Huff...Huff..Huff...

Amilius finally arrived back at his team's camp. His face was drenched in sweat, and he was nearly out of breath from running.

“I’m back.” He breathed.

In front of him, stood the figure of his team’s impatient leader. Jett Kusade.

He was a well-built guy with messy blonde hair and cyan eyes. With his right eyebrow raised, he wore a face that showed his utter disappointment.

“Took you long enough.” He noticed the dirt on Amilius’s clothing, “What were you doing all that time?? Playing around in the dirt?”

“N-no. I had a little scuffle with someone....”

“Oh? You won; I assume.” It was the natural assumption, seeing how Amilius was standing here in this moment. Certainly, he would’ve been laying out cold in the forest if he had lost.

“Y-Yeah. Of course, I did.” Amilius, revealed a notepad from his pocket, then handed it over to his leader, “Here, I have some notes on what blue-team was up to. Over all, they didn’t look prepared at all. When I was spying on them, they were just hanging around, cooking some food.”

“Hmm.” Jett read the notes over, analyzing them as much as possible.

‘This can’t be right. Are they just not trying?’ he thought to himself.

Eventually, he reached a conclusion. Blue-team was going to be an easy an enemy to crush.

A slight smirk came onto Jett’s face.

“Based on the notes here, their camps didn’t seem to have any defenses put up. Such as barriers and traps. Is all of this, correct?” he asked.

“That’s right.” Amilius replied.

“I suppose we did all these preparations of nothing.” Jet looked back at the camp. Hidden magic traps were placed all around the outskirts of camp. There were stone walls, created by magic to block the sites weak points in case of an attack. Standing atop wooden towers were the look-out squads, all proficient in magic meant for spotting enemies.

In the event that a battle was to happen here, the tides would be in their team's favor. Red-Team was sure to be the victor.

“Maybe I was a little too harsh on you,” said Jett, “The information you gathered is useful Nicely done.” he patted Amilius on the shoulder.

“Well, I try my best.” Amilius said with a smile.

Thanks to the information obtained, it was clear that there was no reason to be afraid. Blue-team wouldn’t expect the attack that was soon going to hit them.

Jett walked to the center of camp, where his voice would be clear to everyone.

He spoke out loud, “All of you! Get ready to head out. We have learned the location of blue-teams camp-site. We’ll set out to attack immediately.”

“All of us???” Sally asked, “Who is going to stay and keep guard at camp?”

Her face showed great concerned. It was a reckless decision to leave the camp without protection.

“You’re right.” said Jett, “So why don’t you stay behind?”

“I’m fine with that.” However, Sally was aware that she wasn’t capable of defending the camp all by herself if things went crazy. She needed at least a couple others with her, “But, can I at least have some help?”

“Hah. Help?” Jett laughed, “Aren’t you supposed to be the daughter of one of the Elite mages? Besides, nobody’s going to attack. They don’t even have our location.”

His lackluster leadership was all too clear to Sally. There was way too many faults and mistakes in his way of thinking. In fact, Jett was the worst person who could’ve taken the position of leader. The only reason he was selected was because everyone knew who his family was. A wealthy, powerful family. The Nero Family; In charge of NTMC {Nero Magic Technology Corporation.}

They were responsible for most of the military’s advanced weaponry. Some of said weaponry was capable of ending hundreds of lives with the pull of a lever.

Jett sighed, “Maybe it’s too much to expect you to be some phenomenal mage.” Though he was an ignorant person, he wasn’t completely heartless.

At the end of the day, he valued an ally's emotions. Of course, due to his immense pride, he would never admit that he cared.

“If it makes you feel better, I suppose I can at least leave a few others behind with you.”

“Thank you.”

“But honestly, there’s no reason to be paranoid. After all, the enemy isn’t aware of our camp’s location.”

“I dunno about that.” Sally had another take on the situation, “When Amilius came back, he had dirt on his clothes. Meaning he had a confrontation with someone from the enemy team. That much should be clear.”

Jett was already aware of that much. But why was it important?

“What’s your point?” he asked.

“Are you sure he really won that confrontation?”

“I’d like to think so. If he lost, then why would he be here right now?”

“Sure, there’s a chance he won, but I’m willing to bet that’s not the case.”

Sure, Amilius had dirt on his clothes, which indicated he had to fight someone. However, there was an odd detail about it, he didn’t seem to have any injuries.

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Sally continued, “In a magic academy full of skilled magic –users, a fight practically guarantees that both people involved would be injured. But Amilius didn’t seem to have even a scratch.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Since he didn’t seem to be hurt, I believe he ran away from the fight. Either that, or he was allowed to run.”

“And?”

“And what if someone tailed him? That would mean they know the location of our camp.”

The whole explanation sounded like nothing more than a girl trying to seem smart. Either that or she was completely paranoid. Nonetheless, Jett didn’t believe it. Sally seemed like she was just over- analyzing it too much.

“It’s not that deep.” Jett remarked.

“What if it is?” Sally’s expression was firm. She was certain that her predictions were right.

Regardless, Jett still shrugged it off.

“It’s not. Like I said, you just thinking too much. It’s time I get a move on.”

Their interaction came to an end.

A group of five were left to stay with Sally. From then onward, Jett lead the rest of the team into the forest. Once they faded from view, Sally shook her head. She was discontent to the fullest. Still, there was no point thinking about in any further. So, Sally did the next best thing; she casted a barrier in front of the camp’s entrance.

‘This should do.’

Should an enemy try to pass, the barrier would blast them back, likely knocking them unconscious.

____________

It was a twenty-minute walk, but they had arrived at blue-team's camp-site.

“Ready your spells.” Jet ordered everyone else behind him and they obeyed.

From the cover of the trees, he was able to get a view of the enemies' flag. There it was, out in the open, standing in the center of the site.

‘This’ll be easy. We’ll just grab the flag and run.

If anyone gets in the way, we’ll simply blast them aside.’

Jet raised his fist, ready to give the signal of attack. Before he fully gave it, a realization came his eye. There were no enemies. Not a single person standing guard.

‘What is this?’

Confusion scattered across his face.

‘Are the trying to ambush us? Maybe their hiding somewhere.’

He scanned his surroundings. Left’ and right, he turned his gaze. Still, no sign of anything.

“What’s wrong?” Amilius asked.

“Something’s not right?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no sign of anyone from blue-team. Their just gone.”

“Gone???”

“Yes. Gone.” Jett nodded, “I’m think their trying to ambush us.”

It was genuine concern. Getting attacked unexpectedly was a chance that Jett wasn’t willing to take. It could prove to be devastating for them. So, the rest of the team devised a solution from hard thinking.

A girl from the back came forward.

“Allow me.” she breathed.

Her purple haired figure kneeled, poking at the ground. The floor pulsed slightly as a light shone form her palm. Her eyes lit up in a haze. Granted insight, she could see all life withing a 30-meter radius around them. Still, there were no signs of the opposing team.

“I cannot sense anyone nearby. Aside from us.” she stated.

“Is that so?” Jett smirked as he looked at the flag ahead of them, “Maybe they just gave up.”

With no threat being present, there was only one thing left to do. And that was to wrap things up.

Jett strode passed the trees and made his way to the center of the camp. With a firm tug, he yanked he the flag from the dirt and held it into the air. Almost like he was trying to touch the heavens with it.

“Now, we just need to bring it back to our camp. Then it’s a win.”

Suddenly, the confident smirk on his face disappeared. His eyes widened.

“What is this???” Jett exclaimed.

The flag in his hand was rapidly disintegrating, until it was completely gone from sight. Just like that, it had simply vanished. Jett was at a loss of words. He remained wide-eyed out of surprise. He had no explanation for what had just happened.

For the first time, he turned his gaze to the other’s, depending on them of an answer. He hoped at least one of them knew what was going on. But they were all just as baffled as him. They all just stood in place, silently.

Their minds tried and tried, yet, no conclusion was reached.

A very small detail came to Jett’s attention. The camp-sited all had the academy's logo engraved within the ground. However, this camp-site didn’t have a logo.

“I get it.” Jett sighed then chuckled, “We were played. This is just a decoy camp.”

“A decoy camp? That can’t be right. I was just here earlier. Blue-team was just standing around doing nothing.”

All of it clicked in Jett’s mind. Finally, it made sense. Everything blue team did was an act.

“You’re wrong. They were aware that you were spying on them. They acted like this was their camp, knowing you would come back and report it to us. This way, you gave us false information.” Jett clenched his fist, “This was their way of luring us here. They knew we would come to attack as soon as possible.”

Then and there, Jett had on regret. He regretted not listening to Sally, she was right all along.

Jett bit his bottom lip.

“They lured us, knowing our base would be vulnerable. That’s when they would counter-attack.”

“But how would they know our camp’s location??”

“Sally explained this earlier. They could’ve easily learned the camp’s location by tailing you. Or using other methods.”

Amilius’s face turned pale, and his pupils shriveled. It was like he came to an understanding of something. Sweat formed out form his pores as he looked down at the palm of his hand. On his wrist was a mark that slightly glowed. It a was a Tracking Spell, in order for it to work, you must know your target's name.

“Oh my god...This is my fault...”

He thought back not eh encounter the head with that guy form blue-team.

‘That guy...he put that spell on me.... he played me like a fool...No wonder why he was insistent on getting my name....

Everything was already said and done. Right now, there was a bigger issue. As they were standing here, their camp was probably under attack.

Jett gathered everyone in an organized formation.

All at once, they charged back to their camp-site. They sprinted with all the energy they could muster. In as little as eight minutes eight minutes, they had arrived back.

But it was already too late.

Sally sat upon the dirt, a visible injury to her leg, a big, purpled bruise.

“They got us.” she muttered.

Laying round her were the unconscious bodies of the other teammates that stayed with her. All of them showed no sign of waking up any time soon.

And if this loss wasn’t enough, there was something else to add. Their flag was now missing from the center of camp.

“This is unfortunate.” Jett sighed, taking a seat on a wooden crate. He sat there quietly, accepting the loss.

Sally kept her eyes downward, avoiding any kind of eye-contact. She was ashamed. Not because of the loss, but because how they lost. If she was beaten by a large group of enemies, she’d feel a little better. However, that wasn’t the case. It was a single enemy that bested her, along with everyone else.

A guy with shadow black hair and mystical blue eyes.

____________

Sally recalled how it all played out. First, the guy broke her barrier with ease. The other’s flooded him with magic attack, but he evaded while dashing around in patterns. In seconds, he came close and knocked everyone unconscious.

After that, it was just Sally and this black-haired enemy. Sally tried to trap him with a few barriers, but he broke through. Before Sally could do much, he was already in front of her. The guy had no expression, just a blank face.

“You’re a girl. So, I won’t hurt you if you stay out of the way.” He gently brushed Sally to the side and walked toward the flag. The moment he had his back turned; Sally casted a firm ball of ice at him. The force of it could break multiple bones and leave the target incapacitated. He spun around and threw a powerful punch at it. The ball of ice blasted into shards; One of the shards launched against Sally’s leg. Because of this, she was out of the fight, eft to sit there and accept defeat.

From then on, the guy simply grabbed the flag and left.

____________

Amilius scratched the back of his head, looking at the spot where their flag used to be.

“Well, looks like it’s over for us.”

“Yeah.” Jett replied.

They had lost miserably.

An announcing filled the air of the forest. The official announcement of the winner.

“Attention, teams. The entrance exam has been concluded. We declare blue team as the winner. You all will get your overall exam scored at the end of the week. Those of you who don’t receive a passing great will ultimately be kicked from the academy.”

Due to the loss, red team would receive a 30% reduction on their scores. Based on that, not too many of them were going to pass. It was over for the majority. Meanwhile, the winning time was almost guaranteed to pass, enjoying a 30% bonus.