Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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Duels are a way for the Lyceum to gauge the combat capability of a magician. Mages are required to have a certain level of combat skills in order to take on jobs that include dangerous elements. The two types of duels most common in the Marlifa Lyceum are academic duels and personal duels.

Academic duels are set by the teachers, who usually choose students that seem to be an equal match for each other. The students are scheduled to fight during the hour that is usually reserved for specialty classes. There are three arenas for duels in the Lyceum. One is on the third floor, the second is on the fourth floor, and the final arena is on the sixth floor.

Personal duels can be scheduled to take place virtually anywhere that students are allowed to go. Any two magicians can engage in a personal duel regardless of class, all they need is a single teacher to oversee the duel.

All duels require specialized viewing scopes that monitor each student who is fighting. The scopes are powered by a mind genre spell, which reads the level of seriousness in the students. This magical tool requirement prevents anyone from purposely losing so that the other student could receive a better combat score.

Today, Tricks was having a personal duel against a boy named Onhelm.

A small crowd of students were already waiting up on the roof by the time Jaux and Tricks showed up. Duels were understandably a popular form of entertainment, a welcome reprieve from the bland experience of studying. Jaux wanted to learn a lot of curse spells today, but she couldn't resist the idea of watching a magical fight.

Desyi had already left for the group trip to Galosrea, and Frey was preparing spell practice supplies. Jaux would be the only one from their room to watch Tricks in action. Of course, Desyi and Frey had already seen Tricks fight before, so they wouldn't be getting as much of an experience from observing the duel.

Tricks' opponent Onhelm was an incredibly husky student. His arms were thick with rigid muscles that looked quite out of place in comparison to every other mage. His height wasn't quite as impressive, since Jaux had no problem looking him in the eye. He didn't wear robes like the majority of the Lyceum mages. Instead, he had on black full-body tights that hugged every detail of his well-built arms, and wore a set of leather and bronze armor over his chest and legs. If he had been walking outside of the Lyceum, no one would guess Onhelm was a magician. Jaux would personally think of him as an aspiring warrior or barbarian.

Tricks' short and thin stature looked a bit fragile when contrasted with Onhelm's mighty bulk. Her blonde hair was also a bit shorter than Onhelm's, and her bob cut looked much neater than the disheveled mess of dirt brown strands on Onhelm's head. She had worn a wheat colored robe with a very high hemline, so that she could move silently and without being impeded. Her bare legs were covered by a pair of opaque white tights.

"Why are you guys dueling, anyway?" Jaux asked Tricks.

"We're in the same specialty class," answered Tricks, "and the wild mutt disagreed with me on the best use of the concentration genre. Didn't think illusions were hardcore, so now I have to prove him wrong by knocking him on his butt."

"Cool, I'll be rooting for ya." Said Jaux with a grin.

Jaux didn't know how strong Tricks or Onhelm were, but she firmly believed in her roomie's capability. She was also sure that Tricks' new pearl wand would give a massive advantage.

A large circular arena stage had been placed on the roof. The stage was only about half a meter off the ground, but a natural rocky terrain rested on top of it. It was like someone had gone to a mountainside and ripped off a piece of the landscape. The arena was incredibly wide as well, stretching to nearly a dozen meters in diameter.

Two tiny telescope-like devices were suspended over the arena, magically floating about eight meters off the ground. The devices were hard to make out from the distance, but one was silver in color while the other was gold. Both of them were pointed directly down at the arena.

A short man with a long grey bearded was sitting on an awkwardly high chair that overlooked the arena. The chair was easily three or four meters high, and there was actually a ladder built into the front of it.

"That old guy's my spec teacher, he encouraged the duel. He said something about how there's a lot to learn from opposing styles." Tricks said. "Between you and me, Suhara... I think that geezer's just a bored nut. Useful guy to get illusion spells from, but he probably doesn't have much of anything else to do."

After a few more minutes, the old man opened up a scroll that he was holding. Then at a clearly amplified voice, he began announcing. "We are starting the personal duel between miss Valcia Rolamore and mister Onhelm Lionstone."

"Yo! I told you to call me Tricks, professor!" Interrupted Tricks.

The old teacher ignored Tricks, but Jaux was sure she saw a little grin on his face before he continued. "Combatant mages, please step into the arena!"

Tricks lightly hopped onto the rocky terrain, while Onhelm jumped up with a massive leap and slammed his feet onto the stage floor with clearly audible force. As soon as they both set foot onto the stage, a large green cylinder forcefield formed around the edges of the arena, topping off right under the scope devices. For a few seconds everything inside the arena was tinted green by the barrier, but then the forcefield faded until it was invisible.

"The scopes have been activated, so both of you be sure to take things seriously." The teacher said. "You may begin... now!"

Onhelm yelled out an over the top war cry of some sort, before he thrust his right fist forward in Tricks' direction. He was wearing a pair of brass knuckles on his fists, which both glowed with a light green hue at the slightest movement. His punch didn't seem to do anything at first, but then a large boulder located right behind Tricks was abruptly pushed backwards until it hit the invisible forcefield.

Tricks stuck her tongue out at Onhelm, her body unaffected by the attack, before fading into nothingness. She and already begun playing around with illusions, and Onhelm now appeared to be completely alone in the arena.

Onhelm didn't seem to be surprised, and immediately turned his back to punch the air behind him. This time there were no rocks to indicate his attack, but a loud thump could be heard in the air where the attack probably hit the barrier.

"I can't run that fast, dumbo." Tricks' strangely echoing voice taunted as a ray of light suddenly shot out from thin air and struck Onhelm on the shoulder. "I wouldn't sneak behind you either, way too overdone. I'm fresh with style."

The light had stuck Onhelm, but it didn't seem to phase him at all. Onhelm seemed to have a defensive enchantment on his clothes.

Onhelm yelled out once more, before launching a barrage of random punches in the direction Tricks' voice came from. Rocks and dirt flew up into the air as the force of the continuous attacks ripped them off the ground. A lot of the terrain was torn up, but Tricks didn't seem to have been hit at all.

Several small white lights suddenly appeared around Onhelm, circling him in a dizzying air dance of some kind. Onhelm punched at the lights, but his attacks didn't appear to affect them at all.

Rays of white energy began to shoot out from the orbs of light, striking Onhelm at many different points. The rays didn't look to be reaching Onhelm, and sort of just diffused a few inches away from his skin.

"Damn, that's an annoying protection spell you got there." Tricks whined, her echoing voice now coming from two different points and forming a harmony effect.

Onhelm punch towards both of the directions Tricks' voice echoed from, but once again there was only the sound of hollow thumps. Girlish giggles echoed around Onhelm from shifting directions, without the slightest bit of consistency. The repetitious effect of all the laughter sounded unnaturally demonic, and would be downright scary if everyone didn't know it was Tricks' magic.

"You can't avoid me forever!" Onhelm shouted as he began to randomly punch varied spots of the terrain.

"You're trying to win a lottery there, Helmutt," mocked Tricks, "and people rarely win lotteries."

Jaux giggled a bit when she saw how Onhelm's face was slowly reddening with frustration. Tricks wasn't exactly winning, since Onhelm wasn't affect by any of the light rays, but she hadn't even been hit once. If anything, Tricks was winning the psychological war.

Onhelm finally stopped launching blows when nearly every part of the terrain had been hit at least once. He carefully looked around, before snarling viciously. In a wide and exaggerated motion, Onhelm pumped his arms outwards before slamming his brass knuckles together.

An explosion of force was heard bursting out from the impact of the brass knuckles. Dust could be seen shooting away from Onhelm in a perfect circle, indicating the omnidirectional nature of his attack. Onhelm's knuckles could imitate aura magic, which was unfortunate for Tricks.

"Oof!" Cried Tricks, this time without any echoing effects masking her voice.

From nearly the top of the arena's barrier, Tricks could finally be seen as her invisibility faded away. She was sitting on thin air, hovering directly above Onhelm.

"Finally!" Onhelm shouted in triumph as he punched both fists up in Tricks' direction.

"Aw shit!" Tricks cursed as she leap out from her invisible seat to avoid the incoming shock wave.

Tricks waved her pearl wand under herself in mid air, and once again stood up on an invisible floor. Right before Onhelm could punch at her again, she waved her wand a second time, and then a whole gang of Tricks clones jumped off to the ground in every direction.

Onhelm tried to hit a few, but realized he was back where he started. Once more he held his arms out to attempt another explosion of force.

Right before Onhelm's second massive attack was launched, a few of the clones leap at him. Right as the clones were about to reach Onhelm, they detonated into several bright flashes of light, blinding him.

The explosion of force was launched, but right after it Onhelm's hands went up to cover his eyes. He howled in what sounded like a tone of both pain and annoyance.

Tricks was prepared for the second wave of raw force, and had hidden her real body behind a large rock to keep from being hit. The rest of her clones turned into head-sized balls of light, which gathered up in a cluster behind Onhelm.

Onhelm screamed out in pain as multiple rays of light converged on a single point behind his back. He staggered forward a few steps after the attack, still with angry determination etched on his face. Then he fell into the rocky field, the pain overwhelming him.

Jaux cheered as Tricks was declared the winner by the old professor. The large cylindrical barrier broke down during the announcement, sprinkling the arena with pink and yellow lights. Onhelm could be heard groaning as the lights touched him, before he slowly pushed himself up, fully healed.

"I'll be around if you wana try again, mutt." Tricks teased before she went over to join Jaux.

"That was amazing!" Jaux praised as she hugged the triumphant Tricks.

It was odd to be the one to initiate a hug for once, but Jaux felt that Trick deserved it.

"Thanks Suhara," said Tricks, "that fight was nice and therapeutic. Naturally, I knew from the beginning that I couldn't lose. Now come on, I'll walk you to the practice room, Frey's probably done collecting what she needs for ya."

"Oh right! Spell practice! Yeah, let's go."