episode_0210

“Duel, begin!”

-Whoosh!

The magical duel between Agnes and Lillis started with Blaze Youngae taking the initiative.

Agnes, who had already built up a lot of frustration towards Lillis due to the incident that happened a week ago, naturally began by hurling a fireball as soon as the duel began.

Ever since the incident in front of the Student Union square a week ago, Agnes had been determined to somehow give Lillis a taste of her own medicine, even if the opponent was her one and only friend in the world.

“Shoot! Fiery flames, ignite!”

Agnes’s rapid fireball, crossing the circular magical arena, shot straight towards Lillis.

A magical attack with incredible speed, covering a distance of 30 meters in less than a second. The power of the magic itself, combined with the fact that Agnes was the one casting it, made it a formidable force.

In fact, during last year’s evaluation duel, Isolbe, who was the runner-up at the time, was knocked out by a single blow from this very spell.

In magical duels, it was common for participants to choose between speed and power, but Agnes possessed both, making her a natural choice to maintain her position as the top student in the Magic Department.

And the only person who had the means to challenge Agnes within the Magic Department was just one student from the second year.

-Boom!

Anticipating the rapid fireball from the moment Agnes began casting her spell, Lillis leaped sideways with all her might.

Given the explosive power of the spell, an average magical student’s jumping ability would have landed them in the blast radius, but Lillis’s physical abilities were far superior compared to other magical students.

-Crash!

After rolling in mid-air for a full circle and flying over a distance of almost 5 meters, Lillis’s body hit the ground.

Seeing Lillis land with a slight stagger, Agnes’s determination surged once again.

“Hmph, your physical abilities are impressive, aren’t they?”

Agnes was well aware that Lillis had superior physical abilities compared to other magical students.

Otherwise, there was no way she could have endured the Swordsmanship Department classes for three semesters as a magical student. Even if her lover was in the Swordsmanship Department, unless she had talent, it would have been a challenging subject to endure for a long time.

And considering last year’s evaluation duel where Lillis faced Luke with dagger skills, Agnes knew that too. Despite impulsively designating her as a duel opponent due to her anger towards Lillis, Agnes did not underestimate her chances of winning.

Having used the rapid fireball as her first spell, Agnes left herself open for a moment, and this time, Lillis retaliated.

“Pierce through, arrow of magic!”

Using the same triple casting as before and her usual magic arrow, Lillis aimed for speed in her attack.

Unfortunately, Lillis failed to anticipate that the energy bolt would be more effective against Agnes than the magic arrow, but Agnes was prepared for it.

“Three magic arrows. Just as I expected.”

True to her nature of not forgetting what she had learned, Agnes remembered most of the content from the duel between Lillis and Luke last year.

Despite pretending not to care about other students, she was actually the one who paid the most attention to their matches.

The unending passion for magic studies, and Agnes’ obsession with entering the main house of the Elizabeth family to not miss out on being first place led her to meticulously observe not only her own matches but also those of other top students in the Magic Department, including last year’s 5th place, Relis.

“Protect me!”

– Understood!

With Agnes’ incantation, three layers of vision shields enveloped her, with two of them being pierced by Relis’ magical arrows.

If it had been an energy bolt, it could have been enough to destroy and cause some damage. Or even if Agnes had prepared for it, using a magical arrow was a better choice as it would save more time in the incantation.

Despite the still unfavorable accuracy rate, one of the three arrows veered off course in the middle.

“Infernusilia, time to use what you’ve practiced.”

“Got it!”

“‘As the burning flames awaken its soul, today the young spirit shall burn in a new form!’”

After a brief exchange, Agnes and Infernusilia simultaneously recited the joint spell with the same pronunciation.

And as the spell ended, a large flame spirit was immediately created on one side of the arena. Infernusilia had transformed the spirit into a giant flame entity, known as the Fire Giant.

“Alright, here we go!!!”

A mage with a affinity for fire magic could use joint magic in conjunction with a flame spirit.

In the original story, Relis felt slightly perplexed by Agnes’ original technique, which was rarely seen.

“I’ve seen Orion use the Forest Giant often, but….”

Relis had not expected Agnes to use the Fire Giant in this match.

Ultimately, Relis was the one who helped Agnes contract with the flame spirit, allowing her to use the Fire Giant.

“Take this!! Agnes, tremble before this royal chest!!!”

With the temporary increase in rank from the joint magic, Infernusilia swung a massive fiery fist at Relis. Despite the temporary increase in rank, the content was still that of a lesser spirit, so the mismatch between the high-pitched voice and the arrogant attitude was a bit comical.

Naturally, Relis couldn’t just stand there and take it, so she dodged the giant’s fiery fist with a leap.

Although Infernusilia’s attacks were consecutive, they were not too difficult to evade compared to the rapid fireballs.

It seemed like the lesser spirit was not yet accustomed to its large body, and the attacks it could make with the temporary higher rank were limited to using its enlarged body, so it couldn’t quite mimic the terrifying nature of a higher spirit.

However, the frightening aspect of the Fire Giant was that it provided means for even a lesser fire spirit to use powerful and dangerous attacks, forcing Relis, who had only been facing Agnes’ magic until now, to dodge much more urgently.

-Boom! Crash!

“Even though they’re coming from both sides, if I focus, I should be able to avoid them….”

“Flame Field!”

“…Oh no!”

In the process of dodging attacks coming from both directions in completely different ways, Relis’ focus naturally wavered, leaving a single opening for Agnes to exploit.

As Lily’s footsteps predicted the space where the flame magic was used from below, rising flames, being lifted in the air, she was unable to avoid the shockwave due to the lack of distance, but fortunately, Lily was not fighting alone, just like Agnes.

“Say! Tailwind!”

“Yes.”

With a brief response, Lily’s body, about to fall into the flames, was caught by an updraft. Although it was a mid-level wind magic of an elemental spirit, it was more than enough to lift a girl’s body.

“Sally! I’ll take care of that big guy for you! You can use my magic as much as you want, so please deal with it decisively!”

“Got it! Leave that one to me, Lily!”

As Lily’s plea for help, realizing she couldn’t handle Agnes and the flame spirit alone, was voiced, Salamander flew towards the fire giant as if waiting for those words.

With her right hand creating a ring of burning fire and increasing its size.

-Whoosh, whoosh.

“Huh…?”

A huge ring rapidly growing in size from the hands of a high-level spirit, not falling behind the fire giant.

Witnessing the giant ring, Inferno Silia momentarily showed a hesitant reaction, and Sally, with a triumphant expression, hurled the flaming chakram in her hand at the fire giant.

“With that big body, you won’t last a year, let alone a thousand with me around?!”

“Aaahh!!”

The fire giant, with half of its body cut off and crumbling from the flaming disc thrown by Sally, and Sally rushed towards the half of Inferno Silia with a triumphant expression.

“…Still, she’s a high-level spirit I can trust.”

With a rough plan to let the flame spirits fight among themselves, Lily focused on her battle with Agnes.

Dodging Agnes’s magic once, Lily attacked again with a triple casting aimed at the opponent’s vulnerability.

This time, it was a triple casting of energy bolts, not magic arrows, but Lily’s attack was blocked by Agnes’s quickly deployed defensive magic.

“Missed again. I’ve felt this way before, Lily’s not the type with a high hit rate.”

Whether in last year’s final duel or today’s, Lily’s triple casting never hit all three spells.

Usually, one or two would miss, and only one or two would hit the target properly. Having observed the same content in several major classes as Lily, there was no doubt about it.

At first, it seemed like Lily’s triple casting was just inexperienced, but even with such inexperience, Lily’s typical triple casting mistakes didn’t come out well.

As compressing three spells into one sentence, usually, the last spell in the sequence would be the one to make a mistake, but Lily’s magic was completely different from that pattern.

“This time, the second spell missed. Earlier, it was the first spell. Could it be that she’s deliberately skipping spells one by one?”

Agnes, who couldn’t imagine that Lily’s luck was just causing her to miss one by one, was the owner of luck that had never missed a magic she had focused on with all her heart.

However, such mediocre hit rates raised Agnes’s suspicions and gradually focused her attention during the fierce battle.

Agnes, who had only seen Release as someone who avoided magic and passed time, had not yet realized that Release was gradually approaching her.