Chapter 31: I’m an Idiot

Chapter 31: I’m an IdiotCaius’ eyes went wide and he just looked stunned. Professor Raoul threw his head back and let out a laugh before nodding with delight as he said, "Yes, yes. Good choice! Come on, Von Helsing. Get on stage." No question about whether Caius wanted the spar or not. Just an instant call to the stage. It didn’t even matter that he was the only one who hadn’t raised his hand. Caius understood why of course. As the son of Lucian Von Helsing, Professor Raoul felt there could be no one better for a demonstrative spar. In fact, Raoul almost smacked his forehead at not thinking of it and having been so close to picking someone else. Caius considered declining but he could just tell that neither the Professor nor Delia would accept. He stood up and stepped onto the stage where Delia was waiting for him with eyes that made it clear this was not a spur-of-the-moment thing. She looked calculating. Almost like she had been waiting all class for this. Maybe even all day. Caius glanced at Baler who had dropped his hand like the rest of the class and wondered how this would disrupt the grey-haired boy’s character development. He eventually decided it was not all that important. Certainly not to him since he couldn’t care less about Baler anyway. Besides, Baler lost the spar in the original story (as Caius was sure he’d lose now too), and that sent him into a spiral that probably messed up his mentality even more than it already was. Moving on, Caius allowed himself to be directed to where he should stand by Professor Raoul so there was a good bit of space between him and Delia who was now stretching with a wide smile on her face. "I’ve been waiting for this," she said and there was something about her voice that Caius found mesmerizing. He had heard it already today but not with the tone/level of intensity she had right now. She didn’t sound as impatient as she had been in Combat Magic class this morning and she didn’t sound as angry/agitated as she had been over an hour ago when her sister came and tried taking her away. "You have?" He asked with a raised brow. "Oh yes," Delia nodded, "None of that nonsense about ’proper distance’. I’m going to get real close. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got." Hearing her sister call her lecture ’nonsense’ didn’t set Cynthia Kragsten off but her posture in her chair had shifted a bit like she was paying more attention to the class now than she had so far. ’I can’t win,’ Caius decided. As a Vampire Spawn, his body was too weak to overpower Delia and he also lacked any real melee combat experience to draw from. There were memories of his father teaching him things but nothing concrete enough to combat Delia’s current battle prowess as it was described in the original story. And then he remembered something... "Professor, we can use magic, can’t we?" He asked Raoul who looked surprised at the question. "Of course, you can use Magic. What’s a ’Mage-Knight’ without magic? You are allowed your fists and your magic. Nothing else. Lethal force is strongly discouraged and I will keep watch and step in should things get too violent. You’re colleagues, not enemies. I want a clean Spar. Am I clear?" "Yes Professor," the two said as one, and with a nod, Raoul stepped away and raised a hand before bringing it straight down as he announced in a clear voice, "Begin!" ~Wispy Feet!~ The two wind spell circles appeared at Caius’ feet and he rode them to dash hard to the side just in time to avoid a punch Delia threw to the spot he had been a second ago. Caius frowned. Delia had done exactly as he thought she would. She cast a lightning movement spell to boost her speed while drawing her fist back to deliver a powerful blow sure to knock Caius out in a single hit. "Running?" Delia asked with a little laugh but didn’t even try to follow up and chase him down. She just pivoted on the spot with one leg on the ground as she raised the other and kicked at his head. Caius raised his arms just in time to block the kick but it was so strong, it sent him sliding away and when he stopped, he lost his balance and fell backward, hitting the ground. This was the problem. Although Caius had a good enough idea of what Delia could do at this point in the story, his body could not keep up. That first dodge had been pathetic because he didn’t have time to try putting more distance between them before she kicked him. But he had a plan. As long as they were allowed to use magic, he still had a shot. As his ass hit the ground to a slightly embarrassing thud, he stretched his hand forward knowing Delia was going to follow up on the attack. He had a spell circle already in mind and infused mana into it just in time to bring the spell to life. ~Fireball!~ As far as burst damage went, it was likely Caius’ best and he had planned his cast of the spell so well that it caught Delia in the face right as she was bringing down her foot to stomp him into the ground. At least it should have. Alas, Delia was far too quick. "I thought you’d try to do that," she said with a knowing smile as she thrust out a fist with a spell circle right in front of it. She had paid enough attention when Caius and Aurelius faced off against her sister so she had seen the spells he used. Which was why she had just the spell to defend against it. The spell circle in front of her fist transformed into a cyclone of wind that wrapped around her fist and forearm and she punched the fireball with it. The wind protected Delia from the heat of the fireball’s flames and also reacted with the very core of the attack, destabilizing it and causing it to unravel from within before they reacted against each other to implode as one. *Boom!!!* Caius took the time to roll away just barely avoiding her stomp. He got on one knee and cast ~Wind Scythe~ twice in quick succession in a transparent attempt to keep Delia away from him. She met each scythe with a grin, and destroyed them with her fists coated with Wind cyclones right before she leaped at Caius with a powerful punch from above targeted at his face. When she destroyed the scythes, Caius looked worried and scrambled backward looking cornered but when she leaped, he smiled. Delia caught the smile at the same time he aimed his index finger at her like it was a finger gun. Sёarch* The NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. ~Blindness!~ Delia’s eyes widened as the purple veil came at her but there was no defense planned so it struck her and robbed her of her vision. ’This was it?!’ She asked loudly in her head, ’This was why Cynthia paused?!’ You see, Delia had paid attention to Caius and Aurelius versus her sister but there was one moment that was strange to her. The moment when Caius was in front of Cynthia, and did something that had the Combat Magic Professor staring blindly. Unlike the other flashy spells Caius had used, ~Blindness~ was more subtle. As Delia just discovered herself. ~Wispy Feet!~ With a boost of wind, Caius moved away because, although temporarily blinded, Delia’s attack was still on track to connect. *Bang!* Her fist hit the ground instead and there was a crack on the stage’s concrete that caused Caius to burst out in cold sweats at how that could have been his head had he not managed to get away. But he pushed past that. His plan had worked and this was his chance. His one chance. Delia had no idea where Caius was and was staring blindly trying to use her ears and senses to detect him and know what he was planning. But it was too late. ~Circle Of Lightning!~ The spell circle appeared and then became a ring of lightning that wrapped around Delia’s body before tightening and firing her with powerful jolts of electricity that had her arch her back and look up at the ceiling as she yelled. "Arrghhh!!!" Caius cringed at how much pain he caused her but some part of him was proud that he had managed to pull it off... ’Wait,’ he suddenly thought with a start, ’Lightning!’ Just as Caius was realizing his error, Delia stood up and grabbed the circle of lightning still around her body. The electricity wrought chaos inside her and would have incapacitated anyone else. But she wasn’t anyone else. She was Delia Kragsten. Wielder of the Kragsten Family’s Storm Magic. She was used to the chaos of lightning. Hell, she commanded it. "Shit," Caius said with a dumb smile. Delia harnessed the lightning that was attacking her and she used it to activate her lightning movement spell, arriving in front of Caius so fast that by the time he saw her, she was in the middle of a spin move he had no chance of dodging or evading. ’I’m an idiot,’ he told himself still with that dumb smile. Delia’s kick connected with the side of his head and everything went