Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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A horde of students surrounded the rooftop arena.

This time, the battlefield didn’t look like a natural landscape. Everything was built with flax-yellow wood. The floor was smooth and flat, and large cylinders of varied heights rose up in random locations.

To Suhara’s surprise, there were three administrators overlooking the arena. Each of the three instructors sat in the extremely tall observation chairs. The chairs were placed evenly around the arena. She recognized Hawkshire on one of the seats. The original supervising woman, Rilane, was sitting on the second chair.

A tanned skinned woman with short brown hair was sitting on the third seat. Suhara didn’t recognize her, but all her roommates noticed immediately.

Tricks’s mouth fell open. “Oh shit! It’s the headmistress!”

“Ah, three professors, that means they’re likely classifying this as an academic duel.” said Frey.

“Odd that the headmistress is here, though.” Desyi crossed her arms and tilted her head. “She’s usually too busy for this type of thing, isn’t she?”

Suhara observed the headmistress with an air of doubt. She expected the head of the school to look older and tamer. This woman was the opposite of all Suhara’s expectations.

The headmistress had dark and spiky brown hair layered on her scalp. Her scarlet robe had no sleeves, revealing her mahogany colored shoulders and arms. The bottom of her red robe was torn, looking like it had spent a day being mauled by a lion. Her legs were crossed beneath her robe, and she was joyfully conversing with a group of students standing by her chair. The headmistress’s laughs were loud and carefree, and the students seemed comfortable by her.

Suhara thought that the stoic and gruff Hawkshire looked more like a headmaster. This other woman just appeared too lively.

“Hey, she’s here!” said a student who recognized Suhara.

Chatters increased and stares rained down on Suhara. The crowd parted, forming an empty path to the arena.

Deledy, Norman, and Helanna detached from the crowd and approached Suhara’s group.

“Hey guys!” said Norman.

“Hi there, Ghost-slayer Suhara!” Deledy giggled. “Everyone’s been talking about you! Happy to see that you’re wearing my necklace.”

Helanna gave Suhara a hug. “So many people came! I hope you win!”

“Thanks,” said Suhara. “I’ll try my best.”

=+=+=

Suhara wore a simple white robe with a knee-high hemline; it was bought from the robe shop by Frey. Her wand and staff were in her hands. She walked into the wooden battlefield with as much confidence as she could muster.

Roy Intone sat on the edge of one of the wooden cylinder platforms. He was wearing the same bronze chestplate, with the previous dent removed. Roy also had on a set of thick gauntlets and a visorless helmet, all bronze. His silver staff rested on his lap.

“Bout time, I thought you were going to ditch.” Roy leered at Suhara, and then jumped down onto the ground. “Would have made sense. You won’t look much like someone who beat a ghost once I’m done with you. Too bad, all that time you spent spreading that stupid rumor will be wasted.”

Suhara growled. “I didn’t spread any rumors, Roy.”

“Yeah right, just like you didn’t assault me. You probably tampered with another memory crystal to make it look like you beat a ghost.” said Roy.

Rilane announced the duel proceedings to the audience with her amplified voice. The dueling scopes focused on the two combatants, while a cylindrical green forcefield started to form around the arena.

“I didn’t tamper with anything,” said Suhara. “But with all that extra armor, you look like you believe the rumors. You afraid I’ll snap your arms or crack your skull?”

“Oh please, these are just to keep your blood from staining me.” Roy taunted.

“You may begin… now!” said Rilane.

The audience went silent. All eyes focused on the fight.

Roy pointed his staff forward, but he wasn’t quick enough to strike first. A small cloud of darkness shot out of Suhara’s wand, latching onto Roy’s face like a hungry leech and blinding him.

A ball of bright orange fire burst out from the tip of the silver staff. Suhara had already moved away at that point. The flames crashed onto the floor and lit the wood on fire. Unable to remove what blinded him, Roy began to shoot lightning at where he heard footsteps.

All the missed lightning bolts left black star-like scars upon the lightly colored lumber.

Suhara was able to avoid the bolts by keeping in motion. She was able to run faster than the boy could take aim. While charging towards her enemy, she pushed magic into her anklet and her necklace, fortifying herself with blessings. As she approached the armored boy, she fired out a blast of her raw curse magic.

Darkness flooded forth and overwhelmed Roy. The foggy black magic invaded all his magical objects. The blinding spell that hovered over his eyes was also erased by the torrent of Suhara’s magic eating curse. Roy was able to see again. However, even with his sight restored, he wasn’t able to fire a spell right away. His staff had been disabled by the flowing darkness.

Suhara had closed most of the distance during the time Roy was blind. Her black staff cut upwards through the air with a loud swoosh. The clanking sound of stone striking metal resonated throughout the arena. Bronze gauntlets blocked most of the blow, but the weight behind the strike dislocated Roy's left arm.

Roy cried out in pain. The swipe of the black staff launched him high into the air, and he came crashing down onto the wooden floor. A second yell of agony burst from his lungs. He stumbled upright, then ducked behind one of the wooden cylinders as sky blue spheres flew towards him from Suhara's wand. The motion eating bullets dug into the ground, sending off thick splinters.

While behind cover, Roy charged all his equipment with his magic. Black mist began to leak out from the metal as the curse magic was chased out. The multiple protective enchantments in his equipment reactivated just in time, and protected him from the fire that abruptly ignited around him.

Suhara had run around cylinder until she regained sight of her opponent. The wood around Roy darkened into ash as Suhara roasted it with her Unseen Blaze Spell. Her flamethrower wasn't visible, but the fire that started around Roy was. When she saw that the heat wasn't bothering him, she decided to try and disable his equipment again. The flowing stream of darkness erupted from her wand and rushed towards Roy.

This time, Roy dodged the black fog. He winced in pain as his left arm swung around uselessly. Using only his right arm, he aimed his staff, and fired off a bolt of indigo energy. The magic rushed forward at a breakneck speed, leaving behind a line of snow.

The spell struck Suhara in the chest. White ice formed around her, covering her entire upper torso. The protective blessing kept the ice from making direct contact with her. Unfortunately, the ice still managed to encase her head and arms. Now Suhara was the blind one.

While Suhara struggled against the ice, Roy hid behind a different wooden cylinder. He cast a spell to stiffen his left arm into place. The pain was distracting, but it would be healed by the arena magic when the duel ended. All he needed to do was keep the pain bearable to focus on casting spells.

The white ice finally shattered under Suhara's augmented strength.

Roy peeked out from his hiding spot, and quietly aimed his staff at his opponent.

Suhara tried to activate her Winter Sight to locate Roy. Before she could finish magically shifting her vision, A man-size ice boulder flew towards her. Surprised by the incoming ice, she inadvertently held up her arms to protect herself.

The ice boulder never reached her.

Due to the shock, Suhara charged her eyes with needless amounts of magic, more than was required for Winter Sight to activate. Her vision was obscured as violet beams of light burst out from her pupils. The rays of violet pierced through the boulder and destroyed it. The wreckage of ice crumbled futilely at her feet.

Suhara stood still for a second in bewilderment. She regained her senses and retreated behind a wooden pillar as a stray lightning bolt almost nailed her. The new attack vaguely reminded her of how Seventy-nine used a ranged ability that burned her back. She had copied Seventy-nine's magic blasts, or possibly lasers. Since they came out of her pupils, she couldn't exactly see what it was. It just had something to do with light.

Winter Sight was activated now, so Suhara was able to see Roy's magic outline through the obstructions. He wasn't moving, but his staff was pointed towards the cylinder she hid behind.

For some reason, there were a bunch of white lines coming off her body. They were thin, and led to the forcefield of the arena. Suhara wasn't sure if they led through the wall, since the bright green magic of the forcefield was difficult to see through with Winter Sight. It didn't seem to be affecting her, so she ignored it for now.

A large portion of the battlefield was ablaze. The fires had crawled across the wood, and now cloaked the arena with heat. Seeing an opportunity, Suhara stuck her wand out from behind her cover and shot a magenta orb towards Roy.

The magenta sphere streak through the air, landing next to where Roy hid. All the nearby flames rushed into the orb of magic. Then the sphere hung in the air for a moment.

Roy recognized the spell, and formed a rough wall of ice to defend himself.

The orb exploded, blowing through the ice wall and knocking Roy out from his cover.

Suhara leap through the air, and activated her strength sapping aura.

Before Roy could recover from the explosion, the black stone staff struck him on his back. He was forced back onto his stomach, and screamed out as his dislocated arm was smushed against the floor.

The strength sapping aura was then released, and the black staff smashed down onto Roy's armor with excessively boosted might.

The pain was too much, and Roy passed out.

Victory. Suhara grinned with triumph, her teeth out on display for the crowd.

=+=+=

The Headmistress, Arkela Helsfur, watched the battle with devoted focus. Her right palm tracked Suhara during the entire duel.

Invisible to everyone else, a long bundle of magic strings were latched onto Suhara like cobwebs. The strings were feeding information into Helsfur's palm.

Marlifa received the information, and whispered through a gray gemstone pierced in Helsfur's ear. "She has an overabundance of soul in her body, the spirit is a deity. The deity is receiving the child's vision and hearing when the child allows it. The deity is also supplying various abilities, as well as telepathic communication. There is no memory tampering from the deity."

"Hm, then the boy is the one with the modified memory?" Helsfur spoke back in a similar whisper, which was received by a second gem piercing on her tongue.

"Nay," said Marlifa, "her mind has signs of complete memory displacement. A harpy's work."

"Are you able to find the harpy?" said Helsfur.

"I'm afraid not," said Marlifa, "this is an ancient harpy's work. There are no other traces to follow."

"Damn." Helsfur closed her palm.

The magic strings were cut loose, and evaporated into the natural magic in the atmosphere.

=+=+=

There were a lot of cheers and hugs. Suhara happily embraced her friends in her victory. After she calmed down from the celebratory excitement of beating Roy, she started to remember the white strings she saw during the duel.

Suhara looked back at the arena, and tried to remember where she stood and where the strings came from. She wasn't absolutely certain, but it seems that they originated from the headmistress.

Before Suhara could figure out what to do with her suspicions, large silver walls fell down around her. She got cut off from her friends, and was now trapped inside a cubicle of familiar reflective substance.

Seventy-nine hovered overhead, surrounded by its allied ghosts. "Hostile trespasser five hundred forty-four located."