“When do werewolves transform?” I reread the question, what does that even mean? Is it asking when they turn into werewolf form or when they leave that form? “Werewolves will begin transformations when Hell shines brightest in the night, or once every fourteen days. They will only revert back to their human forms after they have consumed human flesh. If no humans are to be found, they will hide in dark spaces such as caves, attics, or basements. If no such spaces are found, a werewolf will dig its own.”

Someone stood up and quickly walked down the steps placing the test on the professor's desk. I scoffed, of course, Cassie would be the first one done. She was followed a few minutes later by Val and Sarah. Looking around I noted the smug look of satisfaction on Tourel ’s face as he finished his test with a flourish and the depression etched into Sam’s. By the looks of it Arya wasn’t doing much better, I grunted and polished off the last couple of problems. Demon studies were definitely not my strong suit and I had spent almost all of the night before the test studying with Noah.

Professor Patch raised a brow at me as I placed the test down on his desk, “I take it the test went well?”

I shrugged, “I hope so.”

He nodded to me as I sat back down, to my side Alex slammed his head into his desk, served him right for spending all night with Arya. He had very average grades in all of his classes with a slightly higher than average grade in combat class. It wasn’t that he was dumb, he wasn’t. On the contrary, he was probably the smartest guy on the team, it was just that he never paid attention in class or even felt like he needed to spend the time reading the textbooks or actually doing the homework. Sam, on the other hand, let’s just say most of his growth went to his body. He wasn’t stupid per se, just slow to learn and very methodical in his thought process.

Time ticked on as class slowly came to an end and the last few tests were handed in. Alex shook his head with a sigh, accepting his fate, “Is there any way for me to make up for this test?”

“Didn’t do so well on the test now did you?” he looked down at the test, “No you did not, very well I shall see what can be done. However, you must not forget that you have your first mission coming up tomorrow.”

“Thank you, sir,” Alex said and walked out of the room, Sam walked up behind him and confidently handed the man his test. I looked at it and to my surprise, it looked like the entire thing was filled out. Maybe he had just scribbled randomly on it, we walked out of his room and into the hallways.

“How did you guys think you did on the test?” Noah asked.

“Not too bad,” I said.

“Excellent as always,” Cassie answered confidently.

“Eh,” Val grunted while reading her book.

“We had a test?” Illia asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Arya muttered.

“I’m going to blow my brains out with Ryze’s gun.” Alex deadpanned.

“Terrific.” Sam said, we slowly turned to him, “what?”

Noah coughed, “I’m not sure if I heard you correctly, did you say terrific or terrible?

“I said I think I did really well on the test.”

“There’s no fucking way!” Alex nearly shouted, “You have gotta be joking.”

“No, I’m serious.”

Cassie huffed, “If that is the case, what demon kills the most people during winter?”

“Sirens, because they lure travelers from the road into their dens and wait for hypothermia to kill them off. Of course, you could make the case that Schnees kill the most people directly but that is up to debate.”

“Fuck I can’t believe I did worse than Sam!” Alex wailed, the rest of us stared at him in surprise.

“How do you know that?” I demanded, “Because I know you weren’t studying for the test and I know for a fact you haven’t paid attention to a single lecture for the past week.”

He shrugged, “I just remembered hearing it once.”

Lunch passed without incident, and classes were more relaxed than normal seeing as we were going to be going on our missions soon. On our way to combat class, we passed the leadership board. At the very top to no one's surprise was Sarah Summers with twelve wins and no losses and at the very bottom was Illia. Illia was strange, incredibly so. She refused to participate in fights and would not even train in class, often stating that it would not be fair.

“One of these days your luck’s going to dry out,” Sam elbowed me in the side, “then we’ll get to watch Sarah crush you like a bug.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on my team?” I asked, “Plus I don’t see how I couldn’t beat her. Yeah, she’s fast but she isn’t that fast.”

Alex tilted his head, “You don’t know that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, has anyone ever actually seen her use her trait?” I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head, “exactly, for all intents and purposes she could just be that good without one or has never seen a need to use her’s.”

“There’s no way, you’re telling me she managed to win the Colossus tournament four years in a row without one.”

We entered the locker rooms and quickly donned our armor, I patted my sword with my hand, noting the slightly duller than normal red color. “Huh, looks like you haven’t shed blood in a while.”

I sat down on the bleachers while the rest of the students prepared. Looking around I noticed that Ms. Mallory seemed far too happy. She had an uncharacteristic smile on her face as she repaired the arena.

“Class, a reminder that today is the last day before your first team missions. To prepare for it, we shall be doing four on four team combat.” the class buzzed with conversation before ceasing as she cleared her throat and spun the wheels, “The first match will be between Team RSAN!” we grinned at each other and knocked fist. “Vs. Team SARM!”

Alex paled, “Uh oh.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we walked down the steps.

“That’s Sarah’s team, Sarah, Andrew, Roran, and Milo.”

“Roran’s the one that Arya clapped?” Sam asked and he nodded, “and Andrew isn’t exactly the fighting type. Milo’s the crazy short girl right?”

“Yep.”

“Does anyone know her trait?” they shook their heads.

I groaned, “We’ve been here a month and no one knows jack shit about her team?”

“You try to pay attention after Ava’s frozen your balls off.” Noah hissed, “If anything it’s your fault.”

“How is it my fault?”

“You win all your matches so you should be paying attention the entire time,” Sam said and they nodded in agreement.

“First of all, it’s your fault you guys lost. And second, that doesn’t even make sense.” we walked into the arena, “right we need a plan.”

“Divide and conquer?” I suggested and Sam agreed.

“Ryze is the only one who stands the slightest chance at keeping Sarah at bay. Alex, you’ve got the best chance at fighting two of them at once. I’ll stay by Noah’s side while you pick off the last guy.”

“I am relatively sure we can take her on four on one.” Alex said hesitantly, “she’s only human right?”

We walked up to the center of the ring, forming a line facing the other team. Sarah stopped in front of me with a smirk, Roran scowled cracking his neck glowering at Sam. A tall scraggly black-haired guy shuffled up to the line to oppose Noah and a short girl with pink and brown hair gave Alex a winning smile.

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“I assume you’re Andrew?” Noah asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah, Andrew Hazard, short, simple, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it.” he said.

Alex gave him a skeptical glance, “Do they?”

“Well, no.” Andrew admitted, “but they will.”

“That would make you Milo?” the short girl nodded and I noted she was heterochromatic, with one pink eye and one brown one.

“Three, two, one, Begin!” Ms. Mallory called and Sarah was on me in an instant.

“They really gotta pay more attention,” Arya shook her head, Team RSAN was on the back leg having spent precious time talking. Alex leaped out of the way of Milo’s sword before backing up. He drew a sword and pulled out a shield, charging the girl. She blocked a clumsy swing as Roran crushed Alex’s head like a watermelon. The copy disappeared and the two combatants turned back to back before focusing on the three copies of Alex who grinned at them.

Sam laughed as Andrew scrambled to dodge the incoming arrows. Noah muttered to himself, knocking three arrows in his bow before firing them straight up into the air. They seemed to float there before locking on to him, they were followed by three more arrows shot at a much lower angle and three more sent directly at Andrew. Nine arrows saturated the ground around him in an instant, most were caught on the man’s shield but one had managed to slip through and he howled in agony. Sarah leaped backward, disengaging from her fight, and started sprinting towards Andrew.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ryze grinned, stepping between them, “Your fights with me.”

“Mr. Varus, you are not worth the trouble right now,” she said politely, “please step aside.”

“Not going to happen,” he said, twirling his crimson blade before charging at her. She step-sided his attack with ease, kicking him in the side of the kneecap before stabbing at him with her spear. He batted the strike away stepping inside her guard, slashing at her in an organic flowing motion. Not a single blow even touched her as she bobbed and weaved with both hands behind her back. Ryze swung straight down attempting to cleave her in two, Sarah lowered a shoulder and reversed the momentum, throwing him to the ground. He rolled across the floor frantically dodging the quick jabs that she followed up with.

“Your boyfriend isn’t doing too well,” Arya noted, Cassie scrunched her hands together.

“Ryze is not my boyfriend.” she said hotly, “he is just a friend.”

Val shrugged, “my parents started out as just friends”

Ryze’s eyes widened as he saw the tip of her spear rush downwards. In the blink of an eye, Ryze was behind her with Sarah’s weapon in his left hand and his sword in his right. He lunged at her back, barely a foot away. As if by some sixth sense, she spun out of the way, rolling over the weapon. Hooking it under her arm and pulling him off balance. He stumbled forward a step and was met by the metal edge of her shield. He let go of her spear and raised a gauntleted hand stopping the shield. They separated in an instant and began to circle each other.

The copies had managed to split Milo and Roran apart with three of them surrounding the diminutive girl while Alex dueled it out with Roran. He ducked under his hammer and stuck a short knife into the man's chainmail-covered legs which only seemed to piss him off. Roran roared, (which Illia found hilarious) and swung his hammer down pounding into his shield. The shield cracked and flopped over, Alex looked down at it, “are you fucking kidding me?”

“Stop fucking around and shoot him!” Sam screamed in frustration. Noah gritted his teeth, pulling his final three arrows from his bow.

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do you ape!?” he pulled the arrows back, “it’s not like I’m missing on purpose, I just don’t get how he keeps getting that shield in front of him so fast.”

Noah tilted his bow sideways so that the three arrows would go in three slightly different directions then curve around his opponent. Andrew blocked the first one and caught the second but the third arrow slammed into his left side and he dropped his shield. Sam rushed the man, sticking his sword straight through his chest and out the other side.

“Andrew Hazard is out of the fight!”

Ryze’s sword appeared as a red blur in front of him as he desperately tried to keep up with Sarah’s furious tempo that only got faster once she saw Sam finish his fight.

“I could use some help here!” he shouted nervously before grunting in pain as her spear caught him in the ribs, luckily his armor kept the weapon from drawing blood.

Shaking his head Alex pulled out another knife and flung his broken shield at Roran before making another copy that ran to his right while he went to the left. Roran ignored the copy and slammed his hammer down on Alex’s shoulder. To a normal person, this would have been a crippling blow but he was so used to pain that he ignored it completely and tackled him. They both landed on the floor with Alex on top. He raised the knife above his head with both hands and rammed it into his eye socket.

“Roran Stronghammer is down for the count!”

Arya cheered from the bleachers, “Yeah you go get ‘em!”

Milo looked around at the three copies of Alex and grinned, she kicked one between the legs and all three winced. In that moment of confusion, she hit another in the balls with a spinning back kick. The third copy disappeared on its own and she grinned like a maniac. Sam and Noah ran over, covering Alex as he staggered to his feet. The diminutive girl gave them a self-assured smirk before running headfirst at Sam. She leaped into the air before shattering like glass and disappearing. The three of them spun around looking for her.

“Milo is disqualified by ring out!”

Alex spun around, “What?”

They turned to see the multi-colored girl wave at them from the locker rooms. She blew him a kiss that made Arya and Val smolder before sashaying into the lockers.

“GUYS!!!!!” Ryze screamed in terror as Sarah planted a foot on his chest, sending him flying.

I hit the ground, knocking the air out of my lungs and skidding across the sand and gravel. I stumbled to my feet and groaned, “right if we work together then we might be able to take her out.”

“Unlikely, but I have faith in your abilities.” she motioned at us with her palm up, “so who’s first boys?”

“Sam, you and I keep her occupied,” Alex said, “Ryze can you get behind and box her in?”

“Easy.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t escape,” Noah said unslinging his rifle. Sarah faked a yawn and tapped her foot on the ground with a bored expression. “Are you ready now?”

“Go!” Sam and Alex ran at full speed towards her and just before their weapons touched, they slowed down to a fraction of their normal speed and I ran behind Sarah placing my blade just far enough to get cutting power. Instantly her shield arm was up and my sword skidded off in a shower of metal sparks. She held off the other two with her spear in one hand while managing to push me back at the same time.

As one we backed off, circling around her like demons around a caravan. She tracked me with her eyes while her spear followed Sam. There was an echoing boom and at the same time Sarah’s shield came up. The half-inch steel slug pinged off her shield and Sam grunted in pain as it slammed into his helmet. Sending him stumbling backward. Sarah raised a hand to her mouth, “Oh my, someone might want to check our dearest prince. It seems he’s had an accident.”

I growled and dashed at her, she flashed me a dazzling smile and raised her spear. Behind her, Alex made three copies that all tackled her. Or tried to anyway, she dodged out of the way of the first two and stabbed the third with the sharped butt of her spear. Quickly she spun around and threw it at speeds I didn’t know were possible. In a flash of bronze and red, the spear passed through his body like it wasn't even there.

“Alexander Taylor is combat ineffective!”

“You can’t be serious!” I screamed backing up to cover Noah while he reloaded. Sarah strutted over to Sam who was still lying on the floor, dazed and most likely concussed. She pulled out her short one-handed sword and began wedging it in between the gap in his visor.

Noah gasped, “We have to help him!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, “he’s not worth the effort anymore, not in his current state.”

“He’s our teammate.”

“Well, it’s too late now.”

Sarah grunted, lodged her sword inside his visor, then raised a hand above her head and pounded it down.

“Samuel Bright is out of the match!”

“Looks like it’s just the two of us now,” I said looking back, Noah was nowhere to be found.

“And Noah Nixon forfeits the match!”

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

“Heh, looks like it’s just you and me now Varus,” she said flourishing her sword. I gulped, raising my sword with both hands, if I was going to lose, I was going to do it with dignity.

/-/

Thirty minutes later I sat on the bench by my locker pulling off a blood-crusted chest plate.

“I can’t believe you lasted that long by yourself.” Alex said, “no one’s managed to hold her off for longer than five minutes before.”

“What I can’t believe is that Noah shot me,” Sam muttered, glaring at him. Noah shrunk back in his seat.

He gave a nervous laugh, “Look it wasn’t my fault, she redirected the shot. I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“What I can't believe is why YOU DITCHED ME!” I screamed, Noah shrunk even further, “We had her two on one and you just left.”

“It’s not like that would have changed anything.” he retorted.

“How do you know that? We never even got the chance because you didn’t have the spine to fight her.”

Someone behind us cleared their throat, I turned around and saw Sarah leaning against one of the lockers.

“What?” I spat, “here to gloat your victory?”

Sam cut in, “Ignore Ryze, he’s still salty that there is someone who’s a better dueler than himself.”

“Is Tourel not considered his peer?” she asked.

I clenched my fist together and Noah winced, “Not helping.”

“Ah, my apologies, well I am not here to gloat my victory as I see no reason to. I believe that your team did very well.”

“How?” Alex asked, “the four of us couldn’t even land a hit on you.”

“That has more to do with individual skill than team cohesion. While my team did win, that was due to my personal ability rather than teamwork. In every other way, team RSAN did far better. You utilized your team’s strengths and exploited my team’s weaknesses, you worked together far more fluidly than any of the other teams.”

“And we still couldn’t beat you,” I grumbled.

“I have what you might consider an ‘unfair advantage’, anyways good luck on your mission. I’ll be going now, I have a disobedient little girl to discipline.” she said with a wink before walking off.

Sam’s jaw dropped and I swore his nose started bleeding before he shook his head. “We should get back to class before Mallory starts to think we’re slacking off.”

I grunted and shoved my gear into its locker before walking out.