"What do you mean by I am not fit?" Erik asked in an irritated tone, giving Seras a slightly annoyed look.

"You're tired, or you would've used the veil i casted to your advantage and probably used quick step spell to avoid the projectile," Seras replied with a shrug look. "That's probably due to the mana burnout you faced yesterday," Seras added.

Seras then turned her glare towards Arnos. "Oi, Arnos, I think I called you here? Come here and be my sparring partner. And Erik," she said looking at him with a dumbfounded look. she stared at him for a moment before continuing.

"Eh... you can cheer for me." She added with a chuckle after a moment of staring.

Arnos moved towards the training arena, standing right in front of Seras and Erik.

Erik stepped towards Arnos, stretching his hand for a handshake, which Arnos gracefully accepted.

"I'm Erik Walker, a mage with an affinity for light magic," Erik said as he clasped Arnos's hand firmly.

"I'm Arnos, Sir Erik. I have an affinity for fire and dark magic," Arnos replied politely.

"Fire and dark affinity, huh?" Erik said, unconsciously clenching Arnos's hand harder. Realizing this, he quickly withdrew his hand.

"He also has a special ability," Seras added with a proud grin.

"He does? Well that sounds freaking awesome," Erik said in a surprised tone, looking at Arnos.

"Hey Arnos, let's do some hand-to-hand sparring since you don't have a personalized wand yet," Seras suggested, looking at Arnos with enthusiasm. "You can use any spells if you know how, but I can only use spells for defence. You can also use your special ability if you want."

I can use spells, but it’s not like I know any spell that could get through her, it would be a nice battle experience though, Arnos thought to himself.

"Is that understood?" Seras asked, raising her eyebrows as she waited for his response.

Arnos nodded at this, and Erik moved outside of the arena as Arnos and Seras positioned themselves on opposite sides to maintain distance.

Arnos reached his corner and a thought crossed his mind, Will she use the quick step spell she used against Erik?

"Seras!" Arnos called out loudly, catching both Seras's and Erik's attention.

"What?" Seras questioned.

"Will you be using the quick step spell you used against Sir Erik?" Arnos asked, looking at Seras.

Seras gave it a moment of thought. "Nope, I won't," she replied, her face brimming with confidence.

Arnos nodded. "Understood," he mumbled.

With that, both Arnos and Seras stood at there position opposite to each other. There was roughly a 30-step gap between them. Arnos had also removed his shoes and placed them outside the arena, opting to fight Seras barefoot.

"The match starts when I say start," Erik shouted, acting as the referee. He raised his right hand and began counting down. "3... 2... 1... Start!" he shouted, initiating the battle.

Seras remained standing in her position, with a tinge of curiosity evident on her face as she waited to see what Arnos would do.

Can I use Lance against her? Or will she just dodge it? Arnos questioned himself. She'll probably dodge it, he answered internally. What should I do?

"Are you going to keep standing there, Arnos?" Seras shouted. "I won't try my absolute hardest, don't worry," she said with a small smile.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Lance," Arnos said, as one sword made of fire materialized in thin air.

"He can use Lance?" Seras mumbled with a hint of mild amusement in her voice.

Arnos flicked his wrist forward, and the sword moved toward Seras. It wasn't as fast as a light magic projectile, but it still had considerable speed. Arnos dashed toward Seras as well, matching the speed of his fire lance while staying slightly behind it.

Seras remained in her position. "Void," she mumbled as a small orb of dark magic formed in front of her left hand. She flicked the orb toward the lance spell, her attention shifting toward Arnos.

As the fire lance touched the dark orb, it seemingly vanished into thin air.

Arnos closed the gap and directed a punch from his right hand toward Seras's face. Seras grabbed Arnos's right hand and clenched it tightly—not hard enough to injure him seriously, but enough to cause some pain.

Arnos, however, didn't flinch just yet. "Envelope," he mumbled, momentarily setting his right fist ablaze. Seras withdrew her hand, wincing in pain.

Arnos took advantage of this and quickly used the envelope spell to enhance his speed, setting his feet on fire and moving back in an instant, maintaining his distance.

"It hurts," Arnos mumbled, momentarily glancing at his right fist. She has light affinity too. She'd heal like me—that is, if I give her the chance, Arnos thought to himself.

"Envelope," Arnos mumbled again, flames erupting from his feet. In a flash, he moved in front of Seras, using his right fist, now enveloped in fire, to throw another punch. This time, though, something was different.

Seras caught Arnos's hand and used his momentum to pull him over her shoulder, throwing him to the ground.

"Ahh," Arnos grunted in pain as he hit the floor. He released his ability. "I lost," he conceded.

Is her hand enveloped with dark magic? Arnos wondered, looking at Seras's arms and noticing her palm covered in dark magic.

"That was a good fight," Seras said with a smile. The dark magic dissipated from her hand as she extended it to help Arnos back to his feet.

Arnos was about to take her hand, but Seras lightly slapped his hand away.

"Ya know what? Keep lying," she said in a stern voice as she crouched down next to his right hand.

Seras took Arnos's right hand in hers and began to inspect it, observing the burn mark slowly disappearing.

Erik walked toward them, his curiosity evident as he looked at Arnos.

"So, how does your ability work?" Erik asked.

"It works.." Arnos tried to speak, but was cut off by Seras

"He can cover his body parts with fire, enhancing their physical and destructive capabilities. The catch is that he's literally burning himself when he uses his ability. Though his fire burns him, he automatically heals when he stops using it," Seras explained, still inspecting his palm.

Seras stood back up. "You can stand now, Arnos. My inspection is done. I think we can do something about your ability."

Something about my ability? Arnos repeated the sentence in his mind as he stood back up from the ground.

"Wait, really?" Arnos exclaimed, looking at Seras.

Seras nodded. "Yeah."