The giant ball of fire infused with wind magic traveled toward the 3 masked men. It would have to be blocked. One of the white masked men jumped in front of the other 2 putting his hands on the ground and cast earth magic to build a thick wall. The fire magic hit and was forced into the open air above where it died.

The white masked man who cast the earth magic turned to the gold mask man “it's as you thought, he sure wanted to start off big!”

The gold mask nodded. “Yes, he wanted to buy those kids some time. Good job with the wall. I'm sure it took a lot of mana to make, but he used a fair amount too.”

The wall fell down in front of the 3 men, having been dispelled. The gold mask man spoke to Peter “that is some powerful magic you used. You managed to give those kids a pretty good head start, but it's meaningless. I assume you planned to set the forest on fire to get some attention too? We won't be letting that happen. No one is coming to help you.”

Peter saw one of the white masked men was breathing hard. He must have been the one to cast the earth magic. His own attack took a lot out of him as well.. He knew his stamina would not last enough to beat all 3 if he just kept using large attacks. Worst of all, the most troublesome gold masked man was completely fresh. He would need to conserve his power more from now on.

The gold mask man told the white masked man who didn't build the wall “go around him and make sure those kids don't get too far. We'll catch up with you when we're done here.”

“Don't worry, I won't let even one escape". He ran sideways into the forest and then started to loop around to go towards the students.

“Damn he's quick” Peter muttered to himself. He wanted to chase after him to buy the students more time but he dared not turn his back on the 2. His best chance would be to try to defeat them and double back.

******

River was about half way between the camp and the mountain when he heard the large explosion of fire magic. "That attack was meant to kill, something is wrong!” He quickly turned and used his wind magic. He knew whatever was going on he would need to get back as soon as possible.

*******

Peter stood in front of the 2 men. He knew fighting 2 opponents at once was going to be very difficult. Even a fairly weak wizard could land a lethal strike if you were distracted. He thought of using earth based defenses but dismissed the idea. He needed to conserve as much stamina as possible. He would use wind power to try to move faster and dodge.

The gold masked man stepped forward. “Well then, as much as I like a good stare down I don't like to leave my associates waiting.” He quickly cast lightning magic. Lightning magic was great for offense but it usually took time to gather and aim accurately; that was its weakness. This lightning magic was gathered and fired so quickly Peter barely had any time to react.

He dodged to the left with wind magic avoiding the attack by hair's breadth. Right where he was standing a moment before was black and smoking. Another attack shot at him and he dodged back and to the right. This time he was a little more ready for it and faster to react. He looked up and noticed he lost track of the white masked man.

Water based attacks came shooting at him from the left. He saw the white masked man and cast wind against the water to push it away. He barely noticed the lighting coming the 3rd time and couldn't dodge it completely. He jumped back and to the left but smelt burning flesh and then pain on right arm. He managed to avoid most it. Thankfully he could still move his arm normally.

The Gold masked man smiled “I would give you a chance to give up, but it's far to late for that. I don't like to go back on my word. I said you were a dead man and there are many lonely holes in the ground that need someone to fill them after all.”

Peter knew fighting 2 against 1 was not going to work. He had no choice but to take a risk even though it would use so much mana... He also needed to avoid those lightning attacks. He had one idea that could work.

He gathered wind magic in his hand and shot it towards the white masked man. He made it so big it would be impossible to dodge. “Fool, I only need block it and your attack is wasted!” He used earth magic to build a defense. That blocked off the white masked man's his vision of the fight.

Peter then jumped to the right. He didn't have time to look up at the gold masked man to see if an attack was coming or not. He knew the last time he focused on the white masked man the gold masked man choose to attack with that opening. He only hoped if the attack did come he dodged in such a way as to avoid all or most of it.

As it so happens the attack did come right as he was dodging. He managed to avoid the worst of it but it partly got his left leg. “Damn, that leg will be hard to move on.” He then turned his attention towards the gold masked man who was no doubt preparing for another lightning attack. Without having to worry about the white masked man for a few moments he poured his power into water magic.

Water magic also used up a lot of stamina, it was thick and heavy but he had no choice. Water magic, if you're able to use enough of it, naturally goes around and over defenses.

Peter cast the water element and for the first time used a chant. It was his most powerful spell “water element tidal wave!” he screamed.

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At first the man in the gold mask was planning to use earth to block it. However the wave just grew larger and larger. “How much mana is he pouring into that?” He would need to use too much earth magic to block it.. He decided it was best to retreat into the forest and let the massive wave disperse naturally.

As he saw the gold masked man retreat peter quickly moved towards the white masked man who had just dispelled his earth magic. “Let's see how you fend by yourself!” Peter gathered earth magic in his hand and ran as fast as he could towards the white masked man. “Damn, this leg is slowing me down too much!” He pushed himself forward with wind magic

“Fool, you want to fight me in such a condition? I need no help to defeat the likes of you like this!” The white masked man shot water magic towards him.

Peter launched his own attacks at the white masked man using earth based magic. With his speed from pushing himself with wind magic and the naturally heaviness of earth magic he cut through the attacks and hit his opponent. One of the enemy's water based attacks hit him which stopped his motion and knocked him back. He felt a rib or 2 break.

He looked at the white masked man. The attacks which hit him cut through the opponent's water magic which slowed them down, but they were still effective. He was breathing but in agony. He appeared to have a broken arm and perhaps a leg. Peter failed to take his life but at least he seemed unable to fight anymore. Peter breathed heavily. He used more mana than he wanted for that attack. He knew he was running out fast.

“Well well, look what you did to my comrade.” The Gold masked man said emerging from the woods looking no worse for wear. “No matter, I never needed his help to beat you from the start.  Since I'm going to kill you anyway ,I'll let you in on a little secret.” He lifted his hand towards the gold mask covering the top part of his face and took it off.

Peter was in shock “You! You're the shame of the house of sun!”

He let his mask drop “You know, I use to hate that name, but it has grown on me over the years. The only trouble is my face is too well known. Having to wear a mask all the time is annoying. I guess out here I can be at ease taking it off.”

Peter shot him a look of pure disdain. “Whatever you think of the Sun house, what you did was disgusting. That boy from the main house you attacked had burns so deep on his body even the best healers in their house could do anything about the scars. He's lucky to be alive.”

“It was unfortunate we were interrupted. That arrogant main house brat thought just because he was from the main sun house the whole world belonged to him. I wanted to roast him slowly and teach him a lessen about looking down on the branch house. I guess I should've roasted him a bit faster.”

“He was young and could have changed! What you did was cruel and evil.”

“He was old enough to know how to treat me like a dog! To remind me every moment that he was from the main house and I was destined to be nothing but a glorified lackey! You're a commoner and yet you defend that?” The man stepped forward summoning a large amount of fire magic in his hand. It grew larger as he walked towards Peter. His face was filled with hate.

Peter yelled “the world is changing. Yes it's happening slowly but every year I see more and more nobles treating commoners well. The answer is not to crush them all, we can continue to work hard and change them together.”

The man laughed “I no longer care about branch houses or main houses; commoner nor nobles. It matters not in the least to me. I learned long time ago, this world only rewards those who take from others like the nobles took from the commoners and the main houses take from the branch houses. I will take what I want because I'm strong enough to do so. It's that simple. Anyone who looks down on me or gets in my way is an enemy.”

Peter shot him a look of hate “You've really become a twisted bastard haven't you 'Shame of the House of Sun'?”

“The opinions of sheep doesn't matter to the wolf. Now turn to ash you sheep.” The Shame of the House of Sun cast the massive fire attack towards Peter. He couldn't move well so he had to use earth magic to block. As the fire was blocked by the earth and dispersed 'the shame' appeared beside him. He had used body enhancement magic to speed up and close the distance.

“So long sheep.” He blasted him with wind magic and blew him up into the air. As he was coming down he built up fire magic “Fire of the sun, devour all creation before me” he chanted. He shot a fire attack so powerful and big the very air seemed to be burnt out of existence. Below it also engulfed the ground turning everything black as is passed over.

Peter knew if that touched him he would be instantly incinerated. He could only think of one thing to do, though it might kill him anyway. He cast wind magic up into the air and pushed himself at an incredible speed towards the ground. He hit it and heard bones crack. He couldn't soften his landing. There was no time.

He instantly used as much mana as he could to cast as much earth magic over him as possible. He hoped the fire would flow over him and his earth magic would be enough to shield him. He had no idea how bad his injuries were. He was sure he at least broke a leg and maybe had life threatening internal injuries, but he had no time to take stock. He continued to cover himself in earth magic as he felt the heat approach even under the earth shield he built.

*****

The students ran through the forest as fast as they could, Sky huffed barely keeping his breath. “What about River? What if they find him?”

David Rain pushed himself hard to keep going. “Did you see those guys? There's nothing we can do. We have no choice but to run and get help.”

Amanda Clover's hair was damp and sticking to her face.  “Y-you once said River was the resourceful type. I'm sure he'll be okay”. She would have probably felt more shy and blushed if she didn't feel like she was running for her life.

Derrick Hill was luckily in pretty decent shape but not use to this much running. “It's okay, once we get help from the school we'll find him. Focus on getting back. The path is already cleared from when we came in. If we use our magic and go all out we can get there in 30 minutes probably.”

Mary Cloud scoffed “I hate being forced to run from those pieces of trash. If only I was a bit older and knew more magic I would have crushed them. Besides that gold masked guy they didn't look like much anyway.”

“He's right about you; you need to be taught your place don't you? Such a mouthy little brat you are” the white masked man landed on the path in front of them. “Getting back to get help? No, I won't allow that. Now come quietly or do I need to kill a few of your classmates to get you to cooperate?”

Sky knew even if they gave themselves up there was not guarantee they would let the others live. “He's alone. Teacher is probably holding off the other two. I say we fight together and beat him as quickly as possible and then continue to get help.”

The white masked man turned towards Sky “Just for that arrogance I think I'll have you lose an arm after I am done catching all of you. Then I'll watch you cry yourself to sleep later remembering having to watch your classmates die 1 by 1."

He summoned lightning magic in his hand “Now then, who do you get to see die first? How about you?” He looked at Derrick Hill.