After Ben placed a rune that would alert him if the door was forced open, they decided to move on. The competition still had nearly the entire afternoon left. Right now, they were certainly not in a bad position.
Croy forced himself to set aside thoughts of his encounter with the man named Hisama, at least for the moment. He couldn't let his paranoia ruin the team competition for Ben and Portis. Besides, he now had a way to uncover at least part of the truth.
With the rune in place, Croy felt a slight sense of relief, though his mind still churned with questions. The afternoon was slipping by, and he knew the remaining hours of the competition would only grow more intense as teams fought for the final few points.
So they carried on. And after another two hours, it was now three in the afternoon. Croy's team now had seven points. They'd managed to hold the last two terminals, though not without a hard fight. Still, with their careful planning, they'd always had just enough time.
That changed now. As they arrived at the building Portis had located, Croy spotted another two-person team sprinting toward their position from the end of the street.
No other terminal was active nearby; in fact, this seemed to be the only one left in the area.
"No time for explosion runes!" Croy ordered, charging into the building with his team.
It was a tall warehouse with multiple levels, each floor marked by a square hole in the middle. A crane hung from the ceiling above, meant for transporting goods, though it looked like the warehouse was mostly empty at the moment.
"Ben, find the terminal and activate it immediately. Portis, we'll hold off the newcomers."
The two followed the order without hesitation. Ben ran into the stairwell and disappeared. Moments later, a tall girl with short, fiery red hair burst through the entrance.
She let out a roar like an animal upon seeing Croy and Portis.
"Wow, she's huge!" Portis remarked.
"You jerk, don't call me that!"
"Dodge!"
Both boys sprang aside just as an arrow whizzed past between them, coming from behind the towering girl.
Croy rolled to his feet, but the giantess was already upon him, reaching to grab him. He managed to draw his Spellsword just in time, knocking her hands away with the bastard sword.
Using Bunny's advice, he widened the distance between them, sparing a quick glance toward Portis. His teammate was pinned down by the other opponent, a student with a Spellbow who was showering arrows at him. Portis darted behind the few crates that were available to him, but the arrows pierced right through them.
Turning his attention back to his own adversary, Croy muttered to himself.
Another one of those body-enhanced brutes. Great.
He hadn't been able to pierce the Spell of the first opponent of the day, who had also used some kind of body spell to strenghten himself. Croy would need the power of his sword to do so now as well.
"Sharpness!" he called out, channeling his mana into his fingertips and palm.
Three short pulses, focusing especially on his fingertips and palm.
The sharpness rune on his sword remained faint.
It seemed like, he still wasn't able to activate it.
He ducked beneath the giant's swinging fist and struck her in the back, but his blade merely bounced off her uniform. His blow lacked the strength to activate her automatic barrier, and without the sharpness rune, he wasn't going to pierce it.
Croy formed his left fingers into a pistol shape.
"Electric orb!"
The shot wasn't aimed at the giantess but at the archer pressing Portis. A shimmering sphere of electrical energy shot from his fingertips, striking the unsuspecting archer's head.
The archer's automatic barrier activated.
'One down. Now for the collision.'
Turning his back to the giantess had been a calculated risk, but her punch still sent him flying with more force than he'd anticipated. His own passive mana barrier shattered as he took the hit squarely in the back. But it softened the blow enough for him to roll away from her follow-up kick.
She didn't give him a chance to rise, swinging at him again.
Croy's Mana had already recovered.
"Discharge!"
"Ice bolt!"
Both Croy's and Portis' spell struck the giantess simultaneously, throwing her back. She collided with a forklift, almost knocking it over. To Croy's dismay, her barrier didn't activate.
A beep from his smartwatch indicated Ben had found and activated the terminal.
"Croy! Another team is closing in!"
'Things are about to get messy.'
Croy grinned, racing up the stairs with Portis. Now that the terminal was activated, it was time to delay. The giantess hadn't followed them yet, and Croy hoped she'd end up fighting the new team on the ground floor, giving him and Portis time to position themselves better.
It was a three-on-one situation, but Croy silently cheered for the big girl. She might take one of them down or, at the very least, slow them. The newcomers wouldn't know she was after the terminal too.
"I sense him - Ben's on the fourth floor," Portis reported.
Croy laughed.
"You're a wonderful sensor, you know that?"
"Not entirely," Portis chuckled back.
On the third floor, Croy dashed to the edge of the platform, looking down just as three new students kicked in the door below.
Luckily, he didn't recognize any of them, though that didn't mean they weren't strong.
One of them issued orders, and they split up immediately.
"Two of them are coming up. It seems the third one is tangling with our other guest," Croy observed.
"What should we do?"
Before Croy could answer, he felt something behind him. Instinctively, he dove aside as a spell zipped past, missing him by mere inches.
Behind him, somehow emerging directly through the hole in the floor, stood one of the three newcomers. The second one appeared in the stairwell a few seconds later.
Croy gripped his Spellsword with both hands.
Chaos erupted.
When spellcasters clashed in close combat, all semblance of order vanished. With each wielding their own arsenal of spells, varying in range and power, it was almost impossible to predict the next move.
The platform transformed into a whirlwind of spells and blades. Despite his inexperience with the sword, Croy managed to hold his opponent at bay, even pushing him back.
He kept his swordplay simple - no elaborate techniques or combinations. One spell, a counter from his opponent, and then, in that brief opening, he would bring his sword down with explosive force.
His years in the military gave him an edge in combat experience, which he wielded mercilessly.
The fight wasn't the dance Bunny had envisioned just yet, but it still played to Croy's rhythm. Although there were four spellcasters on the platform, Croy controlled his duel, and whenever possible, he would swing his sword or launch an electric orb spell at the opponent locked in fierce melee with Portis.
They could afford to draw the fight out. Croy would take the initiative, push the student back, only to retreat to avoid giving his opponent any chance for a surprise counterattack.
With every strike, he felt himself learning to merge his war-honed combat style with the Spellsword, creating something new and powerful.
It felt incredible. It wasn't about murdering each other. Not about smashing down an uprising.
There was no hatred, only the intensity, the emotions, his pounding heart. Sweat dripped, sparks flew with every parry.
Croy was learning, and quickly. After several exchanges, he began to master his grip. He took a step back, finding himself back-to-back with Portis.
The two opponents faced them from opposite sides.
"Ready to switch?" Croy asked, feeling Portis tense.
"Let's go!"
They spun around each other, and Croy now faced a surprised student.
His new opponent was momentarily thrown off before recovering and unleashing an elemental spell directly at Croy. But Croy had seen him use that spell multiple times in the fight against Portis.
The ground under Croy's feet heated up, glowing red. Moments later, a fiery tornado exploded toward him. He saw his opponent's smug grin before the flames consumed him.
"Discharge!"
Discharge was not just a burst of mana; it also released a shockwave of air pressure.
The wall of flames nearly scorched Croy's face, but a gap opened before him, and he leaped through.
Had he been a moment later, his own passive barrier and then the one of his smartwatch might have activated. But his timing was perfect.
His opponent only had a moment to register his horror before Croy's sword struck, triggering the student's barrier and knocking him down.
Without physical body spells to protect the opponent, even an untrained blow from Croy's hands would finish a person off.
Not wasting a thought, Croy spun, charging up another electric orb spell.
A loud crash made him flinch.
On the other side of the platform, the second opponent lay unconscious, face down on the floor, surrounded by overturned crates.
Croy spotted Portis kneeling, breathing heavily, a barrier around him dissipating.
Croy's heart sank for a moment. Portis struggled to his feet, giving him a tired smile.
"Ah, damn. Looks like I'm out. Sorry, Croy."
Portis was eliminated, leaving only Ben and Croy.
Croy nodded.
"You did well. We'll talk once the terminal is ours."
Portis nodded, sliding to the floor with a loud sigh, leaning against a crate.
From the ground floor, Croy still heard another fight raging.
'Not my concern.'
Leaving Portis on the third-floor platform, Croy ran up to the fourth.
"Ben, it's Croy! Where are you?" he called, weaving through the crates.
"Back here!" came the reply.
He found Ben waiting beside the terminal, weapon drawn and grimacing.
"Sorry I couldn't help from up here. I can't cast long-range spells…"
"It's fine. How much time left?"
"Forty-five seconds."
That was good.
If nothing unexpected happened, there was little chance for the last two survivors from the other teams to make it up here in time. Besides, it took thirty seconds to overwrite a terminal.
Effectively, they had fifteen seconds.
Unless something unexpected…
He heard the warehouse's massive entrance slam open, echoing off the walls. An explosion followed, shaking the building even up on the fourth floor. Then, sudden silence fell over the once-clamorous hall.
Ten seconds left.
Croy, standing near the walls of the building besides a container, couldn't see what was happening below.
But he heard footsteps. Someone was sprinting up the stairs. Fast.
Five seconds.
He realized, there was one way left for their enemy to claim the terminal - if both he and Ben were eliminated before the remaining thirty-five seconds ran out, the terminal's activation would pause.
But surely, no one could manage that… right?
Portis's warning rang out from below.
"Look out, guys! There's-"
"Twilight!"
The female voice and a blinding flash of light cut off Portis's shout.
Croy's eyes were seared by the sudden flash of light. It hadn't even been dark in the building, yet it felt as if the sun itself had crashed through the walls.
His body reacted instinctively, throwing him behind the nearby container, though his vision was completely blinded.
Ben's scream pierced the silence, echoing off the metal walls.
Everything remained starkly white, Croy's vision still utterly blocked. He couldn't see a thing.
"Pathfinder!"
The sensor spell flickered in his mind, outlining a faint turquoise trail hurtling directly toward him. He leaped to the side just in time, yet something grazed him. His passive barrier shattered for the second time. Thankfully, he hadn't needed it earlier.
Gradually, the intense light faded. As his sight returned, Croy found himself face to face with a new adversary.
She stood with an air of quiet authority, her stance calm yet brimming with latent power, turquoise mana swirling faintly around her fingers in which she held the legendary Katana of her father.
Croy felt his pulse quicken at the sight of the beautiful and dangerous Imperial Princess.
Princess Lyn Cericius had entered the battleground.