Aptitude

"Wow. You are one tough cookie..." remarked Hyste, marveling as Ahmad rose to his feet, seemingly unconcerned by the blood pouring down from his ribs as the flesh beneath his combat attire visibly mended.

"You honor me with your words," said Ahmad, rising to his full height and standing with his elbows bent at ninety-degree angles at his sides, hands formed into fists. Hyste had made it apparent that she wasn't going to be caught out easily, so instead of exhausting himself trying to chase her, he began channeling his aura through his body, causing his muscles to swell even further as the white tattoos covering his face, back, arms, and pecs began emitting a faint aquamarine glow.

Raising her brows, Hyste asked, "Isn't that the Limoan Turtle Stace? Are you planning to drag things out?"

"You leave me little choice," responded Ahmad, smiling as he added, "I cannot catch you, so I must wait for you to come to me..."

"Hmmm..."

After sheathing her dagger in the holster at the small of her back, Hyste took aim at Ahmad with her right index finger. Unfortunately, just as she had anticipated, her attack scattered when it came into contact with a glowing green shield formed of multiple hexagons, shaped like a turtle's shell.

"You're really going to make me work for this, aren't you?" asked Hyste, spreading her hands wide before swiftly clapping them together above her head. Then, as she gradually spread them apart, a powerful gust of wind suffused the arena as vibrant green energy gathered between her hands, forming a turbulent swirl.

Seeing the energy vortex above Hyste grow to more than a meter wide, Ahmad clenched his teeth and steeled himself. His instincts told him he needed to move, but he would have stood his ground even if they hadn't been in a simulated environment. After all, the quickest course through a storm was through its center...

"This might hurt a little...!" shouted Hyste, raising her voice to its utmost since the energy swirling above her head produced a tremendously loud sound.

"Let it come...!" bellowed Ahmad, leaning forward and spreading his arms as if he were prepared to tackle or pummel Hyste's attack directly.

Without further adieu, Hyste arched her back slightly before throwing her hands forward with all her might, sending the swirling vortex of Mana on a crash course with Ahmad. Its size rapidly grew to several meters across, but the real kicker came after, as, rather than simply letting the attack hit Ahmad as it was, Hyste pulled out a tiny, ruby-red marble before flicking it into the vortex.

BOOM

As the marble, processed from a fire-element Magic Crystal, disappeared into the vortex, an explosive reaction occurred. Ahmad's barrier managed to hold up fairly well, but since he hadn't expected a sudden explosion, he was momentarily blinded by the intense heat and light produced.

"Sorry about this...!" shouted Hyste, causing Ahmad's ears to perk as he heard her voice emanating from behind and above him. He tried opening his eyes to see where she was, but his vision was a mix of blood-red and black splotches. His eyelids also felt like sandpaper whenever he blinked, so while it was embarrassing, Ahmad felt genuine relief as the pillar Hyste had knocked over and was riding atop fell on him, hammering him into the ground and ejecting him from the space...

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"I'm beginning to think this is just an opportunity for our seniors to show off..." remarked Alessandra, a wry smile adorning her face.

"It makes sense," said Will, noting, "Most of them probably spent the past half a year working tirelessly to earn their place on the team. On the other hand, the majority of our classmates have presumably never experienced a real fight or duel."

"Madeen Briar! You're up next...!" shouted the Coach, interrupting Will's and Alessandra's exchange.

Before heading to the stage, Madeen gazed at Will, her visor making it difficult to ascertain what expression she was making.

"What's up...?" asked Will.

"Will you be disa—I mean, will we still be able to train together, even if I fail to qualify for the Duelist League...?" asked Madeen, her voice low and tone measured.

'How precious...' thought Will, his expression softening as he outwardly responded, "If anything, it means we'll train harder. But if you give it your all, I'm confident you'll come out ahead."

Nodding in response, Madeen turned away and ascended to the stage without further delay. Her appearance and visor garnered considerable attention, but her opponent, a black-haired youth with distinctive, pearl-like eyes, exuded indifference as he made his way onto the stage with his hands in his pockets, muttering, "What a pain...couldn't you have chosen another girl to fight against?"

Adopting a slight frown, Madeen asked, "Are you the type that looks down on women?"

"You're most definitely not a woman..." retorted the youth, ranked thirteen among the current First Years, Siobhan Dorstol.

'This asshole...' thought Madeen, her frown deepening as she looked to the Coach and said, "I'm ready." in a firm tone.

"And you...?" asked the Coach, directing his gaze to Siobhan.

"Yeah, yeah...let's just get this over with..." responded Siobhan, followed by an exasperated sigh as he scratched the back of his head.

Wasting no time, Madeen charged Siobhan the moment the transfer was completed, materializing her distinctive black flamberge from the ring on her left ring finger.

"You're way too spirited..." remarked Siobhan, unholstering the pistol on his left hip and firing two shots at the ground a few meters in front of him. Upon contact, the Mana within the shells disseminated through the arena, erecting two similarly sized walls of earth between him and Madeen.

"Haaaap...!"

Instead of leaping over or attempting to go around the earthen walls, Madeen surprised Siobhan by stopping on a dime, twisting her body, and performing a baseball swing at the wall itself. The result was an explosion of dirt and fast-moving debris that compelled Siobhan to leap back while erecting a hemispherical barrier to protect himself.

'This girl is a monster...' thought Siobhan, firing three more rounds into the ground and one directly at Madeen's head as she emerged from the cover of the explosion and made a beeline for him. Unfortunately, his aim was a little off, the bullet whizzing past her left ear and cutting through her hair before impacting the ground behind her and producing a small explosion.

'What in Andora? She didn't even try to dodge...' noted Siobhan, pulling out a speedloader as Madeen leaped over the areas he had shot, avoiding the traps he had lain.

With her leaping distance being well over ten meters when empowered by Aura, Madeen forced Siobhan to dodge and roll to his left as she executed a swift, overhead slash at his previous position. He extended his arm during the roll to springboard and propel himself further, but before he could get his bearings and take aim, Madeen performed a sweeping slash that sent out a liqueous tendril of purple-black energy, catching him by surprise as it darted toward him like a snake.

"What the—!" exclaimed Siobhan, his voice cutting off as the tip of the tendril spread like a pair of jaws and clamped down on his throat. Based on her evaluation, he believed Madeen's affinities to be Light and Water. He hadn't bothered watching the practical exam, so he had no idea she wielded a cursed, clearly darkness-elemental blade.

Sweeping her sword at a downward angle to her left, Madeen pulled the struggling Siobhan off balance. He might have been able to resist if she had grabbed his arm or another part of his body, but as the tendril had wrapped itself around his neck, it was relatively easy to break his center of gravity.

BANG BANG BANG

Demonstrating he wasn't going down without a fight, Siobhan quickly fired three rounds into Madeen's body before she was able to follow up on her attack. The first didn't really do anything, as it required a medium of earth or stone to activate, but the latter two exploded the moment they made contact with her body, protected by a veil of Aura.

BA-BOOM

As even a normal person couldn't react to bullets fired at them from close range, Madeen was caught completely off guard by Siobhan's attack. Her Aura shielded her, but it wasn't perfect. As a result, she sustained burns on the lower half of her face, neck, and hands as she was knocked back violently, the tips of her long, dirty-blonde hair singed black and smoking.

Unfortunately for Siobhan, Madeen had instinctively wrapped a tendril of purple-black energy around her right forearm, extending from her sword's hilt. Her shoulder ended up dislocated, and the bones in her forearm were pulverized, but she was able to hold onto her weapon, meaning Siobhan suffered an extreme case of whiplash as he was concurrently blown away by his own explosion and yanked back by the tendril around his neck. The end result was Siobhan's neck snapping, nearly decapitating him, so while she had sustained many injuries, Madeen had successfully won the duel...

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"I almost feel bad for you..." remarked Ohta, wearing his usual half-lidded expression as he looked up at Will with a faint, cheeky smile.

Though he was tempted to joke that he had a tendency to attract crazy women, Will elected to simply smile and shake his head. If he made such a joke in front of Alessandra, it might provoke her to behave more 'boldly' in the future. Then there was the fact that Ohta was most probably Sarah, so as time passed, there was a non-negligible chance she could develop feelings for him due to the absence of her memories. He had no intention of reciprocating, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"That weapon of Madeen's kind of reminds me of the Pleiades of Water, Skofnung," remarked Alessandra, emulating Will by standing next to him with her arms crossed.

"Really?" asked Ishyll, raising his right brow before shaking his head and asserting, "Skofnung is a claymore, not a flamberge. Besides, that purple-black liquid produced by Madeen's blade is clearly related to the element of Darkness, not Water."

"Maybe. But isn't it a little strange?" asked Alessandra, reaching a similar conclusion as Siobhan and countless others as she stated, "Madeens' affinities were Water and Light. How is she able to wield a weapon whose element starkly contrasts her own?"

With Alessandra directly the question to him, Will was tempted to give his speculation but ultimately decided against it, shrugging as he answered, "No clue. But if she wants us to know, she'll tell us."

"Hmmm...?"

Though she got the impression that Will was being evasive, Alessandra decided not to press the issue. Instead, she asked, "Since we're on the subject of elemental affinities...was what we saw previously accurate? Is your Mana and Aura truly unattuned...?"

"I'm also curious," appended Ishyll, directing his gaze to Will as he added, "House Oirthear is famed for producing descendants with prominent Wind and Lightning affinities. Do you take after your mother?"

"Something like that," responded Will, making it clear he had no intention of elaborating as he spoke no further and maintained a relaxed smile.

"But wait...didn't you use Earth and Wind Magic during the practical...?" asked Ohta, empathizing with Will's desire not to delve into his secrets but unable to restrain his curiosity.

"Even someone with an affinity for Water can utilize Fire Magic," asserted Will, closing his eyes as he maintained, "A lack of affinity does not translate to a lack of aptitude. I may not be especially gifted with any element, but because of that, I'm able to make use of each of them without issue..."

"How versatile..." remarked Alessandra, her voice lower than usual as she found Will's words intriguing. The 'common sense' was that those without an elemental affinity couldn't, or at least shouldn't, learn Magic as it was a waste of time. If Will's words were true, and she had no reason to suspect otherwise, she was curious to learn just how much his abilities exceeded what he had demonstrated during the practical...

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