For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

…Would she spare me a little magic if I apologize now?

Staring blankly at Elisha, who was rampaging like a wolf among sheep, I realized I should deal with Wilhelm first.

“Water Ball.”

“Uh… Ugh!”

A blob of water enveloped Wilhelm’s nose and mouth. He struggled briefly but soon passed out, apparently unable to resist asphyxiation.

And like other dropouts, Wilhelm was collected by Iona.

There was no choice, then. My shield—no, my friend was gone, so I guess it was time to jump into that mess.

I had used quite a bit of magic, but most of it was basic, so I still had some mana left.

Having dealt with four people, I’d become somewhat accustomed to this melee. And now I knew that shooting magic was inefficient in this situation.

After firing, you had to chant again to reload the magic. It was more effective to wield it as I did during the charging phase and fire when it reached saturation or when necessary.

I might not be able to wield it like a real sword, but the principle of cutting when touched remained the same.

Well, for the missing parts, I would have to rely on my dagger and my mediocre weapon skills.

Right now, my limited magical prowess makes my modest physical abilities a significant advantage.

Once I’d thought of it, I needed to act immediately.

“O Wind.”

Whoosh.

I’d only chanted the first line, but the wind started gathering at the tip of my staff.

I continued chanting while running.

“Be my invisible blade.”

My target was a tall male student running away from Elisha.

He was running as hard as he could, panting heavily. But whether it was due to low stamina or something else, he was already stumbling.

“You shall become sharper in my hands.”

Whoosh-!

I rushed forward, wielding a Wind Cutter that had taken on the shape of a crescent moon.

“Huh? What?”

Focused on getting away from Elisha, he only noticed me late, and fumbled to raise his wand.

“Sh-Shock!”

He tried to use basic magic in a desperate attempt to get out of this situation, but he was a bit too hasty.

Sure, ‘Shock’ was a basic spell, but it could induce a brief paralysis typical of electric spells. However, that was all it could do.

Just like when I jabbed Wilhelm in the ribs, if he couldn’t make a move in that brief moment of paralysis, nothing would change.

Zap!

A tingling sensation ran through me; my hair stood on end, and my muscles contracted involuntarily.

I was in full sprint and almost tripped, but I managed to extend my arm just in time.

My already long staff extended even further, the spell activating a short distance from its tip.

The tall student hadn’t managed to get completely out of range, and a cut appeared on his waist.

“Ah!”

He didn’t roll on the ground like Wilhelm did after screaming, but he did let out a shriek, and he jumped.

He hastily checked his injured area, but it wasn’t like Iona’s magic would be broken by just that.

His clothes might have been slightly cut, but there was no wound. He was just disqualified, that’s all.

With his body flickering red, he heaved a sigh, and not long after, he was taken away by Iona.

After taking down one more person, I looked around. The scene had completely changed from before.

People were running away from Elisha, just like that tall student earlier.

Maybe they thought they wouldn’t earn enough points like this, so some started attacking the fleeing individuals. And naturally, counterattacks followed.

People who’d been hiding in corners from the start, as if neither Elisha nor I mattered, now came out.

And, of course, I couldn’t overlook Elisha, who was relentlessly firing off low-level spells from a distance.

Although there were now fewer than ten people left, nearly half of whom had been eliminated, the scene seemed busier than before due to the increased number of spells being cast.

Amidst the spreading chaos around me, I grasped a staff in one hand and a dagger in the other, drawing up magical energy.

Spells clashed in mid-air, and some students even resorted to physical punches when they didn’t have enough time to cast their spells.

The sound of shields breaking was heard everywhere, and the incantations for basic magic, which could be cast more quickly than low-level spells, became more frequent.

I also swung my staff to fend someone off, and launched a Wind Cutter at the back of someone else who was rejoicing after knocking someone down.

Then I created a small clump of earth with Terra magic, tripping up another attacker and stabbing them in the back with my dagger.

It was utter chaos.

In games, battles simply require managing your health and mana while mixing in skills and basic attacks. But the stakes were much higher in reality, even though this was just practice, not a real fight.

It was clear what Eona aimed to teach in this lesson: the urgency, excitement, pain, uncooperative magic, and even death experienced in real combat.

I now understand why the academy had an age limit of 20. Subjecting someone younger to this level of training could lead to irreversible damage. After all, the academy was intended to nurture talents that could eradicate the remnants of the evil Gods, not create lethal weapons.

So, the age limit wasn’t just a superficial setting in the game. It had a legitimate reason behind it.

Feeling a bit pleased that I’d uncovered a hidden backstory of H&A, I continued to spar.

Thanks to the system’s adjustments for chaotic combat, I managed to maintain stable spell-casting while dodging skillfully.

When I finally came to my senses, I found the surroundings had gone quiet.

All that was left were Elisha and me.

I was ragged and out of breath from rolling on the ground multiple times, even though I had never taken a direct hit.

In contrast, Elisha looked impeccably put together, with a surprised expression on her face.

“Oh, my? I didn’t expect Yandel to be this skilled in combat.”

she said.

“Thank you for the compliment. We were told to give it our all, after all.”

“You seem so interested in my words now. Why did you speak nonsense earlier?”

“Are you curious?”

“Of course. But I don’t want to give you any time to recover needlessly.”

She was quick on the uptake. She instantly noticed I was trying to catch my breath while carrying on the conversation.

“Are you tired?”

“Well, yeah. I’m not a knight-in-training, and running around this much is exhausting.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll finish this quickly.”

As she said this, two semi-transparent spheres rose behind Elisha’s head. They seemed to represent water and air.

“Shhh.”

In my head, dozens of countermeasures came and went, but the ones I could actually use were limited due to my small arsenal of spells.

Well, there was nothing I could do about it. I had to try to deal with it using what I had.

Firming up my resolve, I focused on the semi-transparent spheres that Elisha had conjured.

Each mana core had its own unique ability.

For example, the Lintblum Core had a unique ability called Resonance.

It originated from the idea that by resonating one’s own mana with the ambient mana, you might make your mana boil intensely enough to sense it yourself. When pushed to the extreme, it could resonate with the surrounding mana to amplify the power and range of spells.

Mana cores of a certain high grade usually possess such unique abilities.

This also applied to the Elementus Core created through the arcane breathing techniques of the Sylvan Magic Tower.

The semi-transparent spheres floating behind Elisha’s head right now are the essence of Sylvan Magic Tower: Shadows of the Elements.

Those spheres had no substance. If I remember correctly, the concept was that elements etched into one’s core would project as shadows each time magic was used.

Frankly, the details of how that worked were irrelevant.

What mattered was that if one projected Shadows of the Elements, that meant the respective elements had been engraved into their core.

In this case, it would mean that Elisha was receiving a substantial bonus for water and wind-related spells.

Even though Elisha was not a mid-level mage like Carla, the fact that she had been relentlessly casting low-level spells must be due to this bonus.

Not only in power but also in mana consumption and activation speed, she gets a bonus in every aspect.

Eventually, it might not be enough just to engrave the four main elements; one could become a living disaster by freely manipulating even the derived elements. But for now, this is it.

Fortunately, activation speed was something I also had confidence in. System adjustments allowed me to bring magic into the realm of instinct.

For a moment, I heightened my tension and raised my mana levels.

Elisha stretched her staff toward me and spoke,

“Ah, I take back what I said about finishing this quickly.”

“Heh, are you getting scared by any chance?”

“Not at all. I simply want to make sure I deliver on my promise to show you the gap between us.”

“No need to go to such lengths…”

“Bend.”

The moment I saw water condensing in front of Elisha’s staff, I stamped the ground.

I ran in a zigzag to disrupt Elisha’s aim and chanted an incantation,

“Sharp winds, invisible blades. This is the apathy held in my hand.”

Conventional spells wouldn’t work since she would be wearing a shield. So, I needed to charge through enhanced incantations to break it.

At first, the incantation felt awkward and a bit cringeworthy, but it became familiar after multiple uses.

…And I began to understand a bit why incantations were necessary.

All magic ultimately comes from imagination and will. A vivid image sprung from within me, giving form to the magic.

Incantations helped mages immerse themselves in their own images.

That was why the content could vary, and chanting elaborate spells could even increase their potency a bit.

It wasn’t just a superficial flair. It was an element that supported magic in a way different from intuition or calculation. That’s precisely what an incantation was.

Ding!

【You have accumulated sufficient understanding of the Low-Level Magic: Wind Cutter(E)】

【Skill proficiency increased!】

【The rank of Wind Cutter(E) has risen by one level, becoming Wind Cutter(D)】

Was it to confirm my hypothesis, or simply because I’d been using Wind Cutter throughout the duel?

A brief notification sound rang out as the system informed me of Wind Cutter’s rank increase.

Whooosh.

As if to prove it, the wind began to gather, noticeably more forcefully than before.

The blade took the shape of a distinct crescent moon.

Now all that was left was to somehow dodge Elisha’s spells and carry on charging before hitting her with a fully-charged Wind Cutter…!

“Haaaaaaah!”

I yelled as I mustered all the remaining stamina and mana.

And then…

I was shockingly defeated, only to be eliminated.

…Getting hit directly by this hurt just enough not to kill me.

Then I began to feel a bit sorry for those I’d knocked out.

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