"How low to strike a defenseless opponent," her voice now sounded as regal as her mother's.
"As long as the duel isn't over, I can do whatever I want with him," Miguel approached Ragni menacingly.
"If an outsider interfered, the duel is considered finished," I don't even know when she managed to learn the rules.
Miguel clearly wasn't pleased with this outcome, but he didn't want to fight again right away.
"Loathsome lizard," muttering the insult under his breath, he turned to leave.
Unabashedly smirking, Ragni delivered a juicy spit right on the fire mage's mantle.
"Courting trouble?" Miguel couldn't contain his anger, and Ragni's face only widened into a more knowing smile with each passing second.
"Cough, Miguel, your mantle," slightly lowering her gaze, Alfred addressed his guildmate. Only then did Miguel notice that his mantle was aflame where Ragni's spit hit it: dragon saliva was pure napalm, igniting fiercely upon contact with air.
"You vile creature!!!" Miguel was boiling with fury, while Ragni theatrically spread her arms wide, tilting her head in feigned confusion.
Instantly gathering an explosive fireball in his fist, he struck at the dragon's face, but his fire-covered hand was easily intercepted by Ragni. With a swift kick, the princess sent the mage flying several meters away.
"I'll kill you!!!" In rage, he released a substantial amount of mana, forming an enormous fireball above his head. Then he clasped his hands together, compressing the sphere and increasing its density, thus intensifying the flames. The ball became a glowing blue, almost like Kiram's fire, though it required considerably more mana. Despite Miguel not shining in intelligence, his strength was abundant.
The mages standing behind Ragni scattered in fear; a strike of such a fireball could significantly damage the landscape. However, the dragoness merely yawned, closing her eyes and covering her mouth with her hand.
"Fireblast!" To further augment the spell's destructive power, Miguel released it in its most concentrated form. The beam, capable of cutting through the thickest steel, collided with the black-scaled hand extended to meet it.
Ragni was engulfed in raging flames, and the spectators held their breath, but there was nothing to worry about. Despite the spell's tremendous force, there was nothing to fear from the black dragon's scales, which had withstood Katrina's most powerful attack.
Soon, Miguel exhausted his reserves, while Ragni nonchalantly scratched her slightly singed palm.
"I suppose it's my turn now?" Ragni smiled and performed a forward somersault, extending her right leg forward. Flames gathered on her heel and rushed towards the target like a wave. Using both hands to create an fiery shield, Miguel managed to deflect the spell, but it threw him even farther back.
"I'll show you my power!" He thrust both hands forward, releasing a spell of fiery snakes that intertwined to form a stream of green flames. I had heard before that their family could use unusual green fire, which consumed the opponent's flames, but I had never seen it in action.
"Tsk, a dirty trick," the dragoness spread her wings and soared into the air, evading the blast. Strangely, this time she didn't block it with the same ease as before. Without wasting time, Miguel unleashed a second charge of green flames towards Ragni, who was hovering in the air. But this time, she didn't dodge; instead, she swung her wings with force, unleashing an airwave in front of her. The wave knocked back the flames and sent them crashing back towards the spellcaster. To everyone's surprise, Miguel fell to his knees and erupted into a prolonged fit of coughing. Odd, as the first thing fire mages are taught is how to shield themselves from their own flames. Meanwhile, Ragni dove down and knocked him to the ground. Now, the dragoness stood triumphantly over her prey, placing one foot on his back in a display of dominance.
"How amusing that a pitiful lizard defeated the great and terrible hunter," she taunted.
Clenching his teeth, Miguel attempted to raise his hand to throw another fire charge at her, but he received a kick with her free leg and stopped his efforts. From the impact, a small bubble escaped his hand.
"Oh, my, how low you've stooped, Mr. Inquisitor," Ragni displayed a satisfied smile, her face covered in scales, as she held her paw ready to finish him off if he dared to resist. However, the battle was interrupted by a golden staff that appeared, thrust into Ragni's chest.
"The fight is over," Alfred, with an irritated expression, helped his defeated comrade to his feet and led him aside.
Once the fight had subsided, Levris hurriedly escorted the injured Grain to the infirmary. He was too heavy, and she struggled to support him, but unexpectedly, from the other side, the red-eyed beauty came forward and lifted him effortlessly.
"I'll help you," she said.
"Seleria, what are you doing?" Out of everyone who didn't understand what had just happened, Alfred was the first to speak up.
"I thought that dealing with the likes of you wouldn't be so interesting," her coarse reply struck at Alfred's pride, but he silently turned and walked away from the Academy building. Despite everything that had happened, Kiram and his students, except for Miguel and Alfred, followed to the training grounds.
"Katrina, if you don't mind, could they train with us?" It was essential to support the offended earth mages.
"Indeed, we have a large guild territory, though there are no barriers there," Kiram suggested.
"And it won't be too generous on your part, considering that your friend intervened in this fight because of me," Teacher Levris couldn't be so tactful.
"Build a fence around our guild, as there are only gates there," Kurone suggested unexpectedly reasonably. "And, of course, after training, you will clear our field. That will be the payment for using the training grounds."
"Well, if that's the case, why not," the teacher's face brightened. "Escort my students, and I'll go get the doctor."
We escorted the young mages to the guild. The boys immediately got to work, and in no time, the guild's territory was surrounded by a makeshift fence made of dense earth walls. At last, our guild was protected, not just by four rotten posts. Of course, we still lacked magical barriers for full-fledged training, but at least now thieves wouldn't get in, although there was nothing much to steal from us.
Meanwhile, the girls were studying Ragni with interest. She was sitting on a stone chair they had made, casually nibbling on cookies. The girls examined her dress, asked her to transform her hand into a paw a couple of times, and marveled every time at the transformation. One of them even dared to pet Ragni's black dragon horns, which brought the dragoness an inexplicable animal pleasure, causing her to tap her heel on the ground in response.
Soon, Levris returned with the doctor. The examination showed that the injury wasn't as serious as it seemed, and within a week, it would heal if he refrained from moving his hand.
Expressing her gratitude to the doctor and once more to Katrina, the teacher gathered the relaxed students and commenced the training. The exercises were too basic. At first, they shaped various figures from the earth, then practiced compacting rocks, and finally honed their skills in throwing stones at varying distances and with different force.
"No matter how you look at it, this doesn't qualify as battle magic," I quietly remarked.
All four guild members observed the training from benches and recliners crafted by the local students from stones.
"I'm afraid you're right," Grain, now recovered from the shock, sadly watched Levris, who was enthusiastically directing the students. "I wanted to create battle magic, but all I can do right now is throw a couple of pebbles. This can hardly be called a real fight."
With each sentence, his face grew darker. Even defeat from a fire mage hadn't been as painful for him as this training.
"I believe there's more to your capabilities than this. I've read many books in the library while preparing for the exam, and I think you can develop your skills further. You just need to train in a slightly different direction."
"Thank you for encouraging me, but I don't even know where to begin."