Baler was sent sliding back three feet, then stopped in mid-air. The exploding snowflakes, each packing great weight that would have caused him to yell out had his mouth been capable of movement, had created an enclosing icy shell that froze him in place.

On the screen, a winner was projected; Aylin Khione.

Every single explosion of the snowflakes was registered as an attack, and it took a moment for all of it to be tallied into wins. After the first two registered explosions that resulted in a first win for Aylin, every subsequent three explosions were marked as wins as well.

As such, after a buffering period, it was determined that Aylin had won 11 times for a total of 32 exploding snowflakes and an earlier hit.

There were about two outliers though that had also been registered as two hits but would require a third hit to be registered as a 12th win for Aylin.

The screen where scores were presented shifted to the 'Combat Magic Points' page on its own and Aylin was awarded points accordingly for her Duel wins but she paid it no mind. Her attention was all on her brother as she cocked her head and smiled at his frozen self.

Baler couldn't even move his head in his frozen state. His eyes were just wide. From what Aylin had said earlier, it seemed as though he had been reckless and careless but really, he was sure nothing had touched him.

The only way that was possible was if Aylin was so skilled that she had robbed him of his ability to sense the element of Ice on his body. That was a level of ability that, despite her genius, he had never known she was capable of. At least not against him when they were in the same Magic Circle.

Also, he knew that had he not had the protective vest on, the explosion of the snowflakes would have damaged his body so much that he might not have been able to move even after getting freed from the ice encasing him.

Speaking of which, Aylin pointed her hand at him and spread her fingers to signal that the ice encasing her brother burst into tiny shards that spread all about and turned into Mana mist as the spell was now over.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" Baler cried out. The freeing from the Icy encasement had carried its own pain despite the Protective vest he had on saving him from the worst of the attack.

And then, a shadow loomed over him and Baler looked up to see a massive pillar of ice above him.

His eyes flicked down in shock at how quickly this had been created. He opened his mouth but before he could speak or shake off the chill that had gripped him from the residual energy of the spell he had very recently suffered, the pillar descended and struck Baler into the ground.

*BANG!*

The impact was so strong that the ground shook.

That completed the two outliers of snowflake explosion hits from earlier and recorded Aylin her 12th win and she earned Combat Magic Points for her troubles but again, Aylin ignored it.

The pillar of Ice vanished as she grinned at a downed Baler whose mouth was open in a silent scream of horror at the attack he had just suffered.

"I'm so glad they gave us these vests," Aylin said, "'Can protect against even Fifth Circle Magic and strength' huh. Well, that's just perfect. I can smash you all I want and you won't die.

Much as I detest seeing your face, mother would be much too distressed if I ended your pitiful existence just now."

Baler endured the pain that wracked his body and stood on his feet because of her snide comments. Through all he had endured thus far, he had kept his grip on his spear but before he could do anything, Aylin clenched her fist and a spell circle appeared at Baler's feet as a platform of ice wrapped his legs.

"First, some proper distance as Professor Kragsten instructed," Aylin said and with a flick of her index finger, she moved the platform ten meters away from her.

When an appropriate distance was established—so fast that Baler felt he had to have imagined it because his brain couldn't quite follow the speed of movement—Aylin drew her hand back and yanked the platform in a way that forced Baler to fall on his back.

He fell on top of an icy blue spell circle Aylin had cast right beneath him and before his brain could even comprehend what just happened, the spell circle conjured spikes of ice that rose and skewered him. At least they would have skewered him had it not been for the vest he had on. Still, Baler felt the pain of being stabbed by every spike.

He also definitely felt it when a spell circle appeared above his head and conjured a gigantic spiked bulb that came down to strike against his chest.

"Ack!" Baler let out in pain.

There was no space to breathe and acknowledge what was happening with the spikes beneath him before the bulb landed. Also, the bulb struck him with so much force that he collapsed the spikes beneath him, which felt like he was getting hit by the spikes all over again.

The pain was so great that, for a moment, he just froze and went into a catatonic state of shock from the sensory overload.

Aylin didn't care though.

A chain was connected to the spiked bulb of ice she had hit her brother with. The chain was attached to the spell circle in the sky that had conjured the bulb and it reeled it in just to let it go so it could smash her brother once again into the bunch of shattered and sharp shards of ice that was now his bed.

The hit pulled Baler out of his shocked state as he cried out in pain. Aylin shut him up by striking the bulb on his head to muffle the sound.

Every spike stab on Baler had been considered a hit and just like the earlier snowflake explosion, every third hit, a win was recorded for Aylin.

Aylin kept attacking then and racked up win after win.

She had noticed from the time they were all still outside the Forest that they hadn't said a duel was over after three hits. They had only said that every three connecting hits counted as a win for the attacker. A win didn't mark the end of a duel unless either party could no longer move or fight due to some lasting injury that threatened their lives.

And thanks to the vests, there would never be a moment where they could no longer move due to some great injury so Aylin could just continue to wail on Baler as she was currently doing.

There was one way for Baler to get out of this. He was just too proud to do it.

So he tried to turn the tide.

He realized the pain, despite being great, never lasted too long because his body wasn't actually getting injured. So if he could just endure an attack, he could muster the strength and ability to counterattack.

Alas, although he did manage to cast spells, and move away from the range of Aylin's attacks, his strength relied on getting close to her to make use of his Mage-Knight fighting techniques.

But how can you approach someone faster than you who doesn't want to be approached?

Aylin had allowed it the last time he had gotten close and had swung his spear at her to no avail. At the time he had thought he was keeping up the pressure but now he knew he had been getting lured. As such, that put doubt in his head that even if he managed to get close to Aylin, she would just be doing the same thing again.

Still, he tried.

And of course, he failed.

Aylin wracked up forty-two wins before Baler finally did the one thing his ego hadn't let him do much earlier.

"I yield!" He yelled out and then doubled over in exhaustion.

The screen updated.

[Duel Ends!]

Aylin was still smiling.

"You yield?" She asked.

And then she was striking him with a dart of ice.

*BLAM!!!*

The dart struck Baler and exploded with enough force to send him flying so he hit his back against a tree and then fell on his face.

The screen updated.

[Challenge Made!]

"Who said you could?" Aylin asked with a scoff.

Baler yielding did indeed end the duel but another one could be started if Aylin so wished to challenge him again. Nothing had been said outside the forest to signal that it wasn't allowed.

"Alright, that's enough!" Yelled the third on Baler's team whose name Aylin didn't know.

"Why should I?" Aylin asked with a smirk.

She raised her hand and a dart formed. She shot it at Baler's prone body then.

A chrome black spell circle appeared and a thick Metal wall was conjured from it to accept the dart attack that didn't successfully break through.

"I said enough!" The third said.

The screen updated.

[Challenge Accepted!]

"Oh thank you for accepting on his behalf," Aylin said, "I was getting tired of having all the fun. What say you, Kaya?"

Kaya stepped forward from where she and Eloise had stepped back to and she had a very excited grin on her face.

"I say…" she said as the screen updated,

[Team Duel!]

"… Let's Fight!"

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