Magic's Return: I Can See The Spirits

"Don't die kid."

Vaan spoke with a big smile on his face. Then, he infused two-thirds of his Mana into [Speed] Inner Circle, and,

*Whoosh*

The Firespike shot toward Gryfinn twice as fast as before.

"S-Shit!"

Gryfinn panicked. The Fire Spike was just too fast, in a moment, his focus shifted from his Wind Blade to defense.

"Wind Curtain."

Just like Wind Blade, he has placed Wind Curtain into one of his Inner Circles as well, making it easier and faster for him to cast the spell almost instantly if he had enough Mana in his Mana Veins.

*Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The air in front of Gryfinn started moving, forming what could be used as a shield that blew away the incoming spells. Wind was not an element known for its defense and the Wind Curtain alone is considered to be one of the weaker spells, therefore, Gryfinn added it with another Inner Circle Spell, [Overflow], this allowed him to strengthen the wind flow of Wind Curtain, strengthening its overall power and ability to blow away the incoming spells.

Yes, [Overflow] had a high Mana consumption, its effect, however, made it worth it.

With his Defense Spell ready, Gryfinn prepared for the impact, to further add to his protection, he used [Direction Manipulation] in the last second, pushing his [Wind Curtain] forward, Vaan of course, couldn't react, his [Fire Spike] directly collided with the [Wind Curtain] and was blew away.

With a big smile on his face, Gryfinn glanced at Vaan.

"Hoh?" Vaan was impressed.

"That was good."

He acknowledged and then, another Fire Spike appeared beside him.

Again, charged with [Speed], [Burst], [Direction Manipulation], and two new Inner Circle Spells, [Enlarge] and [Burn], it shot towards Gryfinn again.

Gryfinn's defense was the same, the combination of [Wind Curtain], [Overflow] and [Direction Manipulation] allowed him to defend against nearly any spell.

This was the reason why Inner Circles and their configuration were so important for the Mages. Both of these mages knew many other spells other than the ones they had prepared, however, for all other Spells, they needed to draw the Magic pattern which required time. In a Battle where even a second's delay was enough to change the result, time was a precious commodity Mages couldn't waste.

In the case of Basic Mages, most of the Battles were only fought using the previously stored Spells.

"This will be a Battle of Attrition."

Gryfinn spoke up.

The Flow of the Battle was decided, Vaan was in an attacking position whereas he defended. Although it was not the most ideal situation since the Wind Element was on the offensive side, things weren't that bad either.

If Vaan continued to attack with Fire Spikes while he continued to defend using Wind Curtains, this battle would take the longer route where Mana Management and other factors would come into play. It would take around 20 minutes before the winner was decided and for Gryfinn, it was a satisfactory situation.

After all, this would mean that he managed to hold off against Young Master Vaan, a Mage who had received a ridiculous amount of attention recently.

'Heh, Advanced Magic Circles my ass. In the end, Strategy is all that matters.'

Gryfinn chuckled inwardly, already thinking about what Vaan's frustrated face would look like.

But then,

"That's a cute attempt."

Vaan chuckled.

And then,

He stepped forward.

"I will be leaving it to you, alright?"

"Krrii!!"

"Grruu!!"

The two spirits nodded excitedly as they took control of Vaan's Mana.

Then, with his hands in his pockets, Vaan started walking towards Gryfinn with a playful smile on his face.

"He… he is moving…"

The referee, the announcer, and the audience widened their eyes in shock.

"B-But he is still casting spells! How can he move!?"

"I-Is that possible!?"

"Are you crazy!? Since when was that possible!?"

"Aren't you seeing it in front of your eyes!?"

"B-But that doesn't make any sense…"

Let alone the normal humans, even the experienced Mages lost control over their emotions, as for the Mages who already knew about it, they turned silent.

They did hear about this from Mages who saw Vaan's battle against the three Vesta Mages but…

They still couldn't believe that something like this was possible.

However, as surprising as it was, the question was.

"What is he trying to do…?"

The audience couldn't help but frown in confusion, the Mages were even more curious.

Gryfinn, who was defending against the Firespike furrowed his brows as well.

Vaan was walking towards him, but why?

Soon, however, he remembered something.

The reason Vaan was famous for.

'He is going to punch me!'

Gryfinn's expression changed. He knew how Vaan fought. That Thug-like Battle Style, no Mage fought like that, no mage should fight like that, but this man…

"Shit." Gryfinn cursed. "You won't intimidate me! There is a reason why most Mages fight from a distance! I'll show you what happens if you try and close that distance in the middle of the battle." He shouted.

*Boom*

Another Firespike collided with the Wind Curtain, Gryfinn could already see the next one coming towards him, this time however, he changed his approach to a more aggressive one and summoned another [Wind Blade], this time, he used one of his special Inner Circle that his Grandfather taught him, [Clone].

*Whoosh* *Whoosh*

Two Windblades were formed, one of them was a Clone, however, naked eyes couldn't tell them apart.

Gryfinn completely ignored the incoming Firespike, the two Wind Blades shot towards Vaan from different directions, who now stood nearly 12 meters away from him.

It was so close that there was no way Vaan could guess which one was real and defend accordingly.

Or that was what Gryfinn thought…

What he forgot was that the man he was facing used Advanced Magic Circles, his extra 4 Inner Circles were not just for show.

[Clear], [Fire Spike], [Direction Manipulation], [Speed], [Burst], [Burn], [Enlarge], currently, Vaan had used only these Seven Inner Circles.

For any other 2nd Circle Mage, that was almost all his cards, but not for Vaan.

And to be completely honest, in this Elemental Clash, Vaan wasn't planning to win by aggressive play either,

"Splashy."

Vaan spoke.

"Gurrruu~~"

Splashy smiled brightly, then, Vaan's 8th Inner Circle was activated,

[Crystal Dome].

A Water-based defensive Spell that forms a transparent crystal dome around the Mage and defends him from all directions, however, since it didn't focus on one particular direction, its defense was weak.

Unless, it was used together with, [Strengthen.]

The combination of [Crystal Dome] and [Strengthen] resulted in a decent defensive spell, Vaan, however, did not stop there.

Splashy then activated his 10th Inner Circle.

[Double Cast], the Spell that allowed a Mage to Copy his Spell, the strength of the copied Spell was reduced by 50% so it wasn't used very often, however, in the case of Defensive Spell, it provided another wave of defense, strengthening the defense to another level.

It was rarely used, but when used correctly, it had surprising results.

However, there was another, even crazier way to move forward.

11th and 12th Inner Circles were activated, [Triple Cast] and [Quadruple Cast].

Vaan was now surrounded by 4 Transparent Domes, each one of them strengthened using [Strengthen], it was an absolute defense that no 2nd Circle Mage could even think of using.

After all, just one spell alone used Five Inner Circles, combined with [Clear] and [Direction Manipulation], that alone took 7 out of 8 Inner Circles! Yes, the output was absurdly strong, and even 3rd Circle Mages would find it hard to break this Defense let alone 2nd Circle Mages, however, the attack power of this combination was just too weak.

It was completely impractical to use this in a Battle, unless…

Unless you were Vaan and had 4 extra Inner Circles… and the ability to move while casting a spell.

With his pretty much unbreakable Crystal Ball protecting him, he leisurely walked towards Gryfinn, his Fire Spike had already dispersed due to lack of Mana, and as for the Wind Blades that were shot at him, they couldn't even manage to make a crack on his Defensive Wall.

Gryfinn who saw Vaan getting closer, panicked.

"Wind Blade!"

In desperation, he used the same spell again, but the results weren't any different.

Vaan was now barely 5 meters away from him and with that smile on his face that had nearly turned demonic, Gryfinn activated his last two Inner Circle Spells.

[Air Blast] and [Weaken].

[Air Blast] was an attack Spell, Gryfinn however, managed to use it more creatively, combining it with [Weaken] he aimed the spell near his foot, and using that momentum, he jumped back.

It was his way to dodge dangerous situations and at the same time create distance, even though the distance created was just 6 meters, it was enough in life-threatening situations.

In this case, however, other than giving him some time and distance, the spell didn't do much. Vaan continued to walk towards Gryfinn.

And he had no way to deal with that Crystal Wall that protected Vaan.

'F-Fuck! Why is using Advanced Circles allowed!? It should be against the rules! In what world is this fair!?

How am I supposed to fight here!?'

"I hope you are prepared, the Brave Mage who didn't surrender."

Suddenly, Gryfinn heard a demonic voice.