Chapter 10: Chapter 10. Dueling arc
A talentless individual who had not yet mastered the 3rd Circle was facing off against someone from a prominent family who had almost made it to the Fourth Circle. The balance was clearly in favor of the latter, but did anyone care? Most did not, they were just waiting for the show, and judging by their anticipation, it could be as interesting as Fort Boyard. But there were those for whom this situation was strange, or rather, the reaction of that same talentless person, Ryan Romano, was too calm and confident.
Professor Vince was closely watching me, trying to understand my true strength. As a mage, like any other representative of the supernatural world, he could feel the strength of another person, and the stronger you were, the more accurate this feeling would be.
I even studied magic to suppress magical power, so that others couldn't feel my increased strength.
"...Both of you, begin as soon as you are ready," Professor Vince said after a few seconds of silence, standing equidistant between us.
The coin flew into the air... heads, tails, heads, tails... with a ringing echo, it struck the stone floor a couple of times before stopping on heads. And that meant Emmanuel was attacking first! Even his name, given to him by his powerful mage parents, is pretentious: 'God is with us'... how proud!"
Credit where credit is due, as the offspring of a noble family of mages, he knew the rules and peculiarities of magical duels better than anyone else, so without wasting time, he moved in for the attack.
"Lightning Strike!"
A purple magical circle formed around Emmanuel's palm.
After just over a second, a bluish lightning bolt shot out of his hand and headed straight for me at an alarming speed. Lightning was the best element in real combat against humans. And although the efficiency and power of Emmanuel's [Lightning Strike] was still at the level of a student, the expected damage was supposed to be quite noticeable.
It brings back memories...
The spell Lightning Strike was practical and brilliant, but its power was limited by speed and destructiveness. Its overall effectiveness was not particularly high, and if the other side didn't delay with their defense, it could be easily blocked. And so...
"Deflexio, Disk."
In front of me, a circular wall of magical energy formed.
[Deflexio] is a complex of defensive structures that protects a mage's body from various influences and depends on the mage's strength and skill. It is the only spell of its kind that does not require the use of a magic circle. Only good control of magical energy and an understanding of defensive magic are necessary to create an appropriate shield.
The lightning flashed, striking the semi-transparent circular barrier, and then lost its momentum and disappeared.
Since you decided to measure your magical strength with lightning, let it be so. I decided and, smiling, extended my hand.
"Lightning Arrows."
There were no signs of magical activation, except for a slight fluctuation of magical energy. And in the next moment, a loud whistle rang out in the arena, and several blurred blue spots flew in the direction of my opponent.
"Shield!"
Emmanuel instinctively tried to put up a shield in front of himself.
However, can a 3rd Circle mage defend against the legendary [Sagitta Magica]? Of course not! Even inquisitors and exorcists who have undergone special training cannot react to the Thousand Master's magical arrows. And although I am far from the level of the Thousand Master, I can certainly defeat a 3rd Circle mage.
*Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!*
An unpleasant hissing sound indicated the impact of at least three lightning arrows on the opponent. With a magical shield raised in front of him and an expression of undisguised shock on his face, Emmanuel couldn't even move.
In order not to kill this self-satisfied bastard, I deliberately reduced the power of my spell, which only paralyzed the opponent for a short time. Otherwise... death.
The first round is mine. And although it was an expected result for me, the same cannot be said for the people who were watching our duel. It was a spectrum of the most paradoxical emotions: shock, disbelief, incomprehension, and for some, even fear or admiration.
"Khek… What was that?" Emmanuel hissed through his pain.
I clearly underestimated the power of a mage at the peak of the 3rd Circle, since he was able to recover so quickly from the paralysis effect. Well, in any case, it will be worse for him.
"Attack."
"You… How dare you?!"
This guy is really angry, and all it took was a simple command... he's a real dog! Probably a Corgi. My thoughts were interrupted by magical fluctuations from Emmanuel's side.
"Fireball!"
A yellow magical circle began to descend from his forearm and along his arm to his palm.
The guy clearly became alarmed, refusing to understand why the first round went worse for him than for me, and poured so much magical power into this spell that he almost reached his limit. It was a 3rd Circle magical attack, Fireball. And since Emmanuel's magical power was close to the 4th Circle, the efficiency of this spell was three to four times higher than that of an ordinary 3rd Circle mage.
"It's not wise to take this attack head-on, because a mage should also use his brain. After all, this class is very suitable for calculating players with good intelligence..."
Dozens of magical formulas were constantly mixing in my mind until I chose the one that best matched the given conditions.
"Deflexio, Klin."
The shield that appeared in front of me was in the shape of a pyramid directed towards the enemy's attack. It had an incredibly dense texture, and if you looked closely, its insides were filled with a hexagonal lattice. At the same time, an enormous Fireball flew out of Emmanuel's hand at an incredible speed. If the attack wasn't aimed at a force barrier, everything within a radius of three meters would have been destroyed!
In other words, it was a collision of strength and technique.
And the technician won.
"What?!" exclaimed Emmanuel in disbelief.
Fireball - a burning piece of oil... at least that's what I call it. This spell is simple, destructive, and fast, but incredibly soft at its core. Because of this, the [Wind Blade] spell can slice it in half... The oxygen that accompanies this spell increases the explosive power of the fireball. But my shield doesn't have such a side effect. So as soon as the fireball hit the pyramidal shield, it immediately lost its shape, dispersing to its edges and leaving long fiery trails behind.
It was a beautiful defense that even Professor Vince admired. And if the author [Deflexio] were here, he would surely nod approvingly. However, they didn't have long to admire my beauty because I attacked again.
"Fire magic means... Damn, now I feel like a bully beating up a junior student."
"Fire Arrows."
Again, there were no signs of magic activation, except for the stronger vibration of magical power.
"Shield!"
But this time, Emmanuel had already set up a shield in advance, which was much thicker than usual and had a denser texture. This guy was so confident in his invincibility that he grinned predatorily.
Indeed, if it were [Lightning Arrows], the guy could have defended himself, after all, the main strength of that spell was its speed and surprise. But [Fire Arrows]... You had to be stupid to think that it was the same spell.
Less than a second later, 12 fiery arrows formed one by one and flew forward.
The strength and drawback of spells based on magical arrows was that they poured onto the opponent in an absolutely uncontrollable flow, albeit within a certain range, like a real attack of archers in an army. However, would [Sagitta Magica] have such a drawback? Of course not!
*Phew-phew-phew*
Instead of flying in a completely chaotic order, they all focused on one point.
"What the hell is happening..."
But who allowed him to swear?! That's right, no one! And so, in the next moment, the perfect shield was destroyed, and the shockwave threw Emmanuel's body several meters away. If Professor Vince hadn't managed to reduce its impact, the guy could have suffered a serious injury.
There was a grave silence. No one knew how to react to such an unexpected turn of events. Most people looked at me with surprise and confusion. If my victory in the first round could be attributed to luck and the opponent's carelessness, the second round showed my complete superiority in combat magic.
Starting with a special and, as it turned out, effective form of the shield, ending with not at all simple [Fire Arrows]. And to top it all off, Emmanuel simply didn't have the ability to recognize the changes that had occurred in the spell. Adding rotation and acceleration to the arrows...such a simple, but so ingenious way to strengthen the spell.
In essence, three spells were sublimated in one [Sagitta Magica - Fire Arrows]: the original [Fire Arrows], [Axial Rotation], and [Kinetic Acceleration]. This was proof of a clear difference in skills. A member of the Tjouze family was defeated by a talentless and unsuccessful person!
"This magic...how can it be?!" Professor Vince turned to me in shock. The students who witnessed this shocking spectacle couldn't help but scream.
"Is this a dream? Isn't it? How did he defeat the son of the Tjouze family?"
"He really won! He beat this idiot in combat magic!"
"What the hell happened there?"
There was a commotion in the stadium. It was difficult to comprehend that Emmanuel Laz Tjouze, one of the best students this year, suffered a defeat. But the even more unpleasant fact was that the person who had the upper hand was me, Ryan Romano.
***
At the same time, in the stands.
"How interesting magic..." Rossweisse's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"I knew a man who invented it," a rough voice sounded beside Rossweisse. "And I'm incredibly surprised to see this magic again... Especially performed by this child."
Turning towards the voice, Valkyrie saw a middle-aged man with a very distinctive appearance. He had red and blue hair styled with gel, and his eyes were naturally heterochromatic, with the right eye being red and the left one blue. But despite this, the man looked more fierce than elegant or gentle.
"Mephisto-sama!" Rossweisse bowed slightly. "If you're here, then that means Lord Odin..."
"That old man ran away as soon as the meeting was over," Mephisto sympathetically looked at the Valkyrie. "I sincerely sympathize with your headache."
"Lord Odin is not that bad..." however, the Valkyrie did not finish her sentence, realizing that she did not know how to justify her Lord.
"That's right. I'm not that bad," the voice of the old man sounded from the upper row of the stands.
"Lord Odin!" everyone present, including Rossweisse and Mephisto, bowed to this God.
Odin looked like an ordinary old man with long gray hair and beard. He had a monocle with a gold frame on his left eye, and he held a cane in his hand.
"Yes, yes, yes. Nice to meet you too," Odin smiled, turning his gaze to the arena. "But if I were you, I would be looking at something much more interesting."
In response to his words, at that moment, mana on the arena was greatly stirred, followed by a cry:
"No! No! No! It's not over yet, nothing is finished! I haven't given up yet!"
Madly shouting, spitting saliva, Emmanuel uncertainly rose. His gaze wildly darted from side to side, noticing the mocking and joyful faces of the students. The mind of the son of the Tueze family was flooded with emotions beyond his control, and along with them, his magical power, which fully revealed his wounded pride and shaken spirit, also got out of control.
Looking at Emmanuel Tueze now, one involuntarily recalls Buffon's words: "Of all the wild beasts, a wild man is the most frightening animal."
Humiliation, pain, anger, shame... the desire for revenge!!!
*****
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