"Oh... contestant 'Philly' chose [Mithril Body] again at the start of the match, and then her entire body... seemed to... disappear into the ground?"
"She moved behind her opponent and ended the round with a spell with ease. Her opponent never even figured out where she had gone!"
"I never expected contestant 'Philly' to have such a powerful concealment spell up her sleeve. In her next round, contestant 'Philly'..." Just as the commentator was about to continue, the other commentator cut him off.
"There won't be a next round. 'Philly' reached five points first, ending the match. That was a wonderful match, and we hope contestant 'Philly' will continue to give us such exciting performances."
Even the commentators had failed to realize that the match was already over. From the moment 'Philly' took the stage to the referee's announcement that the match had ended, only about ten minutes had passed.
That included the time the referee needed to verify the results, declare them valid, and have the contestants remove the spells on themselves. In fact, most of the time had been spent on those procedures.
The actual rounds probably hadn't lasted more than thirty seconds combined.
In Nathanael's private box in the stands, both he and his assistant fell silent after their initial shock.
Only after Fran briefly answered questions from two reporters and quickly left the Duel Arena did the two belatedly come to their senses.
Nathanael spoke first, asking his assistant:
"If you were given all the assistance the Alliance offers Second Order Mages, do you think you could beat her? You would only be allowed to use second-order spells."
The assistant struggled with the question and took quite a while to answer.
"That would be difficult. I might need some luck, too. She casts far too quickly.