“Chadbourne, Rathwater. You two are up first.” Rauk barked out. As he spoke, he walked towards a crystal pillar that came to around his chest. He placed a hand on it and after a moment, an area in the center of the room rose slightly.

“Get into the ring,” Rauk ordered.

Anya bounced towards the battle ring with a vicious glee shining on her face. Jasper Rathwater looked far less enthused about the upcoming fight, and Liliana noted he was one of the students who had thrown up from the physical exertion. His skin was still pale, and he was obviously dragging his feet. Liliana had little illusion to how this fight was about to go.

“Shields placing, don’t move.” Rauk spoke and as he did, there was a flash of multicolored light that enclosed the fighting ring, pulsing brightly before it turned nearly invisible but for a slight visual distortion. As the first shield closed, two more appeared, surrounding the two combatants with a similar show before those shields too went nearly invisible.

“The shields on you will take as much damage as you have Health before they go red. As soon as they turn red, you’re ‘dead’ and the fight is over. Whoever dies first, or whoever has the least amount of health after five minutes, calculated off percentages rather than raw amount, loses.” Rauk informed them as he stepped back from the control crystal.

“Now bow and begin on my call.” Rauk commanded the two students. Anya bowed eagerly to Rathwater. The boy mirrored her, though his face just looked much aggrieved by the entire thing.

“Start,” Rauk called out, his voice filling the large training room and echoing.

As soon as he gave them the go ahead, the students moved. A high pressure torrent of water flooded from Rathwater’s hands, aiming for where Anya had been. Anya had taken to the air, her body flying far above the attack and the water hit the field shield instead of her, splashing ineffectively against the defenses.

Liliana watched Anya twist in the air and she smiled when she noticed the girl already had her weapons called, some type of metal gauntlets that covered her hands, spikes coming out of the knuckles. For a long moment, Anya hung in the air, far longer than she should’ve. Then the wolf girl moved. Wind swirled around her as she spun through the air, aimed at Rathwater like a small, furry missile.

Rathwater canceled his spell, summoning a shield of ice just in time to block Anya’s charge. There was a loud shattering sound as the girl burst through the shield, but Rathwater darted to the side, throwing sharply pointed shards of ice at Anya. Wind and darkness surrounded the girl like a violent shield, catching or misdirecting the projectiles she didn’t weave between. The entire time she moved, a smile stayed fixed on her face, lips stretched wide to show off her fearsome fangs. Liliana couldn’t get over the feeling that Anya was hunting Rathwater. She had the same predatory glint in her eyes that Liliana often saw in her bonds seconds before they went in for the kill on some unsuspecting prey creature.

Rathwater backed up, tossing out blades made of water and ice, desperately trying to get Anya away from him. But every attack either missed, or was dodged as Anya stalked closer and closer to the boy. In a panic Rathwater summoned as a great wave of water to crash upon his opponent, but Anya took to the sky once more, this time she was far closer to him and when she directed herself back at him he paused for a precious second that ended with him on his back, his shield going red as Anya’s weight bore him heavily into the ground, a spiked fist punching into his chest and the other pressed to his head, Liliana heard the sound of stones breaking and cracking as the two were driven down.

“Win, Chadbourne.” Rauk announced, his hand on the control crystal once more.

Anya jumped off Rathwater, doing a small flip as she grinned happily. Rathwater took longer to stand. His face was bloodless and his chest rose and fell in quick breaths. Liliana was sure he was still panicked, perhaps even going through shock. That last attack from Anya had been brutal, and if he hadn’t had the shield on, he’d be dead.

“That was fun. Good fight Rathwater,” Anya said with a cheerful wave as the shield around the ring disappeared. She jumped down to rejoin the group of students. Rathwater stared after her with wide eyes.

“Rathwater, get down here. Sit down,” Rauk barked out, his loud voice breaking through whatever shock Rathwater was in.

With a jolt Rathwater moved, climbing down from the ring and wandering to a wall to sit, guided slightly by Rauk’s hand, pushing him in that direction. His head was in his hands and Liliana noted that Rauk watched him for a long moment before turning back to the class.

“Bealstal, Coppercolt. Go.” Rauk ordered, and Liliana brought her attention back to the ring.

She noted the damage from the last fight was already gone, fixed during the few minutes after the end of the first fight. Emyr walked to the ring silently, a barely there smirk on his face. Coppercolt was dragging his feet. Though he hadn’t been one of the ones to throw up, he had gotten extra laps for trying to walk instead of running.

Emyr was sweaty but not as exhausted as Coppercolt obviously was, and the difference was apparent when they stood across from one another, waiting for the shields to be placed, then bowing. Rauk evidently did not want to repeat himself, for he said nothing more than announce the shields and calling the start.

As soon as the fight was called to start, the entire ring devolved into darkness, earning some calls of surprise from the class, for they could no longer see anything. Liliana sighed but smiled as she watched.

“Shadow Domain.” Alistair commented, naming one of Emyr’s Quintessential Skills.

“Show off,” Liliana snorted with a shake of her head.

It took a minute, during which they could hear Coppercolt cursing and stumbling around, the sound of attacks hitting the shield, but they couldn’t see anything. Not until the shadows vanished in a burst of blazing light that forced everyone to avert their eyes or risk blindness.

“Nova,” Alistair murmured and Liliana smirked, both at the show of power from Emyr and at how Alistair didn’t seem to realize he had all of Emyr’s skills and spells memorized, or what it implied. He certainly didn’t have her skills and spells memorized.

“Win, Bealstal.” Rauk announced.

Liliana looked over to see the training ring demolished, the stone blackened and cracked, parts of it white hot. Emyr stood there with the same barely there smirk, Coppercolt lying against the ring’s shield, his own shield a bright red. Emyr jumped down as soon as the outer shield vanished.

“Coppercolt, get down and sit by Rathwater.” Rauk ordered. The noble boy struggled to his feet and shakily made his way to where he was directed. His entire body trembled as he more fell than sat down.

The next few battles continued in a slightly less dramatic fashion. Zindru versus Allencourt, win for Zindru who had an impressive mastery of Nature. He’d used vines to cut through Allencourt’s illusions and her water abilities did nothing against the vegetation. Ravenswood versus Goldstein ended in Goldstein’s win, though it was a near thing. Ravenswood had an Acid affinity that ate through Goldstein’s earth defenses until the girl trapped Ravenswood in a cyclone of sand she couldn’t dissolve, Goldstein finished the fight with a concussive Sound blast that turned Ravenswood’s shield red.

“Rosengarde, older. Summerwarden.” Rauk called out.

Liliana jolted, looking towards her brother and friend. Both looked at each other before shrugging and moving towards the ring, once more in pristine condition. Liliana wondered if there was anything that would permanently affect it, likely nothing her class could do. Marianne and Alistair bowed to each other when the shields were placed, and then the battle began. Alistair summoned his shield and sword, and an ornate staff topped with a vibrant red ruby appeared in Marianne’s hands. Shining lights surrounded the two of them as they both began to activate defensive skills, spells, and buffs. A circling shield made of Crystal appeared around Alistair and Liliana spotted how his skin shifted to a darker, almost metallic hue.

Liliana watched closely, holding in a sharp gasp when she saw Marianne cut her arm with a small knife in a motion that looked far too practiced. Red blood dripped down, but never touched the ground. Instead, it began to form around her, deep red crystalized armor that covered her vital areas, and climbed up her staff, extending into a blade. In seconds, she held a formidable scythe of hardened blood that looked sharp enough to slice through bone. A darkness that felt somehow very different from the shadows of a Dark affinity seemed to surround the macabre weapon.

Marianne stared at Alistair for a moment. The boy hadn’t moved, and he held his position. Any unease he had over the show of blood didn’t show on his face. Marianne nodded and waved her hand, drops of blood spilling into the air as they turned into spears. Water spears followed, appearing in the air from nothing until it was almost impossible to see Marianne behind the wall of bristling spikes, all of them tipped with that odd not-Dark-darkness.

Another wave and the spears made of blood and water flew through the air, pelting into Alistair. His shield rose to block him, his floating crystal shield rising to cover his weak spots. But with every hit, his summoned shield cracked, darkening and decaying until it broke in a shatter of crystals. The projectiles broke against another shield of light that appeared, surrounding him, but it too began to crack and then shattered.

Attacks started to make it through his summoned defenses, hitting against his reinforced skin. Every hit, Liliana saw small cracks, tendrils of darkness growing. The onslaught seemed unending, but Marianne hadn’t been idle as she chipped at Alistair’s defenses. She’d begun to move as Alistair was distracted, her Speed far higher than Liliana had seen yet, the effect of some skill or spell.

Marianne moved until she was behind Alistair, her summoned blood and water spears still stabbing and breaking against Alistair, even as they slowly whittled down his Health. Marianne raised her staff-turned-scythe, the ruby embedded in it shining like a trapped star even as the blood darkened until the blade looked near black, and slashed it at Alistair’s open back.

A bright flashing light filled the air, and Liliana heard the clang of metal on metal. Alistair had turned, raising his shield to catch the weapon and with a smug grin, he stabbed his free sword at a surprised Marianne, breaking through her blood armor and rendering her own shield red. Behind him, the spears from her first attack were splashing against the crystalline shield, the one that had supposedly shattered not two minutes before, coated in glowing light. Liliana noted with wide eyes that the ‘damage’ she’d seen on Alistair’s skin was gone, too.

Illusions. He used illusions to trick Marianne into thinking he was struggling, Liliana thought in proud amazement.

“Win, Rosengarde older.” Rauk called out.

Marianne shook her head and dismissed her skills and spells. The spears of blood and water vanished, and Liliana watched with morbid curiosity as the blade on her staff turned back into a liquid and dripped off with the remains of her armor. The cut on her arm closed quickly. Evidently, it had been kept open through one of the princess’ skills.

“Good fight. That was a clever tactic.” Alistair complimented Marianne as they left the ring to rejoin Liliana and Emyr.

“Yea, but you knew I was coming.” Marianne said with a pout.

“It’s a tank’s job to keep an eye on the entire battlefield,” Alistair said with a shrug. “If you’d been against a different type of fighter, you’d probably have won.” Alistair was obviously trying to console a crestfallen Marianne.

“You hid some of your defensive skills and spells with illusions so she thought she was winning too, didn’t you?” Liliana asked, and Alistair’s skin darkened in a sheepish flush as he looked down.

“Yeas. I knew she was probably faster, so I needed her to get confident enough to get close.” Alistair said bashfully. Liliana grinned and bumped her brother with her shoulder. She was rather impressed with his clever thinking.

“Rosengarde, younger. Kastrioti older.” Rauk called out next.

Liliana jolted a little in surprise, head turning to look at Zir’elon, who was grinning at her, though she wouldn’t call the gesture a kind one. Liliana merely nodded at him before walking towards the ring. She almost paused, wanting to ask if she could use her tames, but shook her head. The professors knew she had tames. If they didn’t want her to use them, they’d have said so. Just in case, to at least ensure they got shielded, Liliana called out Polaris and Lelantos as soon as she stepped into the ring, her eyes going to Rauk’s. The man looked from her to the two beasts, but nodded silently.

“It’s time to fight?” Polaris asked her, and Liliana silently confirmed it for both of her bonds.

She could’ve brought out Nemesis too, but there were still too many people, too many humans, around and she didn’t think she’d need all three of her bonds for this. As it was, Polaris was overkill, but that was the point.

“Wait. A Rank 4? This isn’t fair!” Zir’elon had apparently clocked Polaris’ rank, and he turned to their professor, an enraged look on his face.

“They’re Rosengarde’s bonds. She can use them in this fight if she wishes.” Rauk said impassively. “If you have bonds, you can feel free to use them as well,” Rauk said with a raised a brow at Zir’elon, who huffed and turned his back on the professor.

“If you’re scared, I can call Polaris back.” Liliana offered with a taunting smirk. Zir’elon’s eyes narrowed, shooting her a hateful glare as he looked between her and her bonds. Liliana’s smile widened as she turned to look at Polaris.

“Sit this one out,” she spoke aloud, just to rub it in. Polaris sniffed before sighing, acting as if this was all a great inconvenience to him, though Liliana saw the amusement in his eyes.

This was all according to her plan, anyway. And Polaris knew that, he’d read her intent the second he appeared and approved of the petty move. She had never really planned to use Polaris in a fight this early. She just wanted to make Zir’elon take a hit socially. Showing she had Polaris and then oh so graciously calling him back to make the fight more ‘fair’ would show she was more powerful than Zir’elon, and was simply playing with him. Polaris vanished as he disappeared back into his summoning stone. A last, silent, barking laugh filling her head.

“Now that it’s been made more… fair, are you ready, Kastrioti?” Rauk’s voice, dripping with sarcasm, floated up.

Zir’elon looked ready to go into a tantrum. His lips curled into a scowl and his fists clenched so hard Liliana was worried he’d accidentally break his own fingers, nodded stiffly. Liliana nodded as well, shooting a smile at the professor, whose eyes were sparkling with some amusement. Liliana thought the young teacher enjoyed seeing so many nobles being brought down a few pegs.

“Shields.” Rauk called out as first the shield around the ring, then the shields around the combatants, formed. Liliana and a very reluctant Zir’elon bowed after the shields appeared.

“Start.” Rauk called out.

In less than a heartbeat, a naginata formed in Liliana’s hand and she jumped into the air, landing on Lelantos’ back even as she activated her Set Up chain combo. Power flooded her veins, racing neck and neck with the adrenaline her heart was pumping through her, as the skills activated. She could feel Lelantos activating his own spells, [Empowered Claws] covered his claws in bright light that would help him sheer through anything. [Enlargement] made his already fearsome form grow until Liliana felt like she was crouching on the back of a tiger shaped elephant. [Reinforcement] strengthened his body, [Light Armor] surrounded his body in light that would block and absorb damage.

Zir’elon had taken a step back, and as Lelantos let loose a [Bestial Roar] he stumbled back several more, his weapon held tightly in his hand. Liliana grinned, a vicious thing as she activated [Gatling Barrage]. Small bullets of light appeared behind her, forming in circles. With a mental nudge, the spell began firing off, the circles of lights rotating as they fired off. They would fire five shots per second and last for five minutes, following behind her and firing a whatever she directed them to. It wasn’t a channeled spell, thankfully, and it provided quite a bit of use in a fight. Opponents often had to choose to dodge her blades or her bullets, but either way, they got hit.

“Let’s go.” Liliana mentally ordered Lelantos, who let off a non-enhanced roar as he crouched down, then pounced towards Zir’elon, who was moving around to avoid the light bullets firing at him.

Liliana watched as Lelantos got closer and noted that Zir’elon had impressive Speed and Dexterity, for few of her bullets landed on him. The dæmon swung his sword in a wide arc as the giant tiger and rider approached him, a wave of fire coming from it that Lelantos was forced to dodge around.

“High low.” Liliana told Lelantos as she gripped his fur with one hand, her muscles coiling tightly as Lelantos charged at the prince once more.

Another wave of fire shot off and Lelantos barreled through this one, as Liliana activated her Escape chain combo even as she deactivated [Gatling Barrage] early to avoid detection. Her form disappeared as she jumped over the fire attack that washed over Lelantos, [Leap] taking her farther into the air. [Windwalk] activated at the apex of her jump, settling her feet in the air as if it was solid ground.

As [Windsurge] activated, Liliana tilted her body, so she was poised to fly at Zir’elon, who hadn’t yet noticed her absence. Winds whipped around her, forcing her forward, her weapon held out like a lance as Zir’elon clashed with Lelantos, claw and fang fighting against flame and steel. [Gust] pushed her on faster and as Liliana got in range, she activated her Finisher chain combo. The blade at the end of her naginata lit up a pure white.

“Wha-“ Zir’elon turned, fast, faster than Liliana expected, but not fast enough as the blade that had been poised to spear him through the back instead collided with his chest. [Dance of the Vanishing Blade], [Pierce], [Soul Slash] and [Soul Strike] all activated consecutively as her blade connected. [Radiant Edge] condensed before spreading out in a violent explosion of light and force, as the rest of the spells and skills hit Zir’elon was forced back, his body hitting the ground before skidding, his shield turning a bright, blood red.

Liliana landed in a crouch, [Windwalk] softening the landing. She deactivated her active abilities with a sigh as she stood straight. She no longer stumbled anymore when the effects ended, but it was always disconcerting. Her skills and spells made her so much faster, stronger, than she was normally. It always felt like she was becoming weaker, fragile, when she turned them off.

She dismissed her weapon back to storage as she stood there, laying a hand on Lelantos. The fight had been fast, as she preferred it. Her active abilities from her Set Up were all channels and would drain her of Mana fast, combined with the other spells and skills she was wont to use, so she always aimed to end fights quickly. Even with the 45% buff to her Intelligence and Wisdom from [War Maiden’s Waltz] she simply couldn’t keep everything up forever. She could keep the Set Up going, but with her activating other abilities, it could quickly result in her running out of Mana if she wasn’t careful, so it was always better to end a fight before then. Not that she didn’t know how to last in a fight, it was just easier to finish a fight early, safer too.

“Win, Rosengarde.” Rauk called out.

Liliana smiled as she scratched a now smaller Lelantos behind his ears before sending him back to his stone. Liliana spared a look towards Zir’elon, who was just climbing to his feet, his face a portrait of impotent rage, before she turned and used a bit more of her Speed than was strictly necessary to get back to her group. She didn’t trust the prince to not try attacking her back.

“Kastrioti, get down.” Rauk barked out at the prince who was still standing there, eerie eyes filled with anger and some hate, gripping his still flaming sword.

“Kastrioti!” Rauk yelled, and it finally snapped Zir’elon out of his rage fueled stupor. With a scowl, he dismissed his weapon, and the surrounding flames before stalking off the stage, his mask back in place, but his anger still clear in his violet eyes.

“He’s going to be a problem,” Emyr murmured.

“Probably.” Liliana said, but her eyes were on a different dæmon, one who was regarding her with an icy interest that contrasted greatly with his fire colored eyes.