Things had really gotten annoying. I hadn’t encountered any real problems up till this moment and had basically been cruising through the exam, but now in the eleventh hour, a huge mountain appeared in front of me. Somehow I’d been partnered with this annoying girl, Eliza, for the duel.
“Draw your weapon! I’m gonna beat you down with my magecraft.”
Good grief. What an impatient girl. Eliza already had her weapon in her hand and was assuming a fighting stance.
“Sorry, but I won’t be using a weapon. I’m not very adept with them.”
“Oh? Do you have some kind of special strategy?”
I wouldn’t have called it a strategy, but it was faster for me to compose spells from scratch rather than use a Regalia. My fighting style had come about not as the result of any particular emotion or preference, but from rational thinking. I doubt she would’ve believed me if I’d said that, though.
“I won’t get into the details, but I can at least guarantee you won’t be left unsatisfied.”
Eliza grinned, seemingly happy with my answer. “You have an antiquated fighting style, but I don’t hate it.” A daring smile crept across her face as she unsheathed her sword.
In the next instant, she thrust it right at me. Hm. She’s fast. I was surprised to discover that in this world of weak mages, there was still someone with this much potential. But even so, her attack might as well have been moving in slow motion. I did my best to hold back a yawn while circling behind her.
“Wha—” An expression of sheer shock filled her face as she desperately struggled to comprehend what was happening.
Still, this wasn’t enough to completely throw her off, which was proof of just how good she was. In a real battle, it’d be fatal to come to a stop simply because your opponent had moved in an unexpected way.
“Flame Edge!” Eliza swung her Regalia back towards me, launching a blade of fire that was essentially a variation on Fireball, but with its sharpness enhanced. I’d cast this very magecraft myself, countless times before. It was beyond basic. And it would’ve been easy to dodge, but I decided to switch it up a bit to keep things interesting.
“Flame Edge.” I produced a fiery sword twice as powerful as hers and swung it right back into her attack.
“Huh?!” As I countered her attack with overwhelming speed and force, despair filled her face.
The sound of combustion rang out as my attack engulfed hers, resulting in an explosion. She was able to dodge my attack, but it left a deep gash in the ground. Oops. I might’ve gone too far. Showing her just how big of a difference there was between us was simple, but it’d be no fun to end the match too quickly. In a sparring match like this, the most elegant way of winning was to draw out your opponent’s full power before triumphing over them.
“Yaaah!”
I had apparently underestimated Eliza’s abilities. Even after seeing the difference in our strengths, she was not deterred. She hid herself in the smoke from the explosion, erasing her presence and searching vigilantly for a chance to strike.
Suddenly, I recalled what she’d said to me before. “Listen, commoner! If you want me to notice you, become the strongest here. I’ve no interest in anyone but the strong.”
I see. It would seem that she hadn’t been lying about respecting strong opponents. It wouldn’t have been the least bit strange if all of this had caused her to fall into despair and give up, but she seemed instead to be genuinely enjoying this. Good grief. As for me, I couldn’t believe that doing battle with this annoying girl was getting me a little fired up. It’d been ages since a battle had given me the slightest bit of enjoyment. At any rate, it seemed like it’d be discourteous of me to keep drawing out the battle with one hand tied behind my back. I needed to get serious.
“A decent strategy,” I called out. “But not against me.”
“Wha—”
I quickly dodged her blow before composing an intermediate-difficulty attack that was one of my favorites to use in real battles.
“Burning Bullet!”
By now, I’d pretty much finished gauging her ability, and figured she wouldn’t be able to dodge this. After all, it was a magecraft attack with great precision. I made sure to lower its power so it wouldn’t be fatal, but that said, it would still be difficult for her to continue after taking it. This is the end of the road for you. Goodbye.