Chapter 230: A Lesson in Violence
Sebastien
Month 9, Day 3, Friday 3:35 p.m.
Pendragon hadn’t gained a point on Sebastien, so waiting for her to regain her footing was not a requirement of the duel itself, but arrogance. That was good. No fight was determined before the end. If he failed to take her seriously and was even a little more careless than he would normally be, that was to her advantage.
Sebastien didn’t wait. She bent her one part of her Will to controlling the broad air control spell’s output with various on-the-fly modifications, and used the other to send several quick bursts of power through it. It was still far from free-casting, but it made her more versatile than she should have been.
Several sickle-shaped slicing spells cut from her spell array and through the air, one after the other, as fast as if she were simply snapping her fingers and creating them. Some traveled straight, but several curved around like boomerangs, targeting Pendragon from different angles and heights.
She wasn’t skilled enough to calculate the angle of travel perfectly ahead of time, without actively controlling each, and so several would miss. That was fine, as they instead worked to restrict the area he could use to dodge.
Pendragon’s eyes widened, and he tried to dodge anyway, but there were simply too many attacks coming at once. His triangular shield spell flashed back to life with a crystalline chime, the magical barrier forming just in time to deflect her assault.
The announcer’s voice boomed through the amphitheatre as she screamed something about Sebastien’s speed and control, but Sebastien tuned out the words. She couldn’t afford to lose focus. She channeled power into her other air-based spell, this one meant for fine control. It was technically a modification of a spell meant for patients with lung issues. Sebastien used it to draw in extra oxygen from the air near Pendragon, while pushing away nitrogen. She hadn’t practiced this spell long enough to be truly proficient or totally efficient with it, but she did her best to keep the spell array from glowing noticeably.
If Sebastien wanted to win, she would at least need to try to kill Pendragon. She remembered Ana’s advice, too. She drew back her shoulders, raised one eyebrow, and called out loudly enough to be heard past the announcer and the roaring of the crowd. “I heard you were turned down by Professor Lacer as an apprentice candidate. No wonder, if you have this much trouble against a second-term student.”