The Duel 1

When Leus got closer, everyone stopped talking and focused on him.

Slowly, the place became very quiet

Nuri stopped beside other red-haired Mages and Leus walked towards the Magic Circle

"Hello everyone"

Then he stood in front of a brown-haired young guy

"I presume you are my opponent"

The young guy replied

"You are right"

Leus extended his hand to the guy

"I'm Leus"

The young guy was skeptical for a second but he quickly shook Leus' hand

"I'm Hudson"

"Nice to meet you, Hudson"

"The honor is mine"

One of the white-haired men spoke

"If you two are ready then we can begin, I'll be the referee for today's duel."

Both Leus and Hudson confirmed

"I'm ready"

The referee took out two black bracelets and gave one to each of them

"Please wear this"

Leus took it and asked

"What's this for?"

"Mages' Barrier is a Mana Barrier, not a prison Barrier. This neck bracelet will prevent you from accidentally leaving the Barrier while also providing extra protection for your neck. You should not remove it until the duel is over"

Leus brought the bracelet close to his neck, and it automatically wrapped around it.

'Oh, interesting'

Hudson did the same.

After the two wore their bracelets, the referee activated the Barrier.

The Barrier was dome-shaped, its radius was 30 meters and its height was also 30 meters.

The referee asked

"Are you both aware of the rules?"

"Yes" Leus and Hudson confirmed

He nodded and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, a hologram of a timer appeared in the middle of the barrier with the number 15 on it.

"You can begin once the timer reaches 0"

Leus was standing in the middle of the Barrier with Hudson only two meters away from him

On Leus' right, outside the barrier, stood the referee along with another white-haired man to his right and a blue-haired man to his left.

'Both the white-haired men are Light Mages while the Blue-haired man is an Elite. Not sure if he's a Mage or a Knight but since he doesn't have a sword he is probably a Mage'

'I assume the three are here to make sure that nothing wrong happens.'

On Leus' left, stood two groups of people.

The first group was a group of Elite Knights.

The second group was made up of many small groups standing together, Nuri was among them, it was a group of Magicians.

Most of them were Mages, while only a few were Elite Mages.

Naturally, these weren't all the residents in the mansion, but only the ones interested in watching the duel.

'Still, the number is somewhat big, I think around 50 people are here'

Leus had a couple of thoughts in mind

'This guy is an Earth Mage, he shouldn't be hard to defeat... the problem is'

'I do not want to reveal everything I have ... if I show off too much I'm sure people won't accept my duels in the future'

At the same time

'I don't know exactly what to use to defeat him, how do Mages even fight?'

Leus decided to improvise

"Hudson, if I may ask, what made you accept this duel?"

Leus didn't know, but the Barriers were designed in a way that would magnify words (Except spells) and make them audible to everyone surrounding it, so the viewers could clearly hear everything said inside it.

It was designed specifically in this way to make spectating it more interesting, as some important Duels are used for various entertainment purposes.

Hudson smirked and replied

"A couple of reasons"

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"The most important reason is that it's only a 100 Points duel, not much of a loss honestly. I was also interested in fighting the new Young Lord, fighting a real Inferno is very rare.

My last reason is just an intuition"

"Intuition?"

Hudson nodded

"You seem like a nice guy, so I'll tell you.

Most of the Mages here suspect that you were only brought to the Mansion because of your unique Affinity rather than your talent. We too, think the same.

I can tell that you're using a Darkness Abstract to hide your aura, so you're proficient with Darkness and at least another element.

But since you're using a Darkness Abstract you should be more proficient with Darkness. As you know, Darkness lacks brute force, which is exactly what you need to break through my defenses.

In theory, even if you're a bit stronger than me, I should win because Darkness can't win over Earth. Unless you're Kasimir..."

Leus thought about everything Hudson said

'I don't understand what he means by (We) and who that (Kasimir) is, but I think it doesn't matter, I get the main points'

There wasn't enough time to question every little detail here, so Leus just nodded

"That does make sense, alright then, Thank you"

Hudson narrowed his eyes

'That's it?'

He expected a different reaction, Leus should be an inexperienced gullible newbie.

'So why is he not getting nervous after hearing that he won't be able to defeat me?'

That meant only one thing

'He has a trick up his sleeves'

Luckily, Hudson expected that much, but he hoped to get some information from Leus.

"I answered your questions, it's only fair that you answer mine"

Leus nodded

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"What element will you use? Other than Darkness"

Leus scratched his chin in thought

"Probably Wind ... I was thinking about running to you and"

Leus pointed at his sheathed sword and continued

"Slicing your body until you concede"

After Leus said that, the place became deathly silent for about 5 seconds

Then everyone began laughing

"Is this guy serious?"

"He'll use Wind?"

"He must be joking"

"I wish I had that confidence bro"

"Imagine unironically talking about Wind Magic inside the Red Mansion!"

Leus didn't understand what was going on

'Hmm? Are they not taking me seriously? But I didn't say anything special.'

The referee quickly clapped his hands and stopped the crowd from laughing

"Combatants, take position"

Leus turned around and walked back until he reached the end of the Barrier

"Combatant! TAKE POSITION"

For some reason, Hudson was frozen in place for a couple of seconds, but the referee's shout brought him back to his senses.

He gulped and walked to the other end of the Barrier

'That guy ... he wasn't joking'

'He said it with a straight face, and the look in his eyes seemed sinister, he really is planning to do that'

Hudson took a deep breath and calmed himself down

When both Leus and Hudson stood on opposite ends of the Barrier, the referee snapped his fingers again, causing the timer to start counting down

14

13

Leus unsheathed his sword

8

7

Everyone became silent and watched with anticipation

3

2

1

BOOM

The hologram disappeared with a loud bang, and the Duel officially began.