“Alright, kiddos. We’ll do something different today. For starters, form a group of five.” Ranga instructed.

“Hey, hey, Narias, let’s form a group together.” Stefan was quick to suggest it.

“Sure.” Narias didn’t mind.

“Oh, and let’s get Brian into our group as well.” Stefan seemed to be on fire for some reason.

“Aah… yeah, ok.” Narias already agreed to team up with Stefan and they needed five people, so he had to agree with Brian joining too.

“Great, I’ll go get him.” Stefan ran off.

“Excuse me, Narias. Can I join your group?” A girl student approached him.

“Lilna, hi. Yes, that’s fine.” Narias agreed to have her in his group as well.

“You’re in our group too, Lilna? Cool. Now we need one more,” Stefan came back with Brian tagging along.

“So, who’s our fifth?” Brian wanted to know.

“I don’t know…” Narias scratched his cheek, looking around. It looked like other teams were forming fast and he couldn’t see any students standing by themselves anywhere. “I’ll go ask Instructor Dreknor about it.”

“Sure, buddy.” Stefan said before turning to Brian. “I wonder what the teacher will have us do today?”

“Excuse me, Instructor Dreknor, we are one person short. Do you know if anyone is still looking for a group?” Narias asked the teacher.

“One person short? Grrr…” For some reason, a menacing grin entered Ranga’s mouth. “Yes, I know of one student who has trouble finding a group. Hey, Flamiris, over here!”

Flamiris? Right… Narias knew why she was having trouble finding a group.

“What do you…” the girl student was about to blurt out something snappy, but when Ranga flashed his fangs at her, grinning menacingly, she stopped. “Yes, Instructor Dreknor?”

“You will join Narias team. They are one person short,” was all Ranga said.

“Hi, Flamiris. My group is over there.” Narias told her politely.

“Tch… whatever…” she frowned before turning away from him.

Ah… hah… Narias knew she had an attitude.

Actually, everyone got to know Flamiris was soon after she came to the academy. In a very short amount of time that Flamiris has been there, she managed to alienate almost all of the students in her class. She had a temper and then some. As beautiful and as attractive as she was, Flamiris was also an epitome of a delinquent too. She’d snap at anyone for the slightest of reason. The other students would make way for her to pass just so they wouldn’t get on her bad side.

However, she wasn’t running her mouth just for the sake of running it. As it turned out, Flamiris was a very capable spellcaster. She knew how to wield her Fire Magic well. A few students had experienced it themselves. Some of them wanted to stand up to her and Flamiris was more than happy to teach them a lesson. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured, but Flamiris was the one who came out on top during the encounters. And so, the other students started to avoid her and she was having trouble forming a group during the team exercises.

“You better not screw this up, whatever we’ll be doing today.” Flamiris declared loud and clear after she came over to where the other Narias’s team members were.

“Eek! Fla… Flamiris? Why is she on our team?” Stefan freaked out. He had been burned by her, literally, when Stefan tried to talk to her in the beginning, thinking he’d be able to get himself a date.

“Eh? You have a problem with that?” Flamiris glared at him, her eyes catching a spark of fire.

“Aah… no, not at all.” Stefan made a step back.

I hope it all works out. Narias was hopeful they will manage somehow.

“Ok, listen up!” Ranga raised his voice. “Now that you have formed your groups, I’ll tell you what you’ll be doing. We will be having a Field Battle Competition practice today.”

“Whaaat?!” Many students exclaimed in surprise.

“Quite excited, aren’t you?!” Ranga laughed out loud. “Obviously, it won’t be a real competition, but with the Magic Power Games coming up, it’ll be a good practice. Some of you might be competing in the tournament, so getting some experience is only to your benefit. Now, send someone from each team to collect the Field Wand from me.”

“Hey, hey, I want to go get it.” Stefan volunteered.

“Sure,” Narias didn’t mind.

“Tch…” Flamiris turned away, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Alright! Since we have limited time, we’ll have one game last twenty minutes, but each team will play two rounds. Since it is not an official competition, I’ll just choose the teams who will fight each other first.” Ranga explained.

“Oh, we’re going first.” Narias commented after the teacher selected their team to be the first one to go.

“Alright, let’s win this.” Stefan declared loudly, flexing one of his arms excitedly.

“You’re rather loud about it… for being such a loser.” Flamiris snapped at him, adding an intimidating grin on her face.

“H… hey…” Stefan was about to say something back, but backed off instead.

“Stop it. We’re on the same team.” Brian joined in.

“Oh, yeah? What’s good about being on a team with a bunch of losers?” Flamiris smirked, throwing one hand to the side.

“Listen, you…” Stefan couldn’t stay silent any longer. He pointed his finger at Flamiris, about to say something.

“What? You wanna have a go against me?” Her eyes flashed with excitement.

“Eek! N… no, that’s not…” the last thing Stefan wanted was to get into fight with Flamiris.

“Ok, so we need to decide who goes on offence and who stays on defense.” Narias interrupted the soon to flare up incident by changing the focus on what they were about to do.

“I’ll go on offence,” Stefan announced, turning to Narias.

“Yeah, me too.” Brian wanted to go together with Stefan.

“Tch… you wimps, what can you do anyway? I shall go on offence myself.” Flamiris declared, making a step forward.

“In that case, I will stay on defense,” said Narias.

“Can I stay on defense as well?” Lilna asked with a smile.

“Sure. I think that should be fine,” Narias didn’t mind.

Actually, it’d be better if four people went on offence. It is only a practice match, but more people on attack might work better. Of course, we’re not exactly a team, so people might get in each other’s way too. Oh, well… let’s see how it goes. Narias was mulling over how he would do it.

“Ready?!” Instructor Dreknor was about to give the signal to start. “Go!”

And the game was on. The training arena was about half the size of the actual arena field where the Field Magic Competition would be held at, but it still gave enough space for the students to show off what they could do. Stefan and Brian instantly rushed forward, but Flamiris lingered a moment behind.

“Tch… figures. Big talk and no brain,” Flamiris grumbled to herself before going after them.

Huh? Narias found her comment puzzling.

“Will they be ok?” Lilna asked after Flamiris was gone, feeling worried.

“I hope so,” Narias scratched his cheek with one finger. “Anyway, let’s do our best ourselves.”

“Yes,” Lilna agreed, adding a smile.

Very soon, the arena was painted with all kinds of spells being cast in the middle of it. Each team has sent a few students on the offence and had the rest stay behind to defend their Field Wand. Narias tried to see what was happening, but from where he was, it was difficult to track how the battle was going. After a few minutes of fighting in the middle of the arena, the battle shifted to Stefan, Brian and Flamiris pushing forward and getting closer to the opponent’s side of the field. At first, Narias thought his teammates did a good job by fighting off the defenders, but he had to change his opinion when he noticed three of the opposing team’s members rushing towards him and Lilna.

Three of them? But I thought Stefan, Brian and Flamiris were holding them off. Narias wondered, but there was no time to doze off.

“Lilna, here they come,” Narias was ready to defend.

“Yes,” she responded, bracing herself for a fight.

“Fire Wall,” Narias didn’t hold back and erected a huge wall of fire to stop the opponents from advancing. It worked and the incoming students were stopped in their tracks. “Lilna, watch out for anyone coming out from the sides.”

“Got it,” Lilna affirmed that she heard him.

As always, Narias took the practice match seriously. He worked together with Lilna to protect their Field Wand. The attacking students already knew what Narias was capable off and thanks to his encouragement, and good leadership, Lilna was doing very well too. The two of them held their ground and never let the attackers get too close to their Field Wand. The same couldn’t have been said about Stefan, Brian and Flamiris. Even though, Narias and Lilna were doing a wonderful job defending their base, their teammates couldn’t get the Field Wand from their opponents. Eventually, the attackers gave up and went back to defend their own base, which basically made it impossible for Stefan, Brian and Flamiris to get even close to where the wand was. The time ran out with neither of the teams securing a victory.

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“Times up!” Ranga announced. “Ok, all of you, go have some rest! You will have another go later!”

Everyone had to stop fighting and return to the seating area. Even before Stefan, Brian and Flamiris reached where both Narias and Lilna were sitting, he could tell there was some heated argument going on between the three.

“You, idiot! Why did you cast your Stone Wall in front of me when I was about to blast them away?” Flamiris complained to Stefan.

“What are you talking about? You were the one who jumped in front of me!” He snapped back at her.

“Your ass would’ve been frozen solid if I hadn’t. Didn’t you see that guy casting a spell?” Flamiris pointed her finger at him.

“Well… he would’ve missed anyway,” Stefan came up with an excuse.

“Huh? Are you stupid?” Flamiris glared at him.

“Hey, leave Stefan alone. You were the one who was getting in the way all the time, Flamiris.” Brian stood up for his friend.

“Say what?” Flamiris frowned, squinting her eyes at Brian. “I don’t want to hear that coming from a loser such as yourself. You couldn’t even deal with that single defender. If you had neutralized him, I would’ve taken their Field Wand with ease.”

“Eeh… That’s because…” Brian had to think what to say in his defense. “That’s because I was faking him, but you ruined it by rushing upfront.”

“Why you…” Flamiris raised her hand, her palm catching a spark of flame.

“The next round is about to start! Are both teams ready?” But the argument was interrupted by Ranga’s announcement about the next game soon to start. The teacher waited for both teams to confirm they were ready before giving the signal. “Begin!”

“I think it would be a good idea to observe the teams fight, because we will go against one of them in the next round.” Narias suggested, easing the tension between his teammates.

“Yes, good idea, Narias.” Stefan rushed to find a seat, so he could see better.

“Yeah, I’ll watch too.” Brian went to sit next to his friend.

“Tch… whatever…” Flamiris turned her face away before going to sit somewhere away from everyone else.

I hope we can at least protect our Field Wand during the next round. Narias sighed deeply.

The battle between the other two teams ended sooner than the timer ran out. One of the team’s had a clear advantage from the very beginning. They were strategic too. The team sent four attackers to go on the offence from the get go, putting their opponents on defense and were pushing them hard enough until they reached their base. The defending team was caught off guard when the fifth member of the attacking team joined the fight. Nobody expected the student girl sneak up from the side and snatch the Field Wand from them. It was a good fight and Narias was able to pick up a few things he could use in the next round himself.

“Ok, next round. Team number one versus team number three!” Ranga announced loudly.

“That’s us,” Lilna clapped her hands excitedly.

“Bummer, why do we have to fight the team that won?” Stefan complained, dropping his shoulders.

“Who cares? Let’s just get over it. We can stay on defense and let the time run out this time,” Brian threw one of his hands to the side, not bothered by it.

Sigh… It doesn’t look promising. Narias became worried before they even stepped down to the arena.

“I’ll give you a few minutes to prepare! Don’t waste your time!” Ranga gave the teams some time to have a strategy meeting before the start of the game.

“I’ll be going on offence again and you better not get in my way this time,” Flamaris declared, pointing her finger at the rest of her teammates.

“Do whatever you want. I’m staying on defense,” Brian shrugged, throwing both of his hands to the sides nonchalantly.

“Yeah, knock yourself out. We’ll see how good you are on your own,” Stefan grimaced at her.

“So sorry, but… I would like to stay on defense again,” Lilna said timidly.

“Huuuh? Tch… wimps…” Flamiris turned away, crossing her arms in front of her.

Oh man… I guess it can’t be helped… Narias rubbed the back of his head.

“I’ll go on the offence as well then. I’ll leave you three to protect our Field Wand,” Narias informed, adding a smile at the end.

“You can count on us, Narias,” Stefan stated confidently, wanting to make an impression for some reason.

“Yeah, it’ll be a piece of cake,” Brian smirked, showing a thumbs up sign.

“I’ll do my best,” Lilna added.

“It’s me and you on the offence, Flamiris,” Narias came closer to where she was standing to inform about it.

“Hmph… I don’t care,” she smirked, still looking away.

“Yes, I understand,” he smiled at her. “So, how do you want to do this?”

“Huh?” That was a question Flamiris didn’t expect to hear, but she snapped out of her surprise quickly. “Hah, just don’t get in my way.”

“Ok, and?” Narias agreed, but pushed for more details.

“Wha…” she finally turned to face him. After staring at Narias for a brief second, a menacing grin entered her mouth. She pointed her finger at him. “Fine, but if you don’t pull it off, I’m gonna punch you.”

“I’ll do my best,” he simply smiled.

“Ooh…” Flamiris was pleased with his answer and her face showed it. “Ok, listen up then. Those guys will probably charge in like they did before, leaving one person on defense, only to have her sneak past us to steal the wand from our base. We need to lure the defender away and steal their wand before they do, because I don’t believe those numbskulls will be able to hold out for too long.”

“Right,” Narias knew who Flamiris meant when she spoke about ‘numbskulls’.

“Humph… The real challenge will be to get past their whole team and reach their base faster than they reach ours. Worse yet, that defender is the wolf beast-girl. She’ll be fast to return when she sees either one of us going for their Field Wand. We’ll need to either immobilize her or be faster than her,” Flamiris kept sharing how they should go about it.

“Well, I know a spell that I can use to blast me a moderate distance away,” Narias told her.

“Hah, good. Use that once I make the opening to get past,” Flamiris was getting into it.

“The problem is, the spell will throw me back. Meaning, I will be blasted backwards, not forward. I would have to face with my back towards the direction I want to go and it will be difficult during the fight,” he admitted.

“Eh? What kind of spell is that?” She exclaimed, grimacing at him.

“Well…” Narias rubbed the back of his head.

“Then use the spell on me instead. I’ll snatch the wand myself,” Flamiris suddenly declared.

“On you?” Narias gasped. “I mean, I can, but it might hurt. After all, the spell will literally blast you away.”

“Hah, don’t worry. I’m much tougher than any of those wimps,” Flamiris smirked, showing off her grin.

“But…” Narias wasn’t sure about that.

“Alright, time to start! Ready?” Ranga interrupted him. “Begin!”

There was no more time for talks, because the game was on. Flamiris sprinted from her spot in an instant and Narias had to follow. As both of them expected, the opponents launched a full-on attack, with four people attacking and one staying on the defense. They probably thought that if it worked one time, it will work again. Of course, the opponents had no intentions of letting Flamiris and Narias get past them either. An avalanche of spells was released when the two of them were within their range.

“Wind Shield!” Narias had to protect himself.

“Flame Orb,” Flamiris used the same spell that Layla new to absorb the incoming frost attack, following up with another one right after. “Flame Cone.”

“Wind Bullet,” Narias hit one of the opponents, interrupting him from casting a spell. “Oops, Wind Burst.”

But then he had to jump away to avoid being smacked with a boulder, erected by a Stone Magic user.

“Press the attack and don’t let them pass!” Someone from the opposite team shouted.

“Fireball! Flame Cone!” Flamiris was attacking and defending at the same time. “Flame…”

“Watch out, Flamiris! Wind Shield!” Narias was just in time to cast his spell to protect her from getting hit by a frost spell.

“Tch… I… would’ve been fine,” she grunted, but she was too quiet, so Narias couldn’t hear it.

“Fire Wall!” Narias smacked the ground, a tall flame shooting up and forward.

“Defense!” A student shouted.

“Ice Block! Stone Wall!” The defenses were quickly in place to stop the fire’s advance.

“Are you ok, Flamiris? We need to withdraw. We can’t get past them.” Narias said the last part louder than when he was asking if she was ok.

“What? Don’t you…” Flamiris was about to lash out at him.

“Psst… psst… their defender is gone,” Narias hinted in half whisper, so nobody else would hear him.

“Huh? Aah… humph, I see,” Flamiris calmed down, a mischievous smile entering her mouth. “I see her. I’ll get their attention, get ready to blast me forward as soon as I give you the signal.”

“Yes, but my Wind Pressure-“ Narias wanted to say something.

“Here I go. Fireball!” Flamiris threw a burning ball in front of her. It was neutralized by her opponent’s frost spell, but she didn’t care. “Come on, you wimps! I’ll take you all on! Flame Cone!”

Aaargh… whatever! Let’s win this. Narias has finally made up his mind.

“Wind Shield!” He cast his spell to protect Flamiris again, so she could push forward.

“This is how you do it. Haaaa!” Flamiris wasn’t complaining about Narias protecting her this time. Instead, she took a wide stance and focused her mana, gathering it at the palm of her right hand. “Inferno… Blast!”

She smacked her fist at the ground and a massive explosion shot up about fifteen feet in front of her, but it didn’t end there. Before the first explosion died out, the next one shot up about the same distance away from the first one, then the next one and the next one, scattering her opponents to the sides, so they wouldn’t get blasted by the explosion.

“Come on, do it now!” Flamiris braced herself to be blasted away by Narias.

“Ah, damn…” Narias knew what Flamiris meant, but unfortunately, he was a little too far to do it right away.

“Hey, why are you so far away? Jeez!” She only then noticed it.

“Sorry, but when you cast your Inferno spell, I…” Narias was about to reach her.

“Don’t let them pass! Block the way!” Someone shouted.

“Ice Block! Stone Wall!” Two spells were cast from two opposite directions and the path in front of Flamiris was about to be closed.

“Oh, no! They will close the path,” Narias exclaimed, seeing the ice and stones raising up from the ground.

“Whatever, just do it or else I will punch you so hard you’ll cry like a baby!” Flamiris shouted at him before turning to face the direction where the opponent’s Field Wand was.

But if I blast her with my spell now, she’ll hit the ice or the stone wall. Narias had to do it now or else. The only way for her to get through is if I can throw her over it, but to do that… Aarghh, she’ll punch me either way, so here goes nothing.

“Excuse me,” Narias jumped in and squatted behind Flamiris before lifting her up from the ground with both hands.

“Eeh!” She didn’t expect for his hands to end up where they did.

“Hug your knees! Wind Pressure…” Narias pushed Flamiris up to make some distance between his hands and her body. “…Blast!”

“WHAAA! Wahoo!” She was seriously blasted into the air like a stone thrown from a catapult. “This is… freaking awesome!”

Flamiris was thrown up in the air almost over ten feet up as she passed the stone wall below her.

“Fire Blast!” She cast a spell of her own before hitting the ground to soften her fall. “Ouch, hah. You’re mine!”

She rolled a few times, but quickly got back on her feet and sprinted forward towards where the opponent’s Field Wand was. The wolf beast-girl defender was too far away to catch up with her and since the rest of her team were still in the middle of the field, they couldn’t stop Flamiris either.

“Team number one has taken their opponent’s Field Wand! They win the game!” Ranga was quick to announce the end of the match as soon as Flamiris got her hands on the magic item.

“Hah! That’s how you do it, suckers!” Flamiris cheered happily, which was a sight to behold, because nobody had seen her smile like that before.

Phew… At least, we won. But Narias wasn’t out of the woods just yet.

“Nice job everyone! Go take a seat, or if any of you has been injured, go get checked at the infirmary!” Instructor Dreknor told the students.

“Way to go, Narias. We won!” Stefan and the others were ecstatic they had won.

“I knew I could count on you, Narias. You took care of them for us,” Brian was happy about it too.

“Well done, Narias, and sorry… for not helping this time,” Lilna was a little embarrassed she did nothing during the game.

“It’s ok. We took a gamble and it paid off, but even if it didn’t, I am sure you would’ve protected our Field Wand,” Narias wasn’t upset about it at all.

“Humph, Miss ‘I’ll burn your ass to crisps’ is coming back. I’ll just go back to my seat now,” Brian commented before walking away.

“Brian, wait up,” Stefan ran after him.

“Ah, sorry again, Narias,” Lilna removed herself before Flamiris reached them.

Here comes my black eye. Oh, well… Narias braced himself.

“Hi Flamiris. You’re not hurt, are you?” Narias asked.

“Hah… as if and just for the record…” Flamiris pointed her finger at his chest, touching it and pulling her face right in front of his. “That spell was a total blast. You’re not half bad after all.”

“Huh? You’re not… mad?” Narias raised his eyebrows, staring at her face which was about half a foot away from his.

“Mad? I don’t get mad for no reason,” she announced. Those were some big words, considering how she’d get ticked off all the time for every little thing. She threw her hands to the sides after making a step back. “You pulled it off in the end, so I guess I won’t punch you.”

“Ah, thanks,” Narias felt relieved, but something about Flamiris was still unsettling.

“By the way…” Flamiris added as she was about to walk past Narias. “I’ll let it go you grabbing my ass when you lift me up, but I intend to get back at you when the time comes.”

“Eek!” A very cold shiver ran down Narias spine. “Of course. That was… very inappropriate of me.”

“Humph…” Narias couldn’t see, but Flamiris smirked to herself as she was walking away.