The arena greeted Merlin’s presence once again, but this time he was a lot more tense.

  For one, he knew nothing about Park Yuri’s abilities, which would make the start of their duel rather tough on his part. Of course he could just go straight for her Grimoire, end things before they could begin, but he doubted she would be leaving it open.

  And, secondly…

  “I advise you not to hold back because I’m a girl or in the same Cohort,” Park Yuri said as she brought her Grimoire out of its pouch. “You’ll only get yourself injured that way…”

  She was right. He really had been thinking about holding back. He’d never fought a girl before, and his dad always told him to never hit one, so it was kind of awkward being put in the same arena as a dy now.

  However, he was going to respect her wishes or he would only come off as rude. After what had happened with Nikoi, he really didn’t want to give anyone else the wrong impression about himself.

  He nodded. “Don’t worry. I don’t pn on holding back.”

  She gave a nod of hers, and Merlin realized that he’d never seen her smile. And that was weird because he had even seen Kim Yiseo smile.

  Was there something up with her?

  He shook his head. That was a bad habit of his; always getting curious about others when it wasn’t warranted. That usually led to prying, and he really didn’t want to annoy others. Better safe to just keep one’s distance.

  “Do you mind if we have a chat ter on?” Park Yuri asked, shocking Merlin into an owlish blink, considering what his thoughts had just been. He remained silent, unsure what to say. “Is that a no?”

  Merlin snapped back and shook his head. “No. No. It’s fine. Sure, we can.”

  “Alright,” said Park Yuri, and her Grimoire took flight.

  “Begin!” Professor Dmitri voiced, having given them enough time to settle into the mood.

  Park Yuri wasted no time attacking. She raised a hand up to the sky, and her mana bloomed into a phoenix rising from the ashes. Merlin swore that he had heard a screech, but he didn’t let himself remain dumbfounded at the beautiful sight before him. Because, Park Yuri pointed a finger at him and the phoenix rushed in.

  She was a Fire Mage, that much was obvious, and since Merlin had both teamed up with and fought against Chima, an A-Css Fire Mage as well, he was not completely out of the park as to what steps he could take to defeat her. Deconstructing her spell did not require his body heat as Choi Sangook’s did, however, her mana control was impeccable. In other words, her spell moved faster, sharper, and would most likely sting more painfully if it hit.

  Merlin rolled out of the way as the phoenix fshed before him. Before he could stand up and ready himself for its follow up though, it was already upon him. He turned into a comedic show of rolling around like a cannon ball, with nowhere to escape to.

  He had to deconstruct the spell, but there was no time. Park Yuri was giving him none.

  She was far more meticulous than every other Mage he had fought yet. Her phoenix made sure to cover all the arena grounds, giving Merlin no breathing space. He was not particurly tired; with his Resilience at level 27 he could go on for at least thirty minutes without getting exhausted. The problem was this wasn’t a battle of stamina. And it would hurt his pride if he was unable to nd even a single hit on her.

  But… What else could he do?

  His brain whirled with countless pusible actions he could take; if he could just cover the distance between both of them, he should be able to deal some damage. Then there was only one way he could do that.

  Merlin summoned Reader’s Bookmark, and activated [Fsh Step]. He would have opted for [Mana Spring], but he could hardly control his speed with that skill. He had almost gotten himself injured against Choi Sangook using it, there was no way he would be leaving with just his foot being caught in an attack against Park Yuri.

  The phoenix flew towards him, Merlin tightened the muscles on his legs and danced around the bird of breathing fire. The crowd went live with awe. It seemed no matter how many times they saw it, they wouldn’t be able to cage their amusement. Merlin didn’t have the time to relish in the love being thrown his way, however. As the phoenix missed him, he bolted forward, repeating the same sequence as he had against Chima in the training dorm.

  However…

  “Do you think I wasn’t expecting you to do that?” Park Yuri noted with an abnormally low voice that stung the air itself.

  Then she raised her second hand, a sole finger fying around smoothly like she was at an orchestra. A second phoenix manifested right in front of her. There was no mistaking it this time, Merlin heard the bird screech. It shot forward.

  But Merlin didn’t stop. Park Yuri was looking for a pincer attack, he realized. The two phoenixes would sm into him both ways. That would hurt, and the match would end. Although, surely she didn’t think he would make it that easy for her.

  The phoenixes were only inches away from Merlin when he angled his feet and dove out of the way. His pn? They would sm into themselves. But he wasn’t even surprised that such had not happened. Park Yuri was more meticulous, he’d long realized. And she proved that now.

  The phoenixes broke their strides just in time to avoid themselves, and fshed their beaks Merlin’s way. He smiled, a rather broken smile. He couldn’t tell if he was enjoying this or not.

  “You’ll have to do better, Merlin Tyrrell,” Park Yuri commented. “You can do more, can’t you?”

  Honestly? No. No, he couldn’t. There was no space for him to attack her, and he couldn’t just plunge himself through fire like he’d done with Choi Sangook’s ice. But… There had to be something he could do. Something.

  Merlin’s eyes fshed around his surroundings as he kept evading Park Yuri’s attacks. In a slight fit of desperation, his gaze found Nora sitting in the crowd, arms folded, gaze intense. She said nothing to him—gestured nothing—but an idea popped up in his head as he recalled their first lesson together, that which they had had back in Sunny’s gym long before they’d arrived at the Academy.

  He had an idea.

  Unlike other Deficient Mages, he was able to channel his mana just enough that it almost acted like magic in itself. That should have been impossible, right? He wasn’t sure; but the general rule of thumb was that a Deficient Mage couldn’t channel enough mana to form a spell. His mana couldn’t create a spell, but so far he had been able to use it like it was magic in itself, like with [Mana Spring]. Then, technically, he should be able to also do the same thing Mages did with unching their spells. After all, that relied on just their mana acting as a propelnt.

  It was possible. And if he could figure that out, then he had a way to get past Park Yuri’s phoenixes.

  Now with a solid pn in mind, Merlin rushed towards Park Yuri. The girl frowned, not knowing what he was thinking, but she said nothing and only twirled her fingers around, redirecting the phoenixes to follow him as was intended right from the start.

  Merlin had realized that trying to smite Park Yuri with her own attacks was impossible, so his intention was not to do so. When he got quite close to her, he swerved out of the way. And as the phoenixes paused in flight, he used [Fsh Step] and threw himself a considerable distance away from Park Yuri’s annoying duo of fming birds.

  Immediately, Merlin focused his attention on his palms.

  From his continuous dancing about, he had come to realize that the phoenixes needed three seconds to recuperate before they rushed at him again. Three seconds wasn’t enough to use Reader Mage, so he had to use that time to figure out how to do something else.

  What he had to do wasn’t that hard, if he was to be honest, at least theoretically. He already knew the mechanics, all he had to do was put it into practice.

  He channeled his mana towards his palms, it seeped out and covered his hands, then slowly rose onto his forearms. In the way he had taught Nora, unching a spell required mana to be in the form of a whip attached to the tip of the spell. He did not have a spell to unch, which was why he was going to be unching his mana itself. He condensed the mana wrapped around his forearms, picturing the spring that always formed beneath his feet whenever he used [Mana Spring]. His mana pressed together, and in a quarter of a second, they coiled around his hands like tendrils, stretching until he was able to hold a length of them from both his hands.

  Success… Merlin smiled.

  He’d created his very own skill. [Mana Whip].

  Park Yuri took a deep breath and exhaled steam. She narrowed her eyes at him, burning frantically with passion, and motioned her phoenixes towards him.

  Merlin didn’t evade this time. If he had wanted to, he wouldn’t have created his newest skill in the first pce. He fpped his hands, [Mana Whip] cracked through the air, and he shot them towards the phoenixes.

  Mana was doused with a Mage’s consciousness. In other words, his mana was him. Which was why it felt like all he had done was extend his limbs. The whips caught a foot each of the phoenixes. Merlin tightened his biceps and smmed the fiery beasts together, bathing the arena in a fsh of explosion. The air stung as it blew in all directions, but Merlin was filled with so much ecstasy that he didn’t feel it.

  The feeling of success was fantastic.

  “What’s that?” The crowd went livid. “Is that even possible with mana alone?”

  “Is he really a Deficient Mage? Shouldn’t they be unable to use magic?! What’s going on here?!”

  Despite what had just happened, Park Yuri didn’t look one bit bothered. And Merlin wasn’t taken aback by her nonchant demeanor. There was no way the fire phoenix was the only spell she had. However, he noticed beads of sweat trickling down her forehead, and her face turning a bit pale. She was getting exhausted. This was his chance. He had to take advantage.

  However, as Merlin moved, the air burned, halting him immediately. A gust of steam rose around Park Yuri. She breathed out, and her breath was visible, after all, it was made of fire itself.

  Merlin felt the hair on the back of his neck stand upright. This was anything but good.

  Park Yuri raised both her hands over her head, her Grimoire’s pages flipped violently until they settled upon one. Merlin’s eyes twitched. How many spells did she have?

  In that instant, roses made of fire bloomed overhead. Merlin tried to count them, but his eyes stung halfway through. There were more than twenty. He had thought Choi Sangook was trying to kill him, but Park Yuri was the real murderer in the room. The roses twirled, puffing out pores that were made of clusters of sparks. Merlin swallowed dryly. He was so dumbfounded that his thoughts stopped at the tip of his tongue.

  “Shouldn’t Professor Dmitri stop the fight?” a student said, their voice shuddering. “That will kill him, right?”

  “Remind me not to ever get into trouble with her,” another said. “She’s a monster. As expected of the daughter of one of the greatest S-Css Mages.”

  Merlin made his decision. There was no point in trying to prove that he could defeat her. He stopped channeling his mana, [Mana Whip] disappearing immediately. Then he raised his hands, the same way Lee Jaehyun had, and with a twitching smile, said, “I give up.”

  Silence bnketed the White Room.

  “He gave up?” a student asked, sounding surprised. “Really?”

  “I didn’t expect him to give up.”

  “Did he even use his anti-magic at all? All he used was that whip; was that anti-magic?”

  “I doubt that. That was just a normal whip made of mana.”

  “Then why?”

  Merlin was fttered, but he didn’t use anti-magic because he simply couldn’t. If the fight had gone on any longer, he would both lose and be admitted into the ward. This was good in a way; it reminded him that anti-magic didn’t make him the powerhouse people thought he was. Even if he was the bane of Mages, pure power and brilliance could still defeat him. In other words, he still had a long way to go before he could stand toe to toe with the Cataclysm itself.

  Park Yuri canceled her spell at his surrender, and peace returned to the arena.

  “Were you trying to kill me?” Merlin made a joke.

  Park Yuri blinked. “Huh? I thought I was going easy on you. Was I wrong?”

  Merlin’s head jerked back slightly. She had thought that? What had given her that impression.

  “Duel ended,” Professor Dmitri started, ready to dish out Park Yuri’s points as was needed, when he was cut off by a student’s protest.

  “They cheated, professor!” It was the d who had taken it upon himself to be Merlin’s enemy for no particur reason. “He didn’t even use his anti-magic!”

  “What are you talking about?” a student seated beside the fool of a boy asked. “She overwhelmed him; isn’t that obvious?”

  “Hmph. Overwhelmed him?” The boy scoffed. “Are you blind? They’re both in Cohort Spearhead. Their pn is as clear as day. This way they earn double the amount of points they’re supposed to earn. If the Deficient Mage fought to his full power, then she might not have earned anything!”

  Again, Merlin was fttered, but the fool was really getting on his nerves. He was the kind that switched his tongue just so it fit his agenda. Merlin hated those kinds. All because he wanted to get back at them, the bastard was belittling Park Yuri’s efforts.

  Merlin frowned, but when he gnced at Park Yuri and noticed how unbothered she looked as she returned her Grimoire to its pouch, his brows loosened.

  Well, I guess she has lived through absurd accusations like this occasionally, considering she’s also the daughter of a celebrity…

  “You have to punish them, professor!” the fool continued, and his antics brought the rise of murmurs. People were really starting to believe his bullshit.

  “Since things are neither bck nor white, wouldn’t a rematch be better?” Nora suggested, silencing the ruckus. Professor Dmitri just stared with those apathetic eyes of his, nudging his gsses.

  “A rematch?” the fool of a boy scoffed. “Why would they have one? It’s just going to repeat itself. And I don’t want to have to watch something so boring again.”

  Nora downturned her lips and nodded. “Oh… That’s perfect then.” Her stare turned into a gre. “You can fight Yuri instead.”

  The boy paled. “W-What?”

  “Since you think they cheated, then you can fight her instead.” Nora turned back to Professor Dmitri. “I think this would be better if he chooses not to rescind his accusations.”

  Professor Dmitri turned to the boy. “So? Kim Hojin. Which do you prefer?”

  Kim Hojin’s face shuddered. He clenched his teeth and Nora and remained silent.

  “Then,” Professor Dmitri turned back to Merlin and Park Yuri who had both exited the arena. “Winner: Park Yuri. Fifteen Cohort points. Twenty academic points.”

  Merlin’s lips twitched. Taking into consideration Hakyun’s expnation as to why Kim Yiseo had had so many points given to her, he couldn’t even compin about Park Yuri’s. After all, she had not even been so much as scratched. Her dispy had been dominant.

  There goes my first pce academic ranking…