Several days passed and there was little they learned except for mutual combat. It went to the point where school-wide brawls no longer were rare. In fact, it was rare when they did not happen. Of the two cases, one was because Andrew and Leya were absent due to a thrashing from their mother. The second was because they were being trained to the point unconsciousness by their teachers. They were quite adept at instigating violence after all those years.
Nevertheless, as the battles raged, several dominate pairs started to emerge in the classes. Naturally, Andrew and Leya did not fight anyone except themselves. However, the sisters, Kate and Reva began to wholeheartedly take pleasure in the battles.
Sometimes they fought against other classes together, other times apart. No one truly knew what was going except for them. In that time, points were being meticulously tallied and the three of the predicted classes reigned supreme. Underneath Yhir and Ator was Efryd and Farrion. Farrion was an underdog, but there was mutual understanding, or long burning rivalry, that dictated that they would not stand to see their opponents stand.
Because of that, many of the less battle-orientated classes formed alliances to combat the strong. The score-boards were growing more even as the alliances began to solidify.
In response to that, Andrew and Leya, along with six others formed a small group.
Leya looked at Andrew and a fiendish smile appeared on her face. "We called you all here for a simple reason. We can all go back to fighting each other, but first, we go to war. Take back our place at the top - extend the lead!"
Andrew nodded silently and both Kate and Reva were in on it as well. They all carried some degree of influence as informal apprentices, therefore they spoke for the class in that regard.
Juin, a short but incredibly muscular teenager glared at Kin, the very picture of nobility. "And what purpose is there for that?"
Kin raised his hand, but an undying light appeared in the depths of his eye. "As much as I'd like to beat you down, we should at least agree to this. Four pairs that can stand up to their strongest. The older students are fighting on a different field so might as well take advantage of that to add another point for our year."
Faith, a short, petite girl from the Farrion class was apprehensive but still nodded. With a quiet voice, she spoke, "I agree. While it is unfair to gang up on others, there is no fault in using their tactics against them."
She cast a glance towards Terryn who seemed indifferent to all. However, Kin added, "Juin, do you really want to see Efryd drop because of numbers alone? Hell, its got to the point where we almost have to wear our colours."
Juin glared at Kin before he scoffed loudly, "Efryd does not need to work with you lot. Come on, Terryn, we're leaving."
Andrew sighed and shook his head. "No matter, with three it'll still be easy enough. I trust you two can continue to hold back Terryn and Juin?"
Faith grimaced but Kin spoke out firmly, "of course. It's been two weeks and it's almost always been a stalemate."
"Three-way victory or... complete battle afterward?" Squeaked Faith.
Andrew scratched his chin but before he could speak Leya interjected, "whatever you wish. Right now it's still early so we'll announce a three-way win. However, later on, we'll see what happens, okay?"
Kin and Andrew looked displeased at that; however, Faith relaxed immediately. Seeing her gentle expression neither Andrew nor Kin could offer up any rebuttal. Therefore, with the three of the classes combined, they prepared for the dedicated period.
Classes were originally held after lunch, but this year they were replaced with more practical exams for healers and fighters alike.
Standing at one side of the valley were three classes. Each wore their respective colors, purple, red, and green. However, it was clear to see Efryd, being blue, joined the mass of students on the other side.
Andrew looked at the classes behind him and proclaimed, "this is the start of a new alliance! We will not back down! We will not run away! Anyone who stands before us without our colors will be cut down!"
"Hu-rah!"
"Hu-rah!"
"Hu-rah!"
Andrew grinned devilishly at Leya who smacked him on principle. However, he disregarded their fight and pointed towards an unassuming black-haired boy. He was at least two years older than Andrew, but the boy stepped forward and brandished a blade of ice.
Soon thereafter, each called out their opponents wordlessly and the Fern called out, "begin!"
Before they could even move, a mass of students dressed in green lashed out against Andrew's and Leya's classes.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Traitors! Attack Farrion!"
The classes were warned of the possibility beforehand, but the sudden attack still caught them off-guard. With a charging mass of students on one end and close-combat fights on the other, Andrew led his class toward the center as Leya took on the others.
Kate and Reva beat down Faith quickly and the coalition that attacked them soon faltered. However, seeing the incoming mass of students, their moral was raised and long ranged attacks soon held them at bay. Yet, as Kate and Reva worked to deflect the sudden attacks with wind magic, the others advanced.
Leya and Kin were roughly equal due to the disparity between their ages; however, she pushed him back time and age with unorthodox attacks.
"Silence! Pain! Congeal!" Cried Andrew as he glanced backward.
The triple layered hex stunned Kin and Leya quickly overtook him with a crushing mass of ice and wind. As they cleaned up the remainder, the Ator class charged fearlessly into the mass of students. Andrew blanketed the area ahead in shadows to prevent them from knowing where they were and suddenly cried, "fire!"
The shadows dispersed and a thin cone of students fired off their long-ranged attacks. Some shot flames, others rock, ice, wind, or even light. However, for the opposing troops, their attacks were all scattered.
Using his doppelganger to full effect, he flew towards the weakest of the leaders and started a small melee. Sometimes flames danced, other times ice; however, they could never get used to the, once, unwritten rule of blinding each other. It was something they never did in the years past because it made it too challenging. Yet, in this match, he did not bother with such matters and used it to full effect.
"Defensive magic," called out Reva as a mass of attacks appeared.
Kate bit her lip and suddenly a colossal gust of wind ate away at the attacks. It was clearly draining, but the two gusts managed to offset a fair portion of the attacks.
Even as ice and fire shot towards them, the Ator class held valiantly. There was little damage physically to the other side, but their moral grew low. Especially when Andrew's doppelganger blinded and hexed both Juin and Kerryn. After a hard mass of rock to the chest, each was propelled out of the frontlines and sent hurtling back to the rear.
In that time, Yhir was able to approach and reinforce the troop. Through it all, it became a war of attrition. Yet, neither party wanted to quit. After unleashing several devastating attacks, at the expense of their mana pools and consciousness, they finally pushed Yhir and Ator back.
Now only ten students for Andrew's and Leya's class remained to face against the other fifty.
'Leya,' projected Andrew. 'Time for that, hey?'
'It's time.'
"Fall back!" Spoke the two in unison.
As the students fled, Andrew and Leya weaved together a mass of light and shadows. In preparation for this he taught her a small trick and a solid net of the opposing elements was formed.
It drained nearly all of their remaining mana pools, but they ten-meter wide net shot forward at dazzle speeds.
They were forced to constantly solidify the net as it twirled and wrapped around the charging students. However, when forty were captured, they each caused the net to burst into flames.
Several students cried aloud, but Andrew and Leya fell onto one knee.
"Charge," spoke Leya weakly.
Reva and Kate, using their last vestige of power, led the other eight towards the remaining students as the two rested.
Andrew looked at his sister and grinned. Leya did the same and began drawing their blades.
Thirty-secondd break," laughed Andrew.
"Twenty-nine," counted Leya.
The students that fled from the net were caught by the Ator or Yhir classmates before they too joined to ever-frantic healers.
Due to such a large number of students with terrible burns, a dozen healers, teachers included, were dispatched to help them. No one died, but many lost an arm or leg before it was either reattached or regrown through invasive spells.
When a cluster of students, completely exhausted, wandered up the hill, they joined the recovered as they stared at the twins.
Five seconds, four seconds. When it finally came done it, the two jumped forward and brandished knives and sword as they slashed forward. His knives slashed a deep gash across her cheek, but he was returned with a gaping slash in his flank. With wild abandon, the two kept fighting until sheer exhaustion and blood-lose overtook them.
Once again, the medics were called and the result of the match gave twenty points to both Ator and Yhir whereas the others gained only five for their tactics and performance.
As he lay there limply, Andrew murmured, "what about Tifren? They have a solid defence. I'm sure we can entice them with potential points."
"We burned half of the class," laughed Leya weakly. "Probably not gonna like us."
"Just gotta stay on top. I have a domain to build... towns... to... raze..."
Sleep overtook them both and they were left in Kyrana's and Laurel's care.
"I'm pretty sure this is what our year looked like," laughed Laurel as she brought Leya close to her bossom.
Kyrana glared at her and scoffed. "Pretty much, I guess. Anyways, he is much better at taking a beating in class. Hell, he dodged it once too."
"Really? How'd he manage that?"
"Used a shadow puppet and pretended to be sleeping in his normal desk. Still had his cloak. In reality, he skipped for that meeting."
"Huh, she just asked me."
"Yeah, it would've been easy that way, but isn't that boring?"
Laurel laughed and the two brought the blooded and beaten back into their own respective classrooms.
As of now, each classroom was out-fitted with three stretchers that allowed for wounded students to recover due to the constant fighting. While no one died, many were grieviously injured. But by letting off steam in this way, there was no crimes even to the effect of vandalism in the school.
After positioning the unconscious Andrew right in the middle of the class, she sent a gust of air and launched him toward the wall to land before falling perfectly on the stretcher.
As a pre-caution, she performed another quick healing spell and went about her day.
Like usual, the two of the woke up roughly an hour after the fight. After several recovery spells and healing spells, the two limped back home.
"Ah, its those two again," laughed a street vendor. "Tough match?"
"Yeah, six classes on two," sighed Andrew as he rotated his aching shoulders. "Not easy."
Leya nodded and the two were slowly made it back as they casually chatted with the town's folk along the way. Granted, they could have returned faster if they went with Andrew's original plan, but Leya did not like the idea of using beggars as piggy-back rides on a daily basis.