Reader Mage 182-This Is Pointless

Discussing the ans of how Kim Yiseo could co out on top in her fight was very different from how it had gone with everyone else before her. It showed just how different the daughter of the guildmaster of the Consortium guild—one of the greatest S-Class Mages amongst the first generation of mages who had fought during the cataclysm—and an S-Class Mage herself reasoned. She had thought of every possible way the fight could play out, and analyzed just how exactly she could co out on top. But she had not only focused on an outco that favored her; she had also considered a negative outco.

Her opponent was a guy nad Ethan Brooks, a B-Class Advanced Tier I Mage with the Fire Hex. And to Kim Yiseo, he was the worst person she could have as an opponent.

Which kind of surprised rlin why she would go ahead with matching with such a person, when she knew the negatives outweighed the positives for her in their fight.

Sure, she had the edge in her mana output, and, maybe, training—considering her descent. But Ethan was no walk in the park. Yiseo’s peak in her aptitude with mana control was surprisingly at Novice Tier III. Ethan was better in that regard in that he was already a mage advanced in mana shaping.

And, most importantly, fire was the natural enemy of spider silk. If it was left to rlin, he would safely assu that Kim Yiseo had matched with Ethan solely because she had sothing to prove against defeating a Fire Mage, but she had told them already that it was simply because she had no idea who to pick as her opponent. Ethan sent her the request, and she just went ahead with it.

And, besides, she was a mage. In the real world of Dungeons and Towers, they would not get to pick who or what they fought and didn’t.

Regardless, rlin held onto the belief that Yiseo would co out on top. She was the best in their year—-besides Nora, of course—and if anyone could ensure that Prestige Academy didn’t lose to Crown Academy, it was her.

So when she rose to her feet as her portrait appeared on the TV screen and her na was announced, all he did was take a deep breath and wish her good luck like everyone else. He kept his eyes as hopeful as possible. She could do it.

Kim Yiseo arrived in the arena, no longer dressed in the red tracksuit of Prestige Academy, but now in her spandex battle wear of the sa color. Her arms were folded, and her eyes carried a glowering look as she stared at the boy with broad shoulders, sandy blonde hair, and blue eyes standing across from her.

Ethan raised a brow.

“That’s an awful stare,” he said. “If I’ve done anything to harm you that I’m unaware of, do remind and I’ll apologize.”

“It’s nothing of the sort,” said Kim Yiseo. “This is just the look I wear before a fight where sothing major is at stake.”

“I see…” Ethan sighed. “Truth be told, I could hardly give a damn about the rankings. You shouldn’t either. My mates told I have to get this win by any cost, considering we’re, well, behind. But I’m honestly too tired to be stressing myself out over all this. They’re also the ones who picked you for my duel, so no hard feelings there, if you don’t mind…”

“You’re very chatty,” said Kim Yiseo.

“I’m narcoleptic,” he said. “I try to keep myself from falling asleep by talking. Not like it helps much, but it’s better than doing nothing. Right?”

“I guess.”

Ethan was about to continue talking when Instructor Park interrupted, “Can I start the fight now?”

Yiseo and Ethan both turned to her, before once again looking at themselves.

Ethan shrugged. “Okay.”

And Instructor Park did.

Yiseo’s and Ethan’s Grimoires both took flight and flipped pages. But before any spells were cast, Ethan’s lips parted once again, giving Yiseo pause.

“This might be selfish,” he began. “But in the spirit of sportsmanship, don’t attack if I fall asleep, okay. Just wake up and we can keep going from there.” Yiseo frowned. “I know. I know. How did soone like manage to get chosen for a tournant such as this? I don’t know either. Sotis I think the academic body in Crown Academy is just insane. Asking a narcoleptic person to fight? Pfft… It’s like they’re asking to lose. But apparently I’m one of their best for whatever reason. Personally, I don’t see it.”

Yiseo sighed; her glowering gaze disappeared like it had never been there. For a mont, it was almost like she’d lost all zeal to fight. But perhaps the possibility that it was a trap woke her imdiately, because she imdiately began to channel her mana.

Ethan flinched.

“Woah! Give a head’s up, next ti!”

He, too, channeled his mana, and in the next instant, the air in the arena rumbled to life.

The crowd shifted in their seats in anticipation, and the mages in the arena didn’t disappoint.

Even though Kim Yiseo had been the first to begin channeling her mana, Ethan finished shaping his first. The atmosphere around him warped from the heat seeping out of his body as the water in the air was visibly being turned into steam. Then ca the countless sparks of fire crackling all around him; slowly they ca together and compressed into a couple of tube shaped weapons blazing with flas. Everyone’s eyes narrowed upon the weapons as they hovered in the air. rlin was just the sa. And with each closer look, they reminded him of only one thing in history. Anti-tank rocket launchers, more commonly known as: bazookas.

Kim Yiseo’s gaze twitched.

Imdiately, her mana output shifted. She traded whatever spell she had been casting for sothing different. Webs shot out of the opening in her palms, wrapping around her quickly. In two seconds, she was completely covered in her own webs like a spider in a cocoon.

rlin recalled this spell. It was the sa one she had used against Lee Jaehyun during their duel in the previous sester. It was Kim Yiseo’s ultimate defense spell.

Ethan, however, didn’t look one bit bothered. He raised his hand and spell circles appeared at the mouth of every single bazooka hovering in the air to his sides. Then, just as he yawned and placed the back of his palm over his mouth, loud bangs resonated through the arena. Large balls of fire shot from each bazooka, crossing the arena at high speed, and slamming into Kim Yiseo’s cocoon one after the other.

The heat was visibly overwhelming. It seed to be nearly on the sa level as that of Chima’s Giant of Fire. And that was why no one was surprised at the fact that Kim Yiseo’s defense was shriveling and lting with barely any resistance.

However, Yiseo managed to keep herself away from the onslaught. She constantly repaired her cocoon, ensuring that nothing made its way to her. But there was no way she was willing to stay on the defensive forever. And since Ethan didn’t look like he was willing to go to any further lengths than he already was, Yiseo would eventually have to be the one to lead the tide of battle in a different direction.

Half a minute or so later, Kim Yiseo had her chance.

Ethan paused for a mont and his fire barrages stopped. It was like he’d been dazed there, and he pinched his eyes as a result. Then his gaze shifted up from the floor of the arena as Kim Yiseo’s spider silk lted away from the fire and heat spread all over it. She appeared in the center of her cocoon, covered in thick sweat and panting.

The fact that an S-Class Mage could be pushed to such a state by a B-Class Mage was slightly amazing and frightening to rlin. It made him realize that the volu of mana a mage possessed was just a cog in a larger wheel in what determined the outco of a fight between mages. In fact, what seed to be more important was how much of a disadvantage a Hex had when paired with another.

However, this fight was far from over.

“I apologize,” said Ethan with a raised hand as he shook his head. “I got a little groggy there. But I’m fine now.” He eyes Kim Yiseo for a second. “If you want to take a minute break, we can. I’d like one too.”

Yiseo stepped out of her cocoon. “We don’t have that luxury.”

Ethan glanced at Instructor Park and she shook her head. He sighed.

“Bumr.” He clicked his tongue. “All right. Then let’s resu so we can get this over quickly. I get the feeling you don’t want to be here any longer than I want to.”

“You’re right,” said Kim Yiseo as she turned her palms upside down and spider silk rose out of them and spun together to create a large spear of web, one rlin recalled rather vividly from the first day he’d t her. “I don’t want to.”

The spear of web shot forward, and as it burst through the arena towards Ethan, she conjured up a few more spears and bullet-like webs at the sa ti, and fired them as well.

What she was doing was mana-intensive, but rlin wasn’t bothered.

An S-Class Mage had no fear for their mana usage.

Ethan was once again unfazed. A cube of fire, perfectly crafted, surrounded him. And Yiseo’s every spell t an unmoving force. They lted as soon as they ca in contact with Ethan’s cube, and no matter how many she cast, they proved futile.

What’s more, Ethan wasn’t restricted from attacking.

His bazookas lit up a second later, blasting fireballs of intense power towards Yiseo.

This ti, she didn’t hole herself up in her cocoon. She spun a great and thick wall of web before her, keeping Ethan’s fire spells from coming into contact with her body. Then she dropped to her knees as excess sweat leaked from her pores and slamd her palms into the floor.

The arena shook. Cracks appeared around Yiseo, and they spread out all over the arena like the strands of webs in a spider’s nest.

In the next mont, Ethan was caught off-guard as a thick web wrapped around his ankle. He grudgingly looked down and raised a brow. But before he could react to the developnt, the web pulled him out of his cube of fire, and threw him across the arena.

Ethan sat up with a groan, rubbing his forehead. When he shook away his daze, Yiseo was just a few steps away from him.

She shot a variation of her web bullets at him, but this ti they were made of low viscous substances that instantly polyrized when they ca in contact with Ethan.

The boy fell to the floor, pinned by Yiseo’s webs, and imdiately she turned towards his Grimoire.

“Not my Grimoire!” Ethan voiced, unable to see what exactly Yiseo was aiming for, but could infer it. “I’m on a scholarship. I can’t afford a new one!”

His wrists instantly turned hot red, and the webs pinning him down lted off. He jumped to his feet and turned in the direction of his Grimoire. Then he gestured with his arm and it shifted away just in ti to avoid being hit by Yiseo’s web spear.

But she wasn’t done.

She imdiately shot a web string at the ancient looking back and tried to pull it towards herself.

“Stop!” Ethan cried out. “Or I’m gonna have to burn yours to bits.”

“It’s a duel,” Yiseo replied. “Do everything you can to win.”

Ethan’s nose wrung up. “Oh, co on! This is pointless.”

“Then give up.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Sorry then.”

Yiseo turned her free hand towards Ethan and shot another set of low viscous webs at him—specifically, his eyes. They landed but burned away very quickly. Then Ethan attacked as well. His bazookas broke down into the fire sparks they had started out as, and then they all shifted into fire grenades.

“Just so you know, I didn’t want to do this. But this is your fault,” he muttered just before the grenades flew across the arena towards Kim Yiseo’s Grimoire. “You can’t bla if I succeed.”

Kim Yiseo gritted her teeth, and as she tried to pull Ethan’s Grimoire to herself, she also tried to protect hers.

Initially she started by wrapping it with layers upon layers of webs, but she knew that it wouldn’t last if she turned her attention away from it for even a single mont. So she decided to personally control it at the sa ti.

rlin began to get worried.

Yes, an S-Class Mage had a large volu of mana, but when they were casting so many spells at the sa ti, and using their mana in different ways also, they would be burning through their massive reserve very quickly. And it was honestly showing on Yiseo’s face. She was becoming pale, and her black silky hair was just as soaked as herself.

But, in truth, Ethan was not better off. As a B-Class Mage, he was even worse off. But he didn’t look like it. It was like they had gone from fighting themselves to fighting each other’s Grimoire.

Then suddenly, Kim Yiseo didn’t feel any resistance as Ethan’s Grimoire was easily pulled towards her. At the sa ti, the fire grenades seeking to burn her Grimoire to ashes paused in the air, before vanishing. She grabbed Ethan’s Grimoire with a frown, then turned just in ti to see the boy drop to the floor of the arena with a calm look on his face.

He was sleeping.

“He’s really narcoleptic,” Lee Jaehyun said. rlin nodded in response.

Kim Yiseo seed torn. She looked at Ethan’s Grimoire, then at the boy. Then she sighed exasperatedly and walked up to Ethan, who was now curled up on the floor of the arena like he was lying on his bed.

She kicked him.

“Hey! Wake up!”

Ethan turned around, smacking his lips.

“A mont, please,” he mumbled.

Yiseo pressed her lips tightly together and gave him a harder kick. He twitched and his eyes snapped open. He looked up at her, scratching his eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Yiseo stared at him blankly. “Your opponent.” She showed him his Grimoire. “Will you give up?”

Ethan looked between her and the Grimoire. He opened his mouth to say sothing and fell backwards onto the arena once again.

Yiseo’s body twitched as her expression squeezed. Her grip tightened on Ethan’s Grimoire. She was just about to kick him once again when Instructor Park stopped her.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to nullify this match,” she said. Yiseo turned towards her. “I apologize, but your opponent seems like he would really like to have a bed to lay on. Since he neither gave up nor was he pushed to exhaustion by you, I can’t hand you the win. I’m sure you understand.”

Yiseo’s expression was plain, but she took a mont to just stare around. The crowd didn’t seem displeased as to how the fight had turned out; they even looked like they were enjoying themselves. Despite the fact that the tournant was for the rankings of the academy, it was not a do or die event to those watching.

Perhaps Kim Yiseo realized this. Because in the next instant she tossed Ethan’s Grimoire onto him with a sigh and nodded.

“I understand.”