43 43 Flame Strike
”Most of you have a long way to go on the [Flame Armor] spell, but Cassie, Ella, Reiko and Mary, you can begin on the Flame Strike spell starting tomorrow.
The rest of you, do your best to get caught up since your classmates were kind enough to give you pointers to start the class today.” The Professor instructed the class to end the day.
“Study Meeting after dinner?” Ella asked Reiko before they left the room.
“Sure, we can meet in the practice room and work on Flame Strike. I think it should be an easy one for me.” Reiko replied happily, petting her Familiar, Flame.
This first week really was his time to shine, though Wolfe did wonder if Reiko was actually able to make the best use of his abilities since they didn’t understand each other very well.
The practice rooms were incredibly busy when they arrived, filled with advanced students refreshing their skills and working on new spells to get ahead on their coursework to begin the semester. Now that they were past the first year and officially Commoner Witches, the grades that they got mattered even more, as it would determine their future Noble Ranking if they could pass the second year.
The room was arranged into a string of hallways, where a group of two or three students could cast spells toward a target at the end in relative safety, but that meant it was also very loud. While the one casting was within a barrier, they could still talk out to their companions in the chairs outside, and that meant a hundred voices talking at once about their class work.
It was a great learning opportunity, though, and Wolfe watched with interest as the Witches drew and discussed various spell circles on the whiteboards outside each station.
Wolfe was also very popular here, with the rumour going around that he was actually an Incubus, a species of Demon that was known to be able to boost any Witch’s power by [Alternative Meditation Techniques].
Wolfe himself found it much more amusing than Ella and Cassie, who were attracting equal amounts of attention for their rumoured high compatibility with that kind of familiar.
Ella stopped to give Wolfe instructions once they found an empty bay. “Today, we will also be practicing remote mana collection. You will remain outside the barrier while we cast, and both Cassie and I will draw mana through you. It’s a good habit to get into later, and you can strengthen the bond with the one that isn’t in the hall.”
[Flame Strike] shouldn’t be too dangerous, as the first attack they learned, but for some reason, it was in the very back of the spell book. [Firebolt] was the second spell in the spellbook, and it was way easier than the spell that they were instructed to learn.
“It’s a prank the teachers play on overachievers, letting them suffer for a night with an impossible spell to bring their ego down a peg. You can just start with Firebolt.” The Imp Familiar of a Witch in the next lane whispered to Wolfe.
“It will be funnier if I can actually teach them [Flame Strike],” Wolfe whispered back.
The imp smiled and tapped him on the head, then returned to his Witch like nothing had happened.
[Spell Learned] Demonic Flame Strike
This one was much different than the one in the book, more sinister, and it used runes that didn’t correspond to the Fire Element. It must be an Unholy type spell, but one that mimicked the regular fire element spell.
“Flame knows this spell, so Reiko, why don’t you go first? Hold him and give him permission to cast while sharing your mana flow. According to the notes in the study guide that we borrowed from the Library, it will let you see the spell activating, even if you can’t see through your Familiar’s eyes yet.” Wolfe suggested. Cassie’s decision to keep the secondhand book with all of the handwritten notes in it turned out to be a very good choice. It contained a lot of tricks that the new books didn’t.
The curvy blonde Noble stepped forward with the red lizard sitting on her shoulder.
The group watched as the little lizard stood on his hind legs and made grand gestures, and then extended his tongue toward the target, which burst into a thin pillar of fire.
“I don’t think you can use his focusing gestures, but you should have been able to sense how he activated the spell, right?” Wolfe asked.
“I think so. I got a bit distracted by his dance.” Reiko agreed while Flame made a frustrated gesture at her inability to appreciate his genius teaching method.
Reiko’s first attempt failed to do anything, but the second made an anemic column of fire at the far end of the hall.
“It’s a Flame Strike for sure. It just needs more mana to look impressive.” The Witch in the next bay congratulated her, and the Imp nodded along happily.
“If you could move as much mana as my Witch, it would be a very impressive spell.” The Imp informed Reiko with a mischievous smile.
“I don’t suppose you could demonstrate, so we could see it done?” Ella asked.
“Sure. I’m pretty good with fire magic.” The second-year student agreed, her violet eyes lighting up in excitement over being asked to help.
The study group moved over so they could see her spell, and the Witch deliberately formed it slowly and externally, letting everyone watch as she went through the stages of activation.
An impressive Flame Strike, as thick as the Witch’s torso, lit up the hallway, burning light yellow instead of the deeper red of Flame or Reiko’s Strike.
The Imp narrated the lesson for them. “Did everyone see? The trick to increasing the heat is in the activation. The size is dependent on mana usage until you can reach your target size and use the excess mana to increase density. Since you’re all new students, it’s impressive if you can do it at all.
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The second-year student looked proud of herself, but the Imp continued. “But if she would just agree to finish with the finger snap, it would work so much better.”
“That is not part of the spell, just your own dramatic nature.” The Witch insisted.
“It is really necessary, I swear. Ask the big guy. He can use fire magic.” The Imp insisted.
“Wolfe, will you prove this little Demon wrong? A finger snap does nothing.” The Student insisted.
“If my Witches don’t mind, I don’t mind.” Wolfe agreed.
“Let’s see it. Can you even use [Flame Strike], Wolfe?” Cassie asked.
“I never have, but how hard could it be? Just hold my hand like this, and I think we can do it.”
Wolfe wrapped his left arm around Cassie, holding her left hand, and then extended his right in the same gesture that Flame used. The little lizard looked pleased that someone was following his directions but frowned when Wolfe began activating [Demonic Flame Strike].
Mana rushed through him and both of his Witches as Wolfe activated the spell with a snap of the fingers on his right hand. The final activation pulled a quarter of his mana reserves dry while Cassie and Ella both gasped at the sensation of mana being rapidly drawn through their auras.
Bright white flames roared to life at the end of the hall, and scorching heat reached out to them before the protective spells built into the practice hall normalized the temperature.
The pillar wasn’t huge, roughly the width of Wolfe’s torso, but the intensity was much higher than any spell before it.
“I think the finger snap is the key for sure. It really helps with the focus.” Wolfe informed their tutor with a wink at her Imp.