Boring Life In A Magic Highschool

Entrance Test Preparations (2)

They both stepped inside the rectangular ink on the floor and entered different fighting stances. Ryo held his sword with his right hand, leaving the other open, while Haruto held his with both of his hands, holding it at chest level. 

Haruto held his stance with fierce eyes, while Ryo contradicted, having an emotionless and dead look on his face. 

"Now, let's start!" Haruto yelled out as he swiftly dashed towards Ryo. Upon entering Ryo's range, he smoothly swung his blade horizontally. Ryo easily parried his blade, causing a loud clang to echo.

"Strike the enemy in front, Thundershock!" Haruto chanted under his breath. Upon those words, a yellow lightning shaped like an orb began shooting a series of lightning towards Ryo.

"Ablaze." However, Ryo remained unfazed, easily countering it with the flames from his other hand. The collision of these two elements caused an explosion, pushing Haruto away from there. However, Ryo remained still, and standing, unbothered by the cloud of smoke and the explosion itself.

 "That's quite cold," Haruto complimented with a smile. "Thunderstrike." Just like in Ryo's battle with Kyouko, upon the lightning user chanting "thunderstrike", a lightning energy of a certain color will envelope their weapon and body. However, that's not all. Thunderstrike magic allows the user to cast an exploding lightning energy within a certain range.

Ryo was waiting for Haruto to strike. However, he didn't. Haruto only stared at Ryo. Ryo sensed that something was amiss. 

A long-range attack perhaps? He thought to himself as he cautiously looked around. At one point, Haruto focused his energy on the ground underneath Ryo. And while Ryo's eyes were away from that point, he used his magic.

"Thunderstrike." An explosive lightning energy erupted underneath Ryo.

"That's very... readable." Cold, and as if he already knew, Ryo dashed out of the area before it could reach him, and lunged towards his opponent.

"W-What?!" He blurted out in surprise as he parried Ryo's attack.

"Let's end this, shall we? Ablaze." His blade began emitting a strong, fiery energy, that slowly and surely, overpowered Haruto. Haruto can't break free from being locked in with Ryo's blade due to its strong force. If he weakens his force, he will be pushed back, which will be an immediate defeat. 

Haruto clenched his teeth in desperation as he tried hard to push Ryo's blazing sword back. However, defeat was slowly knocking on his door. He can sense it. Now, cracks began manifesting in his blade. 

"Nice duel, Haruto," Ryo said as he finally decided to finish their duel. He calmly exerted more energy on his sword, and with just a few pushes, he was able to break through Haruto's blade completely., his blazing sword melting each metal shard as it passed through.

It was a victory...

Or so he thought.

As he sliced through the blade, Haruto suddenly disappeared from thin air. 

Eyes widened in surprise, Ryo immediately turned around. However, Haruto was nowhere to be seen. It was like... he disappeared out of nowhere. Ryo raised his awareness up and tried to sense Haruto's presence.

"There," Ryo whispered as he finally got ahold of Haruto's presence. He was... above him!

Anticipating that, he quickly swung his sword above him, and just like he anticipated, Haruto was above him, with a new sword in hand.

Their eyes locked. Haruto was surprised that Ryo anticipated this move of his. However, he could only smile. In the face of someone strong, this outcome was certainly predictable.