Chapter 180.
PART 1.
At his home, Josh is telling his father about his year. “And then, the dueling tournament ended.” He spoke. “Honestly, I did not expect Avinash to win, but he faced Hatori. I think even he respected him after that, especially since he did that without having someone like Zeko as a trainer.”
“True. That is one way to earn respect.” Agreed George, Josh’s father. “What about you, son? Aren’t you disappointed by your performance?” Receiving a glare from his older son, George raises a hand as Josh answers.
“Given the performances of everyone, no,” said Josh. “But I will certainly leave my mark when we go to face the other schools. That is the main goal in my mind.”
“Great.” Said George Junior, Josh’s older brother. “And here I thought you were no good at fighting, given how much I beat you in our brotherly fights.”
“What did you say?” said Josh, getting up from the table, and looming over his brother.
“Exactly what you heard.” Said George Junior, not backing down.
The fight breaks out, and all three are thrown out of the house. The boys for fighting, and their father for not stopping them. “I swear, you boys are adding white hair to my head.”
“Eh, that look suits you, dad.” Said George Junior.
“I look old!”
PART 2.
James is with his father in the City of Throne. The case against his aunt is at its last stages, and his father has put his demand that Shakuntala should back off from their house. “After that, maybe we won’t have to live here like this.”
“I’m happy to have some moments with you,” said James.
“When will you leave, son?” asked Jimmy.
“In a few weeks. Likely after the team leaves for the league.” Said James. “I’ll be very busy after that, Slaughter is a demanding teacher.”
“Which is good.” said Jimmy, “After all, healing people is a serious task. No place for the slackers in such an important business.”
“Right.” agreed James, though he hesitates to call it a business.
PART 3.
Raven is back in the castle. he greets his father. “Hey dad, where’s mom?”
“She’s in the market, she wants to cook your favorite dish.” Said Magpie.
“Are you angry that she doesn’t do that for you?” teased Raven.
“What’re you talking about?” asked Magpie with a straight face. “Besides, you should hurry up, the general has called you.”
Suddenly becoming serious, Raven bids his father adieu for the moment and goes to meet with Sundar. “You called me sir?” asked Raven, saluting the general upon his entry.
“Indeed.” Said Sundar. “You’re assigned this unit. Do show up on time this day of the moon.”
“Will do that.” nodded Raven, and left.
Magpie hears about what the general wants from Raven. “Good job son,” he said, “You won’t have to worry about employment right out of the school. Your friends won’t have that luxury.”
“Yeah,” said Raven, thinking of Hatori and Shin, “You’re right.”
Though Magpie himself is torn about this. He never wanted his son to go into the army. True, he has served in the military for many years, and now he is among the veterans, mostly responsible for training people. But to get up to this point, he had to abandon pieces of himself slowly over the years. and he did not want this for his son. But it seems that the matter is out of his hands, now that the general has his claws in his son.
PART 4.
Shin is returning to Zeko’s house with Hatori. he wants to check out the apartment of the Singh twins, but Shin decides that he will do that later. first, he needs to take a look at his finances and arrange some work for himself. Only then he can think of checking out those apartments.
“Halt!” said Hatori, before Shin could go to the door.
“Why?” asked Shin.
“Zeko is outside,” said Hatori, and then he turned to the garden. “You won’t get to attack me so easily.”
“Hmhmhmhmhm. Clever brat.” Said Zeko, walking out of the garden. “You’ve faced many challenges in this house, but it is time that you face the final one.”
“You,” said Hatori.
“Got it in one go.” Nodded Zeko. “You better step aside kid, things are about to get dangerous.”
“Yeah, sure.” Said Shin, and quickly left the immediate area.
“Now, defend yourself!” said Zeko, sending a fire spell with flames as wide as Hatori’s torso. Hatori rather than dodging this spell, blocks it with a shield of conjured water and then uses the overheated water to attack Zeko.
Not expecting that attack, Zeko is hit directly by the wave, and Shin winced in sympathy. That water is steaming, Zeko is a freak for not writhing in pain despite getting burns from that water.
He blows away that water with a burst of magic, and stomps his feet, sending rocks to pummel Hatori. moving his foci, he used the wind element to redirect these rocks and avoided them all. But the foci itself is yanked out of his hand. Hatori just smirked. He applied the summoning spell to the boulder behind Zeko and yanked on it. Zeko moves to sidestep it, and Hatori then levitates both foci out of Zeko’s hands and throws them at Shin.
The boy caught the foci and then realized what he had done. Preparing to defend himself he expected Zeko and Hatori to attack him. but they never came to him. instead, the battle continues, and Shin breathes a sigh of relief. That relief does not last long, as a shadow appears near him, and extends a hand to receive the staves. Deciding not to think about it too much, he hands the foci to the shadow, and it disappears into the house, Shin then watches the battle.
While all of that was happening, Zeko and Hatori exchanged more spells. by this time, the entire area is flooded or filled with rocks and mud. A cloud of steam is in the sky, a result of the fire spells colliding with water spells.
“This won’t get us anywhere.” Said Hatori.
“You’re right, boy,” said Zeko, and he waved his hand, and he was surrounded by the flames. The flames take the shape of a fox, which comes to attack Hatori.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Not deciding to play as well, Hatori is surrounded by sparks, and the eagle made of lightning takes shape once more. Shin sees it for the third time, and every time, he is blown away by the beauty and the strength of this spell. the fox jumps at Hatori, but the eagle gets in the way. the bird tries to grab the fox in its claws, but the animal avoids it. a race starts between these two elementals then, as they race across trying to trap each other. The eagle shredded one of the legs of the fox, and the wings were plucked out by the fox.
Hatori maintains his focus, controlling the spell. he is getting annoyed. Why must he face the land animals whenever it comes to the shape-shifting elements? Though Daphne was very interesting, using the cloud itself. Hatori thinks of summoning a spirit to gain an edge, but he knows that Zeko won’t give him the time for that, and since he has not formed a contract, what he might get is not guaranteed to be strong.
Zeko grunts, as he continues to redirect the fox. The spell won’t last too long, the damage is piling up. Hatori’s eagle has also taken a lot of damage, but he is not certain how much that bird could endure.
It is clear to Hatori that his spell won’t last long, and the fox won’t let him attack Zeko directly. So he decides that he will self-destruct his elemental monster, and that is what he did. The bird took the fox with it, and Zeko was blown away, covered with electricity. But Hatori has not come out of it unscathed, he is covered with large burns as well.
Shin balks, as he sees what Zeko is doing despite the damage he has already taken. When his ears recover from the thunder-like explosion, he also hears the sound of this spell, as well as Zeko’s words.
“Do you remember this spell, boy?” he asked, as he continued to feed the flames to the gun above him.
“How can I forget?” asked Hatori, still remembering the destruction it left behind, despite the protections of the Joshi family’s house.
But unlike Yograj, Hatori is not planning to defend using water. instead, he channels lightning to his body and takes flight. Right at that moment, Zeko fires this gun, and Hatori takes the full brunt of the impact. Though the spell continues in the sky, exploding in the clouds, Hatori comes out of it and attacks Zeko with the electricity coming out of his hands. having fired such an energy-intensive spell, Zeko is in no condition to defend and takes the spell on his head. the shock knocks him out, and then Hatori also hits the ground, unable to keep his consciousness.
But before he passed out, he muttered one final thing. “You lost, I won.”
Shin sighed. He walks slowly to them, and he then levitates both the master and the student, and enters the house. He comes to the fountain. “So these idiots finally decided to fight, eh?” asked Yaksha, as Shin deposited them in the water.
“Yeah.” he nodded, the bells on his head jingling. “Can you keep an eye on them?”
“Sure. Go and take a rest boy, you look exhausted.” Said the spirit, making sure that the heads of both of these stupid humans were above the water.
“Yeah, traveling and seeing a fight can be quite tiring.” Said Shin with a smile, and left. He closes the door behind him softly.
Half an hour later, the Yaksha speaks. “So, how did he do?”
“Wonderfully.” Groaned Zeko. “I didn’t expect his shocks to hurt so much.”
The spirit laughed, and the water bubbled with his laughter. “What else did you expect? You trained him. though it seems he needs more time to recover than you.”
“Probably because he took my strongest spell head-on.” Said Zeko, feeling his strength slowly returning.
“That is no joke.” Said Yaksha. “Maybe I should make a contract with the boy.”
“You won’t be disappointed.” Said Zeko, feeling his burns healing slowly, and his body losing the numbness of the shocks.
PART 5.
Raven is waiting with other trainees for their sergeant to arrive, who will begin their physical training, and lead them in some practical situations. Raven already has some experience of this, but a little bit more experience doesn’t hurt anyone. He looks around at the young faces, and most of them are familiar, but he is not acquainted with them.
Until he finds the two twins hanging to the side. He walks to them. “I didn’t expect to see you two here.”
“Didn’t you know? Half of the army is filled with Singhs.” Joked Bhavani.
“Probably.” Agreed Raven. “I’m glad though, it would make it easier to have some familiar faces.”
“True. Though we are likely going to be separated.” Said Bhavani.
“But that is not guaranteed.” Reminds Ranveer.
Raven senses a different magical presence in the room, and he turns around. At that moment, their sergeant arrives, and they all salute. Their training is about to begin.
PART 6.
Hatori is in the castle one month later. the dueling team has gathered here in the City of Throne, as they are about to leave for Albion, where the league will take place. But before they leave, they are celebrating the birthday of King Porus, who is reaching the age of 150. “May your reign be long and prosperous.” Intoned Amarnath and everyone clapped.
‘It is long, though I doubt it is prosperous.’ Thinks Porus sadly. “Children, are you ready to leave?” he asked the dueling team.
“Indeed.” They all said.
“The ship is about to leave. By your permission, your majesty?” asked Dimitri.
“By all means. Go show them the might of the Subcontinent!” said Porus, and they all cheered.
As the ship flies away with the eight students, and Dimitri accompanying them, Porus prepares to leave himself. He did not tell the students about his own arrival to observe their tournament.
PART 7.
Another meeting is called by Durvesh. “It is confirmed, the team has left, and the king is about to leave soon.”
“Is everything in place?” asked one man.
“Do not worry, everything is ready. We just need to subdue the military and capture the various outposts. Leave the throne to me.” he said.
The smiles break out on various faces. Looks like they will finally get rid of the troublesome throne. They will ensure that nothing of that kind ever rises again, to threaten their deserved place on the top of the world.