Kenji and Ardere entered the circle of students while Melodi hung back in the crowd. Ian and his wolf stood opposite of them, only a meter away.
"The rules have already been explained to the participants of this duel, however i will repeat them for those who are unaware. Your clothes will measure the damage taken from every attack, physical or magical. If you take too much damage your clothes will indicate you are close to losing, by glowing a dark orange and if your clothes surround you in a green light, that means you will be in recovery mode and your wounds will be too much for you to continue on and you will have lost."
"Your summons damage will not be measured however, so if you don't want your summon to die then you will need to forfeit. Do you two understand these rules as i have explained to you."
"Yes." Ardere and Ian said in unison.
"Then this duel shall begin."
As Mrs.Aluma said this the crowd of students backed up and made the area larger. Ian and Ardere turned and paced back before stopping twenty meters away from each other. Kenji however didn't stop as he walked up to Melodi and began to pull his uniform off revealing his battle clothes just underneath.
"Hold onto these for me will you." He said as he made his way back to Ardere.
Upon reaching Ardere again Ian began to speak.
"This is your last chance to leave unscathed Daemonium."
Kenji leaned down and picked up a pebble and threw it towards Ian as it his him in his chest and his clothes cornflower blue lines flashed red and back to blue.
The crowd of students laughed as the black wold growled low in its throat.
Ian looked towards the teacher with an accusing stare.
"The attack contained no mana, and you will not be starting off with any kind of disadvantage so i will let this slide. However if you do this again before the official start of the duel i will declare Landegra the winner." The teacher said eyeing Kenji.
"What's wrong, you scared." Kenji said focused on Ian with a smile.
Ian's gaze narrowed and his expression twisted into a scowl as he leaned down and spoke into his summons ear. Too far to hear it Ardere spoke up.
"I'm not giving up Ian. You need to be intimidating to intimidate me."
Kenji turned his head to Ardere shocked before he smiled proudly.
Ian looked to the teacher and gave a nod and as did Ardere and once the teacher got the go ahead she raised her hand with her palm to the sky as she shot out and orange light and the moment she did Kenji, Ardere split up running in different directions.
Ian stood there with his wolf for a second before snapping his fingers and the wolf sped off towards Kenji, fast and deadly.
Ardere ran and stopped in her tracks, sliding on the grass and holding her hand to the ground to keep her from going any farther as a blade of white wind came and hit the ground where Ardere would have been.
Ardere crouched low to the ground as Ian stood still, not moving from the place he stood at the beginning of the fight.
"Well I am surprised you have some kind of sense of danger, but since you still want to fight me I can only assume your senses are only good for any immediate danger."
Ardere stood up already sweating and Ian sent another slash of wind at her.
Ardere rolled out of the way only to find another slash coming her way. Off balance Ardere did her best to move out of the way but the attack landed and grazed her side and caused a small wound to form on her lower hip.
Ardere winced at the scratch as her clothes flashed blue and she rolled back to her feet running in another direction.
Ardere sent a fireball at Ian. As the attack was about to collide it suddenly dispersed as it hit something invisible.
The black smoke engulfed Ian as it began swirling around him and clearing. He had a wind barrier.
As the smoke cleared Ian could see Ardere again and she was crouching on the ground again holding herself up.
Ian began laughing as he sent another wind slash out towards Ardere and she began running again.
"You lack the agility to dodge my attacks at close range and you can't block my attacks with that miniscule mana pool of yours and you can't even pack a powerful punch in your attacks. That last fireball lacked a snap. If it was actually a useful attack the shockwave would have made my barrier fluctuate. Although it would have never made it through."
Ian gloated and laughed as he sent Ardere scurrying with each attack and she would have to hold herself on the ground to keep from sliding into ian's attacks.
Ardere ran back and as Ian sent out another attack, so did Ardere. The attacks met in the middle and the flames erupted into black smoke as they collided. and before the smoke could clear another fireball was sent through the smoke and Ian barely reacted in time to block it with his barrier. Only this time his barrier fluctuated.
When Ian looked back at Ardere as the smoke cleared from around him she was crouching again, looking exhausted she stood back up and he legs were shaking from underneath her.
She had put more power into that attack then before.
Ardere ran again and again with the same results, only attacking every so often with no attacks getting through and finally Ardere stopped running. she was exhausted, sweat was dripping from her brow as she gasped for air and stared Ian down.
Ian felt amused by the whole thing, but also a little disappointed that Ardere had only ran throughout the entire fight.
"Is that all you can do Ardere, run. I know your the weakest noble house, but your father still has a name for himself. The least you could do is try not to ruin what reputation he has left."
Just then Arderes eyes narrowed as she conjured a fireball twice the size of the ones she had used before and when it hit, instead erupting into black smoke, it exploded sending rocks dirt and grass flying from where Ian stood.
Ardere fell to one knee as she felt the exhaustion from her attack and realized her mistake.
The smoke cleared and the dust settled as Ian stood surrounded by torn grass and churned dirt. He had soot on his face, his hair which was usually swept back was in a mess and he had a burn on his forearm.
The crowd of students were sent into an uproar, this was exactly what everyone wanted from the two, an epic fight with spells deforming the landscape. Everyone except for Melodi, she just wanted Ardere and Kenji to win.
Ian hadn't noticed he was hurt from that attack until his clothes flashed. Ian went wide eyed and felt the rage build inside him from the audacity of Ardere.
Ian ran his fingers through his hair, sweeping it back into place and he took a deep breath.
Ian lifted his uninjured arm and two wind strikes came out at Ardere fast and deadly.
Ardere barely had time to roll out of the way of the first one before it hit, but in her exhausted state she couldn't move fast enough to completely dodge the second one.
the first strike had gone past Ardere and hit a something else. when the attacks power had gone, all that was left in it's place was a blue barrier to protect the onlookers as Mrs.Aluma held out her hands.
The second attack had stuck her shoulder and her clothes flashed before her blood could fall to the ground.
Ardere winced and sucked air in as the pain from the attack went through her entire body like a shockwave, but before she could scream at the pain two more wind strikes were sent her way.
Again Ardere had just managed to dodge the first one, but the second hit her in the chest and once again her clothes flashed, but instead of just flashing blue they settled on an orange glow.
The pain ardere felt was unlike anything she had ever felt before. The warm trickle of blood seeping from her wounds made her feel hot and the blood loss made her feel cold. The area around the wounds burned and stung as the wounds themselves had felt almost numb from the pain. She knew if she didn't do something then she would lose this fight.
As Ian was about to send another attack at Ardere he got hit with something. Looking to his chest where he got hit a pebble had fallen to the ground and his clothes flashed red.
Ian looked to Kenji and he stood there for second; bleeding and covered in scratches and dirt, before jumping back dodging the black wolfs claws.
This second was all Ardere needed in order to get her bearings again and sent two more fireballs at Ian.
Ian was caught by surprise by the attack and he didn't have time to dodge. The fireballs had hit him on the left side of his chest and on his lower abdomen.
hissing at the searing pain of the attack Ian put up his barrier again and held his injuries, desperately trying to withstand the pain.
Ardere managed to get a couple of attacks in, but she needed to conserve the last of her strength in order to follow through with the plan.
Ardere was in no shape to run around anymore, and when she looked towards Kenji he seemed to be slowing down as well, but he still wasn't ready just yet. Ardere needed to buy some time, so that's what she did.
Mustering the last bit of her own strength Ardere pushed to get her legs moving. Suddenly Ardere felt the pain subside a bit as she ran once again sending another fireball hurdling towards Ian.
Ians barrier had blocked the attack and he conjured some attacks of his own. Ian had, had enough of Ardere; all she had done was run around and it was beginning to get on his nerves. Not only was her constant motion an annoyance, the fact that he had actually been hurt by her underhanded tactics made his blood boil.
So Ian had decided to pull out his trump card.
Ardere was in the middle of switching directions when all of a sudden the air around her had changed and when she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand, she paused in place as something whizzed by her face, cutting her cheek and her clothes flashed once again, but this time settling on a dark orange color.
Looking in the direction of Ian he now had a bow made of wind and in it, an arrow knocked.
The first arrow hit came strait for the crowd of students and before it could hit them it hit the barrier and caused the ground around where the arrow had hit to leave a small crater.
Ian had used up quite the sum of Mana maintaining his barrier and attacking with his wind strikes at a great distance without losing any speed or power, so Ian was begining to feel the exhaustion from his Mana pool as well, though it was not as bad as Arderes.
Even if he still had plenty of Mana to get him through the fight, he wasn't going to risk her Somehow getting more attacks in and decided to give up the number of wind strikes he could summon for speed and power.
Looking at the bow in his hands Ardere had realized just how talented Ian was, he had managed to become an intermediate second class Mage.
Those that could control Mana and use it to use the spell 'Focus Blast' were known as basic class mages. Those that could infuse that attack with an element were known as intermediate class mages, and once you formed your attacks into an item you were known as an intermediate second class mage, or as most would call them 'Item Mages'
Ian was above Ardere in terms of Mana and now she knew he was more skilled as well, This fight had just taken a drastic turn.
Ardere sent out another fireball at Ian In a desperate attempt, hoping that he would be consuming too much Mana in order to keep up his barrier, but her hopes were shattered as the flames burst into black smoke that surrounded him once again.
While Ian blocked Arderes attacks and returned fire he finally had something click in his head. Ardere was known to have a small Mana pool, but not small enough where she would begin collapsing from so little attacks; even if she was actually exhausting her body by running around so much.
Just then Ian and Ardere heard a whine and a loud crumbling sound and as the two looked in the direction of the noise they could see Kenji standing just infront of a pit.