Before realising it, Konrad found himself in a courtyard, with a crowd watching his every move.
"Put on these amulets," the Silver Mage offered. "They contain two barriers strong enough to withstand an ancient dragon's fire breath. If either of you penetrates one, the match is over."
Yeah. Konrad knew an ancient dragon, and wasn't so sure, but—
Any safety equipment was better than none.
'Ah, finally,' Paula chirped in his head. 'I've got to try your magic in earnest.'
"Don't be so eager," he grumbled. "They told us not to use weapons or aides apart from this."
He put on the amulet, feeling cold and heavy against his chest.
Yeah. He might've agreed not to let Zoltan win, but still didn't want to cheat against his former master. And, as much as he hated the situation, they might as well have had a fair match.
"May the better win," the Silver Mage yelled as he retreated, and their duel finally began.
"Fireball," the illusionist grunted with a flick of a finger, and—
"Guess you weren't the only eager one," Konrad gritted out, and subtracted vapor from the air around. Good thing the nearby river kept it so humid, but by the time he shaped it into a wall—
"Lightning Bolt," Zoltan yelled again, countering his counter without a split-second delay.
'Does he know he doesn't have to announce his spells to the world?' the parallel brain asked.
But Konrad was too busy to answer.
His water membrane would have led the charges back to him before that fireball even arrived.
If only he had his sword—
But he didn't. And summoning a metallic element would have cost him too much.
'You have three thousand mana,' Paula noted, but he didn't even hear it.
His mind wandered to his buttons. His belt buckle.
Yeah. He had more than enough metal on his garb, and with a simple reshape and levitate—
"Stone Bullet," the beastmen shouted before his first spell had even hit the mark.
That speed was insane, but so far—Konrad didn't fall behind, either.
He even had time to determine his former master used the dust from the air to form his pellets. The weight was minuscule, and anything that got past his water membrane—
Yeah, fuck it. He'd catch them with his bare hands.
'You sure you don't want my help?' the parallel brain asked, but he didn't even deign to reply.
Shuffling the familiar runes around, he reinforced his skin, and—
The first Fireball had only hit his defensive barrier and disappeared with a loud sizzle.
The electric bolt was next, hitting the decoy he had already placed, and—
Only then did Konrad realise: Zoltan didn't announce his ready spells.
He yelled them out when he started casting, like a mental crutch to organise his runes faster.
But in the end, it only showed his master was still green.
Konrad was ready to react to everything he'd throw at him in a split second, but—
Turns out, he had plenty of time to form his counterattacks, too.
Except he didn't want to end this duel too early.
They had to make this fight flashy and memorable to shut up all those nobles after all.
'But as a reminder, you standing here and blocking all his attacks isn't too exciting, either.'
Okay. For the first time, Paula was right.
And while his first choice would have been his Isekai Microwave—
He needed something flashier. Something that would leave the audience awestruck.
And what better thing to cast than something his master was most adept at, too?
'An illusion? You sure?' the parallel brain scoffed, but Konrad had already cast the image.
It was a clone of himself, running towards Zoltan with a glowing fist.
The beastman could have dispelled it with ease, but he chose to fight it with another batch of stone bullets. The image disappeared on the first hit, but Konrad made two more in its stead.
Did the nobles buy it?
He couldn't risk taking his eyes off Zoltan for too long, but—
Yeah. He saw some slack jaws as he glanced around.
His next spell was a lightning bolt, too, but he missed on purpose while his master defeated his fake images. It was only strong enough to use up all the static electricity around them.
And with both dust and vapor gone—
The castle's air must have never been cleaner.
'Oh, so now he has to summon stuff, and can't take control of the elements anymore.'
Yep. Paula seemed to be a fast learner, too.
Summoning things was much more expensive than using what was already there.
And while at the start, Zoltan had a much larger mana pool than Konrad—
Once he absorbed the dragon crystal, he caught up and left his master in the dust. So now, with three thousand mana in his even larger pool, he must have had a confident lead.
Or at least, that's what he thought.
"Summon Elemental," the illusionist yelled, and unlike with his previous spells—
A flaming monster had appeared out of thin air.
Like, immediately. Not a second delay.
Which was already a telltale sign for Konrad.
'What? How? Shouldn't that thing be much more complex than the ones before?'
Oh? So he even fooled Paula? Nice.
But the truth was, right now, Zoltan only copied Konrad.
"It's an illusion," he breathed, his voice less than a whisper. "But since he kept consistent with his casting until now, it would have fooled anyone who knows him less than I do."
The question was whether to counter it with another fake spell, or hit it with something big?
He decided on the latter.
Summon. Water. Gravity. Charge.
In the next moment, a ball of ice formed above the fake elemental, crushing it with enough force to leave a crater. And sure enough, the illusion faded away immediately, but—
The proof of his strength remained.
But those who thought Zoltan was out of essence were in for a surprise, too.
Heck, his silent casting even caught Konrad off guard. But thanks to his heightened reflexes—
He didn't fall into the chasm when the ground opened up below his feet.
Yeah. He didn't remove all the earth or air from the scene. And while he ran the math on how much essence that show of force must have cost him—
He missed his chance to strike back before the next spell knocked him back.
"Wind magic, too?!" he yelped, dropping all pretense.
Damn. So his master shouting out those names early on was only to create a false sense of security. He was not only fast, but could use all kinds of magic, too.
And he also had the initiative now.
"Fireball," Zoltan grunted, while actually casting another lightning bolt.
Smart. But Konrad had been playing it safe, creating a universal barrier around himself.
Not the most cost-effective, but as Paula pointed out, he had all the mana in the world.
He could afford it if he wanted to. And he was glad he didn't cheap out, either, since the lightning bolt bounced off him before he could even blink.
Ignoring his wives' warnings was a mistake.
Zoltan was, in fact, strong.
And the longer they fought, the more it seemed as if he wanted to win, too.