I hadn’t even noticed when the sunset, too busy hating my life. Ruther had set his mind on not only torturing my mana channels but all my body. Just saying some crap about how ‘a fit body creates a fit mind’ when I asked about his torture.

I flopped on the ground when Ruther called a halt, my body no longer able to hold me up. Even throughout all the physical training, I had to constantly cycle. “Get up kid, we're not done yet, we still have a duel to attend,” I would have flinched at his voice if it were not for the fact that my body didn’t have the energy.

Getting up was a real struggle, but I managed it after much grunting. Grabbing a bottle of water, I drank. By the time the water hit my stomach, my clothes had changed and all the sweat on my body was gone, and he called me the perv.

“I am about to provide you with an invention that may be the greatest thing ever created. This truly magical item is something that all should use, but it is true shame to all society that not many do.” I was suddenly reinvigorated. A magical item, one of the best ever created? Is he giving me this for how well I performed on his training program?

“This item will even help you be around woman without them running from you screaming-something once thought to be impossible. It is called body spray. Truly an extradentary invention.” I had no idea what body spray was, but by his description it was probably nothing good. I truly did not know what I was expecting.

“What is body spray?” I’m sure the disappointment appeared in my voice and face. Please be good and not stupid. For the love of Quince.

Tossing a small bottle at me - which my muscles were too sore to catch - leaving the bottle to hit my nose. I only caught it only the rebound. “That is body spray. It is an amazing item, once you press the indent at the top of the bottle it will release a spray that will overtop your body odour. A true marvel!”

My shoulders slumped, nope it was stupid. Looking down at the bottle that I was suddenly irrationally angry at for hitting my nose. “Now remember, with great power come great responsibility…” I found the indent he was talking about and pressed down on the button and saw a fine mist come out on the other side. “using this item recklessly will cause; wishing you nose was in another dimension for anyone in a 10-metre radius of you or the affected area until it wears off.” My exhausted mind only caught Ruther’s words a few seconds after he said them, fascinated by the contraption. My finger came off the trigger, but it was already too late. A powerful scent surrounded me; it was hard to breathe, it was just too much.

“DON’T POINT THAT THING AT ME, GET AWAY!” Ruther was suddenly much further from me, I tried to run away from the spray zone, but with the combination of the smell and my legs being exhausted I collapsed onto the ground. It took a long time to get away from the smell zone, but by the time I did I could only glare at Ruther.

“I told you not to use too much.” I sputtered for second before I let out a resigned sigh.

“Anyway, use that with great caution, but use it often, especially after a training session, you stink. Also, it is extremely flammable. Time to go!”

“Wait, what was that last part?”. My question was quickly forgotten as we appeared in a hallway and vertigo overtook me.

Footsteps approached from one end of the hallway and I looked to find prince Hisoph approaching, followed by three of his lackeys and one other person walking behind the four. Hisoph was wearing a series of pure white interlocking metal plate on his upper and lower body and holding a sword with the same white colour. The plates seemed to fluidly move around him as he walked. Just the armour probably cost more a hundred times more than all the money I had ever seen. The other three men wore the same clothes they wore in the common room.

The last person in the procession was a woman wearing a robe and walking with a hint of superiority. She had green eyes with blonde hair that was tied behind her, showing a pretty face. Hisoph sneered as he approached but the woman just looked on passively. As she got closer a symbol on her robe came into focus; it was book surrounded by swirling fire.

“I see you have shown peasant, and you brought your lover.” Hisoph walked closer and leaned forward into a whisper which I barely heard. “We wouldn’t want to see him get hurt, would we? Who knows what could happen if you surrender, it might cause one of my friends to ‘accidentally’ miss fire a celebratory firework and hit your young friend here?”

Ruther completely ignored Hisoph’s whispering and spoke in a normal volume “If you could that would be great, he really needs some resistance training and getting hit with a weak fireball would be perfect!”

“Whatever plebian, just don’t surrender too soon.”

The woman reached us and spoke. “I am Nora Frost Field and will be the educator for today’s duel, please step into the arena combatants, spectators enter the seats above.” Following her advice, Ruther and Hisoph both walked into the arena and I followed Hisoph’s friends into a staircase I didn’t see earlier that lead into the seating area. Looking back, I found Nora holding Ruther back, “I would recommend surrendering the instant the match begins. Even if you can fight, you are seriously outmatched in equipment, he has Droxin steel enchanted armour. Why did you agree to any weapon or armour in the first place?” That was the last of the conversation I heard as I barely made it up the stairs from muscle fatigue. Once I reached the top, I sat in the first available seat not caring that I was one row Infront of the other nobles.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The arena was a 15-metre wide circle, with plain stone floors and walls. The only decoration being a larger version of the symbol on the judicators’ robe on the wall opposite me and a long blue line in running across the centre of the field. The arena was surrounded by seats, with a glass rectangular box 4 metres above the ground in which Nora sat, the rectangle being close to the where I was sitting.

Once Ruther and Hisoph were positioned on the opposite side of the line Nora spoke with something amplifying her voice. “This match will be first to surrender or unconsciousness, killing your opponent is prohibited and death of your opponent may result in legal action taken against you. I have the power to intervene if I believe someone may die. In this duel, all items, weapons and magic are allowed. Do you both understand the rules of this match?” After both participants agreed she continued.

A large wall of light appeared above the school symbol, showcasing a zoomed-in picture of the combatants. “On the count of the ten the barrier will disappear and the battle we commence. 10…9…”. A kick in the back of my chair brought me of out my reverie and I looked back to find a brown-haired and eyed boy looking down on at me, a bit older than me.

“So kid, you better hope your master doesn’t surrender too early, or Hisoph will hurt you and your master later. He may even ask me to do so either way.” He spoke without the malice and hate I expected, almost seeming sympathetic.

“I’ll try to make him not permanently maim you, but I can’t promise anything. He can get very angry, and from what your master said to him earlier, well I have never seen him so pissed. He really shouldn’t have done that. How did he get that information about his sister anyway, it happened barely two days ago?” Looking over to the other two I found that they both looked slightly sympathetic as well. Perplexed, I looked back at the man who kicked my chair.

“Who are you by the way? And if you don’t like what Hisoph is doing why don’t you stop him?”.

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Drue Vincent, heir to Earl Vincent, from the kingdom of Sylvena. This is Lim and Dunning Turning, first and third heir of marques Turning, from the neighbouring kingdom of Kilost.” Drue pointed each one out as he called them. Both had brown eyes and hair as well and were wearing fine clothes in yellow and red. “As for you second question, well, we are trying to get on his good side, so we can’t go about arguing and disagreeing with him, and besides, he’s a prince, we couldn’t do much regardless.”

“..1, Fight!”. A fireball instantly left Hisoph’s palm and went straight at Ruther who was barley a dozen metres away. I expected the fireball to just wash off him like it did to the king’s mages, but instead, it exploded in his face, creating a puff of smoke. I could hear a wince behind me.

“You better not be passed out already, I’ve barely started,” Hisoph said.

“Is that the best you got?’ The smoke cleared to leave behind a perfectly fine Ruther, yawning.

More fireballs soon followed that pronouncement, then frost bolts, leaving a fine cloud of mist. The mist slowly dissipated, showing a heavily breathing prince and Ruther casually flipping through a book, with his clothes perfectly untouched.

I turned around to find the three nobles looking stunned. Nora also looked amazed staring unblinkingly down. I focused down when I heard a roar, Hisoph charging, drawing his sword. He moved faster than I could, but know where near the speed of Hue. He swung his sword diagonally and Ruther dodged under the blow, continuing to read the book. Another swipe followed which was just as easily dodged, the swiped got faster and faster, Ruther continuing dodging, not looking up from his book.

“STAY STILL AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!”. Hisoph roared, slowing down after so many strikes. Ruther just continued to read and dodge. After another minute the sword was barley moving and Hisoph was taking large lungfuls of air. On one particularly of balancing strike, Ruther hit the back of his sword with his book causing the sword to get knocked away from Hisoph, making him stumble after it. Ruther followed up by moving behind him and getting down to a squatting position. He had his ring and index finger up and his other fingers interlocked. Ruther brought his arms back, then thrust them forward right at Hisoph’s butt. His fingers pushed rammed right into the princess arse sending him flying a few metres into the air with smoke trailing from his rear, screaming.

He travelled to the wall and landed in a heap, something slowing his fall as he neared the ground. I could hear another wince behind me, and I followed. Hisoph slowly got up and the screen zoomed in on him. His butt was completely exposed, and an angry red. Tears were running down his face, his mouth was open.

“Just like your sister, exposing yourself to everyone, shameless.” Hisoph took a step back and tripped over onto his butt letting out of yowl of pain as Ruther slowly walked over. Ruther smiled as he reached Hisoph and that was enough to break him out of his daze. The prince opened his mouth but no sound came out, he went frantic as he looked to Nora with terrified eyes. I looked over to her and she wasn’t even looking at him with her eyes cast down to the side.

Shadows pooled around the duellist until the entire floor and walls looked like holes to nothing. “Now what have you learned about being a dick to people, Prince Arizont?”. The prince just stared, looking completely terrified, something yellow even pooling around him.

“WELL!”

“I’ll never do it ever again, please don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt!” Hisoph started sobbing, and I almost felt sorry for the guy.”

Ruther let out a sigh. “Good enough, if I see you being a dick again abusing your power, well, let’s just say a burnt ass will be the least of your worry’s.”. Hisoph just continued crying and did something that might be the semblance of a nod.

“With that sorted, take this,” Ruther passed the prince a map, who took it with shaking hands. “You’re lucky it’s dark, or this would be way more embarrassing.”. With that pronouncement, Hisoph disappeared along with his sword.

“Now for you three.” Ruther stared up at the stands right at the three people behind me who’s frozen shock turned to fear. The three of them appeared in the arena. I thought about stepping up for them and saying that they weren’t that bad, but then I looked at the arena and the image of a burnt arse appeared in my mind. My seat welcomed my healthy butt back, nope, everyman for themselves.

“You three are even worse than the arrogant prince! DO YOU KNOW THE DAMAGE YOU HAVE CAUSED ME!”. If the feared they showed before was a candle flame, they now showed a burning sun of abject terror. All three of their pants growing wet.

“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELVES!” Fire swirled around Ruther, contrasting against the pitch black.

“We meant nothing by it, mage sir. It was Hisoph, he’s a prince we can’t go against him. Please, we have nothing against you, you won’t see us again just don’t hurt us ple~ase, pl~ease.” Drue was the first to speak, rushing out the words, he started crying after.

Nora’s face was a mixture of anger and frustration. Her mouth opened up before closing, she pressed back into her seat.

“Good enough, I hope you learnt your lesson. But thanks for the entertainment, either way, it’s always fun to beat up a few pompous kids,” Ruther bowed to Nora before disappearing, leaving three boys with wet trousers, a frozen adjudicator and an exhausted and irritated apprentice, who cursed to heaven and back as he painfully walked back to his inn.