"Hello, purple."
Anri faced the tall and well-built leader of team silver who had just addressed him. The teenager had surprised the sorcerer when he'd leaped off the wing of a plane and landed right in his path.
Behind the sorcerer, a second member of silver appeared to cut off escape in that direction. Anri then caught the sight of the third and fourth members completing the blockade on his left and right.
"Silver, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Anri asked.
Silver smiled as he came closer to Anri. "Didn't I tell you that you're next? Hand me your tag and we won't have to do this the hard way."
"I'd rather we did this the hard way," Anri said to the teenager whose smile began to morph into a grimace. The sorcerer missed the days when he could mop up all his enemies with magic.
"When we're done with you, don't cry and bitch that I didn't give you a chance, purple."
At that moment, Anri's senses buzzed in alarm and he reacted with lightning speed. He ducked and evaded an attack that had come from behind him. The looks in their eyes told him they were intent on causing some damage. Anri wasn't too worried though. All that hard training he had endured with the old man would be put to the test here.
Anri sidestepped the next attack that came from his right side. This was followed by the smooth evasion of a swing that came from his left. His movements were fluid and he remained calm. To his frustrated enemies, it felt like Anri was easily predicting their every move.
"Ah, so annoying. Stop avoiding the hits," silver's leader complained. "I don't know what Nova saw in your team. You're such a try-hard, purple. You'll eventually lose though, and after this, she'll realise that a bad decision was made when-."
"Jealous?" Anri asked, a bubble of disdain growing inside him. He had one of his opponents in a tight headlock, feeling sorely tempted to twist his neck and end it there so the annoying pest wouldn't get back up to try one more time.
"Nobody's jealous of you," the teenager spat back defensively.
It was obvious that he was jealous. Anri grinned at him. "I believe you," he replied, a healthy amount of condescension in his tone.
His reply incensed the teen who was already seething from Anri's effortless repulsion of his team's attacks. Playtime was over. The big boss was going in.
Realising that he was in a bit of a bind against four people, the sorcerer dashed to his left and clipped his attacker under the chin before leaping up onto the wing of the same plane the leader had jumped off of. The sorcerer then rolled and avoided the kick that came at him from the leader who had been following close behind him.
___
"That guy is really fast," Yve commented. Before facing Anri, he hadn't displayed the full extent of his abilities.
"His name is Loda," Levi idly commented. "He's the son of a weapons ops lieutenant from-"
"Now isn't the time," Helena cut him off. There was no need to once again remind the other prefects of what they'd done.
Levi shrugged. What were they going to do? Complain to the principal?
"My money is on Anri," Bruce told the others. "I bet five thousand credits on him beating them."
"Well then, I'll put six on Loda," Yve countered. Her bet wasn't a reflection of her impressions about the matchup. She just thought it fun to gamble.
"Seven on Anri," Helena said next.
When all three turned to Levi, the prefect sighed. Why did he have to lose money to these gambling addicts? "Six on Loda." He couldn't possibly leave Yve by herself even if she'd chosen to bet on the wrong horse.
"Six what?" Bruce asked. They were all too familiar with Levi's little tricks. He was probably planning on just paying them six credits if he wasn't forced to be more specific.
"Six thousand," the prefect of Cygnus replied. He was already predicting his loss. The screen showed him the video of Anri performing a beautiful flip in the air from the nose of the plane where members of silver had tried to corner him.
_____
Anri thought it was complete bullshit that weapons weren't allowed. It was almost impossible to keep the cockroaches down without seriously injuring them or exposing their tags. He could use the help of his teammates but they were off scouting. He would have to solve this problem alone.
The sorcerer used a bit of magic to push wind into a throw that propelled a heavy iron rod in an arc across the mountain of junk that he was facing. Anyone watching him now would have been shocked by the perceived strength that he had in his arms.
A loud clang sounded from the other side of the mountain. It was followed by the quick pattering of footsteps heading towards the direction of the noise. Anri then cloaked himself with magic and minimised his presence. This cloaking spell worked in two ways. It absorbed all the sounds that Anri made while simultaneously lowering the perception of anyone within the radius of two metres around him. The spell worked better at night under the shroud of darkness, and though it was dark out, solar floodlights hovering in the sky above them illuminated the boneyard.
Team Silver had broken into two pairs and were looking for Anri who had already located one pair close to the spot he had escaped from. One of the teens lagged behind the other as Anri stalked them. He had to act fast while he was in a position of advantage. When they reached an area where the light was very dim, Anri knew it was now or never.
The sorcerer struck like a prey mantis. His hand went around the victim's mouth and clamped down hard. The shocked teenager was then dragged into a narrow gap where Anri acted fast to subdue the teenager. The first thing he did was to stuff the teen's mouth with his own tag after ripping it off and finding out it was blank.
"Terrance?" They both heard a voice call out with uncertainty.
Terrance was busy fighting off his attacker who had managed to tie his wrists together with thin cables. Despite the teen's best efforts at making noise, Anri's spell was still in effect and it cloaked the both of them. His efforts were futile. Terrance was now tied up like a worm.
"Mmmmmpphh!" He kept trying to shouting. The way Anri loomed above him made the poor boy recall a scene from a serial killer movie he had recently watched. The madman was now kneeling above him like he was going to finish him off. Was he going to die?!
_____
"How is he doing this?" Yve pointed to the screen. "They can't possibly be making no noise while struggling and fighting so hard."
None of them had any answers. They were already very impressed, not knowing that Anri had a bigger surprise in store for them.
______
Shadows created darkness in the gap that Anri had chosen to hide his victim. The sorcerer was squatting over Terrance, entertained by the fear in his eyes. Did the teen think that Anri was some dumb novice who would kill while they were in full view of the cameras?
"Scream," Anri whispered to him as he removed the gag for a second.
"Aahh-" Anri stuffed the tag back into the boy's mouth and made himself scarce. The trap had been set. Now all he had to do was wait for the others to show up.
____
"Are we all collectively impressed and slightly concerned by his insane skills at stalking and hunting?" Levi asked the others. At this point, Anri had downed two members of silver all by himself.
"It's a very useful skill," Bruce stated. "I can think of a certain department that would value his skill set and wish to recruit him."
"He would make a good addition to Lupus," Yve added. "I am partial to his fighting style."
Levi scoffed. If they were going to play this game then he could say that Anri had the abilities that made him good fits for Cygnus, Lupus, and Draco. Helena had been the first to scout him out but he was yet to show any special ability that would make him an asset to Ursa.