Chapter 57 - Shirley
The first two battles against Honeysuckle earned them 2 wins and if Shirley won her fight this time, they'll be able to get their first victory in the 11 matches they have to fight.
She briefly glanced at her opponent and confirmed she'll be fighting someone they've studied but it doesn't matter, Wallace made her an original mana artifact that could probably defeat almost all her opponent depending on how she utilized it.
The necklace and ring that he made for her mostly contained defensive magic spells but the gun or 'Sonic Gun' she had was a different story. It possessed high offensive power enough to incapacitate most combat magicians. For safety purposes, Wallace even limited the power it could release to avoid unnecessary injuries it may cause to other students.
"Leonhearts's Shirley vs Honeysuckle's Amber"
As soon as the battle started and Mana Shells was activated by both participants. Shirley's opponent quickly activated her brooch which is her mana artifact and summoned a water spell to attack her.
"Royal -- Water Viper!"
A large winged snake having 10 meters of wingspan and all made of water pounced over Shirley in an attempt to destroy her Mana Shell. The viper opened its mouth with sharp fangs and bit the Mana Shell.
"Distortion Wave!"
Whooooosshh!!
Shirley activated the ring on her left finger and it's exclusive magic spell activated, the Distortion Wave dissipated the Water Viper that her opponent activated. Only a pool of water remained on the stage and vanished after a few moments as it was only made of mana.
Her opponent was surprised about the outcome as Shirley was able to easily destroy her opponent's magic spell like it was nothing. Shirley wasn't finished yet and made her offensive move.
She lifted her Sonic Gun and activated the imbued magic spell on it and as the name implies, the magic spell uses sound to attack the opponent.
"Ultrasonic Burst"
This attack could not be felt or heard because of its high frequency but it could incapacitate the receiver. Amber had a headache out of nowhere. She wasn't aware of what hit her and how to defend this kind of attack.
Unfortunately, the Mana Shell was only capable of blocking physical and magic attacks but these sound waves couldn't be blocked unless the opponent had a mana artifact specially made to counter the attack. Of course, no one would expect that someone would develop something this sinister. Invisible attack is very much difficult to defend after all.
This Sonic Gun that Wallace developed doesn't have standard magics like Enchant, Prime, Archon or Royal Series imbued within. It only contains three offensive spells, the first was the Ultrasonic Burst and the second would be 'Infrasonic Ray' which has loud, low-frequency sounds. This second spell has the effects that are like "punch in the guts", ranging from nausea to involuntary evacuation of the bowels. These magic spells weren't used to attack or countermagic. It is completely used to attack directly to magician's body.
Once the body was affected by these spells, they won't be able to control or even activate any spell. Even Mana Shell requires the magician some concentration to maintain it's activation, being influenced by these spells would certainly incapacitate unprepared enemies.
***
Wallace was bombarded by a series of questions about the magic spell that Shirley used.
Once Amber received the full brunt of the magic spell, the battle didn't last any longer. She was unable to maintain the activation of her Mana Shell resulting in her loss.
Even Felicia, the announcer, was surprised about the outcome of the battle.
"Wow, what a dominating performance! I don't even recognize any of the magic spell that the contestant from Leonhearts Academy used."
"That's right, even the Mana Artifact that was used was all original. Based on the recorded information we received from the committee, these artifacts all possessed Grade A evaluation."
"I see that you look interested in these Mana artifacts, Clarence."
Clarence is the young titled Battle Mage from the Ministry of Magic Education that was accompanying Felicia on their post-fight analysis.
"Of course, any magicians would like to have a powerful mana artifacts. I hope that I'll have a piece of it."
"Let's wait in the market if it's for sale then."
Felicia joked as they continued chatting about the quick battle that has occurred. They have a bit of information about the mana artifacts and magic structure used as the organizers need to make sure that no uncanny magic spell was imbued in the mana artifact.
Ross was very interested in this mysterious artifact that had an invisible Magic Spell, but he didn't ask questions since there would be someone who'll ask this anyway and he just planned to listen. As expected, Ericka and Tracy asked the question at the same time.
""What was that?""
Wallace couldn't help but smile as he saw their very curious eyes upon asking the question. He gave them a brief explanation enough to satisfy their curiosity.
"So, another sound wave related attacks? Just a bit different from the Traceless Oscillation that Hilda used."
Ericka asked after Wallace explained the Sonic Gun and Ultrasonic Burst that Shirley used. The oscillation was a complex magic spell aiming to destroy any object, this was a difficult spell since it requires abundant calculation and eats a lot of mana as well. But this Sonic Gun is much simpler and attacks the human body instead.
"Well, you could say that. I could see that the development of Magic Structure stirred towards elemental spell. But Mana can actually be used in a lot more ways other than elemental conversion. Also, this magic spell I developed heavily relies on the materials I've collected too."
Wallace said what he believed so. Although the elemental path was vast and full of possibilities for further development, magic engineers shouldn't have neglected other usage of mana. He wasn't sure why they insist on focusing their research on the elemental path, there could be secrets he was unaware of but he doesn't care about it now.
As Wallace saw Shirley went down the stage, he noticed that her eyes radiate happiness as she achieved her first victory. He felt relieved upon seeing that she looks fine. He was actually worried if Shirley could perfectly utilize the simultaneous activation of mana artifacts.
Everyone believed that Shirley only used two mana artifacts during the battle. The ring and the gun, but the necklace that she was using was also activated silently. It was used to protect Shirley herself from being affected by Ultrasonic Burst and also the Distortion Wave. Wallace only gave a brief explanation about the Distortion Wave, but it was more compound than the Ultrasonic Burst.
Although she could control the direction of the attack, she wasn't completely safe so Wallace used a special mana artifact to defend on this attack he has developed. He did not bother explaining this for now. Some people will certainly interview Shirley and full details of this mana artifact may even be revealed after the competition.