Felix POV
"Eh? What are they going on about?" Esper asked.
Amelia shrugged in response, unsure of how to respond.
The reasoning for the duel made no sense to either Esper or Amelia, both of whom had been mentioned.
After all, they were the ones who had approached Soren first, and although their sense of distance was skewed in strange ways, Soren never took advantage of that fact.
"I mean, if you look at it from the outside, it does seem strange," Felix commented.
"How?" Amelia asked.
"Think about it this way, Soren is ranked 96th." Felix began. "If you go by that alone, he is pathetically weak, and yet he has somehow become friends with not only you two, but also Professor Roseblood. It would raise a few eyebrows."
"Oh! I get it!" Esper shouted.
"To be honest, his face doesn't help either, especially with the way he acts. The stuff Ivan said about noble dignity, while rude, is actually correct."
"I've actually been curious about that. Did something happen with his family?"
Felix thought for a moment, unsure whether he should tell them, but ultimately decided it was fine.
'I doubt he'd mind.'
"I'm not sure. Whenever someone asks, he smiles awkwardly and tries to brush aside the topic, but… a while ago, he and I went to a gambling den. It was an awful place, sketchy as hell, exactly as you'd imagine it."
"Why didn't he just go to a noble one?"
"That's what I asked too, it didn't make sense for him to go there. But the response he gave was that he had been practically disowned."
"What, really?!"
Felix just nodded in response as he didn't know anything beyond that.
"For someone who talks so much, he hardly talks about himself…"
In response to those words, everyone nodded and turned their eyes back towards the arena.
"Do you think he'll win?"
"He will," Amelia said bluntly.
[Begin.]
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Soren Arden POV
[Begin.]
"I call to you, goddess, hear my name and help thy champion. 「Minor Blessing of Agility」"
The second the duel began, Soren made use of the purplish-silver light he had been gathering in his palm and boosted his agility.
Although his mana or stamina might have been a better chance in a battle of endurance, Soren felt instinctively that if he let the duel drag out, it would already be his loss.
His opponent, Ivan, was a large lion beastkin who towered over Soren, covered from head to toe in plate armour and in his hands were a bastard sword and a kite shield.
All of these factors made it evident to Soren that his opponent was someone confident in their durability and endurance.
'It's the worst kind of matchup for me…'
With his lack of firepower, Soren would find it extremely difficult to whittle down such an opponent before his mana or stamina ran out.
So what exactly should Soren do against such an opponent?
"「Gaia」"
First, start with the basics.
Restrict his opponents' already obstructed movements further, making it more difficult for them to evade.
Dash–
Soren ran towards Ivan, Labrys glowing in his right hand, a magic circle forming in his left.
In response to the aggressive push, Ivan gripped his kite shield tightly.
「Einhardt Axemanship - Crescent」
Labrys's glow was so bright that it almost surprised its own wielder.
'The old man really wasn't lying about the conductivity.'
Clang–!
Ivan's kite shield stopped the horizontal arc of the axe, and as a bonus, Soren's arm was bounced away from the recoil.
"Ugh…"
Taking advantage of the opening, Ivan thrust his sword forward, without even bothering to use a technique.
Swoosh!
"「Breeze!」"
Fwaaaa—
The green magic circle that had been sitting in Soren's palm was released, summoning a large gust of wind that Soren made use of to push himself away, narrowly escaping Ivan's blade.
"This is difficult."
He realised anew the difficulty of the quest he had been given.
'If I can make a single cut, I can do this.'
Ivan had yet to leave the position from which he had started the duel, whether due to the altered terrain or a strategic move, was unknown to anyone but himself.
"Are you scared?" Ivan said in provocation.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Soren scoffed. "You came in full plate armour to a duel."
"A noble is one who always strives to do their best, no matter the situation," Ivan said proudly.
"Ugh, cut the crap."
"Aren't you the one using a dungeon relic?"
Soren rolled his eyes and lowered his stance once again.
Wooonggg—
A familiar magic circle formed beneath his feet as he continued to lower his stance until he was almost crouching.
"「Breeze」"
WHOOSH!
His body shot forward at speed previously unheard of, thanks to his increased proficiency.
It was so fast that it was almost impossible to control.
'But that's fine.' He thought as he grinned.
When the target was a static object, he didn't need to control himself.
Ivan, flustered by Soren's speed, was a beat too late in raising his kite shield.
THUD!
Soren landed a blow on Ivan's shoulder.
"Kurgh!"
Clatter
The bastard sword fell from his hand as he lost his grip momentarily.
Unfortunately, however, Labrys was a blunt axe, meaning that beyond the impact, there were no traces of damage.
"Tch."
But Soren didn't make distance like before; instead, he pressed the attack, using the time that Ivan was flustered and unarmed to his advantage.
"「Ignition」"
Flames burst forth from Soren's palm, blocking Ivan's vision and forcing him on the defensive.
Slice
Utilising that opening, Soren swung Labrys once more, targeting the same shoulder as before.
Thud
'It landed.'
Even without visual confirmation, Soren could feel the impact.
With every blow, he gained confidence.
This wasn't like his past duels; he had changed.
Ivan pushed forward using his kite shield, trying to bash Soren, but…
"「Breeze」"
He easily created distance.
The back and forth created by Ivan's lack of a weapon continued for a while.
Soren would press the attack, while Ivan defended himself near-perfectly, only receiving a few blows here and there.
To the outside, it may have looked like Soren was easily winning, but…
"Fuck, it's like hitting a wall," he cursed under his breath.
Soren, as one of the people involved, saw it differently.
Ivan was a solid wall; no matter how many blows landed, he remained unshaken.
Sure, he wasn't landing any hits on Soren, but that didn't mean Soren was guaranteed to win.
'He's already turned it into a battle of endurance.'
Soren clicked his tongue at the realisation.
The moment Ivan's sword left his hand, he switched his stance to a defensive one, focusing purely on tiring out the aggressive Soren.
'It's fine for now, but this can't continue.'
"「Shockwave」"
Whenever there was a slight distance between the two, Soren would throw out shockwave spells in an attempt to put a single dent in Ivan's armour to no avail.
'Think… Think… What can I do?'
It was a weakness that was vividly apparent to Soren, his lack of firepower, but it wasn't something that could be fixed anytime soon.
He was still nowhere near the level of using intermediate magic, and his blood magic was still incomplete.
'Actually…'
He faintly smiled at the idea that came to mind and secretly formed a magic circle beneath his feet once more, without lowering his posture so that Ivan wouldn't notice.
"「Inventory」"
Then he did something that not only surprised the audience, but also Ivan himself.
"Are you giving up?" Ivan asked skeptically at the sight of Soren putting Labrys away.
Soren didn't bother responding; instead, channelling the purplish-silver light in the hand that had previously held Labrys.
Then…
"「Breeze」"
With that one word, he shot forward empty-handed.
At the same time that he chanted those words, he had already begun casting once.
This was all possible thanks to [Concentration].
Without that one skill, Soren would have likely been forced to switch to martial studies.
Soren's mouth clenched shut, and his eyebrow twitched as if in pain, but nobody noticed that small action.
Then, just as he reached Ivan, he jumped.
Grab
"What are you doing?" Ivan said, his brows furrowing.
Ivan was confused by Soren's actions.
Soren had leapt into the air, only to land on Ivan's body, but the weight was so negligible that Ivan could still move freely, and without a weapon, he hardly viewed Soren as a threat.
It was only when Ivan went to grab Soren's body that his actions finally made sense.
Soren, holding onto Ivan's body, grabbed his opponent's helmet tightly, flipped up the visor covering his face and leaned so close that their breaths were felt on each other's faces.
Then, without skipping a beat, he grinned and opened his mouth, causing Ivan's eyes to widen in shock.
Wooonggg!
Soren's mouth was glowing faintly, a magic circle sitting on his tongue.
"「Ig-ishon」"
The pronunciation was slightly slurred due to his restricted tongue, but as if that didn't matter, flames flowed from the magic circle, directly into Ivan's unarmored face.
Fwooo!
"Argh!"
Ivan stumbled back and clutched his face; meanwhile, Soren pushed off of his body, landing on the floor, tears in his eyes.
"Cough, cough!"
His mouth was burnt from the flames, so Soren raised the light in his palm to his face and chanted an incantation.
.
[Minor Blessing of Agility has worn off!]
.
"S-stitch thy flesh… I end thy… agh!" He gritted his mouth in pain and took a deep breath before continuing. "thy agony.「Heal」."
After a few seconds, Soren's breathing finally returned to normal.
"Fuck, that hurt so much."
It was his first time trying out that attack, and he deeply regretted it.
"Let's never use fire magic for that type of attack again…"
Ever since he had learned how to create magic circles in other places, he had been experimenting all over his body, from his back to his tongue.
Still, he had never actually cast spells from those circles as he mainly practised during lectures.
This meant that he couldn't foresee the damage that would occur when casting in such a reckless manner, as it was something that was nearly impossible for anyone but him.
Without [Concentration], the magic circle in his mouth would likely have shattered, if not during the process of opening his mouth, then at the moment he started chanting the spell, as he couldn't say the spell name correctly.
'It's a good thing to discover, though.'
Through his actions, he has discovered that as long as his words have the intent and think of the correct name, the spell will be cast even if his speaking is restricted.
Soren rubbed his mouth a couple more times before looking at his opponent, only to curse in response.
"Shit…"
————「❤︎」————