Confrontation

The afternoon sun warmed the academy courtyard, and the shouts from the training grounds sounded distant and indistinct. Lowell leaned against the window sill of the tower corridor, his black hair gently ruffling in the breeze. He squinted, his gaze fixed on the figures in the central courtyard below.

"Frieren, Frieren," he called into the room, his voice tinged with the excitement of discovering something interesting, "Come and see, there's something interesting downstairs."

Frieren was curled up on the sofa, flipping through an ancient book, almost sinking into the cushions, her long silver hair spread out. Hearing this, she slowly raised her head, her emerald green eyes questioning.

"Next." Lowell gestured towards the window, then pulled out a small bag of fragrant roasted nuts from somewhere and expertly began peeling them.

Frieren blinked, put down her spellbook, and walked barefoot lightly onto the soft carpet to the window. She imitated Lowell, peering down into the distance.

In one corner of the courtyard, several large crystal devices were set up for experiments on magical resonance. Faruzan was there with Fern and Ubel, seemingly conducting some kind of test on the stability of magical flow.

Fern's face was tense, her hands gripping her small staff tightly as she carefully controlled her magic output, fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead; Ubel stood quietly a little distance away, arms crossed, eyes half-closed, watching without any emotion.

Just then, another group of people approached. It was Aura, followed by Will and Lugner. Will was carrying several rolls of parchment with design drawings, seemingly intending to use the devices.

Sensing that the device seemed to be in use, Will paused for a moment, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his face. He then gently tugged at Aura's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, it seems someone's already using the device... Let's come back later."

But Aura had already stepped forward, her pale purple eyes sweeping over Faruzan and the other two. Her chin slightly raised, her tone carrying her usual unquestionable air. "Hey, you guys, move aside, we'll go first."

Upstairs, Lowell smirked with amusement, popping a few peeled nuts into Frieren's mouth. "Oh! Classic scene! The villainous young lady and her two lackeys have appeared!" His gaze swept over Will and Lugner.

Will's face immediately showed embarrassment, and he gently tugged at Aura's sleeve, but Aura only frowned slightly. The words had already been spoken, like water spilled; given her temperament, how could she easily take them back?

Upon hearing this, Faruzan flicked her bright green twin tails, put her hands on her hips, and met Aura's gaze without any politeness. "Huh? Don't you understand the concept of first come, first served, classmate? Don't you know how to respect your seniors?"

"Senior?" Aura scoffed, a hint of arrogance in her eyes. "Hmph, what kind of senior are you?"

"What did you say?" Faruzan's voice rose.

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

Fern glanced at both sides, gently tugged at Faruzan's sleeve, and whispered, "Faruzan... Senior Faruzan, perhaps we could step aside for a moment? I'm not in a hurry..."

"What do you mean 'give way'!" Faruzan was furious, grabbing Fern's shoulder. "Today, we'll teach some ill-mannered bastards what respect for elders really means!"

Ubel remained expressionless, but his eyes seemed to hold a hint of "let's fight!"

Upstairs, Lowell peeled another nut and offered it to Frieren's mouth again. Frieren naturally took it in his hand, chewing as she continued to watch downstairs. "Tsk tsk, they're really going at it," Lowell commented.

Frieren watched for a while, blinked, and commented, "So childish, like little kids who didn't get any candy. These two are clearly not young anymore."

"Childishness is what makes it fun," Lowell laughed.

After several rounds of verbal sparring, neither side convinced the other.

Aura lost her patience and snorted coldly, "Since that's the case, let's settle things with strength."

Faruzan retorted without backing down, "Are you afraid of me?!"

Fern let out a soft "Ah," his heart tightening as he thought the two adults were about to make a move.

However, the two simply stepped back a few paces and almost simultaneously took out a palm-sized metal plate engraved with runes from their personal storage bags—the "Duel Disk".

They skillfully unfolded and secured it to their forearms. The metal plate projected a soft light, quickly constructing a lifelike virtual battlefield image in the space between the two women.

"Huh?" Fern was taken aback, then breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out they were playing cards.

Will breathed a sigh of relief, smiled helplessly, and stepped aside.

Ubel tilted his head, seemingly feeling that switching from Mortal Kombat to card battles wasn't exciting enough.

Lowell upstairs laughed, "Hahaha, look at Fern's expression!"

"Hmm." She took another nut from Lowell's palm.

Faruzan LP 4000 | Aura LP 4000

"I'll go first!" Faruzan draws a card, "Defense Position Summon [Elf Pioneer Faruzan] (Spellcaster/LIGHT/Level 4/DEF 1600)! Then set one card face down, End Turn!" A chibi version of Faruzan, holding a thick book and wearing glasses, appears, assuming a defensive stance.

"Good grief, it's a classic case of whoever talks first goes first, and you're guaranteed to draw your favorite character at the start," Lowell complained again.

"My turn!" Aura drew a card, glanced at her hand, and a confident smile appeared on her lips. "Discard one card to Special Summon [The Mighty Seven Sages of Destruction of the Aura the Guillotine] (Demons /6-star/ATK 2200) in Attack Position!" A chibi-style Aura phantom, holding scales and looking arrogant, appeared on the field.

"Battle! Attack your defense monster with [the incredibly powerful Seven Sages of Destruction of Destruction - Aura the Guillotine]!"

"Hmph, with an attack power of 2200 and a defense power of 1600, your monster will be destroyed!"

"It's not that simple!" Faruzan activated her face-down card, "Trap Card [Senior's Guidance]! Effect: This turn, the DEF of one Defense Position monster on your field increases by 1000!" The phantom of Scholar Faruzan adjusted her glasses, and a barrier of magical text appeared around her, causing her DEF to soar to 2600.

Aura's attack was easily blocked, and she instead took 400 points of damage.

"Tsk, set a card, end of turn."

After several rounds of probing each other, the monsters on the field went back and forth.

On Aura's field stands the incredibly powerful [Seven Sages of Destruction Aura] with an attack power of 2200, while on Faruzan's field stands the [Elf Magician Frieren] with an attack power of 1600.

"Hmph, the battle is over!" Aura shouted, "Activate the Spell Card - [Dominating Magic]! Target one of your opponent's monsters whose ATK and Level are lower than one of my monsters, and gain control of it! I choose your [Elf Magician - Frieren], whose ATK is 1600, lower than my [Incomparably Powerful Seven Sages of Destruction - Aura the Guillotine] (2200)! Come here!"

"Hmph...!" Aura laughed triumphantly, "Now I can attack you directly! Game over! I'm going to use [Elf Magician - Frieren] and [The Incomparably Powerful Seven Sages of Destruction - Aura the Guillotine] to attack Faruzan directly!" (2200 + 1600 = 3800 damage > Faruzan's remaining 2800 LP)

She could almost see the scene of victory.

"Oh? Is that really so?" Faruzan put her hands on her hips, a smug smile on her face. "Activate the effect of [Elf Magician - Frieren]! If this card has [Human Magician's Progenitor - Flamme] in the Graveyard, you can discard one card at any time to double its ATK for the current turn! That way, its ATK will surpass your [Incomparably Powerful Seven Sages of Destruction - Aura the Guillotine]! [Dominating Magic] negated! How about that? Any other tricks up your sleeve?"

The time has passed, oh well, it's an offline match after all...

"What?! You..."

A glint flashed in Frieren's illusory eyes, and her attack power instantly surged to 3200! [Dominating Magic] had no effect!

"I don't need 'you' anymore. Is the round over?"

"Hateful..."

"My turn!" Faruzan her hand, forcibly ending Aura's turn. "Equip the spell card 'Flight Magic,' attack directly!"

"Ugh!" Aura's LP has dropped to zero.

The light on the Duel Disk went out.

Aura stared at the result for two seconds, her cheeks puffing out slightly, then stomped her foot in anger. "Damn it! How could this be..."

Faruzan smugly put away the Duel Disk, puffing out her little chest. "Hmph~ Compared to me, you're still far from being good enough! The equipment is ours! Fern, Ubel, let's continue!"

Will quickly stepped forward and patted Aura's shoulder reassuringly. "Sister, it's okay, we'll win it back next time..."

Aura snorted, turned her face away, her ears turning slightly red with anger, but Will gently persuaded her to leave.

Lugner followed silently, and before leaving, he glanced thoughtfully at the direction of the upstairs window.

Lowell was upstairs, watched the whole thing unfold and patted the food crumbs off his hands with satisfaction. "Done! Aura's understanding of card stacks is still a bit shallow, but well, victory and defeat are common in war." He then fed the last nut to Frieren.

Frieren watched the dispersing crowd below and yawned slightly. "Is it over? I'm going back to my book then."

"Give me a kiss before you go."

"Kiss yourself," Frieren mumbled, turning around and curling back into the sofa, picking up the heavy magic book.

"(> dishes<)."