Elemental Metal: Create Spear!

As Jane fired out a charged up arrow at me, I created a metal spear and fired it at her arrow, my spear absorbing and dissipating the Mana arrow, though its trajectory deviated upon impact, landing a few inches in front of her feet.

She then shot forward in a rapid zigzag, repeatedly firing arrows at me...since she’s not charging them up much, they’re not very strong, but they’re still pretty fast. Elemental Earth: Giant Earth Wall!

A large, wide wall of earth burst out in front of me, blocking the incoming projectiles, a few cracks appearing in it as her arrows hit the wall. I then glanced up as I spotted an arrow shooting up from the other side of the wall...right before another arrow was fired after it, hitting the back of the first one and deflecting it this way at a downward angle.

I swiftly tilted my head across to evade it, the arrow shooting past the left side of my face and hitting the ground behind me. Not too badly aimed for someone shooting blind, that was pretty impressive.

As deep cracks then began spreading out across my earth wall, I swiftly backed away and took aim while charging up a Spell, waiting for the right timing. As she then busted an opening through the wall, clouds of dust billowing out as the broken pieces collapsed onto the ground, a slight glow appeared from behind the dust cloud, right before a rapid, powerful arrow shot towards me.

Elemental Lightning: Ultra Lightning Spear!

A vicious spark and crackle erupted around me as I formed a long, compressed projectile of intense, powerful lightning, my hair standing up on end slightly as I fired it, a bright, electric hue glowing as it shot forward at a rapid speed, streaks of lightning dancing around it.

The stronger versions of most attack Spells start with ’Mega’...and the strongest versions of said attack Spells start with the prefix ’Ultra’. In other words...this is one of the most powerful Elemental Lightning Spells there is.

I’ve been pushing my Magic and Spellcasting to the absolute limit, my Mana capacity has grown to 688, and my maximum output to a very nice 69. Considering the fact that I’m still only fifteen, that’s pretty good progress.

Usually, when it comes to skilled, talented Spellcasters, most expand their Mana capacity to somewhere between 600 and 700 by the time they’re twenty, and that’s when it comes to cases where they began practicing Magic in earnest as soon as they awaken their powers.

So, in other words, I’m progressing at a rate that’s well, well above average. Well, when I was imprisoned in the capital, I had tons of time to work on it, which was also one of the few things that kept me sane back then. There’s also the fact that Heretics’ Mana capacity can grow at a faster rate than those with just one Attribute.

Anyway, back to the duel.

My attack easily swallowed up her arrow and continued shooting forward without even slowing down, her eyes widened in alarm as she leapt behind the bit of my earth wall that was still intact, my lightning projectile hitting the spot where she’d been standing and bursting out in several electric, crackling streaks, a cry of pain echoing out as one of the streaks hit her.

I swiftly shot towards the spot her voice came from, leaping through the opening in the earth wall, to see her down on one knee, struggling to stand...but with an arrow charged up and aimed at me.

I quickly activated the Elemental Flame Spell, Jet Soles, in alarm as she fired the arrow straight at my head, shooting forward and narrowly evading the arrow, which grazed the back of my neck, cutting off a few strands of hairs in the process.

I then spun around in mid-air by controlling the flames shooting out of the soles of my feet, before zipping straight towards her, as I charged up another Spell.

She’s not fully mobile, thanks to my lightning hitting her earlier. This is my chance!

As I closed in on her, she suddenly raised her bow, a sphere of Mana rapidly charging across the middle of it. It then burst out in a scattered barrage of arrows in every direction, two of them heading straight at me.

I quickly spun my body across ninety degrees, grimacing as one deeply grazed my middle back, the other one grazing my right shoulder and the base of my neck. As I landed, I quickly grabbed one of her wrists with my left hand, while I swiftly drew back my right fist, the Spell I’d charged up now ready.

Elemental Lightning: Mega Lightning Strike! Ultra is probably overkill at this range, so yeah.

Sure enough, right before I could land the hit, a barrier wall formed between her and my fist, which slammed onto it with a bright, crackling spark, a few streaks of lightning zapping her as they burst out upon impact. The barrier cracked deeply before shattering, but slowed down my punch enough that I could stop well short of hitting her.

"Ow...," She groaned slightly, her body rigid.

"Sorry about that, you okay?" I grinned sheepishly, as I offered her my hand and helped her up, before glancing back with a wry smile, "Hey, so does this mean that I get to fight you next?"

"Oh, you noticed me coming, did you? Hm...sure, why not? I don’t mind being your next opponent. Your Spellcasting has advanced quite significantly, I’m curious to see just how much," She responded with a smirk, before adding, "Do you need a break to recover your Mana a bit?"

Hm, good question...I used a fair bit of Mana in this duel, but I still have plenty left in the tank. I think I’ll take the risk and turn down the break, my main objective in coming here was to rank up to Platinum, which I’ve accomplished.

It certainly would be awesome to get to Diamond rank as well, but if I fail to do so, I’m fine with that. I’ve still got a lot of room for improvement and I’m happy to keep going at my current rate of progress, so I’m in no rush.

Pushing myself too hard would be detrimental, and I feel like I’ve hit the ideal balance in that regard with my current training style and methods.

"No, that’s okay. But, uh...I think I’ll need some healing first, don’t want to lose because of blood loss," I replied wryly.

"Of course, I wasn’t going to make you fight another duel with your injuries left untreated. They’re not too severe, but you are losing blood, so we should get you healed up right away," Nodded Rosary in agreement, before turning to Jane, "Oh, and you too, of course. And I’d like you to take care of activating the barrier as well."

"Sure, you can count on me," Responded Jane affirmatively.

We then headed back up and out of the basement, before Rosary found a healing Magic Item to heal our injuries. I subtly used my own healing Spell as well, since the Magic Item she used wasn’t as effective as my Super High Speed Regeneration.

Like, it closed up my wounds just fine, but I could still feel a slight, dull stinging in those spots. So I excused myself to the bathroom, made up the difference with my own healing, and now I feel more or less as good as new. Well, not quite at a hundred percent, I did still lose some blood.

But I should be able to fight at, or at least close to, my full power, this shouldn’t affect my speed or agility to any significant extent. Alright, I’m good to go now.

"Are you ready now?" Inquired Rosary, as she put away the Magic Item.

"Mhm, very much so. Let’s do this," I nodded, feeling both nervous and excited.

Last time I was here, she was a lot stronger than I was, that became especially apparent after seeing her in action against the Basilisk. Yeah, that didn’t go well for her in the end, and I had to step in, but the only areas I was superior to her in was sneak attacks and Spellcasting.

She had me beat in all other areas, be it speed, strength or use of her Soul Weapon and Skills. In all likelihood, she’s gotten stronger since then herself, so let’s see how much I’ve managed to close that gap.

And while I did say that I wouldn’t be too devastated if I fail to rank up to Diamond here, I’m still definitely gonna try my absolute best to defeat her in this duel.

We then headed back down to the basement, along with Jane, who was holding the Magic Item to activate the barrier. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, Rosary headed into the area and soon disappeared from sight as she slipped behind a rock formation.

I followed suit after a few more seconds, heading in and looking for a hiding spot. I was heading in a direction well away from where she’d made her way out towards...I’ll have to be on alert for her trying to sneak up on me, can’t let my guard down.

I then found a hiding spot behind a tall, sloped rock, glancing up as the barrier began to form. Alright, this is it...it’s starting...

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