"Alright, stop the battle."
Vaan spoke as he sighed. The moment he said those words, Asher and the group stopped casting spells and stopped, and seeing that their barrage of attacks had now halted, Elara removed the shield she had created to protect herself as well.
Vaan then walked towards his fiancée, Elara lowered her head, trying to avoid his gaze, but Vaan held her arm and took her to the side,
"What happened?" He asked gently.
"N-Nothing."
"Elara, the only spell you used in this battle was the Guardian's Wall, that's not even your strongest defense spell, not to mention you didn't use all those attacking spells you discussed together with me.
This is just like what Mother said, you are holding back most of your strength, why are you doing that? Is taking on five opponents at the same time proving to be hard for you?" Vaan questioned.
Elara glanced at her five opponents who were sweating profusely after going against a 4th Circle Mage. Although Elara wasn't known for her strength, just the fact that 2nd Circle Mage stood held on against her till a draw was a big achievement. Not to mention that unlike what most would believe, they were on the attacking side. In other words, they were the ones keeping a 4th Circle Mage in check and not the other way around.
"Haahh…" Alaric, one of the five mages exhaled in relief.
"It was a tough battle indeed." Silas, his teammate muttered.
"Of course it was, we were up against a 4th Circle Mage." Thoren, another team member nodded.
Asher, on the other hand, was silent.
The moment he came here, unlike most people, he didn't notice the white walls, or the strange patterns on the wall, his eyes fell on Seraphina and her bruised face.
In that moment, he realized that whatever he was here for, it was definitely not peaceful, especially considering that Vaan was the one who arranged it. Asher knew just what kind of sadist demon that bastard was, he wouldn't have summoned all five of them there just so they could feel better about themselves.
Something was going to happen, Asher could feel it.
Therefore, to know what it was and to avoid the upcoming situation, he decided to focus on Vaan's and Elara's conversation.
Elara, who was observing all of them for a while finally muttered, "All of them are too weak."
"Huh?" Vaan, who heard that frowned, "Are you worried about hurting them?" He questioned.
With how Elara fought against Seraphina, he thought that she had overcome that problem, but it seems that he was wrong.
"mm."
Elara nodded.
"Why are you worried about that? Don't worry, I have already prepared Healers who would come heal them the moment something out of the ordinary happens."
"B-But they are too weak, what if something happens before Healers can heal them?" Elara was still worried.
"I-I don't think I, as a 4th Circle Mage should fight against them." Elara spoke with an uncertain look on her face.
"Is that so…" Vaan nodded to himself.
Then, another idea popped into his mind, "How about you limit the number of Magic Circles you use to 2? Rather than doing a 1v5, we can do a 1v1 with you limiting the number of Magic Circles you lose, this way, the fight will be fairer and even if they do get hurt, it won't be to a degree where even the healers can't heal them."
He proposed.
"…"
Elara, however, stayed silent.
From her expression, she didn't seem satisfied with this solution either.
"What's wrong now? Are you still worried that you would hurt them? Then how about instead of 1v1, we do a 1v2, although it would be slightly risky for you, I know for sure that you will be able to handle it." Vaan replied.
"Fight between mages is not just decided by number of spells a Mage can use, Vaan. There are many other factors involved as well and the biggest out of them all is the knowledge a Mage possess.
Even if I limit the number of circles I use, the knowledge I have would still be the same, I would recognize what Spell they are casting just from the movement of Mana alone, I would know the next spell they would use to cover the weakness of the spell they are currently casting, I would know the best counter-attack against their spells, that would completely render them powerless.
Fighting the two of them at the same time won't help either, even if the five of them come together, the result won't change. The chances that I end up hurting them are very high.
As for limiting myself to 1st Circle, then there would be no point of the battle since I wouldn't be able to defeat them."
Elara explained her worries.
This was the change that Vaan had noticed, after drinking with him two times, Elara had opened up to him, even though she still stutters a lot, now she doesn't call him Young Master Vaan like she used to and looks more comfortable around him, even talking about things she would normally won't talk about and reply with silence.
Since the communication between them had improved, dealing with Elara was not as difficult as before.
And Vaan, who heard Elara's worries finally understood the main crux problem.
Elara Flameheart, his fiancée, his future wife, she was an extremely arrogant girl.
Elara was a weird combination of a gentle yet arrogant soul. The reason she never gave her all in any of the Magic Battles she participated in was not just because she was scared of hurting her opponents.
This girl thought that if she goes all out, she would completely overwhelm her opponent, to the point where even if the healers got involved, something unfortunate would still happen to her opponents.
Mind you, Elemental Clash had no screening process while registering Mages. As long as one fits the Circle range and pays the entrance fees, they are allowed to participate. There was no age limit either.
Elara rarely faced an opponent who was the same age as her, most of her opponents were older than her, and even since she had become 4th Circle Mage, most of the Mages she went up against were in their 50s, some of them even touched 70 or 80s.
Even then, she was arrogant enough to believe that these Mages who have been studying Magic for decades, wouldn't be able to hold out against her if she went all out and would meat a bad end.
'Heh.'
Vaan couldn't help but chuckle inwardly when he realized that.
How arrogant.
And the worst part about all this?
Just when one starts to hate or blame Elara for being so arrogant, she reveals her second side. Her gentle smile where even when she 'knew' that her opponent wouldn't stand a chance against her, she didn't let her ego get in and decided to throw the match just so she could save her opponent.
Elara was ready to face humiliation herself rather than hurt her enemies.
An arrogant yet extremely kind woman.
'A strange combination indeed.'
Vaan chuckled in his head as he glanced at his fiancée with a gentle smile on his face.
"Then how about you spar against me?" Vaan questioned.
"Huh?" Elara frowned.
"Limit the number of Circles you use to two and spa-"
"No." Before Vaan could even complete his sentence, Elara already shook her head with a firm look on her face.
This was one of the rarest time when no matter what Vaan said, Elara wouldn't change her opinion and seeing that, Vaan raised his eyebrow,
"You aren't thinking you can win against me, are you? No matter how experienced you are, Elara, your Magic Circles can only take you so far.
I wouldn't have been able to say anything for sure if I was using normal Magic Circles,
But I am planning to use Advanced Magic Circles.
You don't have to worry about hurting me and can go all out."
Vaan spoke but again, Elara shook her head, "I can't cast my spells if Vaan is my target. My Mana won't move like I would want it to."
"…"
Vaan didn't know how to reply.
His fiancée was just too adorable.
'Fuck, I lucked out.' Vaan muttered inwardly, thanking his stars again.
Then, however, he firmly shook his head.
"Actually, Elara…
There was something I wanted to tell you for a long time…" Vaan leaned closer and whispered into Elara's ears.
"What is it?" sensing his tone, Elara questioned with an earnest look on her face.
"Do you remember how I was injured a few days ago? It was too the point where I was bedridden."
"I remember it, you dueled against them and got injured." Ther was no way Elara could forget it.
"It was not a duel." Vaan spoke.
"Huh?" A frown appeared on her face, this was different from what she was told.
"Those bastards attacked me from behind." Vaan spoke as he secretly pointed at the five Mages.
"What…?" Elara's expression changed.
"The reason I called them here…
It was selfish…
I can't do it on my own because of some reasons but…
I want revenge…
And I need you to help me."
Vaan then glanced at the five mage and,
"Please fight them and avenge me,"
