Escaping was not an option, not without risking the goodwill he had built up, so Orion let the eager squires of the Radiant Vigil use him as a measuring stick.
By defeating Thad so quickly and decisively, he proved himself as a strong mage, but that didn’t mean much to these battle maniacs.
If anything, that just made them more eager to fight, he grumbled to himself.
The first few duels ended fairly quickly. He didn't use the same combination of spells that he had successfully employed against Thad, but none of the squires were quick enough to reach him before he could complete his casting, even if he wasn’t using the CC.
The show gave him enough experience to be close to the next level, but he didn't earn any attribute points, which was a shame but not surprising.
There simply wasn’t anyone who could push him yet, which meant the only exp he was gaining came from learning how to fight against melee fighters, and even that was quickly drying up.
“Victory, Orion!” the healer called, having dropped the longer titles after the fourth duel.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+250 Exp
Since this was the eighth duel with nothing but a one-sided beatdown, it was understandable that he wouldn't earn much from it.
More importantly, Orion could see that more than one of the hidden and not-so-hidden observers was becoming agitated by his string of victories.
It was one thing for an up-and-comer like Thad to lose a duel after already putting in the hours for the day. It was another for the entire Vigil’s younger generation to fail to touch him.
Orion was almost tempted to let them, if only to ease the tension that was growing thicker with each victory, but he was confident the tier three paladins would notice and see it as a greater insult than defeating their pupils.
That was when Jordan stepped into the ring. The perpetually cheerful boy was wearing his signature grin, but Orion could see the tension in his shoulders and knew he wasn’t as carefree as he appeared.
“Do you need a rest?” Jordan asked seriously, before adding with a cocky smirk, “I won’t have my victory questioned because you weren’t given time to breathe between rounds.”
“I’m good,” Orion replied coolly, meeting his challenging gaze with his own. While he wasn’t doing this specifically for the honor of the Sanctum, he was still a pretty competitive person. He wouldn’t purposely lose just to make his new acquaintance feel better.
Or to soothe the egos of a few men, he added to himself, looking around at the crowd they’d attracted.
A few paladins were still pretending to be busy with other tasks, but enough were looking down the embassy’s windows or staring from around the training ground to make it clear that this had become a bigger deal than it was meant to be.
Oh, well. Nothing to it. I just have to put on a good show.
He had already learned quite a bit about fighting swordsmen, enough to adjust his spell output and conserve more mana than he had during the first duel.
For this bout, however, he didn’t hesitate to use the Computing Crystal. Jordan certainly didn’t seem willing to hold back, and considering his higher level and greater age, Orion felt justified in going all out.
Within limits, at least. He didn’t want to provoke a war between their factions because he’d split their golden boy in two, and while Jordan’s armor seemed decently enchanted, he didn’t want to test if it could withstand a [Gamma Ray].
Almost everything else was on the table, though. So when Orion took his position within the ring, he didn’t feel bad about letting the CC run wild with spell formulas, snipping, adapting, and rewriting various portions, turning his theoretical understanding into reality.
“Begin!” The healer called, stepping back with a speed he hadn’t shown in previous duels. He, too, seemed to be expecting a tough fight this time, which proved that Orion was right and that Jordan was something of an ace among the squires.
His decision to use the CC turned out to be the right one because his [Light Shield] had just come online when Jordan was upon him.
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The shift from expectant stillness to explosive motion was instantaneous, and Orion, despite having fought much stronger opponents, still found himself surprised by it.
For the first time since he’d started dueling the squires, a blade struck true, hitting his shield with enough force that he knew it could have cut him in two if it had hit him.
Fortunately for him, a very sturdy barrier stood between them, so he only saw pretty sparks erupting at the contact point, but nothing more.
Jordan also seemed surprised by his lack of success, but to his credit, he didn’t let it get him down and moved away before Orion could decide whether to go on the offensive.
The next second, he was on him again, swinging from a different angle and sending another shower of sparks. Then again, and again, until he became a blur, barely visible to Orion’s eyes, yet still only able to momentarily obscure his vision.
He’s using a single skill to increase his speed, boost his strength, and apply a cutting enhancement to his already enchanted sword. Compared to the others, this body enhancement is quite impressive.
That Jordan was a league of his own had been expected, but it was still impressive to see. Orion was confident that if the squire had fought any of his classmates from the Sanctum, the duel would have ended in the first clash.
Except maybe for Selene, but that’s only because she would have done some crazy foresight thing and wouldn't have been where he was about to strike. Still, even she would have lost in the end. She just doesn’t have the power to withstand such an attack.
Only a few seconds had passed since the duel started, but the ring was already damaged from the constant movements, and Orion knew that while he could sit there and wait for his opponent to tire, it wouldn’t give him any real experience, which was the main reason he agreed to this, aside from the goodwill it would earn him.
So he decided to show off a little and cast another spell through the CC. Suddenly, both his own [Light Shield] and Jordan’s enhancement spells faltered, dissipating like mist.
“What in the hell?!”
“[Haunted Night]” Orion called out for dramatic effect. This last spell was something he’d been tinkering with while dealing with the rabble that had confronted him before, and it was the result of being exposed to numerous darkness mana users and his study of the suppression wards over Valderun.
What he’d come up with after many half-hearted attempts was a suppression field that only worked against tier zero magic and tier one Light and Fire mana. It also caused dark mist to gather at their feet, but that was just for dramatic effect.
It was quite a situational spell, he had to admit, but the stunned expression on Jordan’s face was priceless.
Watching him get folded in half by an invisible punch only added to the scene. Oh, yeah. It also has a telekinetic element to properly mimic poltergeist activity.
It wasn’t exactly the most scientific spell, he had to admit. But he’d gotten more than a little annoyed at being called a witch despite being a boy, and this was his petty revenge.
Again, an invisible attacker struck Jordan, but this time, he appeared to anticipate it and shifted with the impact, despite not seeing where it came from.
“Those must be the much-vaunted senses of a warrior,” Orion muttered, watching as Jordan danced around the blows.
[Haunted Night] wasn’t strong enough as a spell to defeat a prodigy like Jordan, as clearly shown by how easily he was dodging the attacks, and worse, it also prevented him from using most of his own magic arsenal.
But the one thing it did exceptionally well was give him time.
Now, let’s see. I could just end this with another antigravity magic, but I think this situation calls for something more dramatic.
The first thing that came to mind was Antares’ display of transmutation magic. He already knew how to approach it, since he’d managed to restore a broken leaf as a toddler and had only gotten better at it since then. But while changing the battlefield would have been impressive, it wouldn’t have quite the impact he was aiming for.
Summoning different elements was also out of the question. He was familiar enough with Light and Fire mana, which were currently restricted, but had only a basic understanding of Wind and Darkness mana, and knew only theories about everything else. He could piece something together, but it wouldn’t be good enough.
Watching Jordan move, he finally got an idea, and a nasty grin spread across his face. He hadn’t exactly wanted to humiliate his opponent, but since he’d been pushed into constant fighting, maybe a little payback was necessary to set a boundary.
Jordan had, by now, seemingly understood the pattern Orion had woven into the spell, so he was slowly making his way forward with a determined look, occasionally shifting to avoid an invisible blow, but nonetheless advancing.
It was, without a doubt, impressive. Being denied access to nearly all of his abilities without Light mana, he should have been out of the fight from the start, yet his powerful body and sheer determination pushed him beyond his limits.
Indeed, the look in his eyes told Orion that if he allowed Jordan to get to him, he would lose. Really, a single punch would be enough.
Fortunately for his continued well-being and the integrity of his pretty face, that was not going to happen.
Abusing the CC’s computational capacity wouldn’t allow him to personally advance, but for once, Orion didn’t care. He had a concept he wanted to test, and very little time to run all the calculations and adjustments himself, so he let his creation go wild while he fed it all the understanding it would ever need.
“I will name this spell [Noether’s Lock],” he murmured.
Orion was taking one of the most intriguing artifacts of the early twentieth century, Emmy Noether’s work on advancing relativity, and transforming it into a law applicable within a confined space. Inside that space, he enforced specific symmetries by assigning a cost to every action.
Since Jordan probably didn't know how to interface with such complex magic, he felt comfortable leaving the exploit open. He would need to find a better method in the future, but this would suffice for the moment.
By imposing a uniform time, energy couldn’t leak through the ring. If energy couldn’t exit the ring and it was locked, no movement could occur. When the electromagnetic phase became fixed, net electric charge could not appear or disappear.
In practice, the spell could block any flow along its edge, preventing even heat or light from escaping.
Clearly, Orion didn’t include that bit, allowing for some leeway. He aimed to win, not to kill Jordan.
The final result remained the same. The unfortunate squire became stuck, keeping all momentum and basically freezing him in place.
A beat of silence passed before Orion looked expectantly at the healer. The man waited a couple of seconds to see if anything would change, but when it became clear that Jordan not only couldn’t break free from the spell’s hold but also seemed completely unaware of anything happening around him, standing with one foot up while his hand prepared to deflect an incoming strike, he had no choice but to call it.
“Winner, Orion of the Lunar Sanctum!”
Groans and cheers echoed in equal measure, while Orion allowed himself a brief smile of satisfaction before freeing his victim.
Jordan didn’t stumble, flowing seamlessly from a parry into a cautious stance, somehow sensing that something had changed despite having been unaware the entire time.
A quick glance around him told him that the duel was over, and he groaned, “Oh damn, I didn’t even notice I got got.”
Despite his obvious disappointment, he didn’t hesitate to take Orion’s hand when he approached and shook it with a wry grin.
Oh, hey. I even got a level.
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