"It's after school in the training grounds. Oh yeah, I should probably ask, what's the difference between a duel and a spar?"
Not getting an answer, Jayce turned around to get a karate chop on top of his head.
"Ow, what was that for?" Jayce said as a small lump grew on his head.
"That was for doing something stupid." Bella knew that Jayce was driven, but agreeing to a duel when he didn't even know what it was was just plain stupid.
"Duels are similar to spars with a few changes, the first is that you can use any equipment within a duel."
Second, duels are used for disputes between two parties, any rules can be added as long as both parties agree."
The last one is that the duel continues until one of the parties is unable to continue, any injuries or accidents that occur during the duel are not accountable toward any of the parties."
Listening, Jayce was thinking that duels weren't as straightforward as he thought. One could be stronger but lose if the enemy has better gear.
Jayce pieced together why Isaac suddenly requested a duel with him.
"Even if one party dies, the other doesn't suffer the consequences." Jayce thought out loud.
"Yes, this is the main reason why duels aren't used for petty reasons. They are usually used by big guilds, a duel between students is unheard of."
Seeing that Jayce finally understood the problem, she calmed herself down a little.
'I don't know how strong Isaac is but I know he is weaker than me. The main issue is that he has guild financing, the chances of him using high-tier equipment is extremely likely.'
Thinking about ways to win, one came to mind. If he couldn't match him in items, he would have to overwhelm him with skills.
"Bella, I want you to teach me martial arts."
Bella was taken by surprise, Jayce only did what he was told and never asked for anything.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Jay, martial arts aren't gonna help you fight against magic," Bella said while feeling a little embarrassed.
The sad truth was that martial arts will never beat magic no matter how much someone trained. Martial arts were developed to fight against humans, not magic.
It has evolved with the use of mana but Jayce didn't have any, leading them back to his original problem.
"I can't teach you martial arts but I can give you this."
Bella poured some magic into her finger, powering the dimensional storage. A bracer that was silver in color with three glistening emeralds embedded across the middle of the bracer appeared in her hand.
"This bracer will protect you against any magic attack from a C rank and below, it will only work three times."
This was the only thing Bella could think of that he could use without stunting his growth.
"Thank you," Jayce said with gratitude.
When she said martial arts wouldn't help, he went through his mind about what he could do.
The only solution he could come up with was to either use Demon Snychroization or steal the mana of a student.
Both options were horrible ideas as they would both end up with him either dying or being imprisoned.
"Take today off, I don't want you to blame me because you were tired from training." Bella tried to cover her worriedness with a joke.
Jayce and Bella spent the rest of the school day thinking about plans Jayce could use to overcome the gap in mana.
---
It was around 6 o'clock, and students and a few teachers could be seen gathering on the training grounds. In the middle of the room, Isaac was waiting for Jayce to show up.
Yuko was also among the crowd as she heard from other students about the duel. She knew that Isaac had been stalking her recently and that Jayce was making him keep his distance.
She assumed that Jayce accepted the duel to keep her safe, making her feel terrible about the whole thing.
"What's taking that plebian so long?" Isaac said with impatience in his voice.
It had already been ten minutes and Jayce still hadn't shown up. The crowd started to murmur as a student pushed their way toward Isaac.
"What took you so long? Were you scared shitless from just the thought of fighting me?" Isaac stated with clear mockery.
After shoving his way, Jayce made it to the arena with both of his gauntlets and the bracer Bella gave him equipped.
The arena was 30m by 30m, the arena was outlined by a gap that was a few inches wide and seemed to be made out of some type of concrete, which Jayce assumed was made with earth magic.
"Let's start," Jayce said ignoring Isaac's taunting.
Isaac was infuriated that he was ignored but was able to keep a calm face. He turned to look to his left. Giving a nod Mr. Noriss walked out of the crowd.
"I'll be acting as a ref for this match, I'll quickly go over the rules so there is no miscommunication. Leaving the arena results in an automatic loss, attacking an opponent when the match is over results in an automatic loss."
"Mr. Lupton has wagered 100 gold coins, Mr. Price what will you wager?" Mr. Norris said as he glanced at Jayce.
"What?" Jayce wasn't informed he would have to wager anything.
"You must wager something equivalent to what Mr. Luptons offered."
Jayce had no money to his name, thinking of what he could offer, one idea came to mind.
"I'll wager my life," Jayce said with an indifferent look.
The crowd gasped at what they heard, they just couldn't believe what Jayce had offered. Yuko's eyes started to spill tears, she knew she had to get Jayce off that stage even if it meant by force.
Before she could take a single step, a hand grabbed her wrist.
"I can't let you go, Yuko, I promised Jay."
Yuko recognized the voice instantly, turning around she saw Bella with a guilty look. The reason Jayce was late was to convince Bella to make sure Yuko didn't get involved.
She had no idea that Jayce was going to offer up his life for the duel, but it was too late now.
"Let me go!" Yuko tried to struggle out of her grip but it was futile.
Seeing that Yuko wasn't going to stop, Bella hit the back of her neck rendering her unconscious.
Putting Yuko on her shoulder, she made her way out of the training grounds with one thought running through her mind.
'Jay you better not lose, for mine and Yuko's sake.'
Back at the arena, Mr. Norris took out a scroll and a feathered quill from his ring and began inscribing onto the scroll.
Once he finished, the scroll was separated into three copies. One stayed with him while one went to Jayce and Isaac.
"Sign with your blood on the dotted line, once you sign there will be no backing out without suffering the consequences." Mr. Norris specified that last part towards Jayce, he also knew that he had no mana.
Without hesitation, Jayce took off his right gauntlet and bit his finger, blood gushing down his hand as he signed the contract.
Isaac pulled a knife out of his ring and made a small cut on his finger, drawing enough blood to sign the contract.
After signing the contract, both their contract flew back to Mr. Noriss and combined into one.
He read over the contract to make sure that there were no mistakes made, and seeing no problem with it, he signed the contract with his own blood.
"The contract is finished, the duel will commence in five seconds." Mr. Norris stated.