Chapter 18: Combat Magic (2)

Chapter 18: Combat Magic (2)Away from the spectator seats, past the Arena and against the wall of the Combat Magic Classroom, a swirling portal Gate appeared. Caius and every other student watched as a set of long, smooth bronze legs with beautiful feet strapped into heeled shoes of midnight blue gilded with golden patterns stepped out of the portal first. The rest of the woman followed. She must have been 5’7 normally but her heels lifted her to 5’11, making her appear tall and glorious. Her smooth bronze skin seemed to glisten. Her thick black hair was tied with a golden gilded string into a bun at the top of her head with a deliberate strand left to fall to the side of her face. She was dressed in a midnight blue gown with golden patterns that matched her shoes. The gown clung to her body and there was a small cleavage window too that would have pulled more attention if her face was not already grabbing it all. Her face was very beautiful, even when compared to Arlette who was the only person who looked about her age that Caius could use to make comparisons thus far. In fact, while the woman and Arlette looked nothing alike—besides being very attractive women—they did both have grey eyes. However, where Arlette’s eyes were a lighter and more feline grey, the woman’s eyes were a stormy grey. They looked restless, angry, and almost Violent. When she smiled at the class though, they were milder by just a few degrees. And speaking of that smile. It was breathtaking. Caius should have known what to expect as she had been described in the original story, even more than Arlette, but it still took him by surprise. He had a feeling he should be getting used to that. "Good morning class. I am Cynthia Kragsten. You will call me Professor Kragsten. Welcome to Combat Magic." Everyone paid rapt attention. An already interesting class being taught by a teacher as beautiful as the bronze-skinned Professor commanded their attention whether they wanted it to or not. "I assume most of you are already aware of what this class will entail. But I will run through a short introduction still. Combat magic is a lot of things. It’s a practice and study of strategies. It’s the reestablishment of the age-old principle of mind over muscle that makes it ever clear that the strength of a Mage’s body doesn’t guarantee success in battle..." From somewhere, Caius heard a scoff. He was sure others heard it too but no one said anything. They were too wrapped up in the lecture. There was a look in Professor Kragsten’s eyes that told Caius that she had heard the scoff as well but she decided to pay it no mind and continued talking. Most likely because, like him, she knew who made the sound. "... I won’t be teaching you spells. That is not my job. You have other classes and various other means to acquire the spells you need. No, what I will be teaching you is how to utilize already learned/acquired spells to especially defend yourself from attack. Yes, Combat Magic is a lot of things but at its core, it’s self-defense..." Professor Kragsten paused here and the corner of her beautiful lips curved into a smirk, "... It just so happens that the best defense at times is offense." Her eyes scanned the class and then she called out, "Delia Kragsten. Step into the Arena, please." Most followed the Professor’s gaze to see who she was talking to but Caius’ eyes were already there. At the back of the class, mostly alone, sat a very beautiful bronze-skinned eighteen-year-old girl with thick black hair that was in such unified clusters as they tumbled down from her head that they looked like clouds. Clouds never come in black so that shouldn’t have been a description and yet it was. Because that was the only thing that matched. The girl had the same stormy grey eyes as the Professor and while everyone had been paying rapt attention to the lecture, she had her arms folded beneath her well-developed breasts with an air of nonchalance and disinterest. "Come on Delia," Professor Kragsten said and there was familiarity in her smile, "Don’t be shy." Delia scoffed and the keen-eared would immediately notice it was the same sound that was heard a minute ago. She rolled her eyes and stood from her chair. She was tall and lithe like an athlete and yet shapely. Her beautiful face made her appear like a mini-version of the Professor below. She walked down the steps and into the Arena, standing opposite the Professor who everyone could tell was her relative. Their sharing a last name was a vital clue. "How can you learn Combat Magic?" Professor Kragsten asked the class at large, "By taking notes? No. You learn by doing. Miss Kragsten here will join me to demonstrate what I mean." Up in the seats, Eloise leaned past Kaya to whisper to Caius, "They’re sisters," she said gesturing at the two ladies in the Arena. "I know," Caius answered with a smile. Everyone knew. Once it was clear there was a relation, standard deductive reasoning made everyone decide the Professor could not be Delia’s mother. She was either an Aunt or a Sister. Sister seemed the most likely. "Oh, this will be good," Eloise said and she sounded like she was expecting something. "I don’t want to do this, Cynthia..." Delia said with a frown. Professor Kragsten ignored her, "Remember kids, in Combat Magic, distance is your friend. Now, Delia, we will spar." Professor Kragsten took on a leisurely stance with one hand held out. "Let’s begin," she said, "I will, of course, restrain myself to only spells at the Third circle. And remember Delia, Distance..," There had to have been something about her sister’s tone, or maybe it was the look in her eyes but Delia’s lips turned tight in a frown before she let out a battle cry and started charging. There was about ten feet of distance between her and the Professor and after the first three, she thrust out her hand and cast a spell circle rich in the colors grey and electric blue. Out of the spell circle charged a powerful gale of wind and within that wind crackled lightning whose sounds were so loud and violent they caused many in the class to flinch and let out ’oohs’ and ’ahhs’ of admiration. But Delia didn’t let go of the spell. She didn’t cast it. She controlled the gale of wind to cover both her arms and when she was five feet from her sister, she leaped. Strong wind propelled her into the air and she came down striking with her wind/lightning-covered fists. "Wow!" Kaya let out with wide eyes. Wow indeed. It was impressive spell control, especially considering the rage within the spell. Searᴄh the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. But Professor Kragsten was unimpressed. She formed a seal, tossed it forward by flicking a finger to unleash a wall of water that slammed and intercepted Delia’s punches. The water wall not only canceled out the spell, it also sent Delia flying at least two feet away to hit the ground with a thud. "Distance is important to a Mage," Professor Kragsten lectured with her great eyes cloudy with disappointment, "Again!" Delia’s frown was even deeper now. She recast her wind/lightning fists and went charging again. A water wall was sent at her and she destroyed it, managing to keep her spell active, only to meet another that she punched through but it managed to cancel out the spell and send her sliding away. "Stop charging in!" Professor Kragsten said sharply, "If you can’t even learn this simple thing, how do you expect to operate properly as a mage?" "Maybe I don’t want to operate as a Mage," Delia mumbled but her sister heard. The entire class did. Professor Kragsten’s eyes flashed but there was no surprise in them. This was not the first time her sister had shown this disregard for the traditional ways of Mage duels. "Distance is not just for distance’s sake. It gives you time to study your opponent. Gives you time to react to your opponent. Gives you time to prepare yourself. There is absolutely no real reason to let all that go in favor of some brutish way of battling that doesn’t suit a Mage." Some in the class might be in the dark about what Cynthia Kragsten was talking about but Caius was not. The ’brutish’ way she was referring to was the ways of ’Mage Knights’. Something Delia had wanted to be ever since she was a child. "I’ve heard that speech before," Delia said in a low voice that seemed to rumble with her annoyance. "I was saying it for their benefit, not yours. You’re not my only student," Professor Kragsten said. "I don’t care. I’ve heard it all before so spare me!" Delia said and a grey, silver, and electric blue spell circle appeared at her feet. The energy of it was so charged, everyone in the class felt it. "Oh, this is it. Knew we’d get to see it," Eloise said in an excited voice and leaned forward to whisper, "The Kragsten family’s ’Storm Magic’!"