The minute she cast the spell, she dropped to her knees and started panting. The pill she had taken was the Magic Release Pill. It let a mage use all their magic at once, but they wouldn't be able to fight anymore after that.
But there wasn't supposed to be a need to fight after that. The power of the spell she cast was on par with Middle-Stage 2nd Circle Mages. There was no way that she lost the fight after that.
The flames slowly died out and a figure was standing on the opposite side of the arena. Her eyes widened when she saw this. How did he even guard an attack like that?
Leo coughed a little because of the smoke as he walked forward. He didn't expect to face power like that but managed to survive because he had moved to the edge of the stage in time. He had also found weak spots in the explosion that didn't hit him with as much power. He was able to defend it with the aura he had.
He walked to the girl and sighed. He pointed his dagger at her and looked up. The mage came down to the ground and landed near Melissa.
"The duel is over. Everyone, disperse," he said.
Everyone listened to him but started talking to each other about what they just saw. The 1st year had successfully won against a senior. This was the most interesting thing that they had witnessed in the entire first week of the academy.
Roland was blown away. He thought he was losing the money for sure, but somehow Leo had won. He would no longer need to buy land worth 1 million Starcoins and give it to Victoria. He looked at her and saw that she had a shocked expression as well.
Victoria couldn't comprehend what happened. She knew exactly what her sister did. She took a Magic Release Pill and still lost. To a 1st Year student too. And now she would need to give Roland the land that she put on stake. She was starting to regret doing all of this.
Why did the duel even happen? Because she was looking down on a commoner. And now a commoner beat her sister in a duel in front of half of the 1st year students.
Leo walked to Victoria as she was thinking this. She looked up and saw him in front of her.
"I was made aware that something was at stake for this duel. I hope that my friend will receive it by the end of the week," he said before turning away.
He walked out of the stage, leaving the sisters with the Baron. Roland chased after Leo.
"Leo!" He shouted.
Leo turned back and saw him. Roland caught up to him.
"That was amazing! But why did you never tell me your rank?" He asked.
Leo smiled. "I wanted to look at your expression."
Roland shook his head. "Well, I was shocked. Did you ask her about the land? It's yours, just saying."
"Yeah. Can you take the land from her? Can you also do me a favor and sell it as well? If I just get money, that will help," he said.
Roland nodded. "Anything. You helped me a lot with this. I will remember your help," he said. As he was saying this, Marcus and Lyra came with Madison behind them.
"That was amazing!" Madison said.
Leo looked back and saw the old man looking at him with a glare that told him to get lost.
"We can talk on the way. I think we need to leave," he said. By this point, the rest of the audience had already left. They all had things to do and couldn't stay there forever.
As they were walking back to the dorms, they talked about the fight.
"I didn't know that you could defend spells with aura. The way you cut through the fireballs with your dagger was amazing," Roland said. Both he and Madison were very impressed by the fight.
As for Lyra and Marcus, they were impressed for different reasons.
"How were you able to defend the last blast?" Lyra asked.
Leo said without hesitation, "Luck."
He then turned to them.
"I am going to have to leave you here. I need to go back to training. I'll see you in class," he said and left them. He didn't even give Roland time to come with him, leaving the four by themselves.
"Does he do that often?" Roland asked.
Everyone nodded.
"He's always training," Marcus said.
"I will also do that. I will see you all at class," Lyra left as well. At this point, everyone else dispersed.
Leo got back to his dorm and immediately started training. He had spent a fair share of his time on the fight and got his rush of adrenaline. He was still a kid at heart and wanted to enjoy a good fight. But now that it was over he needed to get his priorities sorted.
As he was back to training, the entire academy was getting to know about the fight. It wasn't the fight itself that managed to attract everyone's attention. It was who fought it that did.
People quickly found out that an orphan in his 1st Year was able to defeat a noble in her 2nd Year. First, it was the students. After them, it was the teachers.
Asher was sitting in his office and looking at a few papers. He didn't have any work and was just looking at a couple of lesson papers to revise before his next class. As he was doing that, someone knocked on his door.
"Come in," he said. The door opened and Maria walked in.
"Yes? Do you need something?" He asked her.
"How many people can go to the Phoenix Trials?" She asked him.
He frowned. "Why do you want to know that now? But the answer is 15. 5 of them are reserve students who won't actually participate," he said.
"Well, I think we can send some of the 1st years as reserves," she said.
Asher chuckled. "I thought about that very thing. The top 3 ranks are in my class for that very reason. They could all possibly reach the Late Stage of the 2nd Circle in just their first year here. I am thinking of taking them regardless of their aura level just for the experience," he said.
Maria shook her head. "I'm not asking you for them. I'm thinking of one of my students - Leo."
"Oh, him. He caught my eye too, but he isn't enough to not take a 2nd Year. He would still need to grow a little. He is already a 2nd Circle which is good, but that doesn't mean his combat power is at that level yet. The only reason he is ranked that high is because the others are also students who recently advanced to the 2nd Circle." Asher explained.
"He defeated a 2nd Circle Mage in a duel. A 2nd Year Mage." Maria said.
Asher's eyes widened.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"Then I will consider him. But he would need to be at least a Middle-Stage," he said. "This batch is truly frightening."
