Uh Oh!

SOLVEIG

"FIGHTING, GIRLS? ALREADY?!" Harold planted himself bodily between them, and one Harold-shaped torso turned out to be more than enough to stop two girls their combined size cold. "Not yet. Not under this roof!"

Then Harold grinned.

"At least,” he somehow found a foldable wooden chair underneath his desk and laid it out, before sitting on it?! “Not unless it's happening under my watch."

Solveig and Isolde both stopped struggling long enough to stare at him, equally confused.

"We used to do this activity, back in my day, when students had their petty little grievances with one another." Harold shifted in his seat and cracked his knuckles, one at a time. "There's a surefire way to settle it. Comes out the other side a better person for it, every time."

Nobody moved.

"Now's as good a time as any to introduce a concept." Harold folded his arms. "A traditional one. Fun fact: old Hrafen himself despised it, hated the whole idea, but the people around him decided it was necessary anyway, and it stuck." He let the pause hang a beat too long, clearly enjoying himself. "Trial by Combat."

A pause.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. Doesn’t matter what kind of attack you use, magic or otherwise. All are equally valid. The only goal is to incapacitate the other party."

He smiled, leaning back and getting himself comfortable.

"Now, tradition holds that one party names a demand of the other. So." He looked between them. "Combatants. State your terms."

Isolde smirked, arms crossed. "Give Bobby back. And admit, no. Announce. Announce it, to the whole school, that Isolde Blackmore is better than a no-name punk like you."

Solveig shrugged. "Give Bobby to me. I'll take good care of him."

Harold raised an eyebrow. "That's it? That's your whole demand?"

The shorter girl nodded, completely at ease. "Yep."

Bobby looked at them both, something close to a swoon creeping into his expression.

"They are saving the damsel like me? From distress? Guuuuh~"

Miriam popped a forehead vein. "You ain't a damn dame!!"

"So we are in agreement," Isolde said.

"Indeed, you villain," Solveig replied.

“Alright! This semester is off to the races already!!”

Harold lifted his legs up and stomped on the ground twice.

“I will not have people leer and grin at this sacred test! TAKE YOUR SEATS! And contestants, run through your rituals… and prepare.”

Isolde smirked and nodded at Solveig before disappearing into her clique’s part of the classroom.

Solveig did the same, and when she got back…

Cain stepped up and gave Solveig's shoulder a shake.

"You understand what this entails, right?!"

"Yeah."

"You're gonna be fighting Isolde!"

"Yes, she said so."

"I expect a little more concern about fighting the best duelist in Hrafen's past ten years!"

"That is a problem."

"Then why on earth did you agree to this?! Oh, you're going to be humiliated!"

"Cain, this is a perfect opportunity."

"For what, exactly?! There’s little you can gain from this!"

“This whole thing hinges on you being nominated for Student Council President next year, is it not?”

“Yes! So??”

“We need respect. Immediately. We can’t keep being idle and just expect to take it. We need to act. Whoever is behind this conspiracy probably never expected this to happen. Plus, even if I lose... I don't think I'll lose by a lot."

"Okay, Ms. Godsdamned Perfect. Your funeral. And mine…"

Cain swallowed.

“I’m just worried.”

Solveig felt a blush creeping up, but she quickly put that down. “It’s about Isolde, isn’t it?”

“Yes! You have no idea how dirty she fights when she’s angry. ”

Solveig looked back at Isolde's group wearily. “Don’t worry, dear student.” She went up and patted his head thrice. “Just step back and let your teacher handle it~”

SOLVEIG OVERLOAD: 67%

In a shocking turn of events, Solveig didn’t actually have it all handled.

“STUDENTS! PLEASE STEP FORWARD!”

Solveig stepped up to her mark. Isolde stepped up to hers.

Harold, standing off to the side with his arms crossed and an expression that suggested he'd seen this exact scene play out a hundred times before, dropped his hand. "Begin."

Solveig moved first.

She thrust her palm forward.

[FORCE: BURST!]

A bolt of raw pressure cracked across the space between them, catching Isolde square in the shoulder. It was, by any reasonable measure, a perfectly serviceable spell.

It also barely did anything. Isolde rocked back half a step, blinked, and rolled the shoulder like she'd been merely flicked by an annoying sibling.

But not before turning the walls and barriers behind her into smithereens…

Isolde looked back once, then turned around to smirk. Then she realized the gravity of what she had just avoided. Ghk!

Her face turned completely sickly as she quickly whipped back around.

A ripple of confusion went through the crowd.

Solveig shook out her hand, grimacing.

"Yeah, that's... about all I've got for the fancy stuff today," she admitted, mostly to herself. Ordinary spellwork ate through her the way a bonfire ate through kindling, always had.

Isolde's mouth curled into something delighted.

"This is it?" she called out. "This is the terrifying monster everyone's been whispering about?"

Isolde didn't wait for an answer either. Light gathered around her hands in fast, layered rings, glyphs stacking on glyphs, and this time she said it, loud and clear.

"[FROST: CATACLYSM]!"

The spell hit dead center.

For a second, the whole courtyard disappeared into white.

“Isolde used a Level 5 spell?!”

“Jeez, on another human being…”

“Can that commoner really handle that…?”

But as soon as the smoke cleared, the audience got their answer.

Made them gasp, it did.

That for all Isolde's effort…

I AM STILL ALIVE?!?!?!?!?!

It didn't matter.

Solveig was still standing exactly where she'd been standing. With not so much as a shield around her person.

Her uniform had a fresh layer of frost on it…

But that was it. That was the entire damage report.

The silence this time was a different flavor entirely.

"W-wait," someone from Isolde’s clique managed. "She didn't even block. Why didn't she block?"

“She just took a Level 5 to the chest like it was nothing!”

It turned out, Solveig hadn't needed to worry after all.

Solveig felt absolutely delighted to know that. Vindicated too, with all the smugness that came with it.

She rolled her neck until it cracked audibly.

"Uh oh, Isolde."