Running as quickly and silently as they could through the forest, the three aspiring mages prepared themselves for their first battle as a team. Their opponent was far more powerful than they, but they had a plan and had every intention to make it happen. All three of them were nervous, but their adrenaline pushed them onward.
As they neared their target, they dove into some bushes and hid in the vegetation to plan things over one more time before springing into action. Standing in the wide-open field with his arms crossed was their mentor, Flare. who was waiting patiently for them to make their next move. He hadn't bothered to chase them down at all, but they knew he always had a rough idea of where they were.
Kathrina, who was kneeling on the ground to Floris' right, looked at him and asked, "Are you sure this will work, Floris? We're essentially three new-born kittens trying to take on a fully grown lion. I'd actually prefer those odds compared to what we're facing right now. We're more like three ants trying to fight a human."
Floris looked at Kathrina for a moment, then directed his attention back to Flare as he answered, "No. I can only go off what I assume will work, but a bad plan is still a plan."
Kathrina nodded in agreement, "True. To be honest, I'm going to be at a loss if this doesn't work. If we were facing anybody else this would probably work, but you saw how easily he brushed off my attacks from earlier."
Alvis looked at Floris for a quick moment, then returned his focus on Flare and asked, "So, what's your plan for distracting him, Floris? Did you think about that?"
Floris lowered his head and sighed as if he really didn't want to do something. He looked at Alvis and Kathrina for a moment, then pulled out the two knives on his hips and laid them on the ground. He then reached for one of his strongest poisons and poured it on both of his knives, drenching both sides in as much of the poison as he could before the bottle emptied out.
Alvis looked at him with a hint of shock, then looked at Floris with a face of immense confusion, "Wait, you're not going to..."
Floris nodded at Alvis and replied, "He did say we wouldn't win this if we weren't prepared to kill him. If I somehow land a strike on him, even the faintest cut will be fatal. This poison I just coated my knife in is the strongest I've made to date. If it can kill a Swamp Eagle in less than five seconds, Flare should drop within two."
Alvis and Kathrina looked at each other, neither one really supporting the idea, but they both hesitantly nodded. Silently agreeing that it might be their only option. Alvis then looked ahead of him and stated, "I hope he knew what he was doing when he said that."
"Well, based on what I've seen so far... ranged attacks are no good, neither is trying to use magic against him. The only thing we haven't tried yet is hand-to-hand combat." Said Floris.
Kathrina looked at Floris for a moment as she thought, then returned her attention to Flare as she spoke, "It might be enough to take him by surprise, but don't think getting close to him will be enough. Elementals have a reputation for breaking jaws and cracking skulls with just one punch. They can hit like a flying boulder - they're not to be taken lightly, even in close quarters combat."
Floris looked at Kathrina with a very unamused look in his eyes and asked, "Oh, I'm sorry, would you like to come up with a better plan? It's not like you're making me more and more nervous while you're talking about how hard he can hit!"
Kathrina chuckled silently and responded, "Sorry."
Floris rolled his eyes and shook his head, then looked at both his teammates and asked if they were ready. They both nodded and they all three hopped out of the bushes to confront their mentor, who was standing just a few feet away from them and staring at them intently. There was a short standoff of eerie silence before Kathrina made the first move.
"It's now or never, boys!" Kathrina shouted as she clapped her hands together. Her hands started to glow a bright greenish-blue color, and she held her arms out, pointing her hands at her two teammates. Faint, but barely visible lines of magical energy connected to both boys, making a slight gust of wind blow from the bottoms of their boots, kicking a small amount of dust in the air.
"LET'S DO IT!" Alvis shouted as he started to run at Flare head-on, with Floris running at his side. The spell Kathrina cast on them made them feel a little lighter on their feet, giving them a boost to their speed and agility. As they closed in on Flare's position, Alvis broke off from his attack, letting Floris take the lead and engage in combat with Flare.
Floris had been hiding his knives out of view as he ran and opened his first attack by throwing one of his knives at Flare at almost point-blank range. Flare's eyes widened a little, and he dodged the knife before it hit its intended target - his heart. The knife went past him and landed in the dirt behind him, but Floris was still closing in. He tossed the knife in his left hand to his right and aggressively started slicing and cutting at Flare with every intention to either kill him or severely wound him.
Flare dodged and blocked Floris' attacks with ease, but played with him to see what he could actually do. He blocked every attack sent his way, blocking Floris' wrists with the palms or backs of his hands, and even catching the knife between his fingers. However, Floris had managed to move Flare to a position where he could roll off to the side and grab his second knife he threw earlier.
Flare's eyes widened again, knowing full well that both knives were poisoned. He had done his research on his students and knew just how deadly even the slightest scratch from one of Floris' poisons could be. There was now some seriousness to the fight, but he couldn't help but be impressed by what he was seeing. He remained silent as he continued to block and dodge Floris' attacks, keeping a close eye on Alvis and Kathrina to see what they were doing.
Kathrina's magic was definitely helping, and Floris was starting to adapt to it fairly quickly. He spun around to his right, then quickly changed direction to his left, aiming his knife at Flare's gut.
Flare dodged it, but Floris quickly flipped in the air and nearly nailed Flare in the face with a sideways kick.
Flare barely managed to dodge Floris' kick and was amazed by what he had seen. Floris had no combat experience and certainly no martial arts training or experience with magic, but his natural ability to adapt to situations had already kicked in. He had already learned how to balance himself with Kathrina's magic, signifying the potential for extremely good teamwork down the line. However, he could also see Floris was already starting to tire from the fight, giving him an opening.
As Floris went in for another attack, Flare grabbed his wrist and held him in the air. He then punched him multiple times in the stomach and chest and slung him through the air over to Kathrina. Floris landed on Kathrina, knocking her off her feet, incapacitating her and canceling her spell.
Floris glared at Flare with anger in his eyes and tried to stand back up to continue the fight, but too much damage had already been done to his body. Now that Kathrina's spell had worn off, he was feeling the stress that he had put on himself rendering him immobile. He lowered his head back down to the ground and breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath.
Kathrina tried to roll Floris off of her, but with all his gear on, he was too heavy to move. She didn't have the upper body strength to move him on her own, but as she looked at Floris's actions, she could tell she was hurting him, indicating Flare might have broken some bones when he punched him.
Flare stood over his two students with his arms crossed. He was impressed by what he'd seen, and it was visible in his eyes. However, he had lowered his guard.
Rushing up from behind, Alvis shot an arrow from his bow, letting it fly towards Flare. However, he had a different target in mind this time. The arrow was aimed for the bells that were attached to Flare's belt. Flare managed to spot the arrow just in time to dodge it and avoid it hitting his body, but in doing so, gave Alvis exactly what he was looking for. As Flare moved to dodge the arrow, the bells flew up in the air, allowing the arrow to slice through the rope that was holding them to Flare's belt.
Alvis dove to catch them, catching them with his left hand, as he rolled along the ground to get away from Flare.
Flare stared at Alvis, who was laying on the ground next to his teammates, with amazement in his eyes, and slowly started to clap.
"Well done, you three. This exercise is now over. You all pass the test." Flare said, smiling under his mask with his eyes closed.
Alvis, Floris, and Kathrina all looked at Flare with a hint of surprise in their eyes, then looked at each other and sighed loudly in relief.