CHAPTER 251: STOP IT...

Caius took advantage of Cynthia being so taken by his spell to put even more distance between them as his mind tried to devise a plan.

If Cynthia could get close to him to bypass the Third Circle limit then he had even less of a chance to win than he did earlier. And that was already slim.

Using his mana to cast movement spells to always run away was getting old fast. His reserves were running low and his physical energy was starting to wane. So much for being efficient and ’making every attack count’. The electrocution had done a number on him.

He had spells he still hadn’t used but there really wasn’t any point. This was not about versatility. It wasn’t about spell-casting ingenuity. He was really just... screwed.

Cynthia let her water shield disperse into nothing and the water on the ground and on Caius’s clothes from her water-pillar spell was turning into mana as the spell’s active time had run out.

"Huh," she thought as she deactivated the wind cyclone that was keeping her in the air so her feet could touch the ground which was now dry and didn’t pose a hazard.

She eyed Caius for a while as she stood in place. He had stopped running. The distance between them was almost exactly ten meters but the hall was still quite large and he still had room to run to and widen that distance to keep himself safe. But he didn’t.

That intrigued the Combat Magic Professor.

’Exhausted already?’ She wondered to herself as she observed Caius and then she shook her head to answer her own question,

’No. Not yet. He still has some fight left in him.’

Cynthia noted she wasn’t happy about that. And it caused her to confirm something she had already been thinking about since this all even began;

She just might want these extra lessons to end, after all.

Since yesterday when she heard of Caius’s role in the fight against the Bullcroc, Cynthia had been stewing in annoyance. That annoyance had caused her to start planning this duel as she decided she was merely wasting her time with Caius and might as well take things seriously if there was even a point to it at all.

Everything she told Caius when they first entered this hall today was true but there was some added context;

Cynthia felt it was dumb to engage Caius in boring poses when what was likely drawing him to be a Mage-Knight was his ability to be very active in that path’s training.

Everything about Mage-Knights, as far as Cynthia was aware—or cared to be aware of anyway—was that they were always active. Besides the need to advance in Magic Circles, Cynthia believed Mage-Knights never dedicated time to quiet introspection. It was all about building muscle strength for them and not improving their intellectual faculties.

So of course, if the excitement of engaging in fisticuffs was what was swaying Caius to the other side, Cynthia felt that showing him how fun training for Traditional Mage Duels can be could still pull him over to the right path.

But then she found herself wondering; what if it just wasn’t his path?

Caius had talent in the Traditional Mage ways, his ability to create spells, which he had shown today—even going as far as dabbling in dangerous arts like combining elements to create singular spells—was all the makings of a Traditional Mage because a Mage-Knight doesn’t have the patience or mental acumen to do such.

Alas, Cynthia was starting to accept that Caius just might also have a talent for the Mage-Knight ways. He had certainly been impressive with it from what Lea Gilligan had made sure the entire Staff Room knew.

Realizing she might just be fighting a losing battle and Caius may be ’doomed’ to become a Mage-Knight no matter how hard she tried had Cynthia ready to give up on this whole thing entirely.

Plus, there was the matter of how last week’s extra lesson had gone;

Their performing the poses together and their bodies getting so close had caused her to feel things. Inappropriate things one shouldn’t feel for their student. Feelings that were compromising her and her motivations.

Suddenly, in some part of her mind, she felt that to continue these extra lessons was to acknowledge those inappropriate thoughts and feelings and that definitely shaped how this duel had now become.

You see, Cynthia could have just engaged Caius in a duel, rejuvenate any interest he may have in being a Traditional Mage, but she instead put in an ultimatum where he had to win or they would not continue.

An impossible task.

This was because somewhere, in some recess of her mind, she wanted to let go. She wanted to cut ties with the impossible task she had given herself to turn a son from the ways of his father.

Apparently, only her sister, Delia, could turn down years of tradition to adamantly pursue an alternative path.

The thing was though, Cynthia could have won the duel easily. All she had to do was outlast Caius which she could do even limited to the Third Circle and yet, she had ’cheated’ and gotten close to him to get past that limitation.

Why? She had no real idea.

But if she were to make a guess, Cynthia would say it was because of anger. Anger at herself mostly for attempting any of this. And some anger at Caius for just not being able to be a normal student and he had to be the kind to rouse thoughts and feelings within her.

Oh, well. It was about time it ended now.

Caius was still standing but it would take so little to end it all and Cynthia decided she might as well do that. She could have done it standing ten meters away from him with Third Circle spells but decided this had gone on long enough...

... One Fifth Circle spell, quickly cast, should sap whatever else was left of Caius’s Mana and physical energy reserves.

With a gust of wind, she moved herself until she was within range to cast a higher-level movement spell and get about five feet away from him, her hand raised to smack him with a spell up close to put an end to his ’suffering’ even faster.

But then Caius turned to her. There was a look in his eyes that caused Cynthia’s heart to thud in trepidation.

’Nonsense,’ she told herself trying to calm her erratically beating heart, ’I’m not in any danger.’

But wasn’t she?

Caius had known she would approach. And he had a spell prepared already, completing the cast just as he locked eyes with her.

~Hellsong Stomp~

He stomped both his feet against the ground and dashed toward Cynthia.

She saw him coming.

As great a boost as ~Hellsong Stomp~ was for Caius, Cynthia was just far too high in Magic Circles to lose sight of him but he never hoped for that so it didn’t matter.

Caius could have used ~Hellsong Dash~ which he had more control over but he picked the more unstable spell because the instability made it harder, by default, for an opponent—in this case Cynthia—to figure out what he had planned because, in a sense, not even he knew.

He was just being dragged along by the movement spell so when Cynthia looked at his beyond handsome face getting closer to her, she didn’t see any look on purpose. She also didn’t move out of the way.

Caius had expected that. Cynthia had nothing to fear from him as far as she knew so why would she try to dodge him? Also, he didn’t move to collide with her and actually made to go past her, which she watched happen with a confused smile wondering what he was thinking.

Just as he was getting past her, Caius reached out and grabbed Cynthia’s wrist. The one she didn’t have raised to cast a spell.

Technically, he had been moving his hand since he first cast ~Hellsong Stomp~ because he had to. He timed it just right so he would be within range to make the wrist grab right when he needed to.

It felt like his intent was to pull Cynthia away but she refused to be moved so she just grounded his movement spell and its flame fizzled out so now Caius was just standing with his hand holding tightly to her wrist.

"What—?" Cynthia started to ask, still confused but before she could complete her question, Caius pulled closer to her pressing his chest flush against hers.

Cynthia let out a gasp of surprise as her ample assets were getting squished against Caius’s pecs and she let out a sound that was low but resembled a moan when he wrapped an arm around her waist.

Cynthia’s eyes were wide as they stared into Caius’s. She felt at this point his plan should he obvious but, for the life of her, she couldn’t really think straight.

He was just so... close.

Caius released her wrist then and touched her thigh lightly. There was a slit on both sides of her gown so Caius touched her skin directly and it caused Cynthia to catch her breath. Especially when his hand began to trail even further up, pushing into her gown to touch dangerously close to...

"Stop it..." Cynthia said in a slightly breathy tone and grabbed his wrist, stopping Caius’s exploration.