Nevan activated his Egoist illusion spell, focusing it on the man in front of him.
The power to trick opponents into believing that you're stronger than you actually are.
Nevan had no idea to what lengths their strength perception would be heightened, but any little bit would help throw his opponent off guard.
He hoped that no one in the room would realise that he had broken the rules of the class, which was to only use destruction magic.
Egoist activated instantly, and at first, it seemed to have no effect.
He felt an unseen connection being created between him and Volan, and moments lately, he became sure that the man felt it too.
Volan's body jolted slightly, and a bead of sweat began to form on his head.
Still, the man raised his gloved hand, preparing to let out another spell.
But Nevan wasn't done yet.
Next, he tapped into his other illusion spell. One that seemed more dangerous.
False Death.
A spell that forces the feeling of death into your opponent.
It seemed that this spell usually required a blast to exit from the hand, but due to being master-level with help from the Golden Monocle, he was able to use it simply through his eyes.
In his head, he thanked the fellow Transmigrator for gifting it to him.
Before using False Death, Nevan raised his hand and pointed it towards Volan. After all, he had to act like he was going to have another clash of destruction spells with him.
Then, he used the illusion.
Instantly, Volan's body wet rigid, as though he had been zapped by an incredible unseen power.
The man's dark eyes went wide, and limbs stiffened, though only for a few instances.
But Nevan couldn't allow anyone else to see what had happened. So he distracted them.
WOOSH
He used Push and sent a blast of wind flying towards the frozen man.
Volan seemed to lose balance from the rigidness False Death had caused him, but quickly recovered before falling.
As his senses returned, he was met with a powerful force coming towards him.
But rather than focusing on the attack, his attention was on the man who stood on the opposite end of it.
The way his blonde hair flowed magnificently from the wind of his attack. The confident, smug smile on his face. His piercing green eyes.
Volan did not know why, but he did not seem like the same man from a few moments ago.
To him, Nevan Heart looked nothing like a student who deserved to be on the first floor.
He looked more than capable of ascending.
Swiftly, Volan raised his gloved hand and tried to let out a blast of wind himself. The glove gave him a bonus to destruction spells, and so did his necklace, but they could only help so much.
Magic started with the user, and if the user was not focused, then their spell would come out faulty.
A weak blast of wind left his hands, which was swiftly engulfed by the power of Nevan's.
Volan felt the wind crash into him. It was a minor destruction spell sent by a mere standard-level destructionist.
Yet, it felt like he had been taken into a tornado.
Volan flew exaggeratedly onto his back and tumbled a few times over before coming to a stop.
Pain shot throughout his entire body, and he was unaware that it was all falsely perceived.
The man let out a shriek of agony.
---
Nevan stood there with his hand outstretched, panting for air.
Using all three spells in rapid concession had put a great toll on his mind and body. It felt like he had ran a marathon.
The crowd of students were silent. All except for Volan, who cried on the floor from pain.
False pain.
Nevan looked around at the shocked students, wondering if any had noticed that he used a spell from a different vein.
But from the looks of it, they hadn't. They were more shocked at the fact that Nevan's Push was so powerful.
Volan's screams stopped as two of his friends ran over to comfort him. The rest of the students then burst into chatter.
"What the hell was that?"
"How was Volan beaten so easily. Isn't that guy a newbie?"
"Forget that. My main question is what spell was that? It looked like a regular wind spell, but I guess not."
"Well, let's just say I'm glad I wasn't the one to test it out."
Nevan listened to the conversations that he heard around him, and he couldn't help but feel elated.
His eyes glanced at the teacher standing on the raised platform.
If anyone is going to notice my cheating, it would be him!
The two met eyes. The professor twisted at his moustache idly.
And then, he shot him a wink.
Nevan's face lit up with a smile as he cheered to himself silently.
I got away with it... Nice.
At that moment, the students finally started to spar with each other. None used grand spells, mainly just pushes of wind since they didn't want to damage each other much.
Volan was still speaking to his friends and had now recovered from his beating. Nevan could tell that there was anger in his tone, even from the distance, as the group of three whispered to each other.
That's certainly going to cause some problems in the future-
His thoughts were suddenly cut off as he felt a finger tap against his shoulder.
Nevan spoke as he began to turn around. "Sorry, I'm a bit too tired to spar right now. Maybe next-"
Who he saw standing before him was not what he imagined.
It was a young lady, wearing a long black and white Victorian dress.
On her hip was a fencing sword, which seemed to be common in the academy, and her gun holster was empty.
Like Nevan's, the lady's hair was blonde and wrapped into a stylish bun atop her head. Her eyes were a dazzling blue which she used to stare into Nevan's.
Then, she spoke.
"You shouldn't have done that." She said, voice feminine and quiet. "Volan and his friends are currently planning to kill you."