- Creeth -

“So, let’s get started.”

Jennith rounded us up into a circle, to host a meeting before the battle starts. We were on the second floor of our fortress, within the core room located in the center of the building.

“We’ll be taking standard procedure, the engineer forces defending the base while the combat forces strike the enemy base. The engineers will be operating the built in defensive mechanisms to fend off the attackers.”

Jennith looked at each of the battlemages, me included. Her eyes stopped on Michael and spoke.

“What happened to you? Didn’t get enough sleep?”

Michael blinked myself awake and straightened his back.

“No, I’ll be fine.” He responded sluggishly. Jennith eyed him suspiciously but eventually moved on.

“As long as you can fight. We’ll need all hands on deck for this activity.”

Her face turned grim. “Cause he’s on the other team.”

We all knew who she was referring to. The heir of the strongest military family, boasting trained and intelligent swordsmen and warriors, Arthur Belrick. His bloodline has contributed to the offense against the Aberrants for the past few decades, and he is one of the only new-generation Magical Swordsmen, one of the more formidable ones at that.

“He’s not something the average swordsman, or mage for that matter, can beat.” I stated. “If we want to win this, we’ll have to somehow deal with him before anything.”

“Well, I think we’ll have the opportunity to do that,” said Alex. “Think about the type of fighting style he uses. If I were him, I’d be leading the charge into the other base at the crack of dawn. If we isolate him then that’ll give us plenty of options to slow him down.”

Davis slightly raised his hand. “But what do we do after? Just because he’s alone doesn’t make him any weaker. I personally wouldn’t stand a chance against him, even with help.”

There was a short pause while everyone in the circle thought about the current predicament.

“If we can’t take him out completely, we’ll have to settle with slowing him down or containing him to a certain area.” I decided. “For that, we’ll need people who can fight him up close, as well as people who can restrict his range of movement.”

“What magic are each of you capable of?” Jennith inquired.

“I use Earth-based Magic,” Alex announced. “I can cast fast walls and projectiles at close to medium ranges. The scale of the Magic varies based on the distance and terrain.”

“Okay, next.”

“I use Water-based Magic,” I said. “I fight mostly at close to midrange using various slash and capture techniques.”

“Alright.”

We continued in this fashion for Davis, Michael, and Emily.

“…and what about yours?”

Jennith asked Emily. She hadn’t talked through the entire discussion, and in class she’s unusually quiet as well. She’s friends with a few of the type two students so I’m curious what type of Magic she uses.

She slowly raised her head and looked at Jennith with bored eyes.

“Uh… me? Um… I use Combustion, Combustion Magic.” She managed to utter. Everyone looked at each other with confused expressions, less at her words and more at her eccentric demeanor.

“Combustion? Like the fire type?” Greg asked loudly.

“Yeah.”

Her uneven speech might initially seem to be a result of awkwardness or her being shy, but it was clear from her flat, unfocused countenance, that she was just too detached to speak properly. She’s from the Canon family, known for its involvement in governing the first chain of dome cities, so it’s honestly quite a surprise that she chose to attend a academy of Magic. Maybe that has something to do with her uninterested attitude.

“What range can you activate it?” Alex questioned. Emily met his eyes and opened her mouth.

“Close-range.”

Alex stared at her. “Just close?”

She nodded in response.

“Wouldn’t you blow yourself up like that?” Gregory asked skeptically. Everyone whispered in agreement. I passively looked over at Michael and caught him fighting the urge to fall asleep. What the heck happened to him?

Emily raised her hand and a script appeared, activating and forming a fist-sized ball above her hand.

“He-Hey!”

She threw the ball up into the air, before it erupted into flames. It flashed white for a split second, before exploding with a loud boom. A gust of heated wind swept over the room and a pile of black cinders fell to the ground.

“Close-range.” Emily emphasized.

“Ah! So you’re a type two mage.” Jennith realized. “It’s impressive that you're capable of combat using alteration. We could definitely use that in our attack.”

“Don’t you think we could keep Arthur on his toes with this?” Alex said excitedly.

“Not a bad idea.” I said. “Now that just leaves the close range that’ll fight him head on. The only two people that could do that are me, and probably Michael.”

Everyone looked over at Michael who had safely avoided falling asleep. I'm sure the increased temperature in the room didn’t help.

“Arthur? Yeah I could beat him.” He responded.

“No, no, you don’t gotta beat him, you just have to stall him.” Alex corrected.

Michael paused for a minute, pondering over his comment. His eyes became sure and he spoke.

“No. I’m sure I can fully defeat him in combat.” He looked over at Emily. “Even more so with her help.”

Yeah, I’m sure with his abilities he’s not bluffing. In the first place, he’s in the student council because of his absurd grasp on magical structuring. I heard from other students in the school about his fighting style and he seems to be at least as frighteningly powerful as Arthur Belrick. If it weren’t for his lackadaisical attitude in class, he would be at the top of the grade among the scholar students like Julia Lockhart and Franklin Arbiter.

The meeting ended after some small clarifications and the students broke apart to prepare their equipment. I stood at the corner of the room beside Michael, slipping on my rubber gloves that held a small circular gem in the center. Michael sat beside me and equipped himself with a peculiar sword that had a sleek black luster and a diamond shaped crystal embedded in it.

“Woah, what the heck is that?” I exclaimed. Michael looked up at me and spoke.

“Oh this? It’s a Relic Arm I purchased down at the Shopping district near here.” He gripped the handle and raised it above his head, grinning widely. “Cool right?”

“It looks fucking demonic.” I responded sarcastically. “What are it’s specs?”

“That’s the thing; I have no idea. I’ve tried triggering its innate properties on multiple occasions, but it doesn’t do anything besides absorb Essential energy.”

Absorb Essential energy? I looked at the sword again. “Is that by any chance made of Black Steel?”

“That’s what I was told. It hadn’t sold because no one could figure out what it did. Most appraisers just assumed it was a dead Relic.”

I raised a brow. “Then why did you buy it?”

Michael stared at the dull crystal on the sword and eventually said. “It just felt like it resonated with me.”

Resonated huh? I’ve heard of Relic Armaments that only certain people could use effectively, but not ones that exclusively work for one person. Well, Relics are still largely unexplored Essential materials contrary to their use en masse in weapon creation, so there could very well be variants with undiscovered properties.

“Well it’s a pretty cool looking sword, and probably durable at that. I’m sure it’ll be useful.” I assured.

“I sure hope it is.” He responded, standing up. “Cause I’ll be fighting a slightly troublesome opponent pretty soon.”