vs Agnes Elizabeth Blaze (1)

“Sparring, start!”

-Hwarreuk!

The magic sparring match between Agnes and Lilith began with Lady Blaze’s first move.

Agnes, who had a lot of pent-up feelings towards Lilith due to the incident a week ago, naturally started by unleashing a fireball.

Her determination to somehow land a fireball on Lilith, which had persisted for a whole week since the incident in front of the Student Council Building, would not be broken, even if her opponent was her only friend in the world.

“Be unleashed! O blazing flame!”

Agnes’s Rapid Fireball, crossing the circular Magic Department arena, shot straight towards Lilith’s body.

A magic spell of incredible speed, covering a distance of 30 meters in less than a second. Furthermore, perhaps because of the caster’s identity, its power was also formidable.

Indeed, it was the very spell that had knocked Isolbe, then the Vice-President, out in one hit during last year’s Evaluation Duel, so how could it be otherwise?

Normally, in a magic-versus-magic duel, it was common to choose only one of speed or power, but Agnes possessed both, so it was, in a way, a natural phenomenon for her to firmly maintain her position as the Head of the Magic Department.

And among the second-year students, there was only one person who possessed the means to uniquely counter Agnes within the Magic Department.

-Pabat!

Lilith, who had anticipated the Rapid Fireball from the moment Agnes began chanting, kicked off the ground and leaped sideways.

Given the sheer power of the magic itself, an average Magic Department student’s jump would normally have been caught in the explosion’s radius, but Lilith’s physical abilities were, from the start, exceptionally superior compared to other Magic Department students.

-Taaak!

Lilith’s body, which had rolled once in mid-air and flown over 5 meters, landed on the ground.

As her body landed with a slight sway, Agnes’s resolve ignited once more.

‘Hmph, so her physical abilities are still good, huh?’

Agnes already knew that Lilith’s overall physical abilities were superior compared to other Magic Department students.

After all, if that weren’t the case, there’s no way a Magic Department student would have continuously attended Swordsmanship Department classes for three semesters. Even if her lover was in the Swordsmanship Department, it would have been a difficult subject to continue for long if she truly lacked talent.

And considering how she faced Luke with dagger techniques in last year’s Evaluation Match. Although Agnes had impulsively designated Lilith as her sparring opponent due to her anger towards her, she didn’t become complacent, assuming she would naturally win against her.

Towards Agnes, who had a slight opening after using Rapid Fireball as her first spell, Lilith now counterattacked.

“Pierce through, O Magic Arrow!”

The same Triple Casting as always, and the Magic Arrow she always used. It was an attack focused on speed, chosen from Energy Bolt, which prioritized attack power, and Magic Arrow, which prioritized speed.

Regrettably, Lilith hadn’t anticipated that Energy Bolt would be more effective against Agnes than Magic Arrow.

‘Three Magic Arrows. This is also as I expected.’

True to Agnes’s nature of not easily forgetting what she’s learned, she remembered most of what she had seen in Lilith and Luke’s sparring match last year.

Because even though she pretended to be uninterested in other students on the surface, in reality, she observed other students’ matches more carefully than anyone else.

Due to her unceasing academic fervor for magic and her obsession with not losing first place in order to enter the main Elizabeth Family, Agnes meticulously checked the matches of other top-ranked Magic Department students, not just her own, and naturally, Lilith, who was ranked 5th in her year last year, was included among them.

“Protect!”

-Paak!

Along with Agnes’s incantation, three Arcane Shields enveloped her, and Lilith’s Magic Arrows struck two of those three shields.

If it had been Energy Bolt, it would have been able to destroy them sufficiently and inflict some damage. Or, even if Agnes had prepared for it, she would have had to spend more time on her incantation, so it would have been a better choice than Magic Arrow in terms of buying more time.

As an added bonus, one of the three shots still tumbled midway due to her consistently poor accuracy.

“Infernosilia, it’s time to use what we practiced.”

‘Yeah!’

“‘Blazing flames awaken its spirit, and today, the young spirit shall burn in a new form!'”

Agnes and Infernosilia, having exchanged a brief dialogue, simultaneously chanted the joint spell with the same pronunciation.

And as soon as the incantation ended, a large Flame Spirit immediately formed on one side of the arena. It was Infernosilia, having taken on the form of the spirit commonly known as the Flame Giant.

‘Alright, here I gooo!!!’

A joint magic spell that a mage with an affinity for fire magic can use in conjunction with a Flame Spirit.

Lilith felt a little flustered by Agnes’s original technique, which was rarely seen in the original story.

‘I often saw Orion use the Forest Giant, but….’

Lilith had not expected Agnes to use the Flame Giant in this sparring match for the Magic Department duel.

After all, the fact that Agnes could use the Flame Giant was because Lilith herself had helped her with the Flame Spirit contract, so it was, in the end, Lilith’s karma.

‘Take thisss!! You big-chested woman who made Agnes cryyy!!!’

Infernosilia, whose rank had temporarily increased due to the joint magic’s effect, swung a giant fiery fist at Lilith. Even with a temporarily elevated rank, its essence was still that of a Low Spirit, so its high-pitched voice and boisterous attitude, unbefitting its size, were an added bonus.

Naturally, Lilith couldn’t just take the hit, so she once again evaded the giant’s fiery fist with a stationary leap.

Although Infernosilia’s attacks came down repeatedly, they weren’t as difficult to dodge compared to the Rapid Fireball.

It also seemed that she, a Low Spirit, wasn’t yet accustomed to her large body, and in the first place, a Low Spirit, even if temporarily granted a high-rank body, could only use attacks that utilized its enlarged physique.

As long as its essence remained a Low Spirit, it couldn’t truly imitate the reasons why High-level Spirits were so terrifying.

However, the terrifying aspect of the Flame Giant was that it provided even a Low Flame Spirit with the means to unleash powerful and dangerous attacks with every strike, so it was an unavoidable phenomenon that Lilith, who had just been facing Agnes’s magic alone, now had to dodge much more frantically.

-Peong! Kwagwang!

‘They’re coming from both sides, but if I focus, it’s not impossible to dodge….’

“Flame Field!”

“…Damn it!”

As Lilith dodged attacks coming from completely different directions, her concentration naturally wavered, and Agnes was, of course, aiming for that single opening.

A fire magic spell, cast by predicting the space where Lilith’s footsteps would land, flared up from below. Since she was airborne, there wasn’t enough distance to escape even by using the recoil from a shockwave, but fortunately, Lilith, like Agnes, wasn’t fighting alone.

“Sei! Fair Wind!”

‘Okay.’

With a short reply, an updraft caught Lilith’s body, which was about to fall into the flames. Although it was a mid-level spirit’s wind magic, it was more than enough to lift and support the body of one girl.

“Sally! Sally, I’ll ask you to handle that big friend! You can use my mana to your heart’s content, so please deal with them decisively!”

‘Alright! Leave that one to me, Lilith!’

As soon as Lilith, realizing she couldn’t possibly face Agnes and the Flame Spirit simultaneously, called for aid, Salamander flew towards the Flame Giant as if it had been waiting for that very command.

With its right hand, it created a blazing Ring of Fire and began to expand its size.

-Hwarreuk, Hwarreureuk.

‘Huh, what…?’

A massive ring, rapidly growing in size from the High-level Spirit’s hand, expanding to rival the Flame Giant.

Upon witnessing that enormous ring, Infernosilia momentarily faltered, and Sally, seeing this, threw the Flame Chakram in her hand with all her might towards the Flame Giant.

‘Such a huge body, it’s still ten thousand years too early for you, who haven’t even lived a year yet?!’

‘Ugyaaaah!!’

The Flame Giant’s body was cut in half by the fiery disc thrown from Sally’s hand, collapsing. And Sally, with an excited expression, rushed towards Infernosilia, who had instantly been halved.

‘…Still, it is a High-level Spirit, so it’s reliable.’

With the thought that she could just let the Flame Spirits fight among themselves, Lilith focused on her battle with Agnes.

Lilith barely managed to dodge the barrage of magic Agnes unleashed, then once again attacked, aiming for her opponent’s opening with Triple Casting.

This time, it was Triple Casting of Energy Bolt instead of Magic Arrow, but again, Lilith’s attack was blocked by Agnes’s quickly deployed defensive magic.

‘Two shots again. I’ve felt this before, but Lilith isn’t really the type with good accuracy.’

Just like in last year’s final evaluation duel, and in today’s final evaluation duel, Lilith’s Triple Casting never landed all three of its spells.

One or two shots would always miss, with only one or two hitting the intended target. This was something Agnes had observed multiple times while taking the same major classes as Lilith, so there was no mistake.

At first, she thought it was just due to Lilith’s Triple Casting being unrefined, but for that to be the case, Lilith didn’t exhibit the typical mistakes characteristic of unrefined Triple Casting.

Since three spells were compressed into a single incantation, mistakes usually occurred in the last spell to be deployed, but Lilith’s magic completely deviated from that pattern.

‘This time, the second spell missed. A moment ago, it was the first. Could it be that her Triple Casting isn’t unrefined, but she’s intentionally deflecting one spell at a time?’

Agnes couldn’t imagine it was simply bad luck causing one shot to miss repeatedly. After all, she was a person born with the luck of never missing a spell she had poured her heart and soul into focusing on.

However, it was precisely such mediocre accuracy that aroused Agnes’s suspicion, gradually drawing her attention even amidst the fierce battle.

“…….”

Agnes had not yet realized that Lilith, who merely seemed to be dodging spells and stalling for time, was gradually approaching her.