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A Spark of Luck (Magic Academy Progression)
30 - A Spark of the First Duel

30 - A Spark of the First Duel

The horn blew signaling the beginning of the match. And that’s when everything instantly started to go wrong. Sable tripped, Chad dropped his gun, and Jack immediately lost control of his electricity and shocked Salem.

“Fuck. Sorry.” Jack apologized, as everyone did their best to quickly recover. Unfortunately, the other squad didn’t give them a chance. Multiple elemental blasts flew across the arena. One of them flew right where Sable had been before he had tripped and the other amazingly flew right where Salem was before Jack accidentally shocked him. Everything didn’t work out though. Another blast flew right into Jack, and he was blown off his feet. By the time he started to collect himself, he saw that Ariel was already across the arena and was in the middle of the other squad wreaking havoc. She was spinning her wooden staff and was fighting three at once.

Chad had picked up his gun and was quickly firing multiple different models sending an astonishing amount of bullets down range. He was firing at the two who had separated themselves from the pack and had tried to charge forward. They were now behind a shield of ice that was being constantly damaged while they healed it. Saleem was running towards the three that Ariel was fighting. She was doing a good job of distracting them, but in a 3 vs 1 she had no chance of hurting one before the others were pressuring her. Sable had created a barricade for Chad to use as a firing position and was running over to Jack to help him up.

“Are you ok!?!” He yelled loudly over Chad’s guns. Jack just nodded and quickly got up. He had been struck by an air blast and his chest felt like it was going to have a large bruise later.

“Yeah, I’m fine. We gotta help Ariel.” Jack stood up and started to focus. Ariel was still fighting but she was slowly starting to be overwhelmed. Originally, she had caught them by surprise but now they were working in tandem and slowly overrunning her defenses. Sable ran back over to Chad. Chad had slowed his firing and was now just blasting any time the squad tried to pop their heads out. A blast of fire flew over their ice shield toward Chad. He ducked behind his cover while the blast scarred and melted the stone slightly. Sable was beside him the next second putting his hand on the hot stone trying to restore it.

Jack still stood out from the cover. He was to the side of Chad, and no one was really paying him attention. Perfect. He thought. He had a moment, so he even closed his eyes to really help him focus. He started with a small piece then he quickly grew the power. He smoothly stacked it within his body, building up a large blast. Once he had a decent amount, he held out his hand and yelled at Sable. “Now.” Sable looked over at Jack and saw he had his hand out and was ready to send a blast. Sable put his hand on the ground and focused. Suddenly the two who had been hiding behind a big shield of ice were shot into the air by small earth columns. Once they were in the air Jack released the electricity as fast as possible. It still took him way too long to control it well, but he hadn’t collected too much and was able to send this reasonable amount much faster.

The attack rocketed off and blasted the two enemies. They were blown far back and landed completely limp. A moment later they disappeared as they were knocked out, the pins taking them to safety. Chad and Sable looked over at Jack, wide-eyed. “Wow, nice man!” Chad said. After that, they looked over toward Ariel. She had been joined by Salem and they were holding their own. Salem fought in a very basic way. He mainly used hand-to-hand combat. Jack knew that was because of his metal body he could manipulate. He was able to make the metal stronger or even slightly manipulate the shape of his body. Salem carried some small weapons with him and pulled out a dagger and attempted to separate one of the enemies. The three enemies were all wielding swords and shields. They had all been carrying firearms, but Ariel being in close combat didn’t let them use them. Chad didn’t dare try and shoot them while Ariel and Salem were in the mix. Although they were doing a commendable job it was still a 3 vs 2 and the three had obviously been training together for a long time. They were able to collect themselves and put up a strong shield wall. Ariel and Salem backed off slightly. The enemies had air, life, and sound. This was the first time Jack had seen someone with sound and it was extremely off-putting fighting them. They were able to manipulate sound in all sorts of extremely disorienting ways. Some things they would mute, and other things were amplified. They were able to make it so we couldn’t hear each other. Then they were even able to send a small shockwave blast. The shockwave didn’t seem to hurt too much but it did blast you back a far distance.

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The three stood in a tight defensive huddle and would shoot blasts blind over their shields. The air blasts were very fast and hard to dodge. Who knew how long they would be able to keep up the defense with a life user? They could restore their mana for a while. Jack looked over at Chad to say something when he noticed Chad wasn’t there. He looked around confused and then he looked over at sable confused who was also looking around for Chad. Suddenly Sable is blown across the arena with incredible force. Once hitting the wall and collapsing to the ground he was teleported out. “Holy fuck, what was that.” There hadn’t been a sound. But he realized the sound user could have covered up whatever it was. Jack precariously peered over the cover to see Ariel and Salem attempting to harry the three survivors. It took Jack a moment to see it. One of the enemy squad members had somehow snuck away from everyone and was lying prone across the arena. It was one of the members Jack thought was knocked out by his lightning blast. It was the ice user, and she was wielding a huge freaking gun. She cocked the giant gun with a satisfied grin and readied her next shot. Jack felt a tingle down his spine when he saw her smirk. It pissed him off. Those were his friends and she had shot them. He knew they were ok, but it would have still hurt a lot. The electricity broiled within him when he got mad.

Jack focused and called forth some of the power. He let it flow out of his hand. The girl was aiming at Salem and Ariel and was trying to get a clean shot while they danced around. They didn’t seem to notice what was happening. Probably because of the sound user. Jack slowly stood up so he wouldn’t grab anyone’s attention. While standing he held his hand out to his side. He held it shoulder height and willed the lightning into a spear shape. In his rage, he was able to control the electricity better than ever before due to his mind having only one single thought. Destroy. The lightning flowed like a semi-liquid into a rough spear shape. Then suddenly it tightened into a smooth sharp and clean javelin. It was incredibly sharp and had almost no weight. Jack brought his shoulder back, stepped forward, and grunted as he put all his emotions and anger into the throw. The bolt sped across the arena with a loud crack. It flew perfectly into the girl’s scope, blasting right through into her face and instantly knocked her out of the arena. The crack from the lightning was so loud it was able to overpower the sound mages magic and Salem and Ariel noticed the blast. They looked back confused and saw only Jack standing behind them. They were both confused but continued to fight the enemy. Now it was 3 vs 3. The three behind the shields had slowed their firing. Jack was completely exhausted; he had used everything he had in the moment of anger.

The enemy squad saw their chance and started to push forward. One of them pulled their assault rifle from over their shoulder and laid it on their shield. The other two spread to each side and started to stalk forward. It was the air user with the gun. And she started firing bursts at Salem and Ariel. Salem showed the strength of the metal element and casually waved his hand and all the bullets seemed to veer off from Ariel and Salem. That’s when the two on the side charge in. Jack was still trying to get back on his feet. He hadn’t taken any damage, but he was very low on mana. The sound user tried to charge Ariel, but she surprised everyone by charging the sound girl even faster. She was so fast; she had been accelerating herself with the wind. She flew in a flying kick right into the sound user’s chest sending her flying back. Then she threw her staff at the one shooting. Her staff smashed into the shooter. Knocking their shield out of their hand and off their feet. The life user tried to protect his teammates. His entire body glowed a slightly green and he was very fast. The life element was able to enhance the user, but nothing like the power or motion element. Ariel and Salem quickly double-teamed the life user and then finished off the others. Jack was still struggling to stand when the horn blew, signaling the end of the fight. They had won.