MARIN, FRIDAY, MERCHANTUS 34TH

Marin spent the rest of the week mentally preparing to confront Garrus, the Aeromancer. She studied everything she could about Garrus, listened to everything Rone could tell her about Garrus, and interviewed the mage who defeated Garrus on the first day of classes. Marin even prioritized countering Aeromancers when studying with Syn and Behngi. Garrus was the first step of many that Marin would need to take to stay at Spire.

There was always a reason not to take that step, always an unknown she wanted to prepare for. Garrus was a myth built up in Marin’s mind. Finally, Marin gave Rone the wrong excuse as the two women sparred: “I can’t fight Garrus. I would have to do it during gym, and there’s no way Tilly would let me.”

Rone smirked and raised a hand. Today, she wore green wraps around her chest, the same color as her class robes. “Coach Tilly?! I have a question!”

Tilly turned to face Rone and shouted, “Yeah, what is it?”

“What do we do if we want to challenge a boy for their rank?” Rone asked innocently.

“Fuckin! Crush ‘em!” Tilly shouted back, punching a fist into her palm

“Can we do it now?”

This question visibly piqued Tilly’s interest. At an inhuman speed, she sprinted over. She huddled up with Rone and Marin on their sparring mat. “Rone, I would love you forever if you were the first this year to strut into Coach Berry’s class and knock one of his dildoes down a peg.”

Marin hid her face, waiting for the inevitable response.

“See, Marin, nothing is stopping you from going across the hall now and challenging that boy,” Rone said cheerily.

“You got a goal, little gal?” Coach Tilly asked Marin.

Marin felt too small for this, but the social pressure was too much for her. “I want to challenge the next lowest rank so I am no longer at the bottom.”

“Then answer me this, Marin.” Coach Tilly grabbed Marin by the shoulders and stared at her with intense auburn eyes. “Are you fucking ready?”

“I… I am?” Marin responded, unsure.

“Now, you are going to do me a favor, and kick that boy’s ass, and tell me the look on Berry’s face when you do it. If you come back a failure, your lap count increases by fifty, and you will spar an extra hour with me.”

Marin thought she would cry, but Tilly guided her to the door. The coach didn’t leave her domain but stared at Marin intently, waiting for her to step across the hall to the other gym where the first-year boys were sparring.

Marin stepped forward, and Tilly gave her an encouraging clap. “Get some!”

Marin entered the boy's gym class and was quickly met by Coach Berry. Coach Berry was quite handsome, and the first thing Marin noticed was how his smile looked on his perfectly chiseled jawline. As Coach Berry closed the distance, she realized she would have to look almost straight up to see his piercing blue eyes.

Behind Berry’s formidable sculpted frame were young men mirroring the sparring done on the lady's side of the room.

“I’m Coach Berry. What do you have for me?” Berry asked of Marin, but then he saw Tilly across the hall smirking. “Oh, Hi Tilly. Is today the day?”

“You bet your ass it is. She said she wants to obliterate your lowest in class.” Tilly says, pointing at Marin.

“I…” Marin started, but the rival coaches had already begun to banter.

“Then that means this is your lowest in class.” He looked down at Marin again. “Not the most impressive fight to start the year off Tilly. No offense.”

“None taken…” Marin whispered.

Tilly spoke over Marin, "If you want an interesting fight, then convince Samwen to find the courage to take on Terra or any of the five men sitting just below her.”

“Let's make this exciting then,” Berry said with a charismatic grin. “Bring your girls over here. Let them watch the fight.”

“Nice try, Berry. My girls are doing real sparring here. To the fucking limit. That's why you’ll be seeing your boys leaving at the end of the year. The first domino to fall will be the boy Marin mercilessly mangles.” Tilly made a motion implying disfiguring and breaking bones with her hands.

Berry laughed and left Marin standing in the doorway as he ran off toward a short man wearing a green tunic. The bald and underweight-looking boy then ran over to the edge of the class and started collecting some items.

Berry shouted to Marin from the central stage, “Mary, was it? Get over here. Men gather around. We have a duel.”

The large sparring ring at the center of the class looked more intimidating than the one in Tilly’s class, despite being the same. Marin instantly regretted this choice. It was a foreign room, and the men of her class looked at her like they were appraising her value. Marin locked eyes with Behngi, and he gave her a reassuring thumbs-up.

Marin and Garrus watched each other as they approached the central sparring ring. Marin saw that Garrus held a wooden hollow tube about four feet long. It looked like a massive flute you could stick your arm inside—like one of those tubes that scribes would use to store scrolls and paintings.

Seeing the challenge, the rest of the men slowly made their way to the ring's edges. The sounds of sparring had entirely faded and were replaced by the idle chatter of a crowd growing with excitement. Even if these were the two lowest ranks in the class, there was a narrative here. Who was the least deserving Freshman?

Marin hopped up onto the raised platform and watched Garrus closely. He looked sleepy. Now, they just needed to wait for a healer, and it would start.

Marin was the first to speak, “I’m sorry about this. I just need more experience.”

Garrus responded with a gentle and wispy voice. “You should’ve aimed higher. I really don’t want to have to hurt a girl.”

Just that simple exchange started to humanize Garrus in her mind. He wasn’t some mythical figure. He wasn’t a hurdle for her to overcome. He was just a guy with a stick. As Marin watched Garrus, she could finally tune out the new atmosphere, the eyes on her, and the impending struggle. Marin countered, “I will cut off limbs and still sleep like a baby tonight.”

Garrus laughed hoarsely, “Yeah, okay. I won’t feel so bad for this then.” He lifted the giant flute-like tube.

“No casting until my mark.” Coach Berry warned. He activated some kind of magic that encased the raised platform.

“What is that?” Marin asked, pointing to the shimmering barrier.

“It’s a protective barrier to ensure stray projectiles or spells don’t hit the rest of the class.” Coach Berry thought for a moment. “Surely, Tilly is using the barrier for every match the girls have had?”

Marin shook her head. Marin wouldn’t be surprised if Tilly thought an onlooker who wasn’t prepared to dodge an attack deserved to get hit. Marin felt thankful to have learned that lesson with the comparatively compassionate Coach Berry in the boys' classroom.

A healer entered the gym shortly after. The Junior’s white robes were stained red with blood on the sleeves. However, Marin didn’t have time to contemplate why the woman would be covered in blood.

“Mary, are you ready?” Berry asked.

“Marin is ready,” Marin corrected.

“Garrus, are you ready?” Berry asked.

“Yes,” Garrus said, holding his large tube in both hands.

“Fight!” Coach Berry shouted.

Marin and Garrus cast simultaneously. Marin pulled up a thick sheet of water and placed it between her and Garrus.

At the same time, Garrus cast a wind spell, and Marin felt pain in her calf. She dropped to her knee in pain and Garrus cast again. Marin’s water shield was up in time, and the projectile exploded through it, losing almost all momentum. Marin looked down quickly to see the projectile, a wooden ball the size of her fist.

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Marin flexed her injured leg and winced. She didn’t think it could hold her weight right now. She was trapped.

Marin used one hand to hold the water shield in place and then used her other hand to begin freezing a fist-sized ball of ice.

Garrus had her wounded. He just needed to get around the shield. “You can yield.”

“No. I can’t!” Marin shouted as she launched the hidden, frozen ball from the shield she had created. It surprised Garrus; the center mass hit was enough to wind Garrus. He backpedaled away from Marin, but she was already preparing more ice.

Garrus instinctively tried to push himself out of danger using wind but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the onslaught of ice chunks. The next hit his shoulder, but the force wasn’t enough to disarm him.

Freeze, Push, Freeze, Push, Freeze, Push. Marin continued to weave with her right hand. With each push, she punched forward, forcing the chunk of ice with all sparable effort. Marin used her shield as ammunition as she crouched behind it.

Garrus fired another ball from his tube, striking the freezing ball Marin was preparing. Shards of ice and freezing water erupted from the shield, pelting Marin's face, fist, and chest. Marin was surprised and dazed. She stopped spell-crafting with her right hand and instead pumped more and more water into the shield she was holding.

Marin chanced a moment to look down at her leg. It felt wet, which was no surprise with the amount of water she had summoned, but the water below her was pink, and the pain in her leg was becoming too much to ignore.

“An Aquamancer and a Cryomancer. You surprised me with that ice, but now I can use it against you.” As Garrus spoke, he watched Marin and slowly cast a wind spell to pick up one of the spent wooden balls that had rolled back toward him. Garrus dropped the ball back into the tube.

Garrus didn’t see that after Marin beefed up her water shield, she set her right hand back on her calf. The bone was pressing into muscle, and when Marin pressed to it, the pain was a white-hot spike. Marin felt immediate relief from the pain as her hand glowed and healing flames poured over the wound.

Marin did decide to use the marble, but only after a lengthy internal debate and thorough washing. It was an intensely spiritual experience. Shortly after, it was like a sixth sense woke inside her. Without casting at all, her mana turned to flames that licked coolly against her skin. Aellaria then taught Marin how to use it to heal.

Garrus stalked Marin, looking for an opening, a weakness. “That water looks heavy. Swiveling it and holding it like that will tire you out.”

That's when Marin realized Garrus’s most vital weakness. She thought back to why arcane focuses needed to be enchanted to the pattern of the wielder. Garrus’ weapon, the ball launcher, was not his arcane focus. It was a tool to help Garrus use his Aeromancy, but it wasn’t enchanted—it was a tube with balls.

Marin pushed sections of her water shield out, splashing Garrus with it.

“Hey! Stop that!” Garrus said, retreating.

“Make me!” Marin said, splashing him again, soaking his green tunic.

Marin attempted to splash him again, but as the shield weakened to launch the water, Garrus launched another ball with a loud, airy WHOOT sound. Marin rolled to the side and moved her shield just in time to catch the next projectile. WHOOT.

“How many balls do you have left?” Marin asked.

“More than enough,” Garrus responded.

He rushed forward, but Marin hopped to her feet, surprising him, and she threw the entire water shield at him.

Garrus instinctively raised his hands to block and tried to back away as fast as possible, now soaked head to toe in water. Garrus felt a chill but distanced himself from Marin. Garrus shook the water out of his eyes and glared at Marin.

The frozen tube slid from Garrus’ grasp as Marin pulled the ice to herself. The tube clattered to her side of the arena, and Marin picked it up. She knew that Aeromancers were somewhat useless without their weaponry. Marin took a moment to study it. “How do I use this thing, Garrus?”

Garrus shook his head and got into a readied stance. He responded, “You don’t. You have to be an Aeromancer to–”

WHOOT-CHH

The contraption exploded in Marin’s hands as she cast the push air cantrip on it with as much effort as she could muster. A ball flew free from the chamber and struck Garrus while the rest of the ammunition rocketed out of the back of the tube.

Garrus collapsed, holding his chest. He let out a choked scream.

“Oh, ashes!” Marin shouted as she ran to him. She summoned a dagger made of ice and pointed it down at Garrus. “Concede, and I will help you,” Marin shouted.

Garrus was writhing around in pain, rolling back and forth. He locked eyes with Marin. “I yield!” He shouted.

Marin dropped to her knees and started trying to heal Garrus with her cool flames. Garrus was almost driven into hysterics until the flames were pressed against his skin and immediately began to relieve the pain.

Coach Berry and the Junior healer with the bloody robes hopped onto the platform, but by then, Garrus sighed in relief.

The healer knelt next to Marin and started to triage Garrus’ wound magically, and they looked on in wonder. “You’re healing him.” The healer noticed.

“He was in pain. I’m sorry.” Marin said.

“No, honey, please keep going. Your healing is better than what I was going to have to do. Do you need more mana?” The blood-covered healer asked as she pulled out a blue vial and shook it.

“You want me to help you?” Marin asked, surprised. She took the potion and drank it.

“Yes, by Hitaru’s claws, please. That rib is broken, and my healing can’t set it. It would be a long, potentially messy process if I were to heal him.” The healer said, gesturing to the blood on her otherwise pristine robes.

With the junior’s guidance, Marin used her cool flames to penetrate Garrus’ body and heal his wound from the inside out. The bone popped gently into place, the blood flow returned to normal, and the pain faded within minutes.

“You okay, Garrus?” Marin asked. “I’m sorry about your thing. I wanted to try it but didn’t know how much force to put into it.”

“Physically, yeah, and don’t worry about it. It’s one of the replaceable things I lost in this fight...” Garrus responded. “Good fight, Marin.”

“Good fight,” Marin said with a smile before everyone stood up together. Marin excitedly gave Garrus a hug and then another one to the healer.

Coach Berry smiled down at Marin with his unfathomably handsome face. “Congrats, Marin. You are now ranked fifty-seventh in the first-year class.”

Marin noticed that Coach Berry called her by her correct name, and she shouted out in happiness before retreating to the girl's gym.

When Marin entered class, she grinned and jogged over to Rone. “I did it!” She shouted.

“I knew you could!” Rone said back before clapping Marin on the back.

“So you made it back in one piece and with just a little limp to show for it,” Tilly said with a grin betraying even more excitement than Marin had. “How did it go?”

“Well… Garrus had this tube weapon, and I took it from him and broke one of his ribs with his ball. The tube exploded, though, and I feel bad about it.”

“Ohh?” Rone said, raising an eyebrow.

There was silence, and Marin looked at Tilly. Tilly cried out a laugh and wiped a running tear from her cheek. “That is the best thing you could have told me today, Marin. Thank you.” Tilly said before jogging off to the doorway, presumably to gloat over Coach Berry about Garrus and his broken tube.