Deadly Training Time Next

(Robin's POV):

"Jay, do you mind?"

"Alright!" - Jay

We're currently in the underground junction of Denzel's crystal palace. This area was made to enforce duels and various kinds of weapon testing. Since we're occupying it right now, Denzel has a different manner of initiating a duel.

Jay started reading the instruction when I told him to go to the podium on the side of the arena. He raised his hand and tried to adjust something.

"Each sides will have a duplicate health in a one by one proportion to your maximum health, that is called 'Duel Health'. For sure you understand that since the beginning of the game." - Jay

Jay starts reading something in the instructions of the podium out loud. This is what Denzel has in his dueling arena.

"Now, the length of the entire duel will be ten minutes. Any more than that will be decided by how much duel health you have left in percentage. As for the rules, pinnacle level skills or destructive magic are forbidden." - Jay

Well, I pretty much will hold back anyway so there's no need to worry about that.

"Support magic that's more effective with more people will not be used with maximum efficiency." - Jay

As expected, it won't really help the person if they use support magic in a duel.

"A time notification will pop up every minute, and the last one will be a ten second countdown. Be aware of your time! That's all! Now ready yourselves." - Jay

"Duel health!"

"Duel health!" - Terrence

Both Terrence and I activated our duel health and prepared ourselves. He reveals a pair of pistols with a large opening in them. Gunslinger Duelist huh...

I brought out nothing but a single revolver which made Terrence narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"Duel begins in!" - Jay

Jay pressed a button and sets the timer to ten minutes and five seconds.

"Five, four, three, two, one, begin!" - Jay

Terrence immediately fired multiple rounds of bullets in quick succession. I blasted most of it by firing highly precise shots using my revolver. When I noticed, all the bullets he fired were all large silver balls. He doesn't seem to try and hold back and even went for more after he saw that his bullets dispersed.

"Searing Blades!"

I brought out three searing blades to assist me in deflecting every single bullet fired towards my position. I then returned the favor by firing multiple bullets towards Terrence who is still stationary to his position. Let's play a game shall we?

We're currently in the stability state which means that we have to maintain our position as it is currently the most balanced part. I fired a few bullets that will tempt him from moving off from his spot to launch deadly attacks.

Terrence, who was able to take notice, fired directly towards my bullets and prevented them to ruin his balance. He then fired a bunch more bullets but all of which pretty much got deflected around by my searing blades.

I then fired multiple bullets while sneaking one shot aiming towards his head. He managed to deflect every single bullet except that he wasn't expecting an attack directly aimed towards his forehead.

"Ghh!" - Terrence

And at that point, he flinched and moved from his position. He started rebalancing himself but I loaded my revolver with wind and light bullets. I then shot Terrence multiple times and knocked him down.

"Duel end! Winner is Robin!" - Jay

"Damn, did I do even well?" - Terrence

To be honest, Terrence's ability to overwhelm an enemy from a distance is troublesome, without the searing blades I would normally have to move from my position. So I guess he's about the level of Jay.

"Hmm, it's pretty nice that you're able to manage something such as overwhelming an enemy right from the start. Pretty sure you and Grace would work well together when paired up. So I'd say you're above average for an Asylum recruit."

"Really? Holy crap..." - Terrence

"You have multiple things you need to manage, first thing involves keeping an eye on everything. Against me it will be fine to keep an eye straight forward. But in a party battle, you'll be an easy target."

"I see, I should train a bit more huh..." - Terrence

"Yep, who will be next?"

Gayle stepped forward while Terrence returned towards Ridley and Rylle position. They gave him pats on the back and passed him some potions.

"So you're next huh? Aight, on to your position."

"Alright..." - Gayle

Gayle moved toward her side and Jay started announcing the duel contents once more.

"A time notifica-" - Jay

"I already know Jay..." - Gayle

"A-alright." - Jay

Jay somewhat flinched and decided to press the button.

"Duel begins in Five!" - Jay

"Duel health!"

"Duel health!" - Gayle

Jay pressed the button once more and set the timer back to ten minutes and five seconds.

"Four, three, two, one, begin!" - Jay

Gayle brought out her large scythe and I instantly brought out Mana Breaker all alone. She then dashed at an extremely high speed towards me and swung down her scythe immediately.

I parried it with my Mana Breaker and started feeling something sucking off my mana. A mystic huh... This will be troublesome...

If I remember correctly, there are two distinct features of a mystic. Both of which are being able to absorb mana from enemy attacks using barriers, and reading minds. I need more weapons!

"Searing Blades!"

"Mystic Barrier!" - Gayle

Gayle immediately activated a barrier which made me dispel the searing blades instantly. I then slashed the barrier with Mana Breaker to disperse it but it ended up sucking a huge chunk of my mana. Yep, very troublesome indeed. What should I do...

I dashed backwards and brought out Heaven's Beacon. Jay seems to look somewhat excited and scared considering how powerful his older sister is.

"Blinding Light!"

"Rift Cutter!" - Gayle

Gayle dashed forward and somewhat tripped. Chance!

I dashed forward and tried to land a slash on the shoulders. However, she seems to have read my mind and decided to dash out from her position and recover her balance immediately. She then dashed towards my vulnerable position so I dropped down to the floor and rolled towards her. The scythe missed but she converted her dash to a front flip using forward momentum and tried to swing the scythe around. Instead of landing a hit on her, she managed to slash my shoulder. Mind readers are seriously hard to deal with.

"Searing Light!"

I tried to fire a laser of light but a single slash that left purple particles completely stopped my attack. She then dashed forward but lost her balance once more and tripped completely. She tried to stand up so I regained my balance before she's able to stand up.

I fired more attacks such as Lingering Light and Light Blast which she dodged pretty easily.

"Kaede is so strong! And scary... - Jay

When I looked at Gayle, she seems to be smiling in a psychopathic manner. She could be a good match for our psycho Denzel but I don't think it's possible.

When I checked the time, there was only six minutes left and I still have yet to deal damage. I guess I have no other choice...

"Illumination..."

I activated illumination to provide myself a powerful buff and hid Heaven's Beacon for the time being. I then brought out a powerful weapon given to me by Denzel himself. I took it out from his personal storage near his bed. I asked him if it was finished and he nodded.

It is a sword made up of various rare items that I have collected from various kinds of enemies around the map for the past year. Denzel agreed to forge the weapon to its absolute perfection and had Karl enhance it even further.

"Arch Paladin!"

"Wait What?!?!" - Jay

Apparently, Denzel has been testing the weapon during the grand invasion so it works really well. Now, for the unavoidable attacks.

When I started thinking of that, Gayle dashed back and activated the Mystic Barrier once more. I raised my Paladin's Sword and activated one skill I should use pretty reservedly.

"Commandment!"

Gayle kneels down and started feeling a little pain. Well, it is an invisible attack. It is meant to target an enemy from the inside so any form of defense will not help.

When Gayle noticed my smile, she read my mind and raised her hands to resignation.

"D-duel end, winner is Robin!" - Jay

"Fuah..."

I sat down on the floor while looking at the ceiling.

That was a lot of effort. This is way beyond everyone in their group. But there's still Lester so...

"Lester, you're up!"

Gayle smiled as he moved towards Jay's spot in the podium. He asked her what I thought and she seems to have read my mind still.

"You know the drill." - Jay

"Duel health!"

"Duel health!" - Lester

"Duel begins in Five!" - Jay

For the last time, Jay pressed the button and activated the timer. We listened to the countdown and immediately dashed towards each other and clashed our swords.

"Soul Snare!" - Lester

When he activated the skill, all my movement instantly became sluggish. I had to make extremely high effort just to move around but, I have been in combat with soul harbingers before. They aren't that difficult.

"Blood Price." - Lester

"Commandment."

Lester immediately knelt down while I start to stand up and try to exert even more effort.

"Commandment."

I activated commandment once more to stack the loss of strength and increase his sensitivity of pain while damaging him by a little bit with light.

"Concentrated Cut."

"Soul Rend." - Lester

I was immediately blown away with the extreme increase of damage by his missing health. However, I managed to cut off the mana from his soul snare and allowed myself normal movement.

"Commandment."

"Damnit!" - Lester

"Righteous Seal."

I locked down both of our powers and lessened our damage completely. His ability to bring out so much damage has been cleared off.

"I-I give." - Lester

Lester fell down to the ground which made Jay somewhat happy for some reason.

"Duel end! Winner is Robin!" - Jay

"I'll announce your results by tomorrow. For now, we get some rest in our rooms."

Everyone agreed and started leaving the dojo at their own pace. I sat down for the time being and started thinking.