"Begin!" Eric signaled for the fight to start, however Angelica didn't move. That isn't very surprising though. How else was she supposed to react when a fish was swimming in water that was floating.
It was an astonishing sight. Most people in the crowd were shocked by the sight.
What made Alix decided to have Mo fight Angelic? Well there were two thoughts running through the girl's head. First, after yesterday's fight with the Djinns Alix felt that she needed understand how she was able to issue orders to Mo with such efficiency.
Did it have something to do with Omnia Nexus or maybe the threads that connected the two of them? This duel with Angelica was the perfect chance for her to try to further investigate the phenomenon. And the second reason well...
...what could be more embarrassing than losing to a fish?
Mo controlled the water around him with ease. He began to move through the space smoothly. Angelica snapped out of her stupor and engaged. "I don't know what type of strange monster this fish is but I will kill it and turn it into sushi!" Angelica gathered mana into her hands and began to fire out, "Bursting Doves!"
From her hands several flaming apparitions of doves flew out trying to attack Mo. As soon as one would get close it would, as is in the name, burst. Mo skillfully avoided each dove and even doused any that got too close. Once he was clear of the attack Mo used, "Abyssal Sea: Lightless Stream!" and fired a high pressured stream of water at Angelica.
She hadn't expected this attack and ended up taking the blow being knocked off of her feet. "Don't let up. Strike now." Mo heard Alix's calls and acted. He morphed the water into a disc shape and began to rotate it at high speeds.
"Abyssal Sea: Sharp Typhoon!" Mo launched the dark saucer out at Angelica who had just now hit the ground. She noticed the technique at the last moment and dove to the side causing the technique to only nick her on the side. She landed on the ground and tried to catch her breath but Mo wouldn't let that happen.
He controlled the disc making it turn around and continue to chase Angelica. Angelica's eyes widened as she had to dodge again this time less efficiently as she hadn't expected Mo to have such control of the technique. "What in the world is that thing!"
"A fish." Alix stated flatly. Angelica continued evading the spinning water disc as best as she could but it was difficult to predict the direction that it was going. She then concocted a plan. She gathered\ mana in her hand and waited for the disc to attempt to hit her.
Mo would never back down from such an easy shot and sent the disc straight at her. Big mistake. Angelica leaped backward and held both her hands out before her and casted, "Searing Hawk" from her hand erupted a big hawk made of flames. The hawk began to spin rapidly and clashed with the water. As the two clashed they both exploded on contact and a mist spread across the field blocking the vision of the crowd and the fighters.
Mo rapidly looked around for anything amiss but couldn't see due to the mist. 'Well this is inconvenient." he exclaimed.
'Stay focused. She cis quite tricky. She will likely try something here." Alix instructed telepathically. Mo smirked to himself. 'She's not the only one that's tricky." Mo started to move his little river upwards. He swam across the over the center of the battlefield leaving a trail of Abyssal Sea behind him.
"Abyssal Sea: Dark Torrent" The trail suddenly became violent, it began to move faster and faster.
Then it fell. Angelica was preparing a large spell. "This will end it all!" And it just might have. Then she was overwhelmed by a literal waterfall from the sky. The water hit her hard and it hurt. Every second that she was within the water the pain grew. It felt like the water was pulling her skin off but something else was happening as well. Something was draining her but she didn't know what.
'Where the hell is this weird water coming from!' Angelica tried to move to some sort of exit but even when she opened her eyes within the water she could see nothing. When she tried to move the weight of the water held her down. She was at a lost. She couldn't move. She couldn't escape.
'Is this how I meet my end?' As this thought lamented in the young heiress's mind the pain stopped. She no longer felt stuck. She opened her eyes once more and she could see. It wasn't dark.
"Get up. I'd say your flame has been thoroughly extinguished beneath the waterfall." Angelica turned around and saw Alix standing over her. Looking down with indifference.
No joy.
No pride.
No hate.
She just stood over her like she was staring at nothing. A look that Angelica was all too familiar with.
Angelica struggled to stand up but received no assistance from Alix. She managed to stand but not tall. Not with pride but with utter defeat written all over her. She had several cuts all over her body. Her eyes were red from the torrent. Her hair had come undone and was completely disheveled. Angelica could not see herself but she knew that she did not look like a noble at that moment.
She was just the loser.
"I surrender. That horrid creature wins." Angelica's words rang through the crowd. They all talked amongst themselves in bewilderment as the current situation was just that unbelievable. The battle had been barely three or four minutes but Angelica had already given up. It was an insane turn of events.
"The heiress of the Floie family lost against a fish that only used three moves."
"I didn't even know fish had moves to use. And those techniques were insane."
"But the way that it was moving was nothing like a monster would move. It looked like it was actually strategizing mid match!"
The crowd began to get rowdy. They started to rapidly recount the events of the duel from beginning to end and it only became more interesting as they repeated it. The crowd cheered. Eric stood awestruck at the performance of the fish that he had only ever seen sitting in its bowl.
"Mo's scarier than I thought." Eric gulped as he thought about all the times that he had spoken badly about Mo. He cleared his throat and announced the unexpected results of the match.
"Ladies and gentlemen the victors are Mo and Alix!" The crowd roared. People had hyped up this fight and they were not disappointed. Well, it was a bit disappointing that the fight didn't last longer and that it was so one sided but other than that it was still very entertaining.
"Angelica." The girl shook as she heard that familiar cold uncaring voice. She turned around and saw her mother standing there with her displeasure displayed all over her body.
"I had thought better of you. You were the one that was meant to lead the Floie family in the future and yet here you stand conceding to a weak beast and the daughter of a disgraced sorcerer."
"M-mother I-" Angelica tried to defend herself but her mother did not let her.
"I always knew that you were overly proud of your worthless accomplishments. The spell that you stole and claimed to be your own being just one example." Angelica's eyes widened.
"Y-you knew?" The red haired woman slowly approached. Each step heavy to the her daughter. "Of course I knew. Did you really think that you had fooled me for all of these years. I tell you to create your own spell or be disowned and you bring me a reformed spell that you had seen in the papers that morning. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't impressed by your quick-thinking but sadly that was the most that you ever used that talent of yours."
The woman stopped a foot away from Angelica. "Now leave. The Floie family has no use for incompetent mages such as yourself and your brother."
Angelica stood completely frozen.
Her eyes were vacant. She had not managed to get even a word in and now. All of her hard work to refine this image that she created was being washed away like the fish almost did her mere moments ago.
The crowd now stood silent. They just witnessed the famed Angelica Floie get disowned from her family. Today was truly quite the day. And the surprises would not stop there.
"Bold words for a washed-up flame mage like yourself." Catherine Floie turned to the one that spoke those words. The one of course being Alix. "What great achievement have you made in the past decade? Come now, remind me."
"Impertinent child! Do you have any idea who it is that you're speaking up against?!" the woman raised her voice but Alix did not even hesitate.
"Pretty sure that was my point. I do not know you. I have never even heard of you adding anything to the Floie legacy let alone being a famous mage." Catherine scoffed. "Of course a child like you wouldn't know. I developed-"
"Yes, I know that you continued the development of your ancestor's Flaming Recovery spell but that was when you were 23. From my knowledge you should be well into your 40s now and yet I have heard nothing about you since then." Catherine face turned grim.
"What did you say girl?" Alix rolled her eyes. "What? Did I hit a sore spot on your oh so great legacy? Or are you just upset that I exposed you for peaking in your early 20s?" Alix's mocking tone enraged the older woman greatly.
"Hold your tongue child. While I'm still being nice. I am a 5th Grade Mage after all." Catherine's words held a dark undertone that frightened Angelica and the spectators that weren't even involved in the conflict. Alix, on the other hand, openly laughed in the woman's face.
"Are you seriously bragging about being 5th grade at over 40 years old? What are you a child? Eustace Gram hit 6th Grade at 35 but you don't see him parading around all high and mighty." Alix's words seemed to hit the woman at yet another sore point.
Eustace Gram was seen as one of the greatest mages that this land had to ever lived. He advanced the techniques used by mages vastly and in ways that others had never even dreamed of.
He was also Catherine Floie's ex-lover from their younger years. A man that she mistreated and casted away out of envy. Always feeling like he was better than her and becoming antagonistic toward him as a result.
"How dare you speak the name of that man in my presence!" Catherine exploded and casted a spell within an instant. She did not even need to speak the name of the spell. It was faster than anything that any student could ever hope to achieve. Luckily, within the crowd was a certain teacher.
As the flames were inches away from Alix a large beast defended her. The beast was not real but was instead made of dark mana. "I believe that is enough, Catherine. You should not be casting such spells at one of my star students." From the crowd Winston Inengway exited and stood beside Alix.
"Especially not in my presence."