The morning has come and gone. The entire class has gathered around the outdoor training field. The wind is blowing, the grass is swaying, and chatter is ringing out as the students are excited to see a teacher duel.
Sophie Castallan waits there, her arms crossed. Minutes go by, and Cricket is nowhere to be seen. Some students begin to speculate whether or not their teacher had cowered out of the duel, not a long stretch in their minds for their carefree teacher.
But after a few more minutes Cricket is seen walking towards them from the school building. Lazily walking, taking his time with each step, which slowly infuriates Sophie even more, she's tired of him not appearing to take anything seriously. He reaches the students, staring dead across from Sophie as the students begin making a circle around the two, giving them space for their duel. Sophie then begins speaking in a bitter tone.
"You're late, Cricket."
"Had to take a piss?"
"You say that like you're unsure."
"Unsure of what?"
"Unsure that you—ugh... never mind. Are we doing this or what, teach?"
Cricket then gives a smug smile and nod towards her, along with a cheeky wink. This makes Sophie almost growl, his seeming arrogance on full display with his facial expressions. She gets into a fighting stance while taking a deep breath. Cricket stands there, not really shifting his positioning or stance. He then gives her a gesture signalling for her to bring it on.
Sophie then puts her hands out towards the front of her, focusing her mind and channeling her mana. Then after a few seconds, he shouts an incantation.
"Creator of elements, hear my call; allow me to use your element of water. Channel your might through me and unleash... Water Cannon!"
With that, a large blue spell circle with various engravings, as most spell circles contain, forms in front of her hands. From that spell circle water is conjured as if from nothing and shoots out faster than a bullet, aimed directly at Cricket.
Cricket notices her attack, looking directly at it with a smirk. It would've been strong enough to completely knock the head off a normal person; however, with lightning speed, Cricket managed to dodge the move, subtly sidestepping the attack, looking at the water as it went by, and admiring his own reflection from the quick blast of water she sent his way. The spell soon dissipates, and Cricket shifts his head towards Sophie's direction and begins speaking.
"Bravo, kid. That's some fine elemental magic you pulled off. From what I hear, that's a pretty advanced spell for just a freshman. However, I forgot to mention that I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to reading people's moves as well as Enhancement Magic. So try to hit me with big bombs like that if you'd like; I'll just use mana to enhance my physical agility and strength to dodge anything you throw at me."
The class reacts, their mouths agape, never having seen anyone move at such an incredible speed before. Shocked that Sophie's attack that went surging at incredible speeds didn't even graze their teacher.
Sophie is a bit shocked at his actions and words as well. Not expecting such speeds from their lazy teacher either. She grins slightly, glad to see their lazy teacher might actually have some talent. She then begins speaking to him, a bit more giddily.
"It seems you're not just some lazy, talentless person. While the main magic I've seen used in my life has been mostly elemental magic, I have seen my fair share of Enhancement Magic users. Not one of them, that I've seen, was nearly fast enough to dodge an attack like that."
"Seems you haven't met many good ones, I suppose."
"Oh, trust me, I have."
Sophie then begins another incantation. Using the same water elemental incantation she did previously but unleashing a different move.
"Multi-shot Water Pierce!"
From her hands shoot out eight strong-looking water lances that shoot out into the air. They move around frantically trying to catch Cricket off guard. Each tries to pierce him from different directions. He uses his enhancement magic yet again to increase his speed. He dodges each attack with ease, almost looking like he has a sixth sense, dodging some of the attacks without even looking. Cricket speaks once he's dodged the final water lance.
"Rather impressive again, controlling eight lances with relative precision. You're a tough cookie. As well as your incantation work, being able to use a spell with only a two-sentence incantation is impressive for someone of your level. For some people it can take almost whole paragraphs of bullshit to get their spells going."
"Thanks for the praise, but you're still a lazy jerk. By the way, speaking of incantations, I happened to notice you haven't used any to activate your Enhancement Magic. Also, I've noticed your hands have been in your pockets this whole duel. You wouldn't happen to have an enchanted item in one of those pockets, would you? That'd be cheating if not disclosed beforehand, you know, but something I'd expect from you at this point."
Sophie says this with confidence, sure now that she's caught the man red-handed cheating, which by the rules of a duel would mean he loses. The class then turns to him, all the students whispering among each other about whether or not Cricket had been cheating this whole time.
"Very well, I'll show you what's in my pockets."
Cricket then empties his pockets and reveals nothing. They're completely empty as he puts his hands up in the air afterwards. The class is shocked, along with Sophie. They were sure he'd been cheating after her accusation towards him; he shouldn't be able to use Enhancement Magic with at least some form of incantation, right?
"You see, kiddos, I'm not cheating; there was no enchanted item in my pockets. But if you want to know why I haven't used any incantations, I'll tell you. It's simple, really."
The class members step closer and lean in, all curious as to how he's able to do it, even Sophie herself.
"I don't need to use incantations to cast any of my spells at all."
Cricket gives a large grin as he says those words. The class members don't whisper or anything; all their eyes are wide open, and they remain silent. Sophie's mouth is agape at this revelation. In this world of magic that all these people reside in, it's an incredibly rare thing for someone to not need any incantations. In fact, minus the headmaster of the school himself, Lumund Pierce, none of the students in his class had ever met someone who didn't require any incantation to use their magic. Only some of the most revered, influential, and powerful mages in the world have ever been able to use incantationless magic.
Sophie gulps slightly at his words, now aware that she may not just be facing off with her incredibly lazy teacher but an incredibly powerful and talented sorcerer as well. She's shaking slightly out of both fear and anticipation, because if his words are true, she may be in for the fight of her life. Cricket then signals to her with a hand gesture to yet again bring it on as he then speaks.
"Alright, with that little accusation you made, I'm less willing to take it easy on you. So you want a duel? Fine, I'll give you a duel you'll never forget, believe that."