Worshipper Arc. Chapter 26: Time to prove yourselves.

Valoran begins to train Sara, Yuka and Elly for the fight up against Jillian.

“Sara, feel the earth beneath you, harvest its great power.” Valoran instructs Sara.

“Yuka, lighting is all about precision and control…its power is immense but deadly to both you and your opponent. Keep that in mind.” Valoran points out to Yuka.

“Elly, forest magic is more of a defensive art of magic, use it to protect your team from attacks.” Valoran advises Elly.

The three look focused with determination filling their mind.

“Alright, we can do this.” Sara confidently states.

“If we beat Jillian…” Yuka fantasies out loud.

“Then no one will make fun of us…calling us trash and weak.” Elly adds on.

Day after day Valoran trains the three to the best of his abilities, making sure that they are prepared against someone of Jillian’s caliber.

Valoran also communicates with Demonlise using taslan (telepathy magic) to ensure that the academy is safe from danger in his absence.

2 weeks later.

The day has arrived where Yuka, Elly and Sara want to prove themselves by facing off against one of the most respected and powerful mages at Halivaara second academy, Jillian Potaria.

Valoran gathers the three.

“Are you all ready?” He asks.

The three look anxious.

“We are.” Sara responds nervously.

“Hopefully we can win.” Elly says with a shy and quiet voice.

“I’m not sure…” Elly says with a doubtful voice.

Valoran picks up that the three begin to doubt themselves.

“Whatever happens today whether it’s you beating Jillian or not doesn’t matter, you already showed me your strength by attempting to fight her, for the past 2 weeks i've seen your determination to face challenges which seemed impossible for you and all of you overcoming them. That is a win, never forget that.” Valoran motivates the three.

Yuka, Elly and Sara look significantly more confident and ready than just a moment ago.

The three make their way to the training ground where the duel will take place.

Jillian and her followers are already present, there is also a ginormous crowd of students gathered around to witness the match.

The three seeing the large crowd causes their anxiety levels to shoot through the roof.

“Just ignore the crowd, focus on nothing but the match itself.” Valoran mumbles to the three.

Jillian smirks at the four.

“I am surprised you decided to show up.” Jillian says with sarcasm.

“You have some nerve keeping us waiting, you three losers.” One of Jillian’s loyal followers directs to the three.

Valoran steps between the three and that person.

“Do you want me to give you another lecture on manners?” Valoran threatens that person.

The follower steps back and falls silent.

“My apologies, it’s I who is to blame for our late arrival, I had to use the restroom.” Valoran says to Jillian with sarcasm.

“It doesn’t really matter, they came which means that we can proceed to the match.” Jillian says.

“Glad you can forgive me.” Valoran responds and turns around to face Yuka, Sara and Elly.

“Remember what I said, do your best and everyone will leave you alone.” Valoran reassures and walks off to the side standing with the crowd.

The match is about to begin and another student will open the match.

“3,2,1 begin.” The student announces the beginning of the match.

Jillian immediately casts Loria (wind magic) to boost her speed.

She next casts gravin (gravity magic) and shoots gravity blasts at the three.

The crowd is cheering for Jillian.

“Jillian’s gravity magic is beautiful.”

“Those three stand no chance.”

The crowd mumbles to each other.

Sara casts alsor (earth magic) and creates a sphere of earth and rock encasing the three to protect themselves.

“Very good. A strong defense made out of rock and earth is a great counter against her gravity blast.” Valoran thinks to himself.

“Alright, Elly it’s your turn.” Sara looks toward Elly.

Elly nods. “Right!”

From the ground roots emerge grabbing Jillian by the legs.

Jillian is now in a vulnerable position.

Sara lifts her spell and the earth sphere disappears.

“Yuka go!” Elly yells at Yuka.

“Alright!” Yuka casts blaze (lighting magic) and a blue bolt of lighting is heading directly toward Jillian who is held in place by Elly’s roots.

The lighting directly hits Jillian.

The lighting strike caused dust from the training ground to cover Jillian.

“Jillian.!”

“I can’t see through all this dust.”

“No way that blast hurt her?”

“Nah, this weak blast can defeat her.”

The crowd mumbles to each other.

“That was incredible teamwork. Great work you three.” Valoran thinks to himself.

“We did it.” Yuka says in surprise.

“We actually did.” Elly also says in surprise.

“Don’t get your hopes up. That blast was nothing she couldn’t handle.” Sara warns.

Yuka and Elly look toward the impact area which is still covered with dust making Jillian hard to see.

The dust begins to settle slowly, and the three squint their magic eyes to see what situation Jillian is in.

“You actually showed great teamwork.” Jillian voices as she’s visible again.

“I knew it…this barely harmed you.” Sara says with frustration.

“We can’t give up now Sara, pull yourself together.” Elly says to Sara trying to calm her down.

“Remember we are showing everyone what we can do, let’s show them something that they won’t forget so quickly.” Yuka adds on.

Sara calms down hearing the encouragement from her friends.

“Thanks you two, you're right…we can’t lose focus now.” Sara says with appreciation.

“That’s right…don’t let one failed combo attack get you out of focus. You must keep trying and staying focused.” Valoran thinks to himself.

“I’m surprised that I was able to be caught using forest magic…you possess some skills after all.” Jillian compliments.

Jillian quickly and swiftly approaches Yuka with her sword.

Yuka manages to block the initial strike.

Yuka and Jillian fight with swords now, Jillian’s swift and precise movements in addition with her superior speed overwhelm Yuka’s defenses quickly.

Sara casts alsor (earth magic) launching hundreds of small rocks at Jillian, and simultaneously Elly casts frent (forest magic) and launches hundreds of small leaves sharp as daggers toward Jillian.

Jillian moves away from Yuka and creates a barrier stopping all the incoming projectiles.

“Yuka, are you alright?” Elly casts vita (healing magic) to heal Yuka’s cuts he received from Jillian’s blade.

Yuka gets back up on his feet.

“She’s just as skilled with the sword as she is with magic.” Yuka explains.

“Yeah, she is one of the best after all.” Sara responds.

“We haven’t shown everything that we can do either.” Elly expresses with confidence.

“Those three are far better than I expected, perhaps they aren’t trash after all.” Jillian thinks to herself.

“Jillian is just toying with those three losers.”

“Yeah, if she wanted to, she could have finished them off in one blow.”

“To be honest the three are doing much better than I expected.”

“I guess they are.”

“Perhaps we underestimated them.”

The crowd mumbles to each other.

“Those three came such a long way in so little time…that’s quite the achievement.” Valoran thinks to himself.

Elly casts izaru (fire magic) and also casts frent (forest magic).

A dome of burning roots incases Jillian.

“Now it’s your turn Sara.” Elly instructs Sara.

Sara immediately casts alsor (earth magic) adding a strong layer of rocks and earth surrounding the firing root dorm.

“Yuka now it’s all up to you.” Sara speaks to Yuka.

Yuka casts blaze (lighting elemental) magic and channels all of the blue lighting into his blade.

With a blue lightning sparking blade in hand rushes toward Jillian to perform the final strike.

“Ahhh!” Yuka yells as he is rushing in.

“Lift the spells now!” Yuka yells.

At that moment the spells of Sara and Elly are lifted leaving Jillian fully exposed for Yuka to strike her.

“Not bad…Elly and Sara made sure that Jillian was kept in place in order for Yuka to deliver a powerful blow.” Valoran once again thinks to himself.

Yuka attempts to strike Jillian, as she raises her sword to counter.

CLASH!

The clash releases a lot of lighting, creating a bright blue lighting explosion.

The crowd, Sara and Elly cover their eyes due to the brightness.

Yuka is being thrown back by the shockwave.

“Are you alright?” Elly rushes toward Yuka with concern.

“I-I’m fine” Yuka responds exhausted, he put every little power of magic he still had.

“Great job Yuka.” Sara compliments him with pride.

“T-Thanks” Yuka answers out of breath.

He begins to get back up on his feet.

“Do you think that worked?” Sara questions.

At that moment a powerful beam of light is directly shot at three with enough energy creating a huge explosion knocking all three into the ground.

“You have shown me what you can do. Now let me.” Jillian was not phased by the attack from the three.

“N-No way…” Sara says in pain as well as in shock.

Yuka and Elly are knocked unconscious.

“T-This is the end then.” Sara mumbles in sadness.

“Yeah. Jillian you rule.”

“We knew you would win.”

“Crush the final member of that pathetic group.” Three out of the six followers yell out.

Jillian pays them no attention and walks over to Sara who is trying to get back up.

Jillian strands directly in front of her.

Sara faces away and closes her eyes as she expects another attack from Jillian.

“You fought well.” Jillian says.

Confused to hear this, Sara slowly faces toward Jillian, opening one eye slowly and then the other.

Jillian is standing offering her help by extending her arm to help Sara get back on her feet.

She helps Sara back on her feet.

Jillian casts vita (healing magic) on both Elly and Yuka.

Elly and Yuka slowly open their eyes and stand up.

“W-What happened?” Yuka asks with curiosity.

“W-We lost.” Sara responds sadly.

“You did. But I am impressed with your performance, you truly showed me why you belong here at this academy.” Jillian shakes Sara’s hand as a sign of respect.

Jillian then walks away with her six followers.

The entire crowd begins to clap for the three.

“You guys were awesome!”

“I didn;t expect this…great work!”

“Let’s practise sometime!” The crows cheer on and on.

The three look confused as to why they are cheering for them.

“You did great.” Valoran compliments Sara, Elly and Yuka.

“W-We don’t understand.” Yuka says.

“Yeah, we lost…shouldn't they be, you know, insulting us?” Sara is confused.

“We expected to be called trash.” Elly adds on.

“No. You three managed to last so long against Jillian…you demonstrated your willpower to keep on fighting no matter what. This is what earned you the respect.” Valoran clarifies.

Sara, Yuka and Elly stand there amazed, happy and shocked as all three are being praised by the crowd of students.

“Valoran.” Demonlise’s voice can be heard inside Valoran’s head.

“What is it?” He responds.

“It’s the academy…we are under attack.” Demonlise warns.