After Bailey finished explaining the contents of the exam to his student, he took some time for himself, a little bit of relaxation before the galling task of chasing them through the forest. He sat on a boulder and began to light a smoke, when he noticed a feminine face staring at him from between his feet, one made of grass and vines. He sighs and puts out the flame, “Hello Sharia.” The face smiles and begins talking to him in the language of the Fey, Sylvan.

“There are some questionable individuals who have entered the forest, I counted five of them at present, moving quickly towards here.”

“Shit, today of all days, this cant be a coincidence, describe them.”

“They mostly appear to be shifters, but there is one goliath among them.”

“That group composition doesn’t sound familiar, but there are plenty of shifters with grudges against me, so I assume it’s me they are after.” This just added to Bailey’s list of annoyances, not only did he have to invigilate the exam, but he also had to deal with the intruders at the same time. He figured it was best to get his students away from the area, so he decided to begin the exam a little early. During the short wait, Sharia provided him with a small assortment of weapons, namely a sling that he could keep hidden in his sleeve. No sooner than when he was done preparing, did his foes reveal themselves. Bailey smiled and struck an intimidating stance, “Bout fucking time you stopped hiding, had you shits pegged the minute you entered my forest.” Lyrus stepped forwards, cracking his knuckles.

“Pray to whatever god shows you favour Deadeye, cause very soon your gonna be meeting them.”

“Look, I got shit to do in about 30 minutes, so if you would kindly piss off, I would appreciate it.”

“You die today Deadeye, there is no way out of this!” Shouted Grisha, enraged by the sight of his enemy. Lyrus shot him a look, signalling him to stay quiet. The group stands in silence for a moment, waiting for someone to make the first move.

“Not down for small talk then?” As Bailey says this, Lyrus launches himself at him, his claws on display, trying to claw at Bailey’s face. Bailey avoids the strike by bending over backwards, laughing as he watches the shifter fly over him.

“Getting right into it then, fair enough, I don’t care to wait around either.” Thunk swings his greataxe at Bailey’s neck, whilst Grisha sweeps at the feet. Bailey swiftly dodges both attacks by jumping between them gracefully. “Now this can hardly be fair, the four of you against me?” Bailey lands on Grisha’s leg, while staring at Lyrus.

“Plus the guy you still have in the forest, didn’t anyone ever tell you?” Bailey kicks into Grisha’s stomach, launching him back a few metres. “Don’t split the party.” As he says this, he fires a small stone at Lyrus’ shoulder, penetrating through. Lyrus grips it in pain, holding back the urge to shout. Scylla, who was standing to the side, was amazed by the attack, the stone moved as if it were a bullet.

“I don’t appreciate you shits messing with my students…” Bailey fired off two more stones at Thunk and Grisha, Thunk blocked the attack with his shield, and Grisha dove onto the ground. “…So, if you don’t mind, I’m cutting this fight a little short.” As Bailey turns to attack Lyrus again, he is surprised to see him already in his face. Lyrus lets out a flurry of attacks against Bailey, only landing a couple of his attacks. Bailey had underestimated the skill level of his attackers, he also realised he was vastly underprepared, he needed some help. After creating some distance to the group, Bailey fetches a small berry from his pocket, he speaks softly to the spirits within the forest, “Warrior of the forest, please accept this offering…”

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Scylla shouted out to inform Lyrus of the incoming spell, ordering him to prevent its completion, “… Reap the rewards of battle with me.” Bailey drops the berry to the ground as Lyrus launches himself at him, claws out. Spirits form around the berry, creating the shape of a pale skinned humanoid holding a scimitar, it uses its blade to block Lyrus’ Claws.

“For what purpose have you summoned the great elder Mooyan, Syrius?” the darkling asked. Bailey turns towards the forest, “I need you to keep them busy whilst I take care of things, kill them if necessary.” Mooyan smiles, forcing Lyrus to take a few steps back. She performs a short blade dance to show her immense capabilities before takings a stance, “As you wish.” As Bailey begins to run into the forest, Scylla shifts into her bestial form, hidden beneath her clothing, and begins to track Bailey’s path.

After 15 minutes of tracking in the forest, Bailey managed to find tracks of one of his students, Rhea in particular. He was about to pursue but was stopped by the sound of fast approaching footsteps. Bailey quickly rolled past as Lyrus stomped down on his position. He was surprised that he was caught so quickly, he did not even sense his approach, and now he was caught in a duel with the shifter. Bailey got up and began to tackle Lyrus into a nearby tree, “You found me rather quickly, I was sure I didn’t leave any tracks behind.” Lyrus clasps his fists together and brings them down into Bailey’s back. “We may not of had a trail to follow, but there is always a smell to track!” Bailey’s thoughts became fixated on the ‘we’, it seems they weren’t alone together. After a quick look around, he couldn’t quite see the location of the other party. It didn’t matter, when they entered his forest, they gave up the chance at hiding from him. Bailey jumps off Lyrus’ body, firing a stone straight for the head. This time, Lyrus managed to catch rock, the palm of his hand stinging from the impact. “Have this back!” Lyrus throws the rock back at Bailey as hard as he could manage, although he couldn’t do the damage the ranger could manage, the stone striking Bailey’s gut hurt nonetheless.

“I’ve trained for years to kill you.” Lyrus points at Bailey, finally able to let out years of frustration, “Today I am going to fulfil the promise I made to my father, to get revenge for what you did to him, for what you did to my family!” As Lyrus is talking, Bailey fires a stone into the air above the shifter, muttering a spell under his breath. Instantly the stone duplicates over and over, conjuring a barrage raining down onto Lyrus. Lyrus tries his best to catch the stones but was outmatched by the sheer quantity of attacks.

“Blah blah blah, I get it, you’re here to kill me, you made that perfectly obvious, so kill me, don’t talk about killing me, don’t stop to think about it, just do it.” Lyrus screamed out, frustrated that he couldn’t make his case he charges at the ranger.

Bailey runs back to make some distance but realises that the shifter is much faster than he is, and instead decides to summon help from the forest. Bailey stops focusing on maintaining his earlier summon, instead summoning a vine to lash out at the shifter. Lyrus was forced to not only avoid attacks from Bailey, but to also avoid getting dragged away by the vine. After a minute of fighting, Lyrus eventually falls to his knees in front of his enemy, frustrated at his own weakness. Bailey, finally finding the opportunity to catch his breath, grabs a stick and begins sharpening it against a stone. “Don’t be upset, you did your best, but this is your limit.” Bailey kneels in front of him, lifting the shifters head with the sharp end of the stick. “You wouldn’t have lasted half as long if you didn’t have that bitch healing you the entire time.” Lyrus tries to hide his surprise, “If Deadeye knew about her, why didn’t he attack her?”

“Come out, I’m gonna give you the opportunity to talk before I kill you, take it as a mercy.” Scylla reveals herself from the tree line, rushing over to Lyrus to heal some of his wounds.

“Now talk, how did you know to come here…”