Thorne watched the group of students through a veiled expression. Jacky soon followed after the fifteen cultivators. Her static-like smell wafted into the artificial desert as she skipped out of the teleporter.
“All right, everyone! " she shouted. "The battle starts in five minutes. And remember, no killing.” She said this while, for some reason, staffing directly at Zal.
Shaking his head with a grudging grunt, Zal turned around and looked at the group; “All right, everyone,” He said, his voice seeming to be a little strained, “You all remember what we planned, let's go.”
The team all nodded and positioned themselves in their pre-planned formation. Zal, Moravian, and Procka held a tight group around Lyra. The four of them looked forward to their fifteen-man opposition with nervy excitement. Just at the surface, Thorne noticed Lyra’s leg shake slightly and Moravian fidgeting with his blade.
‘They're inexperienced.’ Thorne sighed as he turned his back on his team and watched the enemy, 'It was always going to be this way.'
His blank eyes rolled over each individual face. All of them were marks for Thorne. He stood fifteen feet away from his
team and was well out of reach if he needed backup.
As he watched the other group, Thorne took great notice of how they set up their positions. Out of the fifteen students, there were four amber, one red, three yellow, three blue, one sable, two orange, and one black spectrum cultivator. Humans were the most common race among the group, but Thorne noticed many other species among them. As he observed all the different students, his eyes lingered on the red cultivator.
‘Is that…’ Thorne squinted at the demon, ‘…Tolak.’ He recognized. The red skin, thin rapier, and his general unique presence among the group immediately activated Thorne's memory and threw him back in time to when he had first met the demon in the forest.
‘Interesting.’ Thorne thought, but he quickly moved on from Tolak.
Despite the intrigue of Tolak as an individual, Thorne knew that the demon was only one of the many threats he would have to face in this bout. Thus, he decided to analyze the group as a whole; ‘So the four ambers are in front. They’ll probably act like a wall.’ Thorne thought as he watched the amber cultivators position themselves in a stringent four-man line.
‘Behind them is Tolak. He will be a hit-and-hide attacker. Strike when we're not paying attention, then hide back behind the ambers.’
Thorne then looked over to the sable and black cultivators, who were on separate sides of the wall of amber cultivators. ‘So, they’ll do hit and runs, much like Moravian, and with the yellow cultivators behind the amber wall as well, we won't be able to pay them too much attention.’ Thorne’s eyes hardened, ‘Those two will have to be one of my biggest priorities.’
Finally, Thorne watched the last three cultivators set themselves up. All the way in the back of the group were the blue cultivators; ‘So they’ll do the same as Lyra; disrupt.'
As the cultivators aligned themselves in their precise pre-planned formation, Thorne squinted in confusion as one of the blue cultivators—a human man—stepped up and stood firm with the yellow and red damage dealers, ‘Oh.’ He gasped, ‘In the blue spectrum, there's both water and ice. So, he will also be one of the ranged damage dealers.’
‘Damnit.’ Thorne exhaled as pain shot through his head! Images flashed in front of him: Bloody corpses, the smiling dead man, Thorne’s blade biting through flesh, and ultimately, Master Khal’s smiling figure.
Thorne squeezed his eyes shut as he willed the visions to stop. Eventually, they did, and he could only gasp and sputter as he recollected himself. ‘What is happening to me.’ He questioned as the last remaining bolts of head pain attacked him.
‘Why is…’ Thorne eyes widened, and his legs began to slightly tremble. Master Khal stood behind the amber wall of students. His sword was outstretched as a vast, bloody smile played across the master’s face.
Thorne blinked. ‘Where is…he?’ he breathed erratically. Where Master Khal had previously stood, a calm-looking Tolak stood. ‘Damnit, what is happening to me?’ Thorne grimaced. ‘I need to focus.’
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Shaking his head, Thorne retrieved his blades. He gripped the familiar metal in his hands. The smooth runes calmed him as he methodically began to switch his brain to a different mode; a mindset that he was quite familiar with.
The sand caressed his legs as he stood firm, awaiting Jacky’s signal. No words were spoken by either camp, and in no time, the battle was about to commence. Thorne felt his blood surge, his amber and red energy—an unfamiliar dichotomy of power—working together despite their differences.
“Thorne you ready?” A deep voice shouted from behind.
Nodding, Thorne held up his blade, not even bothering to turn around.
“All right, everyone,” Jacky, with flushed cheeks, stood between the two groups of students, “Remember, no killing. Have a good battle!” With a burst of energy, she sped off. Thorne didn’t even try to comprehend her speed; after all, a grade three lighting cultivator would be faster than anything Thorne had ever seen.
Just as Jacky said the word, Thorne—who had already distributed red energy to his legs—leaped forward, hopping right over the seemingly impassable line of amber defenders.
His fiery leap shot bursts of sand into the air, which sprinkled all over the amber guards. As he was so quick, not even a shield or any form of defense was cast, which allowed Thorne to enter the heart of the formation immediately!
He twisted in the air and with a ready fist, he cast his first attack at the backs of the amber students. A red beam of energy exploded from his hand, as he cast an energy-intensive, Red Nova Torrent!
As he turned around to focus on his new prey, Thorne saw that his attack, unfortunately, didn’t take any of the amber cultivators out. By this time, the students were able to cast amber shields in defense, and the torrent of red energy could only knock the amber cultivators over.
As he turned, Thorne saw that he was almost directly in front of Tolak and his golden rapier!
‘Well, let's see how arrogant you are now.’ Thorn smirked.
He brought his right saber up, and with all the force in his body, Thorne brought it back down to earth in a heaving downward strike! The air rippled, and the smell of copper and metal suddenly exploded into everyone’s noses as Thorne’s own blade made contact with Tolak’s thin rapier!
CRACK!!!!
With a horrifying noise, Tolak’s ostentatious golden rapier cracked under the brute power of Thorne's own strike!
The demon—for the first time—looked terrified. His black lip quivered as he gaped at the remnants of his broken sword.
“N-No!” He shouted as his eyes—broiling with untampered rage— darted up at Thorne.
'What is that?!' Thorne froze for a second. Tolak was gone, replaced by the smiling human mentor. Closing his eyes, Thorne felt his heart shake in terror. With gritted teeth, he stuttered forward, and with all the might he could muster, Thorne threw a deadly punch in front of him. The fist connected! There was no resistance, and as Thorne opened his eyes, he could see Tolak the demon collapse to the sand-filled ground, unconscious.
Thorne gasped, and with trembling fingers, he wiped the sweat off his brow.
In a brief instant, his mind returned to its normal state. However, as it did, Thorn’s eyes widened, and his heartbeat raced as he sensed energy beyond anything he’d ever felt before. The yellow energy course in front of him, and for the briefest of moments, he could see Jacky’s silhouette collect Tolak’s slumped body. ‘Oh, it's just Jacky.’ He sighed.
“
Thorne!” a voice shouted loudly over the constant clangs and explosions. “Take out the ranged attackers!"
Thorne swiveled and glanced back to where his party was situated; from one look, Thorne could see that the battle was not going well.
Zal was in combat with the black and sable spectrum students while also deflecting the constant bombardments of fireballs, lightning bolts, and ice spikes.
Of course, Procka was trying her best to assist; she could cast fire attacks of her own, which were often twice as menacing as the opposition's, but in the face of pure numbers, she could only do so much.
Moravian and Lyra also appeared to be doing their best. They chipped away at the opposition: Moravian through sneak attacks and quick jabs and Lyra through her constant waves of water, which disrupted the opponents' movement and momentum.
Thorne looked around at his position. ‘This isn’t good.’ He realized. Previously, when he had infiltrated the enemies' formation, he had essentially been in the heart of the machine. That hadn’t lasted long, however. During his short but harrowing fight with Tolak, the group of fourteen migrated away from Thorne.
Now, they were all far in front of him. Two amber cultivators guarded the caboose of the tight formation, and to reach the enemy's true warriors, he had to pass through those two defenders.
‘Well, they forced me to do it.’ Thorne sighed as he took a few heaving steps through the sand. The amber cultivators held firm, but Thorne could immediately notice their inexperience. Their shields were held too low, and they averted their eyes as Thorne glared at them. ‘They’ve probably never been in a life-or-death battle.’ Thorne realized, ‘Weaklings.’
As he continued toward them, he brought out his swords and began agitating his red energy. The energy of destruction—a jagged mess—coursed through his pathways and traveled up to where his blades were situated. With a deadpan expression, Throne looked directly at the two guards.
“You should run.” He voiced with a solemn look.
Alas, they didn’t. They stood firm, and despite their nerves and fear, they continued to oppose Thorne.
“Unfortunate.”
With energy coursing in his swords, Thorne unleashed his mighty attack! What he had once called the simplest attack flew out from both his blades. The red energy extended past the metal, and with ease, it reached the guards'!
“ARG!” The two shouted as they tried to throw up a barrier.
“That won't work,” Thorne said as he watched the struggling guards with disinterest. After all, he knew how the amber energy worked, so he could dismantle it with ease. He had concentrated all of his red energy in one burst rather than doing what was typical and spreading it out.
CRACK!
The red energy decimated the two’s shield, and with a vengeance, the beams of chaos rushed forward at the two men!
ZING!
A burst of yellow shot in front of Thorne’s eyes.
“Jacky.” He muttered as he expressionlessly glanced at where the two students had once stood. “No killing, I guess.”