“Well, we can start with finding out what everyone can do,” Venus said. “I’m already aware of Eren’s capabilities, but I don’t have as good a grasp on what you can do, Damien.”

“Short range teleportation and mid-range offensive spells,” Damien said. “But if Kat is going to just make straight for our flag, why not have me interfere? I can hold her off.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but we also need a way to actually win,” Venus said. “How many people could you hold off at once? They might all come with the Professor to try and snag the flag in a rush.”

“Hm. I guess it depends which people,” Damien replied. “If it’s both Quinlan and Kat, it might be hard to keep them both away from the flag. I could probably fight them if there wasn’t any target to take, but if I’m defending something… probably wouldn’t work. And I don’t know what Blake or Tim can do.”

“Tim uses wind and Blake uses water,” Venus said. “Blake is the biggest problem for me. I can hold Quinlan’s magic back with my own, but he’s a lot faster than I am. Tim isn’t particularly strong, but he’s very sneaky and precise. He’s a pain to fight against.”

“Quinlan isn’t slow, but she isn’t fast either,” Eren put in. “Her magma does a serious amount of damage, though. If you get hit by one spell, it might as well be over.”

“I’ve kind of fought her before,” Damien said.

That isn’t exactly true, since it was more you that did it than me, but you know what she can do, right?

“Of course I do. But it might be a bit harder for you to dodge her magic than it was for me. You’re a little more… solid.” Henry said mentally.

Eh. We’ll deal with that later.

“So we need a way to separate Quinlan and the Professor or otherwise make sure Damien is only fighting one person at a time,” Venus said. “Although that’s probably what the other team has realized as well. Since Damien held his own against her while sparring, they’ve probably deduced we’ll try to match her with him.”

“What if we used him as bait?” Xil suggested. “They don’t know where our flag is. We could have Damien make a bunch of noise, drawing multiple people to him, since they’ll assume we’d have our strongest member defending the flag.”

“It would only work until they found out the flag wasn’t there,” Eren said, rubbing his chin. “But that could buy us a lot of time. The problem arises with finding their flag, though. Venus is the best choice to protect ours, which leaves me and Xil open. I don’t think Xil can fight any of them, so she’s not going to be useful. If the other team leaves anyone defending their flag, I’ll have to take them on essentially on my own.”

“Well, do you win against either Blake or Tim?” Venus asked. “From what I recall, you’re fairly evenly matched.”

“I’ve got a better chance against Blake than I do against Tim. He can make the wind flow away from his eardrums, which negates a lot of my sound magic. Blake can mute the sound as well, but water isn’t a perfect insulator.”

“What do you think, Xil?” Damien asked. “Any way you feel like you would have some sort of advantage against any of our opponents? You’re the one that knows your abilities best out of all of us.”

“I’m a Year One. We’re going up against Year Three and Fours,” Xil said with a frown. “What world would I ever do much against them? But, if I didn’t have a choice, I might have a chance of taking someone by surprise. I’m pretty fast, so even though my magic isn’t very strong, if they weren’t ready for it…”

“Blake isn’t too quick on his feet,” Eren said, his eyes tracking Venus as she paced in a circle around them. “And could you stop that? You’re making me dizzy.”

“I think better this way,” Venus replied continuing her pacing without missing a beat. “If you and Eren both go to find their flag, I think our best bet would be for you to pretend to be weaker than you actually are. If your ice armor is strong enough, take a hit and pretend to go out of the fight. Then wait for an opportunity to take Blake out while he’s focused on Eren.”

Xil swallowed. “Okay, I think I can try that.”

“Perfect,” Venus said, coming to a stop. “We’ve got a plan, then. I’ll defend our flag. Xil and Eren will try to find the other team’s flag, and Damien will make a bunch of noise to draw the Professor away. I think we’ve got a pretty good chance of getting away with this.”

“In that case, I’m going to go buy supplies,” Eren said. He strode off without another word. Venus shook her head.

“He’s never been great at teamwork, but he’s not too bad for a Year Three. Much weaker than I am, of course. He’s right about supplies, though. I’d get some bandages and food. You aren’t out of the test unless you’re so incapacitated that you can’t move.”

“Not a bad idea. What about magical items?” Damien asked. “Like runework and the like. Are there limitations on what we can bring?”

“Nope. Whatever we can get is fair game. It’s just a good thing none of us have an artifact,” Venus said. She paused for a moment. “Well, I’m sure the Professor has some, but using them would be completely unfair.”

“Then I’ve got some prep I need to do as well,” Damien said.

“I’ll come with you,” Xil said. “Mostly so I don’t need another note.”

Damien grimaced and nodded. The advanced class wasn’t bad, but he really didn’t like Mountain Hall much. He left with Xil at his side, making for the general store. It didn’t take him long to locate a sheaf of papers and a quill to work with. He bought everything, then sat down on a bench to work.

It had been a while since he’d used runed paper in combat. It was a lot less versatile and weaker than actually casting the magic himself, but having quick access to a surprise spell that wasn’t his normal element could come in handy.

Damien worked for a little over an hour and prepared two dozen papers. Most of them were the heat and sticky runes that he’d used when first fighting Delph, but there were a few surprises as well. He gave Xil five of them, explaining their usage. Even a small advantage was still an advantage, after all.

That done, he bought two small packs of jerky and bandages. One went to Xil, and the other went into his bag. Prep complete, the two returned to the arena. Damien sat down cross legged and did his best to meditate, connecting with the Void once more. There was no point wasting good time, after all.

Over the next few hours, the students returned to the arena. Now that the sun was rising, a fair number of other Mountain Hall kids were using the sandy area to practice. None of them bothered the advanced students as they reunited, which extended to Damien and Xil. He was just fine with that.

About ten minutes after she was supposed to arrive, Kat strolled through the front gate, an overstuffed bag slung over her shoulder.

“See? Right on time.”

“You’re late,” Venus grumbled. “Everyone has bene here for like thirty minutes.”

“Well, I’m on time according to my clock,” Kat said with a shrug. “And luckily, mine is the only one that matters. Now, shall we get moving?”

The gazes of Mountain Hall students followed the advanced class as they left the arena and followed Kat through the campus. A fair number of people stopped what they were doing to follow after them.

“What’s going on?” Damien asked Quinlan in a low tone. “We’ve got a mini-crowd behind us.”

“They’re hoping they’ll learn something from the Professor,” Quinlan replied with a sigh. “Most of the people following are the ones that don’t have great resources to work with. There’s no rule against listening into a class if the professor doesn’t stop you. Once they realize this is an exercise in the woods and not some secret training, they’ll leave.”

“That’s just sad,” Damien said, glancing back at the people trailing their footsteps from a safe distance. Several of them flinched and broke away. “Why does Mountain Hall care so little about its students? If they just treated everyone more equal, you could be one of the strongest schools.”

“We are one of the strongest schools,” Venus said. “And this is the price for it. The weak still get some chances to grow and have a goal to work toward, while the strong are nurtured to be the best they can be. Using resources on mages that can’t hold their own is just a waste.”

Xil’s hands clenched. “And what about the ones that didn’t get a chance just because they weren’t strong enough to start? Some people showed up to school with training or companion’s they’d had for a few years! It isn’t our fault if we don’t have a rich family or access to a summoning circle before we get to college.”

“Wealth and political strength are both types of power,” Venus replied. “Hard work will make up for the rest. Did you really spend every second you had trying to get stronger? The resources Year Ones get for the first month is equal. You had the same shot everyone else did.”

“Hah. As if,” Xil said bitterly. “The teachers played favorites and you know it. Anyone that showed talent early got extra help. It didn’t matter if you tried as hard as you could if your competition already had a head start.”

“Any head start can be eclipsed with sufficient effort,” Tim said flatly, joining the conversation. “You just didn’t try hard enough. It doesn’t matter now. You aren’t part of Mountain Hall anymore.”

“That’s enough,” Damien said. “I don’t agree with your methods, and I suppose we’ll see how effective they are today. After all, if you all lose to the team with a Year One and Two while you’ve got the professor, that would be pretty embarrassing.”

“I don’t care how much personal training you’ve got,” Blake said, thumbing his chest. “We’ve been training for years more than you have. You talk big now, but you’ll see what Mountain Hall can do once we get started.”

“Don’t take the bait,” Quinlan said, piercing Blake with a glare. “And don’t underestimate any of them.”

Kat watched the conversation with mild interest. She didn’t seem angry at how Damien and Xil saw Mountain Hall. In fact, a miniscule amount of approval flickered across her face when they talked down about the school, but it was gone so quickly that Damien barely registered it.

They reached the edge of the forest a few minutes later. The teams had already separated during the walk, and were glaring at each other. Quinlan and Damien were the only students that didn’t seem to have a personal stake in the fight.

“Let’s get to it, then,” Kat said, pulling out two red flags the length of a forearm. She passed one to Venus and kept the other for herself. “You have thirty minutes to go out into the forest and plant your flag. We’ll be doing the same. You all need to be at your flag at the thirty minute mark. After that, everything is fair game.”

Her team broke away, heading toward the east. Once they’d faded into the trees, Venus gestured for them to follow and headed toward the other side of the forest. The trees were dense enough to obscure vision, but not so dense as to make moving difficult. It was tight, but not impossible to run around.

The canopy was thin, and a fair amount of light slipped between the leaves and illuminated the forest floor. Birds chirped and the click of bugs filled the air. It was a little more humid in the forest than it had been outside, and it didn’t take long for Damien to start sweating.

Eren didn’t look to be doing much better, but both Xil and Venus looked perfectly fine. Evidently, ice magic had some uses beyond just fighting. Damien swatted a bug away from his face. Venus took a turn, heading up toward the north of the forest instead of continuing in their current direction. They continued for a while longer before coming to a stop.

“This’ll be a bit closer to them, but they hopefully won’t expect it either,” Venus whispered, planting the flag in the ground behind a tree. “There are a few minutes until we start. Damien, don’t make noise until you’re a fair bit away from us.”

“Just give me the signal when to go.”

Venus nodded. The four of them stood around the flag, sending glances out at the forest as they waited.

“It’s just about thirty minutes now,” Venus said, squaring her stance. “Let’s get this started.”