Rowen assessed the atmosphere in the training room with a smile on his face.
‘Cain Sears… How unexpected.’
Cain and Bolio were standing their ground without backing down an inch, both wielding fire magic in their hands.
In that case, the situation was clear as day.
‘Bolio, who usually saw direct disciples as a thorn in his side, must have picked a fight, and Cain responded to it.’
Rowen had expected that Bolio would cause trouble.
And despite anticipating this, he hadn’t come to the training room early to mediate.
The Sears family generally followed a laissez-faire approach, and how one dealt with such situations was also part of a disciple’s evaluation.
However, even Rowen hadn’t expected Cain to accept a duel so boldly.
‘Bolio is more excited than I imagined. If things had gone as I thought, it would have ended with at most a light scuffle.’
Bolio had been receiving education on the second floor for over a year and had reached the proficient stage of the 2nd Circle. Rowen never thought he would go as far as to challenge Cain, who had just entered the second floor, to a duel.
And then, he heard murmuring from around him.
“Oh, the instructor is here.”
“Looks like he’s going to let them duel as is.”
“By the way, I never thought Cain would be the one to challenge first.”
“Me neither.”
Rowen’s eyebrows rose upon hearing those words.
‘Oh ho. Cain was the one who challenged first?’
Rowen grinned.
‘This is going to be more interesting than I thought.’
Shortly after, under Rowen’s supervision, everyone in the training room gathered at the dueling ground.
“They’re really going to do it…”
“Of course. They formally challenged each other using Fire magic.”
“But what kind of confidence does Cain have to act like that?”
“Isn’t Anyas the only one who’s ever beaten Bolio in a duel?”
“He must be out of his mind.”
The disciples who gathered at the dueling ground naturally surrounded the dueling field prepared in the center.
Cain and Bolio pushed through them and headed to the center.
“Hey, sorry… because of us…”
“Cain, are you really okay…?”
Ed and Fon seemed to think Cain would suffer because of them, and spoke to Cain carefully, fidgeting with worry.
“Don’t worry.”
Cain left only those words and stepped onto the field.
Ed and Fon looked at each other and whispered.
“…Don’t worry?”
“Why did his way of speaking change like that?”
“I know…”
“Still, seeing how confident he is, maybe he has some plan? When we offered to teach him magic, he rejected everything, but in the end he learned it all by himself.”
“Th-that’s true.”
Ed and Fon had tried to teach magic to Cain, who couldn’t learn magic, several times. But each time, Cain pretended not to hear and fled to the personal training room.
Recently, they had even gotten a bit angry out of frustration, but suddenly one day he caught a snow leopard and demonstrated 2nd Circle magic in front of everyone, immediately gaining admission to the second floor.
‘Since the duel has been decided, there’s nothing we can do…’
‘Now that it’s come to this, just win…!’
The two clenched their fists and looked at Cain and Bolio standing face to face in the center.
“Are you both ready?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Rowen came to the center and attached small brooches to both of their clothes.
The brooches were artifacts created to protect each other’s bodies during duels, infused with Rowen’s mana.
While Rowen would stop the duel when victory was decided, it was a safety device to prevent irreversible damage to the body.
As Rowen stepped back, only silence filled the dueling ground.
And soon, Rowen’s voice announcing the start echoed through the dueling ground.
“Begin the duel.”
The moment it started, mana swirled out from both Cain and Bolio’s hearts.
Whoosh.
“It would be better to forfeit even now.”
At Bolio’s words, Cain tilted his head.
“Why would the person who’s going to win forfeit?”
“Grrr…!”
Bolio gritted his teeth at the genuinely clueless and irritating tone.
Actually, Bolio hadn’t intended to make such a big deal out of this either.
But since Cain had used Fire magic first, backing down from there was impossible.
‘I’ll end this in one go.’
With that thought, Bolio stretched his hand forward.
“Fire Ball.”
Then a large fireball appeared in front of Bolio.
“Wow…”
“Why is the Fire Ball so big?”
“Where does that kind of power come from…”
“Is it from his belly fat?”
But it wasn’t over yet.
The Fire Ball, almost the size of a human torso, multiplied like it was reproducing and spread around Bolio.
Bolio grinned.
‘I’ll make you regret not keeping me in check until now.’
Bolio’s strength was overwhelming firepower based on his abundant mana reserves.
It took a little time to warm up, but once he deployed magic to his heart’s content like this, no one within the same circle was his match.
From now on, whatever strong magic Cain used, it would be greedily devoured by his Fire Balls.
“Haaaah!”
With Bolio’s battle cry, seven large Fire Balls flew toward Cain all at once.
Fire Balls that nearly filled the field.
There was no space to dodge.
“Fire Needle.”
And then, a very concise incantation rang out.
Crackle.
Exactly seven small Fire Needles appeared above Cain’s hand.
“Ha!”
Bolio snorted.
“You think 2nd Circle magic can penetrate my Fire Balls?!”
Basically, higher circle magic has more complex mechanisms and stronger power.
‘But that’s only when the amount of mana contained is equal.’
Even lower circle magic could have vastly different power depending on who cast it and how.
Bolio had always shown overwhelming firepower with any magic he used, based on his talent of abundant mana and fast mana circulation.
Whoosh.
Cain’s Fire Needles flew toward each Fire Ball.
‘Stupid kid.’
The best option for Cain now would have been to somehow pierce through one Fire Ball with multiple Fire Needles and aim for at least a draw.
But firing them one by one like that, Bolio’s Fire Balls would greedily devour the Fire Needles.
Whoosh!
The moment the Fire Needles and Fire Balls met in the air, Bolio was certain of victory.
However, at that moment, the fireball touched by the needle tip suddenly distorted strangely and then scattered in the air like a popped balloon.
“Wh-what!”
Bolio’s eyes widened.
But there was no time to be surprised.
All seven Fire Balls lost their power at once and burst, while the Fire Needles flew toward Bolio all together.
“Fire Ball!”
Bolio explosively drew out his magic power and created a very large Fire Ball like a cushion in front of himself.
Pop pop pop!
The Fire Needles stuck in the fireball tried to charge straight toward Bolio.
“Grrr!”
Bolio continued to pour in mana and blocked the Fire Needles with all his might.
And when the friction between the two magics reached its limit.
Bang!
A small explosion occurred and Bolio’s body was thrown backward.
“Huff, huff…!”
Bolio, who had rolled several times, was breathing heavily and barely managed to get up.
‘What just happened…’
Until the Fire Balls distorted and burst, he didn’t know what had happened.
But when he saw the Fire Needles trying to pierce through his Fire Ball right in front of his eyes, Bolio finally understood what had occurred.
‘The Fire Needles were rotating at high speed in the air.’
They hadn’t simply flown in a straight line.
The Fire Needles, rotating at high speed in one direction, immediately twisted the flow of mana that made up the fireball as soon as they touched it.
The Fire Needles, which should have been destroyed by mana friction while piercing through the fireball, used the small gap they created to instantly burrow into the center of the fireball.
Eventually, they disrupted and scattered the flow of mana that composed the fireball.
‘It was only because they had weakened while piercing my Fire Ball that I managed, but I almost got pierced through at the end too.’
Bolio caught his breath and glared at Cain.
Cain was still looking at him with that characteristic blank expression where you couldn’t tell what he was thinking, muttering.
“Not bad.”
It was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to Bolio.
‘That bastard…’
When Bolio was thrown back, if Cain had wanted to, he could have poured out additional magic and won.
‘Showing leisure in front of me…’
Bolio felt something welling up from deep in his chest and gritted his teeth.
Then he drew out all the mana he had at once.
“Fire Arrow!”
Although he had already consumed a lot of mana on Fire Balls, Bolio’s other strength was fast mana circulation.
Bolio quickly extracted frost mana from his dantian’s mana and summoned a Fire Arrow.
‘Still far from over.’
Whoosh!
As mana swirled, the Fire Arrow grew larger and larger.
Around the enlarged Fire Arrow, fierce flames that seemed like they would cause burns just from touching radiated.
He had never poured out his full power like this in a duel before.
‘In the duel with that bastard who went up to the third floor first, I didn’t even get a chance to use my full power like this.’
Bolio stretched out his hand with a battle cry.
“Uaaaah!!”
“Fire Arrow.”
This time too, Cain confirmed Bolio’s magic to the end before summoning only one small Fire Arrow.
As Cain extended his hand, the Fire Arrow flew straight toward Bolio’s Fire Arrow.
Whoosh!
All the disciples watching the scene held their breath.
Outwardly, it seemed like Bolio’s magic would win, but having already seen the power of the Fire Needles, no one could easily predict the outcome.
Whoosh.
Finally, the two magics met in the center of the dueling ground, and the result came in the blink of an eye.
Slash.
Bolio’s Fire Arrow, which had been spewing flames, split into two pieces like a reed being split, starting from the tip of the arrowhead.
Cain’s Fire Arrow, which had cleanly split everything from the arrowhead to the fletching, actually gained speed and flew toward Bolio.
“Th-that’s impossible…”
Bolio felt his body freeze.
He could clearly see the Fire Arrow flying toward him, but he was certain he couldn’t dodge it.
The Fire Arrow was flying toward his left eye.
‘Should I forfeit even now…’
No matter how protective the artifact was, if it hit his eye directly, his vision could be damaged.
But even knowing this, his mouth wouldn’t open.
‘To lose to the direct disciples again like this…’
As an initiated disciple, he thought he had some talent and had worked hard to make use of that talent.
But the direct descendants who had directly inherited the blood of the Sears family all grew at a faster pace, as if mocking him.
‘That bastard too…’
Anyas, the direct disciple who had taken the test with him and come up to the second floor, had eventually gone up to the third floor first.
-Too bad. For an initiated disciple, it’s not bad talent.
‘Arrogant bitch.’
But now, was he going to let a guy who couldn’t even properly form a circle until recently create a 2nd Circle in this short time and surpass him?
He couldn’t accept it.
He absolutely couldn’t bring himself to say the word “forfeit.”
Bolio squeezed his eyes shut.
And then.
“Stop. The duel is Cain’s victory.”
With those words, the Fire Arrow was extinguished.
