Chapter 010

A Bet

“Go for it Jaysaun!” clapped Sinchiya from the stands next to the arena. “You can do it!”

Alevier was sitting next to Sinchiya, looking worriedly at a gleeful Jaysaun and then at Lueirby who cracked her knuckles and grinned.

“Smash him down!” yelled Fobas with Vymer and Rettre hooting and cheering for Lueirby. Quite a few students were seated silently in the stands waiting for the duel to begin. Jarkiso was standing between the two combatants: Jaysaun and Lueirby.

As for how did this happen? Well, Alevier had spent the previous day with Jaysaun and Sinchiya, they played a game of chess and Jaysaun lost in a very disheartening manner against the other two. And to his dismay, he had previously made a bet with the two, staking one favour. Since he lost, he owed one favour to both. Alevier decided to save that for later use while Sinchiya immediately used it to get a kiss from him. Seriously.

The very next day Lueirby came marching to Alevier and brazenly challenged him to an 'official' duel in front of everyone so that he could not deny. A pity for her, he had zero shame. Realizing that he would either be beaten up or will have to blow his band new cover thus break his promise, Alevier did the best thing he could - run away like an absolute coward. Unfortunately, for him, Lueirby was fast, very fast and she caught him. Then she gloriously dragged him to the arena demanding a duel. If it was not for the school rules of allowing students to formally duel each other by issuing a challenge, such behaviour would have not been tolerated by his friends.

He was in a difficult situation, taking into consideration that she was adamant on duelling him and if he repeatedly denied her challenge, the bullying would only get worse compelled him to accept the challenge. But that was when he had a fabulous idea! He used the favour that Jaysaun owed him and with a little bit of peer pressure made him challenge Lueirby with the condition that if Jaysaun loses, he will willingly duel her; if not, then she will leave him alone. In the end, she had to make a compromise.

Alevier had absolutely no idea why she wanted to duel him. Weren't the results obvious? Oh well, taking in consideration the sudden improvement Alevier showed in the defence magic class, things had turned a little ambiguous. Maybe she wanted to test it out for herself that what was Alevier capable of, but who knew? He definitely did not, maybe she had other plans. Besides woman were infinity complex beings in Alevier's eyes.

Enough of that, things will make sense when the time comes… probably.

Alevier stopped thinking of conspiracies and directed his attention to the yet-to-begin battle.

Jaysaun was dressed in a thin leather vest which protected his torso and was probably enchanted since it let out a soft blue glow. His arms were bare save for the leather bracers which looked quite stylish and expensive according to Alevier. Armed with a brown wand, a grimoire strapped at his hip. He hopped a little and rotated his arms before giving a confident smile to Alevier and Sinchiya.

He'll win.

On the other side of the arena was Lueirby. As charming as ever, her long dark hair was tied back into a ponytail. She chose to wear a leather breastplate which was tightly pressed against her upper well-endowed body. Quite alluring in Alevier's opinion. But hey, she was a bully, nothing can change that fact - not even her smooth legs which were visible under her armour overskirt. Goodness.

She noticed Alevier's gaze. She gave him an irate look and the spell staff moved dangerously in her hands, the blue gem which was set atop this metallic staff glowed threateningly. Alevier quickly looked away, not wanting to tempt her to use it against him while Lueirby humphed and focused on her opponent.

“Are you two ready?” asked Jarkiso.

Both of them nodded and said, “Yes.”

“The duel can now commence,” said Jarkiso as he stepped back. “This is a knockout duel. The conditions to win are to make your opponent incapable of fighting back by rendering them unconscious or make them forfeit. Combatants, prepare for the magician's bow.”

The two slowly walked up to each other and bowed, then they turned and walked back to where they were previously standing. This was common courtesy in most duels known as the magician's bow, it had to be performed before any official duel like this one.

The two faced each other unblinkingly in silence thinking of different strategies. The air was tense between them.

“Begin!” announced Jarkiso.

Jaysaun was the first to make a move, he fired off some mana missiles from his wand and ran back trying to widen the distance between him and his opponent. Lueirby frowned and dodged the missiles while running forward not wanting to waste her mana on something so trivial. Jaysaun quickly bent and poked his wand in the ground before getting up and running again. Lueirby, annoyed, fired an ember bullet at Jaysaun who hastily erected a mana shield to defend himself.

The glowing ball of heat and the mana shield collided - with a hot blast, the shield shattered like brittle glass but, fulfilled its task of protecting its caster.

Jaysaun snickered, “I thought you were better than this.”

“The disappointment is mutual, Jaysaun,” retorted Lueirby as she cast a heat wave spell with her staff. A red semi-circular wave of fire erupted out of the staff and spread out in front of her, heading towards Jaysaun. He cast another mana shield which was shaped like a hemisphere. As the wave struck the shield, the shield’s surface glowed red and it creaked threatening to break any moment. The parts of the wave which did not strike the shield bent inwards trying to envelop Jaysaun and his shield.

Lueirby grinned and fired a dangerous looking flurry mass of fire.

Despite being in a difficult situation, Jaysaun did not break a sweat, he casually waved his wand and a powerful dispelling wave blew away the wave of flames along with the ball of fire. Lueirby, surprised, was pushed back because of the force of the dispelling wave but managed to remain on her feet with the support of her staff.

Jaysaun poked his wand in the ground once again before firing some mana missiles.

“Man, you made me use some of my mana,” said Jaysaun wryly.

Lueirby slammed her staff into the missiles and literally smashed them apart with one swing.

“What is with these weak missiles? Are you mocking me,” said Lueirby in an annoyed tone.

“Isn’t your performance until now already doing that?” chuckled Jaysaun.

“It is ironic that it comes from you,” rebuked Lueirby as she shot forward towards Jaysaun.

Jaysaun clicked his tongue and aimed his wand towards Lueirby. With a short chant, he fired an ember bullet which whizzed through the air heading towards his foe. Lueirby swung the end of her staff like a madman making the spell explode into a cloud of smoke. Oddly, she was not affected by the small explosion and kept charging towards him. He stood there adamantly while pointing his wand towards her and uttering a soft chant.

Lueirby lunged forward in the air menacingly, but before she could smash her staff into Jaysaun’s head, a wall of fire sprang into existence intercepting her trajectory. However, she came prepared as a small dispelling wave shot forth and blew a hole in the wall of flames, but to her dismay, she saw a meter-wide orb of light waiting for her along with a smiling Jaysaun. Her face twisted in terror as the orb darted through the wall. Unable to move out of its way, she chose to tank the orb. Several mana shields popped into existence but the orb tore through them like paper, she swung her staff as a last resort making the orb explode into a storm of blinding white light and expelling force.

Alevier covered his eyes along with everyone else. Damn Jaysaun, pulling up tricks like this, but it is probably necessary to surprise your opponent, but he isn’t a combat mage so he can’t say for sure. After a moment he opened his eyes to see Lueirby lying at the other end of the arena with a blackened shoulder and a twisted arm struggling to get up, her staff was bent at an odd angle and lay some feet away from her. Another wall of fire was burning in the centre of the arena - seems like Jaysaun had it all planned out.

Alevier whispered, “Seems like Jaysaun has won.”

“No,” said Sinchiya as she pointed towards Lueirby. “She can still stand.”

Lueirby barely managed to stand on her feet while panting and giving Jaysaun a nasty glare. Oddly enough, her hair or face had not been damaged.

“And Jay is almost out of mana,” she sighed to Alevier. He glanced over to Jaysaun who looked oddly fatigued. He was bent forward, using his knees for support and taking in deep breaths. Seems like he has completely exhausted his spiritual force but, it will recover in a moment, unlike his mana.

“Shouldn't professor Jarkiso stop the duel now?” asked Alevier. “Both of them are exhausted.”

“It is an official duel, Alevier,” replied Sinchiya. “If it were a spar, Jarkiso would have interfered the moment Jaysaun cast his Luminous Ball spell.”

“I see,” Alevier had never been interested in fights. Yes, he had read about them in novels but they were fictitious believing them would be a fool's tendency. Moreover, whenever he had fought in an official duel - like in Mage Cup - he would be knocked out cold in the first minute and remain like that for the rest of the day, so it was not his fault for being a bit ignorant about it!

“What do you think about violence?” Sinchiya asked.

Alevier hesitated for a moment; so people were asking for his opinion? How have things changed!

“Well, violence is something that never suited me so my opinion on that topic might be biased,” replied Alevier.

“Go on, at least you will be honest,” Sinchiya shrugged her shoulders.

“So be it. I despise violence, I think resorting to fights to solve problems is the most stupid thing to do. Moreover, violence does not prove anything - I mean look at them,” he pointed over towards Lueirby who was dragging herself towards her staff and Jaysaun whose legs were wobbling due to exhaustion. “What does this prove? What does it solve? The mindless, chaotic instinct to use force is the root of most evil.”

Sinchiya stared at him for a moment with her green eyes before turning away and looking at Jaysaun, “You want to listen to my opinion?”

Alevier paused for a second before replying, “Yes.”

“I think violence is a natural tendency of life. In the end, everyone wants to survive and the best way to ensure that is to destroy everything which can harm you. But our deaths are inevitable that is why we resort to violence to protect everything we have, while we can cherish it - we use violence, not for ourselves but for those things we want to protect,” she let out a small laugh. “Jaysaun finds me weird at times, do you agree with him?”

Alevier, with a surprised expression, chose not to reply but simply changed the topic, “How do you think they can fight any longer?”

She smiled at his attempt to avoid her question. “You know why people don't use healing magic excessively?”

“Because the effect diminishes with every use as our body develops a resistance to it? Just like potions? However, the resistance can decrease after some months or so.”

“Yes, that is why mages who know how to cast this complex magic keep it as a trump card and use it only when they are at the edge.”

“You mean Lueirby knows medical magic?” asked Alevier in surprise.

“Yes she does, being born in a noble house has its perks - they get access to a lot of restricted material,” Sinchiya sighed. “And the society of magic is completely fine with it. What a pity.”

Alevier looked at Lueirby who picked her staff and muttered a small chant. Not only medical magic was rare and restricted but it was also mana racing hence it was difficult to see it in practice. Yes, he had someone cast healing magic on him previously but still, it fascinated him.

Suddenly a warm light covered Lueirby and her twisted arm snapped back into place, her charred and bloody shoulder healed at a visible rate. It was a very strong healing spell, it must have taken a serious toll on her. However, this is where the miracle of inscribed spell formulae comes in! Using a spell formula greatly reduces the spiritual force cost and so the Mage won't be spiritually exhausted after casting a powerful spell.

When the light faded away, Lueirby was standing, as fit as ever, with a terrifying expression on her face. Alevier could have sworn that she wanted to eat Jaysaun alive.

He worriedly glanced over to Jaysaun, he was standing upright now but his face was pale. It was good for him that Lueirby was more or less out of mana and won't be able to cast spells anytime soon. But, it was the same for him. Damn.

Lueirby threw her staff aside and rushed over to Jaysaun, he threw aside his wand and took a stance - magic was not the only thing he was good at.

Being hit directly by Lueirby's strikes meant certain death, so Jaysaun tried his best to avoid them. He waltzed around dodging and using his palms to deflect her fists in order to find an opening to counterattack. Lueirby was no fool either, she stopped trying to hit him with heavy punches and focused on quick and light strikes. Though, the two had very different opinions about what would qualify as a light strike.

Jaysaun twisted on his foot and landed a kick on her flank, but she blocked it with her arm. She staggered a bit then grabbed his leg in anger and flung him away. Jaysaun slammed on the ground with his eyes shut, he instinctively rolled to his side luckily avoiding his head being smashed by her heavy punch which left a dent in the ground. How the hell were those frail arms able to muster so much strength? He quickly got back on his feet but had to duck since a bloody fist came flying towards him.

He managed to land another palm strike on her chest which could not produce the desired effects because of obvious reasons. She jabbed him in the shoulders with her slender fingers which made him twist back in pain. A number of jabs and chops rained down on Jaysaun who frantically defended against them. Lueirby was unable to break through his defence for some reason, maybe her strength was being drained away quicker than him.

She twisted on her heel and lifted her feet intending to kick him on his face. Her skirt flew up and Jaysaun, because of his not-so-gentlemanly character, chose to burn this moment in his memory instead of defending, but to his utter disappointment, she was wearing a pair of black shorts underneath. He could not express his displeasure since a powerful kick lifted him off his feet. He did not experience the pain of crashing in the ground since he had already blacked out.

With a heavy thud, Jaysaun fell on the ground, showing no signs of getting up any time soon.

“The duel is over! Since Jaysaun Lumious cannot continue to fight, Lueirby Edeye wins,” announced Jarkiso. He marched forward to where Jaysaun was and called some helpers to take him to the hospital. Done with that, he made another announcement. “According to the rules, Lueirby can claim her prize/wager - the compulsion of Alevier Tuwymir to accept her duel. The duel will take place tomorrow at this time. Thank you for being a patient audience, you all can leave.”

The students began getting up and leaving the arena.

Alevier asked Sinchiya, “Should we head towards the hospital to see Jaysaun?”

“He will be alright, I have faith in him,” she smiled. “But gosh, why did he not defend against that kick?”

“I don’t know,” replied Alevier.

“Well then, I will go to the cafeteria to grab something to eat,” she said as she walked away.

“Okay, bye.”

Goodness, he was still inexperienced in ending conversations, why did it have to feel so awkward?

After chiding himself, Alevier hurried to Jarkiso’s office. He knocked twice before a voice came asking him to enter.

Jarkiso was sitting behind his office desk which had a number of papers spread on it He looked at Alevier and closed his eyes letting out a deep sigh.

“So, what do you intend to do now?” he asked while massaging his forehead with one hand.

“I really don't have any choice but to duel her, do I?” asked Alevier.

“No, school rules and Society of Magic’s laws state that the deed signed by the combatants before an official duel must be honoured, come what may.”

“What should I do?”

“Pray that she does not raise the stakes so high that you are compelled to win,” said Jarkiso.

“Are mana orbs not allowed? We can use that illusion again?”

“All official duels are recorded and are archived. If you want to be banned from being a mage and want my teaching license to be deemed void, then sure, I can help you.”

“So there is no way out?” asked Alevier.

“No,” replied Jarkiso. “Why did you have to make such a wager in the first place?”

“Well, she was hellbent on challenging me and she subtly prompted to me that if I do not accept it, she will beat me up every day.”

Jarkiso frowned and asked, “Bullying? Did you ever think of telling a teacher about it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Alevier paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “Because I don’t want to appear anymore incompetent in front of my teachers. If you recall, until yesterday I was just a normal student who had a below average magical aptitude. Even if I can do wonders on paper, it did not change the fact that teachers were… unsatisfied because of my performance, I never heard it, but it was quite obvious that they saw me as a waste of talent. Coupling it with the fact that I have low self-esteem, I could never make myself go up to my teachers for help in such matters.”

Jarkiso looked at Alevier with a hint of pity in his eyes. “That must be hard on you. I am sorry Alevier, it is because of us teachers that many of you are suffering. I apologize.”

“No, professor, you are not wrong in the slightest,” said Alevier hurridly. “Such a thing is natural, it is no one's fault.”

“I am not convinced.”

“Uh...”

“I will look into the student body more closely and talk with Waelecia about this. Anyway, try your best to not show your true potential tomorrow. I will try to limit the people coming to see the duel,” said Jarkiso.

“Thank you,” responded Alevier.

“You are now excused.”

“Yes Professor,” Alevier walked out of his office. This time there was no Jaysaun or Sinchiya waiting for him, the corridor was empty.

Alevier strolled towards his next class, wondering about tomorrow’s duel. What will Lueirby make him stake? Will he have to show all of his newfound powers so soon? The future was ambiguous just like the mysterious threads of fate and destiny which weaved it. Many things were waiting for him, but right now he could only wonder one thing: which class did he have to attend now!