The blue-haired man was not going to adjust himself to the level of his younger borther who had much less mana than he – so not only did he activate his water enchantments, but the water bubble and a dozen or so water spears that all at once…

*SHING*

*crack*

”!!!!!”

…turned into ice and shattered into nothingness as Mizoe pulled out his weapon that emanated such insane cold that the entire arena became frosted over, and unleashed the slash that had no right to reach Letro but ended up destroying all the spears that he conjured upfront anyway.

”…you…! CHEATER! HOW DARE YOU USE EQUIPMENT THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!”

Letro roared while immediately backing off trying to recast the defensive spell while trembling from cold but the bubble that appeared around him was trembling and deforming to the point of splitting apart, losing its purpose without receiving any attack.

”Letro – are your eyes frozen over too? This is the blade that you made fun of so many times – the same weapon that I received after becoming a knight. The only thing different is that I channel my ice enchantments onto it instead of my own body.”

Mizoe scoffed while rushing after his fleeing older brother.

——

”Water mana wants to be ice mana and does not want to oppose it~ Still, using enchantments on an object. Haha~! It sounds so obvious after he said it.”

Zoemi muttered to himself with a wild grin feeling extremely proud of his father’s ingenuity.

Normally enchanted equipment was crafted with the use of mana crystals, no one was actually using spells to bestow properties onto objects.

——-

*SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING*

”GHAGH!”

The ice-cold crescents of sheer cold erupted from the impossibly cold blade under Mizoe’s perfect guidance and reached Letro’s leg after cutting off his path, freezing him to the already frosted arena.

”Give up, Letro.”

”I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A TRASHY WEAKLING LIKE YOU, JUST BECAUSE YOU LEARNED A FEW TRICKS!”

Mizoe demanded while in the middle of another swing – but just like a cornered rat would fight back the predator chasing it – Letro growled and conjured water spears and spheres and sent them at the pale-blue-haired knight while they were freezing over.

As the projectiles were turning into ice, the blue-haired man lost control over them but that wasn’t really a concern of his – Letro just needed to direct them and the momentum they gained would to the rest.

”…!”

Mizoe gritted his teeth and had no other choice but to start dodging.

He was at a major disadvantage here as with his extremely limited mana he could not use the enchantments on both his sword and himself, forcing him to dodge the frozen barrage with just his natural agility and evasion – and not getting knocked out or skewered was enough to take most of his attention, forcing him to go into defense.

…which for Mizoe meant only trouble as stalling or getting stalled meant that his precious mana would be spent on keeping the enchantments active while not getting him any closer to victory…

”…”

Zoemi gritted his teeth watching the precious seconds run out – he knew that with the intensity of the cold given out by the spell-enchanted sword, Mizoe will enter the state of mana depletion within the next minute, or two – at most – and it seemed like Letro was also aware of that…

*shing*

And that expectation was proven to be correct as the next sign that sent the feezing crescent towards the blue-haired man ended up only creating a thin layer of ice on top of his clothes instead of actual freezing like it happened to his leg.

”HA!”

…which caused Letro to let out a triumphant roar and steadily continue the barrage of the attacks.

He did not have to increase the intensity or the number of projectiles either as the moment that the ice enchantments will run out would be equal to Mizoe losing every single chance of victory against the magician with an appropriately sized mana reservoir fighting from a distance.

The pale-blue light of the ice enchantment enveloping the blade of Mizoe’s shortsword was getting dimmer and dimmer which caused the pale-blue-haired man to bit his lips so hard he drew blood.

”GHAHAHAA! IT’S YOUR LOSS, TRASH!”

”Shut the hell up already, you insufferable snob!”

”?!?!?!?!”

Letro laughed triumphantly – but as if refreshed by the metallic taste of his own blood Mizoe roared back, completely shocking Zoemi by actually cursing, which the boy’s father always abstained from.

*wham* *slam* *crush* *stab* *stab* *stab* *stab*

Zoemi also did not recall his father ever showing even remotely as much recklessness as he did in the next few seconds – because instead of continuing to dodge the water spears and spheres, Mizoe charged straight through them dodging the bare minimum that would kill him on the spot or slow him down and allowing all the rest to just hit him, breaking his ribs and bones of the swordless arm, or piercing his flesh as he closed the distance to the trapped Letro, frozen to the same spot of the arena.

”YOU…! WATER BUBBLE!”

Letro’s eyes widened and he panicked to the point of voicing out his incantation and raising his arms protectively as Mizoe’s sword swung through the air, aiming at his head.

*crack*

The blade wasn’t cold enough anymore to create a damaging freezing crescent, but the metal itself still carried that property and shattered through the barely formed defensive water spell.

*WHAM*

”GHHHRAAAAAAAGH…!”

At the last moment, Mizoe chose to show mercy and did not behead his older brother, twisting his wrist and using the sword like a flimsy mace instead of a bladed weapon – but still, the hit was extremely effective as Letro’s neck and right shoulder got encased in a thick layer of ice as the man himself slammed onto the arena, seemingly knocked out.

”…”

Mizoe stood over his older brother for a few seconds while pointing the dimming spell-enchanted sword at him…

”…haaaaaaaa…”

…but as Letro didn’t make any move except for breathing, the pale-blue-haired man took a step back and breathed out relaxing his tense muscles.

”…”

Still, he ended up pulling himself together for a moment longer and gritted his teeth before turning towards the judges, waiting for them to announce the official verdict.

”Sir Mizoe Aueqas has won the…”

”HE DIDN’T WON SHIT! WATER SPEAR!”

*STAB*

”Ghh…!”

*clang*

As the judge closest to relieved and proud Zoemi stood up and spoke up, Letro jolted himself up and roared, conjuring the water spear right at Mizoe’s back, skewering the pale-blue-haired man straight through the chest and the shortsword fell out of his hand and hit the frosted ground with a clear sound…

”AS IF I LET A TRASH LIKE…!”

In the horrified silence that befell the arena, Letro roared triumphantly – but the words got stuck in his mouth when Mizoe with half of the water spear sticking out of his chest turned to him with the most terrifying glare that the blue-haired man had seen in his life, and clenched his fist…

*WHAM*

*crack*

”…YO-GHUAGH…!”

Without even trying to say anything back, Mizoe just punched his older brother square in the face, breaking his nose and front teeth and slamming him to the ground with enough power to break the ice.

”…sir judge… you were saying…?”

”!!!!!!!!!!”

Even though there was not even a speck of mana left in Mizoe and the was suffering from the mana depletion, both his voice and his eyes carried the cold of his enchantments with them sending chills down the spines of everyone watching – and it was worth noting that the water spear was still lodged firmly in his torso, which only added to the overall effect.

”S-sir Mizoe Auequas has won the duel…!”

The judge has gulped down his saliva and announced as his hand trembled slightly.

”…good…”

*thump*

Mizoe nodded his head with a proud expression – and fell face-first onto the ground, losing his conscience right after hearing the most important words.

The next moment Zoemi was by his side, picking him up and leaving rushing towards the sickbay while not caring that he stepped over his uncle.

He could have used his own modified version of healing, but when it comes to his father’s heath he decided to put his trust in Burushi who had far more knowledge and expertise on the subject.