“I have faced down the King’s personal mage killers” Allen replied. “Whoever these people are do not frighten me, especially if the king is using the best of the best for his personal protection.”
“Master blade or not, you did not defeat the King’s own mage killers Atropian” Julie replied. “Go tell your lies somewhere else.”
“They decided not to fight” Allen replied. “It most likely had something to do with the fact I still had my magic. Their ability does not harm me.”
“Liar” Julie said loudly. “Just because you are top ranked does not mean you can easily defeat any opponent here.”
Allen just looked at the woman, she was trying to put on a show for anyone who was watching. Allen shook his head and began to speak.
“The mage killers are gone” Allen replied. “If they stood around here they would drain your magic.”
“What do they have to do with anything?” Julie asked a little embarrassed.
“You know what I am talking about” Allen replied. “Maybe being way down there in ninth place is bothering you.”
“I will be in the top five or close to it after today” Julie replied angrily.
“Well this is the highest I have ever been ranked” Hydran said entering the conversation. “If I do well on this and stay top five, I might have a decent shot at becoming a battlemage.”
“Well I am not worried at all” Julie replied. “I will do good enough to boost my ranking here and I know I will win the battlemage fight. It doesn’t matter who my partner is, two on one is still two on one. I have beaten battlemages before straight up, none of them could hope to beat me when I have another person.”
“Do you get to pick your partner?” Allen asked.
“Not exactly” Mike replied. “If you are ranked first in class then you team up with the last in class. The second in class teams up with the second to last in class and that pattern keeps going. If we have someone without a partner then they could choose their partner from amongst any teams that lost their fight already.”
“We need to worry about what is in front of us” Hydran replied. “After today the challenges will start happening, I would hate to be ranked number five with the new system going.”
“What new system?” Julie asked defensively.
“They are changing the way challenges are done to make things more exciting” Hydran replied. “The only mages that can challenge the fifth ranked mage are those ranked in the top ten.”
“That has been the case” Mike replied.
“Well after the test they will announce only the fifth ranked mage can challenge the fourth ranked” Hydran replied. “If they lose they are going to drop ten spots, enough so that they cannot ask for an immediate rematch. The fourth ranked is the only person who can challenge the third ranked and the third ranked is the only person who can challenge the second. I don’t think the top three will ever get challenged all that often, who would want to jeopardize their ranking in the top five? The fifth place mage though is going to be challenged at every turn, the only person who will feel it anywhere as much is the tenth rank since anyone can challenge for that.”
“Well I was thinking about challenging for a spot in the top five” Tasha stated. “I am seventh right now and I think I can take the sixth ranked easy enough, he is too eager and will make a lot of mistakes.”
“I am not worried either way” Allen replied. “I just want to get this entire thing over with and see about the Queen. If you will excuse me, I want to see if I can go first against this mage killer.”
“You are more than confident” Hydran replied. “I want to get this entire thing over with as well.”
~
“So you are the Atropian” A big man with a large battle axe said. “He looks the part of a warrior Glerig, I will give you that. Maybe your crop this year is better than the last, at least I hope so. If this one loses, how far down the rankings do you think he would drop? It would be nice not having to train someone on how to fight.”
“Allen will fall no farther than middle of the pack” Instructor Glerig said. “You can only take fifteen from us and he wont be one of them.”
“One of what?” Allen asked.
“A mage killer” Instructor Glerig replied. “Warston is here trying to recruit, Atropia’s mages are proving a harder fight than thought possible. We are starting to lose our mage killers, the Atropians have been targeting them with assassinations and other things. The king gave permission for the bottom fifteen of this class to be taken away. That is why instead of newly made magekillers, your class gets to fight most of the mage killer instructors. Warston and his bunch want to see what they will be getting first hand. I suspect the bottom fifteen will go through all of their challenges after tasting defeat in an effort to raise their own ranking. I mentioned I had a crafty student here who is more than a match for any assassin, I think Warston wants to fight you himself and then watch as other students attempt to knock you down lower. Either way things will be entertaining.”
“Do the rest of the students know about this?” Allen asked.
“Not yet” Instructor Glerig replied. “But they will after this showdown. I will give them two days after today’s showdown to prove themselves. Are you ready to fight?”
“I hope you are Allen” Warston said as he dropped his battle axe. “You are built like a warrior but you don’t have the size of the elite. You may have gotten by with your speed but it will only take you so far against someone like me. At least in our fight I can better understand how the Atropians have been so tough to defeat.”
“Fighting me will give you no insight” Allen replied. “I do look forward though to the time I will get to fight the resistance.”
“I can offer you that chance” Warston replied. “You could become a mage killer.”
“I do not think that is my path” Allen said shaking his head. “I want to perfect using my own magic, I think it will protect me against anything, including you.”
“Your student does not lack confidence Glerig” Warston laughed. “But he has been in my presence for too long. I can feel magic running inside of my body, with you and him feeding me your magic, I will be a lot faster and stronger.”
“Well I can feel my magic is almost gone” Instructor Glerig replied. “When you drain magic it makes you faster and stronger?”
“It does” Warston replied. “The more in shape you are the better the result. Are you ready to fight Atropian?”
“We can do it now if you would like” Allen replied.
“Public or private?” Warston asked.
“Private” Instructor Glerig said quickly. “If you dominate him then it would be an expected result. If Allen makes it a good battle then I think you could lose some of your credibility. If he won though, that would send a shock through our students.”
“They will find out who won anyway” Warston said. “Besides, I am not worried about the outcome of this fight. Even without my ability to become stronger I would still be more than a match for any man in the kingdom.”
“Knowing the outcome of a fight and seeing it in person are two different things” Instructor Glerig replied. “I think there are three others who may need to have private fights as well. They have a lot of magic inside of them and know how to use it. They have fought mage killers before and have probably came up with their own techniques. Just because they cannot use magic directly against you does not mean they cannot use their environment.”
“You think they have a chance?” Warston laughed.
“I do” Instructor Glerig replied. “I know the weakness of any mage killer.”
“And what would that be?” Warston laughed.
“I could not use magic fire directly against you, but I could set the room you are in on fire and you have no defense against regular fire. I could likewise use my magic to pick up a big rock or something and hurl it at you. You may be able to cancel the magic that hurled it but an object in motion will stay in mo
tion unless something equally as powerful stops it. Depending on the object I do not think you could have that much power. You may have the strength but your body is still human and you would break.”
“You have been doing research to fight against us?” Warston asked.
“You forget who my family members are” Instructor Glerig replied. “Allen fights like that, with his brand of magic he cannot create earth, just use what is around him. I think you will find him a tricky opponent. I know he has many tricks that he hasn’t shown anyone yet, I think you though can get them out of him.”
“I have one technique that I think anyone short of a powerful mage cannot beat” Allen replied.
“I think I will take that as a challenge” Warston laughed. “Let’s go to your underground sparring room and see if he is as good as you both think.”
Allen followed Glerig and Warston down to a room he had never seen before, it was spacious and had a decently high ceiling. Allen walked to one end of the room and kept his sword sheathed. Glerig looked over at him and then at Warston, they both gave her the signal that they were ready. As soon as she nodded Allen smiled as he let the rock flow over him, it became his second skin and he made it thicker than he ever had. He could see Warston look at him surprised then try to move. Allen had already had the stone grow over his foot but it was a thin layer so he wouldn’t notice it. Allen was a little surprised to see Warston tear through the stone and move as fast as he was towards him. Warston hit him flush with the battle axe, Allen could hear it ring off of his armor and felt it give a little. With a thought Allen had rock slide back in place like nothing happened. Warston jumped away from him and was moving faster than Allen had seen anyone move, he was attacking and retreating before Allen could react.
“That is a trick I have not seen before” Warston laughed. “But your magic will soon run out and you will not be able to repair whatever that is you made. All I have to do is hit and wait, you are too slow to catch me.”
Allen thought about his words and started making walls appear from all around them. The walls slowly started closing in on them and made the area smaller. Warston tried crashing into a wall and knocked a sizable chunk out of it. He hurt his shoulder with the move and the hole was not big enough for him to flee through. Before he could give it another running shoulder Allen had already repaired it. The area they were in kept getting smaller and Allen started making the stone crawl all over Warston. Warston fought to keep it off of him but quickly discovered fighting off a shrinking room and crawling stone was too much to handle when he still had Allen to fight. Allen eventually encased Warston’s entire body except his head in stone then let his magic fall away after making the room somewhat normal.
“How is this possible?” Warston asked as Instructor Glerig let out a gasp. “There was nothing I could do against him. The magic I leeched off of you both is practically gone, my body used it to fix my shoulder which I threw out of place and probably broke a bone while I was at it.”
“I could not see the match once the walls went up” Instructor Glerig said. “What happened?”
“I was defeated” Warston said as the stone started sliding off of him. “There was no way to fight him, he had many different magics going on and did not need to speak a word for any of them. When the rest of the fights are done, I want to be here when your students start challenging each other. I don’t think any fire mage could take him down, maybe a great water mage could but they would need to drown him in water and try and avoid him at the same time. I think for now he should stay ranked number one, I don’t think the rest of your students can beat me so easily. They may have their tricks but I think it would only work a few times on me if at all, this Atropian could beat me ten times out of ten.”
CHAPTER 6
“This is rubbish” Julie replied. “Pure rubbish.”
“Don’t be too upset” Tasha replied. “The mage killer you were fighting beat every fire mage she went up against.”
“Yes but it knocked me down to number fifteen” Julie said angrily. “I had to use two of my challenges to get up to number five and now I am fighting almost everyday while the rest of you sit around and do nothing.”
“Well you could challenge number four” Allen replied. “Unless you are scared of Hydran.”
“Hydran is trying to protect Mike” Julie said angrily. “A healer should never get ranked this high, he cheated.”
“I didn’t cheat” Mike replied. “We could use any weapon we wished, I just used a sedative. With their increased heartbeat and energy consumption, the mage killer I fought was out before he even touched me. Sleep powder really is effective on them, not my fault I used my brain instead of my magic. I came in first in the whole scenario, even beat Allen.”
“And you wont stop letting everyone else know that will you?” Julie snapped. “Now you have Hydran protecting you from all challengers.”
“I have you protecting me too” Mike laughed. “Everyone has to go through you to even fight Hydran. I have no plans on fighting the number two mage, if he is stupid enough to challenge Allen then I may move up to number two myself once he is beaten and dropped down to twelfth place. At least then you won’t be fifth place, other than that, enjoy your spot.”
“Well I don’t have to worry about anything for now” Tasha replied. “I like being in seventh place. I am close enough so I can challenge for fifth place at any time and I don’t have to worry about anyone coming after me. Only the tenth place mage is getting the majority of the action. In the second tier, the mages change so much even I forgot who they are. I love the new ranking system, even if I get challenged and beaten I will only drop to ninth, still in striking distance.”
“You should all be happy most of the challenges to decide who will become a mage killer is done” Allen replied. “That was a rough couple of days but many of you got experience you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else. If anything you should be more confident in your skills.”
“We all can’t say that” Mike teased. “I know people are just chomping at the bit to get to me. I know I am seen as the vulnerable one, they just have to go through Julie to get to me. Even if they did then they would have to take on Hydran, two very tough fights. Which reminds me, will you be my partner Allen?”
“Partner for what?” Allen asked.
“For the battle mage” Mike replied.
“You can’t pick partners” Allen replied. “I am going to be matched with the last ranked here.”
“Not anymore” Mike laughed. “With this war going down they are letting us pick our own partners. I think the both of us together could take a battlemage, if anything you could keep him or her busy while I come up with a good game plan.”
“You can’t pick him” Julie said angrily.
“Why not, you want me as your partner?” Allen said and raised his eyebrow.
“Of course not” Julie replied. “But he could pick an actual mage instead of someone who only has tricks no one has seen before.”
“Call it what you want” Allen replied. “I’ll team with you Mike. I was so busy learning about the mage killers that I have not been paying attention to anything else. I have been with them and together we have come up with ways that we can work together to be more effective. After this thing is done I think I may join their number, I am the only magic user around that is not affected by their powers. Together we will be perfect to fight off enemy mages, I think if I ask they may make an exception as to who gets picked for battlemage. I think it will be two through six since I would not be interested.”
“So you will just throw our traditions back in our face?” Julie said.
“You stole the so called tradition from Atropia” Allen replied. “So come off it. If you want another round with me say so, as number one I can challenge anyone. You being in fifth is probably what you need. With only two more challenges left, not even you are dumb enough to waste it until the very end.”
“I am not scared of you Atropian�
� Julie snapped.
“Then just say the word and I will be more than happy to face you” Allen replied. “I can use one of my challenges to do it.”
“How about you both just calm down” Tasha said. “Who would have thought we would all get this this far with only two more challenges left. Julie you can fight with me versus the battlemage and I think we will win it. You probably will get a higher rank just fighting the battlemage so you will have no need to challenge or fight anyone.”
“Only one moving ahead is you Tasha” Hydran replied. “I can team with the kid in second place or any other fire mage here. Fire and water will be hard for any one person to beat. If the kid in second place takes my offer then we will stay the same and so would everyone else in the top five. If you can keep sixth place then we all would make it, provided Allen doesn’t tell anyone else about his plan.”
“Will you tell?” Tasha asked.
“Tell who?” Allen replied. “I have no desire to talk to the kids here and most of them think I am easy prey who is protected by my rank. All except Conner though, I beat him when I first got here. He is in second place but he knows he could be beaten again.”
“The Donahues are one of the strongest mage families around” Tasha said. “He probably will be dumb enough to try at some point. The only thing stopping him is that failure could get him ranked down to twelfth and he only has one challenge left. Mike was just lucky that he was able to rise to third place just behind him.”
“Strong or not, he is one of the few here that respect my power” Allen replied. “If you want this secret to be kept then I could keep it.”
“I think you should” Mike smiled. “After the battlemage the only thing we have left is survival, almost everyone makes it through that. All you have to do is get from one place to another without staying in an inn or taking a horse or carriage. You just got to get there by other means and you are given no money, it is uncomfortable but it can be done easily. It is only a week long at the longest, anyone in decent shape can make it in about four days. Finding food though is something else, you have to hunt your own or eat berries or something. Many folks raid a farm or two while they are traveling.”
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