Aurelius blinked slowly as Seraphine approached the center line, her index finger pointing towards Aurelius’s rather stiff figure.

  In her third step, she started channeling mana, reciting incantations for the magic she aimed at Aurelius.

  This made Aurelius snap back into reality, as he felt the terror of facing off against an opponent who had PERMISSION to actually HURT him.

  Deciding that Seraphine would likely start off with less intensive spells that relied on pure mana manipulation, rather than derivative spells, Aurelius created the simplest shield spell, “Disruption”.

  “Verba tutelae oblata, Vallum Distorsum!” Aurelius chanted, as he felt the mana focus in front of him, giving him some security from the impending attack.

  Aurelius’s intuition proved right as Seraphine shot off the first of her attacks.

  “...Forma, ut feriat, proici!” She chanted, as a burst of 10 translucent mana bullets streaked towards Aurelius.

  Mana bullets tended to be mostly non-lethal, given that it was simply condensed forms of mana being hurled around. However, it did tend to disrupt the nerves quite a bit depending on the area of the body the bullet struck.

  The severity of the attack depended on the mage’s skills, and would inflict temporary “paralysis” in wounded areas. Its range, however, was rather limited.

  This was part of the reason that 8 of her first bullets missed Aurelius completely, dissipating harmlessly behind Aurelius.

  The two that did strike towards Aurelius dissipated upon contact with the disruption shield, as the resistance of the mana blob absorbed the attack.

  Aurelius released some of the mana shield, as he crouched towards the ground to make himself a smaller target for the next volley.

  Seraphine nodded at Aurelius’s decision, as she focused another volley of mana bullets in the air around her.

  It seemed that she aimed to overwhelm Aurelius with low-powered attacks to pressure Aurelius into continuous defense.

  This was one of the staple strategies of magic battles, as creating shields and barriers took up enough focus to make a counterattack difficult during upkeep even for more advanced mages.

  Aurelius noted the strategy as he watched Seraphine’s mouth move as she expertly prepared her second attack.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Counting the seconds carefully, Aurelius displayed a rather level head for the situation he was in.

  “...Proici!” Seraphine chanted, releasing her second round of mana bullets.

  The bullets were less translucent than before, likely from her attempt to conserve her energy as she prepared for a battle of attrition.

  Aurelius focused on the tips of her fingers as he dropped the shield.

  He rolled to his right as he closed his eyes and focused on his next cast.

  “Forma vera, ut feriat, canones proici!” Aurelius chanted.

  Spells didn’t quite require chanting for casting, but the words served as a mnemonic device for mages as they sought to learn new spells.

  New mages would create a connection between the movements of their souls with specific words in the Standardised New Magic Language, or SNML for short.

  The Magic Commission had introduced the SNML by adapting the Old Magic Languages in their effort to democratise magic since around 200 years ago, and it had become the standard language for spellcasting worldwide.

  Of course, most elven mages still stuck to their Language of Fire. However, they were likely the only exception in the modern age.

  Each syllable Aurlius invoked called to mind the hours that he had put into learning this spell. Muscle memory kicked in as the mana around him bent in resonance with his will, condensing into a single small ball of translucent mana.

  Seraphine watched on, creating a single bullet in response to Aurelius’s dodging.

  “Proici.” She muttered, as she took aim towards Aurelius.

  The shot struck Aurelius’s left leg the moment his own spell launched towards Seraphine.

  Sage Yeltz stared impassively as Aurelius clutched his leg, yelping in shock.

  The paralysing effect was a byproduct of the disruption that the balls of mana inflicted on the nerves. This meant that the effect did come with a decent bit of pain too, reminiscent of paresthesia.

  Meanwhile, Aurelius’s shot was already hurling towards Seraphine.

  Seraphine, being a practiced mage, barely flinched as she snapped her fingers to conjure up a shield of her own.

  It was the “Aegis” spell, a derived form of basic magic, where one used a pseudo air magic to create a barrier of mana enriched air in front of themselves to block attacks.

  The mana bullet from Aurelius hit the barrier and dissipated harmlessly into the air.

  This shield was the same spell that she had used to withstand the explosion in the first loop, and was very effective at its job.

  The effect of the mana bullet was short lived, as Aurelius hobbled to his legs in a quick, clumsy motion.

  He bent to his knees once more and prepared to dodge the next attacks.

  However, Seraphine had a different plan in mind as she changed her stance, from a casual saunter across her area to a more predatory form.

  She lowered her figure closer to the ground as she lunged towards Aurelius ferociously.

  Seraphine started to pull mana into her figure, creating a pushing force as she pressed up against the mid-line of the dueling area with a smile on her face.

  She pointed her finger at Aurelius threateningly, as she prepared another derived basic magic, one that Aurelius was unlikely to be able to dodge.

  Aurelius looked on as his senior’s figure closed the gap.

  Her shadow loomed over his figure, and Aurelius felt a surge of adrenaline as he shot up to his feet.

  He had a VERY bad feeling that the next attack would probably just hit him.

  IT’S FUCKING 6 AM! WHERE’S HER ENERGY COMING FROM? Aurelius lamented in his poor, poor heart as he saw Seraphine’s magic form in her hands.

  kofi.