I rushed through the forest as fast as I could, already expecting the worst. Fortunately, Isane had only lost one life, but that in itself meant she was under attack. I kept on looking for my teammates. It was then that I saw Rudan up above, flying away from something. They must be with him, I have to run. We had twelve minutes left until the end of the test.

I could hear the sounds of battle, wooden weapons clashing. Rudan dove in from the skies, likely in an attempt to attack someone, but to no avail, as his score remained the same across the board.

— Come on… I can’t stop now… — I kept on dashing through the snow, feeling my body grow more and more tired, fighting in terrain like this was much more exhausting than the usual, especially so when you go in alone against a team of three. Outside, the sky had grown dark, the sun had already set, soon the arena’s own lights came on, illuminating much of the battlefield.

I finally found them. To my surprise, they were facing the red team, which at that point had already scored sixteen points, probably from preying on smaller teams.

Isane dodged a girl with a pink-ish red undercut. Rudan, still flying, was trying to land a hit on a rather short guy with shaved hair and a scar on his face. I couldn’t see Kasia, but I soon understood why.

I couldn’t see her, because my vision was obstructed by the sheer size of her opponent. He was a wall of flesh and muscle, like a living, breathing mountain with a mocking grin on it’s face, it was almost as if he was underestimating her. While his outward appearance may not have been the most presentable, his strength was nothing to scoff at. He had already scored six points, he was a serious threat.

I rushed to help Isane, trying to hit the red-haired girl’s back. Just as my spear closed in, however, I saw her body be swallowed by shadow, and in the blink of an eye, she moved backwards, dodging the blow. I’m not familiar with that spell. Maybe it’s some kind of Dimensional or Rhythmic magic? I turned to Isane as she stood up, shaking her head.

— You okay, Isane? — I asked, spinning the spear in my hands around as I turned back to face our opponent, still winded from running through the forest.

Isane, holding only a bow and no arrows, fixed the bangs covering her left eye, they were a bit messier than before. — Just kind of annoyed, honestly…

— For real? I couldn’t tell, you’re always making that same face, after all… — I finger-whistled, catching both my friends’ and the red teams’ attention. — We gotta regroup, we can outnumber them!

— Lucen! — Kasia smiled, stepping away from the “Mountain”, dodging a double hammerfist attack that caused a slight crack to appear on the ground. Martial Magic. Kasia may have been shorter and weaker than him, but she was way, way faster.

Rudan quickly appeared behind us without trouble, as, given the fact he had wings, it would be pretty much impossible for the short guy to get in his way, anyhow. — Haha, I knew you could do it!

Our opponents also took the opportunity to regroup, as they stared us down for a few seconds.

— Do you really think this is gonna change anything, fraud? — The boy with the scar tried to threaten me, pointing the wooden sword in his hands at me.

Analysis.
My eyes shone once again, as I chose to simply ignore him. Within a few seconds, I’d already hatched up a plan, or, at the very least, had an idea of what to do in order to defeat all of them, with help from my teammates.

— Rudan, you take the giant.

— You got it, boss. — Rudan gave me a thumbs-up, smiling confidently.

— Hey, birdbrain. Better be careful not to get fried. — The “Mountain” had a sardonic smile, one that conveyed a strange kind of malice. I think I now know why that guy was so large.

— Kasia, you’ll do better against that punk edgelord.

— Right, you got it! — Kasia nodded, drawing a sword from the sheath tied to her waist, the sword itself had a bit of a Kahomuran aspect to it, looking like something reminiscent of a katana. She then turned her head back towards me with a look of mild confusion, an innocent smile on her face. — …What is a “punk”?

— Come and find out, you tribal. — The pink/red-haired girl glared at her, raising two fingers in front of her mouth. She stuck out her forked tongue, mocking Kasia as she spun a pair of nunchucks with her other hand.

— Isane, I’ll hold down the shorty. — I said, tossing her the arrow I’d stolen from Trinity in my last fight. Isane skillfully caught it mid-air, already nocking it to the string of her bow. After that, I whispered. — You’ll finish him off.

Cold as ever, Isane readied herself, already aiming at the target — Right. It is the only one left…

— Who you calling short, you bastard?! — He started cussing me out, giving me the finger. This one’s gonna be so easy.

After taking a few steps forward, After taking a few steps forward, I’ve nodded into the direction of our opponents, telling to Rudan and Kasia to move forward. The two followed my orders, with Rudan flying in from my left, while Kasia moved like lightning, running in from my right.

I remained still where I was, dead in the center. I spun my spear twice and then held it in one hand, pointing at the scarred boy with the other. I began to crouch a little, going into my usual battle stance.
Martial Magic, First Strike.

— Bring it, half-pint. — I taunted, beckoning him with my free hand. Rudan landed a kick on the colossus’ left arm, while Kasia angered the punk girl more and more, overwhelming her with a series of aggressive sword swings that she could barely defend against.

Knowing how to face your opponent’s is not that hard. The scarred boy came at me like an angry bull, he was fast, but not fast enough to outrun my analysis. His stance told me he would stop as soon as he was mere inches away from entering my spear’s range. His battle instincts were even more refined than the blue team duo’s were, but he was still just one person.

I leapt the same way he did, already predicting where he would move, and struck him with the pommel of my spear, forcing him to back away from me. I used the momentum to thrust my spear into the ground and use it like a vaulting pole to jump behind him. He was still nimble enough to turn around and face me, but that left his back exposed to Isane.

Not wasting any time, Isane loosed the arrow as soon as the targets light up once more. It was perfect; the shot would surely hit dead center on the vest’s target… But I saw him lift up his sword, and so I leapt back before he could hit me. It was as if he already knew someone was aiming at him.

He spun his body like a whirlwind, parrying the arrow out of the air with a sword slash. That was a very advanced spell for someone who wasn’t already part of a Mage School.

— Dammit… — Isane cursed under her breath.

— Brugg, Gwen! Don’t fall for it, they’re trying to separate us so they can pick us off one at a time! — He shouted towards his teammates, moving away from us.

Gwen was having trouble keeping up with Kasia, while Rudan just barely missed out on scoring a point against Brugg. They backed away and regrouped once more. Around ten minutes left… Let’s get this over with, we don’t have time to waste.

— Jump ’em! Keep attacking, we have the advantage! We need to score! — My team answered my call immediately… It’s the first time I’ve ever felt something like this. It was like all of us were in sync. My teammates standing beside me, fighting alongside me, it was not about being in command, instead, it was as if I could guide each one of them to do the very best they could, like conducting an orchestra… I don’t think I’ve ever felt so excited before.

Kasia was the first to strike. Rushing forward, she clashed her sword against Gwen’s nunchucks, the punk girl being just barely able to block the swing in time.

— Cole, Brugg, attack! — Gwen shouted, and her teammates answered the call, as both of them immediately charged at Kasia.

— The lights are on again! — Rudan exclaimed as he flew above us. We got ten seconds, it’s now or never!|

Cole, the scarred one, tried to sneak attack Kasia, but Isane blocked his sword using her bow, at the cost of breaking the bow’s string in the process. One…

— Not this time, you ugly. — Isane told him, speaking in a low, slightly-threatening-sounding tone. Two…

Isane moved to face off against Cole, while I did the opposite, repositioning myself so I could have a better view of his back, and thus the target on him, though I did not plan on being the one to attack it. Three… And there’s the opening!

Attack Order.
I pointed towards Cole’s exposed back… time for the airstrike. Suddenly, a faint blue glow, like that of a distant star, began to emanate from Cole’s target mark. Dive. — Rudan!

Almost instinctively, Rudan flew in like a speeding bullet – or rather, like a falling meteor – and landed a punch on Cole, eliminating him for good and scoring another point. But it’s not over yet, we need to keep on the offensive. Four…

Brugg managed to grapple Kasia, holding her still with all of his might as he landed a hit on her target mark. And yet, Kasia lost no lives. Brugg was confused, not understanding why or how nothing had happened, but kept on holding onto Kasia.

Five… After landing his punch, Rudan slid across the snow covered field, taking the opportunity to grab some snow in his hands, and make a ball out of it — It doesn’t snow where I live, I always wanted to do this! — He then threw the snowball at directly at Brugg’s face, blinding the giant for a few moments, forcing him to let go of Kasia.

— So she’s the queen?! Gwen tried to run to her tall teammate’s aid, but was intercepted midway through by both Isane and Rudan, both of them blocking her path. Someone finally noticed, but it was too late, you’ve already fallen for our play. Six…

— Where are you going? Tryna leave so soon? — Ironized Rudan, a smile on his face as he, once more, took to the skies.

Attack Order.
Seven… While that happened, I ran to support Kasia. I pointed upwards, casting the same spell I had used on Cole before, but now using it to mark two different points, one above, and one behind Brugg. Jump. — Kasia!

Kasia jumped high, soaring gracefully above the blinded giant’s head, almost as if it were a dance. She swung her sword downwards, hitting Brugg’s target mark before graciously landing back on the ground. Upon landing, she tossed her sword upwards, trusting that Isane would hear her shout. — Isane!

With her acute sense of hearing, not only was Isane able to hear Kasia, she was able to hear the very sound of the wooden sword spinning in the air above her. Immediately, Isane jumped towards the sword, grasping it by the handle without hesitation. Gwen jumped after her, trying to get a hit in on her exposed back. Eight…

As if she ever had a chance. With the legs, Rudan grabbed Gwen’s arms in the middle of air, using all his strength. She struggled, trying to free herself from the sudden leglock, but was ultimately not strong enough to do so. Out of every course of action that was available to her at that moment, jumping was by far the worst option she could have chosen. I ran behind them alongside Isane. We can still make it… Nine…

Attack Order.
— I pointed at Gwen’s target mark, casting that same blue glow upon it. Finish her. — Isane!

Isane’s eyes shone as she gained momentum, her voice rising, soon turning into a shout — Hyah! — as she brought the sword down, scoring another point before the lights once again turned off.

— Now, the last one! — Isane got a little excited. Just a little… but it still made me smile. It seemed like, little by little, we were breaking her out of her shell.

Rudan’s wings were at their limit, and so he was forced to let Gwen go, one last life still keeping her in the game. We eliminated the other two from the red team, even though they both already had six points each.

— Bunch of useless bastards… I can’t believe we lost to this! — Gwen chose to use the few seconds still left in the clock to get as far away from us as physically possible, going as fast as she could.

— That was amazing, Lucen! Great job, commander! — Kasia celebrated, coming towards me.

Rudan joined us, glomping us both — Nobody messes with the yellow team!

Isane slowly approached us, and for the first time, she had a smile on her face, a small, modest smile.

We let our guard down for but a moment, but soon I felt that I had missed something. I quickly noticed that our targets had suddenly been lit up again within instants of the lights last being turned off. I had not paid attention to our surroundings at all for those last few seconds, while the lights randomly turned on. A mere few seconds of carelessness…

By the time I saw it, it was already too late for me to act. An arrow hit Rudan’s target mark.

— Where did that even come from!? — Rudan exclaimed, turning around to pick the arrow up from the ground. It didn’t really hurt him, still, it was enough to put all of us on high alert.

— There! — Kasia pointed in the direction the shot came from. To my chagrin, there was that god-forsaken, toffee-nosed blonde guy… wielding a light crossbow. But Rudan wasn’t hit by a crossbow bolt, he was hit by an arrow…

— Rule number one… never count your chickens before they’ve hatched. — With that usual condescending sneer of his, Miken stepped forward, though he was not alone. Three members of the purple team stood alongside him, one of them carrying a bow.

— That was our last arrow. You sure you wanna do this? — A tall young man with spiky hair spoke to Miken. He seemed to be the one in charge of the Purple Team, they were at thirteen points.

— If all you can do is shoot arrows, then watch and learn. Come along now, but keep in mind… Osfner’s lives are mine to take. — Miken holstered his one-handed crossbow, drawing his sword as he walked towards us.

So this was it… this was to be our last battle in the second phase of the tests. Well, well, well, Red King… it seems like your turn has come.