Straf leisurely approaches the red-striped obelisk with his hands in his pockets. Its runes glow brilliantly with golden light, much like the rest of them. He stops right in front of it, in the arena's perimeter formed by the circle of stone pillars. The challenger student and Straf face each other, before turning their eyes to Aria, the spectators, and the remaining challengers awaiting their turn.

「Duelists, are you ready!?」

With her hand on the obelisk near the spectators, the professor shouts from beneath her massive hat's brim.

「Yes!」

The student shouts back, and his face gains a malicious, ill-intention smirk. With his hands in his pocket, Straf shrugs with a small grimace.

「…Can I beat him up yet?」

He asks, while Aria is still awaiting a verbal response from him.

「…Are you ready, or not, Straf!?」

She shouts, sounding a little irate. Straf sighs, rolls his eyes, and throws his hands up.

「I'm obviously ready! Can I do it already!?」

Straf replies, placing his hands in his pockets. Aria stares at him for a few seconds as her mouth scrunches to the side.

「…Are you sure you're ready!? Do you not want to pull your hands out of your pockets first!?」

「…Do I have to!?」

Straf asks with his mouth aslant. Aria scoffs, and gently shakes her head, taking care not to disturb the hat.

「Fine. Suit yourself…」

The professor grumbles under her breath, hiding her frustrated face beneath her hat's brim. With her free fist on her hip, she lets out a large sigh, and raises her gaze back to the duelists.

《Heh. Still underestimating me because I've got my temper under control, huh? You're dead meat, chump.》

The student glares at Straf's bored face, chuckling quietly. His eyes drift aside to Cycelia. Her beautiful face is marked by worry as she stares at Straf from the crowd of spectators. Her emerald eyes briefly meet with the challenger's.

《Hm. She's pretty cute. It's always girls like her wrapped around some asshole's arm… Don't you worry, I'm gonna rescue you…》

The challenger lets out an amused scoff, his gaze returns to Straf, bearing a confident and vile grin on his face.

《…Bet she's going to be just as emotionally devastated as you will be physically, when I'm done with you.》

「Hehehehe…」

He chuckles to himself, and Aria gives both of them one last quick look.

「Duelists, prepare yourselves!…」

The professor exclaims, and the low, quiet murmurs coming from the crowd cuts to silent anticipation.

《「Oh, I didn't meant to kill him! It was an accident! I feel so guilty! I understand if you'll hate me forever!」》

「Heheh…」

The student continues picturing himself as the winner in his head. He glances at Cycelia's pretty face once again.

《…And she's going to hate me for whole five minutes before she accepts that this guy was a loser. All women are like this… Loyal until their man gets beaten.》

The challenger scoffs, turning his scornful gaze back to Straf's disinterested face staring at one of the topmost windows of the Academy's main building.

「Tsk…」

《This guy's an actual fucking idiot… How can you get distracted at a time like this!? Whatever. I'll get distracted from my oh-so-terrible guilt of killing you by your girlfriend, and distract her from the grief-》

He clicks his tongue, and takes another peek at Cycelia with a smug smile on his face.

「Begin!」

Aria's abrupt shout interrupts the student's hateful scheming. He jumps up, a little startled by how suddenly the cloudy, semi-opaque, golden barrier extends upward from the pillars, and meets in the center of the arena, far above, creating an enveloping dome overhead. Straf begins casually walking towards his challenger, still keeping his hands in his pockets.

《Ah, shit I got distracted!- Eh? Why is he?…》

The student blinks in disbelief at Straf as he slowly approaches him, roughly quarter of the distance away.

《…Wow. This guy is actually stupid. Why is he not casting?… Whatever. I gave him a chance to take it all back. Die, you dimwitted cockroach.》

Straf's challenger points his palm at him. In the distance, the student begins visibly saying something. Straf's brows slowly rise on his unimpressed face while he leisurely closes the distance.

《Hm… I wonder if lip-reading would be of any use…》

Straf thinks, and turns his bored eyes back to the window above. With his hands behind his back, Corvus is watching the dueling grounds from his office, staring down at the two duelists far below.

《…What are you, a cat? Shitty old man…》

Straf shakes his head, and turns his gaze back to his opponent.

「『Arcbolt』!」

Time slows to a crawl, as soon as Straf hears the spellname. Four gently vibrating, glowing blue strings of light arc towards the ground from the student's fingers. They connect into one, converging at a small pebble on the ground. When they reach it, the air around them begins glowing blue, and the merged string reveals its true, jagged, jittery form. Lightning bolt. In an instant, the pebble glows red, turns to white, and dissolves into glowing dust while the bolt of lightning zaps to another point along the ground.

《 New spell memorized. 》

A monotone female voice announces. Meanwhile, the spell continues to draw closer towards Straf like an enraged venomous serpent, slithering along the loamy, sandy dirt. To Straf, the entire world appears frozen in time, except the zigzagging lightning, and its trail of carnage.

《Hmmm… That's pretty fast, isn't it?… But it shouldn't just bounce off the ground like that. It's not a normal lightning bolt, huh?…》

He thinks, standing still while the deadly electric snake darts towards him, and almost there. As he continues staring, it arrives just a few steps away from his feet.

《…Now what? If my [Contextual Time Perception] is active, that means I ought to dodge this, right?… But it's just sitting there-》

Straf tilts his head, furrowing his brows at the deadly white squiggle and its blue bloom of light. Without a warning, like a striking cobra, it zaps towards Straf's chest in a nearly perfectly straight line at a blinding speed.

《Oh fuck, that's kind of dangerous-》

BOOM!!

「Gya!」

Cycelia yelps and jumps up, startled by the deafening thunderclap that came out of nowhere. She almost loses the grip on her tome, but manages to hug it into her chest just in time. The arena barrier turned entirely opaque, and the last view anyone from the outside could have had, is Straf casually walking towards his opponent as the challenger shouts a spell's name, while pointing his palm at him. When Cycelia realizes she can't see anything into the arena, her heart skips a beat, and a great sense of unease washes over her.

Meanwhile, Aria clenches her gloved fist, keeping the other hand on the obelisk.

《Arcbolt, huh?… I knew he'd use an unavoidable, inefficient murder spell. Still waters run deep, and some things just don't change… But why did he not do anything? Was he trying to get himself killed?》

She sighs, and looks aside towards Cycelia. Her frightened emerald eyes look into hers, wordlessly seeking answers as to what happened. Aria apologetically turns her gaze away.

「Lia, there you are! We've heard there's was going to be a duel in the morning, but the guy weaseled out of it. Is this the rescheduled one?」

Tisha approaches from behind, with Neela right behind her. She tilts her blonde braided bang sideways, as she looks at the opaque barrier.

「Here. We were looking for you, so Tisha bought you one.」

Neela hands the confused and still worried Cycelia a wooden cup.

「This is?…」

She asks, giving the contents a few quick sniffs with her small, girly nose. A pleasant, sour smell wafts from the cup.

「Temurian drink.」

「I hope you didn't sneak a few gulps, Neela.」

Tisha says, side-glancing at Neela with her ice-blue eyes as she holds an assorted meat and cheese tray. She pokes a small cheese cube with a wooden, needle-like pick, and slides the cube off with her teeth into her mouth, chewing conspicuously, and still staring at her. The reaction of outrage on Neela's face is immediate.

「I didn't! It's for Lia!」

She shouts back, furrowing her brows with her now-free hand clenched. She takes a small gulp from her own cup, and lets out a pleased sigh.

「Pfwah…」

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Neela's frown quickly turns into a smile, and she walks to Cycelia's side, staring at the milky, golden barrier.

「You brought food?…」

Cycelia absentmindedly asks, staring at the cubes of cheese, sausage and ham on Tisha's wooden tray.

「Hm? Yeah. Neela and I like to watch duels with some snacks.」

Tisha nonchalantly shugs, looking at Cycelia's concerned face as if it were obvious.

「Remember how often people dueled during our first term?…」

Neela asks, leaning forward as she peeks at Tisha past Cycelia's large chest.

「Yeah. People flew off the handle real quick back then, huh?」

「You know we kind of flunked the term, because we were busy watching the duels instead of studying?…」

Neela asks, and Tisha rolls her eyes.

「Tsk… I know. We're doing this one for real this time.」

She replies, and sighs.

「So, who's fighting? Over what?…」

The blonde northerner princess asks, and takes another bite from her tray.

「Om… Want some? It'll be an indirect kiss, I hope Straf doesn't mind…」

She presents the wooden tray and the pick to Cycelia with a smug smirk on her pale face.

「Ah, no, thank you…」

Cycelia shakes her head and hand, refusing the treats with a forced smile on her face. Her worried eyes return back to the cloudy barrier.

「…It's Straf, and some other student. He said Straf threw him out of his seat at the cafeteria, but I don't believe that.」

She replies with her brows furrowed, and a downturned mouth.

「Wait, it's Straf dueling!?」

Tisha exclaims in shock, and Neela's eyes widen.

「…Something hit the barrier, huh?」

「Must have been pretty strong. It's been like this since we got here… How long has it been already?」

They idly comment, and Tisha looks at Cycelia.

「Maybe a minute or so before you came.」

Cycelia shrugs, forcing another faint smile towards Tisha.

「Ah. It's clearing.」

Neela notes, pointing at a portion of the barrier becoming partially translucent again. Aria holds her breath when the spectator side of the barrier begins clearing enough for them to see inside.

Within the arena, the challenger is still standing with his palm pointed at Straf. Blurry air in the shape of a crescent shoots out from the space before his hand at Straf at rapid rates, one after another while the student is baring his clenched teeth.

《Oh. This is kind of hard to see…》

Straf thinks, watching the blurred air move towards him at a sluggish pace. Certainly, in real time, an untrained eye would have trouble perceiving the effects of the spell due to how slim the flying crescents are.

《…Is this even dangerous? How do I check?…》

He briefly rubs his chin, furrowing his brows.

《Ah. Genius.》

Straf opens [Portable Storage] with a smug smirk, and pulls out a hot dog. He waits for one of the crescents to draw near, steps aside, and places half of it in in the spell's path. When it impacts, the bun and sausage does not even as much as jitter, and the scythe blade-like crescent appears to phase through. It sails past Straf, and continues on its path uninterrupted.

《Hmmmm… Weird, I could have sworn it was the type of thing that cuts through-》

He pulls the hotdog closer to examine it. His brows furrow when he realizes half of it is left floating in the air.

《…Okay. That makes sense.》

He shrugs, takes both halves into each hand, and nonchalantly begins eating them. Every now and then, he gently leans out of the wind blades' way. The flow of time chaotically fluctuates between real-time and slowed while the challenger desperately tries to hit Straf.

《Why is it not working!? Arcbolt didn't hit, Windblade didn't hit!… How do I hit this fucking bastard!? Shit!》

He angrily clenches his palm into a fist while Straf continues approaching him, only a quarter of the arena away from his opponent, and with his hands in his pockets still.

Meanwhile, Aria and Cycelia let out huge, relieved sighs. She takes a sip of her sour drink, and winces lightly, clicking her tongue in her mouth.

《Corvus, you old coot… I guess I should apologize for doubting you.》

Aria glances at the window above with a light smirk, staring at the bearded figure within it. Her gaze quickly returns to the duel at hand.

「Isn't that kinda dangerous!? Why is Straf not casting anything!? Lia, you should tell him something!」

With huge surprised eyes, Neela grabs onto Cycelia's shoulder.

「He's incredibly lucky none of those hit him yet…」

Tisha remarks with a serious face, and lets out a troubled sigh.

「Lia, cheer on him, or something!」

「He'll be fine…」

Cycelia replies, smiling at the arena.

「Eh?」「Eh?」

Tisha and Neela utter out, and glance at each other.

「N- No, Lia, you don't understand. That can literally lop his head clean off. He will not be fine if one hits him.」

Tisha says, leaning forward into Cycelia's face with huge, ice-blue eyes.

「He'll be fine. Straf is Straf.」

Cycelia dismissively shakes her head and repeats herself, full of confidence. With their mouths ajar, Tisha and Neela stare at each other in shocked silence.

《…Does she even care about him in the slightest?》

Tisha thinks, blinking at Neela's wide-open eyes.

「『Haste』!」

「Ah.」「Eh?」

The student shouts out, and both girls turn their attention back to the arena.

《Shit! Well, congratulations, you forced my hand, you fucker!》

He seethes, clenching his teeth harder as Straf's already slow and leisurely step gradually turns into a genuinely sluggish snail's pace. The challenger's eyes dart around, and he attempts to make no sudden moves.

《I don't have a lot of time… Arcbolt must have devoured most of my mana, and all that other shit that didn't do anything also weren't cheap!…》

Straf's challenger grumbles in his mind, and begins taking steps towards Straf. He stomps heavily, and he must fight each muscle to move another step, as if walking while submerged in fresh concrete.

《Hrkgkkghhhhh!… I just know I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!… But so will be your girlfriend! Now, I even have a perfect excuse!… I'll just walk up to you where I can't miss, and blow your fucking brains out!》

Grimacing from muscle fatigue after just a few steps, the student soldiers on. He grins with clenched teeth, and a hateful glare directed at Straf's bored face. Eventually, through a lot of exertion and effort, he makes it right beside Straf.

《It's a shame you won't get to die knowing how outmatched you are… Oh well!》

The challenger scoffs, and points his palm at Straf's temple. The moment he opens his mouth to begin chanting an incantation, Straf's bored eyes snap to his.

《Wha-?》

A brief jolt of terror of witnessing something that should not be possible stuns the student. He gulps, and attempts to continue, but then notices something move in the corner of his vision.

《What-?》

His eyes drift down. Straf's open palm is heading for his face. Rapidly.

《Shit! How is this possible!? I'm hasted!… I need to dodge!》

Though he can think a hundred thoughts a second at this pace, Straf's hand is too fast to give him the opportunity for even a fraction of that. He leans backward, painfully tensing all of his muscles in effort to dodge.

《I can't- He's too-!》

SLAP!

「Hurk!…」

The challenger's face twists into shock and surprise when Straf slaps him across the face. He is sent flying, barreling through the air, twisting and rolling while the world spins in his eyes.

Thud!

The student lands on the dirt and slides a few paces, creating a shallow channel with his body.

「Uggghhhh…. Ouggh…」

Dazed, he groans in pain, staring up at the sky through the partially translucent barrier. With his hands in his pockets, Straf steps over him, and stares down at his face.

「…Was it you? Did you fuck with the Cursefire?」

「Ungnnn…」

He asks, and the student only lets out a pained exhale. Straf sighs, and rolls his eyes.

「Hey! If he's like ugnh and gruhhr, that means he can continue, right!?…」

Straf asks Aria outside the barrier, pointing his hand at the downed challenger. She sighs, shaking her hatted head, then looks up at the headmaster once more.

Though she can't see it at this distance, Corvus walks away from the window with a smug smile on his face…