Chapter 6: Enforcer

They stood far apart with their weapons facing each other. The scrawny stick in Yin’s hand fell short in comparison to Drake’s turbulent sword. Going by looks alone, it would seem that Drake has the advantage with close-combat and magic.

Inch by inch, the distance between them shrank. Drake stood still, watching Yin slowly entering his sword’s range of attack. Nothing had happened yet, other than the distance between them closing to a few meters. Their postured remain the same since the start of the fight. Both of them were short on their opponent’s information, so they decided to take a defensive stance.

Yin stopped in motion and began an incantation. All Drake heard were incoherent murmurs; he couldn’t exactly make out what spell his opponent was casting. Red particles began gathering at the tip of Yin’s wand, transforming into a fiery ball.

Fire magic? Drake thought. His turbulent sword slash upward diagonally, collecting the grasses in his range, and firing them in one motion. He wasn’t sure what spell his opponent was casting, but it wouldn’t matter if he could interrupt their concentration.

Yin gathered the energy in his legs and swiftly kicked off to the side, effectively dodging Drake’s range attack. All this time while maintaining his concentration and preventing a backfire.

“How long can you keep that up?” Drake continuously fire barrages of grass in Yin’s direction. He was startled at how his opponent was able to continuously dodge his attacks while performing an incantation. The turbulent sword was aimed a few feet in front of Yin, but his opponent’s speed gradually hastens, and outpaced his own calculation.

“[Wind Blade]” Drake invoked the same spell he used on Bell. With a slash from his sword, the crescent winds scattered from the sword and converged on his target.

“[Fireball]” Yin swiped his wand, unleashing five fireballs that zig-zag through the air, dodging pass the crescent winds.

The crescent winds belonged to the wind element, so naturally they’d be faster than fireballs. The crescent winds would have hit Yin before the fireballs hit Drake. However, Drake retracted his mana that was imbued into the crescent winds.

“[Wind Blade]” Drake slashed his sword again, and more crescent winds scattered outwards, but this time their targets were the fireballs falling in the air. The crescent winds cut the fireballs and dissipated them before completely disappearing.

Yin was now certain that Drake was prioritizing the environment’s safety. He recalled that Drake put out Bell’s fire, but he wasn’t sure if that was something he’d done on a whim or if he actually cares about the environment.

Red particles gathered at the tip of his wand, and with a swiped of his wand, he invoked [Fireball] again. Five more fireballs soared through the air. Drake was slightly irritated that someone would actually exploit his responsibility as the academy’s security team. [Wind Blade] was invoked once again to combat the fireballs. Much to his dismay, Yin continued to cast more [Fireball] with his intentions locked. Bounded by his obligation to protect the academy, Drake continued firing his [Wind Blade] towards the never ending fireballs.

Nat watched with sparkling eyes, his mouth agape. He wasn’t sure who would win in the end, but he knew that Yin was now on the offensive. Early in the fight, Drake was the one who pressured Yin. However, the tables have turned, and Drake had been forced into a corner. Yin had been taking the initiative, firing fireballs, and slowly closing the distance between him and Drake.

After destroying the last wave of fireballs, Drake quickly held his wand close to his sword and began an incantation. Green particles formed at this tip of his wand. A harsh wind had kicked up, forcing the grasses and trees to sway towards Drake.

Yin didn’t know what his opponent was doing, but he wouldn’t idle by and watch. He had enough time to cast [Fireball] twice before Drake was done casting his spell. Ten fireballs launched from his wand, soared through the air, and came crashing down onto the grassy field. He slowed his pace to stay outside of the bombardment range.

Drake’s wand slid from the base of his turbulent sword to the tip of it. The surrounding air began to feed itself into his sword, making it grow larger in size. Only a few seconds have passed, but it was enough to grew the sword five times larger than before. The sword was now on equal heights with the trees in the vicinity.

He gripped the turbulent sword with both of his hands and swung with all his might! All it took was one swing from Drake’s turbulent sword to cause the entire bombardment to vanish. The speed of his swing had significantly reduced, but the tremendous force was enough to blow the fireballs out of existence.

Now! Yin kicked off the ground and ran full speed ahead. Judging by the speed of Drake’s current swing, Yin figured that he could reached into close-combat range before Drake could swing his weapon again.

You did well, but you’ve lost. Drake smirked, his victory was in sight. Both of his hands swung the humongous sword downwards, causing a tremendous wind pressure below it.

Just a few more steps! Yin was merely a few feet away from reaching Drake. The wind pressure heavily fell on Yin, and gradually became heavier the closer it reached the ground. His speed was impeded. He urged his body to move, but it felt like both of his legs were shackled to insurmountable weights.

Struggling to break through the invisible wall in front of him, Yin barely managed to lift his wand above his head with his right hand. Higher, higher! Yin mentally shouted. Knees on the ground, elbows bent, back arched – his left hand clawed into the dirt, supporting his body from entirely collapsing.

The moment Drake’s sword touched Yin’s wand, a slight disturbance occurred that caused the sword to run amok. Unexpectedly, for a split second, Drake lost his balance and control of the spell.

“What!” Drake exclaimed. Violent winds conjured by the boy, feasted on the flesh of his very own hands. Slice marks half-a-centimeter deep course through his hands. The strength within his hands began to diminish as he struggled to hold onto the sword. Unable to withstand the pain any longer, he subconsciously broke the spell and freed the sword. The turbulent sword immediately dispersed in the air, and the pressure in the area began to normalize.

Yin immediately ceased the opportunity and rammed into Drake. He mounted on top of him and brought his wand point-blank to his opponent’s face. “Give up?” Yin asked while heavily panting. Sweat beads dripped from his chin.

“Yeah. I lost.” Drake held his hands up and wore a satisfactory smile.

Yin stood up and stored his wand inside his pocket. Deep inhales and exhales followed after to calm his heart rate.

“Hey, medic, can I ask for your assistance?” Drake shouted.

“Uh, yes! On my way!” Nat rushed over, his entire body still in awe. Unable to comprehend what exactly just happened, the boy tumbled onto the grass field. He quickly collected himself and ran over to Drake. Nat hovered his hands over Drake’s bloodied hands, began an incantation, and invoked [Heal].

The hands riddled with cuts remained blood-dyed, but the wounds were slowly closing.

“I’m impressed. Your speed isn’t half bad.” Drake complimented.

“I can’t do many things, but I at least want to be decent at the things I can do.” Nat said.

Drake stood up and patted his pants. “Thanks for the help. I’ll be heading to the infirmary first and then to the office to make my report. Meet me there in a few hours.”

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Nat watched him leave and finally remembered something important. He turned to Yin and asked, “Uh, do you need my help? I can heal to a certain extent.”

“No,” Yin replied. He dusted the dirt off his pants and walked back towards the academy’s gate.

Nat, not knowing what to do, walked back towards the slumbering boy and waited for him to wake up.

A few hours later, Kaiser’s office…

Drake stood upright in front of a man working behind his desk. Both his hands were covered in white hand-wraps. His right hand raised to his forehead in a saluted manner. One subject quickly transitioned to another, detailing his opinions and the results of the test that happened this morning. The enthusiasm in his voice could clearly be felt despite him trying to hide it.

“Wait, let’s focus on one person at a time. It’ll be easier for me to follow.” Kaiser proposed.

“Yes, sir. Then I’ll start off with the student named Bell Neal. Bell is currently rough around the edges. His tactic and his fighting style are very... unpolished. A very straightforward kind of guy, if you will. However, his innate talent is quite high given that he could perform a voiceless incantation with fire elemental attacks. I believe that he’ll live up to our expectation given enough time and guidance.” Drake reported.

Kaiser nodded and wrote down important notes. Intel about Nat, Bell, and Yin laid on top of his desk, so cross-referencing would be easy. He glanced upwards and waited for the next report.

“Next is the student named Nat Patu. I cannot exactly say how strong he is. From what I’ve seen, his main strength lies in his ability to heal people. When offered a chance to fight me, he immediately declined the opportunity. He does, however, have a fair bit of determination. Usually people would study the element that they have a high affinity in, but this guy is the opposite. It’s rare to find people like him these days. Honestly, I think he’ll be great in a team.” Drake reported.

Kaiser nodded, his eyes moving back and forth from the intel sheet to his notes.

Drake waited for Kaiser’s hand to stop moving. After receiving confirmation, he reported, “Last is Yin Yore. After our short duel, I can confidently say that he’s very resilient. His talent, on the other hand, is a different story.”

“Explain.” Kaiser demanded.

Drake seem to be loss in thought. Words ran through his mind, but he couldn’t exactly find the words that he felt was best suited for Yin. His eyes blankly stared into space.

“Drake, explain.” Kaiser repeated.

“Yes, sir. He fought well with what he had, but he doesn’t have much… I think. He only used one element, the fire element, throughout our entire fight. His casting time was rather average compare to someone talented, like Bell. On a positive note, he was the toughest one out of the three of them.” Drake reported.

“Did he do that to you?” Kaiser directed his question towards Drakes’ hands.

“No, this was my own shortcoming. I’ve failed to maintain control and balance while wielding the enhanced sword. I was too certain of my victory, and lost sight of what really mattered. I’ll stay more vigilant from here on out.” Drake said.

“Your spell backfired?” Kaiser asked.

“Yes, sir.” Drake clamped his teeth.

“Really? I’ve instructed you for an entire year, and you’re always vigilant.” Kaiser examined the intel on his desk. Something didn’t add up. There was no way his pupil, who was so strict on himself during his training, would lose control against first-year students.

Drake hated himself for it. Losing due to the inability to properly control magic was an elementary mistake – something he thought he surpassed long ago. “I will make sure to train even harder so it won’t happen again!”

“Here.” Kaiser passed the intel sheet that had details about Yin.

Drake accepted it, but was confused as to why his teacher gave it to him. “What do you want me to do with it?”

“Read it, of course.” Kaiser laughed.

Drake read the sheet, word for word, but nothing astounding stood out. His puzzled face made Kaiser laugh even louder.

“According to the elemental affinity section, what does it say?” Kaiser asked.

“Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, Light, Dark – he has the lowest grade in all of them.” Drake replied.

“Right, and what does that tell you?” Kaiser teased.

“It tells me… that he has no talent. Am I right?” Drake asked.

“Drake, you still got a long way to go. Don’t look at it in terms of whether or not they are talented. If someone is bad at one thing, then they’ll be good at something else. If you apply that logic here, then what does it tell you?” Kaiser instructed.

“If someone is bad at one thing… If Yin is bad at elemental magic, then…” Drake pondered. Steam rose from his ears as he wrecked his brain to find a solution.

“Think of it this way: Elementalists are people who are proficient in one of the six elements of nature. What do people call those that aren’t?” Kaiser asked.

“Non… elementalists?” Drake guessed.

“Right, non-elementalists. Since the Age of Mana, it is extremely rare to see anyone with this kind of affinity. And what kind of magic are they proficient in?” Kaiser asked.

It was then that Drake finally experienced an epiphany. The dark clouds clogging his mind washed away by a strong guest of wind. The sun shone brightly on his brain, elevating it to new heights.

“Non-elemental magic… so, what happened back there must’ve been a spell that Yin used. A spell that would cause someone like me to lose control even for a slight second… was it [Dispel]?” Drake audibly pondered.

Kaiser smiled as he watched Drake. Watching his pupil improve and learn by themselves brought great joy to him.

Three knocks came from the other side of the door.

“Come in,” Kaiser answered.

Yin walked in with a fresh set of uniform. His hair was partially wet, and his body smelled of fresh soap and shampoo. He stood next to the door, waiting for further instructions.

Kaiser grabbed a red armband from the drawer in his desk. It was very flexible, contracting and expanding to the arm of whomever wore it. The word ‘Enforcer’ was engraved with a white thread.

“Here. Welcome to the team.” Kaiser congratulated.

Yin walked over and pushed the armband above his right elbow. The armband contracted to fit perfectly to his skinny arm.

Kaiser gave him a booklet regarding the duties and responsibilities expected of an enforcer. Static payment is handed out at the end of every month, and bonuses will increase it depending on the quota. Due to their schedules, Yin will be appointed to night shifts, Nat and Bell will be on patrol in the afternoon, while Kaiser will take the morning patrol.

“Sir, I would like to propose something.” Drake stated.

“What is it?” Kaiser asked.

“I believe we should switch to a two-man team, rather than work solo. They’re still inexperience, and I hope that we can ease them into their role. They’ll also have an easier time to understand our job if they learn it from us. I can work with Nat and Bell before my classes start. As for Yin, he can pair up with… well, you know who. We’ll take the morning and afternoon, and then Yin and her will take night time.” Drake proposed.

“She’s not exactly the type of person an inexperience person should work with.” Kaiser commented.

“If this guy can handle my sword, then he’ll be ready for her.” Drake confidently said.

“Fine. That settles it, then.” Kaiser grabbed his pen and reformed the schedule.

“Good luck, Yin.” Drake smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Yin weakly smiled as the two of them decided everything by themselves.