“Water Bullet Spell?”
Watching the three incoming water bullets hurtling toward him, a disdainful sneer curled at the corner of Cedric’s mouth.
“You actually dare to show off something like this, barely even passable for an apprentice exam?”
He didn’t even raise his wand. With a casual wave of his left hand in front of him, he cast.
“Flame Shield.”
Boom!
A translucent shield made of pure scorching flames instantly formed in front of Cedric.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
The three water bullets slammed into the Flame Shield, not even causing a ripple. In an instant, they were evaporated by the terrifying heat into a few wisps of white steam, failing to get within half a meter of Cedric.
“First move.” Cedric stood still, not even shifting his feet. “Two more to go. Leo, is this all you’ve got?”
Leo gritted his teeth. He wasn’t thrown off by the taunt.
He took a deep breath and began rapidly channeling his magic power.
This time, instead of using a single-target spell, he split his magic into two streams and, following the method Ailiya had taught him earlier, staggered the output.
“Mist Barrier, rise!”
Whoosh!
A thick wall of water shot up from the ground. Immediately after, a gust of wind poured in, and under the wind’s driving force, the water began to spin at high speed, forming a highly defensive mist whirlwind.
But Leo didn’t stop.
“I’m not done yet! Water Blade Slash!”
With Leo’s furious shout, seven or eight sharp high-pressure water blades were flung out from the barrier, arcing in irregular trajectories as they slashed toward Cedric!
Swoosh!
“Oh?”
Cedric raised an eyebrow slightly, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
But in the face of an absolute gap in power, any flashy technique was futile.
“Not a bad idea, but the power is far too weak.”
Cedric finally lifted the wand inlaid with a ruby and stomped it heavily on the ground.
“Ring of Fire!”
A ring of violent flame surged outward from Cedric in an expanding circle.
The instant those high-speed water blades touched the Ring of Fire, they shattered and vaporized, as if crashing into an indestructible iron wall.
“Second move.” Cedric looked down at Leo contemptuously.
But just as his words faded, Leo’s figure suddenly burst out from the dissipating mist!
“Look at your feet!” Leo roared.
At some point, Leo had used the cover of the Mist Barrier to roll across the ground right to Cedric’s feet.
The bluestone slabs under Cedric suddenly softened, turning into a patch of highly adhesive quicksand. His feet sank in instantly, throwing off his balance.
At the same time, Leo opened his mouth wide, and the tiny purple magic array on his tongue erupted with a blinding light!
It was the very move he had used to ambush Ian back then.
“Cough cough! What disgusting stuff?!”
From within the thick fog came Cedric’s frantic coughing and curses. A foul-smelling purple-black smoke mixed with the remaining steam engulfed him completely, robbing him of his sight.
“It worked!”
Leo’s heart leaped with joy.
‘Even if I can’t beat you, I’ll still disgust you to death!’
Completely disregarding any sense of mage dignity, the moment Cedric lost his balance and was blinded by the smoke, Leo abandoned magic altogether.
He lunged forward like a starving dog, using his short wand as a club, and started smashing wildly at Cedric’s face and shoulders with a flurry of unrefined blows!
Thud! Thud! Clang!
“Ah! You mad dog!”
Cedric’s face, which had been maintaining its graceful composure, took several hits. Pain twisted his features into a grimace.
“You’re asking for death!”
He was a dignified Second-rank Mage—how could he be brought down by such low-class tricks?
“Flame Burst!”
Ignoring the quicksand at his feet, Cedric pulled a scroll from his belt. Without even chanting, a violent pillar of flame burst from the scroll, blasting directly at Leo, who was still on top of him, flailing wildly.
BOOM!!
Leo felt an earth-shattering wave of heat rushing at him. He didn’t even have time to scream before he was sent flying like a broken kite.
Bam!
Leo landed hard on the bluestone slabs more than ten meters away, rolling several times before stopping.
His clothes were half-burned, his face covered in dust and blood. The short wand had fallen from his hand.
“Cough… cough… ptooey!”
Leo struggled to prop himself up, feeling as though every bone in his body was screaming with agonizing pain.
“Young Master Leo!”
Garick, from the sidelines, couldn’t hold back any longer. He drew his longsword and was about to charge forward, but the butler firmly held him back.
“This is just a spar. If you go up, it’s insubordination!” the butler hissed.
In the center of the training ground.
Cedric evaporated the quicksand at his feet and pulled his legs free from the mud.
He touched the bleeding scratch on his forehead, then looked at Leo sprawled on the ground. His eyes no longer held any pretense—only naked killing intent and contempt.
To be humiliated by an illegitimate son he considered trash, using such underhanded tactics—Cedric’s composure snapped completely.
The noble image he had maintained all along shattered.
“Three moves have passed.” Cedric raised his wand coldly, stepping toward Leo. “Leo, your performance truly disappoints me. Not only are you weak, but you also resort to such despicable means.”
“Since your mother failed to teach you properly, today I’ll teach you what noble etiquette really means!”
At the tip of his wand, a fireball even larger and more blazing than before began to condense frantically.
“Flame Serpent Barrage!”
Five thick fire serpents, like living creatures, opened their gaping jaws. With lethal heat, they sealed off all of Leo’s escape routes from five directions and lunged at him viciously.
This was a killing move—no holding back!
By now, Leo’s magic power was completely drained. He could barely stand. Watching the five fire serpents bearing down on him, a flicker of helplessness crossed his eyes.
‘I can’t dodge…’
***
On the second floor, Ailiya’s eyes turned cold. With a flick of her wrist, a dining knife slipped into her palm, ready to intervene.
Just at that critical moment—
Crack!
A sharp whip crack, like a thunderclap, exploded across the training ground.
A thorny whip, gleaming reddish-brown, shot out like a venomous dragon from the corridor at the side of the training ground.
The long whip lashed with precision in midair. With a few crisp cracks, it tore apart the three leading fire serpents, scattering them into a shower of sparks.
Then, the whip coiled sharply in front of Leo. It stabbed into the ground.
“Thicket Thorns!”
A cold female voice rang out.
With the injection of magic power, the thorny barbs on the whip grew wildly, weaving into a thick wall of brambles in front of Leo in the blink of an eye.
Boom! Boom!
The remaining two fire serpents slammed heavily into the thorn wall.
But this time, the flames didn’t destroy the wooden wall. Instead, they collided with it as if hitting a sponge that absorbed magic power.
The firelight dimmed rapidly, leaving only two scorched black marks before being completely absorbed and neutralized.
“Who?!”
Cedric was shocked. He spun around to look at the corridor.
There stood Lady Elsa, having appeared without anyone noticing.
She was still wearing her dignified noblewoman’s long dress, but at this moment, her eyes were as sharp as a lioness protecting her cub. In her hand was a reddish-brown thorn whip, the tip of which slithered restlessly on the ground.
“Young Master Cedric.”
Lady Elsa’s voice was icy cold, devoid of emotion. “Brothers sparring should stop at a friendly touch. Was that move of yours just now trying to take my son’s life?”
Cedric looked at the dangerous thorn whip in Elsa’s hand. The fury on his face gradually froze, and deep in his eyes, a profound wariness flickered.
He suddenly recalled something his father had mentioned drunk once, from long ago.
That woman… wasn’t a frail Potion Master with no combat ability.
When his father was traveling abroad, he had once journeyed with an adventurer party.
In that party, there was a woman skilled in potions and plant magic.
Later, that woman fell in love with his father and became pregnant.
At the time, the family strongly opposed it; no one allowed this wild, small-family adventurer to stay within the main branch.
In the end, his father settled her in a remote estate.
That woman was the one standing before him—Elsa.
Cedric immediately reined in the killing intent in his eyes.
He knew very well that if it came to a real fight, with his current level, he wouldn’t come out ahead.
He forced an ugly smile and gave a slight bow.
“Aunt Elsa, you misunderstand. I just momentarily lost control of my magic output. I absolutely had no intention of harming Leo. See? I stopped, didn’t I?”
“Is that so?”
Lady Elsa stared at him coldly. With a flick of her wrist, crack, she retracted the thorn whip. The wooden wall dissolved as well.
She walked over to Leo and pulled her limp son to his feet.
“If it was a misunderstanding, then let’s end today’s sparring here.”
Lady Elsa looked Cedric straight in the eye, her tone carrying an unmistakable warning.
“This is the Kastian Estate. I am the master here, and Leo is my son.”
“If such an ‘accident of losing control over magic’ happens again…”
Lady Elsa’s gaze was as sharp as a blade. “I wouldn’t mind teaching you personally what true magic control is.”
Cedric’s face alternated between pale and red. Embarrassment and humiliation nearly made him grind his teeth to dust.
But he had no choice but to swallow his pride and nod stiffly.
“I… understand. I deeply apologize for my earlier rudeness.”
With that, without another word of pleasantry, Cedric turned and slunk away from the training ground.
Watching his retreating figure from the second-floor terrace, Ailiya silently tucked the dining knife back into her sleeve.
‘I need to reevaluate Lady Elsa’s combat capabilities.’
Then she picked up her rag and continued wiping the dust off the railing, her expression calm and unremarkable.
Today’s show had been at least somewhat entertaining.