The other students, Mrs. Elles, and I walked out of the tunnel leading to the arena where they had a large staircase leading to a platform that laid out on top of it. It looked kinda like the Aztec temples we learned from magic history.
“AND NOW INTRODUCING, LAST YEAR’S WINNERS AND THIS YEAR’S FAVORITE TO WIN IT ALL, RAVENWOOD!”
The audience erupted into thunderous applause. They walked out with an elegance and aura of that of a deadly opponent. If we aren’t careful then we won’t win. I don’t think I could face Dominick or Aura if I don’t win here today. All of the other teams came out too but none of them were even close to the same level of excitement as Ravenwood.
After the introductions were concluded, the announcer began explaining the rules.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE QUIET DOWN! I KNOW, I’M EXCITED AS WELL BUT I NEED TO EXPLAIN THE RULES BEFORE WE BEGIN!”
As if he was controlling the crowd, the crowd went as dead as a doornail. The lights began to dim and the top of the stadium folded in.
“Listen up, King Of The Hill is a game where you must fight other schools in order to take the hill, which is up there,”
The jumbotron showed the top of the building.
“The circle in the middle is what you need to capture. We have a system in place for when you arrive into the circle, your class will begin to accumulate points. HOWEVER! If there is someone else from someone else’s class in the circle with you, you will not gain points. The way the system works is by the wristbands we will now be handing out,”
The teachers of each class handed each student a wristband the color of their school.
Ours was orange and black.
“This wristband also keeps you in the match, it will keep track of your vitals and if your vitals run too low then you will be teleported and eliminated from the match and into the waiting room,” he paused for dramatic effect, “NOW, THE RULES HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED, LET THE MATCH BEGIN!”
The top of the dome opened back up. All of the other classes remained idle.
“I thought the match began?” I asked my classmates.
“No, we have to wait until we see the flare,” Josh explained.
My heart began beating as I realized this is actually happening. I’m going to be fighting in front of thousands of people and I don’t have much real combat experience.
Dominick would be perfect here. I shook my head and erased those thoughts. I steeled my nerves and got into a running stance.
My classmates stood next to me, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
BOOM!
As soon as the flare went off, I ran up the stairs. Explosions and mana began to fill the air as the other classes began to fight already. The numbers and classes were displayed as a little window on the jumbotron. I continued running until I finally reached the top. Me and a few other students were the first ones there. We all looked around at each other, determining what the first move should be.
“FUCK IT! POISON CLOUD!”
A giant cloud of green mist emerged from thin air and covered the air above us.
“WIND BLADE!” The wind easily cut through it but the cloud regenerated as if nothing ever happened.
I ran to the edge of the top, as more and more students began to pile onto the hill.
“Griffin, come out,” I quietly said as Griffin appeared.
He looked a little bigger but he felt much stronger than before. It must’ve leveled up since the beginning of the school year. It perched up on my shoulder.
I ran into the fray.
“FIREBALL!” Griffin shot at the people around us, smoke and fire had begun to fill the arena.
“BERSERK MAGIC: MADMAN MANIA!” A roar cut through everything else that had been going on. A male student on the other side of the hill had grown bigger, muscles bulging through his clothes and his mana skyrocketed as a result.
“SAND MAGIC: GOLEM!” A giant golem loomed towards him. He simply smacked it away and ran towards the caster. He kicked the caster square in the chest. He coughed up blood and was teleported midway to falling to the ground. Everyone kept their distance from him, circling him.
As of now, everyone stopped fighting and focused everything on him.
“What do we do?” Someone began whispering to another student adjacent to me.
“Well, as of right now, none of us can do anything with him,” he pointed towards the burly man looking towards the students on the opposite side of us.
“COMPANION MAGIC: SHADOWPAW!”
Griffin retreated as a brawny bear as dark as coal, with the sole exception of his white-overed eyes. Shadowpaw charged towards the Berserker. The Berserker managed to turn around and stop Shadowpaw’s charge from reaching top speed. The two engaged in a struggle for dominance. Berserker held Shadowpaw by his paws like wrestlers do but he wasn’t giving up, neither one of them had given any ground.
“HELIOKINESIS: SUN SHOT!”
“ENERGY BLAST!”
“SHADOW ANIMATION!”
Their chants were followed by many more as everyone up at the top charged towards Shadowpaw and Berserker. The whole thing went haywire quickly. The bear and giant were done engaging in battle as they struck down every opponent in their way with ease.
The battle was honestly underwhelming.
“RAGHHHHH!” The student yells rang throughout the entire stadium as he jetted towards Shadowpaw faster than before. Shadowpaw couldn’t react in time. He dropped back behind the dark creature and suplexed into the ground, shoving its face into the concrete.
Shadowpaw roared. He didn’t seem to be affected by the attack. The two of them battled like their lives were on the line. Back and forth, punch after slash, kick after bite, charge after charge. The two savages battered and bruised one another as everyone in the stadium watched in awe, hands clenching their arms rests; keeping their eyes glued onto the nailbiter that was happening in the arena.
One problem though. My mana is running low, if this goes on for any longer then I’ll be the first one to fall.
My mind went blank.
A memory played in front of me. It was Dominick fighting the Titan from the shadows. That’s what the ones who know about him called him.
It wasn’t enough to replenish my mana but it was enough to keep me going.
“GO FOR IT, SHADOWPAW! RIP HIM TO PIECES!” I yelled.
I’m not usually one for saying things like that but it just felt right in the moment.
Shadowpaw roared, he roared louder than I’ve ever heard him roar before. He started glowing, purple aura rolling off of his body.
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Me and Shadowpaw have been together for as long as I can remember. He was a little cub when I first summoned my first companion. I had him always beside me when I was a kid. I didn’t ever want to think about what a boring childhood I would’ve had if he wasn’t with me.
Once, Dad or General Garner, actually cared about me being happy. I was able to train for a few hours then I was free to do whatever instead of having to live up to his expectations. Shadowpaw and I have a connection that surpasses that of normal spirit magic. I don’t know what or why I was so attached to him, maybe it’s because he’s the first friend I had.
“RAUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The Berserker screamed again, these two are practically one in the same, just different species or different states of being.
Shadowpaw roared in fury as swirling ethereal purple orbs floated from around him. They pulsed with an eerie violet light crackling with mana as they shot forward. The powerful plum orbs made their way to him, making contact with his skin. The orbs exploded on impact. The boy was obscured by smoke as the audience gasped, waiting in response for what’s to come.
The smoke cleared.
He was still standing.
“Shadow Slash,” I whispered, before Shadowpaw swiped down his massive paw. Three obsidian colored claws materialized in the air before swiping down violently.
He screamed as his body disappeared in a blue light.
I was the final one standing in the circle when it was all said and done. I collapsed onto the ground. I laid there, enjoying the coldness of the stone.
A girl in a purple and jet black uniform approached me, slowly. Her shoes just CLICKing as she grew closer and closer. I thought I had it in the bag. How could I let everyone down like that? I wasn’t sparing in the mana that I had used in case of another opponent.
She stopped her shoes right next to my head.
“Did you really think that it would be that simple? That you could just have this moment AND win? In this, you have to be smart. You have to be cunning. You cannot afford to be naive in a moment like this, when all the eyes are on you and solely you… because when you do…”
She lifted up her foot.
“That just means the shadows come out to play,” she brought her foot down onto the stone next to my head.
“Heed this warning, we’re not here for you, we’re here for your friend,” she flicked her eyes toward Dominick.
The rage inside of me just bubbled up and made its way up to the surface.
I screamed.
The stadium shook as the mana began pouring out. A panic crossed across Aura’s face as she realized what was happening. She ran, she ran as fast as her legs would take her to the arena.
Dominick bolted after her, trusting in her instincts.
“YOUR MINE.” My voice, monotone and cold.
Her eyes, dead. I looked towards the girl.
“That’s cute-” She was cut off as I charged her. She easily dodged my attack and landed a solid punch in the face, sending me flying to the bottom of the temple-like structure.
She clicked her tongue.
“It’s gonna take a lot more than that to beat me, dear Rose,” She jumped down and grabbed me by my hair. She lifted me up with superhuman strength as I struggled underneath the immense pressure of her magic.
Of her strength alone.
She landed one hit, another one, and another, and another. She didn’t stop. My ribs were on fire. My whole body thudded as each one of her punches had more force than the previous ones.
She’s on a whole other level than the Shadows’ we’ve faced before.
My vision began to fade. I looked up at her to see the guards storming in behind her.
“ABOUT-” I coughed up blood as she punched me in the stomach.
“Well, this has been fun but I really must be going. I’ll see you again, Rose.” She planted a kiss on my cheek before throwing me into the wall. My eyes fluttered shut as I lost consciousness.
“GRAB A STRETCHER!” The guards yelled at the doctors on standby. They were ready as they immediately brought out the stretcher and carefully put Rose onto it. Mrs. Elles stared in horror as they carted her off, Aura had returned as the guards and the woman had left before she made it down there. There was nothing any of us could do for Rose right now. We’re so weak and they made sure we knew it.
Only a few of us understood the magnitude of what happened here today.
They decided to just increase security and they told the public it was a matter of “a student taking the game too far” and decided to continue Enchantopia. Aura and I walked down the hall to the infirmary. We looked with dismay and agony at our friend who laid there, battered and bruised. Her chest heaved up and down as she struggled to breathe.
“I thought you guys were doctors, why is she still like this?” Aura walked up to them, furious.
“These were physical wounds. We’ve already applied the medicine. She is stable, however.”
“So you’re saying this was done WITHOUT magic?” Aura stood there dumbfounded.
“Yes and while magic can cure magical wounds; it can’t really restore physical wounds as effectively. She should be fine by the end of Enchantopia,” the doctor grabbed his clipboard from the countertop and walked into another room.
“Do you think she’s like you?” She turned to me.
“I don’t think so, I just think she’s very strong. Physically, at least.” I responded the best way I could.
“But Rose isn’t weak. She wouldn’t go down to some normal bitch ass punches,” Aura stood there, looking down at her best friend, lip quivering, fists balled up.
“That woman down there was not normal, the things she did without even using a little bit of mana… Those shouldn’t be capable of normal human limits. I’m not sure if Rose was planning on using her companion magic or not, perhaps she couldn’t in that state but I have a feeling that that wouldn’t have changed anything,” I rambled.
“She didn’t use her magic? Then what was that immense explosion of mana I felt in the tunnel?”
“That was Rose. I couldn’t feel the mana but the pressure was something else entirely. Something sinister,” I grabbed the bridge of my nose, “If we were to fight the Shadows as we are, we would most likely die.”
“Rewind. You’re saying that that mana was Rose? And even with that power, she lost?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“We’re so fucked, dude.” Aura said, holding her head in her hands.
“Language, Aura. How many times must I say this?” The Principal walked in, demanding presence and all. His broad shoulders and giant frame towered over us.
“Shove your language up your ass,” Aura put her hands in her pockets and walked back to her seat in the stadium.
“Dominick, correct?” He looked down at me.
“That’s right,” I replied.
“I’ve heard great things about you. That’s besides the point. Do you have any idea what’s going on here?”
“Well, call it a hunch but we think it’s the same group that infiltrated the school awhile back.”
His face grew more serious.
“What makes you think that?”
“I said call it a hunch. I didn’t say anything as a reason because this is just what my gut is telling me.”
“Mr. Blackburn, we simply cannot go off of your ‘gut feeling’ alone. We need solid, hard, evidence if you hope to convince anyone that this was an outside force.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m heading out. Peace,” I walked out of the infirmary and into the hall.
Aura was waiting for me in the hallway.
“So you need solid evidence?” She said, leaning on the wall.
“I guess but how would we get that?” I inquired.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that right now.”
“What if someone from the Magic Defense Force used memory magic on the person they captured? The guy who almost killed me?”
“Oh, Rose never told you? He died the day after they apprehended him. Supposedly, he committed suicide in his cell. There was some sort of powder in his body after the autopsy. And the rest of the apprehended Shadows also did the same thing. It seems like they’d rather die than expose their organization.”
I let out a long breath. This was exhausting.
“We still gotta do Enchantopia too…” I sighed.
“You mean YOU have to participate in it.” She said, chuckling, “you wouldn’t catch me dead in that arena.”
We walked side by side and talked until we made it back to our seats and sat down.
The next events flew by as no one was really captivated by it like they were by the King Of The Hill match. Ravenwood took the King Of The Hill Event as they easily overpowered the other smaller schools that remained in the match, including ours. Our school managed to make it into the Duos tournament. We weren’t able to win any events however. Ravenwood took the Talent Show while Weles took the Relay race. Leaving us and 12 other schools in last place. If we don’t win a single event today then we’re in for an uphill battle for bringing home that trophy for Lixarts.
I was participating in the Terrain War event that was creeping up on us so I intended to bring home that victory for us.
“AND NOWWWWWWWWWW, FOR THE FINAL EVENT OF THIS SPECTACULAR FIRST DAY! TERRRRRRRRAIN WARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!” The announcer really dragged it out, making it more thrilling and exciting for the audience and they burst into cheers. I stood in the tunnel next to my teammates. They closed the stadium roof as they explained the rules for the crowd.
I’ll break it down for you. It’s super easy, it’s an all out brawl. The last school standing will win. Non lethal spells, no cross teaming (different schools), and that’s about it. They also use the simulator to nullify lethal spells if that does happen. There are certain lethal spells however that cannot be stopped by the nullifier but those are classified as Annihilation Class spells which have been locked away for centuries now.
This time, they didn’t open it back up. A barrier rose from the stands and blocked the audience from the arena. The arena’s ceiling was covered with stars as artificial grass began to sprout from the ground. The arena began to spread out further, making the field humongous. Everyone looked around in awe as we took in the scenery.
“BEGIN!” The announcer yelled.