There are two ways to increase the effectiveness of Arts and Spells.

First is by improving the quantity of Mana that is being loaded into it. A way that most choose in order to create larger versions of magic abilities.

Second is by improving the quality of the magical abilities. My own Blue Fire Bullet Spell is an example of that due to it being an upgraded version of the Fireball Spell. However, I can't use that right now because he wouldn't allow me use a Spell in this situation.

Controlling Ether takes a little bit of time, if I was to hesitate in blocking for a moment, he'd ram me with his spear and send me flying out of the arena.

There's only one way out of this, and that is to try to test that Art I was thinking of using, I hardly know if this will work but now it's all or nothing!

[Magic Art- Cognitive Drive!]

I focus my Lightning Aura into my nervous system and augment it using the attributes of the the mimicked element. My iris dyed purple the world around me starts to slow down.

It wasn't that I slowed down time, but instead it was that I used my Lightning Aura to increase my cognitive perception of the world around me.

I have no time to enjoy the feeling of seeing the world in this new light as I use it's effects to good use in battle.

After redirecting one of his attacks, I manipulated my Lightning Aura to create a purple bolt of lightning near my hand, causing my mind to race as a feeling of weakness overcame me.

Creating something out of nothing using Aura Manifestation used a lot of Mana, that kid called Jack was able to create Earth Armour due his high talent and Earth Affinity, but I couldn't.

However, I didn't feel it was a waste of energy because I could increase its firepower by altering its 'current'.

Although the Lightning Bolt was small compared to my Fireball Spell, my mind used the extra cognitive ability it had to continuously increase its overall power, then I sent out a fist towards Jack's armour after charging it enough.

[Magic Art- Electric Impulse!]

My fist smashed into his Earth Armour and destroyed his strong defence.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw my fist had destroyed his manifested Earth Aura armour, and his face twisted as he tried to retreat, but how could I just let him back away?

[Magic Spell- Mountain Toppling!]

Without warning, he stabbed his spear into the ground and hurled up the floor under me by manipulating Earth Ether.

Since we both were unable to see each other's movements, I decided that I would retreat as well, because charging forward without a plan was too reckless. The Lightning Aura around me changes into an emerald Wind Aura as I created a another Art it as a base.

[Magic Art- Weightless Skeleton!]

I jump off the big patch of Earth that was thrown into the air and defend my body as an Earth Lance thrusted out of the earth below me. This Earth Lance was so large that I would have normally dodged, but considering my circumstances, I instead used its power to fly higher into the air above.

What a tricky guy! So this is what Magical combat feels like, it's so exhilarating, and makes my blood boil!

[Magic Art- Air Walk!]

Instead of taking revenge for almost getting impaled, I use a basic technique that anyone who grasps Wind Aura can use and kept my body afloat in mid air.

It only took a moment for the tossed patch of Earth to fall back to the ground, revealing the silhouette of Jack who was gasping for air, it seems the electrical charge I used wasn't enough.

From the looks of his Aura, it seems he consumed quite a bit of Mana to ward off my attack, but that doesn't matter.

While in the air, I switch my Wind Aura to a ruby-like Fire Aura and start preparing Blue Fire Bullet Spells.

It's not like I need to switch aura's to manipulate Ether, but manifesting a Fire Aura increases my fire control.

A bunch of small blue flames start to pile around me as I prepared, but without the help of Weightless Skeleton, my Air Walk wasn't enough to keep me floating in mid air.

My body gradually descended towards Jack, but I wasn't agitated, calmly proceeding to create more fire bullets.

"It seems I underestimated you." Jack says ferociously as stared as me angrily.

Hah...? As expected, he's still a a child isn't he? To think that it would only take one attack to effect his emotions.

"You may want to use a Spell to defend against this." I advise worriedly. It's not like I want to kill him with this Spell.

"Dream on!" Oh, it looks like my words hurt his pride, he must be thinking I'm advising him out of my own arrogance.

Instead of aiming for his body, I made sure that most of the fire bullets I prepared will hit the ground, then shot them at him as a barrage of attacks.

Although he probably didn't understand how strong these little bullets were, he still decided to attack me with full force, the Earth Ether around him trembled as he jumped over the bullets trajectory before heading towards where I was falling.

A myriad of explosions resounded behind him, causing his face to pale in response, it seems he's now starting to adapt to my unpredictable Spells.

"Having fun?" I asked as I met his spear once again with my sword.

[Magic Art- Muscle Enhancement!]

Using my muscles as a medium, I used my Fire Aura to increase my strength and struck at his spear head-on.

The impact nearly caused him to let go of his spear, but he still stubbornly held on, the power of his Earth Aura intensified as it looked like he was going to use the Level 2 ability of Aura Manifestation by injecting Mana.

[Aura Conjuring- Astral Gauntlet!]

His opal Earth Aura becomes more corporeal as he gets serious! He clenched his fist and punched out with all his strength, causing his Aura to copy the shape of his hand in order to follow his movements. My Fire Aura turns into an Earth Aura as I defended myself by injecting my Aura into skin.

[Magic Art- Skin Reinforcement!]

A powerful sound of impact resounded as the Aura fist hit my body, but because my body's defence was reinforced, I was merely pushed back by his attack. Even though the attack didn't damage my skin, it still affected me internally with its pressure, this is definitely something I gotta work on.

As I thought that, my body didn't stop I threw my weapons in his direction in order to force him to defend, in that one moment he was careless I grabbed his wooden spear before punching him.

My muscles were enhanced by my Fire Aura as I punched his chin, then followed with a series of hand-to-hand combat moves at close range, he wasn't even able to react as I barraged him into submission with dominance.

He suddenly countered with his fist to attack my groin, but I grabbed his arm and gave him a good overarm throw in response. The last thing I did was subdue him by threateningly shining my Lightning Aura coated hand above his head so that he wouldn't struggle.

"The duel has ended, the winner is Simon!" Mark exclaims in excitement.

I move my hand away from Jack's head and smiled, but something wasn't quite right as everyone else was silent.

I looked around and saw that most the servants were still looking at me in disbelief and awe. The House Master solemnly stood up from his seat and looked at me with sharp-eyes.

"Follow me." Duke Swordwick orders as he walked away with my parents in tow. It seems I really shouldn't have showed too many of my hidden cards...