Chapter 39: First Duel - Part 2
The first thing Kir did was raise his shields.
There were about a hundred meters between the starting points, but Kir wasn't about to go hiding, so he walked calmly toward the center of the stage, starting with a magic shield.
Bjab also closed the distance opening up with a set of spells that rapidly sent magically created fire roaring towards Kir.
Since the fire was pure magic, it broke against his shield, not even affecting the lattice as it parted around Kir.
"Oh, was that supposed to be the best you've got?" Kir challenged as soon as the flames finished flowing. "At this rate, I won't even need to attack."
"Oh, that was just me warming up. You think you're ready for three against one? Think again!" Bjab muttered a spell under his breath and then bellowed, sending out his next spell as a wall of magically enhanced sound.
At the same time, the smarter of his two cronies shot a blast of energy into Kir's back. The fact that Kir hadn't heard him cast a spell meant he was capable of silent casting, which already put him above his boss.
Both spells impacted against Kir's shield and failed to scratch the surface, the magic sound merely sending a puff of wind through Kir's shield, its noise unable to harm him without the magic behind it, which he sensed may have been some sort of illusion, perhaps to provoke his fear or anger.
Suddenly Kir felt something hot crash into his back, knocking him forward a couple of steps. A movement near his foot caught his eyes and he saw a round ball of metal, its surface heated to a red glow.
Kir put up an anti-physical spell just in time to stop a second shot of the same device and a third, before muscle-minion took the hint to stop throwing his ammo. Kir spotted a satchel on the guy's side, and knew that he must have brought them with him. The fact that he was putting actual heat into the metal meant they could penetrate anti-magic shields and still do damage, though if he'd thought to add speed instead...
Wait, that would have made them potentially fatal, which would have disqualified him, if not the whole team.