Mantam gave a sly smile to Cynthia. If there was one rule that Mantam always observed when it came to betting, it would be [i]'Never bet against a magic-user'[/i]. Although Mantam's school of magic, Mirage Shifting, focused on the ability to transform one's body, there were a group of System Spells usable by all magic professions, and one that she had picked up on her alt was a spell of Fortification. Although she never learned it on this character, she knew the magic words, and merely had to think it. She repeated the words thrice in her head, and a sheen of protective magic coated her paltry Level 2 Kitchen Knife, imperceptible to a non-magic-user like Cynthia. 

Mantam made a show of raising the knife towards Cynthia, grinning, her triumph against her all but guaranteed. Cynthia's Level 4 Katana would not be able to pierce her superior magical barrier. "Enguard," Mantam said in an over-exaggerated voice, befit of a stage actor playing a traitorous villain, "If you dare." Mantam hastily added.