Chapter 246: Impossible Challenge

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-Lochxen-

Caius knocked on Cynthia Kragsten’s office door and with her permission, he turned the knob and swung it inward to step into her office, shutting the door behind him.

"Good morning, Professor," he greeted.

"Good morning, Mr. Von Helsing," Cynthia answered shortly in a peculiar tone, and not even a hint of a smile on her lips.

That caused Caius to furrow his brow as she stepped toward the wall and opened the Portal Gate which she walked through and Caius followed closely behind.

They arrived at that sparse hall with reinforced walls that seemed quite perfect for aiming practice. Cynthia’s feet were bare as she stepped across the hall’s ground standing many feet away from Caius who began to stretch.

"If you’re standing that far away, I think it’ll be difficult to perform the poses together, Professor," Caius said with a cheeky smile.

"We’re not performing the Poses," Cynthia said.

"Wha—" Caius started to speak when his eyes widened and he dashed to the side just in time to avoid a ball of water that had been so close to hitting him in the chest.

"Professor," he said looking from where the ball of water had splattered against the reinforced wall back to Cynthia’s face.

Cynthia was twirling her fingers now and making even more balls of water appear so they spun around her. And then with an almost imperceptible flick of her finger, she sent them all flying at Caius.

He was still confused about what was happening so his brain didn’t default to his best defensive spell but rather to one he had been experimentally creating.

There was no really complicated spell cast. It didn’t even have a name and was barely accompanied by a spell circle before shimmering into appearance as a thin layer of water.

Naturally, when Cynthia’s water balls struck it, they broke through easily and Caius had to rely on his agility to dodge. He avoided most of the balls but two struck him. One in the chest and the other in the ribs, sending him sliding away to slam his back against the wall.

It was a good thing he had healed from the injuries he had sustained against the Bullcroc thanks to feeding on Lea, Kaya, and Eloise, because that ball to the ribs would have surely worsened it.

Caius didn’t fall to the ground. He remained standing as he raised his eyes to look at Cynthia.

"What is this about?"

"I heard of your battle against the Bullcroc yesterday," Cynthia said slowly as she began to pace.

The edges of her gown—which had slits on the sides that rose almost to her waist to allow freer movement—flowed around her legs as she did, and she added,

"I heard you were very impressive."

"So? What does that have to do with you attacking me?"

"It has everything to do with it," Cynthia said looking away from him and then she turned her head to nail him with her stormy grey eyes,

"You defaulted to the Mage-Knight ways. You fought the Bullcroc with your fists. Wrestled it, it sounds like. Even sustained a few injuries in the process.

Professor Gilligan spoke of it like she were proud of your valor. She wanted the entire staff room to understand how impressive you had been. But it showed me my failure instead..."

"Professor— Cynthia," Caius said with his palms raised in placation because he could detect an underlying anger in Cynthia’s words.

She ignored him and continued.

"Poses," she said and scoffed, "Breathing, meditation... the basics. All fucking useless. I see now I can never get through to you. Not by starting small.

No, an adrenaline junkie like you needs to feel the rush."

"Adrenaline junkie?" Caius repeated and he almost managed a smile due to how amused he was. But he repressed it. Especially since Cynthia’s eyes were still on him as she continued.

"I said last week that, despite the misconception Mage-Knights have, the traditional Mage ways are not boring. In fact, they can be quite exciting. But then, I went on to dial the excitement down to nothing by engaging you in poses."

"No, I liked the poses," Caius said.

Cynthia smiled. It wasn’t an amused one.

"I let myself get washed away with the epiphany your partnership granted me in making a breakthrough in the benefits that can be gained from the Poses. That was selfish of me.

I had you for hours and I did nothing to show you why you should be a Traditional Mage and not a Mage-Knight.

So... Fuck the basics.

Today, Caius Von Helsing, we duel."

"Professor, this is not necessary," Caius said.

"Oh, but I think it is," Cynthia said.

"I fought like a ’Mage-Knight’ yesterday because it made sense for that situation. Not because I was slipping back to default," Caius said.

"That’s even worse," Cynthia said, "It should never make sense to fight like a barbarian.

You have only convinced me more than ever that you need this. So we shall duel."

"Professor—" Caius started to say and Cynthia was quick to interrupt him.

"If we don’t, then these extra lessons end today. Also, you will no longer be welcome in Combat Magic Class," she said.

"What? I don’t think you can do that," Caius said.

"Of course, I can," Cynthia said, "Just as your students are allowed to drop subjects in the coming weeks, Professors are also allowed to drop you.

If you are so adamant about not even engaging in a proper duel during an extra lesson with me, then what good is any of this? Why waste my time trying to set you straight? I might as well let you be the muscle-bound moron you so clearly want to be."

Caius frowned.

Cynthia eyed him with her head cocked to the side,

"So what will it be?" She asked.

The answer was a no-brainer because, to be honest, a duel should be expected when one takes Combat Magic extra lessons.

The only reason Caius had tried to dissuade Cynthia from the idea was that he never took these lessons to be a better Combat Mage. He took these lessons to get closer to Cynthia which her dances(poses) had allowed him to do. He was hoping to continue down that path and didn’t want anything to derail it.

Alas, if he didn’t agree to let it be put on hold for now, he would never get the chance to perform those dances(poses) with her again.

"Alright, Professor," he eventually said with a sigh, "Let’s do it."

"Marvellous," Cynthia said in a dry tone that made it seem she had checked out on the idea of taking him these lessons.

"A couple of things to note," Cynthia said then,

"Your goal is to get me to fall on my back. Until this happens, we will continue to duel till exhaustion. Yours most likely.

I will restrain myself to Third Circle spells, of course.

However, there is a caveat;

This will be a Mage duel. I will not permit any Mage-Knight muscle-bound, barbaric bullshit. As such, if you get within 10 meters of me, I will attack you with spells beyond the Third Circle."

Cynthia paused here studying Caius’s expression. He frowned but said nothing. She continued.

"If I knock you out or down too hard for you to continue, the duel ends, and these Extra lessons will be over. Your time studying Combat Magic at Lochxen will also come to an end.

I think with all this being said, you can tell you’ll have an easier time winning the duel or at least staying in the fight if you stay the hell away from me."

"I’ll lose either way," Caius said, "In what world would I be able to get you on your back?"

With her being so many Magic circles ahead of him, his chances were next to zero.

Cynthia shrugged.

"Then I suppose we’ll accept these lessons were never meant to be then," she said, "Better to know early and not waste each other’s time, right?"

Caius’s frown became even deeper. He now believed that Cynthia didn’t expect/want him to win. This was some sort of impossible challenge to get rid of him.

’Game on, Professor,’ he said in his head, already trying to work out a plan,

’Game fucking on!’