“Now, there are no teachers and no rules to protect you!” Amir and Shahin weren’t out of view yet, but Nasir was already boasting in a typical villain speech. The Jamra boy pointed at Artem, his chin raising arrogantly. “I’ll enjoy your crumbling face when I snuff out your fairy’s fire, killing her in the process. What will you feel knowing she will die because of my talent?”
“I ship Nasir and Crystal.” Lyra rolled her eyes at the boy’s antics. “They have so much in common: it’ll be a shame if their relationship never comes to be.”
Galen and Artem only distractedly listened to Nasir’s rambling and Lyra’s obscure comments. Artem was observing their opponents and making plans. Nasir had never hidden that his notable talent [Fire Absorption] allowed him to manipulate fires taken from a pet.
Artem instructed Ayden with hand signs not to use fire skills in Nasir’s line of sight and to stay back. Indeed, her wings were made naturally of fire, and the Fire Fairy couldn’t retract them. Artem doubted Nasir’s pyrokinesis was strong enough to absorb fire from a pet he had no contract with, but the young combatant didn’t want to risk it. After all, Ayden was only a common pet.
“Stop bragging and get to work, you donkey.” Basic crossed his arms contemptuously. “I won’t save your ass if you mess up.”
“I already said I don’t need your help!” Nasir hissed at his cousin. “Just-”
“Stop chattering and prove that you’re not a waste of resources.” Basic cut the other boy off impatiently. “I won’t sugarcoat any of your mistakes to the young master.”
Galen and Artem stayed quiet during the Jamra boys’ interaction. They were glad to learn that Basic and his camel wouldn’t participate in the fight. The notable White Camel was a heavy pet, and the twins’ fairies weren’t equipped to deal with it.
Artem was thinking of everything he knew about the three mundane fighters to fine-tune his strategy. He identified one of them easily as a sharpshooter. The other two were more all-rounded fighters. They were equipped with swords, but Artem suspected them of wearing hidden weapons.
Meanwhile, Galen was recalling the rules and regulations for the trip. They were in the wild. It was irresponsible to fight in such a setting, and with the Beast Rangers supervising them, it was sure to come back to their teachers’ ears. Getting demerits would impair the twins.
However, Galen knew talking to Nasir was useless. What the Jamra boy hadn’t stopped to consider with his challenge was that the young beast tamers’ fights always took place in controlled settings, like the school facilities or the arenas provided by the Beast Tamers Association’s Fighting Club. Fighting out in the wild was highly discouraged for several reasons.
The young pharmacist would have to control any stray fires and ensure no damage was done to the environment. The narrow pass limited their possible strategies and their mobility. However, the drizzle was in their favor against Nasir since it would weaken any fire attacks. The twins and their teammates would have to be careful of their footing.
Fed up with his cousin’s disregard, Nasir ordered the three mundanes to attack while he took care of the Eos twins. He charged ahead, ordering his beetle to activate its new [burning horn] skill. As soon as flames appeared around his pet’s horn, Nasir absorbed the fire and condensed it into a fireball.
The easy strategy would have been to let the mundanes fight against each other while Artem and Galen took care of Nasir and his Fire Beetle. However, Artem knew his teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. He also didn’t trust Basic to keep his word.
So, Artem asked Celeste to fight with him, at the front. Demonstrating his tacit understanding with his brother, Galen took a rear position and ordered Lucia to intercept Nasir’s fireball with a [light shield]. From his position, Galen could also keep an eye on Basic while providing support by firing bolts with his mini-crossbow. Unfortunately, the pass offered few hiding places, so the twins’ group needed to incapacitate the sharpshooter as soon as possible while staying mobile to avoid incoming shots.
Galen considered the poison he had prepared after talking with Mahlon. His eyes roamed over the mundanes. They were following Nasir’s order with resigned faces, Kosta and Lorenzo running at their opponents and Yorgios drawing his longbow. Galen couldn’t bring himself to hurt his classmates with the potent poison designed to deal with dangerous beasts. They weren’t innocent, but they didn’t deserve to be treated like fodders.
As Artem ran to intercept Nasir and his beetle, he threw off his next orders. “Fava, take the rear right position. Focus on Yorgios. If you can, take shots of opportunity at the other two mundanes.” Artem doubted Emilio would be able to do much. He was a poor shooter, but he was worse with a sword. However, making Yorgios dodged Emilio’s and Galen’s shots should be enough to disrupt the sharpshooter. “Dolezal, you’re on harassment duty. Run any interference you can on Kosta and Lorenzo.” Jarek would have acted that way regardless, due to his unconventional fighting skills. Giving him an order he was willing to follow only reinforced Artem’s role as the sergeant.
When Artem reached the Fire Beetle, he flipped above it while slashing its carapace with his swords. The pet’s defense was too strong for these light attacks to injure it, but they got its attention.
When Artem landed, he used his momentum to surprise Nasir with a tackle. The Jamra boy swore as he fell back. Firming his grip on his swords, Artem used this short respite to reposition himself by side-stepping to the left, where Celeste engaged Kosta.
Artem was reluctant to use his weapons against students. Contrary to the weapons used during the exam’s fights, these weren’t blunted. However, Artem didn’t have the time to hesitate as the beetle charged him to protect its tamer.
Artem parried the horn, which was thankfully weakened thanks to Nasir stealing his pet’s fire. By showing off his talent, Nasir had made a strategic mistake. The following exchange of blows forced Artem to step back to fend off Nasir’s and his pet’s attacks. Nevertheless, the young combatant managed to turn over their scuffle to orient them so that his teammates were around him.
Celeste was holding her own against Kosta, using her lance to keep him at bay. This also gave her space to overview the battlefield. She didn’t disappoint Artem and fought like a soldier would by covering Artem’s left flank. With her support, Artem withstood Nasir's and his beetle's assault.
Jarek did a good job catching his opponents’ attention on Artem’s right. The blond-haired boy moved fluidly around the fighters, making a nuisance of himself. He stepped in to slash at Lorenzo from the sides before retreating and shooting darts, keeping the other boy from counter-attacking. All the while, he was gleefully taunting his opponent. He didn’t forget the others, randomly shooting darts at Yorgios or throwing insults at Kosta.
Emilio proved once again why he was the worst student in the professional combat class. He swore at each missed shot, accusing the crossbow the Beast Warriors gave him of being defective.
Unfortunately, Galen couldn’t compensate for Emilio’s clumsiness because he had rapidly realized that his smaller bolts didn’t have enough impact to hold Yorgios’s attention. It wasn’t surprising because Galen’s mini-crossbow was meant for self-defense. Shooting at Yorgios with it was a waste of munitions.
On the contrary, Yorgios proved his title as a sharpshooter wasn’t exaggerated when an arrow grazed Emilio’s cheek. The brown-haired boy acted as if he was mortally injured, shouting at Galen to heal him.
Yorgios’s weakness was his slowness: he needed time to use his longbow and align his shot. This made distracting him even more important. To calm down Emilio and keep him shooting at Yorgios, Galen asked Lucia to use her shield to protect the group against the sharpshooter’s arrows.
“What a waste! Lucia needs to keep her spiritual energy for bigger threats! And that dumbass is a waste of space too!”
Galen surveyed the battlefield and agreed with Lyra. Emilio’s shots were getting wider and wider. Yorgios didn’t even need to dodge anymore.
Galen would rather ask his Light Fairy to use her [flash] skill to get a respite. However, he needed her to approach the sharpshooter to keep the skill from also blinding his teammates.
“Do it! Lucia had trained enough to be able to switch quickly between her [flash] and her [light shield].”
Galen shifted his position, decreasing his distance to the front while maintaining his rear position. He focused on shooting as fast as he could. His bolts were only an annoyance, but they still helped to harass Yorgios and cover Lucia’s movement.
Unfortunately, Basic saw Lucia’s and Galen’s movement as an opportunity and entered the fight, ordering his camel to shoot a [light ray].
“Shield!” Lyra shouted, being the first to notice Basic’s attack.
Galen hastily ordered Lucia to stop the camel’s attack. However, the [light shield] shattered upon impact. Both skills were of the rare rank, so the shield shouldn’t have broken like that, making Galen suspect that Basic had used all this time to buff his pet for its attack.
Fortunately, the light was weakened and slowed down by the shield, allowing Galen’s teammates to dodge the attack. However, Lorenzo used the opportunity to throw a hidden weapon at Artem, forcing his attention off Nasir.
“See,” Basic boasted, “that’s how it’s done!”
“Stop interfering!” Nasir raged. The hot-blooded youth immediately ordered his beetle to use [burning horn] again. By the time Artem returned his attention to Nasir, the Jamra boy had already formed and thrown another fireball at Galen. The fireball was smaller and slower than the first one. Artem didn’t understand why Nasir was using a fireball when a fire punch would have been more efficient.
However, it was enough to endanger Galen, who was distracted by his worry about Lucia after her shield broke. Lucia was too far from Galen to protect him and still reeling from the [light ray]. Ayden, who was feeling useless since she couldn’t attack, used [fire trail] to rush at the fireball. Without any defensive skill, she did the only thing she could think of: she threw herself at the fireball. The fire engulfed the small pet. The fairy ignited and fell down.
Galen cried out in dismay before his training kicked in. Leaving his rear back position, he ran at the fairy, shuffling mentally through his supplies to find the best remedy. Lucia didn’t waste any time to join her tamer, worried about her sister.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
In the confusion, the twins missed Emilio quitting his position, but Lyra kept them updated. Fed up with the crossbow, the brown-haired boy threw it away and entered the fray with his short sword. Galen shouted at him to follow his previous orders, but the boy didn’t stop rushing to the front.
Galen reached Ayden’s burning form and chose to ignore Emilio. His insubordination was expected, and Galen had more urgent things to take care of. Unsure about how to extinguish the flames still burning Ayden, Galen used his talent first to get a more detailed diagnosis. Lucia was hovering above the Fire Fairy, waiting to use [small heal].
Artem used all his training to stay focused on the fight, resisting his urge to turn to his pet. He trusted his brother to heal Ayden. The only way Artem could help was to disarm and neutralize his opponents faster. And despite the urgency, he was still hesitating to use his talent and hating himself for it.
***
With a wide grin, Jarek rushed by the sergeant-wannabe, intercepting another hidden weapon thrown by minion number two. Unbothered by the chaotic situation, he dodged an arrow and shouted: “Hey, sarge! Why haven’t you put down this punk yet?”
Jarek didn’t stay to listen to the sergeant-wannabe’s answer, satisfied with hearing the anger in his voice. He was finally getting under the blockhead’s skin. Despite taking the time to play around with his “teammate”, Jarek swirled to minion number two’s right side. There, instead of attacking the opponent in front of him, Jarek shot darts at minion number three.
That one was annoying since the baby head was occupied, and the twerp left his position. Not that the twerp had been contributed to the battle in any way or form. Jarek timed his attack just right: the moment when minion number three was focusing on sniping the baby head, and minion number two was falling for his feint. Caught unaware – Jarek was good enough to feint minion number three too –, his two darts hit their mark. Jarek immediately shot another two, much to minion number three’s irritation.
Jarek chuckled mirthfully, glad to have pickpocketed the rest of the baby head’s sleeping potion. Jarek didn’t like people who spoiled his fun, so he wanted minion number three out of commission. Four doses meant for a small lizard should be enough to get the other guy groggy, and if it weren’t, Jarek had added his own touch to the potion.
Jarek didn’t stop moving. He dodged number two’s pitiful attack, slashed in retaliation with his switchblade, scoring nicely on the minion’s arm, and retreated to a center position to choose his next target.
The prick was patting his camel and staring intently at the main fight. Jarek didn’t like how the camel humps were shining.
Switching his gaze to where the prick was looking, Jarek saw the loud poser and his cockroach trying to overcome the sergeant-wannabe, who was still holding back, much to Jarek’s disappointment.
The crazy girl was still engaged with minion number one, though she was slowly wilting him down. It amused Jarek to no end that no one else understood what her deal was.
Minion number two was charging toward Jarek, and behind him, number three was holding his head. It looked like Jarek’s darts had produced their little effect.
Jarek’s gaze went back to number two, feeling that something was off. Before Jarek could figure out what it was, the twerp passed by him, brandishing his short sword. Suddenly, the whole picture snapped into Jarek’s mind, and all the clues he was trained to see – the body language, the keywords, the facial expressions – led him to guess what the twerp was going to do.
Thanks to that, Jarek had a few seconds to decide how to react. He looked back at the baby head, so focused on saving his brother’s pet that he was putting himself in danger by ignoring the rest of the battlefield. A potentially costly mistake. Then, Jarek looked at the sergeant-wannabe, who had held back so much the whole trip that he had fallen into the wrong rhythm.
By the time Jarek looked back at the twerp, it became apparent to anyone looking who his target was. The crazy girl impressed Jarek by catching the twerp’s movement and shouting a warning.
However, Jarek was already moving, his mind made up. A part of him relish the act: he had wanted to do it since the twerp first opened his mouth to complain. And now, it was justified.
The sergeant-wannabe erupted in fire, putting down the loud poser and his insect in a single combo move each, proving he could have done it at any time if he hadn’t stupidly held back.
Too bad it was too late. As Jarek’s stiletto plunged into the twerp’s back, the blond-haired boy couldn’t resist teasing the sergeant-wannabe again. “Don’t worry, sarge, I’ve got your back!”
***
Lyra’s urgent shout interrupted Artem’s unease. The longer he fought, the more unbalanced he felt. Something felt wrong, but Artem’s instinct didn’t guide him as usual.
“Stop woolgathering and equip Ayden with her new skill!”
Artem switched to a more defensive stance to concentrate on saving his Fire Fairy. His pet had acquired a new notable skill by sacrificing herself. He was both proud of her and furious at how she had put herself in danger.
Artem impatiently listened to Lyra explain how the [fire resistance] should help, although Galen was prudent enough not to guarantee the results.
Distracted as he was, Artem was taken by surprise when Celeste shouted her warning. Thinking it was Lorenzo throwing another hidden weapon at him, he was already shifting when Lyra added her own panicked, incoherent input.
“Behind you! This fucker! I can’t believe -”
Sensing the severity of the situation, both from his instinct and Lyra’s shrill voice, Artem activated Ayden’s [fire trail]. One of the reasons he had been refraining from using his talent was that using any of his pet’s skills would have been stupid in front of Nasir. However, in the urgency, Artem fell back to the most familiar use of his talent. And he berated himself for it.
Artem could have buffed himself with Ayden’s stats to knock out Nasir much earlier. The young combatant had certainly hidden this aspect of his talent to keep it as his trump card. Nevertheless, as he had taught his fairy, a trump card not used was a useless trump card. But then, with the Fire Fairy injured, Artem hadn’t dared use it because he didn’t know what would happen to his pet. And there was still this nagging feeling that something was wrong, that he shouldn’t use his trump card in this fight.
Pushing back his shame at his poor decisions, Artem redoubled his effort to end the fight with Nasir and his beetle. He targeted Nasir first to keep him from absorbing the fire from [fire trail]. Artem stepped on the beetle. Then, he used his height and velocity to overcome Nasir’s guard with his left-handed sword. Reversing his grip on his right-handed sword, Artem punched Nasir in the temple with the pommel.
Easily keeping his balance on the agitated beetle, Artem sheathed his left-handed sword to grip his remaining weapon in two hands. Using his kneeling motion to add force to his already enhanced body, Artem slammed his short sword at one of the weak points Galen had shared with him. The beetle screeched in pain and scuttled away as Artem jumped off its back, leaving behind a trail of hemolymph.
Artem turned around in time to see Jarek backstabbing Emilio.
The young combatant’s mind went blank as he saw the blond-haired boy smiling and joking while killing someone. Artem’s guilt at his inability to protect Ayden, his shame at his poor decisions, his horror at Jarek’s disregard for life, his denial of Emilio’s attempt on his life, all these messy feelings overwhelmed the teenager.
Lyra’s words were just background noise, adding to the shouts and cries surrounding him, though Artem knew he should listen to her explanation. He would surely be thankful to Jarek at some point since it was obvious that he saved his life. However, his feelings were too raw and numb for that.
His unfocused eyes only registered blurs of movements, his breath was coming in short gasps. When Artem brought a shaky hand to his forehead, his eyes focused on his hand. His right hand was empty. He had dropped his weapon.
This went against everything his father had ever taught him. A warrior never dropped his weapon, never lost awareness of a danger. The world slammed back into focus violently around him.
Artem took a deep breath to calm himself. He had a duty to his brother and to his Family. He could deal with this situation. He would deal with it.
Artem picked up his sword and looked around to ascertain the situation. The fight had ended. The Jamra’s team was gathering to leave. Nasir and Yorgios were groggy, but the other two mundanes were helping them. Lorenzo had an arm around Yorgios’s shoulders, and Kosta was guiding Nasir to Basic’s camel.
“Damn it! The young master said to not cause any problems!” Swearing about useless people and muttering the young master wouldn’t be happy, Basic rummaged into a bag before throwing a vial at Kosta. “Make him drink that!”
Judging them not to be a danger anymore, Artem looked for his teammates. As expected, Galen was by Emilio. Alerted by Lyra’s shout and the commotion, Galen had rushed to the boy. Thanks to his talent, Galen saw a thin hope to save Emilio.
Without looking up from his patient, Galen asked Artem to turn on the red beacon. Artem was relieved as he realized his fugue hadn’t lasted long enough for Galen to notice it.
“He’s not dead? I must be getting rusty.”
Artem wanted to believe that Jarek was joking to lighten the mood, but the young combatant didn’t trust his judgment of his classmate anymore. Moreover, seeing him unfazed by his action confirmed without any doubt that Jarek belonged to the Underworld. Artem and Galen would need to discuss the political ramifications of this discovery as well as the debt they owed to him for saving Artem’s life.
Unable to interact with Jarek for now, Artem turned away silently to check on Celeste as he activated the red beacon. The girl was standing at ease, keeping an eye on the Jamra’s team.
Basic scowled at Artem then abruptly walked away, his camel ambling after him. “Let’s get out of here before the Beast Rangers swarm the place!”
The other four boys scrambled to follow in a disorganized mess. However, Basic ignored Nasir’s complaints and the mundanes’ struggle to help Yorgios catch up with him. Soon, they were out of view.
Artem glanced back at Celeste, bothered by her eerie composure.
“Artem?” Lyra’s voice was strangely subdued.
Galen brought back attention to him before Artem could answer Lyra. At his call, Lucia flew to the young pharmacist. Artem looked toward Ayden worriedly.
“Are you ignoring me?”
Artem was unsure where his brother needed him, so he didn’t move.
“I’m so sorry! I was monitoring Ayden. I thought… I mean, I… If I did, I thought it would help keep you focused on the fight. But instead… Artem? I know, I should have kept an eye on this fucker… I – ”
“How is Ayden?” Artem ignored Lyra’s rumbling to ask what was important to him. He wanted to ask his brother, but he knew not to interrupt a healer during an emergency.
“Thank god you’re still talking to me!”
Artem didn’t know why she thought he was ignoring her. He quietly waited for her to continue, keeping an eye out for the coming Beast Rangers.
“She’s not as hurt as Galen thought. Galen confirmed it with his talent. The [fire resistance] helped counter the flames. Then, Lucia used [small heal] several times. She… Oh! Galen said to go take care of your pet.”
Artem went to kneel near Ayden, but he was still on guard. His unease hadn’t left him. He had made mistakes during this fight, but his instinct hadn’t quieted down.
Galen was doing all he could to stabilize Emilio. Their team couldn’t afford one of the emergency potions given by the Beast Tamers Association, so Galen had to use one of the weaker potions he had brewed himself by modifying one of his mother’s secret recipes. It could only prevent cardiac arrest for a short while, but it bought him time to get more efficient treatment.
Then, Galen called Lucia. He guided her as she used her [small heal] on the injury to help close it. However, it wouldn’t be enough to save Emilio. Although Galen’s talent was too weak to give him a perfect view of the injury, it clearly indicated something wrong with Emilio’s lungs. It had been spreading rapidly and impacting his heart. Galen believed it was the air invading his organs since Jarek’s stiletto had perforated a lung near his heart. Galen wasn’t equipped to deal with the air already inside, but Lucia could at least close the wound letting the air in.
The problem was that Galen suspected Emilio to also suffer from inner bleeding, and that was killing him. Galen could only try to keep the brown-haired boy alive long enough for the Beast Healers back at the FOB to save him. Galen knew he didn’t have the time or the material to brew a potion strong enough to help against inner bleeding, so he used his talent to support his Light Fairy.
Lucia cast her skill repeatedly, relentlessly. Each time, the Light Fairy controlled her spiritual energy to focus more on the wound. Her tamer’s instruction and the images from the books she had studied helped her guide her skill.
Her spiritual energy was deeming, but Lucia didn’t stop. Feeling that it was the last time she would be able to use her skill, the fairy put everything she had into it. She knew she would faint afterward, but she didn’t mind. Lucia often didn’t understand her tamer, but it was clear enough to her that the rude boy shouldn’t die. So he wouldn’t.
This time [small heal] shined brilliantly and lasted longer. As the Light Fairy fainted, she evolved her skill the notable [heal]. However, Lyra didn’t make an announcement.
Two Beast Rangers landed in the middle of the pass. One of them had the rare Solitary Grey Lynx by his side, which Lyra immediately identified as the beast that had come near their camp. The other beast tamer had a notable Twirl-Tailed Chameleon clinging to her left arm, a beast the CSI had never met before. However, Lyra was certain that the invisible insect was perched on this woman's right shoulder.
