My entire escort stops.

Lucillus and Domitilla widen their eyes.

After I shout ‘Lucinda’ out loud, even Princess Laura raises an eyebrow.

Looking at my old crush, I can’t help but sigh. She’s still so beautiful.

I go up to them and give Augustus a big hug.

“Wassup, you big lump of magic?” I tell the guy.

“Joey! I heard that you and Lucinda had split up! But then I heard that a Human with your name was coming here to challenge us! Is that really you?!” Augustus nearly crushes me with his arms.

“Yeah, man. Long story short, your Princess wants to marry me. It’s a big…”

“Why are you wearing that massive [Witch] hat?” Augustus grabs me by the shoulders and distances us a bit to take a better look.

“Long story, man. Long story. Do you want to eat something with me? I’ll pay this time,” I say with a warm smile. I don’t know how sincere Augustus has been with me, but if he keeps being this wholesome, I see nothing wrong with entertaining his company.

“Joey,” Lucinda’s voice is more like a whisper. She’s pale and looking around.

“Oh, I would love that! We were waiting for Atticus here! I’m not sure he’s going to like you, though. He’s one of those Elves.”

Is this Atticus… Lucinda’s new love interest?

The pain in my guts has now twisted into rage.

“To be honest, our [Archmage] is not the friendliest toward Humans. But I can hang out with you, man. Every day! I hear that you can kick ass now! You know, you will face me in these famed duels!”

Goddamn, I like Augustus’s energy too much to leave him to Lucinda.

“That’s good, buddy,” I say while giving him a small punch on the shoulder. Our bro-energy is off the charts. “I’ll treat you right now. What do you say? I don’t like my host that much, anyway. Dragons are a poor excuse for real spellcasters.”

Lucinda’s and Augustus’s eyes go wide while I feel like crying.

Lord Juler. For God’s sake—

“Tiberius, your little friend is truly the reincarnation of that old bastard,” I hear the big Dragon humanoid say.

“[Archmage] Marcus. King Tiberius,” a third voice comes from above.

Raising my eyes, I see two people descending at a slow and controlled pace.

“Titus,” I hear Stan sigh.

“Is that the Human?” said Titus snorts. “King Tiberius, you must be getting senile if you believe that one Human could ever hope to defeat my disciple, Atticus.”

Wow, this whole thing escalated pretty quickly, didn’t it? Lady Luck, please, can’t I be excused from this contrived version of a comic villain? What is he going to do next, insult my mother?

“While I’m researching a whole new branch of magic, you bring filthy human spawn to the Nine Towers Academy, Tiberius? I have long stated that Humans shouldn’t be allowed here. If that stupid Vanedeni [Archmage]…”

You know, I’m not a violent person. I’m not even overly emotional unless you insult my mother, right? I mean, he didn’t exactly do that. He just called me ‘filthy human spawn.’ I’m not that crazy to take offense. Plus, should I make that idiot another one of my enemies? Why?

Well, he did just call a Vanedeni [Archmage] ‘stupid.’

Lord Juler has taught me one thing about his people. And that’s that it doesn’t matter what the stakes are, no one insults a Vanedeni. They are crazy. Cuckoo, to say the least. But they would never let even the strongest King maltreat a Vanedeni. They would – and have, by the way – bring war to any nation if they heard that even one Vanedeni had been treated unfairly, discriminated against, or simply insulted.

So, let’s suppose there was a way for me to pay back such an insult. Lord Juler has been so gracious with me that I do feel for the Vanedenis a bit. I managed to shake Vilith’s offers off. But I do think they are indeed marvelous people. And they are Humans. I guess I should defend their honor—a bit.

Plus, do you know that apparently, the hat I’m wearing makes it impossible to read my class or to know I’m casting magic? Yeah, it has some super high-end enchantment that – as a side effect – muddles what we could define as ‘your magical signature and aura’ to external forces. So, not even an [Archmage] can know for sure that I cast something. They can’t see my Mana. Only the result.

That being said, [Flight] is a very complicated spell that Lord Juler explained to me in passing. I remember him saying that [Flight] is basically a spell matrix kept in his matrix state. The flying part is just a, once again, ‘side effect.’

While influencing a finished spell with [Dispel] is almost impossible, spells like [Flight] are more vulnerable to such magic. Normally, it would be foolish – and it would be considered an attack – to try and [Dispel] the [Flight] of an [Archmage]. Normally, that is.

Suppose you have a way to hide your casting capabilities.

Check.

Well, now it’s easier.

Plus, an [Archmage] usually has a very strong soul-shroud, and [Flight] itself is a huge matrix to try and influence. Therefore, it’s almost impossible to [Dispel]. Well, suppose I have been practicing my own version of [Dispel] with the book in my free time. That and a couple of other tricks.

Suppose then you could disrupt such a spell without breaking a sweat.

Check.

Well, now…

Suppose the person flying is still around four meters from the ground and that you’ve already studied how to dispel [Featherfall] as a practical exercise conducted with Lord Juler.

I look at Titus, [Archmage] and big, douchy idiot.

[Single-Minded Focus]

I would like to use [Aura Lucis] to boost my abilities, but becoming a massive beacon of light would kind of give me away, now, wouldn’t it?

Therefore, I just multi-cast around ten super strong [Light] spell matrixes inside his own [Flight] matrix. As some [Featherfall] enchantments activate right after, even before he starts falling, I cast a very strong [Light] matrix close to the ring on his hand.

Archmage Titus falls like an apple from a tree.

I hear a nice crack from his ankle as he lands on the hard ground.

That warrants a decent mark on your magical assessment.

I agree with Lord Juler.