Chapter 34: 34. May the Duel Begin

An exceptionally sleepy wolfkin meandered through the busy university campus. He desperately tried to rub the fatigue accumulated from a late night of studying from his eyes. His wolf ears were pressed flat against his head, showing his depressed mood.

 

The boy began to mutter to himself, making others look at him strangely, “I was up all night for Professor Victor's assignment, yet my Pyrokinesis is still at the D grade… if this keeps up I will fail the year and have to stay behind.” He let out a long sigh of defeat.

 

While lost in thought he failed to notice the shouting around him, “Student, get out of the way!”

 

He looked up from the frost-covered path and turned around towards the voice, yet to his surprise, he was met with a wave of freezing cold water. He stood there dumbfounded as a black carriage passed him. 

 

He looked down at his soaked clothes and black fur, instead of a mighty wolf he looked like a drowned cat. Feeling embarrassed he quickly utilized his D grade Pyrokinesis to create a warm breeze. Although it fluffed up his fur making him look ridiculous, it was better than being drenched.

 

“Who the hell attacked me?” He said with a snarl while looking around. In the distance, he noticed his sister who was a year below him. She ran over to him with a smirk, “Brother you look ridiculous, why didn’t you get out of the way?”

 

The boy just looked at his smirking sister with both love and annoyance, “Sister, who was it that attacked me just now?”

 

His sister gave him an odd look and then seemed to connect the dots, “Oh brother you misunderstand, that was a water-powered carriage that passed just now, nobody attacked you…”

 

The boy was dumbfounded, he was defeated by a mere carriage? “Sister who owns that carriage?” 

 

The cute wolf girl’s ears perked up, “It's owned by a very handsome professor called Damien. I witnessed him confront the Head Professor a few days ago outside the library. Oh, Brother! There's a duel happening today, class is cancelled. Do you want to go watch it with me?”

 

The boy was once again speechless, class was cancelled? What did he stay up all night for then?

 

“Sure…” he replied with a defeated expression, he silently wished for Damien to suffer a defeat, only then could he stomach this humiliation. 

 

While walking towards the arena the boy couldn’t help but notice how lively the university felt, “Sister is everyone here to watch the duel?”

On a normal day he would see a few groups of people walking around, but today it seemed that there were hundreds if not thousands of people all heading towards the school's arena.

 

“Of course Brother…” his sister quickly replied, “I am surprised you hadn’t heard about the duel, it's all anyone talked about for the past week.”

 

The boy showed an embarrassed expression, he was unwilling to admit he had spent the entire week trying to advance his magic to the next level, yet failing so spectacularly. 

 

In the distance, the duo could see a massive grey colored building. It was surrounded by a swarm of students all excitedly placing bets on who would win.

 

Some commoners nearby were talking in a circle. They clearly had high regard for Victor and a low opinion of Damien.

 

“There's no way Head Professor could lose to some nobody, he is a B grade mage with A grade mana control!” a large man with tusks said.

 

A petite girl who was holding on his arm added, “I heard the assistant professor is some noble from a foreign country and bought his way in!”

 

“Tsk I hate those noble bastards, always cheating their way through life with money.” An ugly boy who resembled a beaver said with disdain in his voice.

 

The brother and sister ignored the group and walked towards the arena's entrance. While waiting in line for seats they overheard a conversation between a group of well-dressed humans.

 

“The Head Professor needs to go. He threatened to give me a fail mark despite knowing who my father is. The audacity of that fucking commoner.” A short man with red hair said towards a taller man with brown hair. 

 

It was obvious that the redhead was trying to curry favor with the brown-haired man, as he continued to say how awful the Head Professor was.

 

The wolfkin recognized the brown hair man as someone who was called out for cheating the other week in one of Victor’s tests. 

 

The brown-haired man finally responded to the red-haired man, “I hope Sir Damien beats that bastard to a pulp, I witnessed Sir Damien for myself a few days ago. He almost seemed like a royal from somewhere, his aura was suffocating. If we can make connections with him I am sure our families will advance up the hierarchy.”

 

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“Unlike that commoner Victor, I am sure Sir Damien will understand noble etiquette and will accept our bribes to appear above the commoners.” He added in a hushed tone.

 

The red-haired man nodded with a gleeful expression at the brown-haired man's words.

The brother and sister pair had to listen to this deranged conversation for a full twenty minutes before they got to the front of the queue. A bunny girl who was only 3ft tall asked, “Names and year group?”

 

The boy answered, “I am Eric, Year 2 and this is my Sister Rachel Year 1. Can we sit together?”

 

The bunny girl manipulated her ears to point towards a doorway as her hand was full with a clipboard and pen, “Certainly, please enter the arena through the fifth entrance, NEXT!” 

 

Eric and Rachel gave thanks to the bunny girl and walked through the fifth gate, “Wow Brother, I have never seen the arena this packed!” Rachel exclaimed while taking in the amazing atmosphere, Eric just nodded in agreement to his sister's words. Almost every seat in the three-thousand-seat arena was filled.

 

With a bit of difficulty, they found their seat, it was in between a burly man who was over two meters tall and a petite girl with green hair who was playing with a potted plant. 

 

After another hour of waiting, everyone had finally taken their seats and a loud feminine voice echoed out across the arena.

 

“Ladies and Gents of Kassinki University. I will be your host for today's duel. On the west side is Assistant Professor Damien.”

 

Everyone turned their attention to a door that opened on the west wall of the arena. A tall man who radiated the temperament of a king casually strolled out. His devilish charm seemed to even capture the imagination of Rachel as she had stars in her eyes. 

 

Eric just eyed the man with a little hatred, his humiliation of this morning was only amplified seeing his sister so excited. 

 

Damien just casually walked towards the middle of the stadium and stood with his hands behind his back. He wore an indifferent expression, showing no signs of nervousness at having so many eyes upon him. His perfect wine red suit seemed to match his blood-red eyes and white hair, which only increased his noble aura.

 

Once the excitement died down the announcer continued, “On the east side is the current Head Professor, Victor.”

 

The door opened and a medium height man wearing a suit and spectacles walked out. His hair was scuffed and he looked deathly pale. Dark bags were under his eyes and he looked as if he could pass out any second. 

 

Many in the audience noticed his odd condition, Rachel muttered under her breath, “Is he poisoned?”

 

Eric inspected closely but couldn’t deny his sister's words. He did indeed look poisoned and barely grasping onto life, “Even though he appears ill, he is still a frightening mage in the B grade. Damien still stands no chance.” Eric said with contempt while nodding to himself.

 

The ragged Head Professor walked with shaky steps towards the middle of the area. All the spectators wore complicated expressions. Why does the all-powerful and respectable Head Professor seem so pathetic when compared to Damien?

 

Soon the announcer's voice was heard once again, “This duel is under the jurisdiction of Prince August. The stakes are as follows. If Assistant Professor Damien wins the duel he will be promoted to the Head Librarian position within the Mage Towers library. However, if Damien loses then he will be forced to apologize for abusing his noble status to gain entry into the university and will have to resign.”

 

The spectators were in an uproar. Many had no idea what the reason for this duel was, nor did they know it was a duel in the presence of the heir to the throne. All the commoners in the crowd had bitter expressions and they heard the duel's reasoning. So this bastard did indeed cheat his way in! They looked at the indifferent Damien with resentment, how can he act so calm after being slandered in front of the entire university they all wondered.

 

Meanwhile, the nobles in the crowd paid the act of bribery no attention, as they themselves did it on a daily basis. What really caught their attention was the fact Damien would be promoted to such a high position. This increased the value of a connection with Damien in the eyes of the greedy nobles.

 

The difference in authority between a mere Head Professor and someone working within the Mage Tower was like night and day. The University was well regarded in Kassinki but only for educational purposes. The Mage Tower on the other hand was a powerful organization that had a monopoly on high-tier mages and combat techniques. 

 

Any mage that wished to reach the A grade had little choice but to sign a soul contract with the Mage Tower. Those that managed to ascend to the A grade without the Mage Towers' assistance would be seen as ‘rogue’ mages and they would be treated with caution by the nobility of various kingdoms.

 

A good example of this would be Owl. He is one of the few A-grade ‘rogue’ mages. He is despised within the community for his blatant traitorous actions and only being swayed by money. Unfortunately, because of his massive wealth and extensive connections to many dukes, he manages to stay safe despite the Mage Towers' hatred of him.

 

Everyone's murmurs were interrupted by the announcer, “The rules of the duel are simple. This is NOT a deathmatch, the winner will be decided if one side admits defeat, runs out of mana, or faints.”

 

“May the duel begin.”

 

With a roar from the crowd, the much-anticipated battle commenced.

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