"Water Bullets!"
After saying her incantation, magic circles form around both of Sophie's hands, firing condensed blasts of water as deadly as a bullet. She fires continuous rounds with both hands directly aimed at Cricket. He grins as he runs around in a zigzagging pattern, dodging each bullet with ridiculous speed using his Enhancement Magic to increase his speed exponentially. Sophie can't help but be impressed by his incredible speed and his ability to activate his magic without an incantation, which is still a shock to her and her classmates circling around them witnessing this duel between the two.
Eventually Cricket reaches towards her after dodging each water bullet, grabbing her by the wrist and lifting her right arm in the air, preventing her from firing a bullet as he's right in front of her. He then quickly lands several precise chops on various positions on her right arm. This catches her off guard, and on instinct, she draws her left arm forward, trying to hit Cricket with a water bullet. Cricket then leaps backward in the air, dodging her water bullet.
Sophie begins reciting another incantation for a water spell before realizing her right arm is numb and she's unable to lift it. She looks shocked as she stares a hole through Cricket as he lands across from her.
"What did you do to my arm?"
"What did I do? Long story short, I used a martial art known as the Nullarts to numb your arm and make you unable to cast any spells from said arm. Satisfied?"
She looks at him once again; she'd never heard of Nullarts before. But she can't deny its effectiveness; she can't even move her arm. Sophie decides she can't get caught off guard and lifts her left arm, aiming towards Cricket. Before she can even begin reciting another incantation, Cricket jets towards her, causing panic to appear in her eyes. He goes at her with a flying kick; she barely dodges the attack, reciting the quickest incantation she has, sending her flying backward with a large burst of water.
"Water Jet!"
The spell lands her several feet from where his kick would have landed on her.
"Quick thinking there, Sophie. I wasn't holding back with that kick either; if you hadn't dodged that in time, you'd have been toast."
Cricket then lets out a hearty laugh that almost sounds maniacal. Sophie is once again shocked by his behavior. Shocked he'd go all out like that on a student. He was serious too; his kick created a large burst of wind right where her head would have been. Her head could've swung right off her shoulders. The other students onlooking are also shocked by his attitude, minus Sophie's friend Julien; he, in fact, is giggling slightly himself, entertained and impressed by their teacher. Julien then speaks directly towards Cricket.
"No fooling, that kick was no joke. I like your style, teach."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, dude. Now watch as I beat your bestie in a duel."
"Really, Julien, he could've killed me. I thought you were on my side?"
"I am, Soph. I just find this dude entertaining. What can I say?"
Cricket then lets out another hearty laugh at Julien's words. He then begins focusing, closing his eyes and steadying himself, clearly gearing up for one last attack to take Sophie down. Sophie notices this and begins to panic, hurriedly lifting her left arm and beginning an incantation, the very same one she used for her first attack in this duel.
"Creator of elements, hear my call; allow me to use your element of water. Channel your might through me and unleash, Water Cannon!"
Sophie knows this is probably futile, but she can't just lie down and let him get the victory that easy. As her attack is sent, Cricket opens his eyes and readies himself to dodge it; he tries to start running at jet speed; however, there's a snag that catches him completely off guard. His shoelaces are tied up together; this one hiccup causes Cricket to trip and fall backward, directly into the water cannon. He notices this as his eyes widen, realizing he's been got. The water almost cartoonishly blasts him several meters away, and he lands back first on the grass.
Sophie and the entire classroom react, having seen the whole scene; by pure, dumb, almost goofy luck, the teacher was taken down. Some of the students are just dumbfounded, and some are just laughing at the display, such as Julien. The duel is now over since he was knocked on his back. Julien can't help but laugh as Cricket sits up from his downed position, completely drenched and spitting some water from his mouth.
"I don't just like your style now, teach; I freaking love it! You're hilarious, dude!"
Cricket just shakes his head at Julien as he then sets his sights on Sophie. He slowly stands up and walks towards her, giving off a large sigh as he does. Sophie looks at him, unsure as to what he's about to do, and a bit nervous. Once Cricket reaches her, he lifts his hand and extends it forward to her in order to shake her hand.
"It seems through dumb luck, you were able to come out on top. You win this round, Sophie. Guess I'll have to start doing my job, which is going to be such a drag."
He finishes his words with another sigh as he grabs her right hand to shake, as well as apply several more quick and precise chops to her arm that allow her to gain motion for it again and no longer feel numb. He then lifts her arm high, declaring her as the winner. Sophie looks at her hands, a bit amazed at how skilled the instructor truly is, a slight bit of blush appearing on her cheeks. Cricket then gives a quick glare towards Julien before he says his last words, in an almost whiny tone, before walking away.
"Alright kiddos, it seems tomorrow won't be my last day at this job, but I'll have to actually do some instructing. This sucks. You're all just the worst. I'm out of here for today, peace."
He then lazily stumbles away from them, still drenched, flashing up a peace sign as he walks, not looking back for a moment as he disappears off into the distance.
All the students gathered begin cheering for her, both congratulating her and thanking her for her victory so that now they can begin actually learning. They all eventually leave as well, minus Julien. Julien and Sophie begin walking towards the school courtyard together, with Sophie giving Julien a pout, still a bit angry about before.
"I can't believe you were laughing it up back there about him of all people."
"What? He's an entertaining dude. Besides, you can't be mad at me; without me, you'd have totally been wiped out in that duel."
Sophie then stops in her tracks, looking confused. She looks towards Julien as he notices her stop and turns around, looking directly at Sophie.
"What do you mean by that, Julien?"
"Okay... don't get mad, but... I may have been the one who tied his shoes. Before I said all that stuff, I cast a quick air incantation while hiding behind the others, and then when I talked with him and he was distracted, I used the air magic to tie his shoes together."
Sophie's face turns to one of anger as she begins smacking his arm with quick blow after quick blow, with Julien just laughing it off as he normally does with her.
"You dummy! Why would you do that? You're so stupid! I can't believe—"
"Look, Soph. You were definitely just about to lose that duel. I didn't want to see you get hurt, for one. As well as, you saw how strong this guy is. I know we're basically the same age, but in terms of magical abilities, this guy is leagues above us. But if you'd have lost the fight, we wouldn't have been able to learn jack from him. Now that you won, this guy might actually teach us something. He's got to have a wealth of knowledge to be that tough, wouldn't you agree?"
Sophie let Julien's words sink in for a moment as her strikes to his arm, which had been going on the whole time he'd been speaking, began to cease. After a moment of reflection, she slowly looks up at Julien and responds.
"I suppose... you do have a point there. He's clearly strong, and he definitely could be a useful instructor. But I still don't like this... you know how I am about cheating."
"I understand, but I'm sure in the long run this'll work out. Our classes truly begin tomorrow. I'm not sure about you, but... I can't wait to see what this guy knows."
She slowly smiles at the thought of finally getting her magical education now, and from an instructor she knows is powerful. She nods along with Julien as they continue walking off, both chatting and speculating about what it'll actually be like to be taught by Cricket. Both hopeful that this young and powerful mage proves to be an incredible instructor as well.