Teo stood on the hard ground of the practice area, the other students gathered in a spacious circle around him. Opposite him, on the other side of the ring, stood Mr. Kasahara.
Maybe he had gone too far.
Indistinct chattering could be heard coming from the students, energetically discussing the recent events with their neighbors.
"He just had to go and do it, didn't he?" Jack said, letting out a long sigh while propping his hand onto Angelika's shoulder.
"Do you think he will be fine?" Angelika asked worriedly.
"Sure. What can Mr. K possibly do to him? He isn't going to kill him for messing around in class... I think," Jack answered, sounding a bit vague at the end, but flashed a wide smile after a second anyway.
"You think?!" called out Angelika with audible shock, after a moment she added in a low voice, "What if he gets hurt?"
"Relax, Mr. K is not the type of teacher who would hurt his students. However, I doubt he will get off too lightly either," Jack remarked easygoing, he had a lot more experience getting into trouble with teachers compared to her. He knew what he was talking about, but did not want to spoil anything.
"Psssst!" a thin boy in the front hushed them. It was going to start now.
"Ready when you are, partner! Why don't you take the attacking side first, you seem to be quite confident," Mr. Kasahara called out to Teo mockingly, whose facial color reminded one of a ripening tomato already.
He had not intended to go overboard at any time. He just wanted to practice, and maybe, maybe he had gotten a little excited and had forgotten to reign in his strength for a second.
Darrell's defense held up so well that Teo got carried away a little bit, showing off more than he intended, garnering more attention than he could appreciate.
'Now you've done it. Well played, genius!' a sonorous voice echoed in Teo's head.
Goliath was as helpful as a rock most of the time, and would only make his presence known when he was asked something directly — or when he wanted to add insult to injury in the shape of a sarcastic comment, like now. He had a somewhat mean sense of humor.
'I would rather have your help right now, instead of your commentary,' Teo replied silently, feeling quite helpless.
'Man up! You brought this on yourself, boy. Now you should live with the consequences.'
Goliath's harsh words were the truth. He really did bring it on himself. In this situation, however, his words seemed cold and heartless to the young Teo, who had already started to consider the small Golem as his friend.
Goliath, in turn, felt more like a parent at the moment, or more fittingly, a teacher, trying to hammer in a lesson that was worth remembering.
Unable to delay the matter any longer, Teo prepared to attack. Of course, he could not use his full power, nor his most potent techniques for fear of further infringing on his secret, but he could not continue to hide the power he had shown against Darrell just now.
He hurriedly prepared a decent Mana Bolt to test the waters again, which done quickly. Not even three seconds after he had started forming it, he had already finished the main structure and shot it towards his teacher with hesitation. Somehow it still felt wrong to shoot something at his teacher, but he did not really have a choice, given the situation; he had already tried apologizing twice, without much effect.
The ball of Mana was not remarkably fast nor otherwise impressive as it sailed through the air, more like a rock than a Magic Attack, showcasing the hesitation its caster must have experienced. His teacher just seemed to stand there, spacing out. Yet, when the small orb had almost traveled for the full distance between the two duelists, just two meters short of crashing right into his face, he suddenly flicked a single finger into its direction, barely even moving the rest of his arm.
From directly beneath the Bolt, a round blob of water began to rise up from the ground itself and shot straight into it. When the two spheres were just about to collide, the water ball suddenly split apart and engulfed the weak Mana Bolt instantly. It dropped to the ground again with a short-lived splashing sound and was gone.
Teo already knew that Mr. Kasahara had quite a hand for Water Magic, but this move was new. He did not have the time to showcase little tricks for them during class, after all. He was a teacher and not a performer.
Teo was shocked to see his attack curbed so effortlessly. Sure, as a material Element, Water Magic was quite useful for defensive purposes, only second to Earth in fact. But could it simply absorb his Mana Bolt like that? It looked just like a pebble falling into a pond, swallowed by the depths, barely making a ripple.
Teo did not lose his fighting spirit; instead, the confrontation with a worthy opponent got him fired up even more. He would just have to pay attention to how much of his real strength he could show, and everything would be okay, probably.
A new cluster of energy began to collect in front of Teo, this time much larger and denser. This was around as strong as he could get a Mana Bolt within a few seconds right now. He could further compress it while supercharging or increase its destructive might by giving it a more useful shape, but Teo did not want to go too far overboard again.
He let go of his hold over the dense mass of Mana, and it zoomed across the field with an awe-inspiring whistle. This time the blond man moved his whole hand, condensing the moisture in the air around him. It soon gathered as a fist-sized ball of water floating above his palm. He casually tossed it towards the fast approaching Mana Bolt and hit it perfectly, causing both orbs to explode magnificently into a large cloud of mist. The show was not over though, since the veil of mist froze in midair and came down as a shower of microscopic crystals, glittering beautifully in the early rays of the still-rising sun.
Several students in the crowd began to clap, impressed by the breathtaking performance they had just witnessed before they remembered where they were and quieted down again.
Teo was impressed too. Obviously, he would not stand a chance against a teacher at his school, but the way in which he lost the two rounds still felt very frustrating. They were supposed to be sparring, and yet it seemed like his teacher was simply performing for a Magic Show.
Teo decided to give it a more serious shot, finally showing part of his true skill. He began to gather Mana in a cone shape this time and made sure to spin it faster and faster around its axis while he was at it. Maybe he would be able to penetrate one of the annoying bubbles with this improvised drill.
He took a lot longer to prepare his attack this time around, spending almost half a minute on perfecting his creation, only saving a bit of effort on the compression of it, since he still needed to hold back at least somewhat.
Meanwhile, his teacher was eyeing his actions with interest.
'Damn! Is that still a second-year over there? He is scarier than most fourth years already, and he does pack quite the punch,' Dexton thought while observing the boy in front of him, forming what looked to be some kind of drill. He had already looked at the notes in the class book and was shocked to find that he supposedly only held an intermediate grade Mana Affinity.
'This guy is a genius! How is he able to gather this much energy with his low talent level? I must be sure to properly recommend him to a good Academy when I get the chance,' he thought, but then needed to concentrate on more pressing matters.
Dexton collected the thin layer of molten snow that covered most of the area with a swipe of his hand and readied himself for action. It was quite interesting to see what he would try to throw at him next.
*SHROOOOAAARRRM*
The drill was unleashed and ripped through the air as it traveled straight towards him. It was swift, but his trained eyes could follow it without difficulty. He quickly found a weak spot he could exploit, a loose thread; he would just have to hit the right place at the right time, a feat heavily impeded by its fast rotational speed.
The students stood in silence, observing the impressive, fist-sized drill bore through the surrounding air and come closer and closer to Mr. Kasahara. Some girls had already closed their eyes, unable to watch on. Many were already picturing how their teacher would be tunneled straight through the chest by this shocking skill of destruction.
Contrary to the vivid pictures in their mind, Mr. Kasahara did not break a sweat and swiped his arm vertically in a fast motion, calm and confident.
A sickle-shaped arc of ice shot out from his swing and shot straight towards the incoming projectile. It was very thin, yet extremely fast and glistened conspicuously as it reflected the rays of early sunlight. When both projectiles met in midair near the center of the plaza, something most puzzling occurred.
The crescent arc of ice cut right through the spinning drill, like a hot knife through butter, severing it in an instant.
Its core destroyed by the sudden intrusion of hostile Magic, both halves crumbled and dissipated very quickly, only leaving two small breezes of air as proof of their existence before vanishing altogether.
"I think it's my turn now," proclaimed the tall man and put on his most wicked smile.