"The Oath shall take place three days from now, and you are all welcome!" announced Prince Argyle with a triumphant smile. He had won more than just a fight; he had gauged Ferdinand's strength and was thoroughly impressed. Argyle himself had only reached the 4th rank peak two years prior, at the age of twenty-one. If he could retain Ferdinand and cultivate his potential, Ferdinand could become his greatest warrior. Argyle wasn't even sure he could defeat Ferdinand in a fair match; the young man was truly a genius. The mystery of why his family had banished him only deepened.
Ferdinand was taken to Prince Argyle's private billet, a non-military structure adapted for the call to arms. He was given a room, and a centurion was assigned to watch over him until he recovered from mana depletion. This isolation was meant to keep him away from everyone, especially Everette.
Everette was livid. After seeing Ferdinand in action at the dungeon and feeling humiliated, he had concocted his plan. He intended to use his position to manipulate the story and make Ferdinand part of his main force, which would have elevated his own status during the call to arms. But now, he had lost to the Prince. He never imagined the Prince would co-opt his plan.
"How could this happen?! I thought we planned everything perfectly. Now I'm left with no Ferdinand in the garrison, and with our casualties, my force is cut in half!" Everette fumed.
"The ones left have proven themselves. We can recruit new members and train them. Also, we still have the recruit Theo Dawes, who has shown great potential, my lord," Aid Ariel tried to appease Everette.
"Right, we can train him, and then what? He's just assigned to the garrison, not to me. What happens after the call to arms? This was our chance to grow! And you—you're supposed to be a great warrior, one of my personal aides, and you almost got yourself killed by a stupid rank B monster. I thought you were trained better than that!" Everette continued to rage at Ariel.
Ariel remained silent, not wanting to provoke Everette further. Draymond nodded to him, and they both stepped back, allowing Everette to vent.
"Take the garrison for an outside training session. We can't have them dwelling on what happened to Ferdinand, or they might get ideas," Everette instructed.
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Theo and the others were still by the arena, dumbfounded by everything that had just transpired. Ariel and Draymond approached them.
"What was that? Did you know that was going to happen? Everything is even more messed up now!" Theo screamed at Ariel.
"That was unexpected, but there's nothing you can do. Now, everyone follow me. We've lost a lot of time. Come with us, we must train," Ariel said.
"What do you mean, training?" Amber asked, shocked, speaking for the group.
"We are to resume training. Since our numbers are down to half a garrison, we must prepare ourselves. Now, let's go," Draymond instructed dryly.
"But…" Nick started to protest, but Draymond shot him a look that dared him to continue. Understanding the warning, they all fell silent and followed the aides.
They were surprised to be led out of camp and down to the beach. Once there, Ariel placed four wooden beams in the sand, forming a large rectangle, and then carved out the sand connecting the posts with his sword.
"So, we will be sparring. Each of you will fight against us. You may use whatever you want—spells and any means to try and defeat us. Sound good?" Ariel asked.
They all nodded, most of them smiling. They could finally vent their anger and frustrations directly at the source of their troubles, Everette's aides.
"I want to go first," Nick said, his expression serious. He had lost the most—his two best friends were dead, and one of his newly found ones had just been wrongly judged. He was bursting with energy.
Draymond stood in the middle as Nick took his position opposite him. "Start!" Ariel commanded. Nick began casting a spell, and two rings appeared beneath him. A massive pike rose from under Draymond, who somersaulted backwards to dodge the attack. But as soon as he landed, another pike shot up. Draymond dodged left and right as earth spikes erupted everywhere.
Draymond kept running, dodging, while Nick exhausted himself, pouring all his energy into the assault.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Stop running!" Nick screamed in frustration.
As Draymond dodged, he got closer and closer to Nick. Focused solely on his attack, Nick failed to notice.
Draymond then jumped at Nick and began pounding him. He was a brawler and wielded a mace. Nick was on the receiving end of a vicious attack, but he covered himself and grabbed the mace, stopping the onslaught.
Nick covered himself in earth, transforming into a golem. He crushed Draymond's mace in his hand. Draymond moved back as Nick went on a rampage, but as a golem, although strong, he was slow. Draymond used this chance to tire Nick out. As Nick slowed down, Draymond kept evading until Nick's golem form disappeared, and Nick knelt, exhausted, having lost before entering mana depletion.
"You have great strength, Nick, but if you can't land a blow on your opponent, it is for naught. Next up, Flynn," Ariel indicated, stepping up while Draymond oversaw the next match.
Flynn wanted to vent but wasn't as angry as Nick. He began by using water blades to try and hit Ariel. The difference in skill was evident; Ariel's movements were fluid, and he anticipated all of Flynn's attacks. It didn't take long for Ariel to take Flynn down without casting, just by evading and counterattacking swiftly.
Draymond then took on Nolan. As both were brawlers, it was a matter of strength, and Draymond won in the end. He then faced Amber. Ariel was surprised but allowed Draymond to continue.
"Hey, how about after I show you some moves here, I take you to my quarters for some other lessons?" Draymond suggested, leering at Amber.
"I'd rather sleep in a dungeon, creep," Amber retorted without hesitation. This upset Draymond, who usually got any peasant girl he wanted. "Let's teach you some respect then," he growled, wielding his axe. But before he could move, Amber cast Ice Root, immobilizing him.
She continued by casting Ice Spear straight at Draymond. If it were another trainee, he might have been dead already, but Draymond swiftly destroyed the lance with his axe, turning it into a fine mist.
Amber reinforced her Ice Root, keeping Draymond in place. This angered Draymond, but he tried to remain calm. Then, a five-ring tier glowed under Amber. Draymond's eyes widened; he hadn't expected her to cast something above tier 3, much less tier 5.
A great mist appeared above Draymond. He started hacking at his legs to break free as spears began to form overhead. Amber swung her arms downward, casting Crystal Storm, and a rain of ice spears descended on Draymond.
Draymond managed to free himself, but the spears were already falling. He dodged as many as he could and hacked at the ones closest to him. Despite his efforts, a few spears cut him, gashing his left leg and arm. Suddenly, Ariel, moving with incredible speed, pulled Draymond away from the spell, saving him.
"The match is over. You are the winner, Amber. Great job!" Ariel stated. Theo and the others were wide-eyed. They hadn't seen that spell from Amber before and were amazed that she was the only one so far to not only defeat but actually injure one of the aides.
"She almost killed him, right?" Nolan asked. Ariel, hearing this, decided to respond, "She fought as if it was a real battle, and that is exactly what you must do. The only way to improve is to give your all as if your life depended on it. Aid Draymond was cocky, and he could have paid with his life for that mistake, which I'm sure won't happen again." As he spoke, he looked at Draymond, who could only nod in agreement.
Nolan then took Draymond to the infirmary, as he was still bleeding and could hardly walk. "Let's go with our last match. Theo, please step up," Ariel instructed.
Theo had been watching the matches, and although they were incredible to watch, he was feeling dejected and didn't really feel like sparring. Ariel could see that Theo wasn't intent on giving his all in the match, so he decided to show him why it is always important to fight with everything you've got.
As the match began, Ariel went on the attack. He brandished wind blades and began attacking Theo, but to his surprise, Theo used the Flower Wind Stance to defend himself with his daggers. Ariel recognized it as Ferdinand's technique. Ariel then used Wind Burst to destabilize Theo and attack him as he lost his footing.
"He is trying to show you that you must always be ready to fight. Use Time Step in the same way he is using his wind spurts to not let him underestimate you," Prim advised Theo.
Theo listened and used Time Step to freeze time for a second. He threw one of his daggers straight at Ariel's leg and then used Dagger Rush. By the time the second was done, Ariel had been pierced by the dagger in his left foot, and an incredibly fast Theo was on him. It took everything from Ariel to withstand the attack, and he cast a whirlwind trying to keep Theo off him.
Theo stepped back and retreated, waiting to see how Ariel would respond. Ariel took the dagger out of his foot, used his wind to dry out the wound, and tied it down with a piece of cloth. As he looked up at Theo, he was bewildered by what had just happened. How did he not notice the attack? Was Theo that quick?
Theo saw his chance and once again cast Time Step, this time improving his speed for 30 seconds. He burst with speed at Ariel, picked up his other dagger, and began using the Flower Wind Stance against him. Ariel was impressed at how fast Theo was, unsure if it was a spell or not as no ring was shown under him. Ariel cast a wind blade and tried matching Theo's movements. Theo was relentless, and with every attack, he got closer and closer to defeating Ariel. As time was running out, it was now or never. Theo used a feint to go for Ariel's gut. Ariel instinctively protected himself, and then Theo followed up with his second blade going for Ariel's throat. In that moment, as he got closer, Theo hesitated and slowed down. Ariel, seeing this, jumped in the air and then used a tier 3 spell, Hurricane. It hit Theo straight on and blew him away.
Ariel had won, but he had a newfound respect for Theo and wanted to keep training him, thinking he might have found another genius. "That was great, Theo. I'm really impressed. Tomorrow, I'd like to show you some other ways you could have defeated me. For now, I'll go back and have this looked at. You may stay here and keep training if you wish," Ariel applauded Theo.
Flynn and Nolan stayed and practiced together, but Theo felt like walking down the rocky beach. Seeing this, Amber decided to go with him.
Theo couldn't shake the feeling that the ocean was watching him, but he tried to dismiss it as paranoia. "Do you think there is anything we can do for Ferdinand?" he asked.
"Listen, Theo, you may not be used to it, but to nobles, status is everything. This is not the best outcome, but it's just like Ferdinand told us. He wants to stay and rise in ranks, and this keeps his plans alive. We should just let him be," Amber explained.
"I guess. It's just… we owe him so much," Theo said, feeling melancholy.
"Hey, after the call to arms, what are you going to do?" Amber asked.
"Probably go home, I guess," Theo answered.
"Do you think I could come with you?" Amber asked.
Theo suddenly felt nervous as his hands got hot and sweat started to ooze from his skin. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'd just like to see where you're from. Is that ok?" Amber asked.
"Ye-yeah, of course," he answered. They then sat in silence, looking at the waves crashing on the rocky beach as Amber held Theo's hand.