A duel?

Swish, flick and wave. I repeated the motions with the wand, intending to familiarize myself with its movements.

It was definitely an acquired skill. Balancing a wand in your hand felt erratic. I wasn't used to gripping something at all times.

I experimented with different spells, trying to grasp essence of wand magic. Naturally, I began where it all had began.

Twisting my wand and flicking it in an oval pattern generated a small spark and then a bright speck of light sprouted at the tip of my wand.

Gesturing similar to a slanted "R", I flicked the wand and the light extinguished.

Giving it a few seconds of thought, I realized using a wand was slightly different for me. It felt powerful, that was true. However, additionally I perceived it to be "mentally" less draining.

Imagine using a bow to shoot a target, versus a firearm. You would still be inclined to aim, however the effort needed to "shoot" was drastically less.

Peculiarly, it was exactly how using a wand felt. As long as I could think of a spell, there wasn't a need to constantly imagine its effects. The wand was simply sentient, or so I would assume.

Picking up on my thoughts and channeling that spell using my magic. The term "focus" was adequately describing its effects.

In my daze, I had forgotten Ivan's presence in the room, and as I glanced back at him, he simply responded with an impressed nod.

Certainly, using spells at that level while still trying out my wand. Considering my age, he was definitely stumped for words.

Gradually increasing the level of my control, I began trying out a plethora of spells. Levitation, transfiguration and certain others. I was quite satisfied with the level of compatibility with my wand.

As I finished my tests, Ivan stood up from his chair, and closed all the other boxes.

Seeing as I had chosen my wand, or it had chosen me...

There was no reason to keep the other wands unsealed in the open. They were definitely prized goods, as such he stored them back in their cases, locking them securely.

Packing them all in their suitcases, Ivan pressed a switch on the front of the case, and all the wands seemingly switched out with a dummy interior.

Security mechanisms were quite complex, and I was visibly entertained just looking at its operation.

As he wrapped the extra tasks up, Ivan seemingly glanced at me and showed a smirk.

"If you're done testing it out. Care for a duel?" He jested while piling the cases at the side of the room.

.... A duel?

"Sure" , I responded without further thought. Absolutely no way was I going to let go of such a chance.

Dueling.... I wondered what it would be like. It was similar to sparring for a martial artist. You could train your whole life, but if you had never sparred.... Your skills were likely not worth shit.

That was a philosophy based on realism... See, everyone has a plan before they get punched in the face.

I understood that concept. Therefore, it was imperative that I learn how to duel.

Dueling wasn't a subject taught at any wizarding school I had known of. Naturally this world deviated from the movies, so there was no saying what is and isn't common in schools.

Ivan was slightly amused by my immediate response.

"Perfect, well then lets move to a suitable location." He chuckled.

Hearing his dry laugh, I knew I would get my shit kicked in... But it was still an experience necessary for growth.

As for the suitable location... Well clearly the garden was our best choice. Dueling inside the house wasn't worth the trouble. Not only would Ephyl be breathing down our necks the whole time, he would definitely muck up the mood.

"We can try the garden, it's perfect with lots of space." I replied.

As both of us stepped out towards the field, I could feel the light refreshing breeze on my skin.

The wind kissed my face passionately and I could smell the morning dew dripping down from the grass.

It was certainly an invigorating atmosphere.

We found a clear patch of ground and made our way there. Ivan stepped out across me, and took ten steps back, creating considerable distance between us.

Using his wand, he traced a white line along the grass, evenly marking the distance.

"The duel will be held on simple terms. No one may cross the halfway line. No lethal spells...Victory goes to the one who lands the first spell."

He stated the rules, and honestly I could see that it was a lighthearted duel. But inside I was quite pumped to finally participate and hence hurriedly nodded my head in agreement.

Ivan and I both took our stances, about five meters from the white line.

"On the count of three."...

Taking a deep breath before we began, I readied myself. At most I just wanted to see how far I had come...

1....

2......

I waited with bated breaths. My fingers curling around the wand, I lifted my arm forward.

3.

In an instant both our wands sparked a white hue, and two spells clashed at the boundary. Simply counteracting each other.

Ivan followed, flinging two hexes, as two azure specks shot towards me. Before the could reach my peripheral, the ground trembled and a wall conjured itself between us, stopping them in their tracks.

I retaliated instantly, and a grey spell arched towards Ivan trying to stun him, only to dissipate away as a bubble impermeable to spells enveloped him.

A shockwave emanated from his wand, speeding towards me. My conjured walls crumbling away at its approach, and I instantly casted a shield to slow it down. However, it was far too weak to hold on, and slowly I could see my barrier cracking away at impact.

Unable to respond, I tried to counter his next move. Shooting a stunning hex, but my spell was immediately countered, and riposted as I was expertly hit in the chest by two stunners knocking me off my feet, my back planted on the floor with a loud thud....

Is this what defeat feels like? That was.....really anticlimactic...I thought as I lay bested on the cool grass.. My eyes blankly stared at the sky and a sigh escaped my lips... 40 seconds. That's how long I lasted... slightly pitiful.

Perhaps...there was room for more training.

Ivan sauntered over, lending me a hand, and I took his grip to spring back up, brushing off the stray grass on my shoulders as he stared back at me.

"Your performance for a first duel... I must say it was better than I expected." he said and chuckled and patted my back.

But, suddenly his face found its frown, and he spoke with much sobriety.

"Do you think it would have been different... If I was really trying to kill you?" His eyes gazed back at mine, searching for a response....

An odd question to ask for someone you had just dueled....

"Yeah... I don't think I would have lasted this long." I replied with a sarcastic laugh.

Perhaps, both of our humor was particularly dark, because Ivan found a way to sneak in a laugh hearing my response.

"And what if I told you, that I was the weakest duelist among the associates" He smirked

I furrowed my brows at his reply....Surely not right?

"If you're weak, then who's the strongest?" I blurted out.

"I think you're already aware who that is." He said flashing a knowing gin.

Of course... how could I forget...

It was Mr. El Capone himself....Dalton was likely to be the strongest in his own syndicate. But that did force me to put a few things in perspective.... If I lasted 40 seconds against Ivan, and he was the weakest.

I couldn't even imagine the other members at this rate. Shaking my head in dismay about my current progress. Learning and doing were truly two different things.

Applying my knowledge in duels was trickier than I expected. Your opponent wouldn't wait for you to formulate a plan.

Sure I was good at transfiguration...but so what? If the enemy could stun you during your spell.. well it was game over.

And all it really took was one spell... didn't it?

I squinted my eyes at Ivan, as I had somewhat understood the reasons behind his rules.. Yeah.

The winner- the one who lands the first spell. Of course, it all made more sense now. Quite cunning of him to sneak that rule in. He really was opening my eyes as far as experience goes.

"Well" Ivan grunted, as he had finished our small duel. Deciding to leave me lurking in my thoughts as he made his way inside the house.

"A piece of advice if I may. Don't dwell on failure, rather think about the reason for your loss... Work your way up from there" He nodded towards me, turning back around to enter the guest house.

A reason....Yeah, I couldn't just blame the loss on lack of experience. I scuttled back to my room and shut the door.

I needed to analyze the duel I had just lost, and what better way than to explicitly write down my mistakes...

Taking out a ragged old diary, with a brown leather cover, I had shoved underneath my mattress...don't ask why. I grabbed a fountain pen and scurried through the pages until I landed on an empty one.

Scribbling viciously on the bottom of the page as the ink finally started running.

I lined the top of the page....and jotted down the first two words in my mind.

"Dueling Journal"

I scoured my mind and scrawled every possible reason for my loss on the left side of the page. Tracing a line down the middle, I labelled the right half for the solution to my problems.

Unfortunately, all I could do was merely stare at the blank half....

A few minutes later and the page was only half filled. I kept fidgeting with the pen, jotting down dots on the page as the ink blotted the diary... Who knew writing was this hard. (A/N: I do....)

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A/N: I hope you liked the chapter, don't forget to leave a review, and leave your comments on the chapter!