As Vanta waited in the alley, the dampness, darkness, and humidity surrounding him only added to his unease. He knew he had to face the boys who were coming, but he wasn't sure how they would react to what he had to say.
When they finally arrived, Ridley and Mizar looked confused and apprehensive, unsure of what was going on. Vanta took a deep breath and spoke up. "You guys have come," he said, trying to sound confident.
Ridley was the first to speak up, sensing that something was off. "What did you want to say buddy?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
Mizar stood silently next to Ridley, looking at Vanta with concern in his eyes. He knew that his friend was usually the level-headed one, and seeing him like this was unusual. Vanta took a moment to compose himself before he began to explain why he had asked them to meet him there.
Vanta has a blank expression on his face. It was hard for them to read the small detail on his face due to the lack of light in the alley. It was casted under the shade of the shadows of the building besides it, making the alley appears dark even if it was still at a daytime.
"This is a good place to set the mood. What I'm about to say is a heavy topic. I want you all to brace yourself for what is about to come."
"What is it?", Letto that came along with them haven't heard any of this before. He only knew that his friend had something in his mind that keeps bothering him. He thougt that his friend was still thinking about the test result that he got but this is not seems to be the case.
Vanta gathered his friend to get close to him and he whispered something in a low voice.
"I don't want anyone else to know anything about this, so I want you guys to keep this as a secret between us. I have found a rare Grimoire."
Everyone was taken aback by this especially Letto. He was supposedly to be the one to know about this but it was the first time He heard something like this from Vanta. Letto raised the corner of his ears, curious about what this is all about. He wanted to hear some explanation from his friend.
"Care to explain?Why have you never said anything about this before"
"There's not much to explain Letto. This is the only secret I hide from you. I discovered a way to increased the mana capacity in our body by using something called "magic membrane" It was written in the Grimoire, a card trader sold it to me in exchange for me to be his representative in a duel one month from now"
What Vanta had said was too much to digest for them. What is he talking about, it was just a while ago when he took the test with them and get a dissapointing result. And now he came to them bringing some miraculous fact that no one has heard about.
It was very difficult for a mage to increase their affinity with the mana inside their body. Let alone to be able to increase the amount of mana someone had inside their body. It was something determinde for someone the moment they are born.
You either have the talent to became a mage or you don't. All of that is decided by the amount of mana you had in your body, or the ability to be able to channel said mana to conjure a spell. The concept of increasing the mana capacity is as impossible as trying to revive the dead. It was againt the law of the nature itself.
"Did you understand what you had just said?" Letto started to raise the tone of his voice. He's not in the mood for playing around right now.
"Did you just gather us in this shaby place to just say weird stuff like this? What the hell are you talking about?"
It's clear that Letto was starting to get impatient with Vanta's behaviour. He's acting very strange.
"I'm Serious. How about I just show you what I'm talking about. Let's have a duel with me"
Letto expression lit up like a candle when he heard the word "duel". He never refuse a challenge from his opponent. When it comes to a spar or a duel he would always welcome one with an open arm.
"I'm always up for a challenge. But are you sure? Can you use any spell?"
Ridley and Mizar looked at them both and started to get a grasp of the situation they were in.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Vanta?" Mizar questions Vanta's action. He saw it himself that Vanta was manaless. He couldn't even cast a single magic due to the lack of mana he had.
"Let them be, Mizar. This might give us an idea of what Vanta really wanted to say to us. It has something to do with the condition he is in right now" Ridley said ashe intervene Mizar and assure him that it was okay.
Both of them was woried about what is going to happen. But they agreed to just watch and observe what Vanta was talking about. Mizar was always excited to watch a battle between a magician. This time was no different. Althought he was slightly worried about his friend, he will try to enjoy this fight like any other fights he watched.
"Ready when you are buddy"
Letto was a duelist. The difference between a duelist and a conventional magician is that, a duelist used Tulk cards and other magic items to support them in their battle. It wasn't perceived as cowardly or underhanded, duelist fight chivalrously and abode to rules and regulations.
In between the tall wall that towers the narrow alley. Vanta and Letto stood at the opposite end of the alley, facing each other like a cowboy during a stand-off. Both of them are ready for a duel.
Letto holds a few cards in his left hand. His right hand was close to his hips where a deck holder was buckled on his waist. That way he could pull a quick draw when he intends to cast a fast spells.
Vanta in the other hand was going to face Letto barehanded. The boys assumed that he's going to use conventional spells to fight Letto. Or so they thought.
The air went tense, no one spoke a single word. They were waiting for someone to say something. The weight of the situation has increased when duel begin.
"Mizar!"
Letto voice break the silence when he started to call Mizar's name. He reach for his pocket and pulled out a Tulk card from it then throw it to Mizar.
"Catch!"
"if things went south…, I want you to use that"
Mizar look at the card that the got. He flipped it to look at the front face of the card. It was a first aid healing card. It provide the user with a healing magic upon usage. Looks like Letto came prepared for what's about to come.
"Please… becareful"
The fact that they prepared an emergency healing card make his skin shudder, this raise his worrines for his friend's safety, will they be okay? Such question came up on his head as he can only watch as a spectators when his friend are fighting with each other.
This time he will take the role as the reffere in this duel. The winning conditions are the one who incapacitated orb make their opponent unable to continue the duel wins.
"The duel starts when this coin touch the ground"
Mizar throw the coin up into the air, the moment it touches the ground. Letto immediately make the first move.
"Low Bolt!"
He drew a card from his deck and called the card name to activate the spell. He points the card to Vanta and a small lightning strikes at him.
It hits Vanta and a dust screen blown up around him, the impact created an obstructing dust and smoke.
They were all waiting for it to settle down and revealing the fate of their poor friend. The tension was nerve wracking. After a few seconds has passed they finally had a first glance to Vanta.
Their face were filled with joy, the relief washed down the peak of their nerves when they see that He was still fine.
But Letto's expression was also mixed with shock and surprise. He was taken aback by what was happening. He can't believe that Vanta doesn't even have a single scratch on him.
"How… ? That was direct attack"
His grip on the cards tightens, Letto casted all five cards that he holds.
"Inspect", " Detect", 'Body of Effulgent Beryl", "Ongoing Haste", " Anti-drawback channel release"
A consecutive activation of spells that he used producing a various sounds and light that shrouds his body. He used all the cards in his hand.
After the spell has been exhausted from the cards, the cards then disintegrate in his hand.
Tulk cards that Letto have is a single-use type. It means that once the spell inside the card has been activated and manifested, the cards would lost its magical property and vanish immediately after use.
He pulled another set of 5 cards from his deck and put them on his left hand. He took a deep breath to calm his composure to prepared the next move in mind.
"(I can see it…, the thing that he was talking about)"
With detection magic, Letto could barely see a shining thin layer of energy covering Vanta's skin and clothes. It isolated the electric current from touching his body and redirected the lightning, it was protecting him from the lightning spell.
"I see… so that is what you mean, is that barrier is what you get from the book?"
With "Inspect" He search for the information about the magic Vanta used, the type, numbers and the effects it caused.
A faint glow coming out from Letto's eyes as he look for a clue of what magic Vanta has used.
"I had no idea what that is, I have never seen that kind of barrier"
"It's not a barrier, It's a layer of secondary mana output called " Membrane", a method to channel mana without using mana circuit"
Vanta proceed to tell Letto what he has obtained from the book he got. The corner of his mouth raised, a proud smile appears on his face.
"Cool right? Now it's my turn for offense"
the layer grew thicker. it's pulsing with bright glow.
Vanta chuckle on the thought of fighting his best friend, for him, the fun is just about to begin.