Before engaging Number One, Apollo took a deep breath and recognised his opponent's skill. He then attacked with caution and while using his skills to the fullest. Against a skilled opponent, a single moment could mean death, as Number Two almost experienced from his quick exchange with Apollo.
Apollo's figure became distorted to the invisible eye as he moved faster and faster. One weakness of the magicians was their ineffectiveness against fast targets. If a mage missed his spell, you could normally use that chance to enter into their zone and kill them. Normally.
And yet, no matter how much speed he used to get close to Number One, he had been unsuccessful. Even though there were gaps in his attacks as he used spells, Number One wasn't much slower than Apollo, and he could safely dodge each time. Using spells drained one's mana, or life force, but the physical endurance needed to get away safely from those spells also drained one's stamina.