A draw in the first round and a defeat on the second round.

Revlo didn't think that he performed poorly in the duel, on the other hand it goes to show how good the other side was.

Elvina got rid of her elf's race weakness by doing well in close combat and she herself is strong, without a doubt.

She could already defeat an Intermediate-Rank as a peak Novice-Rank(SSS) and the 'defeat' part wasn't just limited to duels, it also applies to an actual life and death battle.

There were many restrictions that a duel could bring, furthermore there were many variables to take into account when engaging in an actual battle that determines life and death, after all, duels and battles of life and death are not the same.

Now as a newly ascended Intermediate-Rank(F-) even though she couldn't defeat an Expert-Rank champion yet, if she were to actually fight one, she wouldn't necessarily lose either, that applies to both duels and an actual death battle.

Revlo silently calculated in his mind, if she were to reach peak Intermediate-Rank(SSS), she would already had the capabilities to defeat or even kill Expert-Rank champions.

Level skipping battles were rare but not uncommon, its just that as the ranks go higher, level skipping battles becomes rarer, just because a novice-rank could beat an intermediate rank in the past doesn't necessarily mean those same novice-rank when they eventually reach intermediate-rank themselves could defeat an expert-rank.

What differentiates those geniuses who could skip ranks are those who could maintain their level skipping status as their ranks goes up and those who couldn't.

Revlo had a feeling that she could maintain her level skipping status until she reaches Saint-Rank when her advantage of discovering her phantasm much earlier than other gets cancelled out, though she would still be exceptional even among the Saint-Ranks because her high combat prowess didn't just rely solely on her magical phantasm.

Despite being so young, she already has a high battle sense and experience, which is puzzling considering that she is a princess of an entire race, but that goes to show that her title of a genius among geniuses and all her current achievements were not mere flukes.

Of course, reaching Saint-Rank is already a large hurdle for most champions to cross, if only 20 out of 10 billion could reach Mystic-Rank and less than 10,000 out of 10 billion reached Legendary-Rank, the number of Saint-Ranks around the world only amounts to around approximately one million.

One million may sound a lot but considering the total number of existing champions it was not even close to 1%, only a miniscule 0.0001% managed to become Saint-Rank champions.

In other words, only 1 in 10,000 champions reached that level!

As you go up in the ladder of champion ranks, developing your magic core becomes much harder, especially when reaching the level of a Saint.. this was a fact that most people agreed on.

As for why it was so hard to reach Saint-Rank?

Not everyone can comprehend their magic and form their own phantasm. Forming an inborn magic artifact is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack but that haystack is as large as the ocean.

A phantasm was like the symbol or the benchmark to become a Saint-Rank champion, if you haven't formed a phantasm or even a pseudo-phantasm, then your chances of becoming Saint-Rank is pretty much zero.

Which is why when Elvina discovered her own phantasm as early as a novice-rank, even though it was incomplete, it still shook the whole world to the very core and caused many champions who were unable to become Saints to be very depressed, a child that is not even 11 yet has beaten them in this area, how could they not be saddened by this?

It was pretty much a near guarantee that Elvina will achieve Saint-Rank.

'And they say that she is not even the most outstanding in the academy'

'John Hancock titled [Phecda], some people say that he is the undisputed number one even among the 7 little Ursa Stars, he even overshadows Elvina in reputation'

To be honest, Revlo had seen his fair share of geniuses throughout his fleeting lives but the standard of this world is much higher than all the others.

He had a hard time imagining someone being above Elvina in terms of talent other than his sister.

He used to be envious and resented these geniuses, he didn't like the fact that he worked really hard for something only for someone like Elvina to achieve the same results for half the effort.

and now...

'These people are really great'

His previous feelings turned into admiration and a faint yearning.

'If I had half their talents, would I have been able to break free from this curse by now?'

The answer was no.

The predicament that he was in was not something that talent alone could overcome.

'Yeah, I have my own strengths, like my unyielding effort and diligence that won't lose to anyone'

Him being able to catch up with the geniuses of the first world that he got reincarnated into was proof.

He smiled and then looked at the direction where Elvina was resting at, she was trying to restore her mana to full capacity to prepare for the third and final round of their duel.

'You can have your talent, I don't want that thing anyway'

He stood up from his sitting position, he checked his body, even though his stamina has not fully restored yet, his mana however, was fully recovered.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

'This time I won't lose' he pledged in his heart.

Even though the outcome of completely winning this duel was no longer possible, winning the third round and getting an overall draw was the best result that he could get, he still felt that he should win the third round, if he doesn't, then all his efforts, all the blood he shed, all the experiences he had gone through would only amount to such a low standard.

'Plus losing to a 10 year old would be embarrassing.. well losing in general leaves a bad taste in my mouth'

He had his own pride to protect, how is he gonna win against the god that cursed him if he can't even beat a 10 year old?

Revlo didn't realize it but right now, he was showing more emotions than he had for the past hundreds of reincarnations, which was a long time.

Elvina also got up, she looked around only to see Revlo was looking at her with a competitive but unyielding gaze.

She smiled.

"Hehe, you are completely different from how you were before" Elvina said

"Oh really? how can you tell?" Revlo replied.

Elvina shrugged.

"Your dead and emotionless eyes finally have some life in it, even though we barely got to know each other, I can tell that you are very competitive and a bit of a battle maniac just like me" She said while grinning.

"And I can also tell that you don't like to lose, well so do I" she continued.

She had already had her pseudo-magic phantasm activated.

Mana gathered in her hands, she then casted a spell.

"Tree Guardian!"

After that "Tree Guardian Armor"

Two heavily armored wooden golems appeared right in front of Elvina.

"Ice Arena" Revlo chanted, the ground in the area suddenly froze over, the temperature was decreasing at a rapid rate, the floor was covered in ice, the surface was clear enough that one could see their own reflection, even the ground that Elvina stood on was not excluded.

If anyone were to see this, they would suddenly thought to themselves that they somehow got teleported to Antartica.

And at same time.

"Physical Enhancement, Cold Resistance, Apply Friction"

Due to the slippery ground, Elvina lost her balance for a second but applied mana on her feet to stabilize her footing, she then felt a bit cold and shivered but she also similarly coated herself with mana all over her body.

"This guy really is annoying to duel with, he keeps fighting in different ways with no fixed pattern and what the heck is friction?" Elvina uttered.

Now she had to focus a part of her concentration in constantly coating herself with mana, which decreases her battle prowess a bit and it was hard to stay upright without slipping on the icy surface, she couldn't help but imagine Revlo but as a fox person due to his slyness.

Elvina shook those thoughts out of her mind and said.

"Doesn't matter anyway, go tree golems, attack him!"

At their summoner's command they took their first step but something happened.

***zwiiip***

Both the golems slipped and fell on top of each other on the cold ground, the ground cracked upon their landing, it look really comedic considering their sizes and the way they fell.

"What?!" Ellvina was surprised.

Revlo wasn't being idle, before the golems even slipped, he utilized wind magic to receive a burst of speed, he was charging towards Elvina like a rocket.

He ran past the fallen golems who had a hard time getting up, mana gathered in his palms.

He ran on the icy surface like he was running on normal ground, he didn't slip nor slide at all.

"Is this what that 'apply friction' does?" As expected of a genius, she quickly figured what that magic was just by seeing it only once.

When she saw Revlo charging towards her, she thought he wanted to do close combat again so naturally...

"Nature's Shield Quintiple"

Five large green floating shields revolved around her, it was a natural course of action, the previous round proved this to be effective, there was no reason to not use the same strategy again.

"Wind Burst" Revlo chanted and a strong gust of wind was rapidly approaching towards Elvina.

She aligned the shields perfectly and held one on her arms, she blocked Revlo's attack but despite the damage reduction, it still pushed her back and because of the icy ground, she slid back even further away.

Cold winds assaulted her shield wall, she was constantly being pushed back but she received no damage.

"Wind Burst" A voice echoed.

"He is separating me from my tree guardians" She exclaimed.

She roughly figured out his plan, he covered the ground in ice to temporarily incapacitate her wooden golems, he then pushed her away with assistance from the wind magic attack and the slippery ground.

By the time the tree guardians got up, they were already a bit far, her magic connection to control her golems has gotten blurrier as the distance between the her and the golems increases.

The wooden golems could only continue to stay still like statues until it receives a command from its summoner.

"Wind Burst" Revlo continued to push back Elvina with continuous wind attacks.

"You keep repeating the same magic over and over, at this rate your mana will run out faster" She said.

"Wind Burst" Revlo ignored her and continued to chant.

"Hmph, do you really think I need my tree guardians to win?" She said.

"Landmine: Seed Bomb" she casted.

Instead of casting her magic so that the exploding seeds would be summoned in the air, she planted them under the ground.

"I want to see if your freeze spell can stop them from exploding this time" She smirked.

Right as she said that, the ground beneath Revlo started exploding like he just stepped on numerous landmines, once an explosion occurred, the domino effect kicked in and the other seeds started to simultaneously explode.

"Wind Burst"

Instead of firing it at Elvina, he pointed his palm on the ground, he got launched upwards in the air just in time to avoid the explosions.

He looked down below to see the explosions and the scene looked no different from a battleground in world war 2, dust was flying around and it covered the entire area but the light that explosions produced were still visible.

"Vine Graveyard" Elvina chanted, she aimed at Revlo who got launched in the air, growing vines and thick roots rapidly approached him.

"Mega-Freeze" He pointed his palm at the plantation before him and they quickly started freezing, ice was swiftly covering them, the attack slowed down and then eventually stopped.

The Vine Graveyard that Elvina summoned looked like a ramp, covered in ice that was pointing at the sky.

Revlo landed on it and started running down.

"Mana Sword" A sword made of mana appeared in Revlo's right hand.

Seeing this, Elvina raised her shields, she raised her guard up and prepared to chant another spell.

"Vine Gra---"

But before she could finish, Revlo chanted faster than her.

"Unfreeze"

Elvina then had a realization, this area was familiar, this was the exact place where Revlo froze her Seed Bombs to prevent them from exploding in the previous round, the seeds were still here, covered in ice.

Her eyes widened in understanding.

He didn't drag her here just so he could separate her and her tree guardians, that was just a cover.

'His real motive was...'

When he finished chanting his spell.

The frost that covered the seeds, started melting quickly and immediately exploded.

*boom* *boom* *baam*

Intense explosion sounds could be heard and Elvina was in the center of it, she couldn't react on time and was immediately bombarded.

"Success" Revlo smiled.

Elvina was covered in blood and was hurt badly by the explosions, thankfully before the duel started, her teacher casted barrier magic on her and Revlo in case things go too far.

This particular barrier magic is a magic array engraved on their bodies, it will only activate if the host receive damage on a certain threshold.

Thanks to that, they don't have to worry about seriously hurting each other and can go all out without reservations, no matter how strong their magic were, a novice-rank and an intermediate-rank could not dream of even scratching a barrier casted by a saint-rank champion.

After the explosions died out and the dust settled, a bloody figure of Elvina was revealed, there was a thin barrier that covered her body but Revlo knew that no matter how much power he could muster up, he would be unable to break that seemingly thin and weak looking barrier.

Despite her injuries, Elvina was still standing, she looked at Revlo who was still standing on the ice ramp and sighed.

Final round winner, Revlo Mason.. the overall result of the duel...a draw!

Duel Results, Revlo [1.5-1.5] Elvina.