Chapter 57: A Spar, A Surprise, and a Setback

I usually stepped onto the sparring arena with a mix of excitement and anticipation. Today, however, I felt only anxiety. It was because of the promise I had made to Emelly. Why had I agreed to grant her a favor if I lost? I was confident, but victory wasn’t guaranteed. I had to consider the possibility of losing. Now that I was actually here, I regretted my impulsive decision.

Emelly stood opposite me, smiling and waving. Her cheerful, cute demeanor eased my nerves slightly. She was truly captivating, befitting a protagonist.

After greeting me, Emelly closed her eyes, seemingly focusing her mind.

I needed to focus too. If I played my cards right, I would almost certainly win. There was no need to worry about what Emelly might ask of me. If I let my anxiety get the better of me, I might lose a fight I should have won.

I took a deep breath, relaxed my body, and circulated my mana, warming up. Emelly remained motionless, eyes still closed. She was probably circulating her mana and preparing herself.

“I assume you’re both ready. Shall we begin?”

“I’m ready. How about you, Sayo? Need more time?”

“No, I’m fine. Let’s begin.”

There was no need to preemptively cast spells against a fellow mage like Emelly. My pre-cast spells were still relatively weak due to my lack of proficiency. Emelly, being a mage herself, could easily counter them with a simple barrier. It would likely be a waste of mana.

The sparring match began at the instructor’s signal.

Despite the signal, silence hung heavy in the arena. Neither of us moved. I had been ready to react to Emelly’s magic, but now, my muscles relaxed slightly.

What was going on? Why wasn’t Emelly making a move?

I couldn’t help but wonder.

The one who struck first usually gained an advantage. There was a reason the saying ‘First strike wins’ was so prevalent. It might not have been an officially recognized term, but its meaning was universally understood.

The importance of the first strike wasn’t limited to physical combat; it applied to games and sports as well.

Therefore, in games and sports where fairness was paramount, the player going second was often given an advantage.

In Go, Black played first, and White, playing second, received compensation points.

In card games, the first player might only be allowed to play action cards, with combat starting on the second player’s turn. Or the second player might receive extra cards or resources. Each game had its own way of balancing things out.

The siege game I enjoyed was similar. While it wasn’t a turn-based game like the others, gaining an early advantage could snowball into an overwhelming victory, leaving the opponent helpless.

Returning to combat,

In a battle between a mage and a Reinforcement magician, the mage’s only advantage was the ability to strike first. Reinforcement magicians, needing to close the distance, had to brace themselves for a few spells before they could engage.

The fact that mages, who were inherently disadvantaged against Reinforcement magicians in terms of compatibility, could sometimes hold their own or even suppress their opponents in structured settings like sparring matches was due to this distance advantage and the right to strike first.

Without any balancing rules in place, the one who took the initiative always started with an advantage.

In a mage versus mage battle, the importance of the first strike was even more pronounced. If you cast your spell first, your opponent would be forced to react defensively or with a counter-spell. While they were busy reacting, you could cast another spell and continue the pressure, slowly but surely pushing them into a corner. If your opponent was forced to constantly react a step behind, they would become increasingly pressured, both mentally and strategically, eventually making mistakes.

Of course, since mages of similar skill levels usually fought each other, their casting speed and firepower wouldn’t differ significantly. This kind of scenario was more likely to occur in battles between mages of vastly different skill levels.

That’s why I was standing still, mana at the ready, yielding the first move to Emelly. I wanted to gauge her true abilities. Of course, I was confident that I was more skilled and could overcome the disadvantage of going second.

It was a long-standing tradition for a master to yield the first move to a lesser opponent, wasn’t it?

…But Emelly’s inaction was starting to get to me. It had only been a few minutes, but the silence felt unnerving, especially with the sounds of other sparring matches echoing around us. The instructor’s gaze felt heavy on me.

Should I say something? Was something wrong?

Just as I was about to speak, Emelly opened her eyes.

“You’re just standing there, doing nothing. You are letting me go first, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yes. But it was a little disconcerting that you weren’t doing anything either. Shouldn’t we start? The instructor seems to be getting bored.”

“Oh, sorry. I was preparing, seeing as you weren’t moving.”

“Didn’t you agree to start when you were ready? What are you preparing for now?”

“Yes. At first, I was going to focus on ‘defense’ and ‘offense,’ but seeing you like this, I think I can go with ‘offense’ and ‘offense’.”

“What?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Emelly began channeling her mana, preparing a spell. Seeing this, I immediately activated my ready mana.

Fireballs materialized beside Emelly – a mage’s trusty companion. With a flick of her wrist, she sent them hurtling towards me.

How should I respond? Erect a wall of ice or earth? No, I had decided.

Following my chosen formula, my mana flowed, and fireballs materialized beside me as well. I, Sayoreinne, preferred to meet fire with fire, to confront challenges head-on rather than cowering behind defenses.

Boom! Bang!

Emelly’s fireballs and mine collided, some canceling each other out, some scorching the arena floor, and some heading straight for us. We were far apart, and fireballs weren’t particularly fast or difficult to dodge.

I sidestepped, minimizing my movements to maintain my casting rhythm, and deflected the blasts with a hastily erected mana shield.

As expected, my fireballs were being overpowered by Emelly’s.

The difference in the number of fireballs was stark. It couldn’t be helped. My spell had been improvised in response to hers. I would have to accept some losses.

This was the risk of giving up the first move in a mage duel. It would have been easier to erect a defensive barrier, but as I said, I preferred a direct confrontation. I also wanted to properly assess Emelly’s abilities through a test of raw firepower.

Now, for my next spell…

Huh?!

Clang!

A sudden arrow of light.

It appeared out of nowhere, at a timing I hadn’t anticipated, interrupting my casting. I barely managed to deflect it with a shield. It was a good thing I had been keeping a close eye on Emelly; otherwise, that might have been the end of the match.

“How…?”

I looked up to see a barrage of light arrows heading straight for me. I had no choice but to erect a barrier.

A wall of stone enveloped me.

Taking a moment to catch my breath behind the barrier, I tried to make sense of what had just happened. How had Emelly managed to cast another offensive spell so quickly? Even if there was a slight difference in our skill levels, she was stationary while casting, while I had been moving around. She was bound to be faster.

There was one possibility that came to mind. But… had she already mastered that?

Sayoreinne had a unique ability called ‘Remote Instantaneous Magic Casting,’ a long and clunky name. Emelly also had a unique ability.

It was called ‘Double Casting,’ a straightforward name that perfectly described its function. It allowed her to cast two spells simultaneously, or with a slight delay, effectively eliminating the casting time for the second spell.

That ability wasn’t supposed to manifest until the third semester of the second year. How was she using it already? I had awakened my own ability earlier than in the original story, so it wasn’t entirely unprecedented, but it was still surprising. I had known about Sayoreinne’s ability beforehand, so I had a head start. Emelly, on the other hand, had to figure it out on her own. She must have trained hard… Protagonists were truly different.

Compared to my ability, which was mostly useless in mage duels and relied on strategic maneuvering, Emelly’s ability was simply powerful and versatile. Simple is best, perhaps.

In any case, all I could say was…

“I’m screwed…”

…and that was that.