The sun was central in the azure sky, giving a warmth similar to summer. A light breeze flowed through the surrounding fields, creating a ripple in the grass that resembled waves. And, although they were currently at school, Silence, Blaze, Root and Gust stood in silence to hear the low-pitched whistling that it made.
They were at the usual place, with Ms. Lucking finally arriving to start the session. She made eye-contact with Silence for a fraction of a second and moved on with Silence rolling her eyes away.
Her pace stopped as she reached a suitable distance away, announcing to the group, "To start off with, I managed to set up a game with a couple other schools for next Sunday. We'll be going to 9th high's school, and I'll give out the finer details of the trip in the next session when it's been finalized. But please look forward to showcasing your skills to the other schools."
Taking a breath, she changed the topic, "Now, I understand that Root and Blaze have been working individually on their forms, so I'd like to see an example of this first-hand today."
With those two making it to their positions, Ms. Lucking sneaked up behind Silence, getting in close before grasping her shoulders and whispering, "And I'd like to have a nice 'short' talk with you, little missy, during it," in her ear.
Slightly shocked by Ms. Lucking's threat, the little girl lost her voice and obediently reacted with a small nod.
The countdown to the match followed shortly, with both Root and Blaze gritting their teeth as their eye-contact parted.
Meanwhile, in the audience, Ms. Lucking started her nag at Silence, "So tell me, what was so important that you skipped Wednesday's session?"
Silence's planned response was thrown off by the blood-lust painted on the instructor's face, It took her seconds of building mental pressure to finally give a reply, "I just forgot... I'm sorry. My teacher gave me most of the Wednesday off for beating a challenge he set, and I left for the dorm early, completely forgetting about my obligations. But I do now have an idea of how to possibly make my offense more stable."
Temporarily watching Root throw one of Blaze's poles into the air, the instructor's attention went back to Silence a minute after her explanation was over.
Both sighed deeply until Ms. Lucking revived the conversation, "Well that's nice and everything, but you wouldn't have to be here if you had just done what you're planning today on Wednesday. Also, missing out on these things might affect your rank if they become running themes. But if you're confident in what you're doing, there won't be much point in going anymore as I said before. Anyway, please go to that field and practice then. I've kept you for long enough."
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The match between Root and Blaze nearing its end, with both mages going for their opponents last poles. Blaze had the edge time-wise this time, but both were trying slight variants on their normal strategy, meaning either side had a decent chance still.
Ms. Lucking now turned to focus on the match, joining the audience in making background commentary whilst Silence slipped off.
Soon standing on the blue side of the field, Silence faced one of the poles and closed her eyes.
'Okay, so first to make a ball around my hands... done. Hm, I think I also made the cone with the point leading from the ball to the object or did I make that a cylinder? Wait, what would I have changed then, did I make the end bit too small? Gah, this is complicated' she thought, deleting her barriers before redoing them.
Three minutes later, she opened her eyes and clicked her fingers of one of her hands. She decided not to change anything the first time as a test, and as predicted, the top of the pole barely moved like it had reacted before.
Next, she made a narrow cylindrical connection from her hands to the pole. Repeating her finger click, she tried again. There was no visible movement this time, but a small blue dot appeared in the metal pole. She couldn't tell from her position, but she had torn a small hole through it with her attack.
She then repeated the test, this time making the end of the pole not equal to the poles width like the first on. A minor success as the pole wobbled more than the times before, but it wasn't that close to the tipping point as of yet.
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After an hour more of trying, the pole finally breached this point and fell to the ground with a satisfying thud. A few more tests leading to more definitive collapse, Silence stopped for a break and then consulted Ms. Lucking.
To showcase her breakthrough, she was made to compete with Gust. All of the staff and her two teammates formed the audience, mainly wanting to see how completely unstoppable Silence was now.
Muting him a second after the countdown ended, she faced his direction and closed her eyes. Moments later clicking her fingers and simply blew both of his poles over simultaneously...
Laughter roared from Blaze and a few of the staff when Silence let out a great yawn in triumph or boredom... It was hard to tell with her current lack of emotion.
And it certainly was a crushing game. If Gust hadn't given up before the match started, he might've shown some anger or spite. But since he had put no effort into even acting like he was trying, he casually walked away with a blank expression on his face.
With a bit of giggling herself, Ms. Lucking gave Silence the thumbs up and announced her obvious victory officially. After discussing what to do next with her, Silence left the practice with her permission and went back to the dorm.
There, she took a quick bath, took out a book and waited for her sister's phone call.