The young man nodded. “I see... In that case, my apologies in advance.” He said as he took off his robe, letting the breeze carry it away. Briar glanced at the cloak for a moment, before turning back to the young man.

“Likewise.” She answered, as she smiled and pulled her camo cloak out of her bag.

The large cloth covered her figure for but a mere moment. However, after the cloak had blown away, Briar was nowhere to be seen. The youth’s eyes widened, as he realized she had become invisible. But a moment afterwards, they narrowed.

“You think you can pull that cheap trick on me?” He laughed, sending a magic shockwave through the air around him. Tens of translucent mirrors shattered into nothingness, but Briar was still nowhere in sight.

“Huhuhu~ Whether it is a trick or not remains to be seen.” Briar’s voice came from all around. But the young man still could not pinpoint where she was. His back suddenly was covered in cold sweat. If this young woman were to become an assassin, he would be quite helpless.

Instead of keeping her advantage, though, Briar stepped out into the visible spectrum as easily as if stepping out of a door.

“Magic is like that, after all.” She said, with a knowing smile.

“Ho? Where is your impressive familiar? Are you hiding it in the shadows, too?” The young man asked, looking around.

“Unfortunately, they just served lunch upstairs, and she is taking her afternoon nap. My apologies.” Briar replied as she sidestepped the white cloak that had suddenly made a beeline in her direction.

“Did you honestly think that I would fall for a trick that has already been used once?” She asked.

He shrugged.

“I can only try. Any and all techniques are acceptable as long as no one gets hurt.” He had the cloak try to wrap around her at every opportunity, but Briar swayed and dodged it every single time.

“Hey, is dodging all that you can do?” The youth asked, with a grimace. “Magicians should fight with magic, not dodging manoevers!”

“Is that so?” Briar asked, with a smile before she said. “Then I shall apologize in advance.”

A bright light suddenly exploded in between them, blinding both the youth and the audience with its dazzling brilliance.

Once everyone had blinked the light out of their eyes, they rubbed them again in surprise. Briar was still standing in the exact same spot she had been standing before she left.

“Haha! Do you think I am stupid?” The youth asked, quite annoyed. It’s obvious that this is only an illusion!” He once more sent out a magic shockwave. But, what surprised him was that this time the image did not shatter in the least. Her braids simply waved in the breeze behind her.

“Huh? But how!?” He exclaimed.

“I’m afraid this time I am the real deal.” Briar shook her head. “Can’t you tell the difference between a fake person and a real one?”

His face turned slightly red from embarrassment. “Nng! Try this!” He pointed. But nothing happened. “Huh?”

Briar pointed off to the side. Glancing over, he saw his white cloak had been completely entangled and pinned down by Briar’s camo cloak, keeping it from lifting up off the ground with its weight.

“Good one!” He praised, giving Briar a thumbs-up. “But now, I guess it’s time I stopped fooling around~!” He said with a tehepero[1] as he brought a wand out from within his shirt.

“I’m glad to hear of it.” Briar replied. “I also am tired of playing games.” She took out a simple wooden stave and gently let the end fall upon the ground. Mana rippled forth from it as if that simply touch had been upon water instead of ground.

The audience was mesmerized by the beautiful display, but the youth was experiencing a different kind of admiration. The area effected by the rippling mana had an increased gravitational pull, thus it felt way more difficult to just stand up.

Instead of speaking, the youth was forced to use one of his trump cards to break away from the effects of this gravitational change.

“Zero Gravity!” He spat out through gritted teeth.

Instantly, all the pressure around him vanished. Briar instantly ended her now useless gravity spell, right after she cast the next one.

“Anti-gravity!” She smote the ground as a large magic circle appeared that encompassed the entire stage.

It should be said that, while [zero gravity] was an intermediate level spell, [Anti-gravity] was actually a high level spell. When combining the two together, the results were an accelerated speed of rising into the air that was faster than both spells put together. Thus, before the young man could even understand what she had said, he had shot upwards and smacked hard into the magic barrier surrounding the stage.

The blow to the back of his head jarred him into cancelling his zero gravity spell. Briar, likewise, dispelled her [Anti-gravity] as well, allowing him to fall towards the ground. After all, high spells-though powerful- had a correspondingly high mana cost the longer they were in effect.

A cloud of dust blew up where he landed.

“Ouch! That was a bit brutal!” The youth shook his head as he stood up. Before he had hit the ground, he had been lucky enough to cast [Earth Pillow], a spell which softens the ground for those falling from great heights. It was due to this that he hadn’t ended up in an unconscious state.

Briar narrowed her eyes.

“I would not have to be brutal if you were not taking me seriously.” She replied. “Were you farting out of your mouth earlier when you said that you’d become serious? ...Understood. From now on I shall take your words as fecal air.”

“Say, that’s a bit brutal, don’t you think!?” The youth complained.

“Not at all. A Master class like yourself should be ashamed for trying to pull such cheap tricks on me.” Briar replied, a dis-satisfied expression on her face.

“…So you’d noticed?” He asked. His eyes became sharper and more focused afterwards. His general aura changed from that of a smiling idiot, to that of an elite intellectual.

“It’s harder still not to notice.” Briar smiled wryly, as her magic eyes clearly showed her the extent of his mana.

“Hah!” He laughed. “...I had taken this contest for a joke, but perhaps I shall get serious after all, then?” He spoke ponderingly as he began to accumulate his mana.

“That is all that I could ask for.” Briar said while she also began to accumulate mana.

The audience knew what the two were doing. Their next spell casting would be their strongest spells. Their next exchange would be their last. Whoever’s spell gave out first would lose.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, not daring to close their eyes, or to wipe the sweat that accumulated on their foreheads due to the hot sun. All felt that if they were to miss this next exchange, they’d regret it for the rest of their lives.

Finally, both sides began to move.

“Sword of Annihilation!” [Youth]

“Hundred Hexagonal Barriers!” [Briar]

Both yelled out at the same time. A Great Sword appeared in the air over the stage, falling down upon Briar’s position. But it was blocked by a barrier made up of a hundred compressed hexagonal grid barriers surrounding Briar. The ground around her showed signs of collapsing, but she continued to pour out her mana into the shields.

At this point, whoever ran out of mana first would lose. But this time, Briar was placed in a rather precarious position. If the youth gave up first, then he’d only be exhausted. But if Briar gave out first, then she’d have to bear with the full brunt of the spell, and most likely be highly injured, if not killed. It was a highly suspenseful moment.

But Briar had chosen not to move out of the way, but to face the attack with her strongest spells: Barrier Magic.

The place where the great sword met the shield elicited a rather ear-piercing shrieking sound as the area where both spells clashed began to glow brighter. The air around it began to warp. Both sides were using all their mana to vie for the winning spot.

Briar’s quick emptying of her mana reserves caused her mana veins to start working faster, collecting more mana from the atmosphere to refill the emptying tank. This allowed Briar to keep up the hundred barriers as though they were all one.

But they weren’t. Compressed together, thought they were, Briar still had created a hundred shields instead of one. Instead, the youth only had one spell to concentrate on. And so, because of that, even with Briar’s monster mana capacity, she still ended up only breaking even against her opponent.

But then, Briar’s barriers started to flicker, and the sword began to dip lower, until suddenly, the sword quickly descended, making contact with the ground, and sending up another, even greater dust cloud.

“What happened?”

“Did Briar lose?”

“Did the boy just win?”

The audience murmured amongst themselves as the youth collapsed into a sitting position, sweat trickling in small rivulets down his face as he gasped for breath. It was a good thing the spell ended where it did. If it hadn’t, the spell might have dug into his vitality and continued at the risk of his health.

But when the dust cleared, Briar still stood in the exact same spot she had. Her Barrier still stood around her. The only difference was, now its shape was not semicircular. Instead, it was shaped more like a wedge of cheese on its side, with an almost sheer slope leading down to the ground at the side of Briar.

A Deep crack in the earth showed exactly how much damage that [Sword of Annihilation] was currently able to do. The depth of the cut could not be seen.

Briar approached the youth slowly as she asked.

“So, are you convinced yet? Or shall I need to go on the offensive as well?”

“Hah..hah…no..n-no need!” The youth tried to catch his breath. “I can’t recite another spell….I concede.” He said with a wry, somewhat self-ridiculing smile as he slowly stood up from the ground.

Briar nodded and dispelled her barriers.

“Briar has won the magicians contest.” Syrel announced, as the audience began to cheer the loudest they could.

Briar held out her hand for a handshake. “Don’t let them tell you any different. You are actually quite powerful.”

He shook his head. “Me? I’m average. I can’t even beat someone like you.”

Briar shook her head. “No, I just so happen to be an incredible exception, since I have a reputation to hold as one of Madam Rothema’s monster students. Truth to be told, if I had not been your opponent, you could have easily won this tournament.”

Then Briar curtseyed. “It’s a pleasure meeting your acquaintance. My name is Briar.”

“I know.” He replied. Then a moment later, he realized that he hadn’t introduced himself at all. “-Er, um, I’m Yohma.”

Briar’s emerald green eyes fixed upon the youth for a moment. Yohma, is it? Or is it Ryouma? She wondered to herself. While it was now quite apparent that he was a reincarnator, Briar still retained her decision not to reveal her status.

How did she know he was a reincarnator? Only people from her world knew about 'tehepero'. Thus it was actually quite easy. And, while she wouldn't reveal her own situation, she decided to keep on friendly terms with Ryouma-er Yoma.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Yohma. Although, next time, perhaps we should do introductions before fighting~” Briar chuckled.

“What!” Yoma exclaimed pulling a bitter face. “I’ll still have to fight you!? No way! I learned my lesson the first time! Count me out of any fights where I’m opposed to you!” And with that, the elite intellectual aura had once more changed back into the idiot happy-go-lucky one.

“If we ever meet again, go easy on me, okay?” He smiled as he made his way to the stairs, where his little angel girl awaited him. Briar likewise turned around to head back towards Rothema’s side of the stage. The awarding ceremony itself would take place after the first place had been decided for the Martial stage as well, so until then, Briar was free.

At the edge of the stage, Yoma paused and looked back, a rarely-seen serious expression on his face.

Me? Powerful? Hah! His grey eyes seemed to darken as he looked at the retreating figure of Briar. Though our appearances are of a similar age: I, a twenty-one year old man, losing to a twelve-year old girl can be nothing but a big huge joke.

His eyes returned to their original grey shade and he stepped down off the stage.

Facing his expressionless companion, he laughed in a carefree manner. “Well! I suppose I lost! Hahahah!”

The girl, Fiona, nodded, and quietly patted him on the shoulder. “There, there.” When he lowered his head, she also patted him on his head.

Yoma nodded his head, in agreement with himself. “Fee’s comfort is truly the best!”

He grinned, proudly, until Fiona lost patience with him and pounded a fist down upon his lowered head.

“Stop talking nonsense.” She replied in a monotone.

---------------

Back in Rothema’s observation room, Briar noticed that no one was on the side that observed the magician stage. “Has the fight already started?” She wondered as she quickly charged through the curtain into the other room.

The sound of loud cheering suddenly blasted her ears as her attention was immediately drawn to the stage.

[1] Tehepero: a motion by which one shows that one is being silly; wink + tongue stuck out [pero] + knocking fist against the head + short laugh [tehe] = tehepero