Merlin was unable to come to an understanding concerning what had just happened.

  He focused intently on the figure approaching him, the thick fur on his body, the golden eyes, and the proud gait in which he walked with.

  Was he really staring at the same Nikolai that he had fought during Grimoire sparring class? There was no way. Nikolai had been slower, and his strikes had carried basically no weight. It was practically impossible for someone to go from that to whatever he was at the moment.

  Something was wrong. It was either Nikolai had been hiding his strength during the sparring class, or his abilities had been significantly boosted by something. And Merlin was not leaning towards the former, because he saw no reason as to why Nikolai would hold back, and he was well aware that the lad had been giving it his all during their fight. Which was why he was more inclined towards the latter being the more plausible reasoning.

  Merlin stood up. “Nikolai,” Merlin called. “Is that you?”

  Nikolai chuckled and stretched his arms outwards. “Who else would it be, Merlin?”

  “Is there a problem? What’s up with you?”

  Nikolai halted and frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Okay, Merlin wasn’t exactly sure how to put his thoughts into words. He couldn’t just go around accusing someone of using mysterious magical steroids now, could he? So he kept his mouth shut.

  Nikolai sighed. “I’ve never felt better, Merlin. So which is it? Want to chat, or do you want to take one more shot at me?’

  Merlin shook his head. “Hey, man, I’m just trying to defend my flag here. I’m not really a battle maniac. If a fight can be avoided, I’d prefer to avoid it.”

  Nikolai shrugged. “Sad. Well, this can’t. I need to take the flag.”

  Merlin knew there would be no more words exchanged as Nikolai lunged forward. He readied himself and swerved out of the way, barely escaping Nikolai’s swipe at him. If the claws had connected, they would have left crazy scars on his chest. Not enough to kill him, but enough to incapacitate him.

  Was this right?

  Well, it didn’t matter. For now, he had to focus on protecting the flag. He couldn’t let the rest of his team down.

  “Are you looking down on me again, Merlin?” Nikolai growled as he sent slashes after slashes, forcing Merlin into defence.

  “I never looked down on you,” Merlin replied through gritted teeth as he pounced back, away from Nikolai, but was only allowed a moment to catch his breath as the boy covered the distance between them in a flash.

  “You say that, but you aren’t attacking,” Nikolai noted. “You’ll lose if things keep up this way.”

  Did the lad think he didn’t know that?

  Merlin wasn’t attacking because he wasn’t sure how exactly to strike. Last time, he had held back his strength because he was well aware of Nikolai’s limits. Now, however, he wasn’t so sure. What if he struck too hard and broke the boy’s ribs?

  Nikolai slammed his hand down to the ground where Merlin had been standing a second ago and sprayed debris and dust into the air. A small crater had formed right where he had hit.

  Merlin frowned. Well, if I don’t strike, it’ll be my own ribs breaking…

  Merlin channeled his mana to his fists and took his stance.

  “Finally taking things seriously, heh?” Nikolai took a deep breath in and exhaled. Merlin gave no reply, so he dashed forward immediately.

  Merlin, however, was more prepared this time. Ever since he had realized that he could use his mana to create his own personal skills, like [Mana Whip], he had been coming up with different ways to make use of it to bolster his fighting capabilities. One of the ways he had come up with was by modifying [Flash Step] from relying solely on his instincts to the input of his mana.

  Mana was an extension of himself, and delving deep into it had given Merlin a deeper understanding of its structure. In other words, he was more attuned to it than he had been previously. And since mana was an extension of himself, then it reacted to his thoughts faster than his body did.

  Since he was yet to put the concept into practice, considering he had only come up with it the previous night, he was unsure how well it would work, but he had never been scared of trying before. He immediately channeled his mana to the soles of his feet, covering them in a way that it was as though they were cloaked by a gelatinous liquid.

  Nikolai was not concerned with what was going on; all he had on his mind was to attack Merlin, which was why he continued his onslaught without questioning what Merlin was up to. He sliced the air, heading straight for Merlin’s midsection. But Merlin saw the attack. However, he didn’t dodge out of his own will. After all, his body moved a lot later than his mana had reacted by sliding him backwards out of the range of the attack.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Nikolai’s brows fell and Merlin smiled.

  It worked.

  “You always have something up your sleeve, don’t you?” said Nikolai as he straightened himself.

  For a moment there, Merlin was sure the boy had sounded bitter. There was definitely something going on? Merlin decided to ask.

  “You know you can talk about it if there’s something on your mind,” he said.

  Nikolai blinked and sighed. “Don’t worry about me, Merlin. I can take care of myself just fine. I’ll be going harder now, so prepare yourself.”

  Huh? He had been going easy all this time?

  Nikolai proved those words of his correct, because his speed suddenly doubled and his attacks carried even more weight. Even with [Mana Slide] being used, Merlin was finding it hard to evade the attacks being thrown his way. After all, the skill depended on one being able to see the attacks with their eyes. When things all became a blur, it was hard to keep up.

  It seemed there was only one way he would be able to end this battle once and for all.

  Merlin’s eyes sought out Nikolai’s Grimoire.

  Compared to Choi Sangook, Nikolai most likely wouldn’t be able to get a new Grimoire over to him on time if it was ripped, but Merlin had no choice here. In return, he would ask for Kim Yiseo’s help.

  Merlin evaded another of Nikolai’s strikes and propelled himself around the boy, bringing him to where Nikolai had been keeping his Grimoire safe from the fight.

  Nikolai, though, was expecting that action. Because he spun around in the blink of an eye, taking the initiative of Merlin’s actions to initiate a pincer attack with both his hands. This way Merlin wouldn’t be able to escape.

  He was caught.

  However, Merlin knew better than to put all his eggs in one basket. After his fight with Choi Sangook, he had put it at the back of his mind that the rest of the students would grow cautious as to how they handled their Grimoires in battle. That was only common sense. Which was why he had readied a contingency plan.

  Merlin immediately dropped his center of gravity and fell to a squat. Nikolai’s beast arms slammed together and a loud boom echoed throughout the woods. Merlin, though, only had his eardrums to worry about, but he didn’t let the vibrations plaguing his ears stop him. He channeled as much mana as he could into his fist and slammed it into Nikolai’s belly, the thickness of the boy’s fur trying its best to keep the force of his attack out.

  But Merlin came out on top.

  Nikolai flew away like he had been hit by a truck at full speed and slammed into one of the trees a few feet away.

  Without wasting a second, Merlin deactivated his skills and outstretched his palm towards Nikolai…

  Activate Reader Mage…

  [Perk: Reader Mage Activated]

  [Analyzing spell…]

  [Analysis complete]

  [Spell: Partial Beast Transformation.

  Category: Novice, Tier III.

  Spell Wielder: D-Class Mage.

  Spell Description: A spell formed by shaping the nucleotide sequences present in the Mage’s modified deoxyribonucleic acid to correspond with a certain aspect of the knowledge their mana possesses. In this Mage’s case, the knowledge of the cellular structure of the partial structure of beasts of the panthera genus.]

  [Deconstructing Process: Disrupt the bonding between the weakest of the rung base pairs of the Mage’s deoxyribonucleic acid, which is the adenine to the thymine pair, by channeling your mana into the construct of their hydrogen bond.]

  [Deconstruct?]

  [Yes?]/[No?]

  Merlin’s brows narrowed slightly there.

  A Tier III spell? The last time Nikolai had only been able to use a Tier I spell, now he was suddenly using a Tier III spell? If Merlin had been having doubts as to Nikolai’s sudden boost in abilities, the words hovering before his view did well to dispel that.

  For now, though, he just had to render the boy capable of using magic. And this was his chance.

  Ye—

  His scalp prickled and his focus was dismantled as a blast of air slammed into his side, blinding his view and filling his lungs with dust. Merlin had managed to evade the attack, but Reader Mage was no longer active as a result.

  He turned his attention to his attacker. The witch was high up in the sky, wings of air flapping gently.

  “Uh-uh…” Nora shook her head. “No, you don’t.”

  Merlin clicked his tongue. He glanced at Park Yuri. She was completely exhausted and out of it. He turned his attention towards Kim Yiseo. She was engaged to her fullest of capacity with Lee Jaehyun, and her stoic expression was slowly crumbling.

  Unlike back during the Grimoire sparring class, she couldn’t make use of the limited space to trap Lee Jaehyun, so a dragged out battle of attack and defense was unfavorable to her in her current situation. And reaching for Lee Jaehyun or Nora’s Grimoires were basically out of it. That was probably their reason for remaining in the sky.

  The situation was bad. Merlin was confused as to how they could get over their current hurdle.

  “That hurt,” Nikolai said as he walked towards Merlin, cracking his neck gently. “You hit me like you were trying to kill me.”

  Merlin’s troubles skyrocketed. Nikolai was back on his feet. He wondered if he could catch the boy off guard again, but his instinct told him that such wouldn’t be possible.

  So how could he take on both Nora and Nikolai at the same time, while protecting the flag? There was still one more ballista, maybe he should try using that to cause some distraction. However, that would leave the flag unguarded.

  Merlin clenched his jaw.

  What could he do?

  Park Yuri coughed at that moment, and Merlin turned in her direction to see her rising to her feet. He frowned.

  “What do you think you’re doing? You’re out of commission.”

  Park Yuri stood up straight. “Not yet.” She glanced over her shoulder at him as her Grimoire took flight once again. “Is there a plan?”

  None that would make them victorious directly, if that was what she was asking about. The only one he could think of was…

  “Defending the flag for as long as our teammates are fighting.”

  Nora snorted from high up. “You should prepare something better than that, nerd. You’ll be defending the flag forever.”

  Did she think he didn’t know that? That was why he was thinking hard, but defending was the only thing he could do here. Park Yuri was out of it, Kim Yiseo had her hands full, and Nikolai was giving him something of a tough time. There was no one present they could switch with, so that left them with only one choice.

  Or maybe not? If they couldn’t switch with an outside party then?

  Merlin glanced between Nikolai and Nora and an idea snapped into place in his head.

  It was better than nothing.

  “Yuri,” Merlin called, his gaze hardening. “Switch with me.”