Chapter 8 (2/2)

“If Alice-sama win, today and tomorrow dinner will be kupi donburi. If Serena-sama win, the training program will be increased by 1.5 times. Or so I've heard.”

4. Okay, let's win. Let's do it.

Because kupi donburi is justice.

“The judge will be me, Nicol, the owner of this compet.i.tion. Now, two partic.i.p.ants, prepare yourself!”

From mother's side, I could feel a life-threatening atmosphere. No, to me, I think losing also means life-threatening, seriously. 1.5 times...

...Suddenly, I felt an even stronger motivation than that I had after hearing about kupi donburi.

“3, 2, 1. Start!”

Fast! What's with that kind of counting?!

For now, I have to attack, or else I will be killed!

“<fire arrow=””>”

“<water arrow=””>”

First strike first win! … or so I intended. As expected from mother. She thought the same as me.

Then this would be a battle about numbers, and casting time.

The shortest time I need to invoke a spell is 2 seconds.

At that, mother fired 5 <water arrow=””>, almost instantly.

Our level was that much far away... If mother went full-force, I would absolutely have no chance...

But she seemed to be going easy on me. Casting time aside, she waited for me to complete my preparation.

And so, I dispatched my directed and prepared <fire arrow=””> at mother.

At that, <water arrow=””> that mother prepared is... not coming?!!

“Just shooting won't make you win, you know?”

“Wha... !? <magic guard=””> ~~! Heavy!”

Mother didn't fire away her <water arrow=””> immediately. Of incoming arrows that she could dodge, she evaded them splendidly, those that couldn't be dodged no matter what, she intercepted them with her own arrows.

And with her remaining 2 <water arrow=””>, she fired at me.

To think she dodged 8 arrows, just exactly how fast her reaction can be? The speed of those arrows were at least 50 metres per second! And even more, she even had room to take it easy fighting me!

As I guarded against <water arrow=””>, I took a glimpse toward mother.

“You are too slow! <fire lance=””>.”

“Eh!?”

Again, she created a flying spear of fire in almost no time. Her <fire lance=””> aimed at my heart accurately.

The <magic guard=””> spell I used is a defensive barrier around my body, capable of intercepting spells. It's convenient, but of course, there is also weakness.

That is, on the time of activating, I can't remove it. It's the problem with operating magic power.

But, the problem was even before activating it. If I can move through my wall, there is no need to create that wall from the start.

To sum it up, I'm in a position where I can't move... furthermore, my <magic guard=””> which barely stopped mother's <water arrow=””>, can not possible to take on a powerful <fire lance=””>.

My <magic guard=””> shattered with a sound like breaking gla.s.s, returning to formless magic power. <fire lance=””> pierced straight to my unprotected heart.

---And penetrated through my back---

“It's....not hurt?”

I was about to die for sure, or so I thought. But I was still having consciousness. There wasn't even pain.

“What happened? It definitely went through me...”

“That's it. It looks like pierced your body. But the spear disappear right before it touch you.”

...Disappeared?

…...Ah, was that because of something the compet.i.tion officer mentioned about...?

“Anyway, you were hit once, do you know? Two more and you will lose, do you even have time to talk? By my command, come forth water spears that penetrate everything. <water lance=””>”

Uwa~!? Dangerous!

Mother! While certainly she can invoke spells silently, she chanted on purpose! Does that mean she doesn't need to silent cast against me?! I will show you otherwise!

“<wind blade=””>! Ya~!”

Close range spell, <wind blade=””> cut water spears into pieces. And continued flying toward mother. While it took up her attention!

“<water arrow=””> <fire arrow=””> <wind arrow=””> <rock arrow=””>! Go!”

“Only with number? That much won't be able to make a scratch on me, you know?”

“<water lance=””> <fire lance=””> <wind lance=””> <rock lance=””>!”

Each arrow spell fires off 10 arrows, 40 arrows in total flied toward mother. Before they could reach her, I dispatched 3 lances from each lance spell, 12 spears lying in wait.

And, while my arrows landed on her, I threw all of my lances!

“Ugh!? <magic gua...=””>”

“<wind cutter=””>!”

“Argh”

Fufufufu... Mother, you will be in trouble looking down on me, you know?

“How did you realized?...”

Yes, behind me, mother with her figure hidden by darkness spell <shadow>, asked me while revealing herself. On the bracelet on her hand, certainly one light sphere dimmed. Yes!

“Before I readied my arrows, I knew you were preparing a spell. It wasn't <magic guard=””>, and also no attack came at me, so I guessed that must be a concealment spell.

And so, I knew you could avoid my arrows. So I used my lances to counter your concealment. After that I used <wind cutter=””> after knowing your position.”

“I see...impressive...

But you are being too neglecting, you know? Your foothold is all unguarded.”

“Belo..?!”

“Told you it's too late! <bomb>”

“Ugh! <flash>!”

On my bracelet, another light sphere dimmed.

Only one left.

But still! Preparing acc.u.mulating magic power for fire spell while I was talking! How is she an adult!

Taking a direct impact from <bomb>, I used light magic <flash> as diversion, tried to create a gap between mother and me. No... A gap was created between us...

“That was a hasty decision. While avoiding an attack, you should make sure not to run to another one. <fire trap=””>”

Suddenly, in front of me, pillars of fire appeared.

And, from mother's direction, I could sense something powerful... No, it's a spell, obviously.

“Firstly! <magic guard=””>”

”<fire arrow=””> <water arrow=””> <wind arrow=””> <rock arrow=””> <fire lance=””> <water lance=””> <wind lance=””> <rock lance=””> <fireball> <water ball=””> <wind ball=””> <rock ball=””> <fire bullet=””> <water bullet=””> <wind bullet=””> <rock bullet=””>”

“☆☆☆○○☆○☆?!”

Anyway, I couldn't escape from <fire trap=””>. I activated <magic guard=””> to defend from follow up attack. There wasn't anything wrong before that point. But the problem is after that.

I wonder if taking a hit from a 4 years old child, 1 day to 5 years old, hurt her pride. Because a barrage of 400 units of offensive spells was hurled at me after that.

… How can I defend against something like this! This is idiotic! This is madness!

“Dokyaaaaaan!”

“I did it too much...”

“Have a little self respect, can you? This idiot parent...

...Winner, Serena.”

And thus, my first magic battle left me with a trauma of having a large quant.i.ty of spells with various color coming at me, my defeat closed its curtain.

Duel finished, time to go home...

“Mother, I think you were means on the last attack.”

“Teehee☆ I kinda did it ☆ ”

“Don't try to mislead me!”

“I'm sorry, I was too happy seeing my daughter growth!”

“And, while you were at it, let me experience a disaster that can leave me a nightmare!

That was really scary... Having about 400 different sparking colorful things coming at me, each of them has the power to be fatal. All of them rus.h.i.+ng at me like hunting its prey..

Mother, do you want to try experience that?”

“No.., let me restrain on this... Really, I'm sorry.”

I wonder if she imagined that scene, her face turned blue, she shook her head rapidly.

“Well... it's a good thing I experienced my first time fighting with someone... It was fun, other than the last attack... And I landed a hit on you, too”

“Y...yeah! If you think it as a good memory”

“By my command”

“Wait! I'm sorry!”

Hah... this mother of mine... while she has many good points, she also has many bad points in contrast...

“Ah, Alice, you aren't forgetting, right?”

Was that another diverting?

Without intention, I asked mother, squinting my eyes.

“What is...?”

“Don't play dumb. About the condition if you lose.”

…..Ah..

Remembered the talk before our match, I turned blue, suddenly I felt hopeless.

“No... no way...

Demon! Ruthless! Evil! Mon...”

“More than that and you will lose your life.”

“...Yes...”

Ugh... so means... so unreasonable...

And so, after 4 months of training elementary attribute arts, from that point, my training program is multiplied by 1.5.

A little late now, but is there any chance that battle earlier was arranged to increase my training...?

I indulged in some other things and had problem finding a balance. Sorry for the wait.

Good news: The author of this series continues to release new chapters after a slump. Well, I think I just entered my own slump though...

</magic></fire></rock></wind></water></fire></rock></wind></water></fireball></rock></wind></water></fire></rock></wind></water></fire></magic></fire></flash></bomb></flash></bomb></wind></magic></shadow></wind></magic></rock></wind></fire></water></rock></wind></fire></water></wind></wind></water></fire></magic></fire></water></magic></magic></fire></fire></water></water></water></magic></water></fire></water></water></fire></high></enchant:></spirit></mind></mind></material></bomb></status:></bomb>

<script>