Mage combat is fought with one-handed weapons.

  A simple lesson I remembered from the book Emberheart had me read. Shields are viable too, but they reduce your agility and force you into defensive positions. The main weapon used by mages is the sword, which is why it's the only class the academy offered. It was considered the most versatile one-handed option.

  Aurelius made that seem like a complete misconception.

  He wielded his spear with only one hand, using his arm and shoulders to balance the weapon and give his attacks incredible stability. Each movement was precise, controlled, like he'd been doing this since he could walk. The spear became an extension of his body. Spinning, thrusting, sweeping in arcs that seemed impossible for a weapon that long, he could do everything.

  Aurora stayed on the defensive at first. Maybe because of the spear's superior range, or maybe because she just wasn't as invested in this fight as he was. Her sword met his strikes with perfect timing, each block positioned exactly where it needed to be. Minimal movement, maximum efficiency.

  But it was their free hands that really caught my attention.

  While their weapons clashed, both of them drew magic circles in the air with their off-hands. The speed was insane, complete circles forming in less than a second, sometimes multiple circles layered on top of each other. I could barely track the movements.

  Aurora's style was pure talent. Whatever she drew just materialized into perfect form instantly, like the magic itself was eager to obey her. The circles practically drew themselves.

  Aurelius's style was different. Pure skill. Every line perfectly straight, every curve mathematically precise. His circles had a geometric perfection to them that felt almost mechanical.

  The first real exchange came when Aurelius completed a spell mid-thrust.

  His spear drove forward, Aurora blocked with her sword, then a second thrust made of pure compressed wind followed immediately after the first. The invisible blade of air shot toward her chest.

  Aurora was ready. A barrier flashed into existence just in time, the hexagonal pattern of the shield visible for a split second before the wind struck it. The barrier shattered in a burst of light, dispersing the wind blast in all directions.

  The shockwave hit me even from where I was standing. I had to brace myself to avoid getting knocked over, my uniform whipping around me from the force.

  That's when the Prince really started moving.

  His attacks became a blur. A relentless flurry of thrusts and sweeps that seemed to pull the wind around them. And it wasn't just visual. The air itself was responding to his movements, creating currents that accelerated each strike, adding momentum to every thrust.

  Aurora was clearly struggling now. Her blocks came a fraction of a second slower, her footwork forced back step by step. The Prince was using the terrain, positioning her toward the cracked ground from earlier, limiting her movement options.

  Then both of them cast spells simultaneously.

  Aurelius's hand traced a quick circle and slammed it toward the ground. Aurora's free hand was already moving, drawing a defensive barrier.

  The ground beneath her exploded upward.

  Not just cracked. Chunks of earth and stone erupted like a geyser, and Aurora lost her footing completely. Her hastily-formed barrier caught most of the debris, but the sheer force of the spell broke through. The Prince's spear followed immediately, a perfect thrust aimed at her center mass.

  Her armor saved her. The spear point struck the breastplate with enough force to dent the metal, and Aurora stumbled backward, away from the broken ground.

  "Take this seriously!" Aurelius demanded, and there was genuine irritation in his voice. Like he was insulted she wasn't giving her all.

  Aurora's expression shifted. Something changed in her eyes. A decision made.

  She gripped her sword with both hands, holding it in front of her like she was about to draw it from a sheath. The blade started to glow. Softly at first, then brighter, then impossibly bright. Like she was holding a piece of the sun itself.

  I had to look away, my eyes watering from the intensity.

  "Just put mana over your eyes."

  I jumped. Nico was sitting right beside me now, cross-legged on the grass, watching the fight like he'd been there the whole time.

  "Where did you—never mind." I tried following his advice. "How do I—"

  "Just coat them. Rough layer. Don't overthink it."

  My mana control was terrible, but this didn't require any sophisticated technique, just a basic covering of mana over my eyes. The pain stopped immediately, though now everything had a weird blue tint to it, like I was looking through colored glass.

  I could see Aurora clearly now. Her sword blazed with light so intense it cast stark shadows across the entire field despite the afternoon sun.

  "Aurora is the first mage in three generations of her family to manifest light magic," Nico explained casually. "It's so powerful it puts her at S-rank even without accounting for her actual talent and skill."

  Aurora's free hand moved again. One circle. Two circles. Three circles, all layered and interconnected in a complex pattern I couldn't begin to understand.

  By the time Aurelius closed the distance, her feet were already glowing.

  Then the real battle began.

  Aurora moved.

  Not running, not even moving in any normal sense. One moment she was in front of the Prince, the next she was behind him. No transition, no blur of motion. Just instantaneous repositioning, like she was teleporting.

  Her sword came down.

  Clang!

  The Prince's spear intercepted it, somehow. He'd twisted the weapon behind his back without even looking, blocking purely on instinct and reaction.

  But Aurora was already gone. Now she was to his left. Her sword lashed out.

  Clang!

  Blocked again. The Prince pivoted, but she was already somewhere else.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  The sound of metal hitting metal filled the air at an impossible pace. It was like listening to a hailstorm made of steel. I could barely track the exchanges. Just catching glimpses of Aurora appearing and disappearing, her sword leaving trails of light in the air, and the Prince somehow managing to block each strike.

  Small orbs of light started appearing around Aurelius. One, then three, then six, hovering at different heights and distances, pulsing with contained energy. I hadn't even seen Aurora cast the spell. She must have woven it between attacks.

  The Prince tried to move forward, to create distance, to do something, but every direction he turned, Aurora was already there. Her light-enhanced speed let her cut off every escape route, every angle of attack. She was everywhere at once.

  The frustration on his face was clear now. His perfect composure was cracking.

  Then he made a decision.

  His free hand stopped drawing defensive circles. Instead, he opened it flat, fingers spread wide.

  The hand sparked. Just a tiny flash of electricity between his fingers.

  Lightning fell from the sky.

  Not metaphorically. Actual lightning, a bolt of electricity that tore down from the clouds above with a sound like the world splitting open. It struck the ground mere centimeters from where the Prince stood, hitting the exact spot where Aurora had been a microsecond earlier.

  She'd dodged. Barely. The near-miss forced her back a full step, her movement interrupted for the first time.

  That split second was all Aurelius needed.

  His free hand resumed drawing circles with furious speed. Three circles completed before Aurora could recover. Six more before she could resume her assault.

  And when she tried to close the distance again, the wind around him erupted.

  It started as a breeze, then a gale, then a full hurricane in the span of two seconds. Wind whipped around the Prince in a violent vortex, and I could see electricity crackling through it. Arcs of lightning jumping from current to current, making the entire storm glow with intermittent flashes.

  The light orbs Aurora had placed shot toward him, trying to penetrate the barrier of wind. His spear moved in precise arcs, shattering each orb before it could reach him. The explosions of light against wind created brilliant flashes that lit up the field.

  "We need to move," Nico said quietly, standing up.

  He pulled me back. The hurricane was growing, spreading outward, consuming more of the battlefield. I couldn't even see Aurelius anymore, just a massive swirling vortex of wind and lightning that seemed to be advancing toward Aurora.

  The temperature dropped. I could feel the static electricity in the air making my hair stand on end. Debris began getting pulled toward the storm. Loose grass, small rocks, anything not firmly anchored.

  Aurora stood her ground, watching the approaching tempest with focused eyes. Lightning bolts shot out from the hurricane at irregular intervals, forcing her to dodge left and right. But even while moving, her hands traced magical circles.

  Big ones. Complex ones. Layered patterns that made my head hurt trying to follow them.

  When she finished, she slammed both hands forward.

  A dome of pure light erupted around the hurricane's center, a barrier so bright and solid it looked physical. The dome enclosed the entire storm, cutting it off from the rest of the field. The wind immediately died down outside the barrier.

  For a moment, I thought it had worked. The hurricane was contained, sealed inside Aurora's light prison.

  Then I saw the dome start to bulge.

  The hurricane was pushing back, but something felt wrong about it. The wind alone shouldn't have been able to stress Aurora's barrier like that. Not when it was made of solidified light magic. But the pressure kept building, the dome straining against something more than just air currents.

  The barrier held for about three seconds. Then the storm expanded with impossible force, like the wind itself had gained physical weight and mass. The sheer pressure overwhelmed the light construct completely.

  The dome shattered like glass, fragments of solidified light exploding outward before dissolving into particles.

  The hurricane burst free, larger than before, angrier. Wind blasted across the entire field, and I had to grab onto a large tree to avoid being blown away.

  Aurora looked around quickly. I saw her eyes scan the area, checking if anyone else was nearby, making sure no students had wandered too close.

  Then she sheathed her sword.

  Both hands free now, she began casting. Not quick circles but slow, deliberate patterns. Her hands moved with absolute precision, drawing symbols I didn't recognize. Each movement left a trail of light in the air that didn't fade, building into a complex three-dimensional spell structure.

  And as she cast, the sky darkened.

  Not clouds moving in. Just darkness, spreading across the sky like ink in water. The sun was still visible, but its light was being dimmed, like something was filtering it out. Shadows stretched and deepened. The blue tint from my mana-coated eyes made everything look even more unnatural.

  "Okay, we're definitely moving now." Nico's voice had lost its casual tone. He pulled me back more urgently, and for the first time since I'd met him, I saw actual worry on his face.

  "They're getting way too serious..." He glanced behind us, checking our exit route. "It isn't safe here anymore. Aurora's never used something like this before. I don't even know what this is."

  The air felt heavy. Wrong. Like the atmosphere itself was being pressed down by the weight of whatever spell Aurora was preparing. I could feel it in my chest, making it harder to breathe. The temperature kept dropping.

  Inside the hurricane, I saw movement. The Prince had noticed the change. The storm began to shift, like he was trying to position himself to counter whatever was coming.

  Aurora's spell structure was almost complete. The symbols hung in the air around her, glowing softly, connected by lines of light that pulsed with power. Her eyes had taken on a luminous quality, reflecting the magic she was channeling.

  The darkness overhead was nearly complete now. It was like standing in twilight, except the sun was still up.

  Before Aurora could finish the final symbol, a voice boomed across the entire field with supernatural volume.

  "STOP THIS DUEL RIGHT NOW."

  The Director's voice hit like a physical force. I actually felt it. A pressure in the air that made my ears ring. Even the hurricane seemed to waver.

  "THIS ACTIVITY IS TO ASSESS THE BEST LEADER, NOT THE MOST POWERFUL MAGE."

  The command in that voice was absolute. Me and Nico both froze in place, unable to even think about moving. It wasn't just volume, there was magic behind it, compelling obedience.

  Aurora's concentration broke immediately. The complex spell structure she'd been building collapsed, the symbols dissolving into particles of light that scattered in the wind. The unnatural darkness overhead began to lift, sunlight returning gradually.

  Inside the hurricane, I saw Aurelius respond as well. The storm began to die down. Slowly at first, then faster. The wind reduced from hurricane force to gale to breeze to nothing. The lightning faded. Within thirty seconds, the field was calm again, though scorched earth and torn ground showed evidence of the battle.

  The Prince stood in the center of the destruction, spear still in hand, not even breathing hard. He was looking at Aurora with an expression I couldn't quite read.

  Then he smiled. Not his usual arrogant smirk. This was different. Genuine satisfaction.

  "This is how it should have gone," he said simply, like this entire display had been exactly what he wanted. Like getting Aurora to fight seriously had been his goal from the start.

  He raised his voice slightly, addressing not just Aurora but the air around him. Wherever the magical recording devices were monitoring this competition from.

  "My team withdraws from the competition."

  Then he turned, picked up his spear properly, and walked off the competition field. His white uniform was dirty for once, torn in a few places, but he carried himself like he'd just won instead of withdrawn.

  I sat there in stunned silence, my brain trying to process what I'd just witnessed.

  Two S-ranks had just nearly destroyed each other, and possibly half the competition grounds, and one of them had just voluntarily quit.

  "Well," Nico said beside me, standing up and brushing dirt off his uniform with casual movements. "That was interesting."

  Interesting.

  Right.

  That's one word for it.

  I looked at the field. At the cracked ground, the scorch marks, the disturbed earth where the hurricane had torn through. At Aurora, who was calmly walking towards our castle like she hadn't just been about to cast something that made even Nico nervous.

  The competition was over. Aurora had won by default. The Prince had gotten his fight and left satisfied.

  And I had just gotten a glimpse of what S-ranks could actually do when they stopped holding back.

  I was pretty sure I never wanted to fight either of them. Ever.