"SPREAD OUT! SPREAD OUT!" I roar in desperation to those I had come down here with. We had even ended up teaming with the remaining Oddity students just to fight this Exceptional. But he was just toying with us! Our escape was gone and now he was making a point of coming for us directly.
"Pffft, can't believe he chastised me over this. You guys are weak." this Exceptional scoffed before he suddenly appeared and made another group disappear. Each one going down with just one punch or kick from his armoured fists.
"FALL BACK!" I scream before I let loose a few magic blasts at him in the hopes it would do something. But, his armour was not for show in the slightest despite its ornate nature.
"Going somewhere?" he asked me casually when he suddenly appeared behind me. Yet, a quick turn around and blast managed to keep his hands away from me.
"HELP!" I scream as an emerald orb more pure than any I have ever seen before forms in his hands. He then turned his back on me despite my desperate barrage that hit him each time.
"And, up she goes." he casually says before the shockwave of his throw sends me to the ground. And, I froze up with terror before another shockwave sent me flying. The sky's brief emerald light blinded me before specks of dirt and stone began to rain down. Thankfully, as well, that attack seemed to make him forget about me.
So I scurried to my feet and ran as fast as I could away from him. My prior bravado was but a mere ancient memory now. So forgotten that it might as well have been a legend in itself. And, my reality was instead to keep falling into the mud.
"Gods help me." I cry and sniffle while I hug my back against a trench someone's magic had made before. Each explosion I heard from then on made me flinch while the power of it shook through me. Even after going through so much earth, it still held terrible strength...
"MOVE! MOVE!" I heard someone confidently order despite what had just happened. And, when I peeked over the trench, I saw that ravineer and someone else leading those we left behind. They were pushing forward onto the exit. What I did next was obvious, I chased after them with desperate courage.
Hoping, just hoping so much that I could at least force my way to the front, "No, you're staying out here." the Ravineer said to me when his hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
"GET OFF ME!" I scream before I found myself surrounded by others.
"As he said, Rosheney. You will form up with us." my brother tells me before he brings me to my feet and gently slaps the mud off my face. And, I felt more so angry now. Because not only had that Ravineer embarrassed me by catching me, my own, weaker brother was now leading us...
"ARE YOU BLIND!?" I roared in question once my rage caught up with my struck down pride.
"No, unlike you." my brother chastised before he had someone sharpen the edge of the pipe he had.
"We need to get out here..." I told him in a quieter tone while the Ravineer kept watching us.
"Indeed, and we will head that way." my brother tells me after he rose up.
"So, why the point?" the Ravineer asks before his hand is suddenly taken and cut on the pipe.
"To break that armour." my brother tells him while he withholds a hiss of pain. And, while he did that, my brother used that stupid spell of his to hammer the blood into the pipe.
"Blood magic runes?" I question as the metal began to rust slowly but still at a visible speed. Like how a liquid steadily pours down the side of a glass after you had a drink.
"I doubt Baltanthan here will be able to get close enough, so, here's something that might." my brother says before he rallies those near him to follow. Yet, because he lingered behind, I ended up being pushed forward by him. Provocative blasts thudding on my back as a weak spell kept me moving.
"He's not thorough." the Ravineer comments as we watch the Exceptional student march forward to the next village.
"He's overconfident." my brother says as his eyes slowly turn to me. A red sensation fired up in my cheeks when I met that gaze as well.
"Do we even have the numbers to survive an attack on him?"
"We do." my brother nods as he turns back to look at the others as they gather up at the exit. If no one else came through there, that was what would beat this Exceptional...
"Let's get this over with, then, before my heart gives out." someone I did not know commented before everyone started to run towards the Exceptional. Yet, my feet were rooted to the ground and my brother came back to get me moving. And, to my further embarrassment, he carried me to do so.
"PUT ME DOWN!" I squeal into his ear with as much strength as I could before we suddenly drop. An emerald orb barely missing us before our path explodes at nearly point-blank. Yet, it wasn't as powerful as all the others. So, the Exceptional must have been too close?
"Alright, I'm game. Let's see what you Trads have!" the Exceptional mocked with a howl of laughter.
"Surround him, don't get close." my brother tells the group before they start the attack. Yet, once again, I could not move as I was scared. I had seen up close how powerful this Exceptional was, so why were they still going after him!? And, as if to prove my point, screams and tearing flesh filled my ears.
"COME ON! TRY HARDER!" the Exceptional barked with a thunderous boom before one of my fellow Traditionals soared over me. A brief flash signalling his removal from the event.
"Dammit, DAMMIT!" I began to say before I charged out to try and help my brother. Only to then freeze up again when I made it up to the top. Everyone was gone, they were either crippled or whisked away already...
"Get him!" my brother struggled to get out to me as he was choked by the armoured Exceptional.
"Maybe I should look for some Odds. They got fancy magic, after all." the bored tyrant of the battlefield complained.
"G-Get off my brother!" I struggle to get out before I let out a pathetic blast of magic at him. But, he just casually flicked it so it would explode prematurely. The finger he used wasn't even so much as scratched!
"Oh, you again." he comments before my brother is suddenly slammed into and buried under collapsing mud.
"MICHNEY!" I scream before I am suddenly shoved to the ground myself. And, before I could even scramble even a slight distance away. His hand was already on my ankle.
"Spin? Spin." the Exceptional asks before a loud metal clang fills our ears.
"Keep your attention on her..." the Ravineer lets out, terrified as he backs away.
"Hey, watch the armour!" the Exceptional complains before he tears out the sharpened pipe.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" my brother then roars in time with me also hearing a wet, slicing noice.
"MICHNEY!" I cry again as I scramble to my feet. Only this time, I kept on going until I was next to his bloodied body. One leg gone because of that damn pipe.
"Now, little Trad, you damaged my armour. So, I am going to have some words with you." the Exceptional said to the Ravineer before he too was picked up and choked. Yet, I did not care.