Chapter 10
Rowen, with a smile on his face, assessed the atmosphere in the training room.
'Kain Siers... unexpected.'
Kain and Bolio stood their ground without backing down even a step, both conjuring Fire magic on their hands.
If that was the case, the situation was as clear as day.
'Bolio, who usually sees direct line disciples as a thorn in his side, must have picked a fight, and Kain accepted the challenge.'
Rowen had expected Bolio to cause trouble.
And despite expecting it, he hadn't come to the training room early to mediate.
The Siers clan was generally laissez-faire, and how a disciple dealt with such situations was also part of their evaluation.
However, even Rowen hadn't expected Kain to accept the duel so confidently.
'Bolio's more agitated than I thought. If things had gone my way, it would have ended with a light scuffle at most.'
Bolio, who had been training on the second floor for over a year and had reached the proficient stage of the 2nd Circle, wouldn't normally challenge Kain, who had just entered the second floor, to a duel.
And then, whispers were heard from around them.
"Gasp, the instructor is here."
"Looks like he's planning to let them duel."
"By the way, I never expected Kain to be the one to initiate the duel."
"Me neither."
Rowen's eyebrows rose at those words.
'Oh ho. So Kain even initiated it?'
Rowen smirked.
'This is going to be more interesting than I thought.'
***
A while later, under Rowen's supervision, everyone in the training room gathered at the dueling arena.
"Looks like it's really happening..."
"Of course. He formally challenged him using Fire."
"But what confidence does Kain have?"
"Isn't Anias the only one who's ever won against Bolio in a duel?"
"He's got a death wish."
The disciples who gathered at the dueling arena naturally formed a circle around the dueling field prepared in the center.
And Kain and Bolio pushed their way through them towards the center.
"Hey, sorry... because of us..."
"Kain, are you alright...?"
Edward and Fohn, thinking that Kain would suffer because of them, fidgeted and carefully spoke to Kain.
"Don't worry."
Kain left only those words and stepped onto the field.
Edward and Fohn looked at each other and whispered.
"...Don't worry?"
"Why did his way of speaking change like that?"
"I know, right..."
"Still, seeing how confident he is, maybe he has something up his sleeve? He rejected all our offers to teach him magic, but he ended up learning it on his own."
"Y-yeah, that's true."
Edward and Fohn had tried to teach Kain magic several times when he couldn't learn it.
But every time, Kain had pretended not to hear and fled to his personal training room.
Recently, they had even gotten a bit frustrated and angry, but then suddenly, he had brought back a snow leopard, showed 2nd Circle magic in front of everyone, and immediately entered the second floor.
'Since the duel is already decided, there's nothing we can do...'
'Just win this...!'
The two clenched their fists tightly and watched Kain and Bolio, who were facing each other 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 the duel, and Rowen's mana was infused into them.
Rowen would stop the duel when the outcome was decided, but it was a safety device to prevent irreversible damage to their bodies.
As Rowen stepped back, silence filled the dueling arena.
And soon, Rowen's voice announcing the start echoed through the arena.
"Begin the duel."
At the same time as the start, mana swirled out from the hearts of Kain and Bolio.
Whoosh!
"You'd better give up now while you still can."
Kain tilted his head at Bolio's words.
"Why would the person who's going to win give up?"
"Hmph...!"
Bolio gritted his teeth at Kain's infuriating tone, as if he genuinely didn't understand.
In fact, Bolio hadn't intended to make such a big deal out of it either.
However, since Kain had used Fire first, there was no way he could back down now.
'I'll finish this in an instant.'
Thinking so, Bolio extended his hand forward.
"Fire Ball."
Then, a large fireball appeared in front of Bolio.
"Wow..."
"How can a Fire Ball be that big?"
"Where is that kind of power coming from...?"
"Is it belly fat?"
But it wasn't over yet.
The Fire Ball, almost the size of a human torso, multiplied as if propagating, spreading out around Bolio.
Bolio smirked.
'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 spread his magic as much as he wanted like this, there were no rivals within his circle.
No matter what powerful magic Kain used from now on, it would be greedily devoured by his Fire Balls.
"Haaah!"
With Bolio's shout, seven large Fire Balls simultaneously flew towards Kain.
Fire Balls that almost filled the field.
There was no space to evade.
"Fire Needle."
And then, a very concise incantation rang out.
Whoosh!
Exactly seven small Fire Needles appeared on Kain's hand.
"Ha!"
Bolio scoffed.
"You think 2nd Circle magic can pierce my Fire Balls?!"
Basically, higher circle magic had a more complex mechanism and was also more powerful.
'But that's only when the amount of mana contained within is the same.'
Even lower circle magic could vary greatly in power depending on who cast it and how.
Bolio had always shown overwhelming firepower compared to others, based on his talent, abundant mana, and fast mana circulation, no matter what magic he used.
Swish!
Kain's Fire Needles flew towards each of the Fire Balls.
'Foolish brat.'
The best Kain could have hoped for now was to somehow pierce one Fire Ball with several Fire Needles and aim for a draw.
But having shot them out one by one like that, Bolio's Fire Balls would simply devour the Fire Needles whole.
Whoosh!
The moment the Fire Needles and Fire Balls met in mid-air, Bolio sensed victory.
However, at that moment, the Fire Ball that touched the tip of the needle suddenly distorted strangely, and then scattered in mid-air like a bursting balloon.
"Wh-what!"
Bolio's eyes widened.
But there was no time to be surprised.
All seven Fire Balls simultaneously lost their power and burst, and the Fire Needles were all flying towards Bolio.
"Fire Ball!"
Bolio drew out his mana as if exploding it and created a very large Fire Ball in front of him like a cushion.
Thwack thwack thwack!
The Fire Needles that pierced the Fire Ball tried to rush straight towards Bolio.
"Eeeek!"
Bolio continued to pour mana in, desperately blocking the Fire Needles.
And when the friction between the two magics reached its limit.
Bang!
A small explosion occurred, and Bolio's body was thrown backward.
"Hah, hah...!"
Having rolled several times, Bolio gasped for breath and barely managed to get back on his feet.
'What was that just now...?'
Until the moment the Fire Ball distorted and burst, he hadn't understood what had happened.
But when he saw the Fire Needles trying to pierce his Fire Ball right in front of him, Bolio finally realized what had occurred.
'He was rotating the Fire Needles at high speed in mid-air.'
They hadn't simply flown in a straight line.
The Fire Needles, rotating at high speed in one direction, had abruptly twisted the flow of mana that made up the Fire Ball the moment they touched it.
The Fire Needles, which should have been consumed by mana friction in the process of piercing the Fire Ball, had used the small gap created to instantly penetrate to the center of the Fire Ball.
In the end, they had disrupted the core of the mana flow that composed the Fire Ball, causing it to scatter.
'It's a good thing they were weakened from piercing my Fire Ball, or I almost got pierced at the end.'
Bolio caught his breath and glared at Kain.
Kain, still wearing his characteristic blank expression as if he was lost in thought, mumbled while looking at him.
"Not bad."
It was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to Bolio.
'That little brat...!'
When Bolio was thrown backward, if Kain had been so inclined, he could have unleashed more magic to secure his victory.
'Showing such composure in front of me...'
Bolio felt something surge up from the depths of his chest and gritted his teeth.
Then, he drew out all the mana he possessed at once.
"Fire Arrow!"
He had already consumed a lot of mana on the Fire Balls, but Bolio's other strength was his rapid mana circulation.
Quickly drawing fire mana from the mana in his dantian, Bolio conjured a Fire Arrow.
'Not yet.'
Whoosh!
As mana swirled, the size of the Fire Arrow grew larger and larger.
Fierce flames that looked like they could cause burns just by brushing against them emanated from the enlarged Fire Arrow.
He had never poured this much power into a duel before.
'I didn't even have a chance to exert this much power in the duel with the guy who went to the 3rd floor.'
Bolio extended his hand with a shout.
"Uwaaaaaaa!!"
"Fire Arrow."
This time too, Kain waited until the very end to observe Bolio's magic before conjuring only a single, small Fire Arrow.
As Kain extended his hand, the Fire Arrow flew straight towards Bolio's Fire Arrow.
Screeeeeech!
All the disciples watching the scene held their breath.
On the surface, it looked like Bolio's magic would win, but having already seen the power of the Fire Needles, no one could easily predict the outcome.
Swish!
Finally, the two magics collided in the center of the dueling arena, and the result was instantaneous.
Slash!
Bolio's Fire Arrow, which had been spewing flames, split into two pieces from the tip of the arrowhead as if a reed had been cleaved.
Kain's Fire Arrow, having cleanly split Bolio's from the arrowhead to the fletching, actually gained speed and flew towards Bolio.
"N-no way..."
Bolio felt his body stiffen.
He clearly saw the Fire Arrow flying towards his eyes, but he had a strong feeling that he couldn't possibly evade it.
The Fire Arrow was flying towards his left eye.
'I should give up now...'
Even though there was a protective artifact, if it hit his eye directly, his vision could be damaged.
But even knowing that, he couldn't bring himself to speak.
'To think I'm losing to those direct line bastards again...'
As an initiated disciple, he thought he had some talent, and he had worked hard to make the most of that talent.
But the direct line members, who directly inherited the blood of the Siers clan, all grew at a faster rate, as if mocking him.
'That guy too...'
Anias, the direct line disciple who had taken the test with him and came up to the second floor, had eventually gone up to the third floor first.
-Too bad. For an initiated disciple, you have decent talent.
'That arrogant jerk.'
And now, was he going to let a guy who couldn't even properly form a circle until recently create the 2nd Circle in this short amount of time and surpass him?
He couldn't accept it.
He absolutely couldn't bring himself to utter the words "I give up."
Bolio squeezed his eyes shut.
And.
"Stop. The duel is Kain's victory."
With those words, the Fire Arrow extinguished.
