I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

Magical Duels.

 

A tradition that was as old as magic itself, originally it was meant as a way to test who was in the right by using the knowledge of spell casting.

 

Eventually, it turned into something noblemen would use to fight over the most meaningless squabbles one could think of.

 

And then it evolved into something akin to a sport in colosseums.

 

Or at least that's what Mother told me in that particular class at home while rambling about no one wanting to duel her nowadays.

 

And I mean, why would you duel one of the most powerful and dangerous magical girls in the world?

 

No one is dumb enough.

 

Besides father, but as a powered that is a moot point anyway.

 

Why is this relevant you ask?

 

"You both know the rules for a duel?" Asked the teacher to the blonde girl and the blue-haired smart-ass.

 

"Yes." Said Michael Shepherd, the [Sage].

 

"I guess." Answered the blonde girl, [Elemental Weaver].

 

"Good enough." And on that note, the teacher flew to the stands and erected a force field around the arena.

 

"This is a demonstration, both students don't have nearly enough power to kill unless they aim at vitals. But we will use the [Shield] generators to protect your body." Said the teacher.

 

"Even if you do get a vital hit, at best your transformation might end. We don't want to get into the habit of that happening since that will also forcibly end all your [Security Nodes] exposing your identity to the world at large." Finished the teacher activating a magic circle embedded into her stand.

 

After that another magical circle showed in the feet of both students and so a warm light embraced them.

 

It was only visible for a few seconds before fading.

 

"That will shine red when it detects fatal damage to your [Shifted Body] and so it will mark your defeat." Added Agatha to her explanation.

 

"So anything goes so long it isn't aimed at a vital spot but we need to defeat the enemy." Asked Michael.

 

Elizabeth was almost sure that if she was the one asking that then she would get reprimanded.

 

"Exactly, we aren't here to torture each other though. So don't go too hard and try to finish the combat. You can also make your opponent Yield "... Finished saying the teacher.

 

She somehow got the feeling that the teacher had given too much emphasis on that word.

 

"Want to make a bet?" Asked Michael to the blonde girl.

 

"Nope ★" Answered without wasting a single instant the blonde girl.

 

"What?" Said astonished the [Sage].

 

"Why did you think I would accept?" Continued saying the blonde girl "I earn nothing, you have nothing I want." finished saying the blonde girl.

 

"Prepare yourselves!" Came the thunderous voice of the teacher from a magical circle that worked as a voice amplificator.

 

Since inside the barrier was isolated from the outside world this was necessary.

 

Even if Elizabeth found it somewhat wasteful. Couldn't they use wireless tinker tech for that?

 

"START!" But she didn't have time to think about that.

 

First was to dodge!

 

Mother always told her, in a magical fight. Always dodge first and think later.

 

So she dodged, she conjured a couple of wind streams from the sole of her shoes to launch herself backward without even attempting to control the power behind the spell.

 

A couple of magic circles could be seen shining in the heel of her shoes signifying the wind spell she had cast.

 

It proved right the advice her Mother had given her since a stone bullet hit where her leg was before.

 

" No pity for a cute girl huh?" Said the blonde girl while in the middle of her jump and while materializing a couple of magic circles in both hands. "Unless you are into that...Ugh..."

 

Also, some psychological warfare, not that it would work...

 

"I'M NOT INTO THAT!" Screamed the blue-haired [Sage] while for some reason he was taking off the hoodie.

 

That settled it, he was one of the bad guys. Who would ever take off their hoodie?

 

"( [Wind Manipulation] + [Earth Manipulation] + [Merge] ) + [Amp] = [Earth Needle]" And then she fused the magical energy from the earth & wind spells into a spike made of earth.

 

After she shot that earth spike into another Magic Circle that not only boosted its speed but also made it look somewhat more sturdy.

 

For his part, the blue-haired man just raised his right hand while taking off something from one of his pouches and spreading some dust while murmuring something under his breath.

 

"[Disperse]." And so the dust settled into some kind of arcane glyph, upon which her earth spike disintegrated into their basic components.

 

That would be good and all if her spell was cast the normal way.

 

But hers wasn't cast the normal way. Her was a compounding spell.

 

What does this mean?

 

Well, for Elizabeth it means her attack wasn't meaningless.

 

For Michael though?

 

It meant his defense wasn't...quite enough.

 

You see his [Distortion] spell is meant to disrupt a spell into his base components, if you use the method he uses that means turning the spell back into a component and mana.

 

For more normal spellcasters that means that the spell would turn back into basic mana and he would get showered in a wave of pure mana.

 

Nothing one can't get over if he is ready for it.

 

But in this case?

 

Several things happened in a row. First, he got showered in the mana of the last spell cast.

 

He got over that quite easily, even if the wave of mana was denser than he expected since the spell Elizabeth was using was somewhat advanced.

 

He still weathered it quite well all things said.

 

The problem was that his next step was stopped.

 

"Hah, you will have to do..." That was all he could say before the second mana wave hit him.

 

He almost choked on the mana wave.

 

So when the components of the spell surged forth he was caught unaware of his bearings and got pelted by a rain of rocks propelled by a gust of wind.

 

Granted it wasn't enough to mark red damage on his shield so in the grand scheme of things it was pointless as an attack.

 

But he still got caught by surprise and panicked creating a second more powerful shield than needed.

 

"[Great Shield]!" Was the next spell the [Sage] invoked consuming a shield necklace of his.

 

Of course, the great attack that he was expecting never came to bear.

 

Not that the blonde girl allowed that to pass "( [Fire Manipulation] + [Earth Manipulation] + [Merge] ) + [Amp] = [Shooting Star Bolt]!" and so she carried along while running in the arena with her Wind boosted shoes.

 

She tried to place herself in the back of the blue-haired kid while the magical circles on her hand created the required materials.

 

She even made the effort to make it look nice by making extra fanfare.

 

As the magical energy coalesced in her hands before fusing and creating a flaming rock that...Didn't quite look like a shooting star.

 

She still placed her hands together and let the flaming rock fly toward its intended target. A few centimeters away from her an extra magic circle was formed and once again propulsing and increasing the size of the rock.

 

Of course this time the [Sage] was more than ready and he already understood the gimmick of the blonde girl.

 

"[Shield]" So he just raised a hand and intoned his next spell. He didn't waste more reagents and just weathered the attack with his shield.

 

This one didn't have a complex effect as the distortion shield, nor was it was magnificent work of art like the Great Shield.

 

It was a normal energy-looking shield, it did his work quite well though.

 

Even if it looked like it could break after blocking the attack.

 

"Are you mocking me?" Asked the blue-haired [Sage].

 

"I understand if the first was a deception intended to test the grounds." Said while several magic circles started forming behind him.

 

"I can even respect the fact that you made me waste one of my biggest shields in vain." At this, he pointed at his necklace which was just a single chain without any decoration on it.

 

"But this attack..." He said pointing at the flaming rock that now was stuck in his latest shield.

 

"It isn't something worth the fanfare nor dedication you put." He even grabbed the flaming rock and extinguished it with his gloved hand.

 

"This is a mockery." And in a swift motion, the [Sage] broke the no longer flaming rock.

 

"If this is your best...You are disappointing [Elizabeth Starbright]." And then the magic circles around him started materializing Spikes made of earth. Like the one, Elizabeth had used.

 

Just on more quantity.

 

"It is your fault if for some reason you had other expectations Michael ★." Answered the blonde girl while frowning her face.

 

She was... Surprised, not by the fact that he could summon that many [Earth Neddle].

 

She already knew that this man had a better [Origin] in the magic department, and also he had higher [Wisdom] and [Intelligence] than her.

 

So she wasn't hoping to have an easy time.

 

No, she was surprised by the fact that he knew her name.

 

Granted she did [Shift] with everyone looking at her.

 

"No answer to name-calling? At least you are smarter than the brain-dead friend you carry along." Mocked the blue-haired man.

 

"...You are treading dangerous ground [The Promised Sage]." Answered the girl no longer keeping the bright starry facade she had going.

 

Just for a second, the blue-haired man could feel a shiver go along his spine.

 

But only for a second, because after that, the blonde girl in front of him returned to normal.

 

"If you are rude like this no girl will like you ★" She acted as if nothing had happened. "Even if you have that much firepower, if it's for show then it's meaningless★." Smiled the girl pointing at the dozen or so Earth Needles floating behind the blue-haired man.

 

"[Shot]." To which the blue-haired man just pointed in her direction and said the trigger word.

 

If this was a real-life battle, that might be enough to kill the blonde girl, and if not her [Shift] was most than likely getting canceled.

 

So here was the moment where she had power up and her friend(s) would start calling for her to rise!

 

She was probably getting out of that with grievous wounds too.

 

She could see the [Tropes] going around.

 

"I surrender." Yeah no.

 

She wasn't a [Shonnen MC], no point in doing that.

 

...Why aren't those spells stopping or getting canceled?

 

The blonde girl could see them still going and the blue-haired man now was panicking.

 

Does...Does he not know how to cancel his own spells?

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

 

WHAT KIND OF SAGE IS THIS?!?!?

 

At least the teacher was watching and she could stop this right?

 

This was still a class even if that teacher hates her...

 

....

 

WHY IS SHE JUST LECTURING THE CLASS WITHOUT PAYING ATTENTION?!?

 

...Right, the barrier prevented sound from passing.

 

Right...

 

At least they didn't hear the smart-ass using her name. So that was something.

 

....Welp, now she had to deal with this.

 

"I hate you all." First, get that out of the way. " ( [Lighting Manipulation] + [Wind Manipulation] + [Merge] ) * [Amp] + [Amp] =

[Flash Speed] " Intoned the blonde girl while several magical circles started forming in a flash all around her.

 

The first was the thunder aligned that formed below her feet, the second was the wind-attuned one that formed above her head.

 

Then a couple of booster ones started orbiting around her. The extra special thing was that her body started showing yellow lanes shining all over her body. And a couple of runic characters also started shining all over her body.

 

They looked similar to the runic characters her magical circles had...

 

Finally, a magic circle materialized above her that instantly after showing up smashed down into the blonde girl.

 

This all happened in a few seconds during which the teacher stopped pretending to not paying attention.

 

Now Elizabeth Starbright glowed with an ethereal glow. The skin that showed in her outfit had that shifted between yellow and green. A few runic characters occasionally moved along her skin. And if one paid close attention, one could almost see the faint glow below her white shirt and under her white stockings.

 

Her attire in contrast looked... Strained, as if the mana that should keep it materialized was being tugged in another direction but something kept it in control.

 

But neither the blue-haired man nor the other students had time to ponder that.

 

"Star Time ★," Said the blonde before disappearing from sight.

 

The earth spikes impacted where she was standing a few seconds before and raised a dust cloud.

 

And after that, an alarm signaling the end of the match sounded.

 

Surprised the students searched for the contestants.

 

Only to find the blonde girl panting while trying to stay standing, her figure was a sorry sight.

 

Her pristine hair now was a mess and she had lost the ribbons in her head at some point. Her white pristine stockings were ripped in a few spots and her left sleeveless gloves were missing while the right one was ripped.

 

Her left arm also was punctured and was bleeding, profusely.

 

Her opponent?

 

He was on the floor in the fetal position, almost as if he was in incredible amounts of pain.

 

No visible wound could be seen in him, one could only wonder what happened in that instant.

 

If anything he somehow was almost 20 meters away from his original position.

 

"BOUT END, BOTH CONTESTANTS STOP THE FIGHT!" Came the thunderous voice of the teacher.

 

"So, here is where you declare the winner teach ★?" Said the blonde girl while smirking, she now also had a line of blood leaving her mouth.

 

But even so, she stood proud!

 

"... It's a tie, only because the [Sage] does not look like he can stand, you are lucky girl, that wouldn't work on a seasoned [Mage]. They know better." Said the witch while looking irked for some reason.

 

"Oh, I know that, trust me. But since the match didn't end when I surrendered... Might as well try. While this might not work in a [Duel]... I'm sure it would have better chances to work in [Real Fights] at least against males... ★" Ended the girl while slowly walking towards the benches.

 

After the witch ended the match the barrier separating the arena from the rest dissipated. So while the rest of the students were flabbergasted by the end...

 

A pink-haired girl jumped down to help the blonde girl.

 

"[HEAL!]" was shrieking the pink-haired girl while slowly but surely treating the wounds of the blonde girl.

 

The blue-haired kid you ask?

 

He was still groveling in the ground for help without actually saying what was wrong.

 

Elizabeth had no mercy for him though.

 

Who shoots that much firepower without a way to cancel the spell?!?

 

He knew the right spell to stop others, why not his own!?!?

 

Rossie?

 

She was too busy treating the wounds of Elizabeth, not that she would heal someone that left her in that condition, to begin with.

 

The teacher?

 

She did cast a floating board to carry the blue-haired [Sage] into the stands.

 

She did not cast any type of healing magic on him though.