There are moments of desperation that inevitably come to everyone in life.

For Rockefeller, that moment came during the days when he was known as the "Twilight Magician," leading the rebellion forces across countless battlefields.

He had swept away so many enemies that the royal family frequently hired skilled mercenaries from abroad, and the stronger his opponents became, the lonelier his victories grew.

As a result, it became inevitable that even the smallest difference could mean the difference between life and death.

Of course, that "small difference" usually meant luck.

Recalling the time when he had barely escaped death through a single gamble, Rockefeller watched Hersel with a wary expression.

'That damned kid. How the hell did he figure it out without being taught?'

When Hersel had thrown a tantrum back then, Rockefeller had firmly refused him, explaining not only the warning written in the spellbook but also his own experiences.

And yet, he was now using it.

'...He must have learned it through self-study. Despite his terrible mana sensitivity, he has an unnecessarily high level of comprehension. That trait of yours will bring you trouble one day.'

However, before Professor Gomon—who was supposed to stop him—could even arrive at the organizers’ area, the spell was completed.

'Damn it, the activation has already begun. There's no way to cancel it halfway.'

As the tip of Hersel’s staff emitted a black light, Rockefeller’s old memories vividly resurfaced.

It had happened after a hard-fought battle against a formidable foe, when he exploited the loosened straps of a knight’s armor to win.

The soldiers' skirmish was still ongoing when suddenly an arrow flew toward him.

It was fired by an ally.

Worse, there were three arrows.

One was even accidentally fired when a soldier's bowstring snapped and sliced his hand.

'And that wasn't all. The mace of a nearby soldier shattered upon impact, sending fragments flying at me. Even though I had cast a protection spell beforehand, it had been poorly drawn, and I ended up covered in blood.'

He also slipped suddenly and broke his nose.

And if he hadn't quickly used telekinesis to cushion the shock when he suffered a sudden heart attack, he would have died.

A series of utterly unreal misfortunes had followed one after another.

'The only reason I survived was that I had read the warning in advance and managed to prepare accordingly. Otherwise, I would have certainly died.'

Yet despite the deadly price, the benefits of "Gambler" magic were very poor.

[For five minutes, the probability of your wish coming true increases.]

[Duplicate wishes do not trigger the effect.]

[As soon as the effect ends, the worst misfortunes will befall you for five minutes.]

'Gambler magic only slightly increases the probability of a prayer being answered. If it’s a 50-50 chance, it might tilt in your favor, but otherwise, the outcome is a mystery.'

The only restriction is that it can be used once every ten years, but ironically, its low cost to activate is part of the danger.

Because the catastrophic bad luck that follows outweighs whatever small advantage was gained.

And now, Hersel was trying to use such a dangerous spell not in a life-or-death crisis but in a duel where he still had two more opportunities left.

Rockefeller, clinging to a sliver of hope, turned to Professor Gomon, who was requesting the organizers to halt the match.

Archmage Lynderi is nearby.

If it's him, maybe...

Maybe he could undo the Gambler spell or at least mitigate its consequences.

Perhaps the negotiation worked, because the referee momentarily announced a suspension of the match.

It seemed they were asking the participant for their decision.

Unfortunately, Hersel shook his head.

Rockefeller opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

"You fool. Even if it works, it’s just a slight boost in luck. And that’s only meaningful when the skill gap between opponents is narrow. When the difference is as vast as between you and Lilot, it means nothing!"

Whether his words reached Hersel or not, the boy turned his gaze toward Rockefeller and gave a reassuring smile.

Rockefeller clenched his fist at the boy’s senseless behavior.

But strangely, a feeling of reassurance gradually loosened his grip.

Maybe it was because Hersel had always defied expectations and proved himself in the end.

'Yeah, that’s who you are. Your process may be strange, but you've always proven it through results.'

In the end, Rockefeller decided to trust him one more time.

***

The man in front of him was nothing more than a hedgehog with its spines raised.

That was the impression Lilot had of Hersel during their duel.

'He’s not even making proper attacks. He only reacts when I approach. I’ll admit he’s got some clever tricks, but it just shows he lacks real skill. An empty cart makes the loudest noise.'

Still, Lilot briefly checked his status.

She had learned the hard way that getting carried away by the thrill of battle was her greatest weakness.

'The Wind Steps are all used up. The Fire Cloud Lightning will last another thirty minutes. I have about 28 blasts left in the Staff of Explosions.'

Honestly, even if she used up all the fire stored in her staff, it wouldn’t matter much.

The cycle had already finished, and soon new elements would reload naturally.

Though, most likely, the match would end before that.

Lilot pointed her staff at Hersel.

'He’s probably set up another trap. In that case, I’ll just drag him into my territory by force.'

A flame shot out from the tip of the staff.

It stopped precisely midway between Hersel and Lilot, shrinking down into a tiny pinpoint.

When it was barely visible, a strange plucking sound emanated from it.

Screeeee—

'It consumes five charges of the Staff of Explosions, but it’s worth it.'

Space distorted around the flame.

The distance between Hersel and Lilot suddenly compressed.

This time, it wasn’t an expanding explosion but a contracting one.

Gripping her staff tightly to attack before space reverted to normal, Lilot clearly heard Hersel's voice, now much closer.

"Lilot's foot slips."

At that moment, an incredible thing happened.

Just as her staff was about to strike Hersel's neck, Lilot’s field of vision tilted.

"Huh?"

She barely managed to avoid falling by planting her hands on the ground.

Space returned to normal, and they were both back at their original distance.

'It... it must be a coincidence, right?'

She couldn’t say for certain that Hersel’s words had caused it.

The floor had always been covered in magic-generated water.

Though much had evaporated from the flame magic, the surface was still slick.

Trying to convince herself it was just an accident, Lilot heard Hersel speak again.

"Judging by your expression, you think it was a coincidence."

"And if not, are you claiming it was some kind of hypnosis?"

"Exactly. Actually, I'm a curse-type magician..."

Suddenly, Hersel covered his mouth and started giggling.

He was clearly holding back laughter.

"Phew. It's getting hard even for me to keep up the lie. Fine, I’ll tell you the truth. I’m a special-type magician."

Lilot, furious at the trickery, felt his rage boiling over.

Yet Hersel kept teasing her.

"As an apology for fooling you, want to hear a fun fact?"

"Just shut up."

"There's actually a genie from a lamp standing next to me right now."

"I said shut up."

"Just in case you didn’t know, a lamp’s genie is a divine being that grants wishes."

"Enough already, you damn bastard!"

Fuming, Lilot used another high-tier explosion to contract space once more.

This time, she intended to smash Hersel's head with her staff.

But Hersel swung his clenched hand instead.

"Lilot tightly shuts her eyes against the flying mud."

Wet dirt scattered from Hersel’s hand.

By the time Lilot realized it, she had already been dragged by the compressed space.

She hastily shut her eyes, but a sharp pain prickled her retinas.

"Argh! You lunatic!"

The noblewoman’s furious scream echoed throughout the Aizen Arena.

Despite the foul language spilling from the star of Wisdom herself, the audience remained silent as if understanding.

***

Donatan muttered in frustration.

'If you really can have wishes granted, I don't understand. Why don't you just wish for victory instead of pulling cheap tricks?'

'Because the probability is too low. If the wish has a 99% chance of not coming true, Gambler magic only boosts it to about 0.3%.'

In a 50-50 case, it boosts it to about 80%.

Gambler magic only increases the probability based on feasibility.

If something is extremely unlikely to begin with, the magic is meaningless.

Bitterly, I knew that even if I kept wishing to avoid Lilot’s attacks, I'd still most likely get hit.

That’s how wide the gap was between us.

Therefore, I had no choice but to dodge through tricks and detours.

Like making her slip with rainwater or delivering dirt to her eyes.

The crowd went wild at the cleverness of it all.

"What a scumbag. Throwing mud like a child?"

"I knew he’d pull some weird stunt when he started talking about wishes."

Warm rain fell from the sky.

The clouds lit up in a flash of white as Lilot’s Fire Cloud Lightning spell roared above.

Rumble!

The thunderclap that followed silenced the jeering mouths.

In the renewed stillness, a cold voice made me look back at Lilot.

"Are you enjoying this?"

Her bloodshot eyes above her expressionless lips shot killing intent so fierce it felt like it could pierce through me.

When the heightened rage transmitted through my skin, goosebumps broke out.

"Let's see if you'll keep smiling after this."

Lilot spun her staff around.

Multiple sparks scattered and floated in the air.

From now on, I had to brace myself.

She was about to use the strategy she originally planned for Ares against me.

Screeeee—

One of the sparks in the air pulled the surrounding space toward it.

In an instant, I found myself facing her piercing gaze at close range.

I quickly made a wish.

"Moisture floods the hand holding the staff."

The staff that had been aimed at my shoulder veered off course.

I rolled my body hurriedly to dodge it.

It was good that I managed to put some distance between us.

At least, until the tip of Lilot's staff struck empty air and exploded.

Boom!

Despite the distance, the heavy impact shook my entire body.

A ringing echoed in my ears, and my spinning head crashed back down onto the ground.

When I barely staggered to my feet, the blinding white light from the thunder paralyzed my vision.

By the time I recognized my surroundings again, I was already dragged through space to face Lilot nose-to-nose.

This time, she was aiming her staff straight down at my head.

'This is dangerous, Hersel, this explosion will be far worse than the last!'

There was no time to respond to Donatan’s voice.

I had to wish at machine-gun speed.

"A bolt of lightning temporarily paralyzes Lilot."

As soon as my feet left the ground, a flash of lightning illuminated the area.

When the thunder rumbled, I could see the current sweeping across the wet ground.

Damn 'elemental armor'—because of it, Lilot's paralysis wore off quickly.

Her staff slammed into the ground, and despite jumping back to widen the gap, I was still caught in the explosion.

"Argh!"

As Donatan had said, this explosion was vicious.

Pain so fierce it felt like my leg bones had snapped wracked me, and I floated in the air for a terrifyingly long time.

My broken body tumbled along the ground.

When I finally stopped, I was at the far edge of the arena.

Ignoring the blood dripping from my forehead, I shakily drew the spell for healing magic with trembling hands.

There was barely any mana left because I had frozen such a large area earlier.

Only after some minor recovery was I able to stand up again.

Considering I squeezed out what little mana I had left without collapsing from exhaustion, it wasn’t a bad outcome.

Footsteps crunched through the smoke from beyond.

As the thickening rain quickly washed away the smoke, I locked eyes with Lilot, her gaze gleaming.

"You should be thankful this is only a duel. If it weren’t for the magic dampening the damage, you would’ve died just now."

Swoooosh—

The downpour grew even heavier.

The lukewarm rain soaked into my skin, making my body feel even heavier.

But my lips refused to fall into a frown.

"S-Staff..."

I coughed up blood but forced myself to finish the sentence.

"The staff’s... flames... are gone."

Lilot’s explosions had been completely spent with her last attack.

The elemental reload was now in cooldown.

This was her weakest moment.

However, even if I were in perfect condition, my abilities wouldn’t even reach her lowest level.

Thwack!

I barely managed to block her incoming punch with my arm, though it was more accurate to say I just took the hit.

Lilot’s kicks, reinforced with body-strengthening magic, were blindingly fast.

And my desperate wish wasn’t enough.

"Lilot’s kick misses."

I got swept off my feet when she kicked my shin.

Lilot merely looked down at me, waiting as if expecting me to get up on my own.

When I slowly lifted my head, her fist shot toward my solar plexus.

"The punch only hits my lower abdomen."

All I could wish for was to minimize the damage.

"Ugh!"

Watching silently, Donatan let out a frustrated sigh.

'Don’t you have any means of attacking? Use those damn wishes somehow!'

Attack?

Did I ever have an attack powerful enough to work against that monster?

'Are you even listening to me!'

'My head’s ringing. Shut up for a bit.'

'You must have known from the start that this was an unwinnable fight. So why keep going instead of forfeiting?'

...My brain is seriously about to explode.

'Because I know I can win. Now shut up.'

When I tried to push myself halfway up, she grabbed me by the collar.

There was a strange sense of detachment, realizing she lifted my body with her slender arms.

I grasped at her wrist weakly, but she hurled me to the ground.

She pressed her foot against my chest and spoke coldly.

"I know your kind. If I don’t crush your stupid pride properly, you’ll live your whole life without realizing anything. So I’m going to make you say it yourself. Say 'I forfeit.'"

Then she added a chilling warning.

"And don’t think about getting knocked out or thrown out of bounds."

There was no way out now.

My body was exhausted beyond its limits, and my mind was on the verge of collapse from the agony and fatigue.

I clenched my pride and squeezed out my voice.

"I... I..."

"Have you ever heard of clarified butter? Our family’s chef cooks meat with it perfectly."

Even while swallowing my pride, I found myself spewing nonsense to buy time.

"It’s fine. Since there’s no time limit, I’ll take my time turning you into a proper human being."

Lilot's foot stomped down on my ankle.

Hearing the crisp snap, I bit down hard enough to draw blood.

It was the only thing my tattered pride, "the Last Ember of Noble Blood," could still hold onto.

'Winning with a broken ankle? You’ve really lost your mind.'

Ignoring Donatan's sneering, I continued to rapidly wish.

"Lilot gets a cramp. Suddenly falls ill. Sneezes. Trips over her own feet."

"Stubborn to the end... Ah-choo!"

Only one wish succeeded—a sneeze.

But that was enough.

Because the moment I had been waiting for had come.

'Time’s up.'

The Gambler’s effect was ending.

At that exact moment, Lilot briefly exposed a gap in her defenses.

I pulled a sturdy glass bottle out of my pocket.

But the monster quickly snatched it out of my hand as soon as she spotted the pink liquid inside.

"What’s this?"

She curiously examined the potion, popped the cork, and grimaced.

"Love potion? Were you planning to make me drink this to win?"

"Lilot drinks it."

"You think I’d drink it?"

Of course, the wish didn’t come true.

Just in case, she smashed the vial onto the ground.

Then, as if to underline the futility of any miracle, she sneered.

"How does it feel, seeing your secret weapon mix with the rain?"

I didn’t know if she was smirking or pitying me.

Because my eyes were fixed on the pink potion seeping into the rainwater, growing blurry.

"I told you earlier. I'm a special-type magician. Do you understand now what magic I’m best at?"

Without even needing a staff, I used telekinesis to summon the potion.

Seeing this, Lilot’s eyes widened, and she leapt backward.

She seemed exhilarated that she had dodged.

How foolish.

That was exactly what I had been aiming for.

I spoke my final wish aloud.

"The potion enters my mouth."

Thanks to the boosted probability, I managed to telekinetically guide the potion into my mouth.

Lilot squinted, bewildered.

"Why... why would you drink it?"

Why?

Because I had to pass on the Gambler’s catastrophic misfortune.

I recalled a scene from one of the tragic romance novels I’d read before the duel, from the male lead's perspective.

[Her happiness is my happiness. Her misfortune is my misfortune. Therefore, I do not fear loss. Even if she commands me to die, if it brings her a smile, I will gladly obey.]

Soon, I would genuinely wish for Lilot’s happiness.

Of course, she would never be happy.

Given the curse about to fall upon me, it would be a miracle if she avoided misery.