Magic's Return: I Can See The Spirits

"So without further ado, Let us all welcome the two duelists and start the Battle!" Finley spoke in an excited tone.

"YYYEAAAHHHH!!"

Under the Crowd's loud cheer, two students walked onto the stage.

"I bet you regret your choices now, don't you?"

Alex commented with a big smile on his face.

Vaan didn't say anything.

"Both duelists, stand 100 meters away from each other."

The referee spoke with a calm look on his face.

"Heh, hold on to these 100 meters, Vaan Astra Vesta, because if I close the distance, you are finished.

4 seconds, that is all I need to close the distance of 100 meters."

With a confident smile on his face, Alex showed his back to Vaan and walked away.

Vaan still stayed silent.

"It seems as if Vaan is feeling the pressure of such a large crowd. Well, I believe it will be his first time facing a Swordsman so I believe that is quite natural."

Finely commented.

Then, he turned towards Professor Alistair and,

"Professor Alistair, I would like to ask, why did Alex tell him that he can cover 100 meters in 4 seconds? Was he trying to show off?"

"In a duel between a Mage and a Swordsman, the distance between the two is the only deciding factor, a Mage cannot move from his position and needs time to prepare his spells, and a swordsman, on the other hand, needs to close the distance to attack.

Almost all battles between a Mage and a Swordsman are concluded in the first few seconds, if a Swordsman manages to close the distance before a Mage is ready to cast his spell, the swordsman wins, if a Mage prepares to shoot his spell before the distance is closed, the Mage wins."

Professor Alistair explained. The new students in the audience who didn't know much about duels like this nodded in understanding.

"Then isn't Alex telling Vaan about the time he needed to close the distance same as giving him an advantage? From what I have heard, normal mages only need about 4 seconds to prepare their spells but exceptional mages can do it within 3 seconds,

Since Vaan is from the Vesta Family, I believe 3 seconds are more than enough for him to prepare his spell, no? Then isn't the result of the battle already determined?"

Finley questioned.

"Well, that should be the case, normally. Let's see what each side has to show us,

I wouldn't want to say something that might give one side an advantage."

Professor Alistair just smiled.

All this while, Professor Isadora hadn't said anything.

From Professor Alistair's words, although it may look like Vaan had the advantage, this was far from the truth.

There was a reason why Magic Division was performing so badly, after all.

"Start."

As the commentators continued their discussions, the judge spoke out loud, signaling the start of the duel.

"I'll make you pay for your arrogance, Vaan!"

Shouting those words, Alex rushed towards Vaan with a big smile on his face.

Vaan stared at him and started absorbing the surrounding Mana. Alex's smile widened as he increased his speed, it was as if he was trying to intimidate Mage.

He understood the dynamic of the battle between a Mage and a Swordsman, he needed to end the battle before Vaan could cast his spell, otherwise, things might get more complicated than they should.

He continued to close distance, in the 1st second, he had already covered 20 meters, 2nd second, he reached the mark of 45 meters, during the 3rd Second, when Vaan had formed his Magic Circles, "It's over."

"It's over."

Both Alex and Professor Alistair, who seemed to know what Alex was going to do, spoke at the same time as Alex threw a dagger at Vaan who couldn't move.

Vaan's and other mages' expressions changed.

Every mage in the arena could tell,

Vaan had to move!

And to do that, he needed to disrupt his Mana Flow and start everything again,

Professor Isadora was about to close her eyes, she already expected this, however, she still didn't wish to see it happen,

But then,

"That was your Grand Plan?"

Vaan questioned as he stepped aside and dodged the dagger that was thrown at him.

"W-What?"

Alex, who was still running towards Vaan widened his eyes in horror.

Vaan had moved, b-but,

'His Circles didn't disappear!!'

"Well that was disappointing, I thought the students of the Magic Academy would have something more exciting to show me."

Vaan commented, the next second, he drew his Magic Patterns, and,

"Fire Spike."

He cast the most basic level spell he knew. n--01n

*BOOM*

An explosion was heard.

Although Alex was able to dodge and wasn't harmed by the spell, he still had a shocked look on his face,

His head was full of questions.

He, however, did not have the time to think about the answers to these questions because Vaan's spells weren't over yet,

*BOOM*

Another Fire Spike was shot at Alex, the swordsman barely dodged the attack.

"You are fast, I will give you that.

Reminds me of my Dog, I used to shoot at him using a water gun and he used to dodge the water."

*BOOM*

"Let's see who's better, you or my dog."

*BOOM*

Vaan didn't use any big spells.

Fire Spike was all he needed to make it interesting,

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

He continued to fire spells at Alex endlessly, Alex, on the other hand, had no choice but to dodge his Spells, he tried to close the distance between them, however, that simply led to Vaan's spell reaching him sooner.

Vaan's precision was simply too accurate compared to other mages, this, combined with the never-ending spells he was shooting at Alex,

Rather than a battle, it had turned into a monkey show where the monkey was jumping around for the sake of others' entertainment.

"W-What is happening…?"

The Audience was shocked, and just like the audience, Finley had the same question as well.

He didn't even glance at Professor Alistair and turned towards Professor Isadora.

"P-Professor Isadora… V-Vaan just… moved…?"

A Magician moved while casting a Spell.

"…"

Isadora however, didn't say anything. She was too shocked to open her mouth, and the source of her shock wasn't just the fact that Vaan moved,

"W-What are those C-Circles…?"

She and the other Mages were quick to notice Vaan's Advanced Magic Circles.

"That bastard… he really did become a 3rd Circle Mage…"

Elric snorted.

Unlike others, he and the other Vesta Mages weren't shocked by this, after all, they already had their fair share of surprises when they returned to the Vesta House.

"I didn't think the duel would be this one-sided just because he could move while casting a spell…"

Vaelen commented.

He was taken aback, yes, it was true that Mages had a big advantage against Swordsmen once their Circles were formed, however, nowadays, the Swordsmen in the Academy had started training against such situations as well,

They have started working on ways to use their superior physical capabilities and avoid the spells Mages shook at them while closing the distance between the two to end the battle.

After all, shooting these swordsmen who could cover a distance of 100 meters within 4 seconds wasn't exactly an easy task, since multiple decisions needed to be taken within a second, Mages, who are supposed to draw Magic Patterns and aim at their moving opponents almost at the same time, are bound to be less precise and make a mistake or two.

In the battle against Swordsmen, the Mages simply didn't have the time to use Spells like [Direction Manipulation] because before they could even realize where to move their spell and how much Mana they needed to inject in order to do so, the swordsmen already closes the distance and the battle is over.

Vaelen thought Vaan would end up in the same situation but…

"J-Just how is he doing it…?"

Vaelen couldn't help but think out loud.

"That child is much more precise than any other Mage I have ever seen, even Lady Astra wasn't this precise with her spells when she was at his age."

Suddenly, an old man sitting next to Vaelen spoke up.

He was Professor Aurelius Veneri, one of the oldest Mages in the Magic Division and one of the few 7th Circle Mages of the Academy who was not a protector of a certain family.

Vaelen and the others turned towards Professor Aurelius and he continued,

"Those Circles of his are interesting, but what catches my eyes even more in his control,

His spells target exactly where they wish to target without even a moment of delay between each other, the Magic Patterns are drawn perfectly at the perfect time as well,

It is almost as if someone else draws those patterns for him while he only focuses on targeting his opponent."

The Professor commented as if he wanted to show everyone another interesting thing,

Vaan started moving towards Alex.

This time, the calm smile on his face had disappeared and was replaced by a big, wide grin,

"I was waiting for this moment, you know?

You shouldn't have looked at my Elara with those eyes, fuck face."

The real battle was about to begin.