At some point, Aylin stopped laughing. Not because she was done but rather because she decided it was about time to assume some level of seriousness. Only when she looked at her brother's face, her amusement returned.

"Alright," she said, "Let's do it."

A spinning disc in the air made a clicking sound and the crystal atop it projected a screen on which were the words [Challenge Accepted!]

"They really pulled all the stops, didn't they?" Eloise said, sounding impressed, despite her aversion to duels. After all, she never had any issues watching them.

"You should stay back," Aylin said cockily, "This will be over soon."

Kaya clenched and unclenched her fists, as if she were itching for some combat herself, but then Eloise grabbed her arm, and together they took a couple of steps back.

Baler's team stepped back as well and Baler stepped forward. He and Aylin now appeared to have a grand stage to settle what looked like grievances long nursed.

"First time we're doing this. A proper duel, I mean," Aylin said, "Mom always wanted to spare you."

"Spare me what?" Baler asked with a scoff, "Embarrassment?"

"Embarrassment?" Aylin repeated and laughed a little, "Embarrassment could only come into play if you had any shot of winning. My beating you isn't an upset. It's the natural order of things.

No, Mom wanted to spare you from losing a few teeth. She does care about your well-being. A lot more than I think she should, but hey, fighting you would have always been boring anyway so I never cared."

Aylin paced now with one hand behind her back and her chest thrust out with pride as she smiled so beautifully, it caused Marcus Arognite and the unnamed third of the team to forget to breathe. They only remembered when they were starting to feel woozy and were at risk of passing out.

Baler found the smile sickening. He felt the same about Aylin's words.

Aylin wasn't done though.

"And yet, here we are," she said, "That protection is gone and I finally get to answer a question I've had for years."

"What question is that?" Baler asked.

"How long would it take for me to beat you?" Aylin said still with that beautiful smile.

Baler clenched his fist so hard that the back of his hand turned white. And then he opened his hand and summoned something from his spatial ring. A long metal pole tipped with a sharp head; A Spear.

The spear was etched with Symbols of enchantment to show it was more than just a tool, but one properly fortified to contend with a magical opponent.

"A weapon?" Aylin asked, sounding surprised.

Baler smiled, finding courage in her surprise,

"I was going to face you with 'Winter's Tear'…" he said.

"Ah, that trinket that you were gifted," Aylin said with a chuckle and a shake of her head.

"… but your boyfriend took it from me. I had to settle for an inferior but definitely still capable weapon," Baler completed while flicking the spear in his hand in what looked like a taunt.

Aylin's smile gained a quality at the word 'boyfriend'. It was the first time anyone else besides herself—usually in her own head—had referred to Caius as belonging to her. Her heart felt full and she was so elated she was almost sure she had started to lift off the ground.

The joy almost made her want to be lenient with Baler.

Almost.

"Let's get to it then," Aylin said and with one hand still behind her back, she swung her other hand in an arc that summoned an icy spell circle that burst and turned into icy shards that went flying at Baler.

Baler pulled the Spear back behind himself and hurried to thrust a hand forward to summon a spell circle of his own to erect a wall of ice for defense.

Aylin's icy shards struck the wall and shattered it almost too easily as they went on to strike against the trees behind. But Baler wasn't behind it.

Aylin furrowed her brow and looked to the side just to catch Baler suddenly stop a run he had made with a seal prepared. He tossed the seal out and conjured a spell circle that became an attack whose shape Aylin didn't quite catch before Baler slammed it with his spear sending it hurtling at her faster than normal.

An icy trail appeared beneath Aylin's feet as she slid away from the attack and made to counterattack only to realize Baler had used the opportunity to draw closer to her and jab his spear at her head.

Aylin had to act quickly to lean to the side and avoid the attack and she was already flicking her finger at Baler's chest to slam him with a snowflake that hit him like a punch.

*BAM!*

The force sent Baler sliding away but he was ready. It was like he had expected the attack because he already had his spear head stabbed into the soft grassy ground as he lifted off the ground with it and connected his leg to the side of Aylin's head.

*Bang!*

Baler had coated his leg with ice, thus increasing the weight and the impact of his kick. Aylin learned this when the kick stunned her and caused her to spin very hard to the side as her eyes went wide.

Baler hit the ground then and tumbled a few times before coming to a stop. The snowflake attack had still hit even though he had managed a kick despite it so he was stunned as well. His chest ached as the protective vest made him understand the gravity of the attack he had just suffered.

Still, he smiled.

In fact, he was grinning.

"Combat Magic is your thing," he said, and coughed a few times before he continued,

"Well, maybe not your thing but you're better at it than I am. At least right now. So I needed to stop trying to battle you on your own 'turf'. I needed to find one of my own.

There were setbacks of course. Losing to Caius Von Helsing and losing 'Winter's Tear' did so much to my self-esteem.

But I picked myself up.

I had to.

I redoubled my efforts. Spent more time in private training. Usually in my room. Usually with a training weapon Professor Raoul let me have.

I got better.

And Aylin, I am so going to kick your ass."

The screen that had been updated with the [Challenge Accepted!] message now showed that the two had been struck once by physical/magical attacks and the first to suffer two more hits would lose.

Aylin paid no mind to the screen. She was glaring at her brother instead.

"My, my," she eventually said sweetly with a smile, "You've been practicing for me? You shouldn't have."

With that, Aylin threw out her hands, and icy formations rose on the ground, moving so fast that they were a blink-and-you-miss-it creation.

Baler was already on the move.

He felt he didn't need to be able to see the attack. He just needed to not be at the location he had been when Aylin aimed. So dashing to either side worked.

In the days since his duel with Caius, Baler had especially invested in movement spells. Having an affinity with ice magic meant an affinity with Wind and Water which meant that ice actually had a great capacity for speed. Baler hadn't just armed himself with a bunch of it for variety, he had also learned how to properly utilize the spells.

Bringing his practice to mind, in a flash, Baler had avoided Aylin's attack and was on her with his spear ready to jab at her. Aylin dodged his attack. And the next. Always relying on her movement spells to just get out of the way at the nick of time.

Baler proved to be quite capable with the spear. He was twirling it after every few jabs and swings as he switched from using the spearhead to attack or the butt of the spear's stem instead.

It would have been easy to be frustrated that he had made more than ten attacks and had yet to actually hit Aylin but he saw the strain on her face and it filled him with comfort.

Unlike a Mage-Knight—which was what Baler was acting like at the moment—the major advantage of a Mage lies in maintaining the appropriate distance from the opponent but with how much he was pressing on the attack, Baler never gave Aylin the chance to get that distance.

He was happy about that.

It meant he had the upper hand. As evidenced by her strain.

But then, Aylin's expression suddenly shifted from strain to amusement.

For a second, Baler was confused and then he realized what was happening and swung his hand to erect a shield in defense.

"Idiot," Aylin said in a clear voice, "I knew if I afforded you the assumption of weakness, you'd take the bait. You're so obsessed with kicking your little sister's ass that you can't even notice her feather-light touches.

I'm disappointed, Baler. What Ice Mage can't even sense the ice?"

Baler's eyes widened and he looked down to see that his entire upper body was dotted with tiny snowflakes that had a crystalline structure.

"N-No— how can you cast…?" He started to ask with his eyes wide in horror.

"Time's up," Aylin said leisurely and snapped her fingers…

*Snap!*

… detonating the crystalline snowflakes like mini bombs.

*BANG!!!*

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