Whether for entertainment or for settling differences between two parties, duels were a definite way to determine which party was, in a sense, better than the other. Between skilled fighters, one could even assess the battle prowess of involved parties, or the effectiveness of new battle techniques and tactics. To those not involved in the battle, spectating was often a feast for the eyes: the swift movements and dancing of blades were quite captivating, and could even be inspirational towards aspiring fighters.

Duels between mages, however, were different. To some, they were even absolutely boring to watch. After all, the two parties would never show any movement or skill: two mages would simply stand facing one another, with a magic shield created in front of each of them. What was normally a display of power or skill instead became a show of who could recite chants faster, and the one who successfully unleashes a barrage of spells first to destroy the other party's magic shield would become the winner. One would expect such a boring duel to take place between Yequa and Blaze, but the events that were about to unfold would completely betray everyone's expectations.

Magic shields were created by using basic water-type magic to solidify one's mana, but such a simple task was difficult for Blaze, who only had an affinity towards the element of fire. While it was still possible for him to erect one, his ability to make use of water magic was so poor that his magic shield was not only a complete waste of mana, but also so weak that even his own spells would break it.

Yequa, on the other hand, had such great control over his mana and elemental conversion skills that to him, making a magic shield was as easy as breathing. While his defense was excellent, the same could not be said about his offensive capabilities. Having dedicated his entire life to researching war beasts, Yequa never learned a single thing about the skills and tactics used in combat. All the magic he knew were spells to defend him against rampaging beasts in the off chance his research subjects went rogue, and a few high-cost, low-powered explosive spells that were better suited towards scaring off animals than actually harming them.

Given the incapability of these two, a duel should never have been issued in the first place, yet they still chose to battle one another nonetheless. Blaze did not know any better: Yequa kept insisting, and he thought he had no other choice but to heed to Yequa's request.

If one knew about Yequa's inexperience in battle, then one would find it too strange that he was inciting a duel even though he would most likely humiliate himself while fighting, but he thought that this was a reasonable choice. After all, letting Blaze get away with accidentally blowing up his papers would significantly hurt his pride as a researcher, so Yequa couldn't just forgive him even though he really wanted to. Moreover, he had a deadline coming up, so the explosion a while ago was a godsend to hiding the fact Yequa's research had recently been unfruitful.

All he had to do now, he thought, was to somehow put up a good fight and kill two birds with one stone: he could keep his pride by fighting for the sake of his lost research, and tell his superiors that Blaze blew up his office so that he could get a deadline extension. He wasn't expecting to win, but in the off chance he did, Yequa would have someone to help with his research for life without needing to split his already meager funding, so it really wasn't a bad idea to him.

* * * * *

The two stood face to face, twenty meters apart, in a large sandy field surrounded by unnaturally lush overgrowth. The field itself was a desolate circle about fifty meters in diameter, and its dryness was a result of the strange mutated plants around it draining out all the water and nutrients in the soil.

When the duel began, Yequa quickly recited a chant to construct a sturdy transparent magic wall to act as his magic shield. Lacking the ability to shoot long-ranged offensive attacks, Yequa's best bet was to observe his opponent's actions with the hope that Blaze would eventually close the distance and show an opening.

Blaze, unable to create a sturdy magic shield for himself, quickly recited chants to boost his own strength and movement speed instead. He noticed Yequa standing still and silently observing him, but without knowing about his opponent's inexperience, he figured that Yequa was likely suspicious towards his lack of a magic shield and was probably currently confused or thinking that he was looking at a decoy.

Seeing how his opponent was likely not going to attack him, Blaze calmly recited a chant for a basic spell, then channeled mana into his staff in order to shoot a barrage of magic towards Yequa. His tactic was simple: disorient the opponent with sudden firepower, then charge in while Yequa is blinded by the smoke and knock him out with a powerful swing of his staff from behind.

"Fireball!"

As half a dozen fireballs shot out from his staff at a blindingly fast speed, Blaze dashed forward in order to close the distance between him and his opponent. A thick column of smoke will appear in half a second when the fireballs make their impact, he thought, and within four seconds he'd be able to circle around Yequa and end the duel.

"What?!"

What Blaze did not expect to see, however, was Yequa's magic wall partially liquefying itself to completely absorb the incoming fireballs. With no smoke coming out of the point of impact, Yequa could see Blaze very clearly, and he chanted some magic to take care of his opponent who just foolishly moved closer.

Blaze, who was already dashing forward with such a high speed due to the effect of his own strengthening magic, could not negate his momentum once he realized his calculations were entirely wrong. All he could do was lean to one side and knock himself off balance, slowing himself down by slide on the ground.

"Shock wave!"

A distortion appeared in front of Yequa and pulsed forward towards Blaze. With no means to avoid getting hit, Blaze closed his eyes and took the full brunt of the shock wave attack. Even though the shock wave itself was relatively harmless, it was a moving object which was sturdy enough that when one considers how Blaze was sliding in the opposite direction at a fast speed, it was no different from getting hit by a car, if those existed in this world. The high net force caused Blaze to be sent flying sideways, and he landed a little over ten meters away from Yequa, with blood rushing out of his nose. It was quite a miracle for him to not have any bones broken.

Since his opponent was now far enough away, Yequa could not follow up with any other attacks, and could only stand in place to observe Blaze's next move. Wiping away the blood on his face, Blaze seemed to have figured out that Yequa could not attack him from range, considering how his attack just now would barely even be considered dangerous had he been standing still. Thus, figuring that he would not be hit with anything no matter how long he were to take for the next attack, Blaze calmly chanted and charged up mana for another strike.

"Flame Pillar!"

If a frontal attack wasn't effective, he thought, then maybe an attack from above would work. A magic circle soon formed several meters above Yequa, and a bright column of flame quickly fell down from the circle. Yequa had only a second to react, but that was more than enough time for him. He easily moved the magic shield in front of him over his head, blocking the incoming pillar. The magic shield was like a giant mouth, swallowing up the column of flame in its entirety without trouble. Blaze was somewhat disappointed that his attack was also ineffective, but his opponent was now showing an opening: with the wall of magic now over his head, Yequa had nothing to protect his front!

"Fireball!"

Blaze quickly chanted and activated the simplest offensive spell he knew of, and another barrage of fireballs flew towards his foe. Unfortunately, even this spell with a short chant took long enough to cast that by the time the fireballs flew out from Blaze's staff, the column of flame was already gone. Yequa had more than enough time to deal with this incoming attack.

"Don't underestimate me."

Had Blaze noticed how Yequa's magic shield was strangely swollen up, he would have realized that danger was imminent. Yequa was too good at making use of his magic shield: not only did it absorb the pillar of fire completely, but it also morphed in such a way that it trapped and compressed a significant amount of hot air inside. As the fireballs flew towards him, he shifted his magic shield towards his front, then released the compressed air trapped inside as though a bomb was being detonated. It was hard to imagine how what happened next was aerodynamically possible, but the fireballs were then pushed back and flew straight towards where they came from.

It was a good thing Blaze's robes were fireproof, so he only got knocked backwards by his own fireballs pummeling him. As his back scraped against the rock-filled sandy ground, he lost track of how many times he had torn holes in his clothes up until now.

"Did you forget how I wanted my research subjects to breathe out fire? You're not going to harm me if you keep using that kind of magic."

With his ongoing research being focused on mutating war beasts so that they can breathe out fire, Yequa had to have come up with all kinds of defensive measures in case the research succeeded and his test subjects went rogue, after all. He was a bit annoyed that his opponent was only using fire-type spells, but he wasn't aware of the fact that this was all Blaze could do.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to prove that you're wrong, then!"

Knowing that he was now at a severe disadvantage, Blaze couldn't just surrender or make known his inabilities in magic. All he could do was think about how he could break through Yequa's defense. Soon after, he loudly recited the chant for the already too familiar Fireball magic.

"Sigh… That weak fire magic of yours isn't going to work on me… Huh?"

Yequa was prepared to shield himself from the barrage of fireballs, but to his surprise, none of the fireballs were on target. Instead, all eight or so fireballs that his opponent shot out hit the ground in a circle around him, and the impact caused a large cloud of sand to form, blinding him completely. Neither of the two could see each other right now, but it didn't matter to Blaze, as he knew for sure his opponent would be standing in the same location as before.

With no way to know what attack Blaze would use next or from what direction he would be striking from, Yequa changed his shield to a thin dome-like structure in order to cover himself from any potential threats from all directions. While such a shield would be weaker than before, as long as he could react fast enough, he could reshape his magic shield to fortify it in the area of impact; and as long as he listened carefully enough to his surroundings, he should be able to pick up the sounds of Blaze's chants and make a reasonable guess as to what attacks may be coming his way.

A strong impact then hit the top of his protective dome, so Yequa quickly reshaped his magic shield to form a wall above him and absorb the column of fire. Figuring Blaze would follow up with another barrage of fireballs, he used a little bit more mana to surround himself with a paper-thin shield that was probably enough to block just one fireball. He heightened his focus, so that as soon as a fireball hit him, he could react fast enough to recreate a new shield at the location of impact.

But the fireballs never came. What Yequa felt instead was intense pain at the back of his head, as Blaze hit him with a strong swing of his staff.

"Damn!"

Seeing him still consciously standing after a direct hit that would normally have knocked others out cold, his opponent was just as surprised as he was. Perhaps surviving through all of those explosions he caused during his tenure had made Yequa's body a lot more durable than expected. He quickly turned around to face his opponent, and moved his overhead shield to be between him and Blaze.

With all the trapped compressed air being released, Blaze instantly got blown backwards into the air. He flew almost forty meters back, and luckily landed in the thick shrubbery surrounding the battleground. Had those plants not been there to break his impact, his health could very well have been in critical condition right now.

Regardless, both mages took considerable damage from the exchange just now: Blaze's entire body was aching, and he was coughing out a bit of blood, while Yequa had two teeth knocked out of his mouth from a second swing of his opponent's staff just a split second before Blaze got blown away.

Yequa was feeling a little dizzy from getting hit by an abnormally sturdy staff twice in the head, but he was conscious enough to decide on what to do next. He spat out the blood in his mouth, then chanted some unfamiliar magic as he moved his magic shield above him.

"Water Pulse!"

A mysterious wave pulsed out of his magic shield, affecting an area of fifteen or so meters in radius around him. Another cloud of sand formed from the detonation-like release of compressed air a while before, but the wave of water that pulsed out around him quickly made the cloud subside. The entire area around him was now soaking wet, rendering it impossible for his opponent to blind him by blasting the sand again.

"Let's see how you'll fare without being able to make use of the environment."

Those words never reached Blaze's ears since he was too far away, but he at least knew he couldn't pull off the same trick again. He stayed lying down on the ground and closed his eyes to think about what he could possibly do to turn the situation around.

A full minute of silence went by as the two thought carefully about their next moves.