A few minutes before the explosion.
"I, Jack Fiel, challenge you to a duel," Jack shouted as he pointed towards William in a provocative fashion.
"Nah, you're too weak," William retorted while reading his book, not even bothering to look at Jack, who was fuming in anger at being disrespected for the second time today by the same boy.
However, Jack quickly composed himself as he retorted.
"If you're too scared to fight me, you can just admit it; there's no need to make excuses," he said with a smirk.
"Brothe-" Ciara tried to stop her brother, but she was interrupted.
"Shhh, don't worry, sis, I'll make sure to only break one of his arms."
However, what Jack didn't know was that Ciara wasn't worrying about the boy but rather about him; after all, to Ciara, the difference between the boy and Jack was like night and day.
William was slowly losing his patience with the boy, and he just wanted to finish reading the novel he was reading; the story was just about to reach its climax.
So realising the boy's stubbornness, he finally removed the ring from his left hand, unleashing his mana, as he said.
"Fine, you win; let's fight," William said in a reluctant tone.
William knew that he needed to hold back to not accidentally kill the boy, which was annoying to him.
"Hah, don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Jack replied with a smile, misunderstanding William's reluctance.
"Brother stop" Ciara tried to stop her brother from doing something stupid, but sadly, Jack just ignored her.
As both William and Jack stood face-to-face, barely 50 metres apart,
Jack made the first move as he pointed his open hand towards William as he cast "Steel Lance."
After his command, a grey magic circle manifested on his palm as three 20-inch plain steel spears shot forward towards William at breakneck speed.
Jack's aspect was tier III, called [Steel Bender], and it let him create and manipulate steel or iron structures.
It was quite a powerful ability, definitely putting him in the realm of geniuses.
However, William just eyed the spears heading his way nonchalantly, completely unfazed by the threat, before he cast a spell of his own (Storm Wall).
Heavy winds started forming around William as they all coalesced to form a giant storm with him in the centre.
Once the spears got close to William, they were caught up in the strong winds of the storm as their trajectory was forcefully changed to target Jack instead.
Jack didn't panic seeing his own spell being used against him, and instead he used a spell of his own as he muttered, "(Steel wall).".
Heeding his call, a 100-inch, giant-thick slab of pure iron came up from the ground in front of him, blocking the spears from hitting him.
Before Jack could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard William's voice.
"Alright, my turn," William said as he disappeared from his position.
Jack was confused as he looked around the garden, trying to find William.
Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, his search didn't last long as William reappeared in front of him, mere inches apart.
Before he could even react, he felt an overwhelming blow to his abdomen as he was sent flying before stopping when he hit a tree, breaking it in the process.
However, before Jack could recover, William appeared beside him and kicked him in the face, sending him flying again.
Before Jack could hit the ground and stop, William reappeared and punched Jack, sending him flying again.
This whole helpless beatdown of Jack continued like this for a whole minute before William finally stopped and allowed Jack to fall down.
Jack was passed out on the ground; however, just when Ciara was about to go help him and William was about to continue his book, he stood back up as he shouted.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"(Metalic Casing), he said as his whole body became encased in a metallic coating.
In his new form, Jack was far more durable and stronger than normal. He wasn't sure what kind of skill William was using, but he was sure that he could tank it in his new form.
Unfortunately for Jack, William wasn't using any skills; he was just too fast for him to see, and him getting back up had finally managed to annoy him enough to actually try.
Jack observed as William bent his knees before disappearing from his sight.
He prepared himself for the blow, preparing to counterattack once William came closer.
However, the next second, he felt a tremendous blow to his face, breaking the metal casing on it and even a few of his teeth as he was sent flying.
Once he finally landed, he tried to stand up; however, his body was paralysed. This was due to the (Lightning Fist) spell William coated around his fist, and this lightning was only amplified due to steel being a good conductor of electricity.
Just when Jack was about to be free from the paralysis, a gigantic red magic circle manifested on the ground.
William took a good look at the boy and adjusted the strength of the spell to not kill or critically wound the boy as he cast (Flame Burst) .
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!
A loud, ear-deafening explosion was heard as a gigantic pillar of flame manifested from the ground before subsiding in a few seconds.
And in the middle, a charred boy was knocked out. Thanks to Williams adjustment, the boy was still breathing; however, he'd take at least a few hours to wake up, even if he was treated by healing magic.
After the explosion, both Williams and Jack's parents quickly rushed over and had Jack healed, while William got an earful and was scolded for hours for going overboard.
A few days after this event, Rex told him about the engagement offer he got from Ciara's parents, which William refused as he found the girl too weak and boring.
Now this brought us to today's event, as things between William and Ciara were kind of awkward due to him beating up her brother and also calling her weak and boring.
However, realising the situation, he mustered up the courage to ask her.
"Do you need anything?"
****
Authors note:-
Congratulations to William for his first win in the novel, even if it was a flashback. I'm proud of him.
Also, sorry for the late upload. I was sick.