Graham’s declaration triggered a round of interested murmurs throughout the hall.
He reached into his robe and pulled out what looked like a jagged dagger, except it was made entirely of shiny blackwood.
“Professor, is that a wand or a knife?” Jane asked.
“Yes,” the professor responded, which only made the murmuring louder.
“You can’t fight her, Professor,” Jane’s friend added.
“Yeah, that’s not fair to Arielle,” someone else said. “You’re a trained fighter, and she’s not.”
"You might hurt her!"
“Alright, calm yourselves, my little insurgents.” Graham put both hands up. “I specified that this is not compulsory, correct? Arielle does not have to take this fight, and it will not affect her grade in any way. This is simply extra credit.”
“Still," someone behind Ari murmured, and from the din that ensued, it seemed like nearly half the spectators, except Arielle, had a complaint. Some thought it was unfair for Arielle to be given this opportunity when they weren't, and others thought that the difference in power between Graham and Arielle was too much. She didn’t get what they were all so worried about. It wasn’t like Graham was actually going to hurt her, and his stats showed that he was a Level 149 Adept. Was there something she was missing?
"I, for one, am looking forward to this," a new voice said, and Ari recognized it as Wulfric's. He was standing on the fringes of the group, his lofty view likely excellent above all the heads. What was he doing here? Wasn't he a third year?
He winked at her again, and she frowned, turning her attention back to Graham.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention,” Graham said cheerily before he gave his signature clap. “I appreciate the… extraordinary turnout today, but everyone, clear the hall for this fight. It's going to be a private evaluation."
“What?" That triggered near-universal complaints, so loud and boisterous that Arielle put her hands over her ears.
"Oh, come on, Professor. That's not fair!"
“Life’s not fair,” Graham said smugly.
"But why?" A different person asked.
"Because I said so," Graham said. "Now, see yourselves out. Anyone still here in the next minute, and anyone who tries to steal a peek gets an automatic demerit. Got it?”
Grumbling punctuated his sentence, and someone said. “You’re such a biased professor.”
“I know,” he responded. People finally started moving at that, although from the look of things, they weren't too happy about it.
Except Jane. She looked ecstatic when Graham told her, "We'll finish your evaluation tomorrow."
"Okay," she said cheerily. "No rush."
“Do the same rules still apply here?” Ari asked after everyone was gone and the doors were shut.
“Kind of,” Graham said. “This is a friendly match. And our magical standings aren't that different. After all, I'm merely an adept." He put his hand on his chest and fluttered his eyes when he said it, then chuckled, which confused her. Was that meant to be a joke?
Arielle was apprehensive. While she wanted to take on this fight and knew she would win, she was worried that it might reveal too much. It was exactly the type of thing Elric warned against.
But she wanted this point for Maus.
“I have already gotten permission from your Guardian to make this offer," Graham pointed out.
“Elric is allowing this?"
“Yes. On one condition. That it’s just you and me, and that I share all my findings with him." Graham pointed his wand at the door and locked it with a simple spell.
She nodded. If Elric wasn't worried, then Arielle wasn't either. He probably trusted her to win without using any of her more extreme skills.
She took out her wand. “Okay then. I’ll do it.”
"You sure? Like I said, only one other student has beaten me in all my years of doing this."
Arielle wanted to ask if the only person who had ever beaten him was Selena. Ari didn’t think she was as good at combat as Selena. She wasn’t as fast or as strong and didn’t have the same battle instincts. However, Arielle knew that her cores were more balanced than Selena's and, unlike Selena, she could see the fundamentals of whatever spell was thrown at her. That should help her here.
However, she was also operating at a disadvantage. Unlike with the pirates, she had to cast spells that wouldn't hurt Graham, while still being strong enough to take him out of the circle. Her spells also couldn't come together too quickly, or he would be able to tell that she was casting them wordlessly.
Not to mention that while Graham knew a lot about her fighting style, she knew almost nothing about his.
It was hard to tell what Graham's build was from the essence surrounding him. There were Massa, Luxa, and Calor, but Luxa and Calor seemed attracted to him in almost equal amounts, which likely meant that his Luxa and Calor cores were perfectly balanced against his Massa.
So what was his lean?
She hadn't seen him cast all that many spells in class, so she couldn't tell. Currently, she suspected a variety of different builds that would behave differently in combat. He was probably fast and probably used some kind of insight.
Beyond that, she would simply have to wait to see how he did.
The second she stepped into the circle, it expanded, nearly filling up the entire midsection of the room as the rest of the surrounding circles shrank. Arielle was once more distracted by the Vacu floating above ground temporarily, then back under.
She watched them, lulled into a trance by their rhythmic movement.
That was until she heard the faint sound of the wind in her ear.
Her gasp was interrupted. Graham was, somehow, right in front of her, grabbing her by the scruff of her robe and tossing her through the air. Luckily, her reflexes had her saying, "[Telekinesis]" and the spell snapped together in time to catch her body right before her back touched the ground.
She then switched over to "[Levitate]," allowing her to straighten and float longer while giving her professor a shocked look.
Graham tilted his head. “Not bad. Well, technically, you are outside of the circle now, but I’ll allow you this once. You'rewicked fast."
Arielle blinked at him. She was still somewhat stunned by the events of the past two seconds, feeling like she had been hit by a whirlwind.
Graham, however, seemed casual about the whole thing as he said, "How about this? I’ll give you three separate chances. If I'm able to toss you out three times, then you lose. If you toss me out even once, then you win."
That seemed unfair for him, but since it was his proposal and he was a professor, she let it go.
“That's fine, but you ambushed me,” she said. “I wasn’t even ready when you–”
Once again, she didn't get to finish her sentence.
Once again, he charged at her, at the speed of a blink.
Before she could call out a spell, he was right in front of her, grabbing her robe and flinging her to the other side circle.
She drew in a breath as she careened to the edge, but she caught herself in the nick of time. However, he didn't give her space to celebrate her victory, because he was coming for her again, faster than she could track.
“[Blink]” she said, but the blur representing his movement arched in the direction of her escape, getting there before she did.
How?
How did he predict which direction she would go in?
His hand shot out again, and she attempted to adjust her spell in real time, attempting to weave past him, but she was too slow. She got tossed.
She didn't say [Levitate] fast enough this time. The tip of her toe touched the ground.
"That's one," Graham announced as she floated in the air, lingering higher so that he couldn’t reach her.
“Don't go too high,” Graham commented. "You're out of bounds."
“You never rang the bell,” she said, frustration in her voice. She didn't like this; how disorganized the whole thing was. He hadn't told her they were starting and hadn't given her time to prepare, thereby using the element of surprise against her. How could she have already lost a round in less than thirty seconds? Because Graham cheated, that's how. "We didn't officially even start yet."
“And who said every duel had to start with the bell?”
“Those are the rules.”
“Are they?” Graham cocked his head. “Did I say there would be such rules in this fight?”
Arielle thought about it. “You said–”
“Your objective is to get me out of this circle without physically hurting me. My objective toward you is the same. However, we get there is our business.”
Yes, but there had to be rules to follow, or it would become just another messy fight. "Okay, but still we should–”
He once again didn’t let her finish. He jumped at her, shooting through the air with "[Forward Charge]."
This time, she had sort of been expecting the ambush, throwing up "[Air Shield], as she dodged him, but he seemed to somehow sense the boundaries of the shield.
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He did a front flip over it, grabbing her shoulder, and Arielle's heart skipped a beat. She felt the jaws of defeat once more, so she punched out reflexively, nearly getting him in the nose.
“Oh,” he said as he grabbed her wrist. “Now we're fighting dirty."
"Sorry," Arielle said. "[Kinetic Push]"
“[Wind Channel]," he said nearly simultaneously.
It wasn't a spell Arielle knew well, but it seemed to funnel the wind from [Kinetic Push] that Arielle had cast at him toward his feet, allowing him to remain suspended, too.
She could rechannel it back, but she didn't have a spell in mind for that, beyond silently breaking his spell, and he didn't give her a chance to think.
Right as he threw her again, she targeted beneath his feet and said, “[Spell Breaker]."
His sudden loss of balance not only ruined his throw but also had him plunging straight to the ground.
There was a sharp intake of breath, and Arielle righted herself in the air and waited for her victory.
He denied her of it.
He was supposed to hit right outside of the line, but somehow he landed with both feet within the circle, his body nearly falling out, and flailing until he suddenly adjusted his balance once more.
Incredible. How could a human being recover that fast?
It must have to do with that Luxa-Calor Combo.
"You're out of bounds, Arielle," he told her again, which was unfortunate. "And you didn't take advantage then to knock me out of the circle. Shame."
She would have preferred to plan her next moves in the air, but he didn't give her time to do that.
She dropped to the ground again, about to plan her next moves, but couldn’t even catch her breath before he was closing the distance between them again.
“[Blink],” Arielle said, but he shook his head even before he caught up to her.
“You are too predictable, Arielle,” he told her.
Conversely, she thought he was too unpredictable, or rather, he wasn't giving her the space to predict him. He was surprisingly hard to read. He'd barely used any spells, and all she knew was that Calor Luxa orbs remained at the same part of his body, drawing closer to him the longer the battle went on.
As though they were affixed there. Perhaps that was what was helping him with his speed and reflexes.
Actually, his speed was mostly from his physical build. He must have assigned a lot of attributes to it. That made it harder for her to cancel.
Her mind raced to sift through the plethora of spells she could use. Repel would work, but she wasn't supposed to know how to use that. The reverse vitality spell she’d made for Lyra would slow him down, also, but she would need to adjust it so it didn't kill him in the process.
Then there was the issue of targeting. She had to be able to target him first for any of the spells to work. It would be difficult because he was too fast.
Unless she could somehow ensure that anything that got within a certain radius of her would be slowed down. Kind of like what she had done during her fight with Selena. Those spells would help her now, but they took some time to cast.
Time he didn't give her.
All she could do was [Blink] from him as he came after her, but this time she added [Air Hold], which trapped him temporarily, and [Kinetic Push], which shoved him away from her.
Not far enough, though. As he was about to sweep outside the boundaries, he used [Air Channel] once more to redirect the energy to his feet, giving him a boost forward.
Arielle frowned. What was going on? His casting speed wasn't faster than hers, but he was managing to outcast her because he cast his spells right before or right as she cast hers.
He was predicting her, knew what she would do before she even did it.
How?
After missing her twice, Graham landed shakily, smiling as he stared up at her.
“You're really incredible, Arielle," he said. “Since you managed to hold on this long, I’m going to give you a hint. You think too much."
Arielle frowned. She didn't like that critique. It was too close to what her teacher at the schoolhouse had said.
“You have a wonderful mind,” he clarified. “But sometimes you need to learn to shut it off and just fight."
“That makes no sense. How do you fight without a mind?”
"Fighting is sometimes logic over instinct and other times instinct over logic," Graham said. "I’ve seen you fight. You're very good at the first type, but not so much at the second. You observe first, then you make predictions based on those observations, and then you tailor your offense on that, basically. And that’s all well and good if you know your opponent. But there will be times when you have no idea who your opponent is, and they don’t give you any time to observe them. They go for the kill straight away. What will you do then?”
Arielle thought there were probably a few spells she could use against Graham. The problem would come with explaining how she knew those spells.
For example, a constant repel would keep him away from her, no matter how fast he was. But he would know what she did. The Sensate-combo she'd used for Selena would work here too, but it needed time to be activated.
She had to plan her next attack–
Graham was in front of her. He grabbed her by the scruff of her robe, and she let out a little yelp.
“You're struggling with listening to your killer instinct,” he said. “I’ve watched you enough to know your next moves. I know that right now you’re probably thinking of activating that spell that you used to catch Selena’s knife. You’re also thinking about perhaps targeting me with an anti-vitality spell.”
Arielle's eyes widened, shocked to her very marrow that he'd read her so easily.
“Now you're wondering how I know what I know. My perception is really, really high. One of my skills is that I can read my opponents like a book, even from one micromovement. I know exactly what you’re going to do before you even figure it out yourself."
Well. That was disconcerting.
He tossed her out of the circle, and she caught herself in the air.
"The only way to surprise me is with an instinctive maneuver." He raised his eyebrow. “Are you going to give up now?”
She shook her head. She was going to win. She had to win. For Maus. She just had to stop thinking.
…..how? That was impossible for her.
Or maybe she just needed to think differently. What would Brom do if he were in a situation like this and met someone faster than him or better than him?
Well, Brom would cheat.
So that was what she decided to do.
Arielle decided to simplify everything and break it down to the basics.
She needed to keep up with Graham’s speed. She also needed him not to touch her.
Perhaps there was some combo where she could–
He charged at her again, and she barely dodged in time.
“You’re still thinking, Arielle," he said as he moved. "React.”
She did. She didn't have a choice. Her heart raced. That dodge hadn't been triggered by her conscious action. Truthfully, she had only been thinking about a repel spell, and the orbs had snapped in place at the last minute to keep him away from her. Hopefully, it hadn't been a dramatic enough reaction for him to notice...
But maybe it had.
Graham didn't give any reaction to it. He only shot towards her again.
She dodged him again. Once more, he didn't mention it.
Even as it happened again and again, her spell forms triggered by his relentless hunting. She decided to pretend that she'd made a spell called [Speed Match], a spell that enabled her to match up to her opponent's speed. She would use that as an excuse for how she stayed ahead of his attacks.
She wished she could come up with a cleverer plan, but she had no chance to think about much else but the relentless, repetitive combo.
Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Attack.
Yet somehow, without any conscious thought, some of her spells were building in real time, fine-tuning, adjusting. She didn't have time to observe it, too obsessed with not getting caught up, but the orbs added another repellent layer at his most frequent touch points: her shoulder, her arm, her ankle, and her wrist.
When he tried to touch her, his hand would shift just enough that he would just about miss her. Even if he did manage to grasp her, the constant repulsion would prevent a strong grip.
She just hoped it was inconspicuous enough that he didn't feel it.
With just those changes, Professor Graham might not recognize the silent spell-casting. He might simply assume it was his grip, messed up by the sweat that now dripped from their bodies.
Arielle's heart raced. She didn't know what she was doing, her brain not having time to think. She couldn't even track him properly. Once he appeared in front of her, and she yanked up her wand, yelling. "[Earthen Grasp]."
He was still too quick for her, but it almost got him.
"Not bad," he said, and Arielle panted from shock more than exhaustion.
Though they had been at this for several minutes, Graham didn't seem winded. His talking voice was still steady, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. "You're awakening. Now that’s more like–"
This time, it was her turn not to let him finish. While fighting, Ari tugged at one of the orbs on his feet, and he stumbled back.
Arielle dashed.
"[Air Hold]," she declared. "[Kinetic Push]."
It hit him faster than he could counter.
Or it should have hit him.
However, he'd simultaneously cried out, "[Primal Instinct]."
Though she weaved her spell and there was no way for him to see her attack, he reacted as though he could see it.
His body contorted to avoid the hold, completely bending backward and avoiding the clean sweep that would have been.
She gaped. “How?”
She noticed the Luxa-Calor complexes, surrounded by Massa, were not just on his feet now. They were all over his body, concentrated around the key pivoting points therein. One interesting thing was that Luxa-Calor dominated Massa just a little, but they were kept stable by multiple triple bonds.
“Primal Instinct is a trait of my bloodline," Graham spoke conversationally as he came at her, trying to grab her while she dodged him. "It boosts my adaptability, and in moments before impact, it temporarily rearranges my stats, pushing my life force into speed, dexterity, and constitution."
"Oh." Fascinating.
Did that mean that he lost strength at that time? If life force were being redirected, then it had to be pushed from something to something else, correct? She wondered if it would–
Before she completed the thought, she was flying through the air. This time, she didn't catch herself in time, hitting the ground with an 'oof!'
"That's two," Graham said. "You were doing so well, and then you let yourself get distracted."
Arielle swallowed as she picked herself up, regret swirling through her body. This was really bad. She had lost two out of the three tries she was afforded. She couldn't afford to lose again.
For Maus.
Graham crooked his finger. "Come here."
Ari hesitated. For the first time, she was actually scared to step into the ring again. It felt like so much riding on this, and she was at a serious disadvantage. She could actually lose this. She didn't want to lose.
"We don't have all day, Arielle," Graham said and cocked his head. "Are you scared?"
She swallowed and nodded.
"Good." He grinned, and in that moment, he looked like an imp sent from hell.
A part of her wanted to run away, but Arielle straightened her spine. Mossbornes did not run from battle. She would not run from this one.
She steeled herself and walked into the circle.
What came next was a frenzy that she herself did not understand. It would be difficult to describe in any other way than madness.
Running. Chasing. Attacking. Blocking.
It all blended in a series of jagged motions, one spell flowing into another before she could form the words cleanly. She did everything she could to survive and win. As he jumped at her from different angles, dodging her attacks, she enhanced them. She became faster, better. She couldn't tell sometimes what spell she was casting and why, but one by one, they jumped off her tongue. [Spell Breaker] [Kinetic Push] [Air Tentacle]. At points, she said nonsensical names to cover what she actually did.
She threw every non-lethal spell in her arsenal at him, one after another, not letting him recover, as well as tampering with his bloodline ability.
She tried to keep him away from her, but he broke through the medley anyway, his sharp dagger-ish wand shooting out for her, like he was about to stab her.
But it didn't happen.
One of the spells, and she wasn't sure which, hit him in the chest, and he was flung out of the circle.
He still tried to take her with him, grabbing her robe, but she had enough foresight to cast "[Earthen Grasp]" at her feet, cementing her in place.
The robe ripped, and he went out of the circle alone.
It took Arielle a second to realize what happened.
She was still in motion, swinging her wand, the next spell on the tip of her tongue, her mind still caught in the haze of battle.
And then she realized...
"I won?" She almost couldn't believe it, but slowly it dawned on her. She pumped her fist in the air. "I won!"
"That you did.” He straightened, wiping his forehead.
"I beat you!" she declared smugly, still panting and wiping her forehead.
He smiled despite being ragged on. There was also something a little mischievous and knowing in his gaze. "You did really well, and I think you're getting the hang of what I'm trying to teach you. But that was only phase one." He twirled his wand in his hand. "By the way, sorry about nearly getting you with the dagger. Were you scared?"
"Not at all." She shook her head. "I knew you wouldn't hurt me."
His smile slid off. A troubled look passed over his face.
It was punctuated by a knock on the door, and Graham waved his hand to unlock it. An annoyed-looking Woden came in."Hello, Woden. Arielle, Woden here is going to take us to Phase 2."
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