“Legally?” Sholin looked at Yaaro quizzically.

“A duel, a game, anything to settle this.”

“A duel?” Darius scoffed, “I’m offering you an easy choice, and here you go taking the hard one.”

“Yes. A duel.” Yaaro grinned. Although his bones were simply itching to get into a fight, he had never once been in a fight on Earth.

“Interesting. Are you challenging me?” Darius asked.

“Yes I am.”

“What are the terms.” Darius smiled.

Yaaro chuckled, his psychotic grin growing even wider, “If you win, I’m your personal slave for all my life.”

The crowd burst into hushed whispers. Many of the onlookers couldn’t believe their ears and even began pestering Yaaro in their unknown languages. Even if Yaaro couldn’t understand their words, he could tell their meaning:

“Please don’t do this.”

Darius meanwhile, simply smiled, “Interesting. And if you win?”

“If I win…” Yaaro fell into thought, and after he had broken from his reverie, simply said, “You and your people stop bothering me. Oh, and also give me some money. I’m running a bit low you see.”

Darius burst out laughing, “You’re an interesting one!”

And then he proclaimed, “Yaaro Ilay! I accept your duel, so you better start calling me Master already.”

“And you better prepare that money.”

----------------------------------------

The two stood in the large gymnasium that Yaaro had taken his admission exam in. The gallery overflowed with spectators that watched with bated breath. There were so many people that many of them stood to the side, crowding the gymnasium and leaving the central courtyard open for the two duelists.

A man walked out of one of the doors with slumped shoulders. It was Avesta, Yaaro’s examiner. Although he looked at the two duelists, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Avesta asked Yaaro, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

“You should be asking him, not me.” Yaaro replied.

Avesta sighed and handed Yaaro a strangely-shaped medallion inscribed with mysterious symbols, “Draw up the Geass.”

Yaaro blinked absent-mindedly— his gaze switching from the strange medallion to Avesta, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what a Geass is.”

A single eyebrow rose on Avesta’s forehead and he handed the medallion to Darius— beckoning the two to draw closer. The two contenders each held one of the horns on the medallion, “Now recite the terms of the duel. Once you both agree, the Geass will activate.”

Darius started, “If I, Darius von Straaten, win then Yaaro Ilay will become my personal slave till the day he dies. If I were to lose, then I am to leave Yaaro Ilay alone.”

“No.” Yaaro objected, This sly motherfucker, “When you lose you and your people stop bothering me and anyone even remotely associated with me.”

If a genie were to appear and grant him three wishes, Yaaro would draw up an extensive, multiple-page, loophole-proof contract that ensured he got only what he wanted without unintended side-effects.

Back on Earth, he had spent an inordinate amount of time sharpening his skill in this regard— supposing a genie does appear.

Darius smirked, “Alright. If I were to lose, me and my people are to stop bothering Yaaro Ilay and anyone even remotely associated with him.”

“You shouldn’t order anyone to carry out harmful or annoying activities against me and anyone associated with me: either indirectly or directly”

Once again, Darius repeated the conditions verbatim. This process went back and forth a couple of times until Yaaro was completely satisfied with the duel conditions.

Once both of them agreed to the conditions, the symbols on the medallion lit up and Yaaro felt a snake-like sensation coiling around the inside of his arm. It wound up his arm and snaked its way to his heart, wrapping around it in a loose fashion.

“I’m assuming both of you know what happens if you break the contract.” Avesta said— and what he meant was understood by Yaaro immediately.

Avesta sighed and absent-mindedly headed to a room.

A transparent blue-tinted dome rose up around the two, enclosing the central area of the gymnasium.

“Are you both aware of the rules?” Avesta asked as he exited the room. Darius nodded but Yaaro shook his head.

“Very well. Then, here are the rules. Both of you are free to pick your weapon of choice from the rack.” Avesta pointed to the floor between the two from which a rack of weapons floated up like a CD being slowly ejected from its tray.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

An assortment of wooden weapons from swords to maces to halberds and spears and even some strange ones that Yaaro couldn’t describe were present.

“Attacks to the face and groin are not allowed, as well as the back of the head. Each hit is a point and first to 20 points wins. You will be asked to wear a belt that records the number of hits you have received. That’s all.”

Darius walked to the rack and picked out a sword, while Yaaro stood rooted to his spot.

“Duelist Yaaro, pick your weapon and your belt.” Avesta said.

Yaaro picked up only a belt, “I don’t use weapons.”

“Very well.”

The rack disappeared and the two faced off against each other. The audience waited with bated breath and even the unusually absent-minded referee, Avesta, was somewhat nervous.

Yaaro stood with his hands in his pockets. Darius too, had a similarly relaxed stance. He lightly tapped his sword on the ground, seemingly fidgeting with it. The two didn’t speak, nor did they move.

Avesta brought his hands up to face the contestants, and then shouted,“Begin!”

Yaaro continued standing with his hands in his pockets.

And Darius too, had a similarly relaxed stance. He lightly tapped his sword on the ground.

The two didn’t speak, nor move.

“You’re from far away. A traveler isn’t it?” Darius said.

“Yes.”

Darius smirked, and said nothing else. Yaaro looked supremely confident, but his internal monologue was running haywire.

Why did I get myself in this situation? God I’m an idiot!

But I can’t back out now, so I might as well make the best of this.

Darius slowly walked to the side, circling him and silently watching.

I know nothing about his magic. Fuck, I don’t even know about this world’s magic! Yaaro thought. But quickly, he realised that winning was impossible unless he shut out all useless thoughts.

Now, he was going to win. And all his thoughts would help that goal. Like the blade of a knife coming to a point, so too did his thoughts get sharpened to a single point.

Based on the story in the lecture, he has to be an elemental mage: fire, water, wind, earth. But before that,

He wrapped himself in layers and layers of invisible mana, eventually cocooning himself in an invisible shield. As for how strong the shield was? Well, something was better than nothing.

[Skill: Mana Armor has been learnt!]

He conjured two floating invisible swords. Technically, they were not swords, but rather crude and textureless sticks of mana. But again, something was better than nothing.

[Skill: Mana Weapons has been learnt!]

[Skills, Mana Armor and Mana Weapons are merging into new Skill: Mana Armaments!]

That should’ve been the first thing I did, He lamented.

“Come, attack. Or are you too afraid?” Darius taunted.

Yaaro was silent.

He wants me to attack first. Does that mean his strong suit is in counter-attacking and defense? It might be. He hasn’t sent any long-range probing attacks: no fireballs, no water-bullets, no wind-bullets and no shards of earth. Maybe he can’t?...

Yaaro grinned.

But I can.

Five balls of fire sparked to life in the air surrounding Yaaro, and in rapid succession— shot towards Darius.

Effortlessly, using his wooden sword, he swatted away the balls of fire. Seeing him rapidly change stance was a mesmerizing sight. It was so effortless that Yaaro’s confidence was immediately deflated.

Immediately after the last ball was fired, Darius dashed— exploding towards Yaaro like a bullet: so fast and sudden that Yaaro’s eyes bulged out of their sockets when he felt his outermost mana barrier shatter like thin ice.

And then the second.

And then the third.

A wall of fire rose up and shrunk around Darius: threatening to burn him in its raging inferno.

The audience gasped.

But Darius simply rolled backwards through the flames and came out the other side unscathed. Before he could even recover his stance however, his sword flew to the side. With narrowing eyes, he looked at the relaxed Yaaro.

Again his sword flew to the side. And again, and again. And this time it moved backwards to intercept a fireball.

[Skill: Mana Armaments Lv1]

Multiple invisible swords materialized around Darius— with every single one pointing towards him.

“Give up. You must have already realized it.” Yaaro said.

Darius however, simply relaxed, and looked at Yaaro questioningly.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He said.

Does this guy have the IQ of a rock?... Oh, poor fellow. He can’t sense my swords…

Yaaro thought, as he regenerated his mana barriers, for which some of his swords had to be dismissed. His concentration would only allow him to control a minimal amount of mana projections.

Yaaro still stood with his hands in his pockets, while Darius’ chest heaved with each breath.

Even to an inexperienced spectator, it was clearly obvious who had the upper hand.

But Darius maintained his calm; his eyes laser focused on Yaaro, who simply yawned, Alright, it’s time to end this and hit on Hyphis.

All the swords came down on Darius. He could manage one or two swords, but six of them was impossible even for someone of his caliber. He stood unmoving with his eyes still locked onto Yaaro. The swords came down and then:

They struck. Every single one of them hit their target. Not a single one missed.

But Yaaro’s jaw dropped.

There was a loud laugh resounding through the auditorium— Darius.

It was an unsettling sight— even though he laughed uncontrollably, his eyes were still open and locked on Yaaro.

“What is this?” He smiled, and his voice was joyous, “We’re having a duel and here you are, tickling me.”

All the color drained from Yaaro’s face. And then he understood: His mana projections were not strong enough to cause damage.

With a single swing of his wooden sword, two barriers were shattered.

Again, a wall of fire sprung up around Darius, closing in and constricting him like a snake— but he simply kept moving. Just as the fire touched him, clouds of vapor billowed from his body as he kept hacking away at the barrier.

And then the last barrier shattered.

All it took was a few seconds for a voice to break up the fight

“Stop!” Avesta looked down at the beaten body with pity and offered a hand to help him up. He weakly swatted the hand away, preferring instead to stand on his own shaky knees.

Avesta raised a hand, and declared the winner.