Argir and Rusning were facing each other on the arena, this was five vs five match, I guess it will be much better than my match, it's after all five mages vs five warriors.
This match will be dangerous many healers stood near to the arena, even Sybille Stentor herself stood next to the arena, I was also invited to set near to the arena if my help was needed.
Few mages and monks from Solitude rounded the arena with Sybille and casted a barrier spell, there were no barriers in the game but in real life it's actually a giant ward spell. I can do that to as the manipulation of ward spells was easy, yet as the size of the ward grows the more the harder it gets to defend with it so more caster were needed. It can also be applied by installing some soul gems with the right amount of power, this technique appeared in game as traps in various locations in Skyrim, it is a bit complicated but it's like installing a program, you need to cast a certain rune spell and install and install a soul gem on it.
Wards are anti-magic barrier they can stop magic perfectly as long as they overpower the magic they are against.
All this meant that team 'Arcana Wisdom' can go all out to their as they wished.
I sat and watched closely, Argir and his teammates appeared as if they were knights with their expensive looking armors and their matching appearance.
Rusning's team was mages, they will have a hard time facing the rush of the warriors, or so that appeared, I already could see confidence on their faces, these guys have already cooked something for today.
Five stood facing five, the mages took their distance and prepared spells, the warriors unsheathed their swords as they all used longswords in this fight.
The tension of the crowd was at its max, the judge gave the instructions as usual and ran like a rabbit.
I could feel Rusning already using magic, he was charging his spell and already aiming for a big move from the start, the other mages on Rusning team were also charging spells.
Just as the judge shouted "Fight!" Rusning and Argir shouted.
"Summon!" "Disperse!"
Four 'Frost Atronachs' appeared, they were clearly dual-casted as the Magicka bounding them felt like that.
Not only that! Rusning was not making a summon, he was making two Adept level casts of the same spell on each hand, as he unleashed the spells, they were two big 'Ice Storm' spells, he must have invested a lot of Magicka on these.
The warriors ran to every corner as there were afraid from a spell that does and area damage, smart move, but it was only two spells, now you have to deal with the summons.
Four 'Frost Atronachs' are a pain to deal with. 'Frost Atronachs' are large, hulking Daedra that deals melee damage, it's not that fast but it's very solid, On of its arms are pointy and the other is blunt.
The four started to chase. As for the five warriors, the best way to deal with these creatures was to use silver, elven, glass or enchanted weapons.
Sure enough, 'Golden Swords' team had already their swords enchanted for this kind of situation.
They started to fend against the Atronachs while trying to stay out of the mages sight, yet the mages were already making 'Stoneskin' Spells and moving to the next phase systematically.
I was nodding to how they worked, they were very organized, they also sometimes waited for their Magicka to regenerate.
As there were four Atronachs and five warriors one was able to break free.
A warrior from Argir's team ran with a smile on his face, he was shouting "Got you!" while attacking one of the mages.
The mage was the girl named Jolma or how I rather call her, machine-gun Jolma. This girl can fire spells like crazy.
Once this warrior broke into run, Argir was shouting for him to come back and as he was reaching Jolma, the girl grinned and pointed her hand at him and the tragedy began.
'Ice Spike' spells were spammed like crazy, even I started to be afraid, I can block that amount but if I was hit by it my survival will be questionable.
This poor boy at his fill of 'Ice Spikes', they were not aimed at fatal spots and his armor has anti-magic enchantment so he was fine... probably!
He hit the ground and was announced out, someone sneaked into the arena and dragged him out.
"Cast 'Freeze', don't let the atronachs stray far, Holman, you heal the damaged atronachs." Rusning was giving orders and his team was moving perfectly under his lead.
Argir was depressed after a member of his team fell, he was thinking how to win this tight situation.
"These things are slow, draw them back and the mages will lose their cover." Argir started giving orders too, "Destroy them on by one, and don't let the mages fire a spell on you when you are in one place."
Argir and Rusning made strategies and moved accordingly, the team reached a point where the two were on equal terms even with the warriors being short in number.
Ordinary people might think they were on equal terms, but truth is that the warriors were under a lot of stress. The Ice Element was the bane of warriors, also there opponents increased from five to nine, and they became four and were being pushed back slowly.
"Buy me some time!" Argir shouted and retreated back, he then ran and went past the siege of atronachs, he ran with nimble steps and readied his sword.
He was met with a barrage of spells but he was Argir of the golden swords, he jumped left and right and avoided whatever was thrown at him, he approached one of the boy mages with the speed of a ghost and slashed at him.
The 'Stoneskin protection offered a nice layer of armor and could stop the slash but the enchantment on the sword made some magical damage, yet mages were used to that, what they were not used for was brutal physical damage as the mage was carried and thrown down with all Argir's weight on top of him.
Argir went up fast and tried to attack another mage but he didn't notice what he stepped on and was blown away by an 'Ice Rune'.
As that was done, he rolled on the ground with pain expression on his face, he could feel a bad promotion if he stayed on the ground so he jumped back like a rabbit enduring the pain and running back behind his team.
He panted and looked at the mage he put down, he was being carried away and one of the atronachs were unsummoned.
Now as the pressure lessened down, the warriors tried to take back momentum but fate was mocking them.
One of the warriors was hit by a 'Freeze' spell, a spell that can do magic over time and slow down the opponent.
He was indeed slowed down and couldn't fend against the atronach he was fighting and was blown away. Mercy knew no address for him as he was struck again by an 'Ice Spike' spell and couldn't stand from pain.
Another warrior has fallen. The mages started to tighten their defense as they were expecting a similar counterattack.
The attack did come, as the warriors could finally destroy an atronach and made a fast charge against the mages.
This was a good charge yet another warrior fell during the barrage of spells that met them. That now left Argir and another warrior.
Argir could finally close once again and he used many dodging moves to reach this annoying machine-gun girl, he hit her with the pommel of his sword on the head and she went unconscious.
Now two warriors against three mages and one atronach.
Argir's teammate used himself as a shield to block the atronach and let Argir run past it to face three mages on his own.
His first target was a girl and a boy who stood close, Suddenly they summoned bound weapons and met with him head-on.
"Aren't you mages?" Argir was taken aback but the answer made him smile.
The boy and the girl shouted, "We are Nords." as they attacked him.
Argir passed from their bound weapon easily as they were not bad at using them but his level of combat was just too good.
As he dodged them, he held his long sword from the blade and used the handle as blunt weapon hitting both the boy and girl on the head, they fell to his blows and the last 'Frost Atronach' also fell. Yet to his disappointment his teammate was also lying on the ground, now he was completely with no backup.
He turned to the last enemy and tried to rush at him but he was met with two hands casting two cold spells of 'Frostbite' Spell, this spell was a stream of coldness.
Argir was affected by his fatigue and the Ice Element that attacked his stamina, he could hardly make any moves now, he only depended on his will-power and tried to move forward.
One of the spells was taken back but another one came after it, it was 'Sparks' spell, now he was being attacked by two spells from Ice and Lightning elements and he could barely stand, yet he persisted and leaned on his sword.
Another time, the sparks spell was stopped and switched from lightning to fire but the 'Frostbite' was reinforced with more Magicka, few seconds it stopped.
Argir looked to see what happened but he could see a big ball of fire coming at him, he reflexively carried his sword with two hands and slashed at it.
As the swords and spell met each other the spell exploded, this was a 'Fireball' spell, it launched Argir away and threw him to the ground a bit far away.
Rusning, on the other hand, looked pale and exhausted, the crowd who never cheered in this match even once due to the enthusiasm still was shocked by the performance that was just too good.
My show down just a while ago was nothing compared to this hype.
Rusning couldn't stand anymore and fell on the ground, he was too tired as he already used most of his Magicka, I couldn't help myself but to stand up and start clapping.
My clapping woke the crowd up and they also clapped and cheered.
Now it's settled, it will be my team against team 'Aracana Wisdom', I have to be ready for tomorrow.
Team 'Arcana Wisdom' was now in the finals with our team 'White Wolves', if you told anyone before this tournament that the teams which will be on the top two in the team duels would be a team from the College of Winterhold and another unsponsored team, they would beat you black an blue.
The fact that the college is hateful is still true in the eyes of many, but they may have changed their opinions about these five Nord young mages.
Yet that last match was just too good, the power of the warriors especially Argir's last maneuver, and the spells that Rusning cast along side his wise leadership, all that but mages into a new light.
Many people were looking at me for god knows what reason, I already made a counter plan to whatever the college brings on stage tomorrow, I wouldn't be as arrogant as saying they have no trump card left after this match, I think they did just like I did, they should left at least something big for tomorrow.
I have that thing that I trained myself with in secret for few months before I leave Riften, only Nurina knew of it and she helped me to train it in secret, this secret is going out tomorrow.
As the mages put down the ward barrier, healer rushed in like crazy, they also carried stamina potions.
After a while, Rusning and Argir stood up and greeted each other, then were taken to the VIP seats as the big shots wanted to have a look at them.
As they got down from they VIP, I was not far and we could see each other.
"Nice fight you two." I greeted.
"Thank you." Argir said politely.
"Thank you, but I'm afraid you're going to have more than that tomorrow?" Rusning said making himself look confidant.
We three stood and trash-talked on the side, Viarmo announced the end of today's events and the time of tomorrow's events, as well as the last event the day after tomorrow, which will be held just before the Champions Ceremony.
He also announced a funeral ceremony will be held tonight for a member of team 'Black Snow' that met a tragic death two days ago.
The ceremony will be held in front of the Temple of Gods.
"We are going!" I said.
"Sure I'll be there if my sis... ehem, if they needed anything." Argir said.
"W, W, W, What? You are going?" Rusning was nervous.
I looked at him and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Yet he looked at me with disdainful eyes. Come on, attending Sibbi's funeral was one of my dreams.
Let's just get over with it.