Lars felt nothing but a sharp and intense pain in his stomach. Before he knew it, he was on the floor, clutching his abdomen, tears streaming down from his eyes.
Professor Caebo was even more surprised! Never in his life had he seen someone counter a charge so beautifully! In just one fluid motion, student Alphonse had both dodged the incoming attack and counter-attacked while making use of his enemy's momentum! Truly outstanding! He would have to watch this kid. He might be a young talent that the guild would want to recruit, but it was his job to keep the kid in school.
"Alright, the winner is Alp-" Professor Caebo began.
"WATERBALL!" Lars shouted as he pulled out his brother's locket.
A ball of water, roughly the size of a watermelon flew towards Alphonse.
Professor Caebo was caught off guard. He did not expect a member of the Nobility to violate the rules of a duel.
But before he could worry about Alphonse's safety, Alphonse drew out his mana core for Windball and cast it without an incantation.
The two balls met in the middle and exploded, causing the water to soak them both.
But it appeared that Lars had intended to use that Waterball as a diversion. As soon as both the balls exploded and soaked both of them, Lars came charging towards Alphonse once again.
'I don't know what he did before, but I'll get him this time!' Lars thought, blinded by rage.
However, this time, Alphonse simply pulled out another mana core.
Before Lars could even be surprised that Alphonse not only had a mana core with a completed magic circle that blew up his Waterball in addition to another mana core, Alphonse cast his Lightningball.
The Lightningball struck Lars, who was soaked from head to toe in his own water spell, instantly stunning Lars.
'Two unique Magic Circles! In addition to the counter kick, student Alphonse has completely floored student Lars.' Professor Caebo was thoroughly impressed.
"The winner is Alphonse Harvard!" the professor declared as the whole class cheered.
"N- *cough* no! He cheated, we said no *cough* we said no magic!" Lars coughed as he tried to pull himself back on his feet.
*BOOM*
A fireball detonated next to him as Alphonse put away the fireball's mana core and pulled out the mana core to make a metal staff while charging straight at Lars.
"Hyee, n-no! Stay away!" Lars shrieked!
The metal staff materialized right as Alphonse swung his hand downwards to catch it. In one motion, he created the staff, caught the staff, and used the same motion to accelerate the staff towards Lars' neck.
Lars closed his eyes, afraid of the incoming impact.
…
…
…
But the impact never came.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Alphonse standing over him, the staff was no more than a centimeter away from his neck.
"Admit defeat, Lars. Although we decided on fighting without magic, you cast Waterball as soon as you were knocked down. I only countered with my own magic. Not only did you cheat, but you have been defeated twice."
"Wha- How dare you slander me in such a way! Do you think you would get away with assaulting a noble like this, this is punishable by dea-"
*SLAP*
Lars was stunned. Alphonse had slapped him. Lars could not remember the last time another person had laid hands on him. Asides from Otto and him horsing around, the only other person that had slapped him was their father when they refused to enter the Knight school and opted to join the Mage school like their sister.
"Grow up." Alphonse didn't have any more words to spare and simply left to go back to his friend Ethan.
Although the whole duel took no longer than a minute, Professor Caebo was thoroughly impressed.
Not only did student Alphonse show incredible talent in both physical combat and magic, but he also had the coolheadedness of a seasoned soldier, and did not take the retaliation too far. Although the other party had beat him up to the point where he required treatment from his dear Professor Veronica in the infirmary, student Alphonse only ever landed one physical attack on Lars.
Professor Caebo couldn't recall the last time his blood had boiled like it was at this moment.
"An excellent duel, student Alphonse. It was truly a learning experience for ALL of us," Professor Caebo made sure to stress what he believed was important, "I hope we ALL take away the brilliance exhibited in this duel and will apply it in the future. I'm feeling quite good today, so the class is dismissed early!"
The class cheered. The professor who was known for his strictness had dismissed class early? This was a never seen or heard of experience, and no one was going to let this opportunity go. The students, still high off the adrenaline of the duel, all collected their book bags and left before the professor might change his mind.
"Not you, student Lars. Remember, you have detention today for being late. For you, I think waxing the floors shall do nicely?"
---
"What. Was. THAT!?" Ethan asked as he held onto Alphonse's arm, afraid to let his childhood friend slip away.
"Hahah, I told you I had something planned." Alphonse laughed. Although he didn't know how to explain his sudden ability to use martial arts, something which didn't exist in this world, he was confident that his magic was what impressed his friend more.
"You used like four magic circles there! You've basically passed the class already!" Ethan was indeed more focused on Alphonse's talent in magic.
"No, you misheard the instructor, the spells must destroy the target dummy from over fifty meters. No spell nor magic circle I cast today was over 30 meters."
"But this was just the first day of school! You'll definitely have no problems passing this class!" Ethan was ecstatic, "Just wait till I tell Jessica and Sasha!"
---
"Well, how did it go?" Professor Veronica sat at her desk. Professor Caebo had just come in to inform her of the results of the duel.
As she had treated Alphonse the previous day, she was extremely worried that he would be nearly killed and sent back to the infirmary again. Although she was a good healer, she only became proficient at it because she hated seeing people in pain. The sight of such an adorable student in pain was sure to bring her mood lower.
"I don't know what you were worried about," Professor Caebo grinned, "Student Alphonse completely destroyed student Lars. the duel didn't even last a minute."
"What? It can't be!" Professor Veronica was stunned, "Yesterday, when he was carried to the infirmary, he was covered in bruises and broken bones. He was basically on his deathbed! It took two whole treatments over the course of an hour for me to treat him fully! The Kassadin girl who carried him in was crying and bawling the whole time!"
"Must've been your splendid teaching then." Professor Caebo smirked.
"What could I have done? I teach Mana Theory. The only thing they did today was create mana cores! That should have no impact on a fistfight!" Professor Veronica explained. But as she saw the smirk on Professor Caebo's smirk grow, she began to have thoughts that she herself could not believe, "Unless…"
"That's right. Windball, Lightningball, Fireball, and Earth's Sword. Student Alphonse used those four spells today. If my glasses aren't lying to me, he had a fifth lying in wait as well. It was probably his trump card."
"This can't be…" Professor Veronica said in disbelief, "Although those are basic spells, today is just the first day! I knew he could make decent mana cores but for him to be able to use what he learned on the same day. That's truly frightening. Should we tell…"
"Yes, student Alphonse is truly a rare talent. We must report this to the Headmaster at once. Thankfully, the scouts weren't here today, but when rumors spread…"
"Alright, let's go."
"For the Glory of Aaro," They chanted in unison.