***Kaius's POV***
"Wait, we should also make a strategy."
"Already have one. You beat everyone to a pulp with your sword. Or I can unseal you and THEN you beat everyone to a pulp with your magic. Simple!" I smiled proudly. The way I saw it, Platina was stronger than me physically and although I never saw her practicing magic, she was likely very skilled judging from her knowledge.
"Idiot, this is your exam, why should I do all the work?" She whacked me upside the head for the nth time in the past month.
"Ow! Stop that! You're gonna kill my brain cells!" I rubbed the tender spot to alleviate the pain.
"Oh? Since you're such an idiot I wasn't sure you even have any brain cells." There went her biting sarcasm again.
"Did you call me out here just to insult me or something?" I huffed.
"No, I called you out to think of a strategy, but your stupidity got me off track," she deadpanned.
"Fine, why don't you suggest one then."
"Alright. I have a strategy. Considering I am the one with the most experience with physical attacks and one-on-one fight, I will mostly be protecting you. This means that I will try to distract both the opponent and familiar while you cast your magic. Now, this is the critical part. You are to determine for yourself what spell you will use, and how long it would take for you to cast. I will protect you within that time only before getting out of the way of your spell. This means that you need to tell me the exact time it takes for you to cast the spell and accurately do so without overshooting or undershooting, because that would mean the opponent would have the chance to strike if you end too late, or I would be hit as well if too soon. Got it?"
"Not a problem. I'm pretty confident in my casting time and accuracy."
"Good. Tell me the time in seconds, not minutes. And don't shout it out to our opponent unless I'm far away. Also, in the instances in which I deem the situation dangerous to protect both of us, which I doubt will happen, I will tell you to unseal me. Now, I know that you have never seen me use magic before, but know that I am pretty much vulnerable while casting, and the shortest time I would be able to execute a spell is 30 seconds. During that time, I want you to protect me with the same time strategy. Whatever you do, do not let anything interrupt my casting. Unlike your magic, mine is delicate work and need to be done to near perfection. Got it?"
"Was that a stab at my magic just now?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Yes and no. If you ever see my magic, you will understand. But it is also true that your spellwork is far from perfect. Now, are we clear or not?" She placed her hands on her hips in a bossy pose, clearly not taking "no" for an answer.
"Yeah, yeah. After all this trouble, I better get first place."
"I don't see anything in our way with me here," she smirked, "Now let's go."
I followed her back to the stadium (strange, when did our situation reverse and now I look more like the familiar and not the other way around?). The few matches had already started. Since this was the preliminary, five matches took place at once to save time. I noticed that we were up next, and we walked down to the waiting area. Next to us was a pair of master-familiar that were easily twice my size. The master was muscles on muscles on muscles, and the familiar was the same, albeit even bigger. Both of them didn't look too bright either, so I suppose this was a match made in heaven.
"Next: Kaius Vanadir and Machoe Guy!"
I walked into the stadium with Platina and saw the same guy stepping in with me. So he was my opponent... His name made so much sense it hurts.
Platina gave me a nod before taking her place in front of me. I was a little concerned that she won't be able to protect both of us before these two hulking giant, and that she might get injured. Just thinking about it gave me a gut-wrenching feeling, but I ignored it in favor of concentrating.
Once the match started, I said "thirty" before immediately start on my fire incantation. Platina rushed straight to our opponent while brandishing her sword, giving no indication that she had heard me. I continued, however, and just half a second before my spell was released, Platina jumped out of the way, causing the opponent's familiar to get a frontal hit of my fireballs. I immediately started on my second spell after yelling "forty!"
While I concentrated on my incantation, I could register Platina's move to take advantage while the familiar was down and disoriented to kick the mage. Since he was easily three times bigger than her, he didn't look to sustain any physical damage, but the shock of the attack made him stopped his spell in the middle, thus buying us more time.
Once again, I released my spell, and just as easily, Platina jumped out of the way less than a second before. Since I used a slightly stronger spell, my light arrows pierced the familiar who had already sustained considerable damage before and knocked it unconscious. The mage, however, was protected by his familiar. Not to be outdone by me, Platina used the flatside of her sword to hit him in the head while he was distracted, and knocked him out as well. Thus went our first victory. Considering it only took two spells to end the match, this was easily my quickest victory yet. I supposed having Platina as a partner was a good thing after all.