Otherworld Adventure 347 You Lose

His fingers danced and one by one, earth, water, and fire barriers sprung forth in front of him. This new development surprised his family members and also his opponent.

"Y-You can use magic spells too?!"

"Whoever said that I couldn't?" Cecil smirked before saying, "Your method of casting spells using those weird incantations is new to me. I'm quite interested in it! You're somehow able to manipulate the ambient mana with your chants. So instead of using your own mana to form your spells, you use—"

"—The natural mana in the air! Wow, you're pretty smart!" Katya finished his words and exclaimed in surprise before continuing, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you off! Genero Multis—Lux Fortis Guran, Vis!"

Cecil started dodging the Light bullets that were fired at him. He continued a.n.a.lyzing the way Katya used her spells while at the same time he didn't let up in creating his own defensive spells.

'...she's using mana from the environment so she can continue invoking spells indefinitely as long as she has mana to continue casting and it seems that the variations in her chants determine how much mana she uses, the spell's form, element, and strength. It's truly intriguing!'

"Hmm, I wonder what kind of magic language that is..."

Cecil had only been defending and dodging throughout the entire battle and this vexed Katya immensely. She was also feeling very unsettled as time pa.s.sed because of the way Cecil was looking at her. Those golden eyes of his seemed to be undressing her and peeling away at her body and soul.

"S-Stop looking at me like that!!!"

Cecil was a little puzzled by what Katya was going on about. It's not like he could just stop looking at her, they were in the middle of a battle for goodness sakes. If he took his eyes off of her for even a moment then it might spell his downfall.

Seeing as Cecil was still looking at her with those golden eyes of his, Katya immediately began chanting, "Genero—Nox Aqua Fluctus, Umbra!"

After finis.h.i.+ng her chant, a dark water curtain enveloped the area 3 meters around her.

"Hm? A barrier?"

The dark barrier obscured his target but Cecil didn't actually need to see her since he could just pinpoint Katya's mana signature and still keep an eye on her. However, since he couldn't see or hear what was going on behind the dark water barrier, Cecil had to rely on his mana sense to prevent himself from being caught in some sort of surprise attack.

Behind the water curtain, Katya still had a perfect vision of the outside. She had created the barrier so that others wouldn't be able to see her from outside but she could still see perfectly clear from inside. Katya could still feel Cecil's gaze on her but she didn't mind it as much now since it no longer felt like she was being slowly stripped.

"Heh, let's see you look at me with those repulsive eyes now! Genero Multis—Nox Valis Sagitta, Vis!"

Multiple black arrows began firing at Cecil from behind the barrier. Katya kept on sending her spells at Cecil, but she was slowly exhausting her mana little by little. After another few rounds of attacking her opponent, Katya immediately stopped.

"Hah... haaa... haaaah... h-how come...I can't hit him?"

Cecil noticed that the girl had stopped casting her spells. He tilted his head in confusion before seeing that her mana had fallen low.

"Hm, let's end this. I've retrieved plenty of data already," Cecil mumbled to himself before he began casting the Mid-Tier spells, Cyclone and Ice Storm.

The two spells emerged from their spell formations and Cecil directed them at Katya's water curtain. When his opponent saw the two approaching mid-tier spells, she immediately started casting some defensive spells around her.

When the spells. .h.i.t the barrier, the Ice Storm froze the water curtain before it was slowly crushed by the Cyclone. Cecil followed it up by casting multiple Flame Lances, Earth Lances, Ice Lances, and Wind Lances in quick succession. He sent the payload straight at Katya and this caused the girl to pale in fright.

'J-Just how much mana does he have?!' Katya inwardly screamed while she continued casting more defensive spells around her.

Cecil's hands didn't stop moving and he continued drawing the spell formations for Geyser and Lava Storm. After his spells pierced through the majority of Katya's defenses, he immediately sent a Lava Storm at her and secretly placed a Geyser just below her.

"Ugh, y-you're relentless..." Katya said as she barely dodged a lava bolt. It was taking up all of her concentration to even keep up with Cecil's casting speed.

Cecil wasn't chanting anything and only moving his hands to form spell formations but judging by the complexity of each spell formation, Katya knew that his casting speed should be impossible if done by a normal human being.

Not only that, but she felt—no, not feel, but she knew that the young man in front of her was holding back this entire time. Yes, there were many handicaps placed on him and Katya knew this, but even then, her opponent hadn't once broken a sweat since the start of the match, and not once was she able to successfully land an attack on him. In fact, after taking a closer, Katya noticed that she hadn't even been able to touch his clothes!

"Th-this guy, he's totally out of my league..." Katya said as she clenched her fists tightly. She released a breath before she started chanting, "Genero—"

"Alright, stop right there! You lose, Katya," Cecil interrupted.

"W-what?"

"Once I snap my fingers, my last spell will hit you and I'll tell you, it's going to hurt, a lot. So you either surrender now, or I blast you away from where you stand."

"Hah, just try it! Aqua Sagi—eh?"

Cecil snapped his fingers and from below Katya's feet, the earth began to heat up rapidly before it burst open and a large Geyser erupted from underneath her feet, sending the poor girl flying high into the air.

"AHHHHH!!!"

She slammed hard into the barrier surrounding their battlefield before she started falling. Cecil debated on whether he should go and catch her, but after feeling the piercing glares of the people outside of the barrier, he sighed and flashed underneath the girl and gently caught her.

"O-ow..."

"Told ya it would hurt..."

"Urk..." Katya was just about to yell at Cecil but immediately flinched at the pain she was feeling from all over her body. She could only weakly lay in Cecil's embrace.

Cecil was just about to walk out of the barrier with the girl in his arms but this time he felt a different kind of glare being directed at him and he immediately dropped the girl whilst raising his hands up indicating that he was innocent.

"OUCH! Hey, what was that for?!"

"Good match," Cecil briefly said before quickly walking away.

Katya struggled to pick herself off the ground before she pouted at Cecil who was now out of the barrier. She began grumbling to herself while making her way towards her family.

The entire course of the battle was an eye-opener for everyone present. This was especially so for the Earthlings. They thought that they wouldn't be able to use elemental spells at all but now, two of their own kind had shown that they were able to and they had used 2 different methods to use them.

"It seems that magic is something that we can use!"

"Did you see that Goldenia girl? She was using spells through incantations just like the natives of this world!"

"I know but did you see the young patriarch? His method of using spells is much different from the natives but it was much faster! That Goldenia chick couldn't even keep up with him!"

"The girl stood no chance! It was obvious from the start that the young patriarch could have easily ended things but why didn't he?"

"Mercy maybe? I mean, it'd be too harsh to just end things right after it just began, right? It'd be a huge humiliation to the girl, though I wouldn't mind it much because she's still just a Goldenia!"

"Heh, it looks like Augustus isn't going to get what he wants now that Cecil's won the match."

"Haha, he's already fuming silently over there! Take a good look everyone!"

"Serves him right!"

"It's a pity that talented girl is a part of the Goldenias, she'd be much better suited in the Silvaria family, not to mention she'd be better nurtured. Did you see her fight? She was just standing there in once place like a sitting duck!"

"Hey, you can't blame them. After all, they don't have any martial senses like our family!"

Hearing the Silvaria family boast so proudly, Augustus was silently fuming. He couldn't believe that Cecil was talented in even this regard. No, talent was an understatement, he was a genius! It was all the more reason that he had to tie Katya to the Silvaria family now. He tried hard to think about how to go about this, but he couldn't find any plausible plan.

After making her way back to her family, Katya was carefully tending to her injuries and ma.s.saging the bruises on her body. Earlier, she had slammed into the barrier quite severely. Out of the goodness of her heart, Angelia, the little angel of the Silvaria family, made her way over to Katya and offered to heal her.

Katya didn't refuse Angelia's help, especially since the little girl had kindly asked her if she needed help AND she was just too adorable to refuse. She could just imagine the sullen look on this little girl's face if she rejected her help.

'Yup, I don't want that...I mean look at this little thing. She's just so adorable~'

After Angelia had dealt with most of her injuries, Katya was amazed at her ability. She smiled brightly and thanked the little girl.

"Thank you, Angelia! You're such a good girl, but I can't believe a cute angel like you is actually that devil's little sister..."

"Devil?" Angelia tilted her head in confusion. "Oh, you must mean my big brother?"

"Yes, that perverted beast... just how is he your brother?"

"Hey, don't insult my brother! What did he ever do to you?" Angelia argued back.

"Huh? Didn't you see how he was looking at me with those eyes of his? Well, he does have two wives so it's no wonder he kept on looking at me with such a lewd look..."

"What're you talking about? He was only using his Mana Eyes in the fight...he never uses that on small fries so you should be honored!"

"Mana Eyes?"

"Yup! It's my big brother's ability that lets him see ma—wait, what are you making me say?! Are you trying to pry info about my brother from me?!" Angelia cautiously questioned.

"Huh? N-no, I was just curious..."

"Oh? Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. My brother wasn't looking at you weirdly, his eyes are special, and that's all! He can see Mana whenever they turn gold. And just so you know, it's apparently a forbidden technique that should kill you if you obtain it but he was able to master it and use it whenever he wants! My big bro's just that awesome!" Angelia boasted proudly.

"I-I see...Hmm, no wonder he was able to deduce how I was casting my elemental spells in the midst of battle—Ah, that must be how he was able to dodge and defend against all of my spells! Since he can see the mana gather together before the spell is formed, then it's like he's got an early warning system against magic spells! That's just cheating, no fair!" Katya complained.

Angelia started giggling at Katya when she heard her mumbling some complaints at Cecil. Angelia found the young lady before her to be quite friendly and unlike all of the negative rumors she's heard about the Goldenia family from the grownups at home.

On Cecil's side, he was sitting down with his wives and discussing Katya's unique spell casting method.

"So, you've basically deduced most of how she's been casting her spells, Cel?" Lucia asked after questioning her husband about his pitiful performance in the earlier fight.

However, it was just like she had predicted, her husband was dragging things out just so that he could see more of Katya's unique casting method in hopes of being able to copy it.

He had gained most of what he needed but there were a few things that were missing, the most important one was what magic language used in the invocation of the spells.

"Almost, Lulu, I only know that the variations in her chants determine the nature of her spells and how much mana she uses when she invokes them, but I'm still unsure as to what magic language she's using. It's much different than yours Lulu and the language somehow sounds familiar, it's like I've heard of it before..."

"Why not just ask her, darling?" Serilla asked.

"I don't think she'd be even willing to explain anything. Too bad that she's from the Goldenia family. If she was from our kingdom, we could have asked her to explain things to us so that we'd be able to create a better spellcasting method for our people...mine is just a little bit... well, you know, complex."

Lucia and Serilla thought long and hard for a moment before the two eyed each other in unison. It seemed that they were thinking the very same thing.

"Cel, since you won, request for her to stay in our kingdom..." Lucia suggested.

"Huh?"

"It's not like I'm telling you to marry her, okay? I'm just telling you to keep her close to us! Once we befriend her, we can slowly learn more and more about her spell casting method. It's better than having her leave and return to her family. It'd bring us no benefits at all and if she were to spread her methods to the rest of her family's kingdom, then it'll spell trouble for us much later on if they decide to one day turn their fangs against us!"

"Hmm, that's a sound argument. Okay then, I'll tell them that since I'm the winner, she has to stay here with us."

"Darling~ you better not get any ideas, okay?" Serilla reminded with a gentle smile that wasn't a smile.

"Tch, don't worry, alright? I already have enough problems dealing with you two..."

"What's that supposed to mean, Cel?"

"Darling~ are you saying that we're a problem?"

The two girls had a frightening look on their faces but Cecil quickly escaped by flas.h.i.+ng over to his father who was currently talking with Augustus.

"Father..."

"Ah, Cel. You're here. Well, since you won, we'll listen to what you want, right Augustus?"

"...Yes..." Augustus replied in a sullen tone.

"Oh, good, well then, my request is that she stays and lives with us in our kingdom."

"Ah, okay, we'll immediately send them off—wait... what? What did you say, Cecil?" Kaiser thought he heard wrongly and asked again.

"I want her to stay with us."

"Huh? You want her to stay?"

"You want her to stay?!" Augustus cried out in surprise before immediately turning joyful.

Hearing her father's cry, Katya immediately whipped her head over before she stood up and rushed towards them.

"W-what? Stay? What do you mean?!" She loudly asked after arriving next to them.

"Katya, did you hear that? Cecil wants you to stay!" Augustus joyfully said.

"F-father...what...?" Katya looked over at Cecil and immediately questioned him. "Hey, you, what do you mean by all of this?! I thought you were against marrying me!"

"I don't mean anything. I just want you to stay. I'm quite interested in you now," Cecil said with a smile.

Katya paled and she immediately cried out in a stutter, "S-s-s-s-so two wasn't enough? Y-y-you... you want three now?! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?!"

"Huh? What're you—"

"Don't think I'll ever consent to marry you! You big pervert!"

"HAH? Pervert?! What the h.e.l.l are you talking about, you crazy hag?!"

"I saw how you were looking at me during the fight! You were staring at me like you were trying to undress me with your eyes!"

"Hey! I never looked at you like that!"

"Uhh, yeah you were! I've had enough of those stares from when I was in the Faustus Archduchy! I know a pervert when I see one!"

"Shut up! I'm no pervert! You must be blind if you think I'll ever look at you like that!"

"Oh, really?! Is it because I don't have a large rack like your wives?!"

"YEAH!" Cecil immediately roared in reply. His tone was as if he was stating the obvious and it immediately infuriated Katya.

"WHY YOU!"

Listening to their odd argument, everyone was taken aback. They had only just met but they were now having a lover's spat. Lucia and Serilla had a dark look on their face as they made their way over to Cecil. The way their husband worded it sounded like he wanted to wed Katya. It was just like him to say whatever was on his mind without explaining anything.

They arrived on either side of their husband. They then pulled him by the ear and forcibly dragged him away.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!!! W-wait, Lulu, Seri, stop! I'm still not done talking with that hag!"