"You're ready right? Here I come!"
"...!"
A loud, energetic voice calls out, or rather just informs me from the other side.
We're in a room similar to where I trained with Hina and Arthur, but this time the one I'm facing is Bernard Leonhart. He's the capture target I've interacted with the least, and now we are seconds away from a duel. Even from this distance, his surging mana is palpable. As for how everything went wrong…
It all started about half an hour ago when I suddenly bumped into him while mindlessly wandering around the academy.
"Ah! You're that stone throwing light magic girl, right?!"
"H-huh? No, you must be mistaken…"
"There's no way! I'd recognize that hair color anywhere. Actually now that I think about it, Arthur's is similar too but that's still just two people. Anyway, it must be fate meeting you here, I was just thinking about you."
"What? Wh-why?"
I never even talked with him before, why would he want to meet me? Though based on that nickname he referred to me with, he probably saw me at the tournament… Oh no!
"I witnessed your duel yesterday and it was so amazing! I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw your shield block all of Hugh's spells. I've experienced firsthand how hard that guy can hit, so I understand how incredible you were. I know light magic excels at support spells, but even then you must have some great talent."
Just as a terrifying realization hits me, Bernard starts fervently expressing his feelings of awe. A chill runs down my spine since I can already predict his next words.
"Such a sturdy shield, it really makes me want to break it!"
Just like I feared! I can't believe it's possible to trigger a mid game event for a capture target, without even meeting him beforehand!
"So what do you say? Have a friendly spar with me! You don't even need to fight back at all, I just want to test if I can break your shield! I promise I'll be careful. Ah right, I'm Bernard Leonhart by the way."
"I, I'm busy with…something right now."
"Come on it won't take long, I promise! Think of it as a little exercise, you will even feel better afterwards! So let's go!"
"No, I-"
However before I could try to refuse any further he grabs my wrist and pulls me away.
In the game, Bernard was a more typical hotheaded guy with a big heart, who didn't think much before acting. Based on our interaction so far, he's kept those traits perfectly. He likes most kinds of physical activities and his only real passion is fighting.
In raw firepower, he might even place above Hugh, as his persistence and unique fighting style makes him quite a formidable opponent. His only weakness is his tactical skills... or rather, the total lack of it.
Ten out of ten fights, he'll use the exact same moveset, making him rather predictable. But due to his raw strength he'll still defeat most opponents, only similarly highly ranked fighters have a chance against him.
And his fighting style is also quite like him. Large, straightforward and unstoppable. He has earth magic affinity, which is kind of a jack of all trades spellcasting wise. Except it doesn't have any healing magic, but in exchange it has an extra strong magical shield. Probably right below light magic in that aspect.
He really likes to take advantage of that spell and he developed a quite unorthodox style with it. The easiest way to explain it is probably 'the best offense is a good defense'. In short, he puts up his shield, enhances his body with magic and launches himself at his opponent at full speed. Afterwards he just repeats this for as many times as it takes.
Which then becomes the question of whose shield breaks sooner. Of course earth magic has proper offensive spells as well, but with such a strong shield, making yourself the projectile can technically become a really strong attack as well.
Actually it did cross my mind to borrow his style for myself, but getting into close quarters as a support is a really bad idea. Bernard can get away with it due to his extensive combat experience and just really good battle instincts. So he really enjoys fighting like this and he often calls himself 'The Shieldbreaker' in the game.
And that's where this event comes in. Originally in the game Lucy was only involved in fighting from the second year onwards, when the dungeons were open to the player. If you performed well there and showed off the strengths of your light magic shield spell, you would get Bernard's attention and trigger this event.
Which is basically just training together with him and Bernard trying to break through Lucy's shield and depending on your proficiency at light magic, it could lead to different outcomes.
But that was only possible from the middle of the game so it didn't even cross my mind that I could trigger it so early on. And his personality makes it really hard for me to get a word in, nevermind refusing his request.
So I ended up being dragged to a nearby training room and found myself facing him in a practice duel.
"You're ready right? Here I come!"
"...!"
Earth magic is unique among the other attributes as it doesn't create its element, earth, out of mana like all the other attributes, but instead uses the earth in the ground. Those with this attribute let their mana flow into the earth, further strengthening it and allowing them to use it however they want.
That's partially why my plan for the tournament worked. Since the surface of the arena has to be dirt for the earth magic users, little stones and the like inevitably also get mixed in. I made sure to ask Arthur about this before the tournament so I wouldn't get disqualified or anything like that if I won. If I had…
But anyway, their shield spell works like that as well, demonstrated by Bernard right in front of me. A large chunk of earth gets lifted up by his magic and then gathers in front of him, completely blocking his figure from me. Then a moment later I feel the ground shaking and the chunk of earth shoots towards me at a terrifying speed.
I quickly activate my own shield as well at maximum output. From what I know about him, he goes all out every time so anything less on my part would probably not end well for me.
All I wanted to do was just wander around mindlessly, how did I get here…?
"Hah!"
"...!"
I feel a force equivalent to, or maybe even more than Hugh's strongest fireball suddenly push down on my shield. While it's still difficult, I manage to withstand it. Though maybe because I'm currently not distracted by certain things, it doesn't feel as bad.
"Whoa!"
Since I managed to repel his attack, Bernard stumbles back a few steps but quickly steadies himself. His earth shield crumbles away, but he excitedly looks at me.
"You really blocked me! I can't believe it, you really are amazing!"
"N-not really…"
"Ah, you wouldn't believe how long it's been since I hit a shield I couldn't break! They always just crumble instantly or with stronger opponents they never even let me make a direct hit, they always just dodge or force me to stop with a barrage of their own spells."
"That must have been hard…?"
Bernard starts pouring out all his built up frustrations with his situation.
"Right?! Arthur can create such a strong shield too, but he never uses it! He always just runs away since he knows I can't catch up to him! Isn't that just the worst? Or Hugh isn't much better either, I can barely take a step before the entire arena is filled with fire. Ah, like he did with you, except you actually managed to break out of it with just your shield! That was the moment I knew you're special! Actually, let me try it one more time, I want to experience it again!"
"...!"
He suddenly shifts his stance and a layer of earth gathers in front of him again. I quickly protect myself too.
"Ugh!"
"Hahahaha! This is it, this is it! I've missed this feeling so much! I should have met you much sooner, we would have had so much fun together!"
He gets repelled by my shield once more and ends up on the ground, but he just laughs it off, seemingly enjoying himself a lot.
Even though technically I came out on top for this second exchange as well, why does he seem to be in a better condition than me? My hands are already getting numb and I'm starting to feel tired too. Just where does he get all this energy from…?
Now that I think about it, this event is playing out pretty much like it did in the game. Was it this exhausting for that Lucy as well?
But more importantly Bernard is acting really similarly to his in game counterpart, even though I haven't interacted with him much before this. But based on my theory he should have been a potential villain because I haven't triggered any of his events yet. So maybe I was wrong after all and it works differently? But then what was up with Arthur?
Should I ask him directly? He always had a straightforward personality in the game, which is seemingly still true about him, so he'd probably answer honestly.
"Um Lord Bernard, can I ask something that might sound a bit weird?"
"Hm? Of course, and there's no need for that 'Lord' stuff. That just makes you sound distant and we're friends already, right?"
"...Right. Before the student tournament, have you ever felt that something was off, like you weren't your usual self? Maybe when you saw my duel…?"
"Um, that is a strange question."
Bernard says, but he still thinks about it for a few seconds. After a few seconds of thinking, he somewhat hesitantly explains:
"Actually, there was something weird back then. When I first saw you enter the arena my first impression was pretty negative about you. Stuff like 'What is a light magic user doing here?' and 'I can't wait to see her get beat up.' But you proved all of them wrong the moment I saw you block Hugh's attacks. I don't know why I had thoughts like that, I usually don't belittle others like that. I'm sorry for underestimating you, you're actually really impressive. I hope we can keep training together!"
"No, no. It's fine, you don't need to apologize."
Seems like it was a good idea to ask someone like Bernard outright. So he was probably also influenced by the will of this world, but it got broken the moment he saw my shield spell and I triggered this event.
And for Arthur it was probably confronting him with the inconsistencies between his actions and personality that got through to him, though that was mostly thanks to Hina…
So maybe I should try one of those methods for the last capture target, Hugh, as well? Haah. I should probably do that soon, right? Before he can become the villain of this story… That would actually be pretty terrifying, if he was the one to receive that role.
"You can keep going right? Let's do another round!"
While I'm in the middle of thinking about some scary possibilities, Bernard suddenly says and starts powering up his shield again, so I'm forced out of my thoughts and begin defending myself again.
Time passes and after a while I lose count of just how many rounds we have already gone on, all I can think about are my trembling limbs and ragged breathing.
"Let's… hah, do it one more… time!"
Bernard says, most of his energetic persona has also drained away by now, but he still pushes through it.
Click.
But then I suddenly hear the door opening and I look towards it instinctively. However a moment later I realize my mistake as I see Bernard flying towards me in my peripheral vision. Apparently he was completely focused on our duel and didn't notice any distractions.
My eyes widen as I desperately try to construct my shield at the last moment, but…
"Ugh!"
"Look out!"
My hastily created spell can barely absorb any of the impact before cracking and breaking apart. I cover my face as I brace for collision, but the expected pain doesn't arrive.
I can only feel getting covered in something warm and then roll around on the ground a few times. I open my eyes and try to reorient myself. As my eyes come into focus the first thing that enters my vision is Bernard's enlarged face.
"Huh?"
Somehow I ended up on top of him and he absorbed most of the momentum of the impact. It takes me a few moments to realize that he probably quickly dismissed his own shield as well before it could hit me and then he protected me from most of the built up momentum by covering me with his body. And when it was all over, we ended up in this position.
"S-sorry-"
"Y-y-you! What are you doing?!"
Just as I'm about to apologize, a familiar sounding voice suddenly fills the training room and glancing over, I see Hina standing at the door.
And for some reason she seems really furious?