Mwai looked over his reports again. His own party would be assured to vote it through, they were all loyalists. The issue existed in the fact he needed another fifteen percent of the parliament.

How much could Kassandora possibly do?

“What happened?” Edmonton asked. Eliza shook her head as she pulled her knees up on the bed, seemingly unaware her shoes were dirty. The room smelled, Eliza looked as if she had no taken a bath in a few days. Maybe a week. Fleur sighed as she sat next to the girl.

“You have to tell us.” Fleur said gently as she put her arm around Eliza. “We can’t help without knowing.”

“It’s…” Eliza took a breath as she looked around her room. “I’m sorry for the mess, I know what it looks like.”

“Clean as always.” Edmonton said quickly as he leaned forwards. He got a bottle of water and passed it to Eliza. She drank eagerly. “But Eliza, really, it was always the four of us. We have to know.” Eliza shook her head and moved away from Fleur. She leaned against the wall and straightened her legs.

“I…” Eliza sighed. “I saw it all.”

“And?” Fleur said. “If you saw it, then tell us.”

“It was one of the finals for the competitions. You know, the ones they hold for pyromancers every semester.”

Lyca walked into the ring as he scanned the crowd in his robe, quarter-coloured with red. He found Eliza immediately, sitting at the top, facing him. She waved with some flowers. She had grown them herself and threw them forwards into the arena. A teacher came over to tell her off. Lyca grinned to himself as he kicked the sand back. It was warm from the previous fights, but they were mere warm ups. He was here as the centre stage. The main show for the event.

Eliza sniffled again as a tear appeared in her eyes. “And you know how Lyca is.”

“Loud.” Fleur said.

“Annoying.” Edmonton added.

Eliza laughed. “Well, he’s nice, but he’s terrible.”

Lyca grinned at whoever the teachers had sent out today. With him now undisputed champion for the seventh time running, he had argued that he should be used in team-building exercises. As in a team of ten students, against a team consisting of him alone. He had helped kill a God! He had been chosen by Anassa! What was a few mortals against him anyway? “That’s not enough of you!” Lyca taunted across the arena as the crowd fell silent. They always fell silent for him.

“So he riled them up.” Eliza continued. “It wasn’t a fight at first, he was just toying with them.”

Lyca flipped and dodged a ball of fire. He could have extinguished it the moment the girl had started casting it, but where was the fun in that? That lacked theatrics! That wasn’t a show! He rolled over again as two boys combined their powers. Fire burst around them and travelled outwards towards Lyca in a slow wave. About the span of a few seconds, so a slow wave. Lyca jumped through it.

“And you could see they were getting angry with him because he wasn’t even casting magic, he was just showing off.” Eliza said.

Lyca sidestepped one fireball. Ducked another, sidestepped the third again. He put his hands in his pockets and whistled as the three balls of flame impacted against the magical barrier safeguarding the students. This was everything? This was magic he had mastered in his first year! This was nothing when it was put up against the training Anassa was putting him through. There, he spilled blood and broke bones. What were these children even doing?

“So then one of boys, he told Lyca to fight like a man.” Eliza said. “That, I still remember.” She burst out in tears. “I actually wanted Lyca to show him what he was capable of!” Fleur put her arms around her friend and Edmonton drank from the water bottle and they waited for Eliza to calm down.

Lyca kicked up some sand again as he looked at the team of ten. They were breathing heavily. A girl was leaning on her knees, sweat bursting from her forehead and dripping onto the sand. She had even dropped her wand. Two of the boys were lying on the ground, collapsed and defeated by their own exhaustion. Only a few still stood, and they all stood on shaky legs. One boy stepped forwards. A tall kid, maybe Lyca’s age. Lyca never liked those much taller than him, if you had the height, you needed the strength to back it up. The kid shouted. “Can all you do is dance around? Fight like a man.”

Lyca sneered. Fight like a man? What this kid think he was talking about? Had he ever spilled blood? What credentials did he have to tell Lyca how to fight? The kid could barely light a candle! Lyca shouted back. “Go on then! Land one hit on me!” He flicked his finger, and fire burst out around the kid.

Not enough. “LAND ONE HIT ON ME!” He flicked his finger again. Pillars of fire surrounded the rest of the students. One girl started to scream.

Not enough. He had not been chosen by Anassa for show. “LAND ONE HIT!” Lyca screamed and the pillars of fire rose into the air.

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“So he lost control.” Eliza continued. “And… the overseer came in.”

Lyca’s pillars of flame were snuffed out from existence as the boy circled around to see a man descending from the air. The match overseer, a top-level mage, to watch the fight and make sure the students did not hurt themselves in any serious way; bruises were allowed, broken bones were not. “Calm down Lyca.” He said as the ten students behind him collapsed, smoke rising from them. “You’ve won.”

“Why send children against me?” Lyca shouted back. He was in the heat of the moment now. Why did they have this useless show? What was the point of playing around with these children? He was a better mage than half of the staff here. They only called him to be a sideshow at the end. A challenge? A goal to reach to for. ‘Keep on studying and one day you’ll be as good as Lyca!’ “None one here can match me!” Lyca shouted to the audience.

“And then they started arguing.” Eliza continued her explanation.

“That is not true.” The overseer shouted back. He was an aged man. An old fool. A man who spent the entirety of his life in Arcadia studying legalism and books. He was wasted talent. A man who once could have been great and now was resigned to watching over children throw fire at each other! Lyca burst out in laughter. What did they practice for? What was the grand achievement? The best one could one day hope to replace this fool? What achievement! What prestige! What glory!

“That is true.” Lyca said. “Ten against one! Is there anyone here who can achieve that?! Is there anyone who can even win a five versus one! I am wasted here!” Lyca shouted. He saw Eliza smile at him from the crowd.

“This pride of yours will be an undoing.” The overseer said.

“You cannot defeat me!” Lyca shouted at the man.

“I have no interest to fight you in the first place.” The man said calmly. Lyca prodded him some more.

“Are you scared? Do you not want to show everyone what they can aspire to be?” Lyca knew he hit the sore spot of the fellow when he saw the man’s expression darken. It was obvious this was not a satisfying job. What sort of ant would be satisfied here?

“And… the overseer accepted.” Eliza said as Fleur and Edmonton leaned in to listen to the story.

The overseer looked to the judges. Lyca watched them exchange looks as more mages floated in to take the wounded children away. Lyca’s smile became a vicious grin as he heard the wolf inside of him start to howl. It was hungry. He loved that wolf, it was one of the few things he did love now. It always agreed with him. He was hungry too.

The overseer stepped lightly on the sand. He put his hand to the side and a staff materialized in his grip. The crowd made a sound of being impressed. Lyca thought nothing of it, sorcery could do much more than that. Anassa had just forbidden him from using it outside.

“And they fought… it was…” Edmonton listened closely.

Lyca’s materialized in his hand. It was the exact same style of magic, binding an object and bringing it to you. Lyca wished for the day when he could unleash sorcery in the open and be done with this charade of magic. “Your move old man.” The overseer smiled a condescending glare at Lyca as he stepped forward. The staff made a full circle in his hand, a column of fire leapt out of it into the air.

A snake of flame hissed through the air at Lyca. He didn’t even glance at it, magic like this was for show. It was how modern mages fought, more for show and as a performance than how Anassa taught him. He flicked his wand and the snake hit a barrier. It curled around the shield and singed the ground around Lyca.

Lyca saw the overseer’s eyebrows rise as they questioned how he did it. It was a little bit of sorcery sprinkled in with a show of magic. The sorcery did the work, the magic just the smokescreen. Lyca sidestepped another tongue of flame coming from the overseer. Where all of his attacks like this? Could he not fight? Did he not know how to? Why only play at theatre? Wasn’t this man thrice his age? Why? Why was it so easy?

The wolf within Lyca snarled, and Lyca snarled with it.

He raised his wand showed the overseer what magical combat should be.

There was no great snakes of flame. No howling winds. No tremendous waves of fire. It embarrassed Lyca he had fought like that once. No. The overseer stood where he stood, and in the next instant, the ground around him spouted a column of flame as if the Sun had decided to incinerate that particular spot. That was magical combat. No show. You fought to kill. There was no other point in fighting overwise.

The overseer stepped out of the flame. Lyca knew he would from the moment the flame sprouted from the ground. The flame told him it didn’t burn the skin, it only singed the clothes. The ground exploded in fire. That wasn’t an attack, that was a feint. To steal attention and to disorientate, Anassa had taught him it.

The overseer found Lyca quickly, but Lyca was faster than quick. He had closed the distance in a few seconds. Staffs were large and cumbersome. The old man only managed one spin, a shield of flame appeared before him.

Lyca held his breath and ploughed through it. And now, he would show everyone why exercise was important. It was a taboo among mages, magical combat was supposed to be a battle of wills. Lyca did not fight like that, he fought like the wolf inside him did. Until either he or the opponent collapsed, with whatever means necessary and whatever he had at hand. His body was as dangerous as the magic and sorcery in his veins.

His fist hit the overseer’s chest and the man coughed at the physical impact. Flames burst from Lyca’s arm and enveloped the man. The overseer took a step back, he spun his staff again. Why did mages fight like this? Lyca had always hated how they relied on words and movements to do magic, the break from that was another gift from Anassa.

He saw the red ruby on the tip of that staff start to glow as the overseer began to unleash yet another spell. Lyca grabbed the staff, ripped it from the Overseer’s hand, and broke it over his knee. He threw the two parts behind himself into the sand.

Then Lyca snapped his fingers as people started shouting behind him. He looked down into the overseer’s terrified gaze and ate up the fear leaking out of those eyes. He snapped his fingers and the overseer set alight.

Lyca felt a poke on the back of his neck. He grabbed at it. Something had bit him. He pulled out a dart. It was obvious by smell, a sleeping poison. He increased the temperature around the overseer before the darkness took over.

“And Lyca killed him.” Eliza finished and burst out in tears. “Lyca killed him and I cheered!”