"Speech Marks" - speaking

Italics - thoughts

Mikoto was in deep thought when walking towards the square but contrary to what most people would think she wasn't thinking about the duel, she was thinking about Siesta's reaction after she'd accepted the duel.

She didn't believe I could win, I wonder are all non magic people like that, submissive because they know if they resist the mages will just use their magic on them and when that happens they know they don't stand a chance and even if they did fight back the law is horrendous when it comes to protecting non magic folk and punishing the mages, and to use words such as commoner and noble, these mages are just boosting their already over inflated egos even more it's pathetic, these mages clearly think they're better then non magic folk heck even the law created and implemented by mages reflects it.

Mikoto huffed in annoyance before sighing as the overconfident 3rd year began mocking her and winding up the crowd as she arrived at the square.

My point exactly.

There was approximately 3 minutes before the duel was supposed to start, 3 minutes to gain as much information on her opponent as she could and come up with a strategy.

Standing roughly 10 meters apart from each other Mikoto kept her face neutral as she observed her opponent, his attitude, how he moved etc.

Tabitha, Sylphid, Siesta, Louise, Kirche, Guiche and his girlfriend arrived causing Mikoto to glance at them before returning her attention to the red head boy.

Don't worry Siesta I'll beat this guy without my ability and prove to all the non mages that it is possible for someone without a supernatural ability to beat a mage.

"Hey guys why did that 3rd year challenge Mikoto to a duel instead of just attacking her?" asked Guiche gaining the groups attention.

"I think it's because she's Louise's familiar and he realized it the moment he saw her, her clothes do kind of give her away, anyway attacking her would be like attacking Louise and could potentially bring down the wrath of the Vallière family onto him" Kirche explained, "but by challenging her to a duel he can kill her without any consequences."

Unnoticed by everyone except Sylphid, Tabitha had flinched slightly when Kirche said the 3rd year could kill Mikoto without consequences.

When the 3 minutes had passed Mikoto had finished her assessment and decided that she'd play the battle by ear considering she didn't know anything about these mages and this was a good opportunity to learn more.

He's arrogant and extremely overconfident, his body is big but not toned or muscular he clearly doesn't care about physical strength, speed or stamina, his posture is full of openings showing he's not got any actual combat experience and his weight's all over the place making it hard for him to move around.

Mikoto smiled internally, An overconfident long range fighter with a weak body, poor balance and no experience, one punch in the right place and he's done for.

One of the spectators, another 3rd year judging by his cloak had also decided he was going to referee the duel stepped in between the red head and Mikoto.

"The duel will begin shortly" he called over the chatter of the large crowd of people who turned up to watch, the crowd immediately hushed until there was only quiet whispers.

"Will the combatants please introduce themselves" he requested looking at the red head and then to Mikoto.

The red head went first.

"I am Hugo Jérome De La Boriélle, also known as Hugo the Volcano, a Triangle Class Mage and 3rd year student at Tristain Academy of Magic" he smirked making grand gestures with his arms as the crowed cheered, he was clearly trying to intimidate Mikoto.

Mikoto narrowed her eyes slightly at the information.

Volcano? probably means he's a fire and earth user but he said triangle class and triangles have 3 sides does that mean he can use 3 different elements if so how many things do the mages here class as elements and what are they? Hm, when I think basic elements the first things that come to mind are fire, water, air and earth. I know he uses fire and earth, so going by that the 3rd is a toss up between water and wind and between them the one that would complement his other elements best would be wind, which if i'm right is probably going to cause me a few issues.

Mikoto turned her attention towards the wannabe judge who was now waiting for her to introduce herself.

"Mikoto" no need to give her opponent any relevant information about her, not that he'd be able to understand any even if she did.

Getting into a loose stance that enabled her to move in any direction Mikoto waited for the signal to begin.

"Ready?" called the wannabe judge.

"Ha, I was born ready" boasted Hugo.

Mikoto nodded not taking her eyes off her opponent.

"Then, BEGIN" he called before jumping back out of the way.

"Ha, i'll finish this quick" Hugo proclaimed.

He pointed his wand straight at Mikoto and yelled "fireball".

Mikoto easily sidestepped the ball of fire as the crowd behind Mikoto hurriedly moved out the way.

Hugo looked slightly surprised she'd dodged and clenched his teeth in slight frustration.

Fire check, in terms of raw power i'd class that as mid level 3.

"Huh, it seems my aim was slightly off, next time you won't be so lucky commoner!" he yelled.

Pointing his wand at the ground he yelled "quicksand".

Seeing the area around her changing Mikoto quickly jumped off the ground which not long after the area she was standing in had changed to quicksand.

Earth check, oh it's so nice when your opponent tells you what they're going to do, anyway next up will hopefully either be water or air, air being the more troublesome.

Hugo grit his teeth in frustration as he pointed his wand at Mikoto and called out "fire tornado".

Mikoto immediately ducked low to the ground as a tornado of fire easily twice the size of the fireball flew above her obscuring her from the view of the spectators.

Tabitha's eyes widened a fraction and the grip on her staff tightened even more as the fire seemed to consume Mikoto.

Sylphid also tensed and wined in panic.

Siesta had brought her hands up to her mouth and tears were gathering in her eyes.

Kirche, Guiche and Montmorency's eyes all widened in horror.

Louise was shaking unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

He's using air magic to make his fire stronger. Come to think of it there were 5 towers surrounding the main tower and 4 of them connected to it with corridors whilst the other stood on it own. I wonder do those towers represent the magic elements of this world, if so it means that the mages here can use the 4 base elements which they can combine either making them stronger or changing them entirely. The tower on its own that probably represents Louise's element. As long as I know all the possible combinations I can counter anything that comes my way.

Mikoto smiled, suppose it's time I ended this.

Staying low to the ground she carefully moved towards her opponent using the fire storm raging above her as cover.

She could hear her opponents laughter obviously thinking he'd won and coupled with the fire she suddenly found herself back fighting against the trigger happy fire mage in her world.

Mikoto froze, her breathing was starting to become labored and sweat was gathering on her brow as she remembered the event.

She closed her eyes trying to will the nausea away but that only made the image of the trigger happy fire mage even more prominent.

Mikoto moved so she was no longer crouching and instead laying front first on the ground, her forehead touching the ground.

The fire mage's maniacal laughter was all she could hear.

"Mikoto"

Mikoto's eyes snapped open, had she imagined it, she could've sworn someone had called her name.

Turning her head so she was facing towards the direction of the voice she all could see was feet, a lot of feet.

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion Mikoto scanned the feet until she saw big blue paws.

"Sylphid?" she whispered.

Looking next to the paws she could see two small feet, the person was wearing small brown loafers with white tights, and next to them was the end of a large staff.

Mikoto's eyes widened slightly, "Tabitha?"

"That's right, i'm not there anymore" she whispered in relief.

Refocusing her attention on her opponent Mikoto once again began crawling towards the cocky fire mage until any further would give away her position.

She crouched ready to move at the opening that would soon be presented to her.

The fire tornado was starting to die down and the moment it was weak enough to pass through Mikoto pounced taking the young mage by surprise.

To him it looked as if she'd come straight through the fire.

Coming from below Mikoto grabbed his right wrist pushing his wand towards the sky and away from her, this also served to unbalance him causing him to fall backwards slightly.

Mikoto didn't wast any time using the momentum she'd gained from pushing him to smash her right fist into the mages nose.

A sickening crunch was heard as blood poured out of his now broken nose and Mikoto released his wrist using the force of the punch to send the boys head smashing into the ground where he lay unconscious.

The whole square was silent as everyone trying to process what had just happened.

Tabitha was relieved, when Mikoto had suddenly appeared almost directly in front of the 3rd year she was shocked and very relieved but now that the duel was over she couldn't see any injuries on Mikoto, heck not even her clothes appeared even marginally burned, to beat a triangle class mage without magic and without suffering any injuries was an unbelievable feat.

Mikoto turned away from the unconscious mage and started walking towards Tabitha's group.

When she got there Tabitha surprised everyone by hugging her and Sylphid gave her face a long wet lick before rubbing her head against her back.

Siesta also began fussing over Mikoto looking for non existent injuries muttering how reckless she was for fighting a noble but tears of joy were falling from her eyes and she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Kirche was once again muttering something about deja vu but did give Mikoto a proud smirk.

Guiche and Montmorency mouths were wide open in disbelief, for a commoner to beat a dot mage was one thing but for another to beat a triangle mage without breaking a sweat was something they never thought possible.

But once again it was Louise who had the best reaction.

Her shoulders slumped, her jaw had dropped and her eyes once again appeared to be bulging out of her sockets in disbelief.

She was in shock of what she'd just witnessed, her familiar had just defeated a triangle class mage, her mind just couldn't comprehend it.

Everyone else in the square was also staring at Mikoto with newly found fear and respect, after all the other commoner who beat a dot mage suffered serious injuries but this other commoner just beat a triangle mage without any injuries at all.

In Headmaster Osmond's office he was also watching the duel along with Professor Colbert.

When Colbert had burst into his office demanding to use the bell of sleep because a duel was taking place between a 3rd year triangle mage and Louise's other familiar Osmond was very tempted to say yes, but after Guiche lost to Saito granted it was because of Gandalfr's runes he had to say he was curious.

He was even more curious when Colbert said that earlier she emitted a powerful aura that made him nervous.

Watching the duel through the mirror in his office Osmond was very surprised at what he saw and he could tell that Colbert shared his surprise.

Louise's familiar effortlessly dodged the attacks of the first son of the Boriélle family who were widely known for their powerful fire magic and then used his own fire as cover before taking him by surprise and finishing the duel with a powerful punch to his face effortlessly knocking him out.

But what had taken both himself and Colbert completely by surprise was that this girl didn't use magic or display any kind of otherworldly ability.

Colbert had researched the runes on Saito's hand discovering them to be the rues of Gandálfr meaning Mikoto must be his partner but in the legend Gandálfr's partner was someone who had an ability that wasn't magic and whose power far surpassed even the best square class mages.

Their power was said to completely decimate towns and villages with a single attack, mages who challenged Gandálfr's partner were completely obliterated and together they were considered unbeatable.

So then why? Why did this girl, Gandálfr's partner not seem to have any kind of supernatural ability.

Unless she was hiding it.

Yes that was the most logical conclusion he could come up with.

This girl did not want people to know she had an ability and the reason for this, well with the exception of Tabitha and her familiar Mikoto didn't seem to like let alone trust anyone else.

No that's not entirely true Mikoto liked and trusted the Kitchen staff and some of the maids but Tabitha was the only mage she trusted.

Also her eyes, they were eyes he'd seen before on other people, the eyes of someone who'd fought in a war.

Osmond's eyes softened she was far to young to have to experience something like that.

As both he and Colbert stared at her through the mirror Osmond couldn't help but wonder what changes this girl would bring to the world.

Christmas Holidays I finally have time to write again.

Sorry it took so long, I am well aware that I have incredibly poor time management.

Review and let me know what you think.

Till next time.