[ 50 ] Showdown

Kal’s mind raced as he considered their next move. On the surface, it might have appeared bad, but they weren’t the only team with objectives, even if they had the biggest target on their back.

There was one problem. He was fairly certain the airship was faster than rowing a floating leaf, which meant their backup escape plans were out the window.

As much as Kal welcomed a challenge, taking on two top ranking teams was likely a bad idea. He was going to need to split them up.

“Remember, follow the plan. No wavering. We’ve got the most points; they’ll be coming for us,” Kal yelled down.

“Roger that,” Bandy said, pulling on a rope that sent their leaf sailing out into the water.

“No wavering? Who does that guy think he is?” Michel muttered.

Their trick was simple. Use one of the leaves to obstruct the path of the incoming raft. It might have seemed primitive, but it would force the attacking team to act.

Kal watched from atop the giant spruce as Team Raptor shouted commands to one another, but it quickly became abundantly clear that they were no sailors.

Confusion quickly took hold, and they erroneously bumped into the oncoming leaf. 

The red-haired girl at the front scolded her crew, pointing and shouting as she ordered them into action. Now was the moment of truth. Would they allow the leaf to obstruct and slow them, or would they use magic and potentially reveal some of their spells?

The leaf barely weighted anything, still, with Bandy directing its movement via a roped tied to it, they began to veer off course.

Being outplayed by a simple leaf was more of a blow to their aura than anything else. They had gone from an intimidating top scoring team with a surprisingly well-built raft, to floundering teens struggling to make their makeshift boat sail straight.

So far, so good. 

Summoning his clone, Kal sent it along with Arix and Ellie to their escape leaf. Riding the rope down to the leaf, they landed and immediately began sailing away. 

Carrying one of the Astral Pouches with them, they would force the incoming teams to decide whether or not to take chase or to focus their efforts on the island. 

Kal watched the airship with baited attention. A long moment passed as it continued toward him and the others on the island. The crew looked like tiny dots from where he stood, but he thought he could see them pointing and arguing. Suddenly, the airship began to veer away, turning to follow after the escaping leaf.

There we go. Take the bait.

Kal had his reservations about splitting the team. It had been his backup plan for a situation like the one they faced. But he couldn’t let himself get arrogant with the finish line in sight. Once they had dealt with Team Raptor, they could worry about Team Alpha.

The airship continued, disappearing on the horizon as it chased the leaf, gradually catching up to it.

There we go, Kal nodded to himself and bounded down the tree to confront Team Raptor, who had finally brought their raft under control and were nearing the island.

“Can you make another leaf?” Kal asked, stepping beside Bandy, who was on the beach, trying to reel the leaf back in.

“Absolutely,” Bandy nodded. “My mana is almost.”

“Then do it,” Kal commanded, and she summoned another magical leaf. Casting Mana Whip, Kal hooked the leaf and swung it out into the water. 

Neither spell was particularly consuming to maintain, and Kal could bind his Mana Focus to the leaf through his Mana Whip. 

Delicately, he directed the leaf to obstruct the raft as it approached, keeping hold of it.

“What cowardice is this?” The redheaded girl shouted from the raft as they bumped up against the new leaf. “This is not how a real mage conducts themselves!”

“What do you mean? Are you saying outsmarting someone isn’t magely?”

“Outsmarting? You’re just playing with a silly leaf!”

“Seems to be causing you enough trouble,” Kal mocked.

“Oh, I’ll show you trouble,” the girl’s nostrils flaired and fire appeared at her feet, a second later she ran straight across the water along a bridge of flames the formed under her feet as she ran.

The bridge of flames essentially allowed her to fly, but Kal could sense that the mana cost was high, and she wasn’t particularly fast. As Kal turned to run back across the island, she sped up, but with her increased speed, her mana burn skyrocketed. He immediately knew there was no way she could keep it up for long.

These scions need a serious lesson in hubris. Kal was beginning to realize that these noble kids had been sheltered in their own way. They had access to magic and secret spells, but they had never been properly challenged, or at least, they had grown used to being the strongest within their age groups.

Like with Caesil, Kal savored his mana, relying purely on his core stats as he ran away. Her flames burned brighter, and she almost caught him, but a quick cast of Swift Step shot him out of reach, and he continued leading her on a chase, circling the island.

“Bah, stop with this cowardice and face me like a real mage!” She hissed.

“Nah, I’m good,” Kal called back.

“Raagh!” The fiery girl roared. “Lesser Phoenix Fire!” Casting a spell, she seemed to flicker forward, and her body appeared to turn into flames with fiery wings at her back.

She moved fast, but Kal could feel the mana cost; she was burning through her reserves at an impressive rate. 

==============

??? Mana Core

Mana ???

Mana Potential 128

Stage 2

trength: ???

Agility: ???

Dexterity: ???

Charisma: ???

Wisdom: ???

Intelligence: ???

Endurance: ???

Toughness: ???

==============

Kal glanced at her mana core as he cast Swift Step again and flashed out of her fiery reach. He couldn’t deny he was impressed, but he also knew she would be on her last drips of mana.

Panting, she lunged forward with a burst of flames, but Swift Step easily carried Kal out of reach, and she stumbled forward, her flames dying around her.
“How… not possible,” the fiery girl stammered, looking down at her trembling hands.

“I guess you’re the leader of this team?”

“Of course. I’m the scion of House Phoenix,” she shook her head in disbelief. “You have no honor. You fight like a coward,” she continued, dropping to her knees in defeat.

“Eh, not really. It’s not like I can attack you,” Kal shrugged and turned to the raft. “I did what I had to. You need to learn to be smarter with your mana usage.”

“What do you think you’re doing now?” She shouted at Kal’s back, clenching her fists, but she had nothing left.

Reaching the shore, Kal cast Mana Whip and took hold of the incoming raft and then cast Swift Step, shooting across to it in a flash.

There were clumsy attempts to stop him, but between Kal’s speed and agility as a trained fencer, along with his overpowered core stats, which were all engaged, he easily dodged and ducked. The entire display looked effortless like he was playing with children. Shell was by far faster and more agile than the others, perhaps because of his affinity to Martial Magic. But it wasn’t enough, and Kal swiped the Astral Pouch from his belt and bounded out of range of a lunging tackle that sent the boy crashing down against the raft.

“Hey, give that back!” Shell shouted, but before he could get back to his feet, Kal had propelled himself back to shore with another Swift Step.

“Keep them in the water,” Kal shouted to Bandy. 

“Will do,” Bandy shouted back, sending another leaf out on a rope.

“No way!” The boy shouted back, and began casting some kind of purple energy balls, but they were too powerful for the leaves, burning holes through them and continuing on, into the water. After blasting several holes through the leaf without managing to sink it, the boy slumped into panting defeat.

“Daphne, this is for you,” Kal said, reaching into the pouch he had just taken and pulling free a fancy-looking shield. “The Emerald Shield. It’s worth 30 points, and it’s all yours,” he added as he threw it to Daphne.

“Hey, put that back!” The red headed girl climbed to wobbly feat and stormed over to them.

“Hey, hey, hey. I would stop where you are if I were you.”

“Why would I do that?” She sneered.

“You’ve still got 165 points in this pouch, and I don’t need to take all of them. Not only that, but I’ll give you one of my botlfies in return, assuming you play ball. Not a bad deal for a loser,” Kal said, tossing the pouch up and catching it.

“Play ball? What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that if you don’t hurry off and get back on your raft and sail away, I’m keeping your entire pouch. If you do and don’t even think about coming back, you can keep most of your points,” Kal said with disinterest.

“Why you,” the girl ground her teeth.

“Why would you do that?” Michel protested. “If you don’t want the points, give them to us. We could use them.”

“We agreed to help you reach 100 points. I’ve just doubled the agreement,” Kal shot Michel a glare. “Besides, I don’t want to be looking over my back for the rest of this exam.”

“There’s also four of us and two of you,” Michel shot back.

“Hey, you remembered me,” Vae said, stepping out from behind one of the island’s few trees. He, like the rest, had been ready to provide backup if Kal’s plan had failed and was ready to try and ensnarl the girl, but she had run out of mana before she had slowed down enough for his Puppet Hand to be able to catch her.

“Hey, Michel. He helped us and kept his end of the bargain. Don’t be an ass,” Daphne said.

“Grow a spine. We’re in a position right now where we could not just pass this thing but win it,” Michel pleaded to his team. “This could be our chance. A chance to win a spot in a top academy. That can mean the difference between becoming a government stooge and owning your own tower.”

“Pfft, idiots,” the phoenix girl interrupted. “You think this exam has anything to do with the academy spots you’ll be offered? None of you have any idea how the world of magic works, do you? Sure, they might require teams to get 100 points to pass, and there are the rewards. But everything else is bragging rights. You’re deluded if you think they’ll let some runts who can barely cast a first-circle spell into a top-tier academy just because they got lucky by joining a good team. And mark my words, the undeserving kids that do get given good spots because of this exam will be from wealthy and powerful families. Are you commoners starting to understand? This entire thing is just an excuse for the top academies to let low-talent nobles in and make their families happy. After all, donations from rich nobles are how most of the academies pay their bills.”

Is she really telling the truth? We did all this work, and Arix and Ellie might never have had a chance to get into a top academy?

“Why do you think the top teams are all trying so hard to get more points?” She continued. “They know that as long as they have 100 points, they’ll be fine. If academy spots were all this was about, they would just hold up with what they have. But Mommy and Daddy are going to be so proud when they come back after beating the other noble kids. And then there’s the prizes. The demon battles have been intensifying, drawing more and more resources into the Ruby Waste, but that also means more magical resources. You do know that, right? Even the rich kids are excited. Hoping that the prizes for winning this thing are special magical items from the Ruby Waste.”

Calming himself, Kal glared at the girl. There was nothing he could do about it, if what she said was true. 

“So, what? None of that changes my offer,” Kal countered. “As you said, you still need 100 points.”

“Fine, whatever,” she shook her head. “I’ll take the deal. But I’ll remember this,” she added, pointing at Kal. “You’ve made yourself a powerful enemy today, boy.”

“It’s Kal, Kal Jakari. I look forward to it,” Kal smiled.

“I’ll remember that name. Keep an eye out because I, Bethane Phoenix, will be coming for you.”

Yeah, of course, you will, miss big talker.

“S-so, it really doesn’t matter?” Michel slumped.

“Don’t look so down,” Daphne reassured. “We were worried about even passing only a couple of days ago. At least we’ll be joining an academy now.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

He sure turned tail on betraying us quickly. 

• Team Ebenshire - 485

• Team Dreamkeeper - 340

• Team Alpha - 280

• Team Kingmaker - 225

• Team Hijinks - 190

Checking the leaderboard, Kal added the botfly and tossed the pouch to Bethane.

“You’ve got 100 points. As you said, that’s all you need. And who knows, maybe you can find easier targets out there and catch up to us.”

“Let’s go,” Bethane growled and hopped back onto the raft.

“That’s it? We’re giving up?” Shell said.

“You lot didn’t even do anything!” Bethane barked. “Useless, the lot of you. Just get us out of here and quick complaining!”

As they sailed away, Kal turned his gaze to where the airship had chased the others.

They still had one big boi left to fry.

NEXT CHAPTER