Denny rushed the tangled human, he had unrivaled strength and speed, or so I thought. The man broke through the entanglement and swung his sword at Denny. Denny would have blocked the blow had his sword held together, but alas, it was literally made of ice so it shattered. His sword was easily deflected by Denny's torso armor, but now Denny had to fight unarmed. Denny threw a quick jab at the man's jaw, the man easily evaded it and stabbed at Denny's arm.
"Laura! Suppress the human for Denny!" I shouted.
"Why should I listen to you!?" She threw a knife in the direction of the concealed archer, hitting them in the leg.
"Fine! I'll do it myself!" I was secretly impressed by her detection sub-affinity.
I launched my sharpened grappling hook at the man's back with murderous intent, only for him to catch it with one hand without looking.
"Ah, the little runt joins the fray!" He shouted over the sounds of metal clashing.
I felt my arm being pulled towards the man as he tugged on the rope tethering us. Fortunately, while he occupied one of his arms with me, his defense faltered. Denny took the opportunity to strike, getting a clean shot against the man's face.
Orin got up from his fall and was limping, he had large red hand prints on his ankles, he wouldn't give up just yet. Everyone heard a deafening roar and saw a flash of white collide with the human. The human braced for the impact and let go of my grappling hook, he managed to stop the white mass of fur and muscle, but it took everything he had. Denny didn't slow down and continued attacking his target. The archer was no longer firing arrows and had been pinned to a tree.
"Devin! Status!"
"Yomo is OK!"
"Looks like we win."
A voice came from the forest. "As if."
Suddenly the clearing was below me and I felt weightless. I looked around and saw my friends floating with me. Yomo and Ben were together, but I wasn't worried about them because of Yomo's sub-affinity, Velocity Manipulation meaning he could give away their velocity to something else. Devin was near Orin, who could land the two of them safely. Denny was doomed to be damaged but there wasn't anything I could do for him, and frankly, he was low-priority. Laura was by herself because she had been hunting the archer. She was the only one without a landing strategy. I opened my glider and raced to her. I suddenly felt uneasy, I looked down.
"If I fail to save her, she will die."
The sudden realization made me push my glider faster, but I was running on fumes.
"LAURA! SPREAD YOUR ARMS AND LEGS! YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN!" I shouted.
'Not yet.'
I managed to collide with Laura.
"Grab on!"
She complied, scared out of her wits. She had already soiled her uniform.
Under the stress of two people, my glider fell to pieces. I felt a strange feeling of familiarity with the situation until I was stricken with a vision. I saw a little girl leaning over a railing on an airship screaming her lungs out. Tears flew by as I fell, both in the vision and in reality. I felt a strangely cold acceptance of fate, then the vision ended.
'Not yet! Not again!'
I shortened the length of my grapple launcher's rope. and I fired it at a nearby tree
"NOT YET DAMN IT!"
CRACK! Riiiiiip!
I felt a searing pain envelop my left arm, then I stopped swinging.
"AAAAAHHHHHGGG!" I screamed, mixing pain and determination.
We neared the ground and I made as dense an air cushion as I could, but all that was left was to brace for impact, that's when I noticed my left arm dangling from a tree by my grappling hook.
BZZT!
The moment I hit the ground my charm was instantly discharged, taking some of the impact.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Parts of my body broke over and over until I went unconscious from the shock.
--------
"Do you think he'll make it?" Jordan asked through teary eyes.
"Yes, but there is no telling what this could do to his body, he could be disabled for life." The school doctor explained, "That's not even to mention the mental damage he must have taken when he saw his arm dangling from a tree."
"Really?" Ernest was already fuming about the lack of security at the school "Where is Headass Sivor? I need to speak with him."
"The Headmaster is currently in his office." The doctor was wary of the father's intentions but agreed with his reason.
--------
I felt a strange pain in my left arm as I sat up.
"Where am I?"
I was pushed back down onto the bed by a familiar mass of muscle and fur.
"He's awake!" mother called out to the rest of the room.
"Really?" Devin rushed over.
"Finally." Laura sneered, yet running to my side.
Mother pressed a button on the table next to me and a portal opened. Father, Vincent, Ben, Doctor Ganel, and a beat-up headmaster walked through it.
"What's with my arm?" I reached over to feel it and I met air.
The events of the practical exam replayed in my head.
"Oh no. Is Denny ok?"
Everyone in the room took a double-take.
"What?"
Laura looked at me angrily "You almost DIED! And you're worried about your golem?!"
"I know I'm alive, and I think I can fix this" I pointed at my new stump "with a little 'Ingen'uity." I laughed at my own joke and my father joined me.
"But I do not know the status of my faithful golem that I put in danger." I continued.
"Your golem's spirit core survived, other than that, it was a wreck, you will need to make a new husk." The doctor cut to the chase "I'm going to need the visitors to leave, I have to ask Ingen some questions."
Everyone left except for Laura, mother, father, and Orin.
Laura approached me "Sorry." and ran out of the room.
"Now, how do you feel?" He said