——— Mira ———
I let my 'Mira-alter' stand quite some distance away from the Human. I had to revise my strategies or he would find out that all my magic was nothing but illusions and I couldn't hurt him. The power of the Mirror of Despair should still keep him under my command as the fear and despair he saw in the mirror were 'real' since those were his fears, but I couldn't afford to rely on casting that life-shortening spell repeatedly. I might even die before the contest!
It was extra difficult for me because this Demon could use water-based attacks so easily. He literally just had to spit them out, and that first time with the 'real fire' I threw at him using the oil, he managed to put it out using some weird device I'd never seen before.
Truly a formidable for, my nemesis, what an irony that an Illusionist specializing in fire illusions has summoned this water-spewing monstrosity.
But wait-, if I can feel the pain when he hits my projection… could it work the other way around?
This was a high-risk gamble because there was a chance that 'my' punch would go right through him, making him realize that he was fighting a mere mirage, and Humans are supposed to be the most cunning demons of them all - one slip up from me could ruin my carefully crafted image.
But I remembered the lessons from our teacher at school, a saying that left a deep impression on this budding mage on her path to greatness; curiosity killed the cat, and mediocrity kills a mage.
However strong this Demon may be, I was confident that it could not match the speed of a mirage that can teleport at will - MY will.
Now fully committed, I let my projection disappear for a second, which confused the Human. Then it reappeared from behind it and landed as strong a punch as I can imagine on the back of its head.
"KEK!"
"KEK!"
Both the Human and I - outside the Sphere of Illusion - yelped at the same time and collapsed to the ground.
It worked… but this is so unfair. I hit him, but I feel HIS pain as well?!
As I was rolling on the ground holding my head, I managed to get my projection to compose herself to gloat.
"Kukuku. Not bad, Human. As expected, you have a lot of potential. But this is my power, I can bring you down with a simple whack on your head. I didn't even need to use magic"
"Aw… that really hurts…"
The Demon didn't get up from the ground, just like I was still reeling in pain from my own punch. Thank god he couldn't see me in this disgraceful state.
"Now, you may get some rest"
"Phew, finally!"
The Human was grateful and so was I that this did not escalate any further. I was exhausted. I wasn't in a good condition to start with, but getting punched on my stomach by a demon and whacking my own head was too much for me to bear for now.
As the Human lay on the grass face down still rubbing his head, I quickly - with some struggle - crawled and sat myself on a lump of rock and undid the Sphere of Illusion. Then finally getting up, the Human came over to me.
"Er… I'm sorry to say, but you know… I really don't think I can fight those REAL monsters that we saw in your classroom. It's not like I can defeat them with water balloons"
"Water balloons?"
"Yes, that's what I threw at your fire-birdie and erm, at you too"
Then I looked down at myself and realized that I was still wet.
:SLAP:
"Ouch! What was that for?", the Demon protested, cupping his cheek with his palm. That must have stung, heh.
"How dare you make me look like this?!"
"I'm sorry… I thought it was a way to attack you without hurting you"
"You fool, you can't hurt me"
"But I got you wet"
"Indeed, moron"
But then I realized it was a good thing. The fact that his 'water balloon' or whatever, the exploding water sphere thingy, actually made me wet was solid proof that what he was fighting was real me.
"Sit down"
I commanded the Human and he sat on the grass, looking up to me like a good puppy.
I could get used to this…
"Let me ask you a few questions. We should always review the training after we are done"
"Go ahead"
"Do you feel that your powers are same as they were in your own world?"
"No"
That's disappointing. Did transmigrating to this world weaken him in any way?
"Explain"
"You know, like I said. I'm just an ordinary human. In MY world, humans don't have the power to pull things out of their mouths"
"That sure is bizarre magic, although I would have thought Humans could pull off something far worse than that. So, is this a new ability you gained after transferring?
"Yes, it seems"
"What else can you do?"
"Seemingly nothing. Except for pulling things out of my mouth. It could have been worse I suppose. At least I don't have to pull things out of my ass"
"VULGAR!", I bonked him on his head with my fist.
"You always resort to violence. This isn't cool, girl"
He shut up and reflexively brought his arms up to cover his head though when I raised my fist again.
I'll spare him for now.
"I want you to test and see if there are any other infamous Human powers you can use"
"Nothing I can think of"
"JUST DO SOMETHING!"
This time looking a little more concerned and nervous than frightened, the Human closed his eyes as if he was trying to think of something.
"Right, I got it. I really didn't want to do this… but let's try some… human weapon now"
Hell, yeah! Now we are talking!
But I kept my composure and just looked at him attentively. His face went all funny as it always does when he tries to pull something out of his mouth, but I was excited to find out what a real Human weapon would be.
"Huh?"
"It's what we call a hand grenade"
"It looks like a lump of poop"
"Don't touch it"
"I don't want to touch poop. And ew, you are holding it in your hand"
"It's dangerous. Extremely dangerous. I haven't used it for a long long time"
"When did you use it last time?"
"When I was at the Army training"
"Which means?"
"I was in the military - not that I wanted to join…"
"YOU WERE A WARRIOR?!!"
"Erm… where I come from, every man had to go"
"Kuku, Humans really loved war, eh?"
"It's not funny"
"Ahem, just show me what that lump of poop can do"
"OK, go lower yourself behind this rock"
"Why?"
"It's dangerous. Some debris might fly our way"
"Debris?"
"You will see"
Well, I wasn't going to argue. I was just dying to find out what this thing could do, so I brought myself down from the rock I was sitting on and crouched behind it, and then…
"What the heck are you doing?"
The Demon also took a position next to me, also hiding himself behind the rock.
"I don't want to get hit by debris either"
"Tsk, silly Demon. Scared of his own weapon"
He didn't react though and it looked like something switched inside him, and he was suddenly all serious and concentrated.
It's THAT dangerous?
"Hang on, is this going to destroy the city?!"
"No, not THAT bad. We have things that can destroy a whole city, yes. But those probably I can't pull out of my mouth. I don't even want to try"
"Ri-, right. Just use the damn thing"
"Here we go"
The Human then pulled out what seemed to be a metallic pin out of the poop, and flung the poop as far away as he could.
:KABOOM!!!:
The poop exploded with a great sound, making a great deal of smoke, and sending a great deal of shockwave - everything about it being great, and completely obliterated a bounder that it landed on.
This was a proper explosion magic. Of course, explosion magic existed in this world too, but I've never heard of an object of this size you could throw that could make such a great explosion. The closest we had was throwing an oil-filled bottle with burning clothes shoved down its neck, but that was mostly to spread fire and did not have this sort explosive power.
"Ma…magnificent"
Yes, it really was.
I dreamt of using 'real' explosive magic. That was the natural path of development for any aspiring fire mage who was serious about her craft and building a professional career.
And now I had my own Demon who could use explosion magic at will.
Magnificent.