Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 231: The Duel 4

Knowing it would be fight-ending if she’d end up fully on her back, she fell into a backwards roll. Naturally, the tip of Darius’s sword followed after her.

It grazed her shoulder as she came out of the roll, drawing a thin line of blood. She barely felt it.

Because she was already casting.

Aether Pulse hit Darius square in the chest.

The stun caught him mid-lunge, locking his muscles for just a second, and a second was all Aegis needed. She was on her feet, sword in one hand, Aether Whip forming in the other. The glowing tendril of energy lashed across his sword arm before he could recover, and Darius hissed through his teeth as the impact forced his blade wide.

She didn’t stop.

Aether Step. Five meters to his left. She was behind him now, and she brought her sword down toward his back. Darius spun to block, but she’d already sent an Aether Bolt into his knee. Not enough to break anything, but enough to buckle his leg for a half-second.

Half-second. Slash across his thigh. Second blood.

The crowd erupted but Aegis wasn’t listening.

Darius recovered and threw a fireball at point-blank range. She responded with Aether Veil. The shimmering barrier absorbed the impact and Aegis pushed through the smoke, slashing twice, forcing Darius to scramble backward for the first time in the entire fight.

[There it is. That’s the look.]

His eyes had changed. The calm, focused expression was gone. What replaced it wasn’t panic, not exactly, but it was close. Confusion, maybe. The look of someone who’d studied for a test and was now being asked questions from a completely different subject.

Because that had been the plan from the start.

Darius had prepared for her magic. Aegis was sure of it. He’d probably spent the last week drilling counters for Aether Step, timing responses for Aether Pulse, figuring out the range on Aether Whip. There was zero doubt in Aegis’s mind that he’d done his homework.

But he’d prepared for each spell individually. One at a time. The way anyone would expect them to be used.

Aegis banked on one simple idea: he wouldn’t be able to take every spell at once. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Aegis closed the gap again. Aether Step to his right. He turned to meet her, already swinging, and she hit him with Aether Burst at point-blank range. The stun was stronger this time, locking him up for a full two seconds. She slashed his forearm, then his hip, then kicked him in the chest hard enough to send him stumbling back three steps.

She used an Aether Whip around his ankle and pulled. Darius hit the sand on one knee.

He threw fire from the ground, a desperate wave of flame, and Aegis vaulted sideways, using Aether Step to close the distance the moment the flames passed. Her sword came down and Darius caught it, but his arms were shaking now. His mana-enhanced strength was fading. She could see it in the way his guard was dropping, little by little, each exchange costing him more than the last.

[He’s running out of gas.]

Aegis pressed harder. Slash, Aether Bolt, slash, feint, Aether Whip to pull his guard open, slash again. She wasn’t giving him a single second to breathe, the same way he hadn’t given her one five minutes ago.

Funny how quickly things could turn around.

That said, Aegis was already at half mana.

MP: 125/250

[To think getting my Power up to 65 recently gave me way more mana, and yet I’m STILL about to run out. I need to finish this.]

However, somewhat distressingly, Darius was already catching up.

She hit him with Aether Whip and he didn’t even flinch this time. His free hand came up and grabbed the tendril of energy mid-air, gritting his teeth against the pain, and yanked Aegis toward him. She barely managed to cancel the spell before he could pull her into range of his sword.

[He’s adapting. Already.]

An Aether Bolt flew at his chest and Darius sidestepped it without breaking stride, closing the distance between them and bringing his sword around in a wide arc. Aegis ducked under it and tried to Aether Step behind him, but the moment she rematerialized, his elbow was already there, like he’d predicted exactly where she’d appear.

It slammed into her collarbone and the impact sent a jolt of pain through her entire upper body.

She stumbled back, swinging wildly to buy space, and Darius let her have it. He was breathing hard now, bleeding from three different cuts, his combat gear torn in several places. But his eyes were sharp again. That brief window of confusion from earlier was gone, replaced by the focused, calculating look of a man who’d figured out the puzzle.

The thing about Darius Goldspire, and Aegis had known this even back in the game, was that he was genuinely talented. Not just trained, not just disciplined, but the kind of fighter who could get hit with something completely new and have an answer for it within minutes. He’d been overwhelmed by the spell barrage at first, sure, but now that he’d seen each spell two or three times, his body was already learning the rhythms. When to dodge, when to block, when to push through the pain and counter.

[Annoying.]

She Aether Stepped to his left and slashed. He read it and parried without even looking, pivoting into a counter that nearly took her across the jaw. She leaned back just in time, the blade passing close enough that she could feel the air pressure on her chin.

They traded another few exchanges, and this time, neither of them gained any ground. Aegis would press with a spell and Darius would handle it in stride and counter with steel. Darius would push with fire and Aegis would dodge and try to create an opening that he’d close before she could exploit it.

The fight had gone from one-sided, to the other side, and now it was perfectly, frustratingly, even.

They broke apart at the same time, as if by mutual agreement, and stood maybe fifteen feet from each other. Both of them were bleeding. Both of them were panting. Darius’s fire had dimmed to occasional sparks at his fingertips. Aegis’s aether reserves were nearly gone.

MP: 50/250

[Fifty mana. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got left.]

She watched Darius across the sand, his sword held steady despite the exhaustion written across every other part of his body. He was waiting for her to make a move. She was waiting for him to make one.

Stalemate.

[Just enough, huh?]

Aegis adjusted her grip on her sword.

[Okay, Rosanna. Let’s see if this works.]