At the Foot of Magic's Mountain

The spells of this world were remarkably lopsided. Both buffs and debuffs were pitifully scarce. No, strictly speaking, most of them were not primarily meant for combat; they could merely be used in a fight.

As for protection, the Iron Armor Charm was stronger than most Low Ring Abjuration School spells, but it could not be sustained. That meant wizards could not shelter behind reliable protection and focus on attacking.

In that respect, the Iron Armor Charm was like the Termination Charm: both were immediate responses to an incoming spell. One blocked it, while the other ended it.

Judging by this world's combat spells alone, Manus would have wondered whether it had ever seen much war at all—if he had not lived here for over a decade and known how troubled it was.

Yet neither this world's Muggles nor its Wizarding World knew much peace. How had wizards' combat magic failed to improve in such an environment...?

Manus thought of the technological leaps the two world wars had brought to Muggles.

Perhaps no wizard had ever covered himself in buffs and layers of fortress-like defenses, then cut a swath through other wizards and made them realize the times had changed.

The second reason combat looked so different between the two worlds was the use of magic items.

It was hard to imagine a mage whose main weapon was nothing but a wand that amplified and steadied his magical output, with essentially no other effects.

Granted, nine out of ten mages were poor, and the tenth was especially poor. But that referred to ready cash. No mage was actually this poor.

Enhancement items, utility items, consumables...

Magic items could greatly affect a fight's intensity and the direction it took. Both sides would treat their opponent's magic items as a major consideration