Chapter 17: Capture the Sphere

“This match may be over as quickly as it began!” the announcer shouted. A chorus of shocked cries and gasps came from the audience.

No one had expected this.

Snake snarled and erupted forward in a flash of movement, his hands glowing a dark green as he hawked down Tonka. The members of Green Book ran forward to support him. The heavy-set man wasn’t very fast now that the speed of the spell had worn down.

“What do we do?” Joseia asked, turning to Sen.

“Cognitive Enhancement Maxim. Time Crawl Maxim.” Snakes burst of speed slowed dramatically, and it now looked like he was walking. Tonka moved even slower. The look of pure hatred in Snake’s eyes worried Sen, but he doubted the boy would do anything to lose points.

Tutor, can he handle this?

[Girch is too far, and too slow to impact the fight. Snake will be facing the full force of Green Book alone. His odds are around 31%.]

Sen turned back to Fire Kite. Like Green Book, they were targeting Bright Sail. For a moment he wondered if they hadn’t yet realized Green Book had already stolen their sphere, but he watched as Alari looked at Tonka and then back in the direction of Sen’s party. She pointed a finger, and two members of her team, Lakin Smen and one whose name he had missed earlier, shot toward Snake. They were trying to intercept him. Were the other two schools working together?

[Updated odds that Snake succeeds: 23%. That specific number relies on the off chance that one member of Fire Kite trips and face-plants before reaching him.]

Time crawl faded.

Sen sighed. “Joseia, can you get to Fire Kite’s sphere if I create an opening?”

Joseia appeared to vibrate as he readied to run. “Yes.”

“Then go. Milim, it’s time to use that spell of yours. We’ll try that combination technique we developed.” He felt his own mana thrum and focused, whispering a slew of spells to set up the engagement according to his plan.

“On it!” She skidded to a stop and held her hands out. “Dream Decay-Mass Dream!” So she’d opted to use the modifier they’d worked on together. A modifier designed with this specific spell in mind. It only took a single moment for the spell to take effect. The two members of Fire Kite rushing to aid Tonka, stopped mid-stride. They fell asleep standing up, their minds pulled into a pleasant dream that would devolve into a quite unpleasant nightmare before long. Alari and the other members of Fire Kite and Green Book were trapped by the spell as well.

Milim looked at Sen with excitement. Single-handedly, she’d just incapacitated every magician on the battlefield of both rival schools. Sen had to admit he hadn’t thought it would be that effective.

Joseia wasted no time. He rushed past, casting an enhancement as he ran, pushing his already high speed stat even further. He wasn’t traveling in quite the blink that Tonka had somehow, but he was quick. To Sen’s right, Snake was rapidly gaining on a now defenseless Tonka. He could retrieve the sphere and grab Green Books as long as the spell held.

Joseia reached Fire Kite’s sphere and returned, rushing past the members of Fire Kite to cut his travel time down. It was risky, but Milim’s spell should last long enough.

The crowd went wild at the development. “It seems Brightsail is rallying! But will it be enough?” the announcer cried out.

Joseia was on the way back to Sen and Milim when a clap resounded throughout the arena.

A wave of mana surged all around them and overwhelmed Milim’s spell. “Now, now, don’t go sleeping on me, everyone,” Anonymous Student called out. His voice was amplified by mana. He yawned after making his announcement.

Just like that, everything went wrong.

Alari’s head snapped up, and she stretched out a hand. She snatched Sen’s teammate by the neck and yanked him back. Joseia flew backward in her grasp. The sphere rolled from his hands and towards Dasai, who was also awake now. He stepped on the rolling red sphere to bring it to a halt under his foot. Marin shook her head, looking around in confusion.

It was almost too late. Snake was only ten feet away when Tonka awakened, and Sen thought he’d close the distance in time. That was before the blue-haired guy known as Anonymous Student shot forward and slapped Snake with his pillow. The blow sent Snake reeling backward. It looked like he’d been hit by a wall of stone.

The pajamas, the pillow, it was possible Anonymous Student had control over dream magic as well. If he was the top student of Green Book, it was unlikely Milim could match him in the element he’d honed over his four years there. So much for that. Oh well. He hadn’t expected things to go that easily.

That was when the battle started in earnest.

Snake was still flying backwards when Girch caught him. The two exchanged a look, and then Girch wrapped a massive hand around Snake’s back, reared his arm back, and flung their team leader forward like a spell. Snake’s arms exploded into a wave of green and purple poison dripped from his hands. Anonymous student waved a hand, and his pillow floated in front of Snake. Two serpentine hands pierced through it, sending feathers scattering everywhere.

Not far off, Lakin Smen crossed her arms in the air in front of her, and an enormous wave went crashing towards Anonymous and Snake. A golden wall cut the wave off, sending the water flowing harmlessly to either side. Lakin turned to sneer at Susanna, who stood atop a thirty foot tall guard tower made of translucent, golden light.

It was time for Sen to get involved himself. He started reapplying cognitive enhancement. Sen froze. He’d never deactivated it. Why wasn’t it still active? He reached out with his mana, seeking an explanation for his altered state, but his mind felt fuzzy. He wasn’t operating under an enhancement, but this was more than that. Sen wasn’t even operating at his baseline.

[It appears you’ve been de-enhanced. Analyze?]

Yes.

This was bad. “Milim, go help Snake. Do not let them turn in that sphere,” Sen said. Tonka was getting dangerously close to turning in the sphere now. Mary Candless waved him forward with her staff. If Sen didn’t act quickly, their chances of winning the round were over, and he’d lose out on his unique class quest reward.

“What about—” Milim started.

“I’ll handle it. Go!”

She hurried off to join the fight. Snake still traded blows with Anonymous, and golden creations of light still met powerful water magic at every turn.

His eyes locked on Alari. She smirked. Her hand was wrapped around Joseia’s neck, and a massive flame was forming in her other one. She’d taken his teammate hostage. It would cost her team points if she maimed or killed him, but nobody would intervene during the competition itself. If Sen didn’t choose his moves well, her hostage was going to face some excruciating pain.

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“Stay right where you are, first-year. You’re going to sit this one out, or your friend gets hurt real bad,” Alari called out. She turned to look at Dasai and Marin behind her. “You keep doing your thing, Marin. Dasai, stop the pink-haired brat.”

Dasai nodded and disappeared into thin air.

[Mind Alteration. The Marin girl is reducing your ability to reason.]

“So she’s trying to force me into bad decisions.” A realization hit him all at once. “No…not just me. Maybe even Snake’s plan. He split our forces up and left a single defender.” The way their enemies were acting…this had been a trap from the start.

Alari gave him a weird look. “Are you talking to yourself? This is why they don’t let first-years participate. You’re having a mental breakdown in the first round?”

[Shall we purge the de-enhancement?]

“No.” If they did, Marin would know they were on to her. Besides, maybe this stupid idea of his resulted from Marin’s magic, but…she wasn’t aware of what he was fully capable of. He could take that to his advantage. She expected him to try something risky, but she didn’t realize that the risk would involve all of them.

Sen looked over at Tonka. His teammates wouldn’t make it.

One spell. He had an opportunity to cast one spell to buy time on two fronts.

“You wanted me making bad decisions, well, here it goes,” Sen said.

Alari cocked her head. Her eyes shot open when she realized he was pooling up his mana.

“Violent Tempest Maxima.” He added mana to his own voice for a bit of dramatic effect. Though the spell wouldn’t need any help in that department.

As soon as he’d summoned the spell, he abandoned all control over it. Now, the chaos was everyone’s problem. Let’s see how you adjust when your plan goes to hell.

Tonka’s feet started sliding backward moments before he reached their pedestal. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Alari’s hair slapped against her face, and the magic in her hand weakened, though she still pointed it at Joseia. Anonymous Student and Snake both paused their fight, looking around them as the wind shifted.

And that was just the beginning.

The tiniest strands of a tornado touched down in the center of the arena.

Then it exploded outward as if pure magic had been poured into it.