The Arrogance of Humility 3

Just like before, Professor Vennefer stood between them to explain the rules for their sparring before.

“No Maleficium,” he said as he looked at them. “No cheating, No permanent injury. Use the magic from the grimoire. You both have five minutes to prepare, understand?”

“Understood, professor,” Cletus replied honorably with a nod while Lucy just crossed her arms, looking away with a pout.

“Sure, okay. Whatever,” she said without a care.

“Anyway,” he said as he walked to his seat. “Preparations start now.”

Wasting no other time, Cletus opened and perused his grimoire, preparing the magic chains or combos he would need to use to defeat Lucy.

On the other hand, Lucy, instead of preparing herself, sat on the ground, relaxing. She didn't even open her grimoire as she herself had no desire to participate in the sparing.

She looked at Cletus’ seriousness on his face while he was perusing the grimoire, causing her to smirk a bit.

“Hey!” Lucy called. “Why don’t you sit and relax? Or better, let’s skip this battle—!”

“Luxianne!” Professor Vennefer scolded her, irritated by her attitude. “Don’t distract him and read your grimoire! You’ve got three more minutes to prepare. Don’t waste your time—!”

“Okay, okay! I got it! Hmph!” She crossed her arms, looking away while pouting.

Professor Vennefer shook his head and stood.

“I will be back soon,” he said. “When I arrive, we’ll start.”

Professor Vennefer went outside the room. After that, the students began conversing and discussing aloud freely.

Lucy saw the students and looked at Cletus, teasing him.

“Hey!” she said. “Now the old man is out. Want to do something else—?”

“No,” Cletus replied, still focusing on reading.

“Tch!” Lucy pouted. “What a boring guy. I bet you are still single until now~” she teased with a smile. Cletus lifted his grimoire, covering his reddened face, but Lucy could see his blushing face.

From the spectators’ seats, Iggy and Celina looked and commented on her carefree attitude.

“It’s hard to believe she’s the best among us,” Celina said. “But her skills and masteries over magic are frightening.”

“She didn’t open her grimoire,” Iggy responded as he scratched the back of his hair.

“A fair handicap, I may say,” Celina said as she crossed her arms.

“Heh!” he chuckled with a grin. “She could defeat all of us easily without moving a step. There’s no real handicap against her, remember?”

Celina nodded without a word, confirming Iggy’s words even though it sounded exaggerating.

Professor Vennefer entered the room, and the students became silent. He walked to his seat and said, “All right. It’s time for the sparring. I will count to three.”

Cletus opened his grimoire as Professor Vennefer said “One!” and remembered his combos as Professor Vennefer said “Two!”

Lucy didn’t even bother standing. She just sat leisurely and yawned from boredom.

“Three!” Vennefer announced, and Cletus immediately pointed forward, using every magic he reserved to defeat Lucy in a succession, not wanting to give her a chance to draw breath.

“Vine Shackles!” he read aloud as he pointed at her, and a level two sigil surrounded Lucy and, from the sigil, vine tentacles appeared and shackled Lucy’s legs and arms, restraining and pulling her to the ground.

“Ouch!” she thought. “This position is awkward, hmph!”

Lucy tried moving her limbs, but the shackles tightened.

“H-Hey!” Lucy complained, peeved. “That’s not how you treat a lady—!”

“Malice Thorns!” A level one sigil appeared on the vines, and the vines thickened, and sharp thorns grew, piercing through Lucy’s skin and flesh.

“Hey! Ouch—!” she writhed in pain. “T-Take it easy, will you—?!”

Cletus opened the last page of his grimoire and pointed at Lucy.

“Ouch! Did I badmouth his mother or something?” Lucy thought. “Why so serious?”

“Mini World Tree!” Cletus read aloud.

“Oh my—!” Lucy gasped, knowing something big was approaching.

“It’s World Tree…” Professor Vennefer thought. “One of the strongest and the most complex magic almost considered as Deus.”

A level 8 sigil appeared, surrounding Lucy in the middle and the half of the arena.

“Even the lessened form is a level 8,” Professor Vennefer thought after seeing the sigil circles.

From the sigil, a single giant tree composed of numerous woods came out, covering the half of the arena and Lucy. The tree kept growing and consumed half of the arena.

There was no response or sign from Lucy after a minute, causing the spectators to believe Lucy was crushed by the tree.

“T-That’s it???” Iggy blurted, disappointed, while Celina just looked at the tree without a word.

“You play too much,” Professor Vennefer just shook his head, disappointed as he thought.

“I won…” The magic drained Cletus, almost emptying his energy, but he was positive the victory was his as he thought while panting, proud of himself.

Before Professor Vennefer could declare the victor, the tree was shrinking down bit by bit as if someone or something was absorbing it.

The spectators could see countless white things on the barks and the leaves.

“What are those?” Iggy said, trying his best to look closer. “Fungus?”

“That’s no fungus, you silly!” Celina said as she pointed at the tree. “Look! Those are sigils!”

Upon closer inspection, hundreds of small level three sigils covered the barks and the woods.

“Who could’ve done that?” Iggy asked.

“Who else?” Celina said as she knew Lucy won’t be down that easily.

In the arena, Cletus' body trembled from seeing his magic getting drained rapidly.

“A-A-Absorption?!” he muttered with his limbs went cold. “Don’t tell me—!”

Lucy reemerged with her wounds closing rapidly, returning her body to the normal state, much to Cletus’ horror, knowing his efforts were but naught. She wiped off the dust from her body while stretching her limbs and neck.

“Phew! You’re bad at treating a lady, boy,” Lucy said casually.

“And you damaged my clothes!” Lucy thought, peeved as she pouted.

She pointed forward with her face irritated at Cletus and shouted, “Hey! You better compensate for the damage you’ve done to my clothes!”

“How could she absorb such powerful magic?!” Iggy thought.

“I knew it,” Celina thought. “There’s no way she could lose pathetically.”

Cletus was too afraid to move. He was sweaty all over his body and had a scared grimace etched on his face.

“I…” he thought. “I have to do something—!”

“Hey!” Lucy said aloud, startling Cletus that he jumped. “Give me a response, will ya?!”

Cletus immediately opened his grimoire in panic, trying to rethink his strategy.

“Tch!” She crossed her arms, looking at her fallen grimoire. “If you really want ‘that’ so bad, I’ll give it!”

Lucy took her grimoire and read everything in an instant. After a half a minute, she threw the grimoire away with an unimpressed look.

“I have read these before!” Lucy thought as she pouted. “I shouldn’t be bothered to bring this ancient book with me! What a hassle!”

Cletus pointed forward with his right hand trembling.

“V-V-Vine P-Prisons! M-Malice Thorns! F-Fire Veil!” he read with his lips quivering in fear.

Several sigils with different levels and colors appeared below Lucy. The sigils overlaid with one another, creating single magic.

Lucy looked at the sigils and the same sigils appeared, but with reversed patterns and inverted colors, overlaying on the top of Cletus’s sigils.

“Inverse Sigils,” Professor Vennefer thought. “Canceling magic by using the inverted version of the sigil, negating each other out, but one has to know the exact pattern of the sigil in order to do so.”

“S-S-S-She knew the e-exact sigils?!” Cletus thought, devastated as he moved back step by step.

With a bitter face of a predator, Lucy moved forward with her fists clenched. The aura coming out from her gave Cletus and the spectators chill on their spines.

“You…” she said with her face bitter.

“She’s going for an overkill?” Iggy muttered, frightened.

“Let’s hope not,” Celina replied. “Professor Vennefer would stop her from going any further.”

Cletus fell to the ground, but before he could crawl, Lucy caught up and lifted him by his collars, forcing him to stand. The scared Cletus closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.

“Hey!” Lucy said aloud, peeved as he shook him repeatedly. “Don’t ignore me! Hmph!” Lucy pouted, irritated.

The scared Cletus was still processing Lucy’s words, prompting Lucy to pinch Cletus’ cheeks hard.

“Hey!” she said. “You’re not deaf, aren’t you?!”

“H-Huh?” Cletus muttered as he opened his eyes bit by bit after getting some courage. “W-What—?!”

“My compensations, hmph! Look!” She showed the damage done by Cletus’ magic. “There arere more holes here than my body! Take responsibility, will ya?!”

“Y-Y-Yeah…”

“Dare you forget that, I’ll kick your butt so hard you can’t sit for centuries! Hmph!”

Lucy released her grip and took the fallen grimoire. Without further talking, she sat on her seat earlier with the grimoire next to her.

“The match isn’t over yet!” Professor Vennefer said to Lucy and stood. “Get back there and fini—!”

“To hell with that! My robe is ruined because of this stupid test! Hmph!” Lucy replied as she looked away, pouting.

Professor Vennefer shook his head, astonished by her answer. According to the rules, the win was on Cletus because Lucy forfeited and left the arena.

“The winner is Cletus Arias!” he announced.

“E-Eh?!!!” Cletus was shaken; he couldn’t believe he actually got the win.

After their sparring, more students battled in the arena, but Lucy was sleeping the whole time; she took no interest in their fights.

An hour passed, and the class was over for that day; it was afternoon, and the students were free to do what they wanted.

The moment Lucy woke up, she ran to Cletus, getting her compensations to repair her sage robe. She pinned him to a wall in the hallway like a bully, asserting her dominance. After scaring Cletus and getting her compensation, she hurried to the first floor to the infirmary for Gina.

As soon as she stepped her foot inside, she saw Lancelot and two of his friends inside. Lucy wanted to turn back, but Lance spotted her first.

“Oh! My sole, one, and only gorgeous, incredible, unmatched, beautiful, alluring, enchanting Goddess—!” Lancelot praised as he was trying to hug Lucy, but Lucy moved aside, and he fell down pathetically.

“Ouch!” Lance stood up and brushed his clothes from dust. “Your instinct… So sharp; so wild; so acute; so powerful as ever, my beautiful princess—!”

Lancelot looked at Lucy’s damaged clothes and robe, and his eccentric face turned into a worried and infuriated look.

“What in the—?!!!” he said aloud in vain. “Unforgivable! What kind of ugly, unmannered, unsightly, cruel, insolent, damned barbarian of a man dared to ruin my beautiful goddess’s elegant and divine robe?!”

Lance hugged Lucy, caressing her back and startling her.

“Don’t worry, my goddess! I’ll be—!”

Lucy’s face turned red as she kicked Lance’s crotch in response, causing him to jump and removing his arms from him.

“Yowchie!” Lance’s scream became the main attention of the resting students.

“Lance, you dummy!” she barked. “Don’t hug me without my consent—!”

“T-Then…” He writhed, holding the pain. “I will ask you permission before I—”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Ah… Ahem!” He became more serious and cool after clearing his throat and calming down. “So, who did this?”

“It’s fine. I’m here for Gina. Have you seen her?”

“Gina? Who’s she?”

“Gina!” Lucy raised her voice, peeved that Lance didn’t bother to recognize Gina’s name. “My best friend and roommate!”

“Hmm…” Lancelot scratched the back of his hair as he tried hard to remember. “Oh! That girl!” He finally remembered. “She left five minutes ago—”

And without a word, Lucy left after hearing the reply. Lance had no time to react and just saw his beloved running away from him.

“Wait my goddess—!” His voice didn’t even reach her. “Hmm… As energetic as ever,” Lancelot commented as he smirked.

Seeing her now away, Lance became more stoic and cool shown by his sharper gaze and serious face.

“Lance,” one of his friends called. “Rez is here.”

Lance opened the curtain and saw a man, a grand alchemist of the same age, was lying on the bed with his body full of wounds. The area around the wounds was darkened as if it was rotting.

“This condition of damage…” Lance thought after a quick observation. “Vitae?”

“Rez. Who did this?” Lance asked, concerned after observing Rez’s condition.

“It’s—” Rez’s lips kept quivering; he was squirming in pain. “—a sage! A young sage with the same age as Luxianne!”

“A sage with the same age as my goddess?” Lance raised an eyebrow, doubting. “She’s the one and only youngest sage in the academy's history. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“M-My eyes were clear. H-H-He’s a sage.”

“What’s his name? I’ll confront him at once!”

“He’s Malus. His skills are dreadful, Lance. He’s taking down those considered the best here. Starting from the bottom. He even defeated Harriot and Jaime. I’m afraid he’s even beyond you—”

“Beyond me?” Lance smirked proudly. “Ha! Only my goddess, Luxianne, is the one worthy of being above me and I’ll let no other become the second!”

Lance took a red potion from his pocket and gave it to Rez.

“Drink this. It’ll ease your pain.”

“Thank you. I wish you luck, Lance,” Rez said as he drank the potion in one gulp and rested.

As Lance and his two friends were leaving, a student brought his injured friend with the same wounds as Rez. Lance stopped the student, a master tech, and asked him.

“Who did this?” he asked instantly.

“It’s a transfer student. He—”

“Where’s he?” Lance became impatient.

“The field—”

Immediately, Lance ran to the field with his friends following him. The spectators' seats on the field were full of students watching a battle. Lance and his friends’ eyes weren’t playing tricks on them. Just as Rez told them, there was another young sage other than Lucy.

He was a 17 years semi-muscular boy, standing in the arena. The sage glanced around with his cold, ruby eyes. He had short black spiky fringe hair with piercing on his right ear and some tattoos on his neck.

He wore a fur collar sage robe with brooches. Underneath the robe, he wore a plain white shirt. He had a scepter with a red gem tip. The only expressions he showed were either a hateful scowl or a displeased look, giving him a pressuring aura of an aggressive person.

“So he’s Malus…” Lance thought, feeling unnerved from the pressuring aura.

Malus had defeated and sent several students to the infirmary; 10 by now. He’s challenging them from the lowest rank to the highest. Now, he’s after Cletus.

“You,” Malus said with a cold tone. “So, you are stronger than the last pathetic doll user?”

“Why are you hurting everyone—?”

“Just answer.”

“Y-Yes.”

Without further word, Malus pointed his scepter forward and a black sigil appeared on the tip as he muttered, “Dark Matter.”

A small black orb (as big as a tennis ball) appeared from the sigil, floating slowly twice faster than a floating bubble towards Cletus.

Lance observed the scepter, and the magic Malus just used.

“He’s the transfer student, hm?” Lance thought. “The tip of that scepter… Isn’t that… Azoth? No, Azoth doesn’t look like that. Maybe? Ah! No way… It couldn’t be it!”

Cletus opened his grimoire and pointed forward at the ground below Malus.

“Vine Prison!” he read aloud.

A level 3 sigil appeared, projecting a cage of vines, trapping Malus and the black orb. But the cage didn’t stop the black orb as it disintegrated the vine it touched.

“That orb… I have to defeat the caster then!” Cletus thought as he pointed forward and said aloud, “Malice Thorns! Fire Veil!” Summoning sigils on the vines.

The vines thickened, and thorns grew on the vines while fire enveloped the vines prison. Before the sharp thorns reached his body, Malus shielded his face and body with his robe.

“He can’t cast more than one magic?” Cletus thought.

Cletus moved step by step, avoiding the black orb. He pointed at the ground below Malus.

“Quicksand!” he said aloud.

The ground softened, but Malus did nothing, and the vine prison got smaller and smaller, almost reaching Malus.

“Again? Then I can win this!” Cletus thought, confident. “I just have to stay far away from that black orb.”

Cletus backed away as far as he could to lure the black orb away. After getting far enough, Cletus ran as fast as he could to the exact position he was before.

“Now, time to end this—!”

Malus sighed as the tip of his scepter glowed for a second. As soon as Cletus pointed forward, something pierced him through from the back of his right shoulder. It felt like a shot by an arrow.

Cletus fell down and started coughing blood. He felt a burning sensation on the wound.

“What the—?!” he muttered as he looked at the dark matter. It wasn’t a ball, it shaped like a wedge.

The wedge returned to Malus, piercing through the vine and disintegrating everything it touched. The wedge covered Malus’s right hand, and Malus touched the vine to destroy it.

“It changed shape in an instant?!” Lance blurted with his eyes wide open.

He noticed it changed shape after the tip shone for a second.

“Transmuting magic?!” he thought, terrified of Malus' ability. “There’s no way… Everything made of magic is inferior and different from the real counterpart so it should be weaker against the real azoth.”

Malus ambled towards downed Cletus.

“That’s all?” Malus asked.

“Agh..! N… Not… Yet…” Cletus replied as he was writhing in pain.

“Stand up,” he said as he moved back a step and stood still.

Cletus stood, holding the pain, and opened his grimoire. He tried his best to focus and read the grimoire aloud, but he kept coughing blood.

“Mini… Mini World... Tree!” he said aloud as his voice cracked in pain.

The sigil appeared below Malus, but he did nothing.

Before the tree enveloped him fully, Malus muttered, “Clasialabolas...”

Cletus fell on his knee, using his arms to hold his body from hitting the ground. After a while, the tree decayed and shrunk. Malus resurfaced from the decaying tree. He was touching the root of the tree with his right arm, now the black matter shaped like a dog's head.

“This is your best, I assume,” Malus said, disappointed.

The tree disintegrated, and Malus turned away. Some students approached the wounded Cletus and brought him away. The dark matter from Malus’ right arm went into the scepter tip.

“Who’s next?” Malus asked aloud as he looked at the spectators with a serious, bitter look. “Who’s stronger than him?”

Lance was about to rush to the arena field, but Iggy and Celina entered the field first.

“I’ll take you on!” Iggy declared aloud, but Celina stood in front of him.

“No!” she said. “I will be more than enough!”

“Cel! Let me do it. I’m better than you—!”

“No, I’m better—!”

“Silence,” Malus said. “I can crush both of you.”

“What did you just say?!” Iggy shouted as he stomped his right leg forward.

“Iggy. Let’s take him down together,” Celina said as she opened her grimoire.

“Hah! Let’s make a bet,” Iggy offered.

“A bet?”

“Let’s see who can take him down the fastest!” Iggy said as he opened his grimoire.

“Come,” Malus taunted.

Iggy pointed at the sky above Malus and read aloud, “Inferno Rain!”

A level 4 sigil (about the half of the arena) appeared above Malus, but Malus looked up with an unimpressed face as he muttered, “Dark Matter.”

From the tip of his scepter, a black ball appeared again, floating towards the sigil. From Iggy’s sigil, black fire and brimstone rained upon Malus.

The tip of the scepter glowed again for a second, and the black matter expanded to the sigil’s size. As soon as the black fire and brimstone came into contact with the black matter, they disintegrated. The orb returned to normal and returned next to Malus.

“That thing again!” Celina said.

“It can change size, form, and speed according to the casters’ will,” Iggy deducted.

“Now, both of you know what this thing can do,” Malus said as he stared at both of them. “What can you do against it?”

“Just as Cletus tried: We have to defeat him directly!” Celina said to Iggy.

“No need to tell me that!” Iggy replied.

“Show me your strength,” Malus taunted as he pointed his scepter forward with the tip glowing, and another dark matter ball appeared.

“T-Two?!” Iggy said as his eyes opened wide.

“Should I use more? Your choice,” Malus taunted.

“He can use more?!” Celina thought, surprised.

“I take that silence as a no,” Malus said, disappointed.

“Bastard, you—!” Iggy blurted out, but Celina signaled him to stay still.

“If you don’t want to use your full power, then we’ll make you!” Celina declared aloud.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Malus said calmly as a dark matter floated towards them. Iggy and Celina moved away from the dark matter, it was targeting Iggy.

Iggy kept moving with his eyes set to the dark matter to avoid the ambush like before. Celina and Iggy pointed forward as they read their grimoires.

“Snow Rage!” Celina read aloud, and a level 5 magic appeared in front of her, causing a strong snow gust to appear, raging towards Malus.

“Enhanced Gaia Spike!” Iggy said aloud, and a level 4 magic appeared on the ground below him, causing rock spikes to appear, rushing to Malus.

Malus' scepter glowed and the dark matter stretched, covering him from the raging snow and the spikes. But the dark matter shield obscured Malus’ vision. Somehow, the other dark matter stayed still in the air.

“It stopped!” Iggy said aloud.

“Keep your guard, Iggy!” Celina instructed.

Malus kept guarding himself, giving both of them no other choice.

“Cel, now—?” Iggy asked.

“Do it!”

The spikes burrowed below the ground and appeared right below Malus’s feet.

“Ugh!” Malus muttered as he jumped out and before the spikes could pierce him.

The raging snow reached Malus’ legs because of the opening he made from escaping the spikes.

“Damn it,” he thought as he reached the ground and expanded his barrier. “I have to get rid of her first.”

Malus’ legs were numb because of the intense cold, forcing him to be immobile for the duration of the battle.

Malus looked at Celina, and the tip of the scepter glowed. The floating dark matter orb turned into a thin long needle, the thin long needle moved fast like a bullet towards Celina.

“Celina—!” Iggy shouted as he rushed to her, but Celina noticed it far too late as the dark matter needle pierced through her right arm, making her lose concentration on her magic.

“Agh! Damn it!” Celina muttered in pain as she held her wounded right arm. The wound wasn’t deep, but the pain was agonizing. It felt like a burning wound.

“Celina!” Iggy asked with a worried face. “Are you okay?!”

Celina placed a level 2 magic on her wound, and cold ice covered her wound. It lessened the pain, but she felt like her skin was being torn apart. She stood and started running as the dark matter needle was chasing her.

“Iggy! Obscure his vision!” Celina instructed.

Iggy opened his grimoire and pointed at the ground around Malus.

“Volcanic Ash!” he read aloud.

A level 2 sigil appeared, surrounding the ground where Malus stood. The sigil summoned thick black ash, covering and obscuring Malus’ vision. The dark matter needle stopped chasing Celina as it floated aimlessly.

“We can’t see him, but we can strike him down!” Iggy thought.

“Iggy. Now!”

Celina and Iggy opened their grimoire and pointed at the smoke with their ultimate magic.

“Abyssal Purgatory Gehenna!” Iggy read aloud.

“Frozen Lamentation Cocytus!”

A level 8 sigil appeared surrounding the cloud, while a level 6 sigil appeared in front of Celina.

Inside the smoke, Malus lifted his scepter and muttered, “Bathin; Gaap; Amaymon,” and the tip of the scepter glowed.