Chapter 4:

Three weeks later…

“Here, Atch, your homework,” Kenny handed me a few papers.

Name: Kenny

Level: 3

Strength: 3

Power: 1

Speed: 1

“Thanks, now get out of here,” I rubbed my nose, snatching the papers out of his hands.

Kenny quickly scurried off and away from the play structure. The playground had become somewhat of a battleground, each of the play structures dominated by a grade’s leader. My play structure was the same one that I fought Alexander in for the first time. With him gone, there was no one strong enough to even challenge my supremacy.

The play structure consisted of two floors, and a tower. the bottom, walled in with only one exit, was where most of my new henchman sat to eat. The top floor, was a wide platform with a canvas pinned overtop for shading, with a few stairs leading up to the tower. The top floor was where I sat, with Brett, Evan, and Rich. The tower was a small space, only suitable for one person, so no one sat up there. Connecting to the tower was a slide that funneled down to the bottom floor, ease of access.

“Hey, Atch,” Rich said, coming over and sitting down across from me. “Now what?”

Name: Rich

Level: 4

Strength: 4

Power: 1

Speed: 3

“What do you mean?” I wondered, taking a bite out of my sandwich and looking over the homework Kenny handed over.

“What’s next?” He asked. “You’re the top dog of our grade now.”

There were footsteps coming up the stairs to the top floor. Coming around the bend, was Brett.

“Hey guys,” Brett grinned, plopping himself down on a bench, half in the sun. “What’s going on?”

Name: Brett

Level: 5

Strength: 2

Power: 4

Speed: 3

“We’re just talking,” Rich said. “And congrats on rank three by the way!”

“Huh, rank three?” Rich furrowed his brow. “After last week’s slime hunt I was sure I would hit rank two.”

“So Evan’s rank two then?” I laughed, “Too bad Brett, you were beat once again!”

I heard walking coming up the stairs again.

“Speak of the Devil,” Rich said.

“The Devil, huh?” I murmured.

“Someone say my name?” Evan said, walking around the corner of the staircase and to our floor.

Name: Evan

Level: 5

Strength: 3

Power: 4

Speed: 2

“Yea, you’re rank two in the grade, right?” I asked.

“No, I’m actually fourth place now,” he responded, bashfully. “Someone named Maximus took rank two.”

“Maximus, huh,” I said, remembering the name from the first week’s leaderboard. “Bring Mikael over, he’ll probably have some information on this Maximus kid.”

Rich nodded, and headed down the slide. A few moments later, he came walking up the stairs with Mikael, our information rat, next to him.

Name: Mikael

Level: 2

Strength: 1

Power: 2

Speed: 2

Through his slicked back, short, dark brown hair and hazel eyes, Mikael spoke.

“You want to know about Maximus, right?” he asked me, crossing his arms.

“Yea, tell me about him,” I said, grinning at Mikael.

“Well, for starters, Maximus isn’t seen around the playground very often, probably why you’ve never noticed him before.” Mikael replied. “However, I do hear he often hangs out across the bridge, near the gully.”

“Does he have any friends?” I asked.

“No, not that I know of.”

“Alright, you’re free to go.”

“Tell me if you need anything else,” Mikael replied, heading back down the stairs.

As he turned the corner and out of sight, I turned back to my friends.

“Alright, let’s go have a quick chat with Maximus,” I stood up and took a bite out of an red apple. “He seems like he could be a strong, potential recruit.”

As I jumped off the structure and to the soft wood chips below, the rest of the crew landed on either side of me. We walked through the playground, no one daring to stand in our path. Not even the first graders, the weak ones at least. Passing over the bridge, I scanned the banks of the gully beneath, seeing a boy with spiky, light brown hair, sitting alone at the water’s edge. Quickly, I ran over to meet him.

“Maximus, right?” I smiled, extending my hand.

Name: Maximus

Level: 6

Strength: 5

Power: 4

Speed: 2

He looked up at me, seeing me through his light brown eyes. “Hmm?, who are you?”

A quick shot to my pride, making me stumble backward, laughing. “I’m Atch, our grade’s structure captain.”

“Don’t act like you’ve never heard of Atch,” Brett frowned.

“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell,” he shrugged, then glared at me. “Now, you guys better get out of here before I get mad.”

“Oh really?” so that’s how it’s gonna be?” I laughed.

Name: Atch

Level: 8

Strength: 5

Power: 3

Speed: 5

“Let us handle him,” Brett said, stepping forward. “We’ll take care of this weakling.”

“Yea, we got this,” Evan nodded.

Brett and Evan rushed forward, stomping through the ivy and twigs beneath them. Maximus raised his hands, and small pebbles hovered in the air in front of him. Evan raised his hands, his signature gauntlets appearing. As he passed through the air field of pebbles, he knocked them to the side as they shot at him. Brett followed carefully in Evan’s path, slowly accumulating water from the gully.

As Evan reached a few feet from Maximus he used his new ability, an ability he called, frozen mallet. Evan’s right gauntlet shattered, forming into a mallet, only a foot or two long, though it had a large wide head. As Evan swung, Maximus did not waver. Easily sidestepping and weaving each swing, Maximus watched Evan closely, waiting for an opening.

Evan made for a huge swing, completely opening his body to Maximus. Quickly, Maximus brought the remaining, floating pebbles toward him, creating a dull, stone sword. Swinging, Maximus crushed the blade into Evan’s chest, stunning him to the floor.

“Sorry, you lose,” Evan grinned from his kneeling position. “Good fight though.”

Standing behind Evan, Brett had his arm extended, hand pointing at Maximus. Above Brett’s shoulder was a large swordfish, made from a few feet of water, its sharp blade was pointing straight at Maximus. They stood at a standstill for a few moments, waiting for Maximus to stand down.

“A strong warrior knows when he’s lost, Maximus,” I said, stepping forward.

Maximus nodded, the sword in his hand disintegrating. “I will admit, you guys are strong.”

“Damn right,” Brett grinned, shooting the water swordfish into the gully.

Evan wheezed, standing up. “That was a strong hit though, I wasn’t expecting it.”

Maximus laughed, “Thanks, you’re attacks were keeping me right on the edge.”

“I’m Evan, by the way,” Evan said. “Behind me is Brett, our leader Atch, and Rich.”

Maximus nodded. “Nice to meet you all.”

I stepped forward, and extended my hand once more. “So, Maximus, you in?”

Maximus paused, before gripping my hand. “Yea, and call me Max.”

“Alright Max, I guess we’ll see you around the structure,” I smiled, letting go of his hand and turning around. “Let’s go, boys, let him finish his lunch in peace.”

A few minutes later, the lunch whistle blasted over the playground. Back in class, Mrs Z was already setting up the board. As everyone filed into their seats, she started explaining the afternoon lesson.

“Today, we’ll be going to the hunting grounds,” she said, walking over to the door. “Though you guys won’t be hunting slimes today. Instead, you’ll be facing the other class.”

She paused for a second, letting us soak in the information.

“In what? You may ask,” she continued. “In a team elimination game, whole class versus class style.”

“Sounds fun, I thought to myself,” grinning at Rich, he grinned back.

Mrs Z opened the door, and beckoned for us to follow. “Both classes will start on opposite ends of the hunting ground, no slimes will be present. There will be a barrier surrounding the grounds, every minute that barrier will slowly close.”

As we walked, she continued to explain. “For all of you that are worried, don’t be. Special magic has been cast around the whole grounds, defending against any wounds.”

“Then how do we eliminate someone?” Rich asked, looking up at Mrs Z.

“Well, if you would’ve let me finish,” she said. “In addition to the magic, every one of you inside the barrier will have a health bar. Attacking an enemy will lower the bar, though the amount it lowers by will depend on the strength of your attack. Also, every second outside the barrier, your health points will deplete, so try to stay inside.”

Everyone nodded, understanding the rules.

She looked at all of us, then finished, “As your health bar depletes, you will feel more and more fatigued. Don’t fret if you feel unable to stand when it hits zero, it is just part of the invulnerability wearing off.”

A few moments later, we arrived at the portal Mrs Z lead us in and we appeared on a clearing much different from the normal starting area. In the middle of the clearing was weaponry like bows, swords, knives, spears, daggers, any medieval weapon you could think of.

“Remember children, don’t feel afraid to attack the others,” Mrs Z said, smiling as she watched people walk over to the weapons. “No matter how much you attack them, the only thing that will take damage is their health bar.”

I walked over to Rich, who had already picked up a one-handed broadsword, a few feet in length.

“Perfect,” he said, swinging the blade a few times. “This is just like my sword back home.”

“Hmm,” I said, looking over the gear, “I guess I’ll just use this dagger.”

I picked up a light looking dagger and flipped it between my hands. It was simple looking, the blade a sharp triangular design with serrated edges. Though I think the blade was meant for stabbing, not cutting. The hilt wasn’t anything special, just wood with a leather finish.

“Piercing dagger, huh,” Rich remarked, sheathing his sword. “It suits you.”

“Sure,” I sighed, putting the dagger in its sheath, then attaching the sheath to my side.

A loud trumpet sound blared over us, and we looked up in the sky. Slowly encasing the area was a translucent blue, force field type magic. Spread across the top, was a ratio, reading:

Class K-1: 26 / 25: Class K-2

As expected, we were outnumbered by one with Alexander gone. Looking back at Rich, I noticed he had a health bar above his head, just like the ones out of a video game.

Rich: 100/100

“The game has begun, you guys got this!” Mrs Z smiled, watching us run into the trees.

After a few minutes of running, Rich and I came to a stop.

“Hold up,” I said, holding my hand out in front of his chest. “Get down, be quiet.”

Posting up behind a tree, I peered around the tree. Slowly, the sound of footsteps carelessly stomping over branches came closer. There were three voices, two boys and one girl. Looking over at them, I could tell they weren’t from our class, though they were also not very notable from the other class.

“Probably some weaklings,” I shrugged, unsheathing my dagger.

Rich nodded back, “Ready?”

“Wait for them to walk past us, and we’ll attack then,”

“Got it, Cap,” Rich smirked, drawing his sword.

We waited a few seconds, until the footsteps came within an arm’s reach. As they walked past us, it felt as if time slowed. I dashed forward, stabbing out with my dagger at the boy nearest to me, and slashed at the throat with my claws. From the other side, Rich attacked, slashing across the nearest girl’s body and sweeping her legs out from under her.

Time felt as if it resumed, and I watched the boy’s health bar drop from 100 to zero, then shatter from above his head. He looked around confused, as he fell to his knees, just as Mrs Z had said he would. With a final stab, Rich finished off the girl, though it was as if the part of his sword that pierced her vanished, then came back into existence as he pulled it out.

The last standing boy stood shocked for a moment, before drawing his sword.

Health: 100/100

Level: 2

Strength: 1

Power: 1

Speed: 1

“Oh, shit,” he exclaimed, wavering for a split second.

I took advantage of the time, and lunged forward, my dagger digging into his side, though there was no resistance. I was right, as the blade touched him it dematerialized, and as it was removed it rematerialized, just to give the effect of a stab.

“I didn’t realize you were Atch,” the boy said, falling to his knees. “Well played.”

“Thanks, kid," I grinned, watching as Rich slashed down across his chest.

The boy’s health bar hit zero and the magic shattered. As it broke, we dashed back through the trees, hunting our next targets. Up in the sky, the scoreboard read:

Class K-1 :22 / 24: Class K-2

In just five minutes, the tides had turned. We’d taken out four of their class while they only took out one of ours. I

Continuing forward, we ended up at one of the many clearings. As expected, in the center, students were fighting. At first I couldn’t tell who was on what side, but as they turned I could. Three girls from our class against four boys from the other class. The boys were Brett and three of his henchman, while the three girls were Amber, Abby, and Diana.

“Let’s go,” Rich said, beginning to press through the brush.

I held my hand up to his chest. “Hold up, I wanna see how this plays out for a bit.”

“What, why? This isn’t the time for that,” he remarked, trying to press forward once more.

This time I shoved him back with the hand that was on his chest. He fell to the floor with a quiet thud, before getting back up angrily.

“What’s your problem bro?” He glared. “Why don’t you wanna help our classmates?”

“Look, Rich,” I stared him back. “I need to test Abby’s fighting skills, I was considering adding her to our ranks.”

“Is this the time for that?” Rich stared me down. “Games like these are the ones that boost or lower our ranks, is it worth the risk?”

“Yes, I believe so,” I shrugged. “Building up our group’s strength comes first, in my opinion. And it’s not like any of us are bound to drop anyway, all of us are on the top ten.”

“Tsk,” Rich cracked his neck and sat sheathed his sword. “If they start losing, we’re going in.”

“Fine, fine,” I sighed, turning back to the fight.

During my scuffle with Rich, Brett and his henchmen had taken down Abby, who kneeled down on the floor, only able to move slightly. It was now four on two, though it looked like Brett’s henchman were all slightly sluggish, all less than 50% health.

Name: Amber

Health: 40/100

Level: 4

Strength: 2

Power: 3

Speed: 3

Name: Diana

Health: 60/100

Level: 3

Strength: 1

Power: 1

Speed: 3

Name: Brett

Health: 65/100

Level: 5

Strength: 2

Power: 4

Speed: 3

With one hand pointed toward one of Brett’s henchman, Amber used his wind magic, blowing them off their feet. As they began to stumble, Diana ran forward, roots from the ground sprouting from behind the henchman and fully tripping them. Diana jumped in the air and unsheathed her dagger, ready to stab down with the finishing blow. Before she could complete the kill, a blast of water hit her in the chest, shooting her a few feet back, tumbling head over heel. Her knees buckled as she tried to stand once more, and Brett shot a spear of water, connecting with her chest and piercing through to the other side. Diana’s health bar hit zero, and she crumbled to the floor.

“Diana!” Amber yelled, running over to her.

“Sorry about that,” Brett scratched his chin. “You girls are pretty cute, but I gotta hit first place this week.”

I laughed silently, “So he’s trying to grab my first place, huh?”

As the orb of water above Brett’s began to fill once more, his henchman rushed forward. Amber glared at them, arm extended and palm out. The henchmen were blown high, ten or twenty feet, into the sky and fell, at a distance that would have broken their small ankles. Amber rested Diana’s head gently upon the grass and stood back to face Brett.

However, she was too late, three lances of water were already jetting toward her. Amber put her hand up in front of her face instinctively and closed her eyes. It was my time to shine.

Grabbing one of the water lances out of the air and blocking another with my dagger, I watched as they exploded into droplets of water, puddling below me. The third one, however, stuck into my leg, though it didn’t hurt, and my health dropped to 75%.

“Atch?” Amber asked, confused.

“Don’t worry, I got this from here,” I grinned as Brett’s last water lance melted back into water and rejoined the rest of the pool.

“Oh, hey Atch!” Brett grinned, waving his hand. “What? is that your girlfriend?"

“Just a fellow classmate,” I smiled, sprinting forward. “I’ve never fought you before though!”

“Bring it,” Brett grinned, the orb of water filling up once more. is

Brett unsheathed his sword from his back and stabbed it through the orb of water. The blade molded as it exited, turning gold, with a blue crystal running through the center.

“Meet my newest spell, Trident,” Brett grinned, swinging it around.

“That’s not a trident,” I laughed, stabbing at him wildly with my dagger.

“Oh, shut up!” He laughed, blocking each strike, then swinging back in a wide arc.

I ducked the attack and stabbed into his stomach with my claw hand. He kneed out, though I bent back, dodging the would-be blow to my chin.

“Ah, one more hit and I’m out,” Brett sighed, stabbing the sword into the floor. “Better go out with a bang!”

Massive amounts of water collected around the blade, creating a small pond around him, ten feet square.

“Interesting,” I thought to myself. “Better stay out of that.”

As he grinned at me, water began collecting around his body, slowly molding into the shape of armor, though not fully materializing yet.

“Prepare, for my final form!” Brett grinned widely before his gaze went dark, and his head slumped over.

“Ha! Idiot!” I heard Rich laugh from beside me.

I turned to see Rich with his blade sticking into the puddle, I could see small currents of electricity bouncing along the surface.

“Lightning beats Water!” Rich said, removing the blade from the puddle and grass.

The puddle of water sunk back into the grass and Brett fell over, his water armor melting back into the grass like his lances had.

“Ah,” I groaned. “I forgot to ask where Evan is.”

Rich laughed, and I did too. We slapped high fives and sheathed our weapons.

“T–thanks,” Amber said, brushing herself off and trying to keep her composure. “Thanks for helping me.”

“No problem,” I nodded. “We’re gonna keep going, feel free to follow if you like.”

She nodded, and I dashed off into the woods once more. Rich followed me with Amber close behind. The score was now:

Class K-1 :17/ 20: Class K-2

With every moment, a fight must have been breaking out. Especially with the border closing in quickly. Unexpectedly, I heard a rustle from above and watched as a boy dropped from the trees, landing on Rich’s back. Stabbing down, the boy brought Rich to his knees before Rich could fling him off.

Name: Rich

Health: 30/100

I saw an arrow flying out of the trees toward Amber, and cut it down before it could make contact. I pressed forward, dashing into the assailant and stabbing wildly at his body. The boy parried one hit, though the rest connected. The boy fell to his knees, before slashing out in a wide arc in front of him, almost connecting with my neck.

Name: ???

Health: 20/100

Level: 3

Strength: 2

Power: 1

Speed: 3

I stumbled back a few inches, an arrow flying into my chest. Ripping the arrow out, I flung it to the side and ran forward, going for the killing blow on our first unknown assailant.

I flung my dagger at the boy and readied my claws. As the boy dodged the throw, I was already upon him. Stabbing my hand through his throat, the rest of the boy’s health bar depleted and he fell to the floor. Picking up my blade once more, I watched as Amber shot a gust of wind into the trees. A girl fell out ten or twenty feet away, due to all the shaking. Rich was already there, he stabbed down with his sword, though the girl rolled to the side, barely avoiding the attack.

Name: ???

Health: 90/100

Level: 3

Strength: 1

Power: 2

Speed: 2

As Rich swung again, the girl blocking the attack with her bow, Rich’s blade cutting deep into the hardwood. They stood at a slight standstill for a moment, before A gust of Amber’s wind pushed the blade from behind, giving it a last surge of power that cut through the rest of the bow. Rich’s sword cut into the girl, throwing her to her knees. With one fell swoop, Rich cut at her neck, fully depleting her health.

“Phew,” Rich said, as he sheathed his sword. “I wasn’t expecting that sneak attack. That boy got me pretty good.”

“Yea, sure did,” I nodded.

“Oh, thanks for the boost,” Rich grinned at Amber.

“No problem,” Amber replied. “I’ve been practicing my support magic.”

“Seems like it’s paying off,” I grinned, before turning and dashing into the trees once more. “Everyone stay on alert for sneak attacks.”

“Got it,” Rich replied.

There was a loud gong sound, ringing overhead. Two more hours had passed, and the game finished. Our class had won:

Class K-1 : 0/4: Class K-2

The final remaining were me, Amber, Rich, and Maximus. We never got to fight Evan today, and I think Rich was dying for a rematch.

“Great work today, class,” Mrs Z said as we were teleported to the starting area. “You all did well, even those who died during today’s game will see a bump in leaderboard ranking.”

The class cheered happily, we had not one loss against the other class. I didn’t plan on letting us lose anytime soon. As we got back to school, we passed by the grade’s leaderboard. On the scrolling, holographic list of 51 students, a small image of everyone was posted to the left of their names. To the right of the name’s was the leaderboard number. The bottom ten of the list had their names and numbers in red, rather than the blue hue of the main hologram. This, of course, signified that the bottom ten were in the range of getting expelled by the end of the year, so they better pick it up.

The top five of the leaderboard were called the Five Lords by kids in their grade, and the top five of the whole school were called the Five Emperors. However, these names were just for show, made up by students who were praising the strong. Checking the overall school’s leaderboard, I was way down at 352, though that was out of the near thousand total students at the school.

Each of the top five had a crown around their number, differing in color and size. These were all much like the ones on the hunting leaderboard, though the colors were different. The rank 1 had a red crown with a green laurel beneath it, rank 2 had a white crown with two green leaves beneath it. Rank 3 had a gold circlet, rank 4 silver, rank 5 bronze. The top five on our class’s leaderboard had changed after the last game:

Rank 1: Atch Leaf

Rank 2: Maximus Eden

Rank 3: Evan L’Getz

Rank 4: Rich Breeze

Rank 5: Brett Mester

Brett had dropped to rank 5 from three, Rich and Evan moved up one spot. Brett would probably be salty about this, though it was just unlucky that he ran into us so early on. Continuing back to class, we went through the boring and basic math, reading, writing, and science lessons of the day.