“Brian.” As soon as I returo the party, Lua came to me. “Paulina and… Mariina are about to have a match. e. Let’s go watch.” Lua said, as she basically dragged me towards the training grounds.

  “... wow. Really? What happened?”

  “Well, miss Mariina was already agitated because of something and then miss Paulio ask for a match. They said a lot of … bad things to each other, and now they are having a match to see who is stronger. Alice asked if I could e a you as well, but I wasn’t sure I could because … well, the person who took you.”

  “... yeah. Well, let’s go then. I do want to see it.” I agreed and took Lua’s hand.

  As we arrived at the training grounds, I noticed that a lot of the people who were taking part in the backyard party were also there. I guess plenty of people were excited to see this side attrayself included.

  Sadly, Lua and I arrived te and some spells were already flying bad forth. But holy speaking, as it seemed like Paulina and Mariina were still operating with just low power spells, I turned my attention to something else.

  As the fight i more serious, Paulina switched from just earth magic to using both earth and water, while Mariina still seemed to be taking it quite easily. Mariina’s magic just was faster and more accurate. She hasn’t even summoned a golem yet.

  “Water mist!” I heard Paulina trigger a spell, which she also used in her fight against Chirstina. It enveloped the battlefield in a thick mist, making it nearly impossible to see. “Now, Freeze!” She then called out.

  That must have been another spell, as all of the water in the air quickly froze and g to everything, including Mariina. While she wasn’t covered in ice or anything, she definitely had a fine yer of ice across her body. And the ground around her feet was also frozen, making it quite slippery.

  Mariina quickly broke and shook off the ice that had formed on her body, but because of the slippery surface, it looked like she was hesitating to move too much. And Paulina didn’t let that opportunity to pass, quick casting multiple spells towards her sister. She alternated between ball and spear style spells, likely expeg her sister to put up a defensive wall, like Mariina did. While the ball spells didn’t do too much damage to the thick earth wall, the spears were doing damage to it, and it would soon crumble.

  But none of it really mattered. Everyog knew how the fight would end.

  Because as Mariina was hiding behind the wall, the earth to the side of the training grounds had risen and formed into a golem. And said human sized earth golem was noroag Paulina. And because Paulina was fully focused on keeping her barrage of spells going, there is no way she would have noticed the earth golem, which her sister seemed to have cast without any t at all. The only thing I noticed regarding the golem spell was the soft glow of the gem at the top of her staff.

  After getting to Paulina, the golem punched her in the left shoulder area. I was holy expeg a punch to the head, but maybe Mariina is holding back.

  The punch was still more than enough to knock Paulina off of her game, and her feet. The golem pushed on, taking a hold on the downed girl and ending the match.

  “Stop!” Came a call from one of the Sawyer sisters, Cressida. The two others must have asked her to be their referee.

  Paulina was already on the ground, so the call didn’t really make her do anything, but Mariina called off her golem and it moved to stao her.

  After that, a maid who had been standing by quickly went and helped Paulina. I think she was using some light magic, but I’m not the best at reizing that stuff. Paulina didn’t seem too badly hurt, so that will hopefully heal her up. And if it doesn’t, there is always my giant arsenal of healing spell cards.

  “... I thought that I could win…” I heard Paulina mutter, as she was getting healed.

  “You aren’t there yet.” Mariina said. “You still focus too mu offense. Especially when you see an opening. You don’t think about your oppos ters at all.” She lectured her younger sister. “But you didn’t do too bad. You actually mao make me use a golem.”

  “... did I … really do good?”

  “Of course.” Mariina firmed. “The power of yic, the casting speed and even accuracy. You did great on all of those. I think you might be at a great witch level now. That is a huge improvement for just two years.”

  “... thanks. But I still couldn’t beat you…”

  “Don’t fet. I study under a sage. I’m not just sitting around.” Mariina said, somewhat bragging.

  “... I just thought the practice I did with Brian would have been enough…”

  “Oh? You trained with him? How strong is he?”

  “Strong enough to beat you.” Paulina answered.

  That caused Mariina’s eyes to sharpen a bit, and she sed the audience, probably searg for me.

  Yeah. I see where this is going.

  “So, how do you want to run this match?” I asked Mariina. “I do it as a summoner, or I summon a water spirit and act more like a mage.” I offered.

  “Whie are you more fortable with? I want to face you at your stro. No excuses if you lose, alright?” Mariina said.

  “... no. No you don’t.” I simply said. At my stro, three three-headed dragons with 4500 attack would be staring you down. You don’t want to face that. “But you wao be a summohen. I do that.”

  “Yes. Just summon anything you want. I’ll take it down.” Mariina said. I’m not sure if she is just fident, or if she actually do it, but we will find out.

  “Sure.” I agreed.

  So, summoning something against her. The first choice will be easy. I don’t know how strong Mariina really is, but ever since I first saw her golem, I wao test it out against one of my own.

  “Giant Soldier of Stone.” I said to summon my monster.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Now, don’t think I’m taking it easy on her just because I summoned a level 3 normal monster. Giant Soldier of Stone is legitimately strong. And with 2000 defe should be quite durable, so I, well Laura, get a good estimate on Mariina’s real power. Depending on how this goes, I adjust my monster(s). If this one is too weak, I’ll just summon something a lot stronger.

  “Ah golem. That’s an iing summon.” Mariina said, as she looked at my monster.

  “I thought it would be appropriate, sidering my oppo.” I said back. “And it's a ro, h golem.”

  Giant Soldier of stone was right about 10 meters tall. Quite rge for a level 3 monster, but I guess he does have ‘giant’ in his name. And I wouldn’t call a teer tall golem ‘giant’. Large, but not giant. But maybe it is ‘gigantic’ for a ro. … okay, probably not.

  “Well, if you want yolem to fight mine, I’ll oblige.” She said, as the gem at the end of her staff began to glow again.

  As it did, the ground before her shifted a bit, taking a small humanoid shape. That humanoid then quickly grew in size to match my stone soldier. Iingly, the sed growth of the golem didn’t seem to suck up any of the earth from the field, instead looking like more earth was created from nowhere. But I guess that is magic for you.

  “A golem off. I guess I should keep our audience safe in that case.” I said, as I got a card out of the colle. “Wall of Revealing Light.” I activated the trap card using 2000 HP. Not that I actually had to pay that cost, as Health scious ed it.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Oh, in case you were w, I activate Wall of Revealing Light with any amount of HP, as long as it is less than my max HP. So I could use it with 3170 HP, theh scious would just say no to having to actually pay the HP. And I would have quite the sturdy wall.

  2000 should be more than enough for this, and this is my first out of factory test, so I don’t want to go overboard. But luckily it went just fine, and a transparent barrier which glowed a bit formed around olems, leaving everyone except the two golems outside. That was another advantage of this spell. Like with Swords of Revealing Light, I could trol the exact dimensions of the to be made wall. As long as I was able to see the entire area I wao cover with the spell. Or trap, in this case. And if Laura made the target area instead, we could make it in pces I 't actually see, as long as Laura has suffit map data of the area. Well, we do still have to be close-by, but you get the point.

  “It's just a barrier to keep us and everyone else safe.” I expio Mariina. “It won’t actually interfere with the golems at all.”

  “... iing. That should be good for me. I have my golem go all out.” Mariina said.

  “... wow. That golem is strong.” I said, as I watched Giant Soldier of Stone break apart into specks of light.

  Yeah. My golem lost. It actually was quite an even match up, but Mariina’s golem had a huge advantage over mine. Well, let’s go over the advantage mine had first.

  Giant Soldier of Stone was strong, the swords it wielded caused massive damage to the opposing golem. And it was sturdier than Mariina’s golem. Now you might ask, if you are the ohat take more hits, and nd super powerful hits, how do you lose?

  The answer is twofold. Mariina’s golem was a bit faster and it could regee. Even if GSoS cut off its arm or something, it would quickly regee the missing appendage.

  So with my hits being basically ed by the regeion speed, and the speed at which the opposing golem moved preventing me from nding a critical blow, it was only a matter of time until my golem lost.

  “Why, thank you.” Mariina respoo my earlier ent. “Yours wasn’t bad either. It was as sturdy as anything.”

  “So, what now? Want to call it here, or should I summon another monster?” I asked her.

  Mariina took a good hold of her staff and looked at the magic sto the end of it. It glowed softly, as if the staff itself was responding to her thoughts.

  “I think I have mana for one more round.” She answered.

  “Oh? Are you low? I have something for that.” I offered.

  “No reason to use a mana potion for a practice fight.”

  “Nah. Nothing like that.” I said, as I got a card out of ste. “Pitch-Bck Power Stone.”

  Spoiler

  [colpse]After the small bck stoh the Triforce symbol on it appeared in my hand, I took a hold of it with telekinesis aated it over to Mariina. As soon as it got close, she reached her arm out and took a hold of the stone.

  “Pass some mana through it, and it will let out some mana to replenish yours.” I instructed.

  Mariina did as instructed and the look on her face quickly ged.

  “What? What kind of stone is this?” She questioned, as she got another charge of mana out of the stone.

  “A mana recovery kind.” I answered. “So, are you good to go?” I asked.

  “Well, I’m almost full again, so yes.” She answered.

  “Alright. I’ll summon the mohen.” I said, as I traded the grayed out trap card for my monster. “Granmarg the Rock Monarch.”

  Spoiler

  [colpse]

  I decided to go with another Rock monster. And a golem type monster. It just felt appropriate.

  Now Granmarg might be less defehan Giant Soldier of Stone, but it has a ton more power. 2400 pared to 1300. That is a big difference. Granmarg was also basically the same size as GSoS, just a bit bulkier.

  “... anolem, huh. And here I was expeg something a bit more abnormal.” Mariina said.

  Are golems a on type of summon? I didn’t know that. Well, either way.

  “If you take this down, I summon something abnormal.” I promised. Well, it would actually just be anolem but still.

  “Oh? I’ll make sure you keep that word.” Mariina said, as she put more mana into her staff, at least based on the glow of the magic stone on it.

  Our sed round ended like the first. I lost. I holy didn’t expect it, but yeah. Mariina is strong.

  My main fw with the sed round was Granmarg’s defe just couldn’t take hits like GSoS could. And while it wasn’t a problem at first, eventually it became a problem.

  At first, Granmarg could use its powerful attacks to almost pletely annihite Mariina’s golem, but it seems that as long as she has mana, she regee her golem. And I did just give her three grands worth of mana, so she didn’t seem to be running out.

  Still, her golem was on the backfoot, just because of how powerful Granmarg was, but Mariina herself began using spells as well, causing Granmarg damage and slowing him down. While Mariina couldn’t use spells that had to be unched, like stone spears, because of the barrier, she could still use spells that affected the ground itself like Stone Spire ah Crush. And with those spells destroying Granmarg’s legs, Mariina bought enough time for her golem tee and pummel my golem to death.

  “So, what es ? You did say this one will be something abnormal, right?” Mariina asked. She had used the third charge of the Pitch-Bck Power Stoo recover some of her mana, but I don’t think she is anywhere near full.

  “Yeah. I did. Get ready, because this guy will end this match.” I said, and that wasn’t just talk. Based owo previous fights, there is no way Mariina take on this monster. “My golem ing up. A Gear Golem!”

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Yes. One of my monsters. Straight from the Mae Re-Volt structure deck. The legendary A Gear Golem. Oh wait, it was only legendary in the Yugioh anime. Well, whatever.

  A Gear Golem was rge. Right about 15 meters tall. And unlike my ros, he was made of steel and iron. A huge monster running on gears.

  “So, what do you think?” I asked Mariina. “Is this abnormal enough for you?”

  “... well, first time I’m seeing something like that summoned. A metal golem. I think we take it.” She said, as the gem oaff glowed again. Her golem grew in size, getting to the size of fifteeers tall to match my A Gear Golem.

  I didn’t know it could do that, so maybe she was holding back earlier. But I still don’t think that will ge much. The power difference should be rge enough.

  “Ready?” I asked her.

  “Let’s go.” She responded, and her golem moved, but I wasn’t about to give it time to strike.

  “A Gear Golem attack, Meized Meleé!” I called out to my monster.

  It wound up its massive fist, before striking the opposing golem. That one punch was enough to break apart the eop half of Mariina’s golem, leaving only its legs standing with no torso. And the attack didn’t stop there. Probably because of my Gear Golem’s pierg ability, a phantom fist kept going from its arm, aimed straight at Mariina. I don’t know how much strength that punch was carrying, but sidering that Granmarg could destroy a good k of her golem, that pierg damage was likely in the ballpark of 500 damage or so.

  Not that it ever reached her, as my Wall of Revealing Light blocked the attack. Thankfully I had put it up earlier. I’m assuming that Mariina has more than 500 HP, sidering how powerful she is, but taking something like 500 damage to the face would still hurt a ton.

  “...” Mariina eechless, as her knees gave out from underh her and she fell to the ground. I guess having a massive phantom fist ing at you will do that.

  After our match, Cressida helped her sister recover. Mariina hysically just fiher than being almost out of mana, but her mental state did take a literal punch.

  Because of ht, a lot of the nobles wao talk to me more, so that took up basically my eernoon. Some of it was … not so pleasant, but I had been given my title and duties by the sed Prince, so they couldn't actually force me into anything. Some did try to talk me into taking their daughters as my fiancé/wife, but with Lua by my side, I could somewhat fight them off.

  But still, dealing with nobles is a lot more exhausting than dealing with monsters. Monsters I just punch. Or have my summoned monsters punch. 't really do that with nobles, unless I want to get in trouble. And trouble is bad. Unless causing it was fun enough where that makes up for the trouble I get into.

  The backyard ‘party’ went on for most of the afternoon, with only the food ging in the middle. And in the evening, we all went io enjoy a huge feast. It was a multicourse meal, not a buffet, making it a first for me. I thought these kinds of parties would always be buffet style, but I was wrong. Lua was of course by my side, but Ria was w as a maid, bringing the food out. I don’t know if she p with the other maids, but she was the one who always brought the food to Lua and I. I really did appreciate it, pnned or not. Small things make all the difference.

  After dinner, I spoke a bit with Christina about nothing in particur. She is just easy to talk to about things I ’t really speak about with anyone else. Including Lua, as she might have been a part of what we talked about.

  Befoing to bed, I also made sure to check up on the sword. You know, the oo make up for the one I broke. The bde was plete, along with the grip and the pommel. The guard was still being made, along with the scabbard, but it would be ready by tomorrow. I really have to thank my monsters again already. They really are putting in all the work, while I just party around.

  Well, it will sadly have to wait. Tomorrow will be another busy day of socializing, so that will take a lot out of me. Thus far, everything has goively fine, so I think everything will be fiomorrow as well.

  Well, either way. Good night for now.