4-12: Trickster

Leonard’s Point of View

“Release.”

My sword appeared in my hands, ready to cut through any attack Thomas might throw at me. Unlike our previous battle, he must have a plan, so I can't act like I'm checking his strength.

“(C’mon, attack me.)”

Doing the first attack could be too dangerous, so the only logical move was waiting for him to do something. I can counter most of his attacks and even if he uses some new technique I can adapt.

“...”

“I’m waiting!”

I didn’t understand why, but Thomas wasn’t attacking. He’s just looking at me from a prudent distance.

“You’re not gonna do the first move?”

“I’d like to do it, but the star is the one who deserves it.”

“...”

It didn’t feel like a trap and he wasn’t showing any trace of hostility. He really wanted me to start…

“All right…”

I extended my left arm and prepared my sword with my right hand.

“Divide!”

Thomas' body approached me with great speed. The spell “Divide” is basically dividing the distance between me and my opponent, that way I can attack him without giving a single second to react.

“Cut!”

The idea was attacking his chest the moment he was one meter from me, but I moved back by pure instinct.

“What-.”

“Dang it, you didn’t fall.”

I looked at his belly, and I saw a big mana stake in it. If I didn’t move back, he would impale me.

“...That attack…”

“Ready for the next act?”

He was totally ready to use a fatal attack on me, but at the same time, he didn’t show any hostility.

“Fire show!”

Two mana whips approached me and were instantly covered with fire. Cutting them wasn’t difficult, so I just did a big circular slice.

“Why would he use such an inefficient technique…?”

“Up!”

Continuing with the useless techniques, he throwed me his shoes. I didn’t even need to use my sword to block them, but just one second after doing that he was running on the sky.

“Mana platforms?”

“Rain of colors!”

Now he was spinning... no, he was dancing on the platform. I thought about using a ranged attack, but a bunch of tiny, sharp minerals started raining down.

“Now basic earth magic?”

“Can you avoid them all?”

Repelling the minerals was easy, so I didn’t fully understand what was the point of doing that.

“I can approach him, but he could repeat the same trap…”

He probably thought he could win having a good position, but I was prepared for this kind of situation.

“Trap hole! Multiply!”

First I used the trap hole magic that generates a hole in the ground, and just before the spell was totally activated I used one of my own spells, multiplying the range of the first one and creating a hole on his platform.

“Woah!”

“Fire!”

Now he was in a vulnerable state, so I moved my sword, shooting a slice in his direction. This should hit him.

“Bounce!”

Another platform appeared, but this time it made him bounce to the left, avoiding my attack.

“That technique is very annoying.”

Maybe he thought I was confused, but after a while I deduced his plan was using his almost infinite mana and winning in a resistance fight using the distance as an advantage. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t fall for the trap.

“You wanna see my best? Take this!”

“Oh?”

“Semi infinite slice!”

I did a big move with my sword. At first it looked like I just attacked the air, but it was more than just that.

“Burst!”

“Woah!”

What was a giant slash became a lot of tiny slashes that covered all the area. I just needed to wait until there wasn’t any single place to dodge.

“I guess all of these cuts have the properties of your sword.”

“Maybe.”

Thomas started creating something big with his mana. He probably wanted to counter the slashes, but it was useless.

“Time to use my best technique!”

“Do you have a best technique?”

“Giant missile!”

The thing he was making was a weird pointy object, so it must be a projectile.

“I thought you couldn’t use projectiles.”

“I can’t”

What he did was… shocking. He hugged his creation and was immediately catapulted towards me.

“Not this time!”

I was ready to avoid the attack and slice Thomas from the side, but he bounced literally in front of me and went in another direction.

“Is searching for a good spot to protect himself?”

“Again!”

His trajectory didn’t make any sense, like he was just going in random directions and waiting until something happened…Maybe that is the idea.

“Here I go!”

My theory was wrong, he moved until he was on the top of the weird object and stood up on him.

“Explossive skateboard!”

“A direct attack?!”

If I let him do anything else I will be deceived again, so I headed to the object and with a great speed cutted through it.

“Yikes!”

His response was jumping and making a mana sword while falling.

“Do you want to win against me in a sword fight?!”

We were about to impact, but just before our swords touched, the one he was holding changed its shape.

“A shark?!”

A shark head replaced the edge and approached my face. My first instinct was blocking it…But I totally fell into the trap.

“Mine!”

The shark's head spun around to bite my sword, completely avoiding the sharp part.

“You-.”

“And, out!”

He bounced one last me, successfully stealing my sword and getting away from me.

“...I get it now…”

“You were slow for this one.”

“I know I know…”

All those moves were just a distraction, he was waiting for the right moment to take my sword from my hands.

“How did you make this plan?”

“I knew you were overanalyzing all my moves, after all, analyzing the opponent and attacking with the information you get is your fight style.”

“So you did a lot of weird moves to avoid me thinking that you would steal my sword.”

“And it works. And the public loved it.”

The crowd was amazed after all those moves from both of us…So that’s why I didn’t feel hostility. He sees this like a show, not like a fight.

“And you’re gonna attack me with my own sword, right?”

“Exactly!...Or I would do that if I knew how to use a sword.”

“Then what did you get doing that?”

The special property of my sword was that any damage caused by it appeared on the opposite side of the target. He had the potential to cause enormous damage with it, but if he didn't know how to use it, he could end up cutting himself.

“...You know? When I was investigating your techniques, it was weird that no one knew how your familiar was. It also surprised me that you didn’t have a sheath for this sword, it just appeared.”

“...”

“I will be direct, this thing is your familiar, right?”

That was surprising. He managed to discover the thing I never revealed even to the teachers in just two weeks. I guess his head has more than just hair.

“Maybe I’m not a good student, but I know something important.”

Before saying anything else, he destroyed the sword with a big mana hammer.

“Summoning a familiar requires a lot of mana.”

“...”

“We both know you need your sword to counter my most sharp attacks. And if you try to attack me with common magic I will make sure to defeat it.”

He was totally right, without my best weapon I couldn’t win, I know he can react to my physical attacks. I had no other option than accepting his challenge.

“Release!”

A new sword appeared and consumed a lot of my mana. I guess he wanted this, now our strength isn’t that different. But that doesn’t mean I’m scared.

“Maybe I can’t use my 100%, but I can defeat you with the things I can do right now!”

“Then prove it, not just to me, but to all our dear audience!”

The real battle had begun.