CHAPTER 175: WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Caius looked amused as he asked,

"What?"

"Don’t even think of denying it," Baler said and his voice rose to an angry tone,

"I’ve seen you whispering things to him. It was you. You filled his head with that nonsense that he could go to Aylin without coming to me first."

"And who are you?" Caius asked.

"Wha— Are you stupid or what?" Baler asked, "I’m her brother—"

"And of what importance is that to anything? What does it matter that you’re her brother? Why should anyone come to you with anything important when you’re nothing more than a stuck-up moron with no good qualities to boast of?" Caius asked.

"Why you—" Baler started to say, clenching his fists as he rose from his seat.

"Go on," Caius smirked, "Get mad. Lash out. I dare you."

It was clear that the memory of the Base defense exercise at Combat Magic class two weeks ago was still very much on Baler’s mind. And while the memory of that loss should have made him simmer down, he seemed to only get angrier.

Just then, the Portal Gate appeared and Professor Raoul Raoul arrived. He had on his usual tank top that showed off his muscles and he stepped onto the stage in front of the row of seated students.

"Sorry, I’m late," he said excitedly, "Just working out some details for your Mid-semester Tests with the other Professors. Oh, it’s gonna be so fun..."

"Professor," Baler said then and thrust a hand up.

Professor Raoul looked surprised to have been interrupted. He blinked a few times but hardly lost the enthusiastic smile he had on his face (he was too hopped up for that) and looked at Baler.

"What is it?"

"I demand a duel," Baler said, and then, in a grand voice like he was declaring a righteous war, he raised his hand and pointed at Caius,

"My honor has been soiled. I demand a chance to make things right."

Caius laughed then. It started small and then it was louder and rolling from his mouth boisterously before he eventually managed to keep it tame so he could say,

"Honor? What honor could a useless pathetic second fiddle like you possibly have?"

Baler’s icy-blue eyes looked like they had become blood-red in his rage and veins bulged out of his forehead as he turned towards Professor Raoul to say,

"As you can see, Professor, this miscreant keeps running his mouth. I request the opportunity to shut him up. In a proper duel."

"You know, if you really wanted to get your ass kicked that much, you should have just come at me in the halls. You’d have had the element of surprise and maybe then you’d have had a chance.

But I don’t expect a pea-brained moron like you to even properly strategize an attempted get-back."

Of course, there was a reason Baler was going through a ’proper channel’. He had lost in front of an audience. He had lost in a proper duel that had prior agreement from both sides to participate. He was filled with a sense of pride to get back at Caius in a similar situation.

Mage-Knight Training Class had a smaller audience than the Combat Magic class but it would work well enough. The word of the result would also get spread either way. So long as it was a sanctioned duel, he would be satisfied.

It took a lot for Baler not to leap right at Caius following those hurtful words but he kept his eyes on Professor Raoul hoping for his request to be sanctioned.

"So much blood-pumping energy here. This moment is so charged. Seems wrong not to let it play out.

Do you accept this duel, Caius Von Helsing?"

"No," Caius answered immediately.

"What?" Baler responded and he still had his face turned toward Professor Raoul but was looking at Caius out of the corner of his eyes.

"Are you deaf? I said no," Caius said, "There is no benefit for me here. I see no reason to participate just to satisfy just masochistic kink to get beaten up."

Now Baler turned his head fully to look at Caius,

"It’s not a kink— you know what, never mind," he said in a strained voice, "Knightly Ethics demand you accept my duel and let me get satisfaction."

Caius made a disgusted face.

"You say it’s not a Kink, and then you say stuff like that," he said, "But it’s still a ’No’. If you don’t have something to offer me in case I win, then I’m not dueling you and you can’t make me."

Baler looked at Professor Raoul who shrugged.

"He’s right. You can’t make him accept."

"But YOU can convince him to accept, Professor," Baler said.

Professor Raoul cocked his head slightly to the side and nodded.

"You’re right," he said and looked at Caius, "Von Helsing?"

"No, Professor," Caius answered simply.

Raoul sighed.

"Well, I tried," he said.

Baler frowned.

"Fine. What do you want?" He asked.

"Winter’s Tear," Caius answered immediately.

At first, Baler looked surprised, and then his rage was back, multiplied by at least five times.

"How do you know about that?" He asked.

"Do you accept or not?" Caius asked with a smile.

Baler weighed things in his head. A smarter person would have taken this moment to retreat. To rethink. Maybe just go for the more ’cowardly’ approach and attack Caius in the halls as had been suggested. But Baler decided to press on.

After all, asking for a proper duel had already robbed him of his element of surprise so he had to have been confident of winning from the start. And he was.

Putting something he treasured on the line for a fight he didn’t at all plan to lose didn’t matter.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth.

"Good," Caius said with a nod, "Then I accept."

"Then get on up here, you two crazy kids," Professor Raoul said and walked away.

Caius turned toward Delia who had just been watching the proceedings with almost as much intrigue as the rest of the class.

"Wish me luck?" He asked her.

Delia scoffed.

"On one hand, I really hope he beats you up hard. On the other hand, I think he’s really annoying and creeps me out. Whoever wins, I’ll be both happy and pissed," she said and mulled things over before letting out a sigh and shrugging,

"Oh well, good luck, I guess."

"Be less enthusiastic next time," Caius said sarcastically with one last smile as he stepped up on the stage at the same time Professor Raoul returned with two rods made to mimic swords.

They were made pretty sturdy but lacked any edge and were also enchanted to never cause any real harm allowing students to go as hard in using them against each other as they possibly could.

"Seems fitting since we’re currently on swordplay in your education," he said as he handed the practice swords to Caius and Baler.

It felt good to hold. Had a nice balance. It was made for third Circle Mages like them.

Caius gave it a few practice swings. The entirety of last week’s class had been on swords. Mostly basic swings and footwork and nothing truly in-depth into the use of the sword.

He looked up at Baler and saw that the Khione boy had a palm over his mouth before he gulped and very clearly swallowed something.

"Huh, interesting," he said in a whisper as he now began to understand why Baler so confidently requested a duel.

"You are armed with Practice swords to ensure you don’t harm each other too terribly. In other words, I want a proper duel. One adhering to the true ethics of a Knight.

The first of you off the stage loses," Professor Roaul announced and looked at Caius and then at Baler who both nodded to show they understood the instructions.

Professor Raoul stepped back and a good few feet away from the two before he announced in a loud voice.

"Begin."

Immediately after, a burst of icy energy exploded from Baler’s body. So intense that it smacked Caius in the face and caused the entire class to wince as a thin layer of frost now covered the stage and the bodies of a few of them, causing a few shivers.