n

n

nEvan and Fien's duel was about to begin, but suddenly they were stopped by Marcel's voice,

"Before you fight, I need to clarify one thing that none of you know.

"

nEveryone but Zak looked at Marcel in anticipation of his words.

n

"Even though this will be a friendly sparring session, we don't want you to hold back. So fight to the fullest, you can even throw lethal blows. Zak and I will easily patch you up after the fight, or stop you if we see one of you wouldn`t survive the next attack.

"

nEvan and Fien nodded, then Marcel slammed his palms together to signify the start of their duel.

nWhoosh.

nThe girl attacked first. Marcel's words about complete freedom of action pleased her. Now she could do as she wanted.

nWith lightning speed, Fien got to Evan, stabbing him squarely in the chest with her rapier. Evan saw this and jumped aside, bypassing the whole hail of attacks.

nEvan decided not to rush his attack. He understood that it`s a battle between two magicians and his opponent hadn't used any spells yet. So he wouldn't be in a hurry, either.

n

"Marcel, your daughter is good enough. I think if she becomes an

"Amplifier

", she will have a great future.

" Zak remarked, putting a couple of grapes into his mouth.

nMarcel did not answer and only smiled slightly. While Zak was staring at Fien, he observed Evan's actions.

nThe girl wasn`t upset that her attack hadn`t worked and went back to attacking Evan. He ducked, dodged and parried the blows. Until Fien cast her spell, Evan wouldn't take any chances.

nAfter another series of attacks, Evan saw what he had been waiting for.

nWhoosh.

nMana had gathered at the girl's hand then, a wind began to appear around the rapier. Evan immediately felt the danger.

nHe didn't know what kind of spell it was, but Zak was well aware of it.

n

"Zero Level spell -

"Humble Whirlwind

", element - wind, Amplification Magic. Pretty good, though I haven`t expected anything less from your daughter.

" Zak said slowly, looking at the swirling wind around Fien's sword.

n

"You're absolutely right.

" Marcel took a sip of wine and continued with a slight wistfulness in his voice:

"Fien is a precious flower, too bad that her life used to be hell.

nFien was not Marcel's biological daughter; Marcel had no wife or children. Years ago, he had picked her up on the street, dirty, skinny, shabby, miserable and weak.

nMarcel had seen potential in her, so he adopted her and helped her in every way he could. It was common for a magician to do such a thing. For the most part, magicians were free people who didn't want to bind themselves with family ties.

nFor them, it was real chains that only restrained their movements. But the most important reason was something else. Because of the reluctance to create a family, a magician had little chance of having a child of his own. So, practically no magicians had their own children.

nIt was all about talent. Magicians knew very well how hard life was for people without a talent for magic. So they did not want to condemn their children to such an existence.

nThere were of course those who killed or abandoned their children because they had no talent for magic, but there were not many such bastards.

n...

n. Evan was wary and prepared to use his spell on Fien's next attack.

nEvan's

"Warp

" began to spin and the girl attacked.

nFien quickly reached Evan and swung her rapier several times, striking.

nThe Amplification spell had greatly increased the power and the speed of her weapon, and Evan felt it with his own skin.

nSplash.

nSuddenly blood gushed from Evan's body, and his face froze in shock.

n Evan didn't understand what had happened. He was sure he'd managed to avoid the blow, but suddenly he felt a searing pain in his chest.

nA second later, Evan realized that it was all about the spell the girl had used. He just wasn't used to the new speed of the sword, and the slightly increased area of impact.

n

"I thought you are stronger.

" Fien said calmly, and continued to bring down a hail of attacks on Evan.

nHe quickly came to his senses, and decided it was time to act. He had already made the mistake of underestimating all the features of Fien's spell.

nWhoosh.

nHis sword was covered in blue ice in a flash, and the temperature around him dropped drastically.

nEvan then counterattacked. He aimed for the head and quickly landed several blows, but Fien easily dodged each of them.

nBut, that was only the beginning of Evan's offensive. The moment Fien dodged his blows, he instantly put his hand forward with his fingers clenched besides his index finger.

nBoom.

nAs soon as enough mana gathered around his finger, there was a deafening shot and a pale blue beam flew toward Fien.

nThere was no way the girl would have had time to dodge. She simply didn't have time for that, so Evan thought she would be seriously wounded and their fight would be over. The next moment, however, he saw an incredible scene.

nMana quickly gathered on the end of her rapier after which she made a wide swing.

nWhoosh.

nA wind blade appeared at the site of the cut, which crashed into a pale blue beam, followed by an explosion.

nBoom.

n Evan was surprised that his attack could be blocked by a counter spell.

n

"You are sly fox.

" Zak said quietly. Unlike Evan, he had seen every detail of their fight.

nMarcel said nothing in reply, but smiled weakly.

nFien cast a spell called

"Wind Cutter

", it was Creation Magic. There was nothing supernatural about it, but that wasn't what Zack was talking about.

n

"It`s your own fault for not providing Evan with the proper weapon.

" Suddenly Marcus said.

nAfter all, it was all about Fien's rapier, which was not just a piece of metal, but a Catalyst.

nYou don't need a weapon for Creation Magic, the 'Fireball

" or the

"Magic Missile

" are cast directly from your hands. Sure, you could run mana through a sword and fire a

"Magic Missile

" from the end of it, but that`s ineffective. It would look as if the Creator were trying to use Amplification Magic.

nBut there is a special weapon called Catalysts. They are dozens of times better at conducting mana than ordinary ones. That's why it took Fien simply gathering mana at the end of her blade and swinging her sword to cast the

"Wind Cutter

".

nThanks to the fact that her rapier was a Catalyst, the spell lost virtually no power. A small amount of mana dissipated, but it was only a tiny fraction.

nOf course, if she had used her hands, the effect would have been slightly better. But Catalysts are for convenience or emergencies, not to enhance the spell itself.

nEvan wasn't aware that such things existed, but that didn't change his tactics in any way.

nHe quickly attacked Fien, striking the girl swiftly with his icy sword. Unlike Fien's spell, the

"Ice Veil

" did not increase the damage area in any way. However, if the girl missed the blow, it would be very difficult for her to get back into the fight.

nFien ably dodged and blocked blows, and occasionally she sent wind blades towards Evan, which Evan exploded casting the

"Magic Missile

".

nBecause he was crowding her and the girl was using more spells, Fien slowly began to run out of mana. She was breathing heavily, she had significantly less strength left than Evan.

n Evan realized that it was the right moment.

nHis

"Warp

" began to spin even faster, and his mana began to disappear rapidly. The next second, a green magic circle appeared beneath Fien.

n