Ethan quickly got his answer.
The answer left him rather speechless, as Übel proposed a one-on-one magic duel with him.
Ethan was also a bit lost about this, as he had never expected something like this to happen.
This wasn’t just a case of not knowing one’s limits; in Ethan’s opinion, Übel’s actions were like a mayfly trying to shake a giant tree.
Over the past year, his sparring partner had been Frieren, the mage from the Hero’s party.
Although she had been slacking off a bit and hadn’t been seen practicing her combat skills much, it was all because Frieren was already a fully developed mage.
Her practical combat skills were honed in battles against demons.
In fact, without Frieren as his opponent, Ethan wouldn’t have been able to further refine his Kido magic.
Hado, Bakudo, and Phantom Path – three different application directions covering most usage scenarios.
But in front of Frieren, she easily crushed Ethan’s Kido.
Each use of her magic hit his weak points directly, leaving Ethan completely satisfied with her training.
“Your magic is very practical, it’s just a bit weak in power, though, in most situations, you won’t need this kind of magic.
Once you’ve mastered regular attack magic, you’ll find that most of the time these flashy spells have no place to be used.” With “practical” and “flashy” mentioned together, Ethan didn’t know if Frieren was praising him or criticizing him.
Also, Frieren’s strength made Ethan look up to her again.
The mage from the Hero’s party was too strong.
Returning to the present.
Ethan didn’t refuse Übel’s request, but he changed the duel into a teaching session.
Übel didn’t argue.
She was actually very smart and knew that challenging Ethan was impossible.
So, she used this method to make Ethan lower his conditions.
This way, she could also achieve her goal.
Üffie, watching from the side, easily saw through her sister’s plan.
She thought it was a bit much for such a young child to be so calculating.
Taking the sisters out of the city and to a suitable spot, Ethan stood in the center of the arena and sighed.
“Übel, I’ll only use defensive magic.
If you can break through it before dinner, I’ll agree to one condition that’s within my power.” Hearing this, Übel-chan’s eyes lit up.
“Any condition?” Übel asked seriously.
“Of course…
no, it has to be something I think is achievable.
You can ask for anything, but Üffie and I both have to agree before I can promise it.” Üffie nodded from the side.
Übel seemed to have some ideas, but some of those ideas were not things she could do at her age.
For example, venturing out of the city on her own, something her sister didn’t dare to do much now.
The courage of her childhood had been worn away by life.
She just wanted to work hard and raise her sister well, so that Ethan and Übel would have a home to return to in the village.
Übel was a bit disappointed and had to put away her idea of dropping out of school and learning magic with Ethan.
Ethan and Üffie would absolutely not agree.
“Alright, let’s begin.” Üffie immediately stepped back several paces.
Ethan picked up his wand, a wand identical to Harry Potter’s, and released his magic.
Soon, a thin magic shield enveloped him.
This was the weakest defensive magic he could cast, the version that consumed the least amount of energy to maintain.
But it was enough to block the magic of a level nine mage.
Übel, holding a wand much taller than herself, looked at Ethan, who was surrounded by the defensive magic, her gaze growing serious.
Then, she raised the wand with both hands and pointed it in Ethan’s direction.
“Pale Lightning.” A bolt of white lightning shot out from the tip of the wand, striking the magic shield.
However, because the power was too small, it was impossible to break through.
Ethan’s expression froze.
He saw it very clearly – it was his Kido magic, Hado No.
4, Pale Lightning.
He had only demonstrated it a few times in front of Übel, but those were all Illusion Path spells.
Why could she…
“Magic is a world of imagination.” Frieren had emphasized this to him more than once.
He knew that the effect of magic was often related to human thought, which was the most special aspect of magic in this world.
However, Ethan had never truly witnessed the extent of what “imagination” could achieve.
While he was in a daze, Übel had, at some point, appeared in front of him and aimed her next “spell” at his hair.
“Pale Fire Crash!” Pale flames sprayed from the wand, leaving faint marks on the membrane-like magic shield.
Although it still didn’t penetrate, leaving a mark at Übel’s age was already terrifying.
It was only then that Ethan used his magic sensing to detect the magic emanating from Übel’s body.
Her magic power was vastly different from a year ago.
If her magic reserve was 1 a year ago, it was now 15.
This was a terrifying increase.
What kind of training had she undergone this past year?
However, casting two Kido spells was still very stressful for her.
Her magic had already been depleted by a third.
Seeing that Pale Fire Crash also failed to break through this incredibly strong magic shield, Übel’s face clearly showed displeasure.
She immediately took two steps back.
“Ethan, for the next spell, I’ll definitely shatter it.” “Hado Thirty-One…” Red Flame Cannon?
Pale Fire Crash didn’t break through; what could Red Flame Cannon do?
But the next second, Übel, quite abruptly, revealed a smile that was rather startling for her age.
“Just kidding~” In Ethan’s magical vision, almost all of Übel’s magic power was drained in that instant.
Before Ethan could even think about where her magic had gone, a vertical crack suddenly appeared on his magic shield, running from top to bottom.
It was like a pair of scissors had cut through his magic shield, splitting it cleanly into two halves.
But that was all.
Ethan’s defensive magic did not dissipate.
After being cut, the damaged magic shield instantly restored itself.
Silence fell over the scene.
It wasn’t Red Flame Cannon; that was just a ruse to distract Ethan.
In less than five minutes since the start, Ethan’s defensive magic had a hole gouged in it by Übel’s special magic.
“Thump.” Übel collapsed on the ground, looking weakly at the tall figure before her.
The feeling of being drained of magic was terrible, but what was even worse was that her special magic, which she had practiced diligently for a long time, was easily broken through in the end.
The Magic That Cuts Everything was inspired by her sister’s work as a seamstress.
If she could cast a second one, Ethan might have been injured just now.
But to break through this shield once, she had exhausted all her magic.
What she didn’t know was that her performance directly caused Ethan’s heart to churn.
Übel had given him a great surprise, both with her replicated Kido spells and with this magic that cut everything apart.
It was at this moment that he truly understood “Magic is a world of imagination.” The limits of imagination could be somewhat terrifying.