Death, Devotion, Dissonance

The Chairman and the Vice-chair also seemed to have noticed this oddity, and they were talking to each other with soft tones. Phel tried focusing his ears on the two but quickly learned that a barrier of air was protecting their conversation.

Phel obviously wasn't going to dare ignore these defenses, as he was a hundred percent going to get discovered. His opponent was a High-mage of the kingdom, and Phel wasn't even able to properly slip past his instructor's defenses. The action would only serve to leave a terrible impression in the Chairman's eyes, and he wouldn't even be able to hear what he wanted to, as the two would promptly cease their talks.

Instead, Phel focused on the fight.

Evin held the lodestone in his hand and absorbed roughly one third of it. He could probably absorb more, but Phel guessed it would start affecting his actions.

Evin then started to do something. Something in the air stirred, was it the mana, or was it the air itself, Phel didn't know. But Decatur seemed to immediately realize what was happening as he swiftly sent a stream of shining water at Evin's location. Evin did his best to dodge, but was having much trouble as the water moved much faster than any normal human. And it became evident that Evin didn't possess the eerie nimbleness of Arza.

Very quickly, the water reached Evin. Phel knew that it would stick onto Evin like the sap of a tree and hold him down until the rest of the waters came and engulfed Evin in an aquatic prison.

But something out of everyone's expectations happened in the next moment. Right after the water touched Evin, it phased through him, as if the boy was made of nothing.

"Argh!" a sound came from Decatur, who tumbled forward, his hands holding the back of his head.

Phel noticed a shimmer of silver behind Decatur, and two hands clumped together in a fist, looking like they'd just made contact with their intended target – the back of Decatur's head. With another glare of silver, the hands disappeared into the air once more.

"Illusions!" Phel whispered with shock.

Decatur then glared backwards and sent a huge array of fine ice towards the general direction. These weren't big enough to kill anyone, but it was enough to make someone hurt badly. Provided it hit them, of course. The entirety of Decatur's spell lodged into the walls of the arena, which could only mean that Evin was left unscathed.

Decatur growled and looked around frantically, seething with anger.

His eyes found Evin soon after, as the latter materialized into existence ten steps away from him. Two of him, to be exact. But everyone could tell they were fake, with parts of their bodies shining with silver, trying not dissipate into tiny dusts of Thought energy.

'Perhaps maintaining two illusions at a time is too tall of a task for him,' Phel thought briefly before shaking his head. 'No. I've half-heartedly dabbled in Illusions for five years now, and I can barely recreate what Evin managed today. I should praise his skills, instead of finding petty flaws in their makings.'

The two Evins ran towards their enemy, their movements identical – impractical and untrained. Decatur, on the other hand, willed his water to swirl widely all around him. The two Evins ducked under it, but Decatur didn't give much thought to these illusions. He was most likely hoping to hit the real Evin, one hidden out of sight behind a transparent veil of illusions.

But Decatur, like all the other students, only realized they were being played into Evin's ploy when the two apparent fakes were only two steps away from their target. The real Evin was not hiding out of sight, but was actually the Evin running on the left side of the two. And he was sending a wild punch towards Decatur's nose.

Phel, like most others who were trained in close combat, found the punch clumsy and brutish. But it hit its target true, as there was almost no time for Decatur to react. After delivering the punch, Evin quickly shimmered out of existence.

Decatur growled again as he held his nose, clearly annoyed by the opponent's hit and run tactics.

Phel heard some of the spectators' whispers, about how Decatur managed to get fooled by such illusions, not once but twice. Phel judged that these teenagers never faced a proper illusionist in their lives.

Thanks to his private lessons with his instructor, he knew how difficult it was to look at something and to convince oneself that it was not real. One would need to look at an attack and persuade their minds to not register it as something dangerous to themselves. This weird fixation often made fights with able illusionists a hellish experience for mages, even if they knew they were dealing with trickery.

After all, the aim of these illusions was to make the one wonder what was real and what was not, to gnaw at their wits and make them blunder and make grave mistakes. It was exactly the situation happening to Decatur, with his face full of anger and embarrassment, violently scattering his spells all over the arena.

Evin was unwittingly achieving the best possible scenario for an illusionist.

'Or perhaps he willed for this to happen from the beginning? If so, he only needs a decisive method to end the fight…' Phel was reminded of his instructor's words regarding fighting as an illusionist.

Illusions alone did not hurt enemies. They needed to serve a purpose, so the enemy would be distracted of the thing that could hurt him.

'Wait! The spell he started the fight with!' Phel realized.

He felt the air, and sure enough, the weird stirring of the air was still happening. Phel didn't know what the spell was supposed to do, but from what Decatur said, it wasn't something one should receive head on. Perhaps it would grant Evin the oomph he needed to win the fight. And to think he's been focused on one spell while also working with the illusions…

More and more, Phel found it difficult that Evin was but a simple 2nd grade. He must have a mentor somewhere, teaching him these tactics and tricks. For what reason Evin concealed the fact, Phel didn't know.

With eyes full of excitement, Phel observed the fight.

Decatur seemed to have finally calmed down and stopped randomly spewing water everywhere. His mind cleared. He glimmered with the brilliance of light and indiscriminately started shining at all directions.

Evin was smart enough to mask his shadows with his illusions, but with the added light, it became much harder for him to do so. A long shadow of a boy stretched on one corner of the arena. It soon revealed Evin, hiding his eyes behind his arms, no doubt having trouble adjusting it to the new infusion of brightness. The light that was messily glaring towards all directions, suddenly all focused on Evin's location, making things even harder for the boy. Phel was sure that even with his arms covering his eyes, the light was creeping into Evin's retina, mercilessly making a mess of it in the process.

Decatur walked slowly towards his target, not worried he would lose him again. A few steps before he reached Evin's location, a roar of a fire echoed in the arena, and for a brief second, a giant fire-spirit exploded into existence. But sadly, the sudden attack didn't manage to hurt Decatur, only managing to daze him briefly.

At least it gave Evin a chance to fight back. The boy stumbled towards Decatur in a wild fit, his eyes shut tightly. What followed afterwards was something unsightly for the eyes, as Evin latched behind Decatur, and started to strangle him with all his might.

'Good try,' Phel sighed, knowing that the fight was over.

Just as he predicted, Decatur grabbed Evin's hands and easily dismantled Evin's hold on his neck. Violently, he slammed Evin to the ground and looked over at him with an expression of victory.

Decatur was not going to lose in a contest of strength, especially with his core brimming with the energy of Apdenul. Phel saw the second lodestone falling to the ground, emptied out of the mana it held. Phel was sure that Decatur turned every bit of it into an energy of strength and life.

Evin struggled to jump to his feet and slip into his illusions once more, but Decatur wasn't going to let him. He had finally caught his opponent, so he wasn't going to let him go so easily.

Phel expected his friend to vent his anger. Perhaps he would pound on Evin's guts a few times and then say a few spiteful words at the end of it.

But things turned ugly very, very quickly.

In his rage, Decatur picked Evin's arm up with both hands and slammed it into his knees, like it was a twig to be broken for fire. A bloodcurdling scream came from Evin's mouth, as he was thrown to the ground like a damaged, useless rag-doll.

Seemingly unsatisfied, Decatur reached for Evin's other arm, and at this point, the Vice-chair came to stop him.

"You've won," The Northerner said tersely. "Let's leave it at that."

The other students looked on with silent horror, dumbly listening to Evin's cries for help. After all, these were nothing but mock fights. There was absolutely no need for such sharp violence. Arza briefly looked like he was ready to jump at Decatur, but he decided to run towards Evin instead, asking him in vain if he was alright. The Chairman also appeared next to him.

The two brought Evin towards a shaded spot in the arena, where people usually received first aid. Phel saw the Chairman feeding Evin some sort of pill, and then absorbing some mana off a lodestone himself. After taking the pill, Evin seemed to calm down for the time being.

Decatur walked back to Phel's side, a satisfied smile on his face. Phel felt sick at the sight, but he could understand it. Decatur was never one to care for others or his actions when he was mad.

Phel felt the breaking of Evin's arm was excessive for a mock fight, but he also knew that these things happened in Combat classes. He resolved to admonish Decatur greatly, regarding his actions and what others would think of it… after all, his father hinted at him many times that he might become a trusted aid for the Carew family.

But he had to wait for some hours to pass before he could start speaking. He knew that Decatur wasn't going to listen to him in his agitated state.

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