The fight was against ourselves. Since we were just eight contestants, we were paired against each other in a duel. But the announcer had picked out rumpled papers in a bowl to know who we would be contesting against.

For my first time, I was selected to duel with the senior that had bothered to speak with me after my victory in the magic prowess session. We were both surprised to be fighting each other, but we had no choice but to advance to the field when our names were called by Professor Zokel. We had been the last in the list too. The others had fought, and now there...