“I wonder where they are.” Gwin asked. “I’m sure they’re fine. Adonis just doesn’t play fair. It’ll be hard for anyone to beat him.” Fenris said, attempting to reassure Gwin. Fenris and Gwin stood waiting by their destination, where the flag sits atop a pyramid.
“Are you guys alright?” Gwin asked, booking towards Hazel and his team, resting. “We’re fine, Gwin. Don’t worry.” Hazel said with a smile. “We’re just a little beat, that's all.” Zeke said. Gwin turned to the forest, hoping to see any sight of Kassius and Eva. She worried that something might have happened to her friends, or if something had happened to Kassius or Eva.
“Why couldn’t you guys just take the flag and end this?” Myrtia asked with slight concern. “There’s a magical barrier that prevents one person from a team from even climbing the stairs.” Fenris explained. “It must be the entire team that enters the barrier in order to climb the steps.” Gwin continued. “Bit of a dick move if you ask me.” Fenris said.
“It’s to avoid students, like Adonis, from doing anything selfish.” Peony said. Fenris wanted to retort and complain even more but kept silent, as he saw no point to argue. The group remained silent as they anxiously waited for their friends.
Hazel then stood up and walked over towards Gwin and Fenris, his tail erected up, stiff. “Adonis is coming.” Hazel said with a monotone vice. “Do you sense Kassius….or Eva?” Gwin asked anxiously. Hazel stood silent, not long after, he began to tremble, and his tail lowered , his once gleeful look disappeared without a trace. “What’s wrong?!” Gwin asked, terrified at what Hazel might’ve sensed, or lack thereof.
“There’s something following him..” Hazel said, trembling still. “Something?” Fenris asked. Concern spread among the group as they watched Hazel turn white with fear.
“Is it Kassius?! Or Eva?!” Gwin asked impatiently, afraid of the idea of something else in the forest with them. “I-....I don’t know…” Hazel struggled to form words as he seemed overwhelmed by what he was sensing.
Before long, they heard cracking and rustling from the leaves. A strong gust of wind came from inside the forest. As the noise grew closer, a sense of dark and cold spread through the air, the atmosphere became more grim than normal. Gwin, Fenris, and Hazel backed away from their spot expecting something terrifying will jump out at any moment, Peony, and her team tensed up, preparing for whatever might come out of the trees. In an instant, two people emerged from the trees, startling the group into battle stances. It was Adonis and Vivian, battered and dirtied. Their clothes were ripped and a few parts of their body seemed to be burnt and bruised. Their faces are filled with fear and trauma, as if they had seen death itself and survived.
“Where’s Kassius, asshole?” Fenris angrily said, pulling Adonis up from the ground. Adonis didn’t respond, with any sensible words. He only shivered and mumbled something that Fenris could only barely understand.
“He…..N-not……W–w-w-what….” Vivian fared no better than Adonis, however, she could not even speak a word.
“It’s coming.” Hazel said, catching everyone’s attention. The group turned to the forest, where Adonis and Vivian emerged. They saw a figure step out of the trees, with a dark blade in hand, and glowing blood red eyes. It was Kassius.
“Kassius!” Gwin said, with relief, the rest of the group remained silent however. “I’m glad you’re safe, where’s Eva? Isn’t she with you? Did something happen?” Gwin asked her multiple questions without noticing Kassius had not been responding to her. Fenris and the others, however, looked at Kassius anxiously and afraid. “Kassius?” Gwin asked, becoming more weary of her friend. “Gwin, get back.” Fenris said.
Fenris and Hazel stepped in front of Gwin and readied their weapons. “That’s not, Kassius.” Hazel said grimly. “What are you?” Fenris demanded. For a moment, Kassius stood still without speaking a word. “More bodies?......hahahaha….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” Kassius laughed loudly and maniacally, enthusiastic at something, something terrible. He let out a satisfied sigh and a chuckle that chilled everyone to their very core. “I will enjoy bathing in your blood.” Kassius said with a big smile on his face.
“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH KASSIUS!?” Gwin demanded, her hands shivering. “Gwin calm down.” Fenris urged her.
“If you want your friend that desperately, then you know what you must do, don’t you?” Kassius said. They remained standing and kept their eyes on him, to avoid being caught off guard. Gwin shivered uncontrollably from fear and overwhelming concern. Fenris patted her head.
“We’ll bring him back.” Fenris said, with more confidence than he usually would have.
At the sound of his confidence and his words, Gwin began to relax a little and gave him a nod and a look that meant “good luck”. Fenris turned to Hazel and gave him a nod of understanding, agreeing as to what they needed to do.
He took a deep breath to prepare himself for the fight. “We accept the challenge.” Fenris yelled, gaining a happy reaction from Kassius. “Kassius, if you’re in there, you can pay me back later.” Fenris said.
Fenris prepared himself to fight his friend, and so did Hazel. Kassius readied his blade with a smile on his face, eager to start the fight. “Ready when–” Kassius began before being interrupted by a lightning spell from Fenris.
Kassius blocked the spell successfully, without gaining a scratch on it. Before he could recover, however, Hazel performed a big leap forward with his staff and came down with a strong blow above Kassius. Kassius was quick enough to block with his sword and parry Hazel away. Kassius acted quickly, before the two could attack again, he swung his sword wide and a dark flame arch surrounded him and extended all around him, reaching Fenris and Hazel with ease. The two were only barely able to block the flame, with Hazel catching some of the fire on his clothes.
“I’m impressed, your tenacity is worthy of attention among strong combatants, however….” Kassius put his sword in front of his chest, the edge pointing to the sky.
“You will have to do better.” The dark flames extended higher forming part of the blade, the dark flames nearly reaching the branches of the trees. “May the flames of the abyss consume you!” Kassius yelled as he brought down his blade to cut down Fenris.
Stolen story; please report.
He readied his shield spell but he felt the overwhelming force of the large blade coming down on him through the shield. The sheer power of the blade may be too much for his shield spell, however, he could not move as he was the only one standing against Kassius, and Gwin and the others. Fenris prepared himself for the worst as the blade came closer and closer, until a loud bang was heard and he saw a bright light in front of him. He immediately covered his eyes to block the blinding light and was surprised that he didn’t feel any burning. He opened his eyes and brought down the shield and found Kassius kneeling blind. Fenris looked all over to find the source of the light and found Eva at the opening to the forest.
“Eva!!” Gwin yelled, tears coming down from her face, and a big sigh of relief escaping her mouth. Fenris shared the same feeling of relief seeing his friend emerge, but he quickly turned focus on Kassius. “Annoying little flee!” Kassius yelled with frustration. “But, the more the merrier.” he continued with a chuckle.
Eva quickly got herself into a favorable position and Hazel got back on his feet, ready to fight. “We need to get the sword out of his hand.” Eva yelled to Fenris and Hazel.
“How the hell do we do that?” Fenris asked. Eva stood still, contemplating, watching Kassius. Then, her face brightened with an idea.
“Follow my lead.” Eva said. Hazel and Fenris turned to each other in confusion but nodded at her, putting all their hopes on her plan. “HAHAHAHA, this WILL be exciting.” Kassius said enthusiastically, more than ever.
Eva then began shooting her arrows at Kassius unloading a barrage. Kassius blocked each arrow with ease and tremendous speed. Fenris then followed up with his own attacks, unloading a barrage of elemental spells. Eva mixed her magic with her attacks, allowing her to attack Kassius on all sides. The two continued putting pressure on Kassius, preventing him from retaliating, however, none of their attacks seem to get through to him. His reflexes are inhumanly fast and his blade is not fading nor is it being damaged in any way. Kassius himself seems to be enjoying every moment of the attack, not showing any sign of fatigue.
“Disappointing! I expected better!” Kassius yelled, seemingly frustrated. “Maybe I should kill you all right now...” he continued. He swung his sword and the force knocked Fenris and Eva back. “Tsk tsk tsk, here I thought I would at least be entertained. Very disappointing.” Kassius sighed.
When he readied his sword for the killing blow, he felt a kick from his back and he lost grip on his blade. It was grabbed by Hazel’s tail, gaining relief from Eva and Fenris.
“What now?!” Hazel asked, hoping for a quick answer before Kassius could take the chance to get his blade back.
“Now you give that back, boy.” Kassius said, looking towards Hazel and walking to him slowly. “Kassius!” yelled Gwin. Kassius turned around to Gwin, still trembling at the sight of him. “Pathetic little girl.” Kassius said, with a disgusted look.
Before he could do anything, he felt something pierce his back, and his energy quickly drained his body. He dropped down to his knees, and struggled to stay awake. He turned his head, and saw Eva with her bow aimed at him and Fenris walking close behind to his front.
“Time for you to take a nap.” Fenris said. Kassius only let out a short chuckle and smiled. “Tenacity….impressive hehe…..” Kassius said softly as his eyes slowly began to close. “Til…..next we……meet again…..” Kassius whispered and dropped down to the ground, unconscious.
With the fight over, the group took a breath and dropped down to the ground to rest. “Will he be alright?” Peony asked. No one could answer as they were still in shock after what they had seen.
“He’ll be fine” Eva reassured the group.
“I shot him with an arrow that will only drain his energy to the point of sleep. He’ll wake up after his body has regained what energy he lost from rest.”
“ I’m just glad it’s over.” Fenris sighed in relief.
“What do we do with them?” Hazel asked, gesturing to Adonis and Vivian. Gwin walked up to them and knelt down.
“They’re still traumatized at what happened. I may be able to replace their memories with something else.” Gwin suggested. Zeke stood up in protest, followed by Myrtia.
“Are you crazy?!” Zeke said. “You’re going to do to them what they would’ve done to us?! We’re no better than them!” Zeke continued.
“He’s right, we’d get into serious trouble if they found out we did this and it seems wrong.” Myrtia pleaded.
“This is as much for them as it is for Kassius. Look at them, they can barely recognize their surroundings. Knowing Adonis, he would shout and yell about Kassius until they called for him to be expelled or worse.” Fenris argued.
“Same goes for you guys if you do this.” Peony pointed out. The group stood silent at the predicament presented to them.
“I’d gladly take that risk.” Eva said proudly. “He’s an idiot, but THIS idiot is worth it.” Fenris said. “He’s our friend and we’ll help him, no matter what.” Gwin said.
The three stood together in front of Kassius against Zeke and Myrtia. Peony and Hazel stood in the middle of the two groups.
“He saved all of us Zeke, we owe him this much.” Hazel said, putting a hand on Zeke’s shoulder. Zeke contemplated the words of Hazel and the others and let out a tiring sigh. “Fine, we’ve been outvoted.” Zeke regrettably admitted, and Myrtia hung her head down.
“Are you sure you could do this?” Eva asked Gwin. “I know a little bit of memory magic, not enough to wipe someone's memories but alter them.”
“I can make it so they remember us winning fair and square if you tell me exactly when and where he saw Kassius change.” Gwin explained.
“I won’t be able to navigate through his memories if I don't have a destination……so to speak.” Eva told her recollection of events from Kassius’ change to the end of their fight.
After hearing Eva’s recollection, Gwin began the incantation for the spell and began her work on Adonis and Vivian. After finishing her work on them, Zeke and Myrtia approached Gwin and asked her to do the same to them, as they didn’t think that they would be able to keep quiet about it. Gwin was reluctant but inevitably agreed and performed the spell on them. Adonis, Vivian, Kassius, Zeke, and Myrtia lay unconscious as Gwin finished with the memory spell. The only thing left to do is to win the games before more teams see the condition the rest are in. Fenris and Eva carried Kassius on their shoulders and their team walked through the barrier. They climbed the stairs slowly and reached the peak where the flag stood in front of them.
“Ready?” Fenris asked, looking at both the girls. They responded with a nod. Fenris placed Kassius’ hand on the flagpole, then placed his, followed by Gwin and then Eva. Once they placed their hands on the pole, the flag began to shine brighter than anything they have seen before. As the light kept on shining, the faint sound of cheers could be heard. Like echoes in the distance, the cheers became louder and louder. This was the moment that it really sank in for the team. They won. They truly won the war games.