Despite Ruth's assessment, Zazan refused to accept it. He stated boldly that Oscar was barely at the mana apprentice level, and that from what he had seen, he could not even use basic magic. Oscar stayed calm while he listened to Zazan roast him. Like a jealous child, Zazan complained that he did not understand why everyone praised Oscar in spite of his mediocre talent. He had watched Isabel praise him. He had watched the headmaster praise him. Now Ruth had joined them.
Zazan refused to accept it, especially after the field training grades, where Oscar had surpassed everyone. Frustrated by all of it, Zazan angrily challenged Oscar to a duel, telling him to show him this so-called power that had been driving everyone crazy. Oscar was taken aback by the challenge, since he had only been trying to mind his own business.
Ruth was frustrated that the mission to escort the princess might be doomed with the team behaving like over-entitled brats. To make sure nothing disrupted the team spirit, she agreed to the duel, and she announced that the loser would be removed from the escort mission. Zazan accepted without hesitation, while Oscar stood in the background like a supporting character in his own life.
Before he could quite work out what was happening, Oscar found himself standing on the duelling ground in a match he had never agreed to. Staring down at his wand, he wondered how on earth things had come to this point. While he was still questioning his existence, Zazan eagerly prepared to demonstrate his superiority as a noble. The moment he raised his wand, he cast a spell that summoned huge icicles above Oscar's head, and he yelled at him to prepare himself.
At the same time, Oscar made up his mind to face this fight head-on, knowing he had far bigger problems ahead of him. Besides, losing the duel was not an option, because of his plan to bait Amon during the escort mission. Having sorted his thoughts, Oscar finally accepted Zazan's challenge.
Although everyone praised him as the talented genius of House Gilosis, Zazan struggled with an inferiority complex that no one knew about. He was a perfectionist who was never satisfied with himself. Even with all the praise around him, he was never satisfied with his own skills. Among the families that specialized in ice magic, House Gilosis was considered the strongest lineage. Compared to his perfect brother, though, Zazan felt insignificant.
He had lacked innate talent for magic as a child, so he had worked twice as hard as everyone around him. He wanted desperately to live up to the expectations of those who watched him, and to catch up with his brother. More than anything else, Zazan had challenged Oscar because he wanted to be a mage worthy of the noble Gilosis name.
Shortly after, Zazan unleashed his powerful ice spear magic, but Oscar dodged the spears easily. Zazan commended him for it and decided to raise his game. He used the great freeze spell to trap Oscar, making it impossible for him to move. Oscar's hand and wand froze over, and yet he managed to cast a fire spell and free himself from the freeze. Zazan was stunned that he had dispelled the magic in such a short time.
The two of them stared each other down, each waiting for the other to make the next move. Ruth observed the match from a distance, while the bookish girl sat in a corner, entirely uninterested in the display. As the fight continued, Ruth was impressed that Oscar had broken through the ice by surrounding himself with flames.
She noted that his movements looked like those of someone thoroughly familiar with real battle. All the same, after her observation she believed that Zazan's mana capacity was greater than Oscar's, and that it was only a matter of time before Oscar was overwhelmed by sheer force. Just as she predicted, Oscar was soon surrounded by Zazan's ice spears. Believing he had the win in the bag, Zazan smugly commended Oscar for possessing exceptional talent for a commoner, though he still believed it was nothing compared to all his own years of practice and experience.
Zazan then cast another powerful ice spear spell, preparing to finish Oscar and prove his superiority. Suddenly something bizarre happened, something that made even the bookish girl who never looked up lift her head from her precious book. Ruth stared in shock as Oscar rose from the ground shrouded in mana. He apologized for keeping Zazan waiting, as though he had merely been warming up the whole time.
He explained that he had been taking his time to prepare, which left Zazan confused. Oscar confidently let him know that he was about to go on the offensive, but Zazan told him that it was too late for any show. He unleashed his final strike, a powerful ice seal prison, meant to trap Oscar completely. That took Oscar by surprise, because he had not seen it coming.
Oscar realized that the move must have been hidden inside Zazan's earlier ice spear attack. Even so, he remained calm, because his mana refinement was already complete, and Zazan's little ice prison was child's play to him now. He was confident that his new magic wand could withstand the very same move that had taken down the dragon during the field training. As Zazan tried to seal him inside the ice prison, Oscar used the fire blade spell and destroyed the ice seal prison completely with a single strike.
Zazan was shocked that his ultimate move had been countered. Ruth was stunned as well, and even the bookish girl seemed to be paying attention now. Oscar, for his part, was ecstatic that his magic was unfolding exactly as he had envisioned it. The flow of mana made his body feel light, and his spells manifested perfectly, without a flaw or a delay anywhere in them. Oscar found the whole thing thrilling, while Zazan was not having the best of days as Oscar's spell broke straight through his defense.
He could not believe that a commoner had shattered his defensive spell so easily. Just as he was about to curse, as usual, Oscar walked closer to him. Watching him come, Zazan could not help thinking about his big brother. Back then, all he had ever wanted was to become like him. His brother, however, had always believed that Zazan overestimated him. He never considered himself extraordinary, insisting that there were countless people in the world who could make him look insignificant by comparison.
Now, as he watched Oscar standing before him, Zazan finally understood what his brother had meant. At last Oscar closed the distance between them, and just as he raised his wand to strike, Ruth called for the duel to end, declaring that the winner had already been decided. She stopped the match, and Zazan quietly surrendered, staring at the wand pointed directly at his chest.
Elsewhere, Levin was throwing furious tantrums and questioning his own existence. After the field training, the story of his cowardice had spread throughout the school, and everyone talked trash about him behind his back. Levin was fed up with the hostile looks he got everywhere he went, and he blamed Oscar for the humiliation. A sudden knock at the door drew his attention, and he flung it open, yelling at the top of his lungs.
He was shocked to find Professor Amon standing on the other side.
The following day, as Zazan stepped into the classroom, his eyes met Oscar's, and the two of them stared at each other for a while. After their duel, Zazan had told Oscar that he envied him. He could not accept that his years of practice had been turned to dust by Oscar's talent.