A Suffocating Technique
Humans can't speak or breathe underwater. That's just basic common sense.
I'd simply taken the Water Breathing spell—which lets you breathe underwater—and flipped its purpose. Instead of helping someone breathe, it now prevented breathing. Call it the reverse side of the coin. Since it only involved manipulating water, it consumed far less mana.
Leo frantically clawed at the mass of water wrapped around his face.
But no matter how much he thrashed, the water wouldn't come off. All he managed to do was run out of air faster.
I should thank the Shabel Mercenary Corps again for their huge contribution to developing this technique. Even if they hated every second of it.
"Aaargh!"
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
"That's so underhanded!"
The spectators' jeers proved just how pathetic the technique looked.
The downsides of this spirit magic were obvious: I had to keep controlling the water to stop the target from escaping it, which made it hard to use on multiple people at once, and it looked pretty dirty.
Even I had to admit it wasn't flashy or impressive. It just looked cowardly.
But it was also the simplest way to end a fight.
Humans were surprisingly fragile. Cut off their air and they folded fast. It was the easiest way to subdue someone.
"Well, something like this."
I brushed my hair back with a flourish as I watched Leo flail around with a giant water droplet stuck to his head.
As long as he was a breathing creature, there was no escaping this technique.
It was the same ultimate skill that had even let me beat Shabel, my greatest rival back then.
Of course, I'd had one extra trick up my sleeve that time—
—Boom!
Unable to deal with the water covering his face, Leo started slamming his head against the innocent floor instead.
It was pointless. The water took no damage at all.
To dispel the water Undine was controlling, you'd need a high-level technique like Sword Aura.
And there was no way Leo, at my age, could pull that off.
Of course, another option was to overpower me and stop me from commanding my spirit, but I didn't think Leo would figure out the method most of the mercenary corps had missed.
"Huh? Not bad."
[The knight commander just gave Master a hint with a hand signal.]
Leo ignored the water and charged straight at me.
So that's how it was. The referee interfering? That's straight-up cheating.
While I was distracted, Leo's fist grazed past my face by a hair's breadth.
It wasn't that I dodged quickly—he was just slow.
Between the water cutting off his air, messing up his vision, and the water he'd already inhaled through his nose, he had to be dizzy.
"Compression."
It meant exactly what it sounded like, and I'd developed it as an upgrade thanks to the formidable Shabel leader.
Testing had shown it was an incredibly painful technique.
If Water Breathing was just water pooling around the face, Compression forced that water to violently rush back into the nose, mouth, and ears.
Air bubbles burst around Leo's face.
"Glurgh!"
"I got the idea from nearly drowning! Never tested it on myself, though. Seems like it'd hurt."
I explained casually while holding both of our sweet Undine's hands, spinning around like we were dancing, and retreating to a wider space away from Leo.
Leo collapsed on the spot, unable to move because of the water flooding back into him.
I strolled right up to the knight commander who was acting as referee and whispered.
"If you don't make him surrender soon, your nephew's going to drown. You okay with that?"
"……How did you know he was my nephew!"
"If you swallow too much water, your brain gets damaged and you turn into an idiot."
I kindly explained in a low voice, and the knight commander glared at me like he wanted to kill me.
Of course, I wasn't going to compress the water enough to actually kill him.
"Glurgh!"
Leo kept making those miserable sounds.
Since he was already combat-incapable, the outcome was obvious.
All that was left was for Leo to surrender.
"Martial artists are really something. Can't even throw a single punch before it's over."
"Stop! That's enough! The duel is over! Leo's going to die at this rate!"
I snorted at the knight commander's words.
"This is a fight between me and Leo, isn't it? It doesn't end until he surrenders."
"Even so…… this is too one-sided! Stop it already!"
"No thanks! Don't give me orders! Not until he admits he lost……"
"How is he supposed to say anything in that state!"
Oh. Right?
The knight commander's shout made me realize my mistake. Since I'd never tested it on myself, I hadn't considered that drawback.
But surrender didn't have to be verbal.
I walked lightly over to Leo. He was sprawled on the ground clutching his throat. I crouched down beside him.
"Hey. Don't you think I've won?"
"Gurgh-glurgh!"
"If you admit defeat, just take off that gauntlet yourself. Throwing away your weapon means you've lost, right? It should be as easy as taking off a glove, shouldn't it?"
Gauntlets were the offensive gloves martial artists wore on their hands. I nudged Leo's weapon with my foot, telling him to remove it.
"Not going to surrender?"
Leo shouted something furious, but it only made the inside of the water droplet murkier.
"I said stop! Are you trying to kill Leo?!"
The knight commander grabbed my shoulder from behind and shook me roughly.
What an uncivilized family. Always grabbing and shaking people at the slightest thing.
And as a referee, jumping into the fight himself was beyond rude.
When I was really annoyed, I tended to smile instead.
"Isn't that Leo's honor? How cool. Dying for honor. He'd rather die than surrender!"
"Leo's just a kid! Stop it!"
"I'm a kid too, but you still let us duel properly."
"Stop……"
"Undine."
I called Undine while the knight commander had me by the collar. Truthfully, she didn't need me to shout the technique name—she always did exactly what I wanted.
Our souls were connected. Even with our eyes closed, we knew what the other wanted.
That was the proper relationship between a spirit and its contractor.
"Jeanie!"
Just as I placed a water droplet on the knight commander's face too, Teacher Irito returned.
"What in the world is going on here!"
"Oh my, Teacher."
I blinked innocently, but that didn't hide the watery chaos around us.
Was this going to count as another incident I caused?
"They started the fight……"
"Students fighting is against the rules! Stop it. All of you!"
I already knew that.
Thanks to the only sane adult who showed up late, I had to cancel my spells.
"That's enough, Undine. Release all magic. Put the water back in the kettle."
The moment the water that had been oppressing him vanished, Leo stayed sprawled on the floor.
All the water that had flooded his esophagus was recovered, so his recovery should be quick.
The water in the kettle returned to its original state without a single drop left behind.
As proof, not a single droplet remained on Leo's head.
It was hard to believe that head had been submerged in water just moments ago.
I found myself admiring Undine's exceptional skill once again.
"Cough! Hack, hah!"
Ignoring the knight commander who looked completely out of it after being on the receiving end, I stood in front of Leo's head and looked down at him. It felt pretty good.
"You should thank Teacher Irito for saving your life."
"……Just you wait! Jeanie Crowell! How dare you pull something like this!"
"What? I fought fairly."
"You were cowardly!"
"What am I supposed to do about my magic being like that? Wouldn't it be weirder if I got into a fistfight with you?"
Even after all that, Leo was still burning with fighting spirit toward me.
Why couldn't he just accept that he'd lost? To prevent future trouble, maybe I really should have killed him.
I crouched down in front of Leo. Enemies had to be uprooted completely.
"Leo, let me teach you something. I've been developing a new technique lately."
"It's about using the water inside a person's body. The human body is about seventy percent water, you know."
"What the hell are you talking about!"
"And I'm a water spirit master, right? I've been wondering if I can control the water inside a human body too. But I haven't found any test subjects. If we fight again, you'll be giving me a great chance to test it in real combat."
"……"
"All the blood in your body pouring out. Sounds incredibly painful, doesn't it?"
"You're insane……"
"I'm serious. I hope I never have to experiment on you."
I smiled, but Leo had gone pale.
Why was he making that face while looking at our adorable Undine?