Corvin grabbed a training sword from the nearby tent and walked back toward the mage. The young mage's dark brown hair shook with the wind along with the trees behind him.
"Hmm... You are good looking, aren't you?"
"What is that supposed to mean?", asked the mage with a confused smile.
"I don't know, just a thought.", said Corvin. "I didn't think there would be training swords here. Aren't we going to only use firearms and spears?"
"There are a couple of other's here that use their swords and magic like you, General."
"I see... Well then, let's start our bout. I will hold off my attacks and defend for a while so throw me all you have, okay?", said Corvin as he grabbed a pebble from the ground and threw it up. The pebble tumbled in the air for a few seconds and fell on the ground.
Just as the pebble fell to the ground, Corvin shot up. He looked down towards where he was just a second ago, five spikes coming from the ground had replaced him.
"I didn't think you were this fast, General."
"Heh, were you trying to kill me just now?"
"No, maybe just a small injury?"
"Heh~"
Corvin quietly laughed and let go of himself to land back.
"Use the other methods. I've seen enough of those spikes somewhere else already."
"I guess it is normal for General to have fought against others before, huh?"
"Who do you think I am?"
Corvin jumped towards the mage and prepared his sword for a strike. Just as he was going to land a hit on him, a metallic surface appeared above his shoulder and the sword bounced back. The metallic surface extended downwards and a part of it extended towards Corvin in a second, almost hitting him in the stomach if he hadn't blocked it with the wooden sword. But, only blocking wasn't enough, as he was pushed back an illogical amount.
Corvin tried to move his feet but suddenly stopped. Something was weird with the ground and he couldn't keep his balance no matter what he did.
"I see... I thought it would be like a wet floor when you said 'make the ground slippery' but isn't this completely frictionless?"
"Do you like it?"
"It is a good way to confuse your enemy, but it's not enough to stop me!"
As if the lack of traction wasn't an issue, Corvin dashed towards the mage. He was using his own magic to push his feet while making it look like he was stepping on the ground. He swung his sword towards the mage but a couple of arms shot up from the ground and gripped the sword.
"For a second I thought if you were a matter mage as well... Good trick, I was also confused."
"Isn't holding my sword like this boring? If this was my real sword, I would have already cut trough this dirt hand."
"Didn't you want to see every way this magic could be used?"
"...Not really, I just wanted some fun I guess.", Corvin said with a slightly guilty smile. "I was just bored these days. Even if I find it interesting, working on the same things all day does get tiring you know? Especially when it's this dangerous.", he added while pointing towards the camp.
The dirt arms gripping his sword quickly disintegrated and the mage took a step back.
"Then, let's continue with your real sword?"
"...Sure."
Corvin threw the wooden sword towards where he took it, it landed perfectly in it's place because of his magic. He then unsheathed his sword from his belt and took his stance.
The mage pointed his palm towards Corvin and brown sparks started to come out from his palm.
"Your magic's personality, huh? Are you finally more serious about this?"
The mage gave a wry smile. "Can't I say the same thing to you, General?, said the mage while looking at Corvin's feet that had started to glow greenish.
"Right... You can. Then, let's start over."
Corvin picked another pebble and threw it in the air. The two watched the pebble without realizing the crowd that was gathering around them. The recruits at the camp who saw their duel were watching with curiosity in their eyes. They wanted to see how the General fought.
Just as the pebble reached the ground, Corvin swung his sword. He could slightly guess which parts of the ground the mage was using magic on by looking at the direction of the sparks, but it was not much better than a guess. He had to rely on his reflexes to cut the spikes before they reached him. Though, cutting the spikes weren't the end as they still grew and this only gave him a few seconds.
He threw himself upwards in that few seconds. Just as his eyes adjusted to the distance again, he noticed an unusual shape in his shadow on the ground. Without thinking, he pushed himself to the side with his magic and a big chunk of metal that had appeared above him fell to the ground and quickly disintegrated and disappeared.
"You are really fast huh, General?"
"And you are really sneaky.", said Corvin as he pushed himself towards the mage with his magic. That hunk of metal was big and he should be tired after that. So, before he regained his energy, Corvin wanted to land an attack. Just then, a wall of dirt appeared before him. He had to stop his advance and land on the ground because the wall was covered in sharp spikes and curved at the top in a way that would block him from flying higher to dodge it.
"I see. Because that chunk of metal disappeared fast, you gained your composure back fast as well."
"It's more like it disappeared fast because I didn't invest much energy into it, but you could say that."
"I see, good to know."
As the wall in front of him disappeared, Corvin let go of his sword secretly and threw it to the side, close to the ground to hide it behind the grass. He then grabbed the sheath on his belt and held it like he held his sword. He was using magic on his sword and moving it remotely.
After the wall was completely gone, he quickly dashed towards the mage once again. He got closer and closer to the mage as he dodged the spikes and walls thrown towards him. He tried to look cool while doing so once but he got scratched on his shoulder. It wasn't bleeding but it was just slightly annoyingly burning.
He used his magic to push himself as the ground lost it's friction once again and thrust the sheath towards the mage's neck. A shield of metal appeared and blocked his attack just like before.
"Didn't you try this once before... That's your sheath?"
Just then, something shining and pure white suddenly appeared right next to the mage's neck from the other side. It was Corvin's sword.
"Oh, yeah. I was occupied with something else so I didn't dodge everything perfectly. I still won though, didn't I?"
"Y-You did, General..."
"Cool.", said Corvin as he sheathed his sword back to his belt.