The entire test had been one surprise after another for Evan. He had known that Emilio was handy with a sword. He had known that he had special abilities. But he had not anticipated that he would be able to use and control his abilities to this extent.

No, it was not quite… control either.

It was like… the boy just knew what to do. Was this what was called innate talent? Evan did not think so. Most people said that Evan himself had innate talent. He knew what having innate talent meant. It meant things came easier to him, that he understood some things instinctively. But that did not mean he could always do them instantly. He had to work at it.

Emilio, however, seemed to know what to do with his strange ability.

But that did not mean it did not take its toll.

That was clear to Evan the moment he turned around and saw Emilio bleeding from the nose. His heart jumped to his throat as the boy began to fall and, before he knew it, he was running. He pushed just a little bit of magic into his feet and exploded it, the force pushing him forward, before grabbing the boy just before he hit the ground. Evan himself collapsed because he could not keep his balance, but he made sure Emilio did not fall head-first onto the ground and hurt himself even more.

The vines that had been dancing and swaying in the air lowered, some crawling onto Emilio’s body while others hovered over him. If he did not know better, he would think they were worried.

“What happened?!”

The voice of the Princess pulled his attention.

“He passed out. I think the strain of… whatever he was doing … was too much.”

“I see.”

“Well, I got the flag,” Clara waved the flag around. “Let us go and then we can get him to the Hub. Gods know he can’t stay out of it for long.”

She mumbled the last part but Evan heard her clearly. He sighed softly and then pulled the boy up. “Help me get him on my back.”

They helped without a word. He was a bit surprised at the arrogant Princess agreeing to help them. But then again, Emilio had a habit of making people do they wouldn’t usually do.

Within a minute, the boy was on his back, his chin on his shoulder. Evan tightly held the legs on either side and then they were off. Thankfully, the way back was much easier. The makeshift road that they had created was still there and they were able to run across it without any problem.

“Why are these things following us?”

At Clara’s question, he glanced to the side and saw the vines moving along with them, crawling and creeping across trees. Some of them were even moving through the air right beside them.

“They’re following Emilio,” the Princess observed before Evan could answer.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” He replied. “I don’t speak plant.”

They were a bit more than halfway to the other side when the vines stopped. One of them shot forward toward Emilio and Evan jumped back, and the other two poised to attack.

The ends of those vines stood up like snakes. He frowned and gently stepped back. The vines moved forward in tandem. Letting go of one leg, he held the other tightly while his now free hand moved up and gently tapped on one of Emilio’s arms, trying to wake him. Emilio was the one who spoke plant. He took another step back and this time they did not move. He frowned in thought and let go of his arm, holding his leg again as he stepped back. They moved.

He exhaled softly. Crawlers were magical and gained sentience after a certain period of time after their birth, which could range from a few decades to a few centuries. He had no idea how old this crawler was, but it had clearly been around enough for long enough to develop some sort of sentience. And it seemed that it was worried about Emilio. Somehow.

“You two, I need some help. One of you needs to pat Emilio.”

“What?”

“I think they can’t go further. But they will try to get to Emilio if they - the core - think he is not taken care of.”

Clara frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Just do it.” He hissed. He had seen first-hand how nature came to Emilio’s aid. It was not a surprise that a magical plant with sentience was worried about him.

“Alright.” Clara sighed and stepped back, patting Emilio on the back.

“Okay, a few more steps back.”

All of them stepped back in tandem. The vines stayed in place.

“Alright. I think we can move now. Preisis, be ready to shield us if needed.”

And with that, they were off again. Thankfully, the vines did not do anything.

Soon, they were out of the dried swamp.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

He couldn’t help but grin. “We did it!”

The very next moment, he felt a rush of magic coming at him from behind. He dodged immediately, just in time for a jet of water to shoot by him, and turned around.

He saw Han Klevin, letting out what he supposed was an impressed whistle. “Damn. You dodged that?” His eyes swept over the group. “This is quite an interesting assortment. A princess, a lady, a peasant and a Laik? Sounds like the start of a bad joke.”

The boy was surrounded by others in his team, all of which were nobles of the same disgusting cut as the guy.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Evan growled.

“Well, my problem is that … I do not have a flag.”

“So?” Even exhausted, the Princess sounded as arrogant as always. She stood straight, staring them down. The group of brats hesitated for a moment. Damn, her attitude was nice to witness when it was not directed at him.

Han, however, seemed to be unfazed. “So, we will be taking yours.”

“What?!” Clara almost screeched from beside him. “That’s cheating, Klevin!”

“Is it?” The boy let out that slimy grin Evan hated so much. “Professor Sullivan never said that we had to take a flag from where he kept it. He just said we had to get back with a flag before time was over.”

Evan cursed lowly as he realised that the fucker was telling the truth.

“He also said,” Han moved, poising himself to attack, “that anything is fair game as long as we do not permanently maim or kill each other.”

The boy a whirlwind of fire at him, enforced by the wind of one of his teammates. Clara stomped her foot and immediately the ground rose to meet the whirlwind. It wasn’t a solid pillar, it was more the soil made solid, so instead of exploding like a stone pillar would have done, it slowed down the whirlwind and once it got wet, it got heavier and heavier until it was leaning into the water. After that, it was just a matter of the Princess blowing the entire thing away with her own, far more powerful, wind.

“Too bad, you bastards. You’re done.”

He couldn’t really use his full powers right now with Emilio on him but he could at least send a fireball. That was exactly what he did. The fireball moved at great speeds. However, just as the fireball reached halfway to them, it was forcefully dispersed midair. The force of it almost threw him back and he stumbled, losing his balance. He immediately turned to one side and wrapped an arm around Emilio’s head as he fell to the ground. In a surprising show of strength, he bodily pulled Emilio to his front so he could protect him better, just before they impacted against the ground.

----------------------------------------

It was the breath being knocked out of him that brought him back to his senses.

“Wha-”

He couldn’t make sense of anything, He was on the ground, and there was someone above him. For a moment, he panicked.

“We have a nullification expert with us, see?” The familiar voice of Han Klevin made him freeze.

That was when he realized that Evan was above him. “What… what’s happening?” He asked, his voice hoarse.

“Han and his group ambushed us. They want the flag.”

He didn’t have the time to ask more questions. Evan cursed and stood up and he could see and hear clashes of different elements. His head rung from all the noise and flashes. He gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes shut and clutching his head. He glanced at them and now they were on full on fighting, one against one.

Sometimes the fight got a bit too close to him, he could feel the heat of the fire, the coldness of the water or the breeze of the wind. Once or twice, he felt something wash over him. It was neither cold nor hot, just … something that seemed to crawl over him for an instant before disappearing.

He tried to move away from all the chaos. But before he could, he felt a sharp tug on his head, and looked up through his blurry vision to see a boy he vaguely recognized.

“Where do you think you are going?”

With those words, he was pulled up to his feet by the hair, making him gasp in pain.

“HEY!” The boy screamed, making his ears ring. Emilio could see the fight stop and every one turn around to them, even though he had a hard time making out who was who. “We don’t want any more fights. Just give us the flag and we will go our own way. Or your little pet Laik here suffers more pain than anything he had ever felt.”

“You fucker-”

Evan’s voice was faded. He felt another tug on his forehead and a sharp pain piercing his side, making him scream out.

“Ah ah ah. Don’t move. The flag.”

“Did I mention? He’s good at anatomical spells too.” Han’s voice was smug as shit

He did not know what was happening. He couldn’t think. He was exhausted and his body ached from joint to joint. But he moved. Perhaps it was his hatred for Han or perhaps it was that he couldn’t let the boy get away with what he was doing. He pulled his hand back and threw as strong a punch as he could.

Which… was not very strong.

The boy caught it easily and twisted it behind his back, making him yell out in pain once again. “What is this? Trying to be a hero? What are you going to do, you useless piece of shi- aaaAAAA!!”

The boy immediately let go of him and fell to the ground. He turned around to find the boy scratching at his skin, his hands and arms, neck and face, as violently red rashes developed all over. He looked down at his own hand… his wet sleeve. The sap. It had leaked. Somehow. It wasn’t stuck to his skin anymore. It had leaked and got onto the boy’s hand and now the poison of the… what was the plant’s name? He forgot… it was spreading.

Absently, he could hear Evan screaming. “Princess, take the flag and get out of here. You can use your wind to speed up. Clara and I will hold them back!”

He couldn’t really register what happened after that and he couldn’t bring himself to care. He squatted down, peering at the boy who was still screaming and scratching at his skin. He wanted to get that punch in. He pulled his fist back and knocked him on the head, feeling happy when he heard the yelp.

That drained all the energy out of him. He couldn’t keep himself up anymore, his body was hurting, his head was hurting and even his eyes were hurting.

He plopped down on the ground and closed his eyes, all the sounds around him fading.

And then… he knew nothing.