||3rd Person||
"THREE!" Torch extended his wings and with a single sweep shot upwards as a ripple of wind blew past everyone in the class.
Kaspian immediately darted towards Bairon and Noah, his figure trailed by an icy mist created by Varay. Bairon braced as he plucked his spear from the ground and swung it, a torrent of fire emerging from its tip.
Kaspian leaped as the shroud of frost clashed with the brilliant yellow embers resulting in a cloud of steam. The black-haired swordsman emerged from the concealment, descending towards his foe while a gust of wind accelerated his fall.
"What'd I tell ya..." Noah fired three consecutive arrows all racing toward Kaspian faster than he could blink.
"Raise!" Varay barked out and a rectangular pillar rose from the ground in a slanted manner, facing away from her companion. The arrows punctured the pillar but stopped midway as the arrowheads protruded from the ice.
Using the wind that supported him he realigned his body, feet leading on the construct. With a single lunge from both his legs, the ice broke into countless shards that blasted toward Bairon.
The latter braced as he detected Varay's presence rushing towards him. With a single motion, he rotated his entire body, heaving himself and his spear. Their weapons clashed just as Bairon completed his move, the momentum making the ice mage's arms tremble as they vied for control.
"Don't forget the life of this party!" Kaspian harrumphed as he zoomed towards Bairon's right flank.
Noah quickly drew and shot an arrow, redirecting the black-haired augmenter toward him.
"Oh no, you don't!" Bairon gritted his teeth as he stomped on the ground prompting a pillar of fire to erupt from the ground. Kaspian stood back, avoiding the violent embers and retreating to assist Varay.
The fire mage saw this and with a heavy shove, he pushed her creating some distance before turning to meet Kaspian. Their weapons briefly clashed before he shifted toward his other foe who was charging toward him.
Noah kept firing barrages in the background, supporting Bairon by giving him space and some height advantage by altering the terrain.
The entire class marveled at the spectacle they saw. Bairon managed to fend off both Kaspian and Varay while Noah provided Bairon with all of the support he needed.
"Now that's a fight!" Professor Glory barked from above, "Kaspian and Varay, you only have three minutes left, no pressure!"
"Dammit," Varay hissed as she kept dodging Bairon's attacks, failing to find any openings she could exploit due to the reach of his weapon.
"Kaspian!" She called out making him retreat to her position as she ducked to dodge an arrow, and propelled herself backward to avoid a tendril of lightning from Bairon.
The latter let them retreat as Noah kept firing his stone arrows, still applying pressure to the two even without confrontation.
She swung her sword, chopping a stone projectile in half before creating a small dome of ice that protected her and Kaspian from bolts of lightning that rumbled.
"So, what do we do now?" Kaspian asked in between his gasps for air.
"Our plan of trying to overwhelm Bairon didn't work. I need you to go towards Noah and focus on bridging the gap between you and him, I'll handle Bairon. We only need to get the pole, not defeat them, got it?"
"Every word heard."
"Good, now move along with the mist, we still got time left." She ended their short meeting by dispersing the ice dome that quickly enveloped the entire field.
As the coldness touched Bairon's skin the bitterness quickly turned into warmth as he reinforced himself with a barrier, his body being outlined by a faint hue of orange.
"Looks like they're charging again," Noah pointed out.
"I can see that," Bairon groaned as he prepared for the attack, "The last plan worked, let's try to stick to it."
"You got it, my dear rival," Noah smirked as he readied his arrows.
Two mana signatures were darting along the covers of the fog, their steps quick and light. Five icicles made their way toward Bairon, all were shot down by Noah as they all crumbled into dust. He and Varay clashed weapons once again, while Kaspian darted past them.
Bairon tried to avert his attention but was stopped when ice slowly crept to bind his feet.
"Not very gentlemanly of you to turn down a woman like that." She taunted.
"Quite the attitude you got, is this payback for appointing you as a temporary treasurer?" He replied as the frost beneath him melted into water as the heat built up under him.
"As a friend of mine once said 'It's for you to decide," She quoted raising her sword until the tip of the blade glared down Bairon's stern eyes.
He smirked for a second before his frows returned to their furrowed state. The ice mage charged towards him and soon enough their weapons locked, each one eying the other as their auras clashed like violent waves.
"You've improved, it's to be expected." He said as he retracted as weapon, catching Varay off guard and taking a few steps backward. She found herself dodging a barrage of thrusts from Bairon as he shuffled his spear back and forth while the former did her best to avoid any of the attacks.
The ice mage tilted her body left to right and swept her feet side to side with the spear's tip only inches away from contact as with each strike tendrils of lightning leached out from the weapon.
"I thought it was Kaspian you'd want to kill, not me." She retorted between her breaths as she ducked just as he horizontally swept.
"You have a point. But as much as you, I'd wanna pass this class." He replied before swinging his weapon upwards, Varay blocked the ascending spear with her sword causing the two armaments to contact producing a low hum.
"You're gonna have to do better than that." She replied, gripping the sword with her right arm. Her left arm reached out, a clenched fist aimed toward his face.
Bairon leaned his head backward dodging the punch, with his weight already shifted his whole body titled and with a single motion his leg propelled towards Varay's sternum. Her eyes quickly darted as time seemed to slow down in her perception, her left hand redirecting the strike just as it hits her abdomen.
He immediately followed it up with a spinning back kick, almost landing it if it were not for Varay's quick response to retreat. As the tensions subsided for a split second the two stared at each other with respect and amazement.
"Happy to see that you aren't always relying on your spear unlike before."
"Likewise, plus the aggression you exhibit."
"So, up for another round?"
"I was gonna ask you that."
As the two clashed their weapons so did Kaspian and Noah with the former trying to bypass the latter. The earth crumbled and the wind howled as pillars were raised, and destroyed, as arrows whizzed and Kaspian's sword clanged.
"So, how's life going for you?" Noah asked in a friendly tone.
"Could've been easier if you just let me take that damn pole." He retorted as a barrage of arrows darted toward him. Kaspian augmented his legs as the projectiles neared their distance, he shot backward as countless arrows planted themselves on the ground but just as the attacks ended two stone pillars appeared on either side of the swordsman.
"Compress," Noah invoked causing the two constructs to move toward one another.
The former steeled his resolve and leaped forward just as the two earthen columns collided with each other, he perched on top of the constructs with a smile, and his rapier pointed towards the archer.
"You're a Flamesworth, show me some fire!"
"I think I'll have to pass, you're already having a hard time." Noah shot back, stomping the ground, "Let's just end this game of cat and mouse."
The earth below Kaspian crumbled as the ground and sky became one, his figure rapidly sinking while a dozen or so arrows raced toward him.
"You are a bastard...figuratively and literally," Kaspian growled with a smile thick with fervor.
He breathed in and out as mana channeled towards his legs, the magic augmenting every fiber of his muscles as the wind began to revolve around him violently.
"I hope I don't get sent to the infirmary for this," Kaspian muttered as his legs propelled forward, crackling like a bullet and catapulting from one place to another, ricochetting in between the large debris of earth in a single move.
Immediately, Kaspian was behind Noah with a harsh gale trailing making the latter flinch in surprise as the wind blew past the both of them. The conjurer tried to arrest Kaspian using the bow, but he slipped right past his grasp just as his rapier plunges right through the stone dome making it crumble as the wind was drilled through it.
Bairon shifted his attention and a tendril of lightning leeched from his spear, flashing toward him just as he was about to touch it.
"Times up, and it looks like we have a winner!"
||Grey Hierghund||
"Quite a show that your students here are putting up," I mused as my body averted from leaning on the stone palisade.
"Cream of the crop, with sir Wykes, lady Aurae and sir Flamesworth being candidates for the position of Lances." She boasted while her eyes glistened in pride, but the expression quickly shifted as my gaze sterned towards her.
"The view is nice and all, but do you reckon having this hidden observation lobby is a little too much?" I asked, pointing out that the entire thing was hidden with illusion magic.
"It is necessary, students who don't lax even without the middle of the headmaster are worthy of their titles."
"A point I agree." I commended as my arms stretched before tucking them in my pockets.
"I find it intriguing, your actions I mean." She spoke up as I turned my back.
"...I'll consider that as a compliment."
"As you should. But it is to be expected, such a plan requires thorough oversight."
"Still teasing me about the part about lady Aurae?" I asked, my gaze still fixated on the door.
"Not like it would harm you, would it not?"
A chuckle escaped my mouth as I exited the observatory, "I'll keep in touch."