NoveLight ™
The academy's evaluation duels have predetermined starting distances depending on the event, as each discipline benefits differently from the spacing.
For example, in the hand-to-hand combat division, the distance is set at 5 meters, in the swordsmanship division, it's 7 meters, and in the spear division, 8 meters. For the archery and magic divisions, the standard starting distances exceed double digits, with archery at 20 meters and magic at 30 meters.
This distance allocation was always a bit unfair to me personally. While my magic skills weren't bad, my combat style wasn't limited to just magic. Of course, I knew that complaining wouldn't make the academy change the rules just for me, so I had no choice but to adapt my combat style to survive.
In a duel between mages, the key is to close the distance, making it impossible for the opponent to continue using magic effectively. This was the strategy I adopted in my evaluation duel against Agnes.
I dodged Agnes's flames, rolling through the air and managing to narrow the distance between us by a few more meters. To an observer, it might have looked like I was desperately evading Agnes's magic while launching ineffective counterattacks. But it didn't matter if they misunderstood. From the beginning, my goal wasn't to have a straightforward magic duel with Agnes, but to turn this fight into a close-quarters battle.
The official name of our final evaluation duel was the "Evaluation Magic Division Duel," not a "Pure Magic Duel." Just because it was a duel between mages didn’t mean I had to fight using only magic. If there had been an issue with fighting using non-magical means, it would have been pointed out last year when I used a dagger against Luke in our evaluation duel.
My aim was simple: close the distance, break through Agnes’s magical barrier with my own magic, and then finish her off with a dagger.
…The thought of stabbing her small body with a dagger was a bit unsettling, but the academy's evaluation duels were protected by death-prevention magic to ensure that no one was seriously harmed. Moreover, if I didn't show this level of determination, we wouldn't be able to convince the public that Agnes and I were on bad terms. Of course, we weren’t actually at odds; it was all just an act.
“Burn! Explode! Let all the flames consume that wretched lump of fat!!”
…This is just part of the act, right?
I moved forward step by step, dodging the barrage of fireballs that Agnes hurled at me while changing her incantations. Even though my physical abilities were good for someone in the magic division, they weren't enough to dodge every fireball coming directly at me using just my physical skills.
As I moved forward, I repeatedly chanted my own barrier spells, using them to block the fireballs I couldn't dodge.
‘It’s dangerous, Lillis.’
For the fireballs I couldn’t block, Sei used wind magic to subtly alter their trajectory. Rather than trying to push the fireballs away with wind, she used wind magic on my body, helping me dodge the fireballs. Normally, wind magic would amplify fire magic if they collided, so Sei made sure the wind never touched the fireballs, focusing entirely on my body. Despite her usual quiet and lazy demeanor, Sei was proving to be a reliable mid-level spirit.
After enduring Agnes’s relentless fireball barrage and narrowing the distance, there were now less than 10 meters between us. It was a distance close enough that, if I were to throw a dagger, it could reach Agnes, but I wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks.
If I made a half-hearted attempt, my dagger would just be blocked by her magical barrier, wasting a valuable opportunity. I had to break her barrier and deliver the finishing blow with the dagger simultaneously, and I had to do it on the first try if possible.
“Blazing flames! Tormenting screams!”
Agnes's next spell ignited a ring of flames around me, a 4th-circle spell commonly known as the "Flame Fortress."
‘Already at 4th circle? That’s demoralizing.’
For reference, aside from Mana Blast, the most powerful attack spell I could use was the 2nd-circle spell, Energy Bolt. In contrast, the fast fireball Agnes had used earlier was a 3rd-circle spell.
There would be time later to envy Agnes for casually using 3rd- and 4th-circle spells before the end of our second year. For now, I needed to figure out how to escape the walls of heat surrounding me. If I didn't, the flames would close in and roast me alive.
“I’ll burn you to a crisp, Lillis! Your plump, fatty chest! And everything else from head to toe!!”
…She’s not actually mad, right?
Agnes’s insults felt surprisingly genuine as she surrounded me with the walls of flame. The flames were closing in on me slowly, but it was impossible to escape the meticulously crafted "Flame Fortress." The height and thickness of the flames were enough to justify the term "fortress."
To avoid becoming a well-done Lillis, I had to find a way to escape before the flames closed in on me. …Or, I could end this fight right here and now.
“Dim mist and faint light!”
As the flames of the "Flame Fortress" started to close in on me, I hurriedly cast a dim light spell at Agnes. Even if she was shielding herself with a magical barrier, a simple light-blocking spell like this shouldn't be stopped by it.
Of course, this alone wouldn’t stop Agnes’s Flame Fortress, as it continued to tighten around me. But just blocking her sight was enough. At this moment, what mattered most was that I obstructed Agnes’s vision.
With Agnes’s sight blocked, I shouted the incantation for a spell that would help me end this fight. The spell that was Lillis the Mage’s ultimate technique, the guaranteed hit, Mana Blast.
“Mana! Answer my call!!”
If I completed Mana Blast within this Flame Fortress and fired it at Agnes, it would certainly be powerful enough to finish the duel. It would shatter all her magical barriers and likely incapacitate Agnes herself.
Even with her sight somewhat blocked by the dim light, as long as Agnes’s position remained the same, my Mana Blast would be a guaranteed hit.
“Vision! Condensed mana bomb!!”
Agnes’s Flame Fortress was gradually closing in on me, but I was confident that my Mana Blast would be completed first. It seemed that Agnes had accounted for my physical abilities and left a little extra room, allowing me the time to complete my spell.
Normally, I avoided using Mana Blast unless the conditions were perfect because it left me vulnerable during its casting. However, this situation seemed like the ideal opportunity to use it.
After all, the Flame Fortress was a channeling spell. Even Agnes, no matter how talented, wouldn’t be able to maintain focus on a 4th-circle spell while casting another spell to counter me.
If my Mana Blast was completed, the duel would be over in my favor. But knowing Agnes, she wouldn’t take such a frustrating loss lying down.
“Burn, burn!”
Realizing that she was running out of time, Agnes abandoned her Flame Fortress and hastily launched a fireball at me. She had chosen to forgo a grand finish in favor of a more practical victory.
She probably thought that since I was casting Mana Blast, I wouldn't be able to dodge, so even a 1st-circle spell would suffice to finish me off.
…But this final decision of Agnes’s was her downfall.
Because I never had any intention of finishing this with Mana Blast.
“……”
I lightly jumped out of the way of the fireball that was aimed at where I had just been standing, then quickly darted into the misty fog that still surrounded Agnes.
In my right hand, I held the dagger for the finishing blow, and in my left, a spell prepared to break through her barrier.
Mana Blast? I had never intended to cast such an inefficient spell. I merely recited the incantation to make it seem like I was casting it, but I hadn’t expended any mana for it. Using Mana Blast in a one-on-one duel was practically a death wish.
In Luke’s case, I had used Mana Blast after binding him with magical chains once his only means of attack was close combat. But using such an arrogant spell against another mage like Agnes would have just left me open for a counterattack, as we had just seen.
The only reason I cast the dim light spell on Agnes was to make her think I was preparing Mana Blast. The plan was always to finish her off with the dagger, just as I had originally intended.
“Sei!!”
‘Yes, I know.’
At my call, Sei used her wind magic to blow away the fog that had been surrounding us. As the mist cleared, the sight of the red-haired, twin-tailed mage came into view, her form now completely exposed.
I dashed toward her with all my might.
“...Ah!!”
Agnes gasped as she heard the sound of her magical barrier shattering and turned towards me. But it was too late—my dagger was already aimed at her heart.
And with no more obstacles in the way, my short dagger plunged into Agnes’s chest, striking her heart with precision.
“…Ugh!!”
“…No hard feelings, Agnes.”
…Feeling a pang of guilt at her pained voice, I found myself awkwardly mumbling something that was neither an apology nor an excuse.
“Is that so…?”
“If it were up to me, I’d gladly let you win, considering your situation… But a duel is a duel.”
“…I had some hard feelings, though.”
“…What?”
Before I could even process what Agnes had said, her staff, still held in her hand, suddenly plunged into my chest. Even with a dagger lodged in her heart, Agnes quietly muttered her final incantation.
“Flame… Explosion…”
“…Ah.”
The moment Agnes finished her last incantation, the fire magic unleashed from the tip of her staff engulfed both our bodies.
…That day, the first evaluation duel in the academy’s magic division triggered the death-prevention magic twice.