Phantom Hunters | Saphir Casters Academy

11 | The Final Buzzer

XI | THE FINAL BUZZER

    Four blighters the size of a bear oozed out of the final gate. The arena fell into an awed silence as the four massive monsters stretched their tentacles, shooting through smaller blighters and hitting another student.

    Kael's eyes widened, and he felt his heart begin to sink. With less than two minutes left on the sigil, he'd never be able to survive these huge blighters, let alone kill any of them.

    Wynt roared into action, cutting at the blighters with his poisonous axe. Kael noticed that his friend's weapons was beginning to dim, but had enough glow left for the several attacks. He looked down at the pathetic knife in his hand. The sigil was flickering, barely alive.

    He had to think. His gaze flitted around the arena as ideas bounced around in his head. A tentacle almost grabbed him, and he jumped back. It hit the side of his shoe, causing him to stumble and crash to the ground.

    Cursing, Kael pushed himself up. He noticed the debris around him, thinking of ways he could survive for the final twenty minutes. He wouldn't be able to use the last of the sigil's duration for an attack because it would blow out before he could even land a hit.

    He glanced around in desperation and saw what looked like a weapon rack at the edge of the arena. He had noticed it when he first entered the arena, and he now recalled that it held a giant falchion — a sword with a massive blade that widened as it went farther from the hilt, curving at the tip to make a sharp point skewed from the center.

    The sword was brandished by a massive boy, who now shot metal bars at the final blighters before the sigil ran out. Kael turned his attention to the bare weapon rack. He ran towards it as an idea began to take shape. At the last second, he gathered his weight on his left heel and leaped forward, bringing his right leg straight up for a kick.

    The sole of his shoe rattled the rack back, and he fell over. Without waiting another second, he sprang up and grabbed the weapon rack, ramming it against the wall with as much force as possible.

    "Kael, what are you doing?" Wynt yelled as he used the last of the sigil to send a burst of poison into a tentacle.

    "Don't throw that axe away! Bring it here!" Kael said, stomping against the edge of the weapon rack. Splinters peeked out as the wood strained.

    Wynt dodged a tentacle and ran up to Kael. "What are you doing?"

    Kael grabbed Wynt's axe and smashed the wood until a beam fell out. Kael grit his teeth as sweat dripped down from the tip of his hair.

    He ran the element sigils through his mind. Fire, though he knew by heart, he couldn't use without the risk of blowing up other students. It was one of the more unstable elements that could be wielded, and with a crude drawing, it could result in catastrophic explosions.

    He thought of his brother. Plants. Would a plant sigil work? He'd never used the element before, so he didn't know what to expect, but he had seen what Kly could do with his whip.

    "Kael, can you tell me what's going on? Where's your weapon?"

    "The sigil's burned out. I barely have enough to do this."

    "Do what?"

    Kael flipped the blade of the pocket knife and sent his uthra surging through. With the added heat, it would be easy to make an engraving. As quick as he could, he ran the words that helped him remember what the sigil looked like in his mind.