Luvi was ready, his swollen face was smirking as he put on proper distance to give a ranged fighter like Miriam a fighting chance. White he himself wore some protective clothing which would protect him against the fireball.
'Its too stuffy though.' But he can't help but complain about how heavy and stuffy it felt wearing it. He was wearing the biggest version of sparring armor available, but his body was still struggling to properly move in it.
But this was actually good for him, something that will give him the perfect opportunity to achieve what he planned to.
"Can you move fine?"
"Yes, it's just a spar, no need for extravagant movements anyways. We just need to learn from each other and create some synergy between our styles."
""If you say so. Let's begin."
Luvi was ready, considering his enemy was a mage, she would obviously wish to end this fight early and while Luvi is away from her.
Because the moment Luvi comes close to her, she would lose her advantage. Which is why Luvi braced for impact while moving away from his spot and to the side.
But an attack never came, instead, a splash of water burst above Miriam's head, surrounding her in a circle of water.
Which was odd.
This was the first time Luvi battled someone. It can even be called his first sparring match with abilities involved. So he was overthinking his methods.
But limited by his own lack of experience, he can't think of what Miriam's real plan was.
'Making me slip?... Does she treat me like a fool?'
Whether it was a plan to make him slip, or something else, Luvi just needed to close in distance and proceed with his plan. And he would 'win' eventually.
But it was not over yet, Before Luvi had time to move in towards, her, he felt something flying past him, which startled him.
If not for him having the feline senses active at this moment, he would have been hit. Unaware of ever noticing that attack.
"Stones?... Stone throw spell?"
And Luvi understood what Miriam was doing.
In truth, the advantage of being the progenitor of all these spells had an advantage, he was well aware of the details as well as weakness of majority of techniques being circulated in the world. But it didn't mean he had a way to deal with them.
Not to mention, this stone throw technique is not even a proper spell, its a mere trick. And Luvi can mimic the impact force of that spell with his wrist alone.
Making it not so useful on the surface level.
But now, that same stone might pose some threat to him.
"Good one." But that was only if Luvi was someone normal.
Ignoring the oncoming stones, and using his arms to guard his head, Luvi moved in Miriam's direction.
Making it so that it became harder for Luvi to see what Miriam was doing. But one thing he was sure about was that Miriam was not moving from her place. Intending to fight from one place alone.
Which was odd, but Luvi didn't say much for her strategy. He can't look down on it as long as he doesn't win in this exchange.
Who knows, she might just overpower him.
And overpower she did, Luvi felt something hot from his front, which was a cue for him to dodge.
An action that surprised Miriam a bit. She was sure that this technique would take Luvi down, he had already hidden his face under the hail of small stones. So hiding the fireball spell in it without his knowledge would have been perfect.
Though much to her surprise, Luvi exceeded her expectations and dodged on time, barely missing the fireball.
But he didn't stop after dodging the fireball, he exceeded in speed and dashed toward Miriam, making the distance less than 2 meters in less than a second.
Fireball might be a powerful spell and the wizards might have the most firepower, but it didn't mean they didn't have any disadvantages.
For one, they were slow when casting spell, a time that might decrease with time and experience, but for someone like Miriam, recasting a spell on Fireball's level would at least take 30 seconds, and that too with some degree of failure.
Meaning, these 30 seconds were Luvi's chance. The most dangerous spell had been used and now it was his time to act.
"Sorry for beating you." Luvi said, closing his palms into a fist as he struck towards Miriam's body without showing any tendency to hold himself back.
If this strike hit, even with her white star rank physique, she would be sent to the academy infirmary.
But the moment Luvi got close to her, Miriam put one of her legs on the puddle of water and casted a simple spell.
"Static."
Making Luvi stunned due to the shock.
As the name implied, it was one of the low level tricks that can only create currents in the body, but it's impossible to project them on enemies unless the mage is directly touching them or using a medium.
And for a mage, if a knight closed in on them, they are dead already. So to most of the public, this was a useless spell and they focus on those bigger spells like the fireball or the ice arrow.
But Miriam was unlike those people. She was a pure nerd and being an avid internet enjoyer, she too had watched countless fights among the awakened. And when the spells fell in her hand, she started to use different spell combinations for different opponents she might face.
And this being her first fight, she was all the more enthusiastic about it. And considering her opponent was a knight with Luvi's physique, she had built up a perfect strategy to take her down.
Though, it would be a lie to say that Luvi has far exceeded her expectations. Which in turn was a good sign, considering, he was not a baggage and capable of showing growth in multiple venues, besides his mind that is.
"I win!" She said, focusing on casting a fireball once again. This one weaker than before, but this was not up to her, only a few seconds have gone by of her first fireball.
Even the trick of static she used also impacted her casting time a lot. Making her next fireball barely registers 30% of its previous might.
But with this range and how unguarded Luvi was, this was the perfect opportunity of taking him down.
Then it came and struck Luvi, who suddenly moved.
But not away from the fireball, but facing the fireball directly on his face.
"What?"
It was only a moment, but Miriam saw Luvi laughing, as if he was looking forward to this all along.
*Boom…
The fire struck Luvi's face, burning part of his scalp as well as leaving a 2nd degree burns on his face.
"WONDERFUL!!"
Then, ignoring all the pain he felt on his face, he held Miriam's hand with his right hand, while proceeding to grab her by her neck and lift her in the air.
"SUCH A WONDERFUL PLAN… I ALMOST FELL FOR IT."
"Wha… are you doin… g" Miriam cried in horror, not knowing what was going on. Not to mention the fact that Luvi put his unguarded face in front of her fireball which was originally aimed at his armored torso.
But now that same Luvi seemed to have gone crazy, intending to attack her instead of ending the match.
"USE MORE OF YOUR SPELL!! I WANNA SEE IT ALL." He almost looked crazy. No, he was crazy, it is the conclusion that Miriam came to when her breathing started to become labored.
'I might die.." Using her left hand, she tried to cast a spell, but with her consciousness waning under the might of Luvi's grip. She knew that it wouldn't work.
So the only thing left was to scratch and punch Luvi's face, which was the closest, so that he might be injured enough to leave her be.
But Luvi didn't cry in pain as Miriam's nails struck him, nor did he say anything more than dodging just enough so as to not injure his eyes.
And his already swollen right cheeks became injured a lot more than before. But with Miriam's lack of strength as a mage, she was still not able to do much.
"Yo… are … crazy.." It was then that Miriam recalled the rumors and warnings she received before. Only now understand why it was dangerous to form relations with Luvi. Making her regret a bit.
Why didn't she listen to their words before?
Though, suddenly, her body fell on the ground. Giving her a chance to breathe. The bleeding and burned face of Luvi, still glared at her like a madman.
And it was also only now that she noticed the emotions of the "crazy" Luvi.
'Complete calm?'...