Reader Mage 175-A Trick Or Two

The news ca back to the remaining contestants of Prestige Academy just before the next fight that Man-Shik was stabilised and he would be fine. rlin breathed a sigh of relief at that. The battle had been heart-wrenching for him, because a loss could have delivered a big blow to the team. He was glad everything had turned out well, and they were now tied with Crown Academy. All they had to do now was to keep the montum going.

He turned to the tv screen, setting his eyes on the next fight that was just about to begin.

Oh Jihye stood on one end of the arena with a mildly smug expression and a hand on her waist as she leaned to her side. Across from her was Dante Russo, a B-Class Mud Mage. He had light olive skin complented by his jet black slicked back hair, and more prominent was his confident posture, like nothing in the world could faze him.

He scoffed into a smile and pointed at Jihye. “Give up,” he started. “I’m giving you the chance not to disgrace yourself, pretty lady.”

“Why, thank you,” Jihye started with a mocking tone. “Your chivalry knows no bounds, ser.”

Dante smiled. “I like you. I won’t go easy on you, so beco my girlfriend when it all ends.”

Jihye jerked back slightly and her smug expression turned into sothing akin to disgust.

“No, thanks. You’re not my type.” She imdiately turned to Instructor Park who had decided to let their conversation flow. “How about we start already?”

Instructor Park was fine with that.

She imdiately took a few steps back and announced for their fight to begin before leaving the stage.

Jihye’s Grimoire took flight as her hand still rested on her waist, and the sa was true for Dante, just different in that his arms were folded.

Despite the fact that a duel was about to ensue, and one that kept everyone on the edge of their seats not only because of what was at stake, but due to how they had been srized by Man-Shik’s fight, there was an air of nonchalance about the current two contestants, like they were too prideful to admit that they fight could go either way.

Well, Oh Jihye was. She had even been lackluster during the dialogue to help her with understanding how she could co out on top. It was like she couldn’t fathom the possibility of losing.

rlin hoped that such would truly be the case. Because that sort of attitude against a student of the number one academy in the world was a recipe for disaster.

Oh Jihye raised a lazy finger, making the first move.

The atmosphere around Dante warped like a wobbly, shimring mirror, and pellets of water surrounded him almost instantaneously.

His face scrunched as he glanced at the countless tiny water orbs staring down at him as though his nose was stung by a terrible sll. Then he turned to Jihye and revealed a smile.

She gave him one back and moved her finger down. The bullets shot forward.

Dante, however, had long been prepared without anyone noticing. Apparently, his folded arms had not been him taking the fight unseriously. Countless tiny holes appeared around his arms, and a brownish viscous substance shot out of them creating countless tiny shields around him.

Jihye’s water pellets were obstructed.

“You’ll need more than that, pretty,” said Dante, still doing nothing on the attacking front as more pellets rained down on him.

Jihye responded with a raised eyebrow and shifted her posture slightly.

rlin didn’t see it as her succumbing to the pressure, but only making herself more comfortable. Because in the next instant she raised her finger languidly once more, and the pellets froze. Then they exploded. However, that didn’t cause any troubles whatsoever. The exploded water was simply sucked back into the atmosphere, and this attracted an incredulous look from Dante. At least for half a second.

“Oho. I’m interested,” he hooted. “What do you have for ?”

Jihye sighed. “Do you realize that mud is made up of a large volu of water in comparison to the other fine particles it possesses? So when you keep on adding a lot more water to it, the ratio of the mixture will beco a bit abysmal.” She pointed at his shields. “I wasn’t exactly sure what would happen when mana-induced water t mana-induced mud. Naturally, we should expect a, uhm—what’s it called?—yeah, a disharmony between the two. But, it seems that’s not the case.”

Dante glanced at his shields and frowned. They were crumbling. If Jihye had kept on with the barrage, she would have eventually broken through and gotten more than just a few hits in.

Because of that, rlin wondered why she had stopped. But he decided not to question her any longer. He had misjudged her, because apparently she had been listening to the team during the discussion despite coming off as complacent. After all, the whole topic of water versus mud and how she could use it to her advantage was what their conversation had been about.

“And?” Dante turned back to her, wearing his smile once again. “I’m a Mud Mage, pretty. Of course I know all about how the volu of water is important for my mud’s structure. Only a fool wouldn’t know that.”

“Then why did you agree to as your opponent, knowing my Hex is water?”

Dante shrugged. “Simple.” He raised two fingers. “One. Because you’re pretty. Two. Because you can’t win.”

Oh Jihye took offense at that. Her expression changed completely and she took her hand off her waist and curled them into an exposed fist.

The atmosphere around Dante warped once again; though, this ti, it was a lot more erratic, and it made everyone’s brows furrow in anticipation.

A considerable volu of water was extracted from the atmosphere, and without wasting a single second, they pulled towards Dante, as though dragged by gravity. Oh Jihye raised her second hand and curled it into a fist as well. The water closed in on Dante, condensed into a bubble, and shut his head in it.

“Give up!” Jihye voiced. “Or, I really swear, I’ll suffocate you.”

“No suffocating, Jihye!” Instructor Park announced, making sure Jihye’s head was set straight.

However, Dante still remained unfazed. And the indifferent look in his eyes sent chills down rlin’s spine.

But then it crumbled—all his facade of nonchalance. He fell to the ground, scratching at the ball of water around his head as he tried to peel off an opening so he could breathe. Bubbles escaped his mouth as he gasped for air, and the reaction in the crowd was now one of consideration.

Oh Jihye, however, didn’t stop.

“Give up!” she voiced. “Hurry up or we both won’t be doing our teams any favor. Don’t be stupid.”

As soon as those words escaped her lips, the crowd went livid. They turned to Instructor Park and barked for her to snap out of her daze and put an end to the matchup before sothing bad happened to Dante.

And she listened.

She hurried close to the arena as she gestured for dics to prepare to approach on her call.

“No!” Jihye voiced, turning her head around. It was written on her face that she was half the mind to put an end to her spell, but uncertain if that would be the right choice. “He’s still conscious!” she voiced. “This is all a trick!”

“Stop it already!” a man shouted from the crowd, beet red. “Let the boy go! Are you planning to kill him, brat?!”

“That’s enough out of you!” a woman joined the shouting man; she held her child in her arms and looked very much pissed. “It’s just a tournant. What are you rambling on about?”

Oh Jihye’s expression darkened as more adults asked her to stop her magic. The situation grew tense with every passing second, and Instructor Park, as well as the other academy staff around, began to feel the heat.

And just at that mont, making matters worse, Dante stopped moving. He hunched over on the floor and the whole arena fell silent.

“Did he pass out?” Hakyun asked, but no one replied. No one had the answer.

Then an uproar grew in the arena. Oh Jihye turned around in a daze, pressured by the voices pressing upon her. She was at her wit’s end, and her hands began to shake, causing a disturbance in her spell.

Instructor Park had waited enough. She raised a hand and the dics rushed over, then opened her mouth, but just before a single word could escape her lips, the ball of water surrounding Dante’s head beca contaminated. Brownish liquid appeared inside it, growing bit by bit, until all of a sudden, the whole water was completely brown. In the next instant, the spell shattered.

The crowd beca silent, as though they’d all had their voices stolen from them, and their eyes moved from Oh Jihye towards her opponent.

Jihye turned around. The unconscious Dante was now on his feet, with a smile on his face. He ran his hand through his wet hair as muddy water dripped onto his body, and winked at Jihye.

“What the hell?” Chima mumbled. “It really was a trick.”

Sangook scoffed and leaned back into his seat. “Fucking maniac.”

“Oh, don’t look so surprised,” Dante said as Jihye’s brows loosened at the sight of him on his feet. “You said it yourself. Don’t you rember, pretty? Disharmony between two mana-induced elents? Co on. It’s not even been ten minutes yet.”

Jihye frowned. “I rember, asshole.”

“Good.” Dante nodded. “Then you understand what happened.”

“Bastard,” Jihye muttered through a clenched jaw.

rlin understood. It honestly shared the sa thod as Reader Mage did when nullifying spells; channeling his mana into a spell to either ss with its cellular composition, or completely taint it. The only difference between what he did and what Dante had done was that his mana couldn’t do what rlin’s did on its own. It needed a vessel of so sort. And that vessel had to be sothing that, naturally, could destroy the structure of the elent of the spell being cast. Mud did that to water. And what he’d done was simply use that to his advantage to break out of Jihye’s spell.

“Dante was never in trouble from the start,” rlin muttered, and everyone raised their brows at him. “His act was just so that there could be a disturbance in Jihye’s spell to make it easier for him to contaminate it. It was a well rewarded risk.”

The crowd suddenly turned their rage towards Dante.

A few, if not most, were parents, and the fact that they had been tricked into raising their voice at a child made them angry. However, Dante didn’t care; he turned around and shrugged.

“Oh, co on, uncs,” he started. “This is a fight, of course I’m gonna do a trick or two.”

Oh Jihye was tired of listening to Dante talk. She channeled her mana once again, and another water bubble covered Dante’s head. But as soon as it did, it was contaminated and burst imdiately.

“Your mana’s still disoriented,” he said with a gentle smile. “Why don’t you take a breath and calm down. I’ll wait.”

“Stop. Fucking. Smiling!”

Oh Jihye’s frustration beca apparent with every passing second. She began to throw every spell she had in her arsenal at Dante.

First ca the barrage of water pellets she had used at the very start. But Dante foiled it just as he’d done before. But she kept on with it, and as she did, she controlled another spell into existence. A concave lens of water directly above Dante, and as he looked at it, refracted sunlight spilled directly onto his eyes. He winced and turned away. Jihye smiled, sneaking in a few water pellets through the gap that opened from that. So grazed Dante’s shoulders, but most were stopped by another shield that appeared before him imdiately.

But that was not the end of it all.

Behind Dante was another lens. A convex one. And it had been present ever since the start of her water barrage, focusing light on a part of his shoulder. Finally, the concentration of light paid off. A hole burned into Dante’s battle suit, penetrated his skin, but only managed to get so far before a miniature shield appeared, blocking the path of the light.

He groaned as he turned to Jihye. “Goddammit! Are you really trying to kill ?”

“At this point, I’m not certain,” she replied, still frowning. “You’re like a cockroach. You just won’t stay down.”

“I don’t appreciate that comparison.”

“Just shut up and stay down already.”

This ti a couple of her water pellets targeted Dante’s Grimoire. But that didn’t work. Not only was it covered by mud, it actively avoided Jihye’s spell.

Jihye hissed.

Dante shrugged without saying a single word then, as if to say: “have it your way.” And in the next mont, he slid across the arena, the mud he wrapped his feet with carrying him forward like the wind.

Jihye flinched at the abrupt change in montum. She tried to steady herself as quickly as possible, but Dante bobbed up before her before she could.

She jerked back slightly, avoiding a hand he swiped at her, and rained down water pellets on him.

But Dante was quick. He escaped, ca around her, and reached for her once more.

Jihye blasted herself forward with water, throwing herself on the ground and bruising her shoulder.

She imdiately jumped to her knees, and that was when she got a taste of her own dicine. All around her hovered pellets, but not from water—mud.

They poured down. Jihye acted quickly. She raised shields of water just like Dante had, but unlike mud, they weren’t viscous enough. So instead of keeping the mud pellets away, they absorbed them. When they absorbed more than they could handle, they burst, covering Jihye in water and mud.

“Dang!” Dante spat. “Now you’re all soaked.”

Jihye clicked her tongue, standing up. Her breaths were heavy, and she held her right arm as it dangled by her side.

rlin frowned. “Bollocks,” he swore. “It’s not just a scratch. She’s dislocated her arm.”

Jihye, however, didn’t let that stop her. She left her right arm alone, and continued on with her left, weaving spells and raining them down upon Dante, but they didn’t carry as much power as they once did.

Dante easily snuck up on her this ti, and it was very hard for Jihye to escape his reach.

He grabbed her hand.

“This is checkmate, love,” he said.

Jihye scoffed. “Well, fuck you.”

Mana spilled out of her like she was about to detonate herself, and crept onto Dante’s body. Instantly, the sweat leaking out of him grew exponentially; second by second, they rushed out in increasing volu as though there was a fountain lodged in his body.

Dante glanced at himself and then at Jihye. His brows furrowed, and in less than two seconds, he’d beco visibly exhausted.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked with heavy breaths.

Jihye blessed him with a smirk. “A last ditch effort. Let’s see which of us will run out of mana first. You or ?”

rlin’s eyes twitched. He didn’t know Oh Jihye all too well, but he’d been in a gathering with her a couple of tis, and if he was to be completely honest, he hadn’t thought her to be the kind of person to say those sorts of words. Who could, though, was Nora.

Dante snapped out of his mont of stupefaction and instantly let go of Jihye, trying to catch his breath. She imdiately reached for him and grabbed his wrist once again, keeping up her onslaught.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she started. “Pretty here wants to dance.”

“Let go of , you mad woman!” Dante voiced. “Do you know how long it takes to replenish exhausted mana?”

Jihye shook her head tiredly. “No. But I’ll take my chances with finding out.”

Dante’s nose wrung up. He tried to channel his mana and cast another spell, but imdiately it broke apart before it had fully taken form. He opened his mouth imdiately, gasping for air.

“That was stupid of you,” Jihye said. “You should have just stayed put like the little doggy you are. Now you’ve gone and worsened your situation.”

The seconds ticked by, and Oh Jihye and Dante began to lose strength. They fell to their knees at the sa ti, their expressions turned pale, and they began to wheeze.

However, Jihye looked significantly more exhausted. She tried to keep her fingers wrapped around Dante’s wrist for longer, but they began to let go of their own accord. Her neck craned forward bit by bit, and then her head lowered. A weak chuckle escaped her lips as her hand completely let go of Dante’s wrist and fell to her side.

“This sucks,” she muttered as she fell sideways to the ground.

Instructor Park hurried onto the arena as the crowd watched silently. She placed a finger underneath Jihye’s nostrils, feeling for air. Then she nodded at the dics, and they took her away on a stretcher.

She stood up and turned to Dante, who was still kneeling. He looked completely drained, but his eyes were still open.

He scoffed. “You ssed up, pretty,” he muttered. “You shouldn’t have cast all those spells at the sa ti if you wanted to do this.” He exhaled deeply and lowered his head. “Yeah. I’ve decided. You’ll be my girlfriend.”

“The winner of the third round,” Instructor Park announced. “Dante Russo, Crown Academy!”