3-6: Venting

"What are you looking for?”

“I’m pretty sure I put it in here…”

The room was a mess. It was like a tornado had come in and destroyed everything, but that was me, searching for something.

“I got it!”

Finally, I found one of the boxes I brought with me when I moved to the academy. Fran looked at the box very intrigued.

“What is that?”

“I need them for my curses.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t have the ability to use curses. My body just avoids me from being affected after a while.”

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

“Basically, I need to recharge.”

I opened the box and put my hand inside.

“This is so gross…”

“What is happening…?”

“I’m recharging.”

“It’s not that…It feels like something suddenly disappeared.”

“In this box I put the web of a really weird spider. Anything that touches it ends up cursed.”

“Where did you get that?”

“After winning a bet against Cloe, she got me these boxes.”

“Are they even legal?”

“...”

“I won’t ask more questions.”

“Thanks.”

Finally, I stopped touching the web and closed the box again. My other two curses still have some charge, so I don’t need to charge them.

“Maybe I’m asking this too late, but why do you use curses?”

“At first I thought of my ability as something defensive, but after a losing streak against Cloe, I knew that I needed a way to end fights quickly.”

“Yeah, the curse you used against that guy was strong.”

“Unfortunately, using curses usually means meeting some conditions.”

“For example?”

“Forced playmate requires that my opponent look at me for five seconds. If he knows that my technique can be easily countered.”

“And that would leave you exposed.”

“Yeah, even when I can’t summon a familiar, I have my own last resort.”

“I'd rather you didn't use it.”

“Well, let’s go.”

Twenty minutes after leaving the room, we were finally in an open zone of a nearby forest. In there we wouldn't bother anyone, so it was the best place to have a fight.

“I can’t see Cloe…”

“She will arrive soon.”

“Are you sure she isn’t planning to attack you from a distance?”

“Nah, she’s able to fight in short distances, that time was an exception.”

“That’s right!”

I quickly moved to the left, dodging a bullet that impacted into the ground. Immediately after that, Cloe landed.

“I’m here.”

“That was a good entry.”

“That was scary…”

“All right, we can fight now.”

“You both shouldn’t call a teacher to limit your destructive power?”

“Don’t worry, we know how to contain ourselves against each other.”

Fran moved to a safe zone, so Cloe and I put in our positions, ready for the battle.

“You know the rules!”

“Yeah!”

“Well, be prepared for-.”

Suddenly, Cloe approached me really fast. I thought she was trying to get a good angle for shooting, so I protected myself with my mana bouncy wall.

“Predictable!”

She extended her arm and then threw something at me. I concentrated to see what it was, and quickly increased the number of walls after noticing what it was.

“Cra-.”

A big explosion threw me backwards, and I was barely able to cushion the impact with a mana pillow.

“Agh!”

“I present you, my mana bombs!”

“Shaping the mana to make a bomb and then filling it with explosive magic, that’s impressive.”

“And I can do more!”

“Like that was enough!”

90% of her techniques were explosions, so I headed to her knowing that she couldn’t use something strong close to herself. She tried to run, but I extended my mana with my left hand making a wall that avoided her to do that, and then used my right hand to shoot sharp strings.

“Piercing puppet!”

“Not this time!”

She moved her hands like she was creating something with mana, and immediately after that, the object she made was on fire.

“Fire counter!”

The object impacted against my strings, burning them, and immediately after a bullet was shot. I tried the trick of multiple mana walls, but the distance made it impossible to finish in time.

“Ugh!”

Even when the pain was too much, I shot a mana rope to a tree and then created a bouncy surface that helped to bounce to that tree thanks to the recoil.

“What did you do…?”

Looking better at the thing she made, I noticed that it was like a shotgun, but the barrel was too sharp.

“I don’t remember teaching you that.”

“When you explained to me what a shotgun is, I thought that it would be good combining it with a sword so I can counter your sharp strings.”

“A whole technique created specifically to counter one of my techniques, I feel flattered.”

After that attack I was too damaged to use any of my physical techniques. In any other circumstance I would abandon the idea of using direct attacks and would use my curses. But, I have an audience this time.

“If I go for the easy way, the public will be disappointed!”

Cloe was ready to shoot again, but I was quicker and threw a mana ball to the air.

“No!”

Instead of shooting at me, she quickly attacked the ball.

“You thought it was a bomb?”

I pulled a mana rope connected to the ball making it come back to me, and before Cloe could react, I did a spin and threw the ball to her body.

“Dam-.”

The attack impacted, making her fall. That was my chance so I tried to shorten the distance between us again.

“Did you improvise that?”

“I’m also surprised about the final result.”

“Ugh, that’s what I hate about you.”

Just when I was about to reach her, a shiny explosion reached my eyes. I don’t know how to visualize mana, so I must concentrate to see the things she creates. Unfortunately, that makes me very weak to surprise attacks.

“Agh!”

“Idiot!”

I heard something approaching to my left, so I did a counterattack with sharp strings in that direction.

“You make everything look too easy!”

“You’re literally saying that to the guy you just blinded!”

If I stopped attacking, she would get the chance to aim in my direction, so I did my best to attack her even when I could barely see anything.

My only guide was her angry voice.

“I try my best to create all my techniques! You can somehow create techniques even in the middle of a fight!”

“It’s not that impressive!”

“Shut up!”

Suddenly, she managed to hit my side and I touched her arm before stepping back. If she didn’t hit me with the flat part of the weapon, I would be dead.

“Stop trying to be modest! You are superior to me in every single aspect!”

“That’s not-.”

“If you tried to be a good magician instead of being a showman, I would be trash at your side!”

The way she said that made me understand that this wasn’t a tantrum or something like that.

“I can’t even do something that everyone else could! I hate this!

When she was about to reach me again with her weapon, I crouched and tackled her, hitting my head against her belly.

“Gah!”

“Are you more blind than I am right now?!”

Taking advantage of the distance I grabbed her arms, avoiding her to shoot me again.

“You are too focused on me that you can’t see your own progress!”

“This isn’t enough!”

Now she took advantage of the position and kicked my solar plexus, throwing me too far.

“I hate that you have that natural talent! It doesn’t matter how much I progress, I will never stop until I totally surpass you!”

“...In that case, come here!”

Reason with her was useless, so I prepared myself for the final move.

“Mana gun!”

Right now, the first one to do their respective move will win, so I hurried to put my hands together and she hurried to pull the trigger of her gun.

“Fire!”

“Activate!”

Just for a second, I clapped before the bullet was shot. After my clap, the bullet that was charged in the weapon fell out.

“Jester technique three, good audience.”

“...”

She looked at me bothered when understood that the battle was over.

“...Ugh…”

“...”

“Are you both okay?!”

Fran quickly approached and immediately used basic heal magic on us. We just stood still so he could cure us without any inconvenience.

“Yeah, just some hits.”

“You both always fight like this?!”

“Is that weird?”

Cloe and I asked the same, like he was the one who was saying something weird.

“That was too much…”

“It was fun to see?”

“...I admit it, it was really cool, but also dangerous!”

“Hehe, I’m happy to hear that.”

“Geez…Anyways, why did the fight stop?”

“The curse I used blocks the magic of the opponent.”

“You can do that?!”

“Yeah, but it has a lot of conditions. I need to know what I’m exactly blocking and then touch my opponent three times in different parts of their body.”

“I see.”

“By the way, I’m starting to feel a lot of pain in my shoulders…and I lost the sensitivity in my hands...Please cure me quickly, maybe that way I get better…”

“I’m doing my best.”

“So, did you have fun Cloe?”

“...”

Cloe looked at me and with a conflicted expression, touched my shoulder.

“Sorry for what I said the other day…”

“Don’t worry, I understand you were angry.”

“Wow, I didn’t know Cloe would apologize.”

“She’s surprisingly kind when is in a good mood.”

“I’m gonna kick you again…”

“Hehe.”

“...The next time…I will win…”

“I will hope for that next time”

“...And when I get my familiar, I will crush you with his help.”

“I bet it's gonna be a reptile.”

“It will be a giant dragon. With two guns in each wing!”

“Haha, you both are really weird.”

Eventually we went to the room I share with Fran so he could heal us without hurry. There, we talked about practically everything. I started a topic and both followed it. Maybe some day I could try to make Cloe and Fran friends, but right now, I have fun being the guy in between.

What none of us knew was that Fran wasn’t the only one who saw our fight.