After a month of daily hunting for food, skill gains, sentry duty, physical training and general survival training out in the wilds for both the little princes and the street rats. Finally, they were ready to go back to their separate cities: teams that were finally in sync with each other would be breaking up. The same groups of trainees would be unlikely to be chosen to go to the same place for the yearly training camp but there are many other opportunities, there are a limited number of Academies for one and finally there is only one university, but you need to be exceptional to reach such a peak

Alex and his team sat around a fire telling stories about what they most appreciated from the training camp and preparing for the final test before they are able to leave the next day. Later they would strategize some more and finally exchange contact details with each other in case they were travelling near each other.

After 3 weeks of team therapy with Vale they also finally broke his reliance on the approval of his father. This unfortunately caused his taunt skill to shatter as he couldn’t see the strength of the image he used before. But it was no longer needed anyway as they all could either dodge, parry, block the attack, or blind them with fire stones.

And interesting use for water stones was discovered one fateful day which engulfed the whole camp into a single water fight with eventually the children all teaming up against the trainers. There were 50 children but the 5 instructors could use magic so it worked out as being pretty fair.

Apart from the team, no one else that they knew of knew where those enchanted stones came from and who the mysterious Enki was. Eventually the team each had a visit from a Shade who explained that they were some of the few people that knew of Enki’s real identity and giving out such knowledge to anyone, including family would cause extreme problem for the whole family.

Reiva attempted to sell the information later but found all the people that were willing to buy the information dead and a note left behind: “Thank you for your hard work, Your friendly neighbourhood Shade.” She never attempted to reveal such information again.

Enki’s simple idea swept through the military and even reached the upper tier mages of the university. If they could have an item that could be used while they defended against opponents to break a stalemate it was seen as a wonderous advantage. That delight was squished by the Shade Order which did not want other kingdoms getting a sniff of this tiny development and to save using the stones unless they were used in a time of war. They will however be used by kids on training activities in the wild for escape and evasion purposes. Hopefully this would misdirect any spy reports for the usefulness of the items. This was they could continue to test and experiment with the stones and make everyone else believe that they were only expensive training aids, nothing more.

Eventually the furore around Enki disappeared into the subconsciousness of the kingdom until his next big reveal but that will come later.

The next day the final test was revealed to the trainees, they have been brainstorming the last couple of days for possible clues and strategizing for as many possibilities as possible with so little information

It was a combat test as many people had guessed. All you had to do is touch the opponent’s belt once. The point of the test was to prove your team work and leadership for the leaders, not your combat prowess, your skills or stats.

To pass you have to show real commitment to the success of the team instead of glory hunting. Unfortunately, even after a month of constant training with your team, some teams and some leaders never had to learn that lesson.

Andra and her team were the 7th in line for the attempt and they were all preying to get Head as their opponent as he would be the greatest challenge and would allow them to do unlock their full potential. They were not allowed to view the other team’s combat attempts so as to not from each the other teams but they were also not guarded and nothing was said about breaking rules, scouting the enemy or anything like that. This is why they were sitting in a tight circle to make it look like all 5 were sitting there while Reiva was off … Scouting.

Andra feels a hand touch her shoulder three times and stands up to stretch her legs, when she sits done, Reiva is sitting with her too. “So how did it go? How close did you manage to get’?” she finally asks.

“I couldn’t come closer than the ridge, some of the other scouts from the other teams came over the ridge and were instantly caught. From what I could hear, they would be kept away from their own turn and only allowed to join after 1 minute as if they had died.” Reiva shakes her head as she explains. “I could have sworn they could see us up there even with the camouflage skill.”

At this point Stefan interjects, “So what can you tell us about Head’s combat style? Is he as amazing as we assumed? Can we finally go full out? Let’s be honest, for the last week we have been soloing our targets. The only real challenge now would be another exiled yeti and I really don’t think we would have an issue with one of those.”

Vale and Alex both met Reiva’s eyes and also nod as if asking “Tell us?!” Reiva however looked at Andra for confirmation. Once she gets a nod from her she begins. “It was very strange. Head didn’t seem to move but no one could approach him, the other kids started tripping and getting in each other’s way before even getting close to Head. Eventually they would be told something and would leave. I don’t believe any one of them has passed yet but they are allowed to leave to the carriages anyway.”

They all stare at her until she suddenly blushes, looks at the ground and starts to fade from view until Andra finally snaps out of whatever she was thinking about and places her hand on Reiva’s shoulder in an encouraging manner. “Don’t worry Reiva, we don’t blame you for not getting closer and I am sure the guys are actually extremely excited about what you said instead of scrutinising what you told us.” She turns to the ‘guys’ in the team and repeats herself, “Right guys?”

The guys, Alex, Stefan and Vale, all snap out of whatever they were thinking and dumbly nod at Andra, “Reiva I don’t think they heard a thing we said since you finished. Boys!”

It was finally their turn and the stress finally hit them all. They each obviously had different reactions to it though. Alex was fiddling with his sword and kept counting the effect stones. Should I use the sword ability? Could it be too dangerous? Maybe use the stones as delayed traps too? I hope we don’t hurt him too much after this! ….. I hope we can touch the belt ……. Just let us pass the test… Flip up, spin around, flip down, One, two, three ….

Andra had a similar reaction but she was ranging distances instead and counting her arrows. Should she be using the armour piercing set or the blunt force set? Can she use the sharp set as feints or would that be too obvious?

Reiva was constantly fading in and out of view while meticulously counting her own enchanted stones, fake stones, caltrops she had one of the trainers provide a week or so ago. Her knives were nice and sharp now too though she didn’t think she would use them for more than blocking and parrying whatever head does.

Stefan stood near the middle of the group just banging his mace against his shield in rhythmic beat. Three… Two… One… Thump… Three… Two… One… Thump …

It set a nice tone for the upcoming combat and was a focus for the rest of the team to psych themselves up to.

Vale was stock still. He was standing and looking at Head directly in the eyes before searching the rest of his body for obvious weapons and tells. He was the most serious of the team and was not worried about what tricks if any to use. His only role was to take the hits for his team and give them openings to try to get that belt. He would do everything he can to let his team pass this test even if it was grabbing onto Head and holding him down as best he could.

After a short while Head Finally spoke, “You have been the best and most balanced team of this session of training and I hope you have learnt enough from our time out here to trust your team mates. I will preface the start of combat with the rules and a piece of advice. First of all, you see the square we are in?” everyone looked around, where did the stone come from? Was it always there? They hadn’t noticed from the nerves, too unprepared. “Now if you leave this square you will be counted as killed and will no longer be part of the team to pass, if the rest do. However, if you are knocked out while still in the square you will be counted as dead only after 5 minutes and will still pass with the rest of the team. Now the piece of advice. You have to come at me with everything you have. Go for killing blows and maiming hits because that is the only way you will make me move or even make attempt to touch the belt. Is. That. Clear?”

Everyone from the team gulp hearing that pronouncement. So, they were not strong enough for Head to even move huh? The eyes of Alex, Andra and Reiva slowly clear. They no longer have to worry about not hurting Head too much. Stefan is still beating his shield but with a slightly faster rhythm – Two … One… Thump… Two… One… Thump… Andra switches the shorts around and mixes up for load out to better take advantage of the more dangerous pieces.

She looks at Reiva and something seems to pass between them, and then they nod to each other. Vale is still looking intensely at Head, judging and shadow fighting him in preparation for their test.

Alex seems to have relaxed now, if he can’t even hurt Head then he doesn’t have to worry about using some of his more … interesting tactics. He also starts up his Breath of Mana to build up the regeneration stacks without wasting too much stamina.

Head sees all of this take place from the eyes of the kids opening, their heads rising, their breathing slowing, their postures straightening. What a strange reaction to have when told they needed to fight to kill. These kids were truly special! He flicks his eyes to his left at the corner of the arena behind the kids and flicks his eyes back. The observer he asked to see this is still there, the blade of cut grass floating 2 cm of the ground s the proof of that.

“BEGIN!” Head yells!

They have been preparing for this for more than two weeks since the incident with the enchanted stones but never knew it. On that day the team finally had its final weapon and while Alex could enchant Andra’s arrows too he did not have the materials to do it properly. The stones were easy but metal was another story. The arrows had their own natural amount of mana as metals conducted mana just like electricity for some reason.

The team slowly got into a cross formation with Vale at the front, Alex on the right and Stefan on the left; Reiva was in the middle of the cross being covered by the bulky nature of Vale’s equipment and finally Andra at the back where she could coordinate the rest of the team and work to distract Head with killing bolts.

Suddenly the front line starts to run job forward with Vale outpacing everyone, Alex and Stefan stay a little way behind him and Reiva is still blocked from view by Vale. As they get closer to the barrier that no other team has managed to breach Vale shouts and starts to sprint forward. This is his new skill to replace Father’s Disappointment – Furious Charge. He will charge forward at the target in front of him. The louder his voice the faster he will run the more likely the enemy in front of him will not move.

Head would not move so Vale could finally test himself to his loudest scream. “RRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHH” and out paces the rest of the front line. Stefan is trying to keep up with Winds of Battle but is still outpaced! Alex is impressed but has no time to really appreciate what is going on now. He pulls out a fire stone from his pouch and activates it with 15 mana. This should set a 30 second timer on the stone, with his other hand he pulls out a set of unenchanted stone with wax coverings and throws them at Head.

As Vale suddenly hits the Barrier that stopped everyone else he grunts and continues to move forward. There is something in the barrier with head and Vale, he seems to be pushed back slightly and a sound of wood hitting metal can be heard. The shield is bucking back and forth and Vale is about to lose it but he is not alone!

Stefan rushes in behind vale and around him. His Winds of Battle skill evolved to have another effect once he reached Line rank. It could have something to do with an improvement of the image or the reduction of strain on his body but now instead of only moving in straight lines, he can, for an expenditure of more stamina, change the direction of his sprint forward without slowing down.

Vale created the chink in the armour and Stefan took advantage of it to strike directly at Head. He hid behind Vale on his charge at Head and now takes advantage of the surprise. He gets close to hitting Head but something knocks him out of the way. Something seems to be whirling around Head so fast that it can hardly be seen or maybe it’s just very thin?

While Stefan and Vale are up close with Head, Alex is sending him a surprise too. The feint stones were a diversion and create too many targets for Head to track especially with Vale and Stefan right there in front of him to concentrate on! The activated fire stone is still in Alex’s hand. Once he sees Head’s eyes flick to Stefan to parry hit attack, Alex throws the fire stone up as high as he can so that it lands close to Head on its way down.

Andra is already firing her blunt arrows trying to map the area of disturbance around Head. Any arrows going over him are ignored and any arrow going too low skids completely past him without notice. Either he can control which arrows are hit depending on their chance to hit him or the effect of the area is only around him from knee height up to the top of his head.

Andra stops shooting for a second to tie an air and fire stone to two arrows, activates them with 25 mana and shoots them to pass beneath the area of effect. The arrows are clumsy and un balanced but that is actually a benefit at the moment.

Finally, Stefan is thrown back and Vale follows shortly after, Head sweeps his eyes across all the stones and moves to remove the arrow stones and clear away some of the dummy stones too.

“Ah… those sneaky kids, they know I have seen the possible dangers of those stones and know that some of them take so long to take effect. I can’t leave any stones near me just in case, taking my eyes off them means I can’t parry and they used that to make me move…” he considers with chagrin. “Smart kids” he almost purrs.

He looks up again and sees Vale and Stefan helping each other to get up, Alex is throwing more mixed stones and activating his sword with his other hand. Whatever they were planning is coming soon. Ah and there is Andra, Miss Team Leader charging her Trueshot. That could be dangerous if it actually hits him Head thought. Now where is Reiva –

A stone comes falling from the sky just in front of Head, if he didn’t move away from the kids to clear some of the stones he would never have seen it. Its shining like the run and Head can’t even look at it directly, no less see the type of runes used. He starts to bring his arms to swat the stone away at the same time he jumps back slightly to avoid the damage from the knockback if it’s an air stone t –

BOOOOM

The stone explodes just before Head’s hand can strike the stone and push it away from himself. He couldn’t close his eyes or his hybrid skill would stop working so he turned his face way from the stone but not soon enough! The light from the fireball still blind shim for a second and the natural blinking to clear his eyes interrupts his skill.

All around Head there is a sudden whoosh sound as if whatever was spinning around him lost control and went flying off into the distance. One of the sticks passed between Vale and Andra without hitting either. That was too close!

The kids were not just watching what was going on, they were already acting as the fireball exploded better than they could have hoped, they were initially hoping for the stone to fall from the side of Head to deafen one of his ears and distract him but this way whatever was interfering with Vale and Stefan was now gone.

Vale set his shield and starts running at Head again and started his charge again only once Stefan caught up with his Winds of Battle skill. Alex was on Vale’s left now too falling steadily behind but his sword was now glowing a little and an elemental air sheath is now present. That the rest of his Mana but he already has some more fire and air stones prepped in his quick access pouches. They take 90 seconds to charge passively so there is time for some sneakiness.

Vale is getting really close to Head, only 5 meters away now when he hears a voice from behind him, “VALE!!! NOW!!!”.

Vale stops his charge and side steps a second later to let pass a glowing, spinning arrow! That is the Trueshot that Andra was charging previously is what Head realises. Just before it hits Head, he turns his body side on and leans back a little to let the whole thing past.

This gives Vale and Stefan an opening to get really close to him and to start pressuring him from both sides. A spear appears but no one has time to wonder where it came from. It could have always been there rotating around him for all they knew. Did it matter? NO? then ignore it for now and keep pressing!

Head is suddenly searching with this eye, where is Reiva, he hasn’t seen her since the beginning of combat all that time ago? What has it been? 15 seconds? 20? These kids are good!

Head doesn’t have time to look for Reiva as Andra is already preparing another Trueshot and Alex is coming in with that dangerous feeling sword of his. With the boosts in his stats after this month what used to be a nuisance is now a formidable weapon.

Alex comes rushing in from Head’s other side that is open now that Stefan is on the right getting parried by that deadly looking spear and doing his best to take hits on his shield. His arms and legs are bloody from all the cuts he lets through from Head though. He can do better with some more training.

Alex is suddenly close enough to pierce with that sword of his. C’mon Head you can’t be distracted like that! That sword has to be number one priority, he can take a hit from both Vale and Stefan so long as he stops that sword!

Vale suddenly presses forward too and presses the spear to head’s body with his shield as it passes to parry Alex on his left. Head is truly in danger now. Maybe the first time ever against kids that were this young. What good children but Head can still parry with his other hand. It’s dangerous to do parry an enchanted weapon barehanded but it won’t be too bad, its still a tier 1 enchant for light’s sake.

The combat is noisy, fast and heavy. While there are 3 kids in the front row trying to pressure Head, Andra is in the back charging her Trueshot for its final diversion. Just as Alex is about to be parried she shouts “GUYS!!!”

The kids in the front line break apart again to let another Trueshot past to put more pressure on Head. As it passes the slightly surprised Head, he is slightly off balance, he took a step just a centimetre too far back and now his centre of balance has broken.

Vale, Alex and Stefan see this minute mistake on their trainer’s part and capitalise on it! They each aim for a different killing bow – Alex is aiming for the large arteries in Head’s right leg with a piercing attack, Stefan is aiming for the side of the head with his mace and Vale is going for a crippling shot aiming at the Head’s front knee.

Head sees all of this and is pressured into dodging again, from an already unbalanced position he has to lose even more to avoid all those attacks!

He doesn’t know what it is but something catches his attention approaching him from behind, he starts to look back but Alex is already throwing slightly glowing stones at Head, trying to keep his attention on them.

But the feeling from behind is much more dangerous for some reason. When did they get something behind me? I cleared all their traps or was it another falling stone? No this is coming from distinctly down.

A dagger suddenly appears behind Head and is aimed directly at his kidney! The other dagger is stealthily still moving towards the waving belt.

His 6th sense is suddenly blaring alarms at him that he has to stop playing around or he will really be hurt by this. He no longer has anywhere to go and his posture is too unbalanced to keep playing around.

He suddenly vanishes and 5 thunks are heard behind each of the team. The “light” taps knock all the kids out and Head is relieved for his life.

The other team taking the test also stopped to watch. They had goose bumps after watching that. The precision, the lack of communication and yet the team fought amazingly well, blocking for each other, parrying for each other, feints from 1 person created real attack opportunities for others.

The trainers were impressed too but they were also a little scared… what would have happened if that team fought them? Would they have been able to win too? Maybe?

Head looks around the arena and sees the decoy stones all around, some of the activating stones needed to be thrown away before they caused harm too. Now to clean up the kids before passing them.

The audience Head requests fades into view on the side away from everyone else and whispers, “Before you congratulate yourself too much, have a look at your belt.” Then fades away as if he wasn’t there.

Head looks confused for a second then looks at the length of the belt. At the very end there is a shallow cut splitting the fabric of the belt. The shape of the cut looks like a dagger and the only one to use them is … He looks around and spots a girl lying behind where he was standing… Reiva.

So, all of this was just an act? Yes, they came at me with all they had and ready to sacrifice themselves to pressure me just to give that girl and opening. And even she distracted my senses from the belt by aiming one of her daggers and my kidneys for another killing blow. What amazing kids.

I expect great things from all of you.