A rusty sword was fast approaching his neck and Teo only had a few seconds at most to avoid it. Dodging wouldn't be enough though, he would need to stop his opponent from chaining a deadly follow-up attack if he wanted to survive the encounter.

With no time for even a flimsy Mana bolt or improvised shield, he would need to fall back to one of his contingency plans.

Teo pulled out two spinning orbs of Mana from his hands, rotating in opposite directions.

They were tiny with no time to charge them up and would do little more to Karl than throwing two raw eggs at him, he smiled ferociously, certain of his victory.

Yet Teo did not just throw them at him, he clapped his hands together, colliding the two spheres, while hurriedly dodging to the side and averting his eyes. A dazzling flash of light ensued and blinded Karl temporarily.

This technique had been inspired by the basic principles of Light Magic, which they fortunately discussed in last year's Elements class. The opposite flows of Mana would result in a rapid discharge of energy on collision, which was relatively harmless, but very bright.

Thanks to this unexpected diversion, his attacker could not adjust the trajectory of his sword and had to follow through with a blind slice to Teo's original position.

However, Teo did not remain unaffected by it, even though his life was saved, he was grazed by the tip of the sword and received a glaring cut on his left shoulder.

Hurriedly he began to direct the Fire Element in his body against his own skin, cauterizing and disinfecting the wound at the same time.

The practical courses of the third year put a heavy focus on the defensive and first aid techniques, that most Elements were capable of. Petrifying, freezing or cauterizing fresh wounds was a great way to stop the bleeding and prevent infection, even if it hurt like hell, especially with Fire Magic.

Teo knew that this was not the time for complaining though, so he tried to turn the tide and began to prepare a counterattack after putting a suitable distance between them.

Teo needed to act quickly if he wanted to take advantage of his opponent's dazed state and could only commit to a mediocre Mana Bolt, the heavy impact on the back seemed to have delivered some damage though.

He also managed to reinforce the skin-tight Mana Barrier around his body, hopefully preventing wounds from light attacks in the future. With Karl's vision returning, it was time for round two.

Meanwhile, Jack seemed to be doing well in his standoff. His corpulent opponent lacked proper training in the way of the sword and could not take full advantage of Jack's unarmedness. As burn marks accumulated on his fleshy body, Jack seemed to slowly get the upper hand.

Teo would now be able to fight on equal ground, without worrying about his friend too much.

Due to his lack of ranged attacks, Karl could only charge face on into a barrage of smaller Mana Bolts, trying to cross the distance.

He needed to dodge every last one of them, as Teo had focused his assault on the sensitive parts of his opponent, the hands, face, knees, and crotch, trying to incapacitate him, it was no time to play fair after all.

Just as he slid underneath an incoming bolt aimed for his face, he pulled out a small danger from inside his mantle and threw it in one smooth motion. Who said that he was lacking in ranged techniques?

Teo was flustered by the sudden turn of events but managed to react in time. Empowered by the thin Mana Barrier, he intercepted the deadly projectile with his hand, flicking it to the side.

This was the only way to guarantee it would hit the point he expected it too and the area around his hands was the easiest to reinforce for him anyway, he just lost a second he could have used to get in another attack.

To best this opponent he would need to get just as crafty as him.

The small gap between them was closing, but Teo was already expecting him.

It became increasingly harder to control Mana as it got farther from his body, making it almost impossible for him to redirect launched attacks, but he had thought of a trick to catch his enemy off guard. Teo had already started to prepare the ingredients for it a while ago and now it was time to put it into practice.

After the short interruption, he launched a big but seemingly normal, spinning Magic Bolt at Karl's face, which he naturally dodged without paying much attention to it. Such an obvious attack would not hit him in a hundred years.

But of course, there was a catch.

Invisible to the unschooled eye it was connected to Teo's hand through a thick thread of Mana, which acted as a sort of remote control, almost like a more advanced version of a morning star —and naturally, he pulled it back with all his might.

The spherical accumulation of Magic power rushed back silently and knocked into the scoundrel's nape, just as he was about to swing his sword again, completely catching him off guard.

It was a decently sized projectile made from compressed Mana and the impact it generated on collision, sent a shock running through the scrawny man's nervous system, rendering him unconscious instantly.

One down one to go, but the hard part had already been accomplished.

With the main character taken out of the picture, the boys teamed up and finished his obese henchmen with little effort. Now, he was unarmed and on his knees, begging for his life.

"Ohh, pleashe don't kill poor Jimmy! It washn't my idea anyway. I jusht helped becaushe Karl'sh always sho shcary!" he protested dramatically, tears literally flowing in streams down his cheeks.

At least the mystery of how he managed to survive so long with his mediocre skills was finally lifted and the reason certainly was not his high sense of pride.

"What should we do with him?" asked Jack, unsure about the right course of action given such a situation.

"How am I supposed to know?! Can't you just knock him out or something?" replied Teo surprised, he did not expect to have to deal with such questions.

And so they did. Jack had needed several tries to yield the desired effect though, he was still a child and lacking in power, while his target was at least five times more massive than him and crying the whole time...

After freeing their former enemies of their weapons, the duo continued onwards on their journey to freedom.

"Are you alright, Teo? That looks pretty bad," queried Jack while pointing at the burned incision under the ripped shirt on Teo's upper arm, close to his shoulder.

"I'm okay. It does hurt, but he just grazed me, I think." He covered the wound with his other hand and forced a smile. Damn! With the adrenaline slowly leaving his system, it really did hurt like hell now! But what could he do about it?

"You better go see a healer after my dad saves us and brings us home," Jack said, full of conviction, still not doubting it.

Teo gave him a sarcastic smile — a natural one, this time.

"Then we better let him know where we are, don't you think?" Teo retorted.

"Good idea!" Jack was wearing his trademark dazzling smile now, the stress and fear from the previous battle nowhere to be seen.

After they left the antechamber of their former cell, they stepped into a narrow hallway, stretching towards both sides, illuminated by sporadic torch-holders on the walls.

They decided to head left, as the right side obviously ended in a dead-end, which could already be seen from a distance.

Not even a minute had passed, when they stumbled upon a small window in the upper section of the wall, through which the light of a few lonely stars and the barely visible crescent moon shined on them.

"Can you lift me up there? This just might be our chance!" said Teo excitedly.

Standing on the shoulders of his friend, he could now reach it and see the paved road, it bordered on, as well as the clear night sky above it. However, the opening was way too small for them to fit through and he could merely stick his arm out.

But possibly it allowed him to complete one of his goals already.

Teo took over half a minute to prepare and launched a sizeable ball of Mana towards the night sky, that flew higher and higher into the darkness.

When it reached far above the adjacent roofs and trees it exploded in a dazzling flash of blue light. It was a variation of the blinding technique he had used in the last battle, heavily influenced by the 'fireworks' he had once seen.

If they had not been noticed previously, they had been now, hopefully in a good way though.

The City at night was silent and dark, such an obvious phenomenon was unlikely to go unnoticed, especially when their families we're probably already searching for them.

With nothing else to do, they continued down the hallway in silence.