Chapter 51

**Merianna**

It seemed like word about an imminent duel got around faster than word of our arrival within the Council walls did. The “training room” that Kayle had mentioned was big, yet simple enough. Some benches sat on the edges of the room for resting, but the thing that struck me the most was the lack of wooden training weapons. It made me hope that my earlier assumption of those wooden sticks on the belt loops of Kayle’s students wasn't right. That would just be too cringey.

“This is going to turn into quite the spectacle.” I muttered as I glanced around the many curious gases that had started stuffing themselves around the walls of the room in order to catch a glimpse of the fight that’ll happen in the middle ring.

“Quite a good way to get our name back out there I’d say.” Noch gleefully agreed.

“I don’t think I’d be able to make it interesting.”

“It should be fine as long as you don’t outright kill someone.”

“You’re willing to heal them if I accidentally hit them a bit too hard?”

He shrugged. “Debatable.”

“That might be the only way they’ll survive.” I wasn’t looking forward to this spat at all, but at the same time Noch was right in saying that it would be better for me to get reacquainted with my magic through a sparring match.

“You’ll do fine.” Thyrion reassuringly pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head.

I could see the youngsters that’ll be my opponents throwing glances our way that were mixes of haughty hostility and uncertainty. They clearly heard some stories of the Order here and there, the real question was if they believed them or not. And if they didn’t… I hoped that at least someone was praying for their souls.

“What on earth is going on here?!” Boomed an authoritative voice from the entrance that was pretty much choked by curious eyes. The throng of people at the bottleneck dispersed quickly enough though, allowing Jernok to slip through along with Ferina close on his heels.

“This is a sparring match that has been agreed upon by both parties, Jernok.” Kayle explained nonchalantly from where he was milling about.

Jernok glared disapprovingly at Kayle as he made his way over to us. “Is that true? You guys weren’t tricked or pushed into taking part in this?”

“Oh please, as if we could be tricked into something silly like this.” Noch answered mockingly.

“They offered to have their asses handed to them, and we just accepted.” Thyrion shrugged his shoulders.

I sighed with a shrug. “The spar will probably do me some good since I still need to get comfortable in my own skin again.”

“So, you’re going to be the one sparring Merianna?” Ferina asked worriedly.

“Apparently it’s a student against student match. And even if it was a while ago, I was in fact this idiot’s student.” Noch pouted at my answer but I just ignored him.

Both Jernok and Ferina lost their worried looks and started turning more to looks of concern. “Are you sure about this?” Ferina asked.

I hummed a little, taking her question seriously. “You might want to be at the ready in case emergency medical attention might be needed. I’m not quite sure what their expertise is, and I am also not 100% sure about how much I can hold back.”

Jernok ran a stressed hand over his face as Ferina blew out a defeated sigh. “Just as a note, you might want to hold back quite a bit. Think of it as flicking an ant off your arm.” She admitted.

Noch, Thyrion and I all shared dubious glances with each other. “Is it really that bad?” Noch asked.

“In a way you could even say that it’s worse.” Jernok muttered.

“So… those decorated sticks strapped to their belts are…?” I prompted.

Ferina cringed and seemed like she wanted to hide in a hole rather than confirm my suspicion. “Yeah…” she said woundedly. “Those are… wands.”

“Wands as in the modern day hokus pokus props in books and party stores?” Thyrion looked like he wanted to cringe himself.

“Neaaah…” Ferina agreed hesitantly.

“So… who may I ask, came up with this new ‘method’ of practicing magic?” I had my theories, but it would be hilarious if my thought was actually correct.

Jernok sighed. “Kayle started implementing and teaching this method about a thousand years ago when he first became a member of the Council. And took advantage of the fact that the Order went on hiatus.”

“Ahaaaa…” Yep, I was right. It was going to be so awkward when I squash Kayle’s new-age way of doing magic with our old school magic that was the Order’s specialty. It made me think that I should probably stick to what Raska, Jasnine, Ara and Fog taught me instead of Noch’s way of doing things. Noch’s teachings were much more old school than everyone else’s.

I turned to Noch who couldn’t be bothered less about all the hubbub. “So, for how long should I try to keep things going?”

He glanced at me and gave an evil smile. “Until that guy’s soul figuratively leaves his body and his confidence gets knocked down so far that it’s ground into dust.”

I raised my eyebrow at the tall order. “Don’t think I’d be able to pull that off. I could probably manage the soul part, but the rest might be stretching it.”

Noch pouted in disappointment. “At least give it a try. Using the shadows might stretch your playtime a bit to allow for some longer soul crushing.”

“Urgh, that feels like cheating though.” I groaned.

“Ag just do it, we obviously don’t have anything to lose. And it’s not our fault that he took you to be a baby faced newblood like his two witchlings that follow him around everywhere.” Noch tittered.

“I know I look young right now, but seriously?!” 

Noch shrugged then grinned playfully. “Want to use a scythe?”

The urge to hold a scythe again was almost overpowering, but I knew that would just be a bit too much. “I think that would be overkill in this situation.”

“Bare handed it is then.” Noch announced happily.

“Are you all set to start, or are you pulling out of this match?” Kayle asked loudly from the other side of the room.

“You bet your pretty little ass we’re going through with this!” Noch happily agreed.

I heaved a heavy sigh and pecked Thyrion on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

He grinned back and kissed the top of my head. “Try not to kill the poor guy.”

I groaned and then started meandering my way to the middle of the room as my supposed opponent also started strutting forwards. He gave me a quick once over and frowned.

“Where is your wand?” He demanded. The guy was about Thyrion’s hight, but dreadfully average in terms of looks.

“Oh my gods, you seriously actually use that thing?” I blurted out before I could think better of it.

“Don’t mock me, this is much more efficient than the old way!” He declared as he whipped his decorated stick out and held it for me to see.

Sure it was well crafted, about the same length as his forearm, looked sturdy, and had a few simplified runes carved in it to focus and channel energy through to the tip. But in terms of using magic, this method looked more like glorified training wheels compared to the freedom of casting without such limitations. Just like how it’s much harder to do BMX-ing with training wheels rather than without.

“Fine fine, let's just get this over with.” I sighed. It would be easier to show him rather than to stand and debate.

“Ready?!” Jernok lifted his arm, ready to fill in as the referee for this round. The newbie and I both gave our nods of agreement.

“Begin!”

My opponent lifted his arm and brought it down with an incantation nearly on its way out of his lips. As he brought his hand down though, I caught hold of his wrist and just raised my eyebrow at his surprised expression before I turned, swiped his feet out from under him and yeeted him over my back and straight onto the floor.

“I could break your arm right now, and if I were a Hunter, you’d be dead.” I declared coldly at his utterly stunned face.

He quickly seemed to shake off the impact though as he yanked his arm out from my grasp. “That was a cheap shot!”

He got his feet under him and jumped up, ready to try and let another incantation fly. But the moment he was ready to utter it, I was already gone from his sight. He whirled around to his left and right, trying to find me with his eyes, meanwhile I on the other hand just took Noch’s advice to use the shadows to make things more interesting.

It was surprising how nostalgic it felt to use the shadows again. Even though the room we were in was well lit, there were still shadows under my opponent’s feet. And that was all I needed.

At his next step, I shed the shadows and appeared right behind him. Kayle gave a warning yell over all the other observer’s gasps of surprise. But this poor guy caught on too late. I slammed my elbow into his kidneys, kicked the back of his knees, and he went down without much resistance.

I grabbed the back of his neck. “Dead again.” I announced.

He shook me off and scrambled away as quickly as he was able to, panting as he found his feet again. “Fight me with magic you coward!” He yelled indignantly.

I groaned but figured that I should try to give him what he’s asking for. “Third match out of three then?” I said as I lifted my palm.

I could see Ferina moving through the crowd from my peripheral as my opponent readied himself again. I gathered my energy and condensed the air from our surroundings into my palm.

As the guy managed to utter half an incantation I lazily maneuvered my hand and flicked the gathered energy straight at him. I only thought half a second after flicking the mass of energy and air at him, that I might have put too much oemf into the projectile.

The guy was sent flying over everyone’s heads and straight into the stone wall behind everyone. Luckily I didn’t see him crunch into the walls like I expected.

“Got him!” Ferina yelled as she lowered the guy from an air cushion she managed to construct just in the nick of time.

“Sorry Ferina!” I apologised sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it.” She said as she hauled the shellshocked youngster over to his equally shellshocked teacher.

“You really should have thought twice before you thought about challenging Merianna to something this ridiculous.” Ferina sighed and dumped the guy into Kayle’s arms.

“W-wait.” He stuttered as he looked at me again. “Merianna? THAT Merianna?!” He asked in a panic. “Wasn’t she dead?!”

“Apparently not. Extenuating circumstances as it were.” Jernok answered, then turned to me. “I’m so sorry about their disrespect Merianna.” He apologised honestly.

“Oh no, don’t worry about it Jernok. It was interesting to see how standards have changed over the years I have been gone.” And I meant it. Who would have thought that new-age witches would veer so far away from the traditional way of doing magic over a period of 2000 years. The gap in knowledge that the Order left was indeed huge.

Kayle shrugged his student off into the hands of the other and proceeded to stiffly march over to Noch. “You said she was your student!” He yelled furiously. “Using an already established member of the Order is a foul move!”

Noch just tilted his head. “She was my student though? You didn’t specify whether or not the student had to be a newblood or an old student. And it most certainly isn’t my fault that you came to your own conclusions without thoroughly asking my little companion about her identity. Not to mention, once a student always a student. Right Demon Spawn?!”

I threw Noch the bird as a reply.

“It really is your own fault that you pushed Merianna into fighting your student.” Thyrion shrugged and walked over to my side.

“Did you have fun?” Thyrion asked with a grin.

“You’re joking right?”

Thyrion cringed and shrugged. “Honestly, it was sad to watch.”

“Like kicking a dog when it was already down?”

“Was that what it felt like?”

“Yes it was.”

Both of us gave equally pained groans.

Noch on the other hand gave a devilish chuckle. “Just admit that the old way of doing magic is a lot better than this mambo jumbo that you have going on.” Noch teased Kayle, who looked like he was getting increasingly more irate with each second.

On that note, Kayle seemed to think it would be a good idea to pull out a glove that he had tucked away in his robes and toss it at Noch’s feet.

Noch looked incredulously at the glove, then glanced back up at Kayle. “You can honestly just ask with your words you know?”

Ferina had made her way over to Thyrion and me and gave a heavy sigh. “Kayle tends to be a bit old fashioned.”

I raised my eyebrow at her. “What does that make us then? Ancient fashioned?”

Thyrion chortled and gave me a tight hug, even Ferina had to cover her mouth before she laughed out loud.

Now it was Jernok’s turn to sigh and turn his attention back to Kayle. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? If you are dead set on this, I can’t guarantee that you’ll stay alive.”

Noch pouted. “I at least have more self control than the Demon Spawn does.”

“So you actually want to do this?” Jernok asked incredulously.

“It’ll be a waste of time but if he’s serious about this then I’d just have to beat the respect into his soul then wouldn’t I?” Noch’s grin was positively evil as he said that.

I wasn’t sure about beating respect into his soul, but the mental scar of utter defeat that would live on through multiple lifetimes was not so far fetched. Heck the mere thought of fighting against Raska at any given time still gives me goosebumps till this day, and this was Noch we were talking about.