Since their first fight against one, Mahon had now a deeper understanding of sorcerers. Their fire magic wasn’t really a threat in itself, but it allowed sorcerers to gain strength and speed over time. Knowing that, the strategy to deal with them was actually very simple.

Get rid of them before they grow too strong.

Unfortunately, it was much easier said than done. Except that Mahon and Jorik had a trick that sent it back to the easy box. If they couldn’t get rid of the sorcerers quickly, they could dispel their magic with the Flow before it grew too strong and take them by surprise. The only uncertainty was when to use that strategy.

Mahon was able to stand toe to toe with any sorcerer now that he could Flow deep enough even with the presence of their magic. Jorik wasn’t so talented, but he could still hold his ground for some time, while Myrthil simply stood no chance against them.

Using their Flow to disrupt a sorcerer’s flames would cause both parties to stagger and become incapacitated. The only advantage they had over sorcerers was that they chose their moment, and they wouldn’t be as surprised.

Given all these constraints, the strategy they had developed relied heavily on Myrthil. Mahon would hold back the stronger sorcerer while Jorik and Myrthil would battle the weaker one and the seven-stars accompanying them. At a given signal, Jorik would use his Flow to remove the flames on the sorcerer he was facing while Myrthil would eliminate him.

Mahon would have to pay close attention to their situation to both protect Jorik if things went wrong and hold back his sorcerer and the seven-star to prevent them from interfering with Myrthil’s kill.

The trio had repeated enough in the past month against their own sorcerers to feel ready at such an attempt. The only question left was how strong the sorcerers from the Hawks were compared to their own.

It’s time to know, I guess.

Mahon moved forward first, and Jorik and Myrthil took position at his right side. The Hawks didn’t want to be outdone, and they rushed too towards their opponents as well. They stayed close to each other in a triangle formation that seemed very similar to the one the instructors of the Protectors Circle had devised before Mahon intervened.

The two Hawk sorcerers were in the front while the mountain of muscles that was their seven-star was standing right behind them with his gigantic sword.

Mahon eyed the two sorcerers. One was a red-haired, slender woman with a thin sword that looked more like a long needle than an actual sword. The other was an older man with a black beard and long shining dark hair.

Both had their weapons covered in flames, and their faces didn’t let anything appear but intense concentration.

Which of you is the strongest?

Using his Flow, Mahon measured the emptiness caused by the sorcerer’s fire’s presence and quickly found out the difference in size between the two.

So, it’s you.

Without giving any hint at his objective, Mahon stabbed directly at the older man and rammed into the Hawk’s formation like it was nothing.

And compared to his previous fight with Luvon it could as well have been nothing. Like most sorcerers, they relied primarily on their greater strength and speed to win their battles and although quite good, their techniques were often lacking.

On the other hand, Mahon was a monster of techniques and minute positioning, and even though he lacked the tools to take the Hawks out by himself, he was more than confident to slip past their attacks for a time.

Right in the middle of their formation, he relied on the same techniques he had used against Ailluin and the four instructors when they had first tested him. His motions forced his opponents to take disadvantageous postures or suffer a nasty blow.

Jorik and Myrthil joined the fight an instant later, and they ganged up on the male sorcerer as well, immediately disturbing the trio’s formation.

Mahon seized the opportunity to widen the gap. As slippery as an eel, he moved under the seven-star’s sword and stabbed him in the chest. Despite his impressive stature, the man was quick enough to roll backwards and avoid the blow.

The female sorcerer ran at his rescue and attacked Mahon from behind with her thin sword.

Perfect.

Mahon blocked the blow that was ten times heavier than what the woman’s weapon let it appear to be and fell to the side. He rolled away just in time to avoid the following attack from the red-haired sorcerer, successfully baiting her away from her teammates.

Jorik and Myrthil sealed the gap by attacking both the male sorcerer and the seven-star, preventing them from moving back together.

“So, that’s what you were up to?” The woman laughed haughtily as she realized she had been tricked away from her teammates. “Too bad you chose the wrong opponent.”

She screamed crazily at Mahon’s face, and her fire started to sprout in her empty hand, forming a dagger. A tendril of fire connected the weapon to her heart, and leftover flames burned on her arm, but the woman didn’t seem to mind.

At the same time, she pushed Mahon’s sword away with her own and stabbed with the dagger that had just appeared in her hand right at Mahon’s chest. Mahon moved instantly, and he pivoted his hips to free his sword.

The move bought him enough space and time to block the dagger with his sword’s handle.

Alas, the fire construct simply passed through his weapon as if it didn’t exist and continued his path towards Mahon’s chest unimpeded.

The heat of the fire dagger passing so close to his fingers reminded him of the real danger the ethereal weapon still posed, and Mahon reacted instinctively.

Zooming in to grasp the dagger’s rhythm, he pushed as hard as he could with his Flow and disrupted the woman’s magic enough for her construct to crumble. The dagger immediately vanished, and the woman’s empty hand caressed Mahon’s chest in an almost sensual gesture if one were to ignore it had been aimed at killing him just a moment before.

A flash of pain and surprise appeared on the woman’s face before both fighters staggered backwards, suffering from the backlash of their magic clashing.

“Jorik, now!” Mahon immediately called while struggling against the headache.

Even if he had been surprised by the woman’s dagger trick and had reacted instinctively, they were now both out of fighting conditions, and he had managed to surprise her last, meaning he would get back his bearings first.

It was the perfect situation to get rid of the male sorcerer.

Following the order, Jorik pushed as hard as he could with his Flow and completely extinguished his opponent’s flames. Both men were abruptly thrown backward from the clash, but where Jorik landed away from anyone, the sorcerer ended up closer to Myrthil than his own teammates.

Mahon pushed himself to action even though his vision was still blurred, and he rushed to Myrthil’s side. They had two to three seconds during which both enemy sorcerers were incapacitated, and if they didn’t seize that window to eliminate one, the fight would turn very difficult.

Fighting to stay focused, Mahon attacked the enemy seven-star, buying just enough time for Myrthil to free herself. The man’s blows were very powerful, but Mahon angled his sword such that most of the strength was diverted away. The raining of strikes still pushed him two steps back, but he didn’t allow the giant Hawk to move further than that and help his teammate.

Myrthil arrived by the male sorcerer’s side, and a quick incision at the man’s chest was enough for him to get eliminated. He didn’t even have time to notice what had happened.

Two seconds had barely passed since Jorik’s detonation, but Mahon was already back to his normal conditions. Against a single seven-star without any magic, Mahon started to reverse the issue of his duel in a few moves and put the man in a difficult posture.

In the meantime, Myrthil rushed to Jorik’s side, and the female sorcerer finally got her bearings back. Unfortunately, she was too far away to prevent anything, and she could only watch as her second teammate got eliminated by a clean cut from Mahon.

She howled at the sky with a screeching voice, and when she eyed the trio of Protectors standing in front of her, hatred burned in her eyes. Flames started to cover both her arms, and her sleeves vanished behind a dense black smoke.

“Watch out!” Mahon warned as a dagger suddenly appeared within the smoke.

It went flying directly towards Jorik whereas he was still slowly getting back up from the ground, vulnerable. The weapon spun at incredible speed, and a burning tendril followed behind its trail, connecting the dagger back to the woman’s body.

Is she really just a sorcerer?

Jorik had his eyes still closed, and he had trouble maintaining his balance, but Mahon perceived with his Flow that the noble had started Flowing at the shallowest level the moment he had heard Mahon’s warning.

With the Flow, it was impossible to miss out the dark, erasing presence of the burning projectile rushing at him, and Jorik tapped into his reserve to jump to the side.

Alas, Myrthil didn't have the same amount of information as Mahon about the situation. Nor the same confidence in Jorik’s abilities.

Seeing Jorik in such a weak, helpless posture, she followed her instincts and jumped between Jorik and the dagger to save her crush.

“No!!” Mahon watched Jorik and Myrthil start to move at the same time, but he was too late to prevent her.

Myrthil realized the futility of her action as Jorik fell to the side, away from the projectile’s path.

But it was too late for her. She couldn’t move anymore while in the air.

And the dagger was aiming right at her chest.

Mahon wasn’t Flowing deep enough to do much, but he refused to give up without trying. He extended his hand towards the dagger and focused intently on its core rhythm.

He ignored everything else to the point his vision became so narrow he only saw the dagger and the weak link connecting it back to the red-haired sorcerer.

That link…

In a desperate effort, he switched his aim to the small tendril and crushed it with his Flow. The link broke instantly, and it started disappearing into thin air from both broken sides.

When it reached the dagger, the construct started to crumble, and it had almost half disappeared when it reached Myrthil. In a loud explosion, the woman was propelled three meters away and fell back to the ground, unconscious.

Her clothes were tattered and half of her face bore an ugly black mark, but Mahon’s shallow Flow picked up a frantic but regular rhythm.

Still alive!

“Jorik!” He called, knowing perfectly the man could feel the same heartbeat he did.

End that match.

Mahon then collapsed on his knees, struggling to keep his Flow in control, while Jorik didn’t waste a single instant and rushed forward.

If one part of the tendril of fire was connected to the dagger, the other part was connected to the female sorcerer, and when its disappearance finally reached her heart, she too fell on the ground, struggling to deal with another backlash.

Lying on the floor screaming, she wildly swung her sword at her surroundings, trying to prevent anyone from approaching her while she was incapacitated. But Jorik wasn’t afraid.

He blocked her sword with his own and pushed it away with a strong kick. The weapon flew off the woman’s hand and fell on the sand, far enough that she wouldn’t be able to reach it easily. Actually, she didn’t even have the time to try.

Jorik stood over her and plunged his sword in her right shoulder all the way through. The wound was not fatal, but he was sick of being merciful when they were trying to kill them. Actually, not ending her life right now was the hardest restraint he could manage.

They had cleanly gotten rid of the male sorcerer and the seven-star with the smallest injuries, but the woman hadn’t hesitated a single instant to attack Mahon and then Jorik with deadly attacks. And in the end, it had been Myrthil who had bore the brunt of her attacks.

Jorik turned the sword in the wound as he took it out, making sure the woman wouldn’t be able to use her sword arm before a long time. If not at all.

She screamed painfully as blood poured out in a large puddle.

Then, everything became wild. People rushed into the arena to tend to both Myrthil and the female sorcerer while Jorik helped Mahon stand up.

Hawks and Protectors arrived from everywhere, and they started to insult each other, some even daring enough to threaten Jorik and Mahon that were still recovering. The tension rose instantly.

Protectors formed a circle around Mahon and Jorik to get them away from the Hawks while Rania was yelling things at the face of a Hawk’s higher up. Weapons weren’t drawn, but things became so heated it was only a matter of time.

Just before everyone lost their patience and things turned messy, a deafening explosion startled the whole crowd as Paegis appeared in the arena. The man snapped his fingers a second time, and an even louder bang finished to silence the last mutters.

The old man turned his head slowly around, daring whoever met his gaze to say something.

Only silence answered him.

Even Rania bowed when he looked at her. After fifteen seconds of silence where no one even moved, Paegis finally showed a gentle smile.

“Better.” He said with a calm voice that somehow carried everywhere into the arena. “The fight is over. The Protectors won, and the Hawks lost. Is there anyone who wants to deny this truth?”

Again, he was met only with silence, and Paegis nodded to himself. “Good. Now, everyone but the referees, pack your stuff and leave the arena. There’re still three fights planned today.”