Was I Wrong?

Walking into the colosseum, into the battlefield, I could feel the tension. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing. I thought back on how I was shaking last night, but this time was different. The loud cheers of the crowd, which filled up the entire coliseum, my willingness to beat down Gareth, and my determination to protect my parents made me realize something. What I’m feeling right now wasn’t fear; it was excitement. I was ready, no longer, as I was looking forward to fighting Gareth.

“You actually showed up,” Gareth sneered, his weathered face cracking into a grin.

“Of cour—”

“You fool! Now I’m forced to beat you senseless.”

“Bring it on, old man.”

The referee raised his hand. “Are you both ready?”

“Yes,” we said in unison.

“Then let the Magical Duel begin!”

The instant the words left his mouth, Gareth split-stepped in front of me.

He’s gotten faster.

Steel flashed as his blade came down, but my sword was already sliding free. “Primordial Flame!”

Fire erupted from the edge of my blade as I parried, sparks and embers exploding between us. He was forced to throw up a barrier, flames licking against it. I split-stepped back, creating some distance between us. Then, slamming mana into the earth, jagged spikes with their tips glowing molten red, tore upward and smashed into his shield.

The barrier cracked. I lunged, swinging to finish the job. And he vanished. I tracked his movement, predicting where he’d reappear. Platforms of mana burst into existence beneath my feet as I launched myself after him. It was the same momentum strategy I’d honed against Akiko: keep chasing, keep building pressure, force him into a corner.

But Gareth wasn’t Akiko. A clone appeared, intercepting my blade. My strike impaled it clean through. I turned too late. Gareth was already there, his palm outstretched.

“Roar of the thunder god!

He used the clone to take the attack where I had all my momentum built up, then attacked me as soon as I wasn’t able to escape. Lightning swallowed me whole. My barrier flared just in time, but Gareth came crashing down from above, blade hammering against my shield. More clones circled, firing bolts from every direction.

Just how many clones is this guy able to summon?

My mind rushed to find an answer to this situation. Suddenly, something came to mind.

What if I detonate my barrier, but do it with negative mana? Just like how those guys blew themselves up, I can blow up my own barrier.

My barrier glowed a purple then…

BOOM!

The explosion rippled outward, shattering the clones and sending Gareth skidding back while I stood untouched at its center.

We landed on opposite ends of the battlefield.

His eyes narrowed. “So… you’ve learned how to use negative mana.”

“Mostly,” I said, panting. “If I’d had more time, this fight would be going very differently.”

He smirked. “Lucky for me then, don’t you agree?”

“Dragon storm: Shining Dragon Ryu!” I screamed, ignoring his question.

The air exploded with a barrage of luminous blasts, like a thousand rifles firing at once. He put up a barrier and began to charge at me. I focused, condensing one orb of regular mana and one of negative. I hurled the negative orb, tearing straight through his barrier. As it drifted beside him, I slammed the two together. The detonation consumed him in fire and shadow.

When the smoke cleared, Gareth staggered back, battered and bloodied.

This fight is mine!

Or so I thought.

“Arcane Requiem… Perfect Legion Mirage.”

Four new clones materialized around him.

“What the hell?!” I shouted. “I thought you could only make one perfect clone with your Arcane Requiem.”

“You guessed wrong.”

They vanished. A heartbeat later, I was surrounded. I put up a barrier and immediately detonated it. It made space between me and the clones, so I hopped away. Three followed behind me while two stayed back.

“Sacred Sword!”

Suddenly, a barrage of blades made of mana flew towards me. I put up a barrier, which was immediately smashed by the clones.

I can’t hold anything back now, I have to use my malif.

I was hesitant about using it at first since I didn’t know how the negative mana would affect me. But when I released it, nothing happened. I guess malif and negative mana are so different that they don’t affect each other.

I swung at a clone, sending him flying, and using the momentum, I directed my fist into the ground. I smashed the ground, dust exploding into the air. With my mana suppressed, they couldn’t sense me. I planned to hunt them one by one in the storm of dust. I even used my earth mana to add more dust in the air, consistently keeping myself hidden.

But Gareth anticipated me. A massive circle lit up above the arena.

Shit, he knows that move?!

“Angelic Rain!” five voices roared.

I immediately put up a barrier, but I knew that this wasn’t going to hold out. No matter how good I was at being proficient with my mana, a defensive spell will always cost more mana than an offensive one. It’s even worse now since I have to put in five times the amount of effort.

I have to attack.

I lept right at the circle.

“Heaven’s Wrath!”

The circle glowed as mana built up in it.

Shit, there’s nowhere to hide since it’s covering the whole arena, and if I were to split step, then they would be able to predict where I would appear and surely win this duel. There is only one thing to do now: ATTACK!

I focus on a dense blast of negative mana. I didn’t need to counter the entire attack, just a sliver that could allow me ot fly through this attack. Focusing all that energy within my body burned, it hurt a lot more than anything I’ve ever experienced. It was like suppressing my manay with the fire attribute the first time. Every inch of your skin burning, every fiber of your body begging you to stop, but I had to take the pain.

The blast created a tunnel through their table, which I flew towards. Once I got up, they all charged at me at once. All of their movement felt slower than earlier. The negative mana I charged up must’ve imbued my body, who knew it could make me this strong. But even when I did feel stronger, Gareth was still a formidable opponent.

“Dance of the Goddess!” they all shouted. Their bodies glowed with the same brilliance as radiant magic before charging in.

Must be an enchantment spell.

As they rushed me, their barrage of attacks was overwhelming.

They’re so much faster now! Shit, I can’t do this physically.

I started slipping up, missing parries, getting grazed by their blades. I had to get out of there. I shot upward, flying away, but they immediately chased after me.

What kind of enhancement can make them that strong?!

As they surrounded me, I created a barrier of negative magic and detonated it again. The blast forced them to split-step away, giving me the opening I needed. I conjured a platform beneath my foot and launched myself at one of the clones as it reappeared.

“Dark Destructive Dragon Ryu!”

This variation added negative mana to the technique. The blast scorched the clone’s skin, leaving it stunned, a second’s hesitation that cost its life. I swung my sword, slicing its throat, and the clone dissipated into thin air.

As I turned around, pain ripped through me. A blade was impaling my stomach. Then the other three clones stabbed me as well, their swords driving deeper and deeper as they rammed me into the wall of the arena.

“Give up, you’ve been defeated.”

I gritted my teeth, clutching their blades. Negative mana surged through them until it became unstable, then I detonated it. The explosion caught all of us. It probably hurt me more than them, but it got me out of that trap.

I staggered forward, blood dripping, and smirked. “Looks like you all lost your swords.”

“That may be true,” Gareth said through one of his clones, “but you’re the one with holes in your body.”

I coughed up blood, then grinned. “What holes?”

Malif flared through me, knitting every wound closed.

“That annoying trick of yours,” Gareth muttered.

“You’re one man down, too. Looks like you should be the ones to give up.”

I shifted my stance. I had a new plan. Instead of using malif offensively, I would only use it for healing. Negative mana was powerful enough to enhance me to the same level of strength as malif, and it revealed destructive potential beyond it. So all I needed was negative mana for offense and malif for regeneration. That way, I could outlast him and win.

I pointed my blade forward. “Well, bring it on.”

Two clones charged while the other two hung back, using the same strategy as before.

“Primordial flame!”

The fiery blast slowed them down, momentarily breaking their vision of me. I split-stepped behind one of the rear clones and drove my blade into its body. I poured condensed mana into the weapon.

As another clone swung a punch, I dodged, leaping away.

The first clone tried to yank my sword free, but that was when I detonated the mana inside the blade. Both the sword and the clone exploded, the shockwave sending me flying back. As I tumbled, I forced myself to touch the ground as often as possible. Each contact left behind mana, land mines I could detonate later. I twisted and flipped midair, looking ridiculous, but the plan was sound.

I was careful not to pour too much mana into each mine. I didn’t want him to pick up on the trick. The three remaining clones charged, stepping right into my traps.

BOOM!

All the condensed mana exploded, kicking up another dust storm that cloaked the field. Perfect cover for my next move.

“Disruptive light,” I muttered.

This spell wasn’t strong, but it was useful. It interfered with mana flow, making it harder for opponents to enhance themselves or cast spells. Because it wasn’t potent, it was hard to detect. I felt my attacks slip through the haze until one connected.

A clone appeared behind me, slamming its fist into the side of my head. The blow launched me into another clone, which uppercutted me into a third. As the last one wound up for a finishing punch, I noticed its strength falter.

This one must’ve been the one I hit.

I caught its fist mid-swing and charged a blast straight at its face.

“You want to play traps? I can play traps too!” the clone screamed.

“Mirage Kamikae!” he clone exploded right in front of me. I was too close to raise a barrier, so I had to improvise. Enchanting my skin with defensive magic, the same trick I used against Akiko, I braced myself.

“Cunning bastard,” Gareth muttered.

Even with that defense, the explosion hurt like hell. I smashed into the ground but landed on my feet, barely.

“T-two more,” I gasped.

Then my legs gave out, and I dropped to one knee.

Shit, that explosion did a lot more damage than I thought.

Gareth seized the opening.

“Roar of the thunder god!”

I raised a barrier, but another clone appeared at my side, kicking me across the battlefield.

“Roar of the Thunder God!” they both screamed.

Lightning surged toward me from two directions. I thrust out both hands. “Dark Destructive Dragon Ryu!”

The collision of our attacks caused a massive explosion.

“You’re at your end,” Gareth said. “Give up.”

“You don’t look so good yourself,” I shot back.

“You’re at your I drew on malif again, healing, but the effect was weaker than before. Still, better than nothing.end,” Gareth said. “Give up.” “You don’t look so good yourself,” I shot back.

The two clones appeared before me, fists cocked. This time, I didn’t dodge. When their punches connected, the power behind them weakened drastically, though it still hurt.

“I guess I’m not perfect at it yet.”

Gareth’s eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”

“Didn’t you feel it?” I smirked. “As soon as your punch connected, I imbued your fists with negative mana, canceling some of the enhancement in your bodies. Then I shifted my attribute from lightning to earth, dulling the impact even further.”

“You’re able to do all that from a single touch?”

“Yeah. Took longer to master than I expected. I came up with the idea when I first learned negative mana could cancel regular mana. I trained with Akiko until I could pull it off in combat. It gave me trouble all fight… until now.”

Gareth grit his teeth. “That precise magic control… It’s unreal.”

“Thanks.

I charged, ready to take them both on.

“Dance of the Goddess!” they shouted again.

But this time, I was faster. I knocked one aside before it could react, hitting harder than usual. The same trick with negative mana worked offensively too, canceling their body enhancements made them weaker, easier to damage.

If this battle is hand-to-hand, then I’ll win.

I hammered Gareth with blow after blow until one clone slipped behind me, grappling my arms. “Mirage Kamikage!”

Not again.

The explosion tore through me, but as the dust cleared, I saw Gareth standing, barely able to keep his balance. The blast hadn’t been as bad as I feared. I smirked, ready to heal myself again. But when I tried, my body went limp. Blood gushed from my mouth as I collapsed to my knees.

“What’s wrong? Can’t heal anymore?”

“What… did you do to me?”

“A curse,” Gareth said coldly. “One that turns healing into damage. I sacrificed the life of a clone to cast it. It only worked once, but I knew you’d rely on malif again. Now you can’t use it without collapsing.”

Dammit, he’s right. He predicted that I was going to use my malif to heal again and used that against me.

At that second, both of us were on our last legs. We started charging at each other, knowing that we were both low on mana. At this point of the fight, it was no longer a magical duel, just a street brawl. No magic was used, and only punches were thrown.

He knows that if he tries to create distance, it’ll be risky to beat me in a fight with spells, especially since my mana recovers a lot faster than the average person.

As our fight went on, I started to overwhelm him, and then I cornered him against a wall.

This is it, this last punch would do the job.

“AHHHHHH!”

As I swung at him, Gareth had one more trick up his sleeve. He created a clone right before I hit him. When he does this, his body gets displaced either to the left or right, and the clone takes his original spot. I knew this, but didn’t think that he would use this defensively.

No wonder he didn’t use any spells; he was saving enough mana for a clone.

I turned. Gareth was already winding up his counter. But my hand was buried in the wall after destroying the clone. I forced mana into the stone and detonated it, blowing us both back. We rose at the same time, but I recovered first. Meeting him face to face, I wound up one final punch and slammed it into his chin. His body flew, crashing hard into the ground. He didn’t get back up.

“I… I won!”

The crowd erupted into a cheer. It shook the stadium. It was loud and powerful. Hell, I felt powerful hearing them cheer for me. The referee immediately went over to Gareth and gave him a potion of health. It was enough to wake him up. He got up and looked over at me, grinning.

“I… lost?”

I walked over to him, “You sure did.”

“Contestant, please shake hands.”

I reached out my hand, and he just stared at it; there was such an intense focus on it.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” I teased.

Instead of shaking, he pulled me into a hug. It caught me off guard, so I didn't try to fight back or get away from it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice trembling. “I failed you. I wasn’t strong enough.”

“W-what?”

“Whenever it happens… just know I’m sorry. And please… protect Akiko with all your might.”

My stomach sank.

Huh?