Y’all are hating too much on the friend, first the duel is to see who’s experienced more, in a real battle mc would win no question, but it’s still not pointless because now mc will understand that levels aren’t everything.
second he’s not a bad friend just because he wants to feed his ego, sometimes you just want to 1v1 bro and win because he always sweeps, the domain expansion magic wasn’t set before hand I bet he just set it up right after the match started (he doesn’t look like someone who would be satisfied with a petty win like that)
honestly I like this guy