[Hikki's POV]
Tch! Just when I was having a wonderful time out in the market, the old geezer had to summon me. The academy sure makes its staff work to death.
But that boy, why did the old geezer summon me for that boy? He does not seem special to me.
I would love to hear his reason but now is not the time to think about such stuff.
'Hello my name is Ricardo Dinnar; nice to meet you miss,'
Huh, he is able to speak calmly in front of me. That's surprising. Ricardo Dinnar eh, I haven't heard of any noble family called Dinnar, could it be that he is a commoner?
'Ooh, he is brave to be able to speak so calmly in front of me,'
I guess this boy has something in him.
'Hikki, we summoned you to test this boy's combat ability,' the old geezer explained.
'Kufufu, is that so,' I smiled.
It has been a while since I've had a chance to crush a young magician. Let's make it fun.
'Hold on, you mean I have to fight her?' the boy asked, he is trying to act tough but it is clear that he is scared.
'Yes boy, in fact, you need to defeat her,'
Oye, Oye old man, are you trying to break this boy's spirit? Boy, it is your bad luck that brought you in front of this ruthless old demon. I might feel bad but who am I to complain, I am the same. It will be fun to see a dreaded expression on his young beautiful face. Kufu!
I saw the boy sigh and look around the room. Maybe he is preparing his mind for the battle or maybe he is just scared and trying to find out ways to escape either way it's a futile attempt.
'So, are you ready, young boy?' I asked.
I saw the boy slid his hands under his coat and take out a fancy wooden stick. The stick was about 14 inches long and the body was thick at the bottom and thin at the top. The top was so thin; it looked like it would break if I just pinched it. It was an odd choice for a cargon.
'Ooh, is that your cargon, a stick?'
'Umm, yeah, I made it myself,' he gave a big smile.
Such a naïve young boy, being proud of making a stick, let's see how his cargon fares against mine. I will mop that smile off his face when I break that stick.
'Ahahahaha, I have never seen a boy this proud of himself just because he managed to make a stick,'
Hm, what's that I just felt like he thought something rude about me? Well anyway, I'll crush him now.
'Get ready boy, your nightmare starts now,'
I activated my cargon, a golden ring carved with my name in rune language on my left ring finger.
Hm, let's see what should I do? Well, let's play with him first.
I point my index finger towards the boy and cast,
[Fireball]
A small ball of fire shot out from my index finger, it has a seemingly fast speed but it is a mediocre spell.
The boy simply waved his stick and canceled out my spell.
Hm, not even a sweat eh, normally first years, namely commoners try to dodge the ball of fire. Seems like he is skilled, lets see how he performs with this spell.
[Water Vortex]
A spiral force of water originated from my index finger and shot out at great speed towards the boy.
[Thunder Wind]
A fierce gush of wind took over the room and got mixed with the water vortex, combining to form a tornado that totally engulfed the boy.
'Wow, a tornado inside the room, so cool,' I heard the boy praising the spells I cast. Rather than scared he sounded very calm. I hate that.
I saw the tornado that I created vanish in thin air, which came as a blow to me. What spell did he use? Did he even use a spell? There was no incantation how the hell did he cancel out the tornado? It looks like I underestimated this brat.
I better get serious. Tch! What a pain!
'Okay, boy, face this,'
[Inferno]
As soon as I finish calling the spell, a magic circle appeared on the ground right below me, it was a red circle. And a red-skinned demon-like being appeared in front of me and bowed. She had two horns protruding out of her forehead and had muscular abs with a red bra covering her breasts. She did not have a lower body; instead, it was covered in a black smoke-like cloud which helped her float. She was Firita, a lower level fire spirit born from the depths of hell.
The spell I cast allows me to fuse my firepower with a lower level fire spirit and attack the opponent while a barrier of that spirit protects me from my opponent's frontal attack.
'Attack, the boy' I order it.
'As-sshh you pleassshhh' the spirit replied in a whisper-like voice.
The spirit looked at the boy and lifted her right hand. She channeled her mana on her palm and on my feet and made a connection with the boy. The boy was now caught in Firita's trap.
I could look through the spirit as we were bound by our soul for a short period of time. Spirits need a medium or a host to survive in the physical world. So, for my spell [Inferno] to work I have to agree on being the host for the spirit while it fulfilled my wishes.
A red magic circle appeared below the boy.
'What the-', the boy frowned.
It felt good to finally see him frown. I let out a smile. I guess, maybe somewhere deep inside I am a demon.
'Hey, I can't move and isn't it cheating, that busty lady is using a spirit,'
The boy spoke, the frown he had before disappeared.
What, busty lady?
I was furious, no one called me that.
'Watch your tongue, brat, if it's unfair to you, so be it, the Vendorians won't play fair either, will they?'
Yes, the Vendorians, our sworn enemy. This world worships power, it does not matter if it's fair or not, that's reality. If he is having a hard time dealing with it, it's his problem that he's too naïve. I don't care.
'Is that so?' the boy said.
Even if he is in a pinch he still acts very calmly, I wonder what he is up to. No commoner first year can make out of this trap without a scratch.
'Say your prayers boy, this is the end, do it Firita' I snarled.
Firita snapped her finger on my command and in that instant, a scorching tornado of fire emerged from the red circle. The fire was very intense, heat radiated around the whole room. I would hardly believe my eyes if the boy made out alive after facing such an attack.
After a minute or so, the fire extinguished leaving a thick smoke behind that soon enveloped the room. An eerie silence fell over. The panel of the old man was silently judging the bout. When the smoke cleared, the boy vanished. He had probably turned into ash.
'Looking for me,' I heard the boy mocking. His voice echoed in the room.
'Impossible,' I let out my surprise.
But Firita was more surprised than me.
'How are you sh-still alive, what-shh did you do?' She screamed but her screams felt like forces of silent air.
He was nowhere to be seen. Could he have used invisibility spell? But if that is so, I should be able to sense him. But I can't. It's like he has erased his presence. Hm, could it be?
'Oye, oye, are you erasing your presence?'
'Bingo!'
A reply came from nowhere and it echoed around the room.
'How are you able to use a high tier magic spell at this stage-- isn't it too early?'
'Oh, sheer effort and hard work, I should say,'
The boy answered.
Erasing one's presence is a very tricky and difficult thing to do. It takes about 2 years to master that particular spell. Even most noble students from the third year can't use this spell. I should hand it to this guy; he is overqualified for this academy.
Is he a prodigy? If he is he would be a great asset. I can see why the old geezer summoned me as his opponent. Oh, well, it's his bad luck that he got matched up with me. Either way, it doesn't matter. I canceled the effects of [Inferno] and Firita disappeared.
[Magic Sense]
I cast another spell.
Even if a person erases his presence, he can't erase his mana, erasing mana requires true skill and practice which I highly doubt he is able to do. Thus, by sensing his mana this spell will point me out the location.
I closed my eyes and a greyish picture formed in my mind. I increased my search radius to fit the room. I could see five purple beings which are the old geezer's group silently evaluating this match. I diverted my vision from them to their side. I could not sense any presence of mana. So, I focused my vision in front of me, I could see a faint purple being in front. Aha, there he is, I don't know how he got out from the trap before but looks like he just moved a little to the side from the circle. I smiled.
[Wind Blade Tornado]
A huge wind tornado took over the room and originated from the place the boy was hiding.
But the spell simply vanished in thin air, he canceled it again but in the process he revealed himself. Tch! I have to use another spell now. I never imagined using the strongest spell in my slot on a measly brat. Whatever spells I used, he cancels them out easily without even incantation. Seriously, what magic is he using?
[Helmundos Fire Charge]
A big illuminated line appeared on the floor and separated the room into two unequal sections. I, along with the old geezer's gang was on the smaller section while the boy was on the bigger section.
The smaller section was the safe section of the spell but the bigger section was about to see hell.
But suddenly a golden light illuminated the room. A magic circle had appeared under me. I looked down in surprise but then my whole body froze.
I could not use a single muscle on my body. My lips felt like they were stuck, my fingers were stuck and so were my eyes. I was utterly and completely paralyzed.
'Ah, my plan worked!' I could hear the boy's voice from behind. He sounded happy and satisfied. But how is he behind my back? Just a second ago, he was in front of me across the line, in the bigger section.
[Dream World]
I heard the boy cast and with that everything became blurry and dark.