gone awry. However, it wasn't going to be so easy since there were more adversaries in the area.

"Shut it, small fry. We're not here for you!" Two of the Tier 2s barked at Ciara's friends, giving off a menacing vibe.

From their experience with Mia, they both knew that fighting one, talkless of two of a higher Tier was impossible for them.

"Hey! Stay away from them!" Ciara yelled.

Her loud voice attracted the attention of all of her assaulters as they turned toward her with a sadistic grin.

"Good. That's more like it! Hehehe..."

With their focus now turned on Ciara, she gulped and a bead of sweat appeared on her face. Was she going to be able to take on all of them with Tier 2 magic? Of course not!

Individually, they would be no match for her. But, they had her surrounded... and dragging out a battle such as that would only leave her exhausted and disadvantaged.

Suddenly, many flashes of yellow and white light radiated among the attacking students, indicating the activation of magic.

With so many, about 30 of them, Ciara knew she couldn't stop all of them. Was this the end?

In a few moments, their spells would be activated, and she would be served crushing defeat.

'No... this is unfair!' Her thoughts rang.

Why did she have to endure such hardship, all for the purpose of hiding her Tier? All she wanted was to live an enjoyable life, yet trash popped out of nowhere and started interfering with it.

'Unforgivable... Annoying...' Her thoughts trailed.

A sudden rush of anger began surging through her, and her earlier rationality became blurred.

"Try blocking or dodging this!" The annoying boy yelled, nearly completed with his chant, as well as many others.

Merely hearing his voice annoyed her greatly, and the expression of satisfaction he made enraged her.

"You're weak... so why are you so pleased with yourself for ganging up on me?"