Seeing Joras rush towards him right off the bat and readying for a big swing, Marcus realized he could not block or dodge on time. So, he followed the only course of action he had, attack.
Quickly using his mana body and speed burst skills Marcus shoot forward intercepting the branch master.
Surprised by his sudden burst of speed and decisiveness Joras had to change his stance and swing his mace with less force.
As the two weapons collided there was a bright flash of green light as both Marcus and Joras were pushed back several feet.
'Damn even though I had more momentum than, him his attack was still stronger than mine. Part of it is because he has a higher strength stat, but the main reason is his weapon, it conducts mana far better than mine making each of his attacks that much stronger.'
Joras then stared at Marcus with an impressed look before saying, "I am amazed that you are still standing, most people in your shoes would have been taken out by my first attack. It seems I misjudged you, but now I think it is time I get serious, try not to go down to soon."
Luckily for Marcus while Joras had decided to monologue he had been casting spells and had finished chanting lightning strider, iron skin, and iron sphere.
Marcus sent his iron sphere straight towards Joras while he followed right behind ready to attack in tandem. Unfortunately, Joras simply swatted the iron sphere away with his mace and stepped in close to Marcus and delivered a swift punch.
Feeling the powerful impact on his gut Marcus was pushed back and there was now an imprint of Joras' fist in his iron skin.
Joras not letting up came swinging in with his mace and Marcus had to use his speed burst, only dodging by a hair's breadth.
However, this left Marcus of balance and Joras followed quickly with his own speed burst. Except right before he was about deliver a powerful blow to Marcus, he stopped and swung his mace to the left blocking Marcus' iron sphere that was coming in for a sneak attack.
Not willing to let this chance go by Marcus just managed to finish chanting another spell and as he spun his arm around rings of lightning flew towards Joras.
Seeing the oncoming threat Joras raised his mace above his head and infused it with a massive amount of mana before brining it down onto the lightning rings.
When the mana infused weapon impacted the lightning bind spell the two canceled each other out.
Dumbfounded Marcus stared at Joras with a look of disbelief.
'Did he really just hit a magic spell out of existence.'
'This kid is not bad, that was the tier three lightning magic spell, but let me see if he can take them as well as he can use them.'
Chanting a quick spell Joras threw his left hand onto the ground causing numerous spikes made of earth to spring up and move towards Marcus.
Caught of guard by the sudden rush of earth spikes Marcus jumped into the air since it was his only means of escape.
'Got you.'
After chanting another spell Joras sent a pillar of stone directly towards Marcus who was suspended in midair.
With only one way out Marcus summoned his spectral hand under him and used it to jump up barely missing the pillar of stone.
Catching Joras completely off-guard Marcus was able to get off another spell and launched a lightning javelin right at his face.
With the impending danger coming right for his face Joras flexibly brought his mace up to block and the four-foot-long bolt of lightning bounced off the mana infused mithril.
This did however give Marcus enough time to land back on the ground and start chanting his next spell.
Noticing that Marcus had started a long chant Joras rushed towards him trying to interrupt the spell.
Fighting him off with the use of his spectral hand, iron sphere and scythe Marcus was able to buy enough time and finished the chant.
A large eleven-foot-tall iron golem then appeared, and Marcus immediately ordered it to attack.
'Tier four spells certainly are a pain to chant but, now that I have my iron golem out, I think I can win.'
Working in tandem with his iron golem Marcus would attack fast with scythe slashes and fire shots since it was the fastest spell he could chant, while his golem would let loose powerful blows that had to be blocked of dodged.
Noticing his disadvantage situation Joras began chanting a spell and Marcus danger sense started blaring. Attacking as ferociously as he could Marcus did not want to allow the branch master to finish his spell since from its length it was obviously at least tier four.
By some miracle Marcus managed to create an opening with the combination of his spells and spectral arm allowing him to deliver a gash onto the branch managers torso.
Unfortunately, being a man who had fought hundreds of tough battles a wound at that level was not enough to break his concentration and he brought back his mace as he completed the spell.
'Titan Blow'
As Joras swung his mace forward towards Marcus a huge mass of earth that dwarfed Marcus' iron golem coalesced around it. When the mass of earth was about to impact Marcus his iron golem stepped in front of him and took the brunt of the blow.
The iron golem then crumpled like foil under the force of the attack and Marcus who was right behind it was also blown away.
Impacting deep into the wall behind him Marcus felt a rush of dull pain and could tell he had received series injuries.
'Fuck I cannot move my left leg; I did not expect that he had such a devastating attack, and that could have easily killed a normal person.'
Looking down Marcus noticed his iron golem looked like it had been through a car compacter and Joras was slowly approaching him.
When Joras stopped in front of Marcus who was imbedded into the train hall's wall he said, "That was a good fight kid here take this and heal up."
Taking two blue potions out of his bag Joras threw one to Marcus and drank the other himself.
Marcus watched as the branch master's wound closed up almost instantly and then downed the potion he had been given.
He felt a sudden warm feeling and could tell that the internal injuries he had sustained were quickly healing.
Once he had pulled himself out of the wall Joras said, "I am really impressed you are the first person in a long time to put a scratch on me and I even had to use my tier four earth spell to win. I take back what I said earlier about you being a noble brat, you have what it takes. With your skill and level, I would say you are at least silver rank. Come with me and we can iron out the details of you joining the adventures guild.
With the fight concluded and Marcus having won the approval of the branch master, he followed Joras out of the training hall and to his office ready to receive his new rank.