Wizardly

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Last Training

Once I made it to the courtyard I was surprised to see most of my friends there as well as Zane, Master, and Captain. Did they come to help out too?

"Well, Kid, we have no more time to waste. I got word that the rescue was successful so they will be attacking soon. Your friends offered to pitch in and it'll be good training for all involved. Lets begin," Captain said and I nodded. This isn't going to be easy, but I like the challenge.

We have no time to waste, so he just randomly picked two people to start with. They took their places on either side of me. Max and Theo were my first opponents, interesting irony there. This was going to be interesting, because with Max it won't be a two on one match it'll be more like a three on one match. Nala didn't seem like she was going to hold back either.

However, Max does have one weakness and that's the fact he can't fully fight when he's helping his animals survive too. Though I'm sure he's been working on that so I'll have to keep my eyes open for an opening.

As for Theo, she's a duel sword wielder and she also has abilities, but like she stated before they were rather weak. She can use ice magic and wind magic. Since they aren't strong enough to use full out in a battle she's learned to use her weak magic to enhance her sword skills. She can Coat her sword with ice to make it sharper and cause more damage. She can also launch sharp small blasts of wind from her blades as well.

In other words she has a mid-range and close-range attack and Max has long range attacks. They actually make for a good team, since they cover for each others weaknesses. I just wish it didn't have to come together like this, against me of all people. Might have been random, but this was definitely a good, challenging, match up.

"To make this more serious and more interesting, I think I'll treat these matches like a contest. You need to beat at least half of the people here. Another words, you need to beat at least one person per match before your Twenty minutes are up. If you fail to beat at least one you loose a point, but you can gain the points back if you manage to beat both opponents in another match. So you basically need at least 5 wins.

That said if you do not earn 5 points by the time training is over in about two hours you will prove you are not ready to fight yet. As for everyone else, do not hold back. Everyone is to treat this as a life or death fight," Master said.

If this is serious training why even bother with his little game? Why test me this far in? What is the point of adding points? He could have legit just told them not to hold back, I don't see the point in this. If I loose what does he even plan to do? He still going on about keeping me from fighting? I already made it clear I was going to fight with or without their approval.

Nala came at me fast and I managed to dodge her and just as I did Theo appeared on my left. I managed to twist my body mid air to narrowly avoid her sword. She countered with her other sword, but missed as I landed and slid to a stop on my feet. Okay, so no time to worry about what Master is planning. Better stay focused.

They came at me again at the same time. I guess all those training sessions between them got them to understand how each other fights. I'm at a severe disadvantage here. I dodged them and they both had to back off before colliding. Is running away really my only option facing more than one person? They just keep coming, not even giving me time to strike back. It's all I can do to dodge them.

Hiding again wasn't an option since Nala could easily sniff me out and taking them both on wasn't going to get.e anywhere. If I could just slow them down somehow I could come up with a way to take them down.

"If you find yourself trapped in a situation without help, let your environment help you," that man from before had said.

My head started to hurt and I winsed, but I pushed through the pain this time. Use my environment huh? So what can I use here? Dirt, trees, grass, the sun, and the shadows. Come on think, what's my best option right now? It was hard to think while also keeping my guard up to my surroundings in order to dodge.

At one point I hit the ground hard and got back up. As the dirt fell off me I figured out what I could do to buy some more time. It was sort of a cheap trick but I don't have any other options right now. As they got in range I kicked up some of the loose dirt and made a quick escape into the trees. That might buy me a few seconds at best.

Now what can I do from here? Nala can't climb a tree, bit she will still be able to alert to my position. I'll have to take her down first, but that won't be easy with Max backing her up. I suppose I could try taking Theo out first but she's got those swords and her magic at her disposal.

Why didn't Master give me a sword this time like he had befor? Is this his version of a survival test? If I can get one of Theo' s swords I could put up more of a fight. Okay, I gotta keep Nala off me until I can get one of Thei's swords. I don't have time to improvise a weapon so I'll have to steal one.

Now, how do I stall Nala? I could use my sweaty shirt maybe. I forgot to take it off at the start of this so that might actually work. It'll only confuse her for a minute but it might be just enough time. I threw it over into another tree and hid carful to slow and calm my breathing.

As I thought Nala alerted and came into view. Theo came just behind her. I saw her look up into that tree and just as she realized what was going on I lept from the tree and attacked. She was too slow to defend. I took her swords she dropped and aimed one at Nala and held the other one at her throat. She gave the I give gesture and I gave herthe one sword back.

Nala growled and I heard a whistle and then heard Max tell Nala to back down. She ran off. I helped Theo up and we headed back to the field.

"We both lost," Max said and smiled at me. "That was impressive, Tyrian," he added.

"Wait, what happened? We didn't get to see it since you were all in the trees," Nash said. We both shared a look, laughed, and winked at him without explaining a word.