by Weiqi Wang
Back in the meeting room, the rest of the committee was at a loss for what to say next. Gazbell had to suppress his amusement and ask another wizard beside him. ‘Dean Harries, the Deans of Stanfaul and Halston both asked their questions, what about you?’
‘Mr. Principal, I have no question to ask; but I would like to thank Mr. Jadeking for considering Bosstin College.’ Dean Harries answered with a big smile. ‘Also, I learnt that Mr. Jadeking does have a special gift that may satisfy Stanfaul College — Aertiuno, would you like to talk about your persuasive whisper?’
DUEL PACT
‘Cheers!’ A vivacious blonde girl named Catheray lifted her glass of juice and all the girls around the table stood up and toasted Soarame, their Water-mate, for passing his unique interview.
‘Great job, Soarame!’ Another beautiful girl named Jemario elbowed Soarame gently. ‘We are really proud to have you on board!’
‘Yes, Soarame, welcome to the Water family!’ Another girl called Vivarin acclaimed. She was neatly dressed, with long silver hair, somehow making people think she was a sword-fighter rather than a wizard. With her words, everyone else toasted him.
In the restaurant, a group of teenage girls sat together with Soarame, joking and laughing cheerfully. They were Dileys’ best friends and students in Water department — all about the same age, but the girls had started school earlier than Soarame. Hearing that Soarame was admitted into Stanfaul College, they were so madly excited that they kidnapped Soarame and rushed him out to celebrate at Aquamarine Sky, a popular restaurant on campus.
The twittering and chirping from the girls naturally attracted the attention of male students in the restaurant. The boys squinted towards the table now and then; but finding that the focus of the girls was actually a boy, they were all puzzled.
‘That kid was just admitted by Stanfaul College; it seems that’s the deal.’ A few boys caught the words from the girls.
‘We should go and say hello.’ Said one of them.
‘What kind of hello?’ Asked another one.
‘What do you think? The big one, of course.’
‘Nah, I don’t want to get into trouble.’
‘He’s right; you don’t want to mess with someone in Stanfaul College. When he grades up he will get back at you, don’t forget that.’
Soarame wasn’t aware of the unwelcome attention he was getting. He was wrapped up in playing and joking with his new friends around him.
‘Okay everyone, time to let Soarame tell us about his amazing experience of striding into Stanfaul College as a pure Water!’ Jemario stood up and cheered.
‘Yeah!’ Applause sounded from one after another; all the girls craned their necks as Soarame told his story.
‘Jemario, it’s…’ Soarame felt so shy. Jemario had exaggerated, which made it hard for him to carry on.
‘Pure Water? Meaning single-majored in Water? How could someone like that get into Stanfaul College?’ Before Soarame could go on with his words, a voice from another table sounded.
The girls looked over, finding a few boys from the table nearby standing up. One of them walked towards them and spoke to Soarame. ‘Hey, pure Water, is that true? You only practice Water magic?’ The boys hadn’t come over earlier because they didn’t want problems from a grown Stanfaul boy later on, but after they heard he was a pure Water student, they were no longer worried.
‘Who are you? Watch your manners!’ Hearing the contemptuous voice, Jemario shot up on her feet and rebuked the boy. As a Water student, Jemario was fed up with contempt of all sorts, and so were all her friends. ‘He’s pure Water, so are all of us, so what?’
The male student hurriedly replied. ‘My name is Robert, Grade 4 in Earth, Joseph College. What’s your name?’
Robert was looking at Jemario, but Jemario was whispering with Catheray and didn’t heed his words at all. Robert was a little embarrassed, and he chose to stare at Soarame for that.
‘What’s your problem?’ Seeing that, Dileys stood up in front of Soarame, gazing at Robert. ‘Why are you staring at him?’ Vivarin also came to Dileys’ side, staring at Robert with hands akimbo, signalling I’ll teach you a lesson if you don’t behave.
The Water girls had been known to be super protective of each other. Because Water magic before Expert level is commonly acknowledged to be not as powerful, the Water students naturally grouped together to help each other. Now Soarame had just became a member of Water family, they were showing him the tradition.
Just as the situation came to a head, everyone heard the creaking door of Aquamarine Sky. In walked another male student, tall and thin. Seeing who it was, Dileys instantly had a headache. Oh no, not him again… at this moment!
The one who had stepped in was none other than Casavin, followed by his friends.
Casavin had the reputation and nature of a troublemaker; stirring things up was his favourite hobby. Seeing the conflict between a crowd of girls and boys, Casavin was instantly alert. Although neither side welcomed him, Casavin quickly chose to help the girls so as to impress them. Standing beside Dileys, Casavin turned to Robert and thundered. ‘Who the heck are you? Stay away from my friends!’
‘Stay away yourself!’ A friend of Robert stepped forward to Casavin. ‘You don’t remember me, Casavin? We are both in Grade 4, Fire.’
‘Saja? Of course I remember you.’ Casavin sneered. ‘The brave boy who ran away from me last time.’
‘Who ran away?!’ Saja was instantly mad. ‘You had five others with you last time! If you ever care for a one-on-one, I’m ready.’ Obviously, these two had had problems before and it was still not settled.
‘Saja, don’t!’ Robert stepped forward and blocked Saja. ‘As far as I know, his Earth magic is Grade 5.’
‘It’s okay. I won’t use Earth for our one-on-one.’ Casavin shrugged his shoulders and glared at Robert. ‘You heard him, he dared me, so I must take the challenge!’
‘Okay, then! Let’s go sign a duel pact!’ Saja was in overjoy. ‘Fire vs. Fire, deal?’
‘Of course!’ Casavin confirmed without hesitation, and turned to the crowd in the restaurant. ‘You guys all witnessed this; we’ll move on to the arena! Everyone is invited to watch!’
The dinner plans were therefore aborted just like that. Casavin took the lead out of Aquamarine Sky and everyone followed out of curiosity, including Soarame and the girls.
The Institute of Libral forbids spontaneous fights between students, but allows formal duels on a teacher’s authorization. Any student could issue a duel challenge to another in an equal or higher grade — but not lower — then they are free to compete in an arena on campus just as Casavin and Saja were about to, as long as a teacher watches them.
This day, everyone was going to see a live duel. Fire vs. Fire, this one was going to be worthy of watching because both sides were good at attacking. As the crowd headed for the arena, more and more students came from all directions and joined them. Seeing that the crowd had become hundreds upon arrival at the arena, both Casavin and Saja were quite satisfied; they couldn’t wait to show off their powers in front of the crowd.
Stepping up to the closed gate, Casavin put his hand on a magic symbol beside it. The symbol lit up and passed his voice through to the teacher on duty inside. ‘This is Casavin and Saja. We are here for a duel. Please let us in!’
‘Welcome, all of you. You can call me Sandoray.’ Shortly after, the gate to the arena opened and a gorgeous female teacher walked out. ‘Casavin and Saja, step forward, please.’ After checking the Libral Emblem of the two students, Sandoray looked at Saja. ‘You are challenging a Grade 5 as a Grade 4? That’s impressive.’
‘What?’ Saja was stunned. ‘We are both Grade 4.’
‘No, Casavin is Grade 5.’ Sandoray lifted Casavin’s emblem. ‘As it’s clearly shown here.’
‘What?’ Both Robert and Saja became anxious. ‘Casavin, you’re Grade 5 but you didn’t tell us?’
‘Well, you didn’t ask.’ Casavin shr
ugged his shoulders and sneered. Casavin’s friends had to hold back their laughter because they were the only group of people who knew that Casavin had just upgraded in Fire. Casavin had actually brought his buddies to Aquamarine Sky to celebrate this.
‘Cheat!’ Robert thundered.
‘Watch your mouth, boy!’ Casavin was upset. ‘I didn’t ask for the duel, he did!’
‘This isn’t fair. He trapped you.’ Robert wanted to drag Saja away. ‘Screw this, let’s go.’
‘Wow, look at these cowards.’ Casavin burst into laughter. ‘What happened to the “dare a one on one”? You dared me, remember? Now you want to run away again, just like last time?’
‘Shut up, cheat!’ Saja was caught off guard by the situation. He couldn’t just walk away when so many were watching and whispering. ‘Shame on you! Tricks are all you’re capable of!’
‘Enough, both of you. You are wizards, not shrews!’ Sandoray shook her head on hearing all this. ‘If you still have the guts for the duel, walk into the arena and sign the magic pact. If either is afraid, admit it and off you go.’
‘Saja, don’t go in there!’ Robert tried to stop his friend, but Saja didn’t really have much choice — Casavin’s gang spared no effort mocking and sneering, and the whole crowd was watching — so he agreed to proceed. Sandoray pulled out a piece of parchment and used her wand to point at it. The next second, her statement for the duel appeared on the parchment in words, as if she had written everything on it by hand. Casavin and Saja both pointed their wands at the pact; their signatures appeared below the statement, meaning they agreed to carry out the duel.
A magic pact was an oath from a wizard to the God of Fate, written in mind power; whoever signed it must fulfil the agreement in it. It was a critical thing for a wizard to sign a magic pact because there was no way to break it — the violator would sacrifice his soul and thus die, or become a soul-slave of the beneficiary party in the pact, if there was one. In this case, there was no beneficiary party between Casavin and Saja because the pact was just to promise that they would have a match on this day; it didn’t matter who was the winner. However, if either side refused to have the match or decided to postpone it, the immediate cost would be his life. Hence, because of the seriousness of a magic pact, when wizards made promises or pledges to each other, they always signed a pact so the deal became absolutely trustworthy.
‘Why are you doing this? You heard us, Casavin set a trap for Saja!’ Seeing that Sandoray was watching this happen coldly, Robert was anxious for his friend. ‘Why did you watch this happen?’
‘Because you boys are supposed to be righteous wizards, not cowards that only dare to bully the weak.’ Sandoray stared at Robert, expressionless. ‘It’s degrading to your position as a wizard if you look for trouble in the beginning, but quit later out of fear.’
‘They are just kids, Sandoray. Kids make mistakes, and you should give them a break.’ Overhearing this, another teacher named Thomas came by. ‘Improvement in your Water magic has also given you a frozen heart. I’m a bit worried about you now.’
‘I did offer that boy a chance to quit if he admitted his cowardice, but he’s so peacockish to actually sign the pact. That’s not merely a mistake, that’s a big blunder.’ Sandoray answered coldly. ‘These kids need to learn that unless they are completely sure about something, do not ever sign a magic pact. Once a pact is signed, they are bound to it and have to fulfil it no matter what; even if it’s unfair or has traps in the first place.’
‘But Saja may get hurt.’ Thomas frowned. ‘And we are here for the purpose of protecting the students.’
‘I’m protecting him from getting killed in the future by letting him get hurt a bit now.’ Sandoray answered. ‘Since when did you become such a pacifist?’
Thomas went quiet. He had to agree that Sandoray was actually right about this. Hopefully the students could learn a vivid lesson from this.
‘Boy, you’d better try your best.’ Casavin was already on the stage. ‘Don’t make it too easy for me.’
‘Show me what you got.’ Saja stepped forward, knowing that the magic pact had to be fulfilled and there was no way back. The crowd was cheering for both sides, although few people thought Saja could win — it was commonly known that in the same lineage, a lower grade basically meant losing in a fair one-on-one.
‘Why don’t you take the first move, as usual?’ Casavin said. It was an unwritten rule that the side with lower grade may have the attacking privilege, as a courtesy.
Saja didn’t speak, but held his magic wand in his hand and started an incantation of Fire magic. He then pointed his wand with his right hand and a simple firebolt shot rapidly towards Casavin.
A firebolt, as one of the simplest spells in Fire, was frequently used to test the power of a rival at the beginning of a fight between junior wizards. Especially, Saja knew Casavin’s power was higher than his, so he had to be cautious.
As a Fire wizard, Casavin could certainly tell that the incantation was a firebolt, so he didn’t even use magic to defend himself, but just moved his body sideways to dodge it. Seeing Casavin’s obvious contempt, Saja felt insulted and began another incantation. Casavin recognized that Saja was summoning a much more powerful spell this time, so he became serious and started an incantation of his own.
The incantation didn’t take long. Saja swung his magic wand and sent a blast of flame rolling towards Casavin — it was a flamerush, a spell ranked as Grade 4 in the institute. As the flamerush was driving through the air, a large ring of fire appeared around Casavin, with him located in the centre. The firering and flamerush collided into each other and vanished, because they were of equal power.
Seeing that Casavin and Saja had a tied round, the crowd cheered enthusiastically. Shortly after, Saja finished the preparation of his next attack, casting a number of firebolts in succession at Casavin. Casavin had not finished his incantation yet because it was more complicated, so he had to dodge erratically left and right. However, Saja’s firebolt wave was more intense than Casavin had anticipated and his incantation was almost cut off while he was dodging.
Seeing how Casavin suffered in the fight, the audience were amazed at Saja’s performance and all began to cheer. At the same time, Saja’s next incantation was already underway as Casavin finally finished a Grade-5 spell — double firering. One firering emerged around Saja, encircling him around the middle, while the other one surrounded Casavin as protection. Having finished this, Casavin snickered. ‘Not bad, boy. But now you are trapped; once I tighten up the firering you are done! So yield now!’
Although encircled by the firering, Saja didn’t seem to care about Casavin’s warning. He speedily finished his third incantation and swung his wand — flamerush again, but more powerful than the last time. The flames caused Casavin’s defensive ring to vanish and, although it became weaker, it still dashed towards Casavin. Casavin was caught off guard and had to roll over on the floor to dodge it. However, he didn’t make it; his left arm got burnt and black smoke billowed upward.
‘Ahh!’ Casavin couldn’t hold back his cry of pain. A Grade-4 spell is no joke; it could certainly hurt, even to a fatal extent if taken full on.
‘Great job, Saja!’ Robert instantly led the cheering and part of the crowd joined in, while the other part was screaming at the burn. Casavin was enraged by the sharp pain. Seeing that Saja was still preparing for his next spell, Casavin tightened the firering surrounding Saja. Watching that the flames would soon swallow him up, the crowd began screaming again.
Just as the raging flames overwhelmed Saja, there was a sizzling sound followed by a large cloud of vapour. The firering had vanished thereafter — it seemed like a Water spell!
‘Water-shield? No way!’ All were surprised, including Casavin, but he quickly realised what had happened. ‘Damn it, it must be his magigear!’ Just as Casavin was about to cast another spell, a firering appeared around him.
‘I’m sorry, Casavin, the magic pact didn’t forbi
d the use of magigears.’ Saja stepped out of the vapour and was not injured at all. ‘Yes, I relied on my Nymph’s Guard, but I beat you, after all.’ Everyone suddenly noticed that Saja was wearing a silver necklace of some sort — the magigear that had cast the water-shield.
‘Nymph’s Guard! That’s the name of the necklace?’ In the crowd, Dileys’ eyes were shining. The necklace looked beautiful, and it was an actual magigear that could cast spells. Soarame was also pretty taken by the necklace and whispered with his friends about it.
‘Humph, I was wondering when you became a glorious Water!’ Casavin mocked. ‘But of course, it’s only a trick after all.’
‘Water beats Fire in this case, so I don’t see your point.’ Saja was tired, but couldn’t help feeling cheerful because he was winning. ‘Plus, you started the tricks — remember our grade difference?’
‘Water beat Fire?’ Casavin laughed. ‘Give it a hundred years, newbie. I’ll show you what real Fire magic is like!’ With that, Casavin stamped his foot and suddenly a circle of flame emerged and extinguished the firering Saja had put around him.
This time it was Saja who was surprised. ‘What’s that?’
‘Something you don’t know, obviously.’ Casavin was not happy that he had not managed to beat Saja as he had expected. ‘Thanks for driving me mad!’ With no intention of answering Saja’s question, Casavin started his next incantation right away.
Saja clenched his teeth and prepared for a final strike. In the meantime, the crowd was amazed by the appearance of Casavin’s boots; even Thomas was staring at them and assessing them with Sandoray.
‘You are right; the boots do look like Trampling of Feriathan.’ Sandoray said to Thomas. ‘But imitations of low quality.’
‘Which is still surprising, don’t you think?’ Thomas sighed. ‘These kids are just Grade 4 or 5, yet already they have magigears like that.’