Yesterday's comrade is today's adversary.
The proud Celendirs, having bested the Padishahs in the Battle for Aeternitas, moved onto the second challenge with exuberant glee. But smiles quickly disappeared as they realized what was next at stake: they must put aside the camaraderie that had formed, and prevail against their former allies to ascend to the challenge above it.
If the first challenge was a test of cooperation and ingenuity, the next was a cold examination of ruthlessness and ferocity. Just how much heart did they all possess? Just how were they going to be evaluated? Those were the demanding questions...
"You may stand."
Professor Thales motioned the 20 waiting teams from their seats at the amphitheatron assembly, and led them outdoors to greet the overcast sky. And in the instant they passed the threshold of the gates they heard echoes of expectant cheers arriving from the west; from the Circuleum.
So that's where we have to fight today.
Elwin and his kismets braced themselves; with the exception of Katherine, they were familiar with that colossal arena, the sandblasted fields, the sensation of dread that roiled anyone's guts. It seemed that all the Fradihta apart from the kismets and Lucian's squadra were experiencing a similar wave of emotions over them, and some were almost doubling over, ready to vomit. Isaac gave them a look of empathy, assuring them to their feet, even though they were soon to be opponents.
The entrance this time was strange. The viatoriums on the ground level were all barricaded up with walls of dense, cemented concrete; instead, there was an enormous, broad ramp of earth, gentler in slope than that of the ziggurat upon which they battled three days prior. The ramp reached to the third level of the Circuleum just before the top, and the Fradihta, giddy with uneasy expectation, marched in unison upon the unusual route, hearing what could have been an illusory rhythm of waves upon shore.
And just as Elwin's head came over the top of the ramp, he saw what lay in wait for them all – the stage of the second challenge.
He witnessed not the coarse beige of sand, but the cerulean blue of the sea.
The Circuleum was brimming with water.
The entirety of the arena from the ground level to the first ring of seats nearly 4 stories up had been flooded and made into an artificial lake, waves rolling with the winds of the overcast sky. Every Fradihta's jaw dropped in incredulity.
"Like our handiwork?" remarked Professor Thales, crossing his arms. "I commend you for being patient. It took everyone quite a bit of effort." Maximus popped up from behind the spectator seats, and made little finger-cannons.
In the very center of the lake floated a massive galleass – the same galleass that had been moored to House MANASURA; it was rigged with three masts carrying vast sails, whose mastheads reached for the skies; the falcon's nest at top was almost level with the highest seat in the Circuleum. At the rim of the basin, spread evenly upon the oval shore lay 20 smaller galley-boats, dwarfed in size by the central ship.
On the southern pinnacle of the Circuleum's wall was a massive scoreboard of sandstone with spaces enough to display the names of twenty squadras, visible to every spectator. Professor William stood below it, ready to etch, rank, and reorder the twenty squadras upon the tiled and mosaicked sandstone with a single flick of his finger, flanked by numerous upperclassmen whose eyesight could drive hawks to tears.
Atop her podium Professor Aionia commenced her speech as the Master of Ceremonies.
"Generous audiences of Aienwater and Aeternitas, let us give our sincere welcome."
The rallied hurrah of some twenty-thousand spectators, many of them denizens of Aienwater, drummed their ears as the anxious Fradihta spread across the readying stage of this spectacular arena. Neither Elwin nor the rest of his peers had been at the attention of so many eyeballs, and so much enthused screams. Many denizens of Aienwater were in the seats, along with the Viatira, Tunir, and Senatir of Aeternitas, the rest of the professors, and the headmaster.
"Careful, steady," as Elwin helped Isaac board their own craft, rocking in the waves. The winds were picking up speed; the sky was fully gray now.
Professor Aionia continued her speech.
"They have proven themselves victorious in the battle of the land. Now, they must face the perils of the sea, a recount to the great naval battles of old. Out of 20 squadras, only 4 shall emerge as contestants worthy of the final trial. To our audience and our esteemed Artens upon the sea, I hereby announce the rules:
Aboard the central galleass rests our naval standard flags with 4 colors: ruby, sapphire, amber, and jade. Each shall respectively equal 40, 30, 20, and 10 points."
Elwin spied several staves upon the galleass at the center, waving from their tops vertical banners of various colors.
"There are 10 standards each, totaling 40. Each squadra upon their water-crafts shall claim and defend the standards for themselves in any way they wish. There is no obligation to stay on the galleass, for each standard can be freely moved. Squadras may freely capture standards from other squadras by way of finesse and combat."
"After 30 minutes to the clock, the 4 squadras with the highest points shall be triumphant, and move onto the final challenge. The journey for the rest, however, shall end here."
The previous challenge threw half of the participating squadras out of the tournament; this time, they were cleaving nearly four-fifths out, precisely 80 percent. Elwin twiddled his thumbs; it was going to be a tough challenge because the winning conditions came down to the prowess of individual squadras, and while Elwin was confident with water now, so was Lucian. The match was made tougher still because there was almost no solid ground to land on other than the boats; Mirai, most of all, could not use the Gurunmastra on anything here with ease, other than metal. Fueling the apprehension was the weather, worsening by the second.
"Finally, to all those who can see, there rests just one, single standard upon the tip of the mast."
Every eyeball craned above the sails to the tallest wooden beam.
"This banner, colored black diamond in honor of our privateers against Jin, shall be worth one-million points."
Each soul in the audience drew a gasped breath, and so did every Fradihta upon their galleys.
Just capturing that single banner guaranteed certain victory, mused Elwin.
But it also meant the competition would be the fiercest for it; any team that got their hands upon its pole at the beginning of the match would certainly have to fend off the 19 other teams vying for the same. It was to try to claim the jackpot and risk their lives, or take a less risky strategy of accumulating standards with fewer points.
"Elwin, what're we going for?" whispered Katherine, her eyes fleeting between the banners upon the deck, blowing fiercely in the speeding wind.
It wasn't the Battle for Aeternitas anymore, when Isaac was in command. As the Tide Controller, Elwin now had to give commands. He gulped.
"We're not attempting the black diamond, unless it happens to fall into our hands in the middle of fighting. We'll go the safer route. Lots of medium-point standards. Prioritize sapphire and amber, because they'll also fight hard for ruby."
"Agreed," his kismets nodded, ready to spring.
Professor Aionia atop her podium raised her staff.
"Now then, in the count of three,"
"Don't be afraid," muttered Elwin.
"Two –"
He looked to Isaac.
"One –"
Isaac looked back.
"BEGIN!"
"MAIOR FORTIOR!" exclaimed Elwin and Isaac, as their Quans rumbled to life and they blasted the water behind their galley-boats, Katherine and Mirai nearly ragdolling to the wooden stern in acceleration. Every squadra did the same; the 20 galleys were all honing in on the central galleass at frightening speed, and in 5 seconds they were just a few yards away from the foot of its deck, its sails and masts towering above them.
"JUMP!" The three of them kicked out of their rocking boats and onto the wooden shore, as Isaac cushioned the impact upon the larger hull.
"TO YOUR RIGHT!" shouted Mirai, as Elwin ducked a baton of ice from a blue-haired boy and Katherine pounded him away with three punches of fire, setting the wood ablaze.
"THE AMBER! GET THE AMBER!" she blared, as Elwin dived to the deck with all his might and by the skin of his teeth hoisted away the amber standard, which three other pairs of hands had almost snatched. The remaining standards were being claimed away at terrifying speed.
They hurriedly looked to all four directions; they saw a banner of sapphire, high upon the captain's deck, which others had yet to reach.
"Isaac, Katherine, blast us up!"
Elwin and Mirai locked their arms as the wooden deck exploded below them in fiery splinters, and Isaac's pressurized gale from his 'URA!' rocketed them up several yards. Elwin rolled to the ground upon impact, and stood on his feet just as a boy and a fierce-looking girl landed inches away from them. Elwin dashed for the sapphire standard, his battle-boots screeching with friction, arms outstretched; but a gust of wind blew him off-course, and the unfamiliar girl was about to reach it first;
"HOO-RAH!" hollered Robert, as he tackled the girl out of the way with a fireblast. Robert and Elwin's eyes locked upon each other in a moment of hesitation as past allies, and at commensurate second bolted for the sapphire banner; their fingers were almost upon the pole when a third figure landed between them both, smashing the banner away with an orb of solid iron, the mast behind him collapsing from its missing bearing.
It was Khan.
"YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME, THE KHAN OF METAL?" he growled.
"No," Robert shrugged, going again for the sapphire.
"SHAME!" Khan chided, as he pummeled Robert hard in the stomach with the orb and was about to do the same to Elwin when Isaac's squall by his feet knocked him off and Katherine barraged him away, grabbing the sapphire banner. But not all was safe yet, because a figure of ash-blond hair was racing towards them with terrifying speed, and Lucian –
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
Instinctively the kismets hugged their two banners, amber and sapphire, but Lucian wasn't going for those.
With the agility of a jaguar he jumped past the steering helm with his esteemed squadra and with the support of Cassius, his Eagle Watcher, he pounced several yards onto the sail of the central mast, almost tearing the fabric on his climb to the top, the rest of his team clambering up the swinging ratline like spiders, kicking away everyone struggling below them.
He was going for the black diamond.
"IGNORE HIM! LET'S MOVE!" Shouted Katherine, gathering all of them back towards the central deck where the last of the jade banners remained, having been ignored until now.
Elwin pitched his hand and grabbed one, and Mirai grabbed two; but out of nowhere Rafia landed next to them and with an alloy-toed boot flung a roundhouse kick into Katherine's shoulder, tumbling her away into the water with the sapphire banner dropping from her hand; Isaac dived in after Katherine to help her back on deck, and Mirai reached for the banner on the ground. But as she tried to pick it up, Rafia put down her foot and broke the pole into splintered two; Elwin pulled the water to blast her away, but it froze just as it was shooting up from the lake, Daphne's Quan blazing yards away to counter Elwin's moves. Mirai broke a large metal ring from the deck and swung it as hard as she could into Rafia's shins, the armor deforming with the strike, sweeping her off her feet; but just then, a muscular boy swooped from the mast and snatched the sapphire standard, and Robert, helping Rafia and Daphne, jumped into his boat with all of them and accelerated away. Elwin recognized all of their faces from three nights before – they were the ones who'd saved him when he was climbing the summit, and prevented the Padishahs from delivering the flags upon the Tree. Robert's squadra already had several banners in their possession, two rubies, three sapphires, and two ambers.
Elwin's team only had an amber and three jades; but it was better than most. He signaled for his kismets to jump in their galley, lest all of their banners be stolen in the chaos of battle; together they rocketed out of range of the galleass.
In the meantime Lucian was finishing his climb to the top of the mast, and with a spike of ice knocked loose the black diamond standard upon the falcon's nest; he held it up, shouting for all the audience to see. They cheered for him, mesmerized; the rest of his squadra pelted down a storm of hail upon the clambering opponents, who were attempting the black diamond on their own.
But suddenly a consensus formed amidst that chaos upon the deck, and three cut loose the jibs and ropes of the center mast, which under tension tore like a whip and slapped the bodies of unsuspecting fighters, flinging them away like pebbles; with axes of ice some 5 teams began to ferociously chop away at the center mast, fully intent on bringing it down with Lucian on it, for the black diamond banner to hit the deck or the water.
"15 MINUTES TO THE CLOCK!"
The center mast began to groan and creak, and leaned to the bow; within seconds the axes on the deck had finished their chops, and it was beginning to fall. Lucian and his team held themselves tight, bracing themselves for the deck; and Katherine cranked her neck for the path of the black diamond standard, all the while avoiding the cards of frost issuing from the boats that chased them.
And in the last second Cassius roared up a gust of air that filled the sails sideways and pushed the center mast to the starboard; it was going to fall above the water.
Katherine furiously pointed to the direction of their fall.
"ELWIN! ISAAC! BRING US THERE! BRING US THERE!"
It was the perfect opportunity.