Half Ogre Conspiracy, I am unsatified.

Perhaps option #1, perhaps option #2, perhaps even a combination of both, with the fireball both following a curved line of magical flow while at the same time magic energy would be sucked out of the fireball and travel along the lines of the magical flow, either invisibly of by creating an effect similar to a comet tail. The last option would surely be the most picturesque one.

I'd say you're confusing mages ans sourcerers.

Magic indeed bends and breaks the laws of nature and - as shupbeav pointed out - if that would not be so, there would be no reason for magic and technology to screw up in the vicinity of each other. Magic has no limits, mages on the other hands do, seeing how they are limited physical entities getting tired because of concentrating and using magic.

You need WP 6, 5 (+ 1 per 10 seconds) fatigue points and lvl 1 to transform the matter of your hands into a harder one. You need WP 18, 30 (+ 5 per 10 seconds) fatigue points and lvl 15 to transform a creature into a sheep. You will never have enough WP, fatigue points and lvl to transform the sun into cheese, because you are a limited organism. Magic can change the sun into cheese, but a mage cannot.