Darksteel

Chapter 39; The battle for Tirus.

At first, no one knew what really happened-- including Asta.

In fact, all he knew for certain was that his Guild mates had made the distraction he'd asked for-- which apparently consisted of Adar tackling one of the Headmaster's soldiers--and a battle had broken out. And in the midst of the chaos, Asta had grabbed the amulet and dashed into the fray while the Headmaster screamed at her soldiers to grab him. 

All around the field, fights were breaking out amoung the boys who were under the Headmaster's spell and those who weren't, and were simply trying to survive against the sudden onslaught from their schoolmates. 

Blindly, Asta ran through it all, wildly searching for Nico and his sword. Once, he passed Blue, who had somehow gotten ahold of his trident and was fiercly fighting back four other boys.

It seemed, however, that there were more boys on the Headmaster's side than Asta had accounted for, and his own makeshift "army" was steadily being driven back. Good boys were being cut down, some even by those on their own side; none of them could recognize their own kind.

 They were simply mindless soldiers, knowing only one thing. To win.

Suddenly, Asta felt something tackle him from behind, sending him plunging to the ground and knocking the breath out of him. The figure flipped him over and he found himself looking at the scarred face of Ivo.

"Give me the amulet!" the boy hissed.

Asta spat in his face and kicked upward, knocking the boy off him. "Come and get it then!" he screamed, clutching the precious relic to his chest.

With a roar, Ivo drew out a wickedly sharp dagger and lunged for Asta, the blade gleaming silver in the light. Asta dodged, wishing he had his sword, and managed to trip the boy as he came at him again. Ivo sprang up quickly, however, and tackled him to the ground once more, similtaniouly trying to stab him and grab the amulet. 

Asta writhed furiously, one hand keeping the blade at bay, and the other blindly clawing at Ivo's face until he found the other boy's eyes and jabbed his finger at them. Ivo howled in pain and Asta found his chance, throwing the boy off him and running off again in a sprint, hoping to lose the boy in the battle.

 Several times, he was swiped at with a random blade that drew some blood, but he kept on running until he bumped into Nico.

She had a split lip and a black eye, but she held Asta's sword, grinning ruefully as she glanced at the chaos around her and said, "I leave you alone for five minutes and I come back to this."

Shaking his head, his lips curved in a slight smile, Asta accepted his sword. "You couldn't have gotten here a little faster?"

"Let's just say I ran into Miss Bywater along the way. I never would have made it out alive if Smithy hadn't helped me." Nico then spotted a fallen blade and picked it up. "Well, I suppose I'm in for a bit of a battle tonight." she then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and sprinted off the fight beside Mr.Potter.

Asta shook his head, gripping his sword and reaching for the amulet...

He stopped suddenly; the relic was no longer in his hands. No... when could he have dropped it? Whipping around, he suddenly saw Ivo dashing back into the heat of the battle, the amulet dangling from his fingers. 

Bloody heck.

With a cry of rage, Asta chased after him, gaining on the boy and slashing at his back with the darksteel blade. Ivo spun around, hissing in pain and exchanged his dagger for a sword on his belt. Facing off, the boys circled eachother, then clashed in a flurry of swinging blades, Asta matching Ivo in skill movement for movement.