Hydran had given him an idea about having a constant stream at his opponent, instead of water Allen targeted the dirt. Dirt and dust buffeted the water mages eyes, the maneuver caught him by surprise and he at first covered up then tried to move out of the way. Allen was already moving and the water mage must have sensed it, he closed his eyes and just started flinging out water spells. Allen dodged them easily, the boy couldn’t track his movements with his eyes closed and soon Allen was up on him with his sword drawn. Allen ducked a wild spell and placed the point of his sword directly under the boy’s chin as the match was called. The stream of dirt ended and fell on the stone ground. Allen sheathed his sword and walked back towards the waiting area, his opponent looked shocked but said nothing. Hydran and Mike were there this time along with the fire mage Julie, Hydran gave him a slow clap as he approached.
“And the earth mage claims another victim” Hydran replied. “None of the others could believe you lasted past the first round and wanted to come see you in action.”
“That was some kind of wind spell you used?” Mike said as more of a question.
“Don’t bother, he is secretive with his magic, he will only tell you that it is earth based” Hydran said. “His style though has the instructors noticing, he moves like a soldier.”
“Any prior service worth her weight in bread knows how to move” Julie replied. “The mage killer fight is coming so any prior service have had some training.”
“Not the same” Mike replied. “I have dealt with plenty of soldiers before, Allen moves like one of the elite. Our mage killers have some sword skill but how many of you have seen them really train since they obtained their mage killer status? We think we can beat a mage killer because they are idiots, they are used to seeing the shock in a mage’s eyes as they close in. I know I am just planning on surprising them with a bit of sword skill before they know what is going on. I think Allen could let the mage killer know a fight was coming and still win.”
“The Atropian just got lucky” Julie replied. “We will see how he does against the mage killer when that time comes. But for now there are only sixteen of us remaining in the tournament, his streak of luck is almost up.”
Allen ignored her and waited for his next fight, he expected his secret would be coming out soon and some would be interested in learning about it while he was sure the majority would probably look down on him. Allen couldn’t blame them, the ability to create something out of nothing seems a lot better than manipulating what is already there, especially since on a lesser level a mage could do that as well. Allen watched a duel, it was between two wind specialists and it was apparent one of them had seen Allen in action. One of them, a girl with wild red hair was focusing on blowing the dirt and dust into the eyes of the other mage. Her issue was that it looked like she was just irritating her opponent and she was not advancing on the other girl. Eventually they both just tried to overpower the other, wind magic was the quickest to cast. Allen’s copycat ended up winning because her opponent ran out of energy, the winner didn’t look like she would have much left by the time another fight came which is what the others were talking about. So far all of the prior service was still in but now they would face stronger kids, while technique cannot be counted out, sometimes raw power will win the day. Allen’s next fight was against Julie, the woman smirked at him from across the ring and made a show of cracking her fingers. Allen drew his blade and gave the instructor the signal that he was ready, Julie was a big mouth and had been nasty to him since they met. The tone in Julie’s voice reminded Allen of Major Welch, a man that had been taught a very difficult lesson in underestimating his resolve. Julie nodded and Allen tossed up his dirt wall and started throwing dust, Julie knocked the wall down with a kick and used air magic to blow the dirt away. The amount of magic she used had to be substantial since the dirt flew away from Allen and out of the ring. Julie already had her arms out for a fireball but was thrown off balance as the ground below the heels of her feet suddenly raised about six inches while the ground around the front halves of her feet loss six inches. Julie was thrown off balance and landed on her fireball.
Allen wrapped the stone around Julie’s hands, her robes were burning and she couldn’t get up. Allen watched Julie struggle for a moment and was surprised when the mage braced her feet underneath her and began to use her feet in combination with what Allen thought was a wind spell. The thin stone holding her down cracked and Allen was sure the mage had thrown her left shoulder out of socket. Allen watched as Julie raised her right hand and water started pouring all over her to quench the flames, Allen used the time to make sure the dirt was back in the ring. Julie put the fire out and raised her right hand again, probably a fire spell. Before Julie could cast the spell the dirt wall shot out in front of her. Julie was surprised and side stepped the wall before firing off her spell. Allen was in front of her now and batted her arm wide and stuck his sword under her chin.
“You are pathetic” Allen said under his breath. Allen knew those words would stay with her longer than anything else he did, Julie was proud and her ego had to take a massive hit from the words. She was thoroughly bested, her robes were both burned and wet, her shoulder was out of socket which had to hurt. Healing her fully would probably take a day or so, mages were great with stopping immediate life threatening injuries but were lesser skilled in other things. Most healing magic worked by speeding up the body’s natural healing, Julie would be getting a heavy dose of it. Allen stepped away from her as the instructor called the match, healers stepped in to see to her injuries. Allen did not have an audience this time, at least not one he recognized. All of the prior service had fights this round and the fights were closer together, Allen was unsure of how they would do but if he was honest he really didn’t care. Everyone was so caught up in being in the top spots, when Allen heard the top five got their own room Allen had to admit that he wanted a room to himself. The next time Allen fought there would only be eight competitors, if he won that fight then he was guaranteed to have his own room since he would be in the top four.
“Your style of fighting is unique” the instructor Allen had first met said as she looked at him. “Despite what you have told me, I am guessing your specialty is air although you have significant power in earth. You use your magic like a tool, like someone wielding a sword or a knife. I think you can still learn much but you have taught valuable lessons to the three opponents you have fought so far. Your trickery wont last long though, the healer was knocked out this round and he had all kinds of tricks. If you are going to win this thing you are going to have to start playing for keeps, I am curious to see what a Queen’s protector can do.”
“Most of these mages are running out of power while I have barely broken a sweat” Allen replied. “They will run out of magic soon enough, when that happens they might as well be facing a mage killer. No way these brats last more than a couple of seconds against me once their magic goes.”
“Who is to say you won’t face another prior service?” the instructor asked. “The woman you just beat was one of the favorites, she thought quick on her feet but you took away her ability to bring her power to bear, that and it seemed like she under estimated you. I would have blasted you first instead of worrying about the fire and brought the fight to you. She had a few moments where she could have taken control of the fight but thought you were out of tricks.”
“She still lost” Allen replied.
“This is just her first test and she will be ranked ninth in the class” the Instructor began. “There are still three other big tests to determine ranking, not to mention the four challenges a student can make to duel a top seed. She will be ranked in the top five in no time, she might even challenge you for your spot when the time comes.”
“She is welcomed to try Instructor” Allen replied.
“Instructor Glerig” the woman said looking at Allen in hopes of her name would cause some recognition. “I am related to Duke Damon Glerig, the inventor of Mage
Killers.”
“Never heard of him” Allen replied. “Mage killers are not well known outside of Gorgas, at least in Atropia they aren’t. I am guessing that has changed with the war going on, many mages have probably heard of them by now.”
“Your next match is about to start Atropian” Instructor Glerig replied. “This young man won’t give your tricks a chance to be effective.”
Allen just raised an eyebrow and walked back out to the ring. In this environment he didn’t see how anyone could stop him, especially not when he could turn the attacks of others on themselves. His opponent was a short boy wearing the white robes of an air specialist, he just nodded at Allen and stuck his arms out signaling he was ready. Allen returned the nod and waited for the fight to start, when it did his opponent did not disappoint. A powerful gust of wind came right at Allen, the path was too wide to duck out of the way so instead Allen raised a section of stone two feet off the ground and depressed the area around it by two feet. Allen rolled into his trench and lay flat as the air rushed over him. The sound of the air became stronger as Allen could tell the boy was putting his all into it. Suddenly the wind just stopped, as soon as the sound went away Allen was already moving and mentally moved the ground back the way it was. His opponent looked nervous and sweaty as Allen closed the distance, he tried one last air spell but it was nothing more than a breeze. Allen was on the boy quickly who threw a weak punch aimed at Allen’s chin. Allen easily side stepped the blow and caught the arm throwing it and tugged. His opponent spun around and fell on the ground as Allen pulled out his sword. The match was over, Allen found Instructor Glerig and gave her a nod. Mike, Julie and the water mage Hydran were with her watching the action as Allen walked off the field.
“You manipulated the stone” Hydran said as soon as Allen came into speaking range. “The trench happened way too fast and smooth for it to be a normal spell.”
“Saw that did you?” Allen replied.
“We all saw it Atropian” Julie replied with a wince. “It is what you have been doing since we started. You can’t even cast your own spells really, just play with whatever is there.”
“And it has gotten me this far” Allen replied. “The scary fire mages are nothing but prey, like a fat rabbit with a broken leg is to a hungry wolf. Your shoulder you have been pretending doesn’t hurt is proof of that.”
“You are a different sort of mage” Instructor Glerig replied. “You are one of those Elementals who wreaked havoc in the last war. I don’t remember hearing about an earth mover though.”
“You know your history” Allen replied. “Many people see our magic as a weakness.”
“It is a weakness” Julie replied. “Your battlemages won the day, it is why we have our own here now. Whatever an Elemental is, is nothing but a neutered mage.”
“And yet you lost to him” Instructor Glerig replied. “The Elementals could take down any battlemage, the fire based one could have used your own attacks against you. You must be the weakest of the five Mage Allen, no offense to you.”
“I am the strongest” Allen replied. “The rest are dead and I still live, they were killed by the traitors while I was a boy.”
“Then they couldn’t have been that strong” Julie replied. “You may have a good ranking now but I will challenge you as soon as possible.”
“You were humiliated once” Allen replied. “I don’t mind doing it again.”
“It looks like it is you and me against two of the new kids” Hydran replied. “Both fire mages of exceptional strength, if my magic holds out I think it will be the both of us in the final. I have seen enough of your tricks though, I think we will have a decent fight.”
“How do you know you won’t be matched up against each other right now?” Instructor Glerig asked.
“Because everyone likes a fire versus water match” Hydran replied. “I have the advantage but probably not the endurance of the girls that are still standing. It will be an all out assault from both parties, one I hope to be the one to win.”
Allen soon found out Hydran was telling the truth, Allen was called to face a tall blonde girl who kind of reminded him of Mary. She looked tired though as she held her hands up, her face showed fake courage that Allen could read easily. She was either out of magic or close to it, it looked hard for her to even hold her hands steady. Allen nodded to signal he was ready, when the match began his opponent did not fire off her spell but held it. Allen pulled his blade and walked forward, the ground around his opponent dropped three feet into a perfect hole while the ground around the hole raised three feet making a wall around it. The mage was surprised to suddenly find herself closed in, Allen could barely see the top of her head as she jumped and tried pulling herself up. When her arm touched the wall she found the stone enveloped the limb, her right hand was stuck and not in position for any kind of spell. If anyone could see into the hole they would know that the girl’s left leg was completely encased as well, she wouldn’t be able to move from her position. Her left hand pointed towards Allen and a decent sized fireball came at him, it splattered against the dirt wall that shot up. The girl made the mistake of resting her wrist against the wall, the wall swallowed it up quickly. The girl could still use magic but her aim was locked in place, Allen moved out of her firing line and walked slowly over to her, resting his sword on her shoulder.
The instructor called the match but was amazed at what she saw, Allen had the stone return to normal as the girl was pushed up out of the floor. She looked shaken but was unharmed as Allen returned to wait for the final match. Allen thought almost half the class had watched the match, they said nothing as he returned to wait for the final match, even Julie stood by speechless as Allen passed her by. Allen could hear whispers and wondered how Hydran’s fight went, Allen could probably do something similar with him that he did with the fire mage but his water magic might get him out of a tough spot like that. Allen waited as a cheer went up, Hydran emerged a few moments later with singed robes and part of his hair was burned.
“What happened to you?” Allen asked.
“She was tougher than I thought” Hydran replied. “Way more endurance than I have, she was wiping the floor with me. I was desperate and almost out of energy, I was just running and dodging but was lucky to get a good angle. I tossed the last of my magic into a water ball and tossed it, it hit her spout of flame close to her hands as she moved them to fry me. The water hit the flame and erupted into steam, I saw my moment and put whatever I had into getting close to her. I felt bad about punching her in the tummy, but she did try to fry me.”
“Looks like it is just you and me then” Allen replied.
“Allen I am all out of magic” Hydran replied. “You have an easy victory over me but I was wondering if you wanted something a bit more sporting.”
“Such as?” Allen asked.
“Melee combat” Hydran said.
“With or without swords” Allen replied.
“With” Hydran replied. “I have my sword and I have been practicing with it, nothing too great.”
“With swords it is then” Allen replied.
The fight was over before it began, Hydran had one really good strike, he was the type of fighter that tried to end the fight with one slash. Hydran left himself open after his strike was initiated, Allen half blocked, half side stepped the blow and brought his sword around to rest on the back of Allen’s neck. Allen accepted his ranking and walked off the field, he would get the room he wanted and that was all that mattered.
CHAPTER 5
“Are you ready?” Tasha said looking over at Julie. “The next test is today and you still have not used any of your challenges.”
“What for?” Julie replied. “I am still in ninth and this is the fight that will really separate us from the rest.”
“What fight?” Allen said as he sat down along with Hydran.
“Look Tasha, unwanted company” Julie replied. “What do you want Atropian?”
“To sit and eat un
til I heard you two talking” Allen replied.
“Today we get to face the mage killer” Hydran replied.
“I think this fight will get me ranked higher” Mike said. “I don’t think I can do any worse than I did in the tournament, especially since these kids have been too concerned in how to use their magic in different ways for fighting. The mage killer test was supposed to be last, most of them don’t know anything about it since it is supposed to kept secret. The only people allowed to talk about it is prior service and only within themselves. The others have probably heard rumors but think it is happening towards the end.”
“Have you seen these mage killers?” Allen asked.
“They aren’t really hard to miss” Mike said pointing to a man who walked inside the dining hall. “Their outfits are just as noticeable as our robes. These are looking a lot tougher than the others I have fought. I have noticed over twenty of them on campus when before it was no more than four or five.”
“Well good luck to them” Hydran replied. “I plan on playing possum and lashing out so fast mine wont be able to dodge.”
“Because you are an idiot” Julie replied. “I plan on using my magic and physical skills. Mage killers cannot be harmed directly by magic but indirectly they are still vulnerable. I have enough magic to get a few spells off before I am sucked dry, all I need is one shot.”
The Elemental Page 8