Restricted Magic - Arc 3

Part 2

"You are so embarrassing. I can't believe we're friends! Please do the world a favor and spare us the sickly sweet lovey dovey talk." Frederick groaned.

Erin smiled, her eyes not reflecting the expression. "How about you and I spar, Frederick?"

"..."The boy paled. "On second thought, resume the sickly sweet lovey dovey talk. Come on Olivia, I'll spar with you."

"Why?" She followed along, pouting.

"Because you suck at fighting and I like living. Give the couple some space!" With that, he pulled her along to the other side of the field.

Everyone paired up, and after a few quick demonstrations from the instructor, began to fight.

"Ready?" Erin asked, taking a stance.

"Let's do this." Gerald watched her closely, his sudden stillness indicating that he had activated his Insight ability.

Was he was going to try to copy her? Erin grinned, activating her physical enhancement ability, moving faster than the eye could follow.

Gerald put a shield of water all around himself, while backing up to avoid close quarter combat.

It was a good strategy, as he couldn't match her currently enhanced abilities if it came to hand to hand combat.

But Erin was ready for it. She continued to close the distance between them, using wind magic to lift herself off of the ground above Gerald's water magic. A flame formed at her feet, allowing her form to pass easily through the roof of the water barrier to land in front of him.

Gerald was obviously surprised, as she shouldn't have been able to simply pass through his defensive spell, even with flame magic. Trying to keep up he dispersed the now useless water shield and leapt forward, ready to attack even as he caused the earth beneath Erin's feet to rise up and trap her.

"Good try." A voice whispered in his ear. Startled he turned around to see Erin was standing behind him. The Erin he had caught with his earth magic faded away, just an illusion.

"A trap." Gerald muttered, throwing himself down and trying to sweep her legs out from under her. He now regretted cancelling the water shield, thinking she had already gotten through it, but unknowingly making it easier for her to attack him.

Before he could even complete his attack, however, he felt the ground beneath his feet melt away, causing him to lose his balance. He fell to his back, knocking the breath from him.

Erin leaned over, pinning him with a mischievous smile.

"I win."

Gerald shrugged good-naturedly, although he looked slightly depressed. "You've come along way in adjusting to your less restricted magic. I'm pretty sure I'm not your match anymore in a one-on one fight."

Erin helped him to his feet. "Next time, we'll limit me to one or two types of magic."

"Would that be helpful to you though?"

"Don't look so worried. Training under different conditions will definitely be helpful!"

Biting his lip, Gerald nodded quietly. "I just... with all that's going on ... I want to help, but I'm just..." He looked down, pausing. "Not sure that I'm strong enough."

"You're one of the strongest magical students in the world, we just won a competition that says so." Erin pointed out. "Plus, you can't compare yourself to my father, he's more like a monster than an actual human being."

"But..."

She grabbed his hands in her own. "Don't worry so much."

Sighing with frustration when she saw that his expression didn't improve, she turned to watch the other sparring partners together.