The two female mages stared each other down like duelists waiting to strike.
The apprentices around them held their breaths, waiting for the battle to start.
In the exact center of the distance between the two sisters was Rory in her black priestess' outfit, who slammed the end of her halberd into the ground.
"Koff—. I shall explain the rules which both sides must abide by. First, neither of you will do anything which endangers the others' lives. Secondly, since you are both ladies, you will not strike each other's faces. Everything goes apart from these two rules, and you may indulge yourselves to your heart's content. Also, I will state the loss conditions. One, if anyone breaks the abovementioned two rules, they lose. Two, if anyone surrenders, or if they are knocked down and unable to rise to their feet by the count of ten, they lose as well. In addition, both sides must reconcile with each other after the battle is over. Do you both agree on these four points?"
Emroy was the God of War. Rory was the Apostle of Emroy. Lelei nodded silently, assenting to those conditions. Similarly, Alfie nodded in acknowledgment.
"Then, I, Rory Mercury, Apostle of Emroy, the God of War, grant my sanction to the 13th Lelena Family Sisters Battle!"
Rory's declaration was like a starter's pistol.
Alfie made the first move. There was a flash of light from her right hand, and a small ball of light flew out at Lelei.
In response Lelei summoned a ring of wind around her white robe, easily evading the ball of light.
Right after that, Alfie whipped out a weapon known as a bolas.
Originally, bolas were throwing weapons used for hunting prey. However, in the hands of a skilled user, it could be used for all sorts of highly variable attacks, showing great power in the short to medium range. In addition, it was not a heavy weapon, so it was easy to carry on one's person. Usually, bolas were made by joining several weights with a rope, but the bolas Alfie was holding were made of three weights linked by fine chains. In addition, since Alfie was an exponent of mineral magic, she had managed to alter the physical properties of the weapon in her hand — the spiralling weights were made of different materials and heavily enchanted with magic, which released brilliant light in accordance with their user's will.
As he saw this, Itami mumbled, "That, that's…"
Mimoza assumed he was gasping in awe, and stepped in to explain.
"Amazing, isn't it? The current focus of Alfie's research is the use of minerals as a contact medium to release all sorts of magical phenomena. Usually, one would need to use the 'magic principle' to delve into the 'phenomena' from which everything springs. The principle behind the use of a contact medium opens a new possibility in the practice of expressing the 'phenomena' — it becomes faster and simpler. However, the effects produced are as varied as the types of media themselves. For instance, steel simply glows and gets hot. A certain type of media we know can produce a powerful light. With specially treated wood, one can even produce a defensive barrier."
However, Mimoza's explanation did not dispel Itami's doubts. Instead, he seemed confused and frowned.
"No, no, I didn't mean that. What I wanted to say was, wouldn't Lelei get hurt if it hit her? Logically speaking, that's what should happen, right? This is… it's definitely not on the level of a mere sister's squabble any more."
"But this is how mages have always settled their disputes with each other."
As the two of them were talking, the sound of the air shattering resounded through the street as blades of compressed air streaked continuously through the air, and debris rained down from the sky like a monsoon. With waves of their staves to defend against an attack, evade, and then slash out horizontally, the attacks of both sides crashed against each other in the middle.
"It's good, but you cannot defeat me."
"I will show you."
"Bold words."
"Magic Arrow!"
(A 1st tier spell that allows the user to shoot out an arrow made of mana that will pierce a target. Unlike regular arrows, [Magic Arrows] were guaranteed to hit independent of the evoker's skills. Casting it at a higher tier would increase the amount of projectiles generated as well as the individual damage output of each projectile. Even so, a single projectile's damage output was still minuscule. It was pretty much impossible for them to one-shot their enemies with a single cast. The damage output of the spell did not depend on where the enemy was struck.)
Several arrows flew towards Lelei.
Lelei then flies to avoid them. But the arrows are chasing her
After several arrows hit her, she fell to the ground. But thanks to the items she brought from the Sorcerous empire she is alive and manages to keep herself from falling down.
Lelei then attacked her.
Arpeggio uses another spell
"Camouflage!"
a 1st tier spell that made it more difficult for someone to be detected. The spell allows the user to change their skin color to blend in with their environment.
After using this spell, Arpeggio seems to disappear.
Itami was surprised by this
"Did she disappear?"
"No, she used the Camouflage spell. It's a 1st tier spell that made it more difficult for someone to be detected. the spell allows the user to change their skin color to blend in with their environment."
Arpeggio then launched another attack at Lelei. This removes the effect of her camouflage
"What did you use? I've never seen magic like this before."
"You're surprised! Then you admit you're useless."
"I haven't lost yet"
"Light Healing!"
Arpeggio uses another spell.
A soothing green light surrounds her. All the injuries of her body are removed
After that, both sides upped their ante — and their firepower. Deflected bolts of light went astray and scorched the eaves of nearby houses. Several chunks of stone debris scattered into the crowd, which drawing howls from them. The fact that nobody had been hurt was a miracle, which seemed to be proof that the people watching were actually mages.
"It, it looks like they're going out of control…"
Pieces of shattered stone fell from the sky like bullets, making Itami cringe back into his uniform.
The moisture in the air crystallized into icicles, whose sharp tips glittered in the light as they flew back and forth. Some of them stabbed into the nearby walls, and their plaster crumbled and fell.
The first half of this battle was like a duel between two knights swinging at each other with all their might. The fact that they had come this far was a testament to a clash of strength versus strength and will versus will.
However, if they continued dragging the fight out like this, the difference in their respective strength would soon become clear
In this intense situation, Itami felt it was about time to try and stop them. With that, he turned to Rory the referee, and ventured:
"Rory, what should we do now? I think their determination is going to push this fight to a dangerous stage…"
"You're right, but it would be best to wait a bit more, until victory and defeat are apparent, before we stop them. Otherwise, the grudge between them won't go away. "
Rory had a point, but was it really all right?
However, just as Itami was about to share his thoughts, a sound came from the nearby crowd, clearly unrelated to the sisters' battle.
Though this battle involved the exchange of powerful magic, though it scarred the ground with holes and marks, though the nearby walls were perforated like Swiss cheese, it was still a battle between sisters which took place under the auspices of Rory, Apostle of Emroy, and her precondition was that it did not involve the taking of human life. Because of that, everyone could watch in excitement..
As they looked towards the source of the noise, they saw several guards.
The crowd quickly dispersed
"What's going on here?"
"It is a battle between sisters, it is fought under the auspices of Me. Emroy's apostle"
Seeing the guards, the two sisters stopped fighting.
Lelei who was flying in the sky using the flying item came down. She is very tired of fighting.
"But who gave you permission to fight here?"
A guard said sternly
Then said Momoza
"Excuse me. But it is our tradition to fight like this."
"But you can't fight in the streets like this. Many buildings have been damaged in this fight."
"Officer, we're sorry for the fight. Actually, my little sister came here a while ago. I was showing him the magic of the Sorcerous Empire. So that she realizes that what she uses is rubbish."
"But ma'am, you could have done it elsewhere. Now you must pay the fine. But if you're telling the truth that you were doing it to make the Empire's magic great in your sister's eyes, we'll consider it."
"Ah thank you"
"But you all still have to go to the police station with us"
"Ah...."😰
"Also are you a JSDF soldier?"
"Yes."
Itami said
"We have urgent news for you. You must return to your base"
,..