As the last of the new adventures left, Kaspian and the other man finally stood up and began walking onto the field. Arthur took this as his cue, and stood up as Sylvie jumped down from Arthur's head and climbed onto Grawder's head for a better view. Everyone was quite surprised by that, especially since it seemed that Sylvie was giving him orders, as with a 'Kyu', Grawder moved from his laying position to sitting up straight.

"Good luck Arthur," Curtis said, bringing everyone back from the amusing sight. The rest of them wished Arthur luck as well as he continued to walk to the stairs. As Arthur left the group Lilia gave Tess a light kick to her back. When Tess looked back to see what Lilia wanted, Lilia puckered her lips and gestured to Arthur with her head, Tess' face was now a brighter red that Claire's hair as she realized what Lilia was telling her.

"Art wait," Tess called out just as Arthur arrived at the stairs. Arthur looked back just as Tess arrived, leaned in, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Good luck." Tess then quickly ran back to her seat, her face a shade of red one would not think possible.

Arthur stood there dazed for a second before Sylvie gave him a mental slap in the face. "Yes papa, mama kissed you, and you'll have plenty of time to return that kiss later. But right now you have a battle to win."

"Survive sylv. I don't need to win, just survive for ten minutes," Arthur replied as he regained his senses and continued down the steps.

"Fine, survive the battle, then kiss mama back," Sylvie teased, however this time Arthur didn't even acknowledge her.

Arthur walked down to the battlefield to see both of his opponents looking at him. Kaspian had a small smile on his face, either he was excited for the battle or was amused by the good luck kiss Arthur revived from Tess, Arthur wasn't sure. The other man retained the same cold expression, then released his killing intent. Arthur was taken back for a moment, as it was more intense than even his, however he quickly recovered from the initial shock and showed he could handle it. The young man with the clipboard however didn't fair as well and was cowering on the ground.

"Do you really want to do this kid? Your girlfriend might not like the state you leave this battle in," the man said in a cold almost intimidating tone.

Arthur took a battle stance and drew his sword as he released his own killing intent for his response. It wasn't quite as powerful as the other man's but it was enough to cause him to look at Arthur with a surprised expression, as no one would expect that powerful of an intent from someone so young. The young man with the clipboard then passed out as he pised his pants.

"I told you Arthur wouldn't back down Kingston," Kaspian said to the man now identified as Kingston as he drew he reiper.

Arthur now understood why Kingston didn't hide his core level and began to work a theory in his head. He wasn't showing off, he was doing it as a warning to avoid pointless battles. Kingston was clearly a veteran adventurer, and combined with his outward appearance and the power of his intent Arthur was able to get a fairly good idea of who this man was. He clearly had seen more than his fair share of carnage, and most likely lost someone in the process. He most likely didn't care for battling except against opponents who could handle him and he agreed with the purpose. Considering his view on Tess and Kathyln, and speaking against them going into A class, he saw ensuring Arthur was ready for AA class as a worthy purpose.

Kingston now took a battle stance several feet away from Kaspian.

"Claire," Kaspian called out. "It seems we will need someone new to time our battle. Would you please take the sand dial from his pocket and officiate our match?" Kaspian asked as he gestured to the passed out man.

"Yes Uncle," Claire replied as she used her wind magic to help her jump down to the field and land safely. As her feet hit the ground she couldn't help but stagger a bit from the overwhelming killing intent the three of them were putting off. Despite breaking out in a cold sweat and feeling a shortness of breath she endured and proceeded to do as she agreed. After pulling the young man out of harm's way she took a small hourglass out of his pocket. "Ready? Begin!" Claire announced as she began the timer.

Arthur and Kaspian dashed towards one another, their swords clashing as they met. Arthur was grateful that he had grown not only taller, but also stronger since the last time they battled. Kaspian still had the advantage in size and strength, but it was still easier for Arthur to keep up this time. Their swords would strike then they would back off and then repeat, all the while Kingston stood off to the side watching. Arthur couldn't understand what Kingston was waiting for, had he and Kaspian decided to take turns, or was there a plan in place that Arthur was not yet aware of. After not even a minute, while Kaspian's blade was coming in for another strike, Arthur's instincts told him to get away. Arthur ducked down and rolled under Kaspian's blade just as he felt a cold chill go down his back. Arthur jumped back up as he spun around to face his two opponents and could now see why Kingston didn't jump right into the battle. Kingston's body appeared to be covered in a suit of armor completely made of ice, and the spot where Arthur once stood now was a small sheet of ice.

Arthur knew now that the battle was truly going to be two on one, and was in no way going to be easy. The key to his survival now would be to save as many of his cards as possible so that he could use them at the most opertune moments to catch them off guard. Both opponents charged at Arthur, with Kaspian slightly ahead while Kingston charged in from behind, each of his steps freezing the ground underneath him. Arthur decided to follow suit and charge in at them, igniting his blade with fire mana. Arthur started by aiming for Kaspian, but quickly pivoted and changed his target to Kingston at the last second. Kingston pulled back to deliver a frozen punch, but Arthur managed to deflect it with his flaming sword. As he deflected the punch Arthur moved to Kingston's left and slashed at his side, then his back. Unfortunately for Arthur the ice was almost as hard as steel and little damage was done. The only reason any damage was done to the ice armor was because of the flames on the sword. Arthur bit down on his teeth in frustration as he then saw the damage to the armor repair itself, meaning chipping away at the armor was pointless, he had to do a lot of damage at once.

Arthur tried to come up with a plan to deal heavy damage at once, but he was broken from his thoughts by Kaspian using his wind bullets. Quickly Arthur dodged the first, and began dodging and deflecting every shot after, Kaspian's firing speed was even faster than the last time they fought. Arthur was ready for Kingston to join in, but was surprised to see he was standing a few feet away from Kaspian, and appeared to be meditating while on one knee. That was when Arthur realized the temperature was dropping rapidly, and knew now that Kingston was actually preparing an ice spell of some kind. Not knowing what kind of spell he had up his sleeve Arthur began working to close the distance between himself and Kaspian, so if nothing else he could use Kaspian as a shield to prevent Kingston from using his spell directly on him.

Arthur had managed to get only six feet away, he was almost within striking distance, but as he lunged in to attack, Kaspian jumped up into the air while assisted by his wind magic. Knowing what was happening next Arthur directed his attention to Kingston whose eyes were locked on him. Suddenly the ground beneath Kingston turned into a sheet of ice and was quickly spreading outward in every direction. Not knowing what would happen to himself if he got in the path of the ice as it was forming, Arthur used piston stamp to propel himself into the air and away from the ice. The ice covered about eighty percent of the field before it finally stopped, leaving only a ring around the outside edges of the field, but a larger area was on Kaspian's side.

Nearly five minutes had passed since this battle had begun, and Arthur could see that his opponents were dead set on pushing him to his limits. Kingston was standing back up taking slow deep breaths, showing this spell was a bit taxing even on him. Arthur saw Kaspian was preparing to begin his long range attacks again, as Kingston appeared to be carefully walking towards him on the ice. Arthur tried to step onto the ice but easily slipped, as it was perfectly slick.

"Ok so walking on the ice is out of the question, and by the looks of how Kingston is walking on it it's not easy for him either," Arthur thought to himself.

Kaspian then began rapidly firing his wind bullets causing Arthur to dodge and block in the limited space he was given, while Kingston continued to close the distance in a manner that reminded Arthur of horror movies from his previous life.

"Come on Arthur think! Kingstons going to arrive soon and battling close and long range is going to be near impossible with this limited space. I need to get access to the whole field, and use as little mana as possible," Arthur thought to himself as he continued to manage the wind bullets.

Just then Arthur deflected a shot and it hit the ice, knocking a chunk of the ice loose and onto the dirt by Arthur's feet. In that moment Arthur came up with an idea and deflected another wind bullet into the ice breaking off another chunk of ice. Arthur the sheathed is sword and picked up the two chunks of ice while still dodging. By using both fire and ice magic Arthur formed the ice into blades, then froze them onto his boots as he jumped into the air. As Arthur landed he stumbled a little bit, but it helped him dodge another wind bullet. As he stood back up he was a little wobbly as he never ice skated in his previous life. Kaspian had stopped attacking and Kingston stopped walking as they looked at Arthur in confusion, as ice skating didn't exist in this world.

Despite never ice skating Arthur understood the mechanics, so he was confident he could manage. Arthur leaned forward and began moving his legs and began moving forward. He then drew his sword and ignited it on fire as he used some wind magic to speed himself up. Soon he was racing towards Kingston, ready to attack. Kingston snapped out of his confusion and brought his arms up to a fighting position, and threw a left jab. Arthur ducked down as he stabbed his sword into the ice to make the sharp turn to get behind Kingston and slash his back with his flaming sword. Kaspian started with his wind bullets again, but it was much easier for Arthur to dodge them now with his increased speed and maneuverability.

Arthur began a pattern of attacking and dodging Kingston while also dodging Kaspian's wind bullets, because attacking Kaspian would be more difficult since he wasn't on the ice. As Arthur continued his attack he started to wonder if he had more time if he could actually defeat one of these two Adventurers. Kingston then took a knee as he placed both hands on the ice. While Arthur's friends believed that Arthur had worn him down, Arthur knew this was something else and began looking at the ice augmenter much more cautiously. Suddenly a spike of ice shot up from the ice, Arthur managed to weave around it, but another, then another shot up. Arthur now realized what Kingston was doing, he was using the ice as an extension of himself to launch attacks from below. Seeing as now the ice wasn't safe, Arthur started making his way back to the dirt as he worked on a counter move. Dodging attacks from both of Arthur's opponents became an act of futility, as the wind bullets were too difficult to dodge when he couldn't turn around to see the trajectory. This resulted in Arthur putting the clothes Tess got him to the test, and taking multiple wind bullets to his back while he did his best to avoid the ice spikes shooting out of the ice. The wind bullets were hitting a lot harder than the knife did last night, but considering they were supposed to have a similar effect as actual bullets Arthur was impressed. The clothing was acting similar to kevlar as it took the brunt of the force, leaving only enough force to leave a bruise.

Deciding they weren't going to let Arthur leave the ice, Kingston created a spiked wall to stop him. However as Arthur approached the wall he stomped down with his right foot, and a stone pillar shot up out of the ground underneath him sending Arthur up into the air and over the spiked wall. As Arthur flew he looked down and saw the ice around where his pillar came up and had an idea. Once landing Arthur began channeling earth, fire, and wind mana into his sword as he dodged Kaspian's wind bullets and ice shards Kingston was sending his way with every punch.

Once Arthur has channeled a sufficient amount of mana into his sword he ran forward while using internal lightning magic for extra speed. Once he hit the ice he continued sliding until he reached close enough to the middle of the field and thrust his blade into the ice, and released the mana inside. First came the earth mana which shook the ground and cracked the ice. Then a split second later, traveling behind the crack, flames burst out along with wind to help them spread. Kaspian quickly created a barrier of wind around himself as Kingston solidified his ice armor as he also sealed it over his face, even Claire was forced to create a wind barrier around herself as well as the man who was supposed to officiate the battle, as the whole battle field became engulfed in a fiery tornado.

The attack only lasted a few seconds, but after it dissipated steam from the melted ice rose, with only a few small patches of ice remaining. Arthur was breathing heavily as he leaned on his sword that was now sticking into the ground. Kaspian ended his wind barrier and examined the battlefield, which was now more like a puddle of mud than a usable field. Kaspian saw Kingston as he started to stand up, his body was steaming as portions of his ice armor had melted away, and on Kingston's face was a small smile. It was rare for Kingston to smile, but Kaspian could understand why since he was too, since the two of them were locked in battle against the young man who would one day rise to become the pinnacle of all mages.

As soon as Arthur completed his attack he quickly began using mana rotation to try and replenish as much of his mana possible before the battle continued. However this time was short lived, as shortly after standing up Kingston re-enforced the ice on his fists up to his elbows as he started charging in to continue the battle. Arthur drew his blade from the mudd and used his internal lightning magic to move in quickly to meet Kingston. Arthur had long since lost his perception of how much time had passed while he lost himself in the battle against these two powerful opponents. The only thing he was preceaving now was this battle and the excitement he was feeling.

As Arthur closed the distance between himself and Kingston, Kaspian began to run in as well. As Kaspian ran he saw Arthur jump up to drop kick Kingston as he raised his arms in front of himself to block. Almost instantly Kaspian realized Arthur's plan.

"KING DODGE!" Kaspian yelled, but it was too late. At the very instant Arthur's boots hit Kingston's forearms, he used piston stamp. The force the fiery spell not only shattered and melted the ice on Kingston's arms, but also forced his fists into his face and sent him tumbling onto his back.

Kaspian arrived thrusting his blade at Arthur, who managed to deflect the attack and then jump back. The two then began clashing while using wind and fire respectively on their swords. Soon Arthur heard the sloshing of the mudd from a few feet away, and knew Kingston had recovered and was coming in to attack. Arthur sidestepped one of Kaspian's attacks as he dropped his sword, and grabbed his sword arm with both hands. Then as he spun around putting his back to Kaspian he pulled and flung him over his shoulder. Kaspian hit the ground and rolled a few feet in the mud before stopping.

Meanwhile Arthur had picked his sword back up just in time to block a punch from Kingston, who had a smile on his face as well as a trickle of blood coming from his nose. The two began clashing without using any elemental magic, only their weapons. Arthur pulled out his scabbard to help block some of Kingston's attacks. As the two tried and failed to land a hit, Kaspian stood back up, and was about to join in when he realized this battle had been going on for well over ten minutes. He looked over to Claire to see her eyes wide and fixated on the clash between Arthur and Kingston, and the sand dial in her hand, with all the sand in the bottom.

"Claire!" Kaspian yelled, snapping her out of her trance like state. Claire looked over to her uncle to see an intense look on his face, then looked down at the sand dial.

"Release!" Claire yelled as she realized the time was up.

Arthur and Kingston both stopped, Arthur's scabbard was pushing away at Kingston's right fist, while Kingston had his left arm up blocking Arthur's sword. They both withdrew their attacks and stood there breathing heavily, a smile on both of their faces.

"Congratulations Arthur, you've successfully advanced to an AA class adventurer," Kaspian congratulated as he walked to Arthur.