The man's body rushed forward, his hands blazing with flames. Seeing this, I shot backward to dodge his punch.
"Trying to run?!" he roared, seeing me dodge his fist and turn to flee. The man then hurled the flames in his hands at me.
I glanced back and saw him release the flames, then spun around and threw a Wind Arrow spell back at them.
Fizzle.
When the wind arrows touched the fireballs, they instantly dissipated due to the difference in power.
"Haha, you fool!!! That pathetic wind element has no chance of destroying my flames!!!" The man, seeing my wind arrows lose, grew confident and began to taunt me.
At that moment, his fireball closed in on my body, but with my superior agility, I leaned away, narrowly avoiding it.
Boom!!
The power of the fireball was immense, worthy of a mid-tier spell. But before I could finish admiring it, he launched another volley of fireballs.
I moved my body and once again sent wind arrows at the fireballs.
But the result was the same. The magic arrows dissipated upon contact with the flames.
Boom!!!
I dodged the fireball again and continued to do the same thing over and over: throwing magic arrows at all the fireballs, regardless of whether they would be extinguished or not.
The man, watching me run from his magic, laughed with delight.
"Haha!!! Is running all you're good for?! Is this the Seyfirus family that everyone fears so much?! You should change your name to the 'loserdog puppy' instead!"
I didn't respond to his words but continued to dodge his fireballs without a word of complaint, until the guy started to lose his patience. He stopped throwing fireballs at me and raised his hands to the sky.
"Enough of this... It seems trash like you isn't worthy of my time anymore. Take this!! My ultimate spell!!!"
Fwoosh!!!
At that moment, a massive flame, over two meters in size, appeared above his head.
The man let out a triumphant smile before hurling the giant fireball at me.
My body stopped dead in its tracks as I stared at the giant fireball heading straight for me.
I raised my hand forward and cast a wind arrow spell at the giant fireball.
Fizzle!
The wind element magic dissipated just like before.
"Haha!!! Die, you weakling!!!" The man, seeing the fireball getting close to my body, shouted at the top of his lungs. But then, at that very moment.
Fwump...
The giant fireball stopped dead in front of me. The man who cast it was still confused.
I let out a small smile before reaching out and grabbing the fireball in front of me, lifting it up.
"Thanks for the magical energy..." I said with a calm smile. Then, the giant fireball suddenly dissolved, merging into my body.
"Wh-What... Wh-What did you do?!" The man seemed extremely shocked that his fireball had suddenly vanished.
I just gave a calm smile before flicking my hand slightly.
Swoosh!!!
Dozens of wind blades shot towards the man's body at high speed, embedding themselves in him horribly.
"Ah... ah... ah," the man choked out a mouthful of blood before he could say anything else. Soon, his body collapsed to the ground.
Fzzt!!
The blue magic circle surrounding us dissipated. At that moment, the man's wounds returned to how they were before being hit by my wind blades.
This was the effect of the Dueling Spell. No matter how near-death the loser or winner was, once the outcome was decided, all wounds would be healed instantly. Ah... but the pain was just as real as in the real world.
"Aaaah!!!!" the man shrieked loudly before jolting upright, his face drenched in sweat. He touched his body with a terrified expression, but when he saw there were no bloodstains on him, he let out a sigh of relief with a frightened look.
"What's wrong... happy that you're not dead?" I asked in a flat voice.
The man, hearing my voice, his face turned pale. He whipped his head around to look at me, and when he saw my smiling face, his fear was clearly visible.
I walked over and tapped his shoulder, whispering lightly beside his ear.
"Don't you forget... the rule of the Dueling Spell is that the winner can order the loser to do anything. You, who used that spell, should know that rule well, right?" I shifted my gaze to his neck, and there it was, a magical inscription.
It was the Mark of the Defeated. And now, I could order him to do anything I wanted.
"You probably know that right now, I can ask for anything. Whether it's for you to become my slave forever... or for you to crawl like a stray dog for the rest of your life. Or even..."
"Order you to go and die..."
Thud!!!
And at that moment, the man fell to his knees, hugging my leg and pleading with tears streaming down his face.
"P-Please... please don't kill me!!!"
"I... no... I... I'm sorry!! I'm sorry for everything!! I'll never do anything stupid again!! Please have mercy, have mercy on me!!!"
"Please... please don't kill me, I'm begging you..." His tear-stained face made me soften a little. But honestly, I was disgusted.
I shook my leg to fling his body off.
"Heh heh... lucky for you, I'm still in a good mood today. So, I will spare your worthless life today. I will let you go."
"Th-Thank you, thank you, Lord Seyfirus!! Thank you, thank you!!" He kowtowed to me with a beaming face, as if I were a god who had granted him life.
"But don't get the wrong idea... if you ever think of showing your worthless face to me again... next time, I will use this winner's command to make you suffer a fate worse than a living death," I threatened him with the most terrifying face I could muster. It worked. The man trembled and lowered his head to the ground, not daring to meet my eyes.
Seeing that he understood, I turned to walk towards my original destination. But as I turned my back, I saw that a group of students was now staring at me, whispering amongst themselves.
Tch... there are still students around even in the evening? Ugh... this is definitely going to be talked about again.
But I tried to ignore it, flicking my cape as I headed straight for the women's dormitory. On the way, however, I didn't forget to stop by the cafeteria to buy something for Signa to eat.
..................
When I reached the front of the women's dormitory, I was heading for the basement to find Signa. But just as I entered the area near the dormitory entrance, I suddenly heard a scream. That made me rush to see what was happening.
It was because the sound was coming from the basement entrance I was heading to.
When I arrived, I saw a shocking sight. A mysterious cloud of smoke was billowing out from the steel door in front of me. Several female students were gathered around, watching.
I didn't hesitate. I rushed to the nearest student and asked.
"What happened?! Why is the basement on fire?" I didn't care why my voice sounded so normal. Right now, my focus was on how smoke was coming out of that entrance.
"I-I don't know either. B-But suddenly there was an explosion from down there. Wh-When we came to look, it was..." a dwarf girl nearby answered with a trembling voice.
"What about the people inside? Are they all out?" I asked immediately. The dwarf girl replied.
"I-It's Sunday. Who would be inside?"
She was right... but there was one person crazy enough to be there.
I gritted my teeth and bolted towards the door.
"Get out of the way!!!" I pushed the girls in front of me back and rushed towards the steel door.
"Hey!! What are you doing?!"
A girl screamed after I headed straight for the door.
But right now, I didn't care anymore. I threw open the steel door in front of me, and at that moment, a wall of dense flames erupted towards me.
"Ugh...."
My body was slightly burned, but I gritted my teeth and endured the pain. I covered my body with water element magic and rushed inside, ignoring the shouts of protest from behind me.
I headed down, further and further, and found that the condition inside was terrible. Fire and smoke covered the entire long corridor. Even though we were underground, how did these flames even start?
I didn't try to find the source of the power. Instead, I headed straight for Signa's workshop to find her.
It didn't take me long to get to her room. When I arrived, I immediately kicked the door open.
Bang!!
I burst into Signa's room, and at that moment, my eyes widened in shock. I saw the familiar silver-haired girl lying on the floor, her body covered in wounds. But she was still tightly clutching a piece of white cloth in her hand.
"Signa!!!" I shouted the girl's name and rushed to her side.
I stared at the girl's body, not understanding what I was feeling right now. But looking at these wounds, this girl... was attacked by someone.
"Who... who dared to do this to you," I said, my voice filled with rage, as I quickly lifted the girl's body.
"...Don't take it... don't take it... don't take it away... p-please... don't... take it..." the girl mumbled deliriously, her voice filled with anguish. Hearing that, I looked around the room. It was then that I discovered... all of Signa's swords that used to decorate this room were gone.
They... they stole her swords.
Those bastards!!!!
I gritted my teeth in anger. But... I had to quickly suppress my emotions. Right now, I needed to get her out of here.
Crash!!!
Suddenly, the sound of a collapsing wall came from ahead. That made me clench my fists in frustration. I knew these walls were coming down. And not only that, the flames from above were pouring in.
"Damn it!!... Just my luck!!!" I swore in frustration, before covering the girl's body and my own with water element magic. I used the full power of the defensive spell on Signa, in exchange for my own body being covered by only a weak layer of magic.
I lifted Signa's body and used all my strength to run through the flames gushing from outside, heading for the top.
Flames lashed out and burned my body in several places. The magic I had wrapped around myself was too thin, causing several burn marks to appear on my body. But I didn't care. My hands still held Signa's body tightly as I ran straight for the door above with all my might.
And in just a short while... I reached the door.
BANG!!!
The steel door was kicked open with all the force I had, and my body shot out from the entrance.
I gasped for air, looking left and right. I saw that students and teachers were already gathered here. I let out a weary smile before taking a step forward to safety. The female students in front of me quickly made way. But at that moment, a teacher walked up to me and said something.
At that moment, I couldn't hear anything, not even the teacher's words. With my trembling hands, I passed Signa, who was in my arms, to that person before speaking.
"Help... help her..." The teacher, hearing my words, looked shocked. But in a moment, he nodded and reached out to take Signa.
And when I saw that Signa was in the teacher's hands, it was as if all the burdens I had been carrying were finally lifted. My body collapsed backward onto the ground. It might have been from the lack of oxygen, or from inhaling too much smoke inside. My body had reached its limit.
And that day ended, with a headline that spread throughout the school: the basement of the women's dormitory had been burned down. And the one responsible was a student from this school. His name was....
Seyfirus Alan Hylm.