The Imperial Maguire Academy

Ch-35

Kenneth was having a hard time deciding what to do. Should he just attack and achieve the satisfaction of revenge or stay calm and bring himself glory by contributing an Andinn to the clan? If he played his cards right he might even get a super powerful weapon in return from his clan,and that greed kept Kenneth silent and unmoving.

He was curious about what Edward would do next along with many others who didn't dare take a step forward.

"That's better. I can see you people literally drooling over this thing in my hand and I won't disappoint your greed. You can get this Andinn from me but only if you play and win a game if mine." The grin was affixed to Edward's face as he looked down at the people's reaction from up above the tree.

The only person whose face didn't reflect greed was Jessica. She was very much suspicious of Edward's game and she had known him long enough to figure out that the only person who would profit from any schemes of his will be only Edward itself.

She voiced her suspicions to her teammates and Markus felt the same way and they quietly withdrew earning weird glances from others. Who in their right mind would pass up an opportunity like this,was what was going through their mind then.

"Do speak more about your 'game'." The girl who had been furious before spoke calmly to Edward now but their still remained bitterness in her tone.

"Do you know what happens when an Andinn is heated? There has been many people who had prior believed that And inn's energy can be obtained by melting it. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. When Andinn was heated it didn't melt. Instead it produced smoke and a fragrance-"

"Would you stop with the lecture and get to the point already?" A guy spoke up cutting Edward mid sentence. His teammates laughed at that but the people from the big clan had solemn expression after hearing Edward speak.

"Haha,don't get impatient now. This is a very important point to know for the game. Anyway the fragrance an Andinn produces might not be easily detected by a human but to magical beast it is very alluring. And it just so happens that I was lucky enough to capture a glimpse of Zyno(one horned zebra) in this forest.

Now I have always wanted the Zyno's colourful shiny horn. I am willing to trade this Andinn with anyone who can get his horn."

"Do you take us for fools? You want us to just stand here while you lure out beasts so that you can slip away the first chance you get while we are stuck with fighting god knows how many dangerous beasts?" The girl standing between Kenneth and Blake spoke. There were also some other students who looked scared at the thought of fighting the magical beasts.

"Think a bit now. This forest I'd maintained by the instructors. You think they would let any beast which is actually dangerous roam freely? Of course not! They can't afford to bear the consequences if a student gets seriously injured. You have new fought them yourself before. Gouge their strength by yourself. They were tough but not dangerous.

And I can't possibly escape after alluring the magical beasts. The scent of Andinn will be all over me. They will come after me and not you. That makes it even more easy for you to take them down. Do remember that if the magical beast does manage to attack me then the Andinn will also get damaged. Come on now the only person who is taking a real risk here is me. You can bail out anytime you want if you think the situation is dangerous. So you ready to play the game?" Edward spoke and his words convinced many.

Even Kenneth agreed to play the game,not because he trusted Edward but because he trusted his own strength to battle magical beast and successfully cut a Zyno's horn. But whatever happens Kenneth had decided in his mind that as soon as he had got the Andinn he was going to break every bone in Edward's body. Those emotions and thoughts remained the same.

Blake exchanged a look with his teammates and they all nodded. The girl from Ethan's team also nodded along with her teammates. The other teams also felt like they couldn't just pass up this opportunity and nodded.

"Ok. Let's get this started." Edward said as he placed the Andinn on his lap and then brought a burning matchstick towards it. There was the tiniest wisp of smoke seen by the people below and they didn't even smell any fragrance. Regardless all of the teams got ready and tensely waited for any unusual movement.

They were not disappointed. The first magical beast came towards them in seconds,a friendly little rabbitian,and was quickly taken care of by a team.

Many others beasts came one after another but none of them were Zyno. The teams were handling themselves pretty well without any sort of problem arising but as time passed the amount of magic beast increased.

As more and more beasts attacked them some teams decided to play smart and luring the beasts away from their team and towards someone else's. The feeling of annoyance and hate began building between the teams. Especially Blake's and Kenneth's team. They were at the point that they would start fighting amongst themselves even if the Zyno hadn't even been seen yet.

After about half an hour the Zyno was finally to be seen. The sight of him made all the teams crazy. Without thinking about anything else they charged straight towards the startled Zyno.

The competition was mainly between three people, Blake ,Kenneth and the girl. Everybody else was weak and slow compared to them. So they were the first one to reach the Zyno. Kenneth quickly shot a ice spear through the Zyno's leg but didn't continue his assault and instead started fighting Blake and the girl.

He was the second strongest in the Royal Alpha so even if it was two against one he clearly had the upper hand. He ferociously attacked the two of them. Blake fought back with his fire and the girl used a earthen armour to cover her body and boost her strength.

It was not enough to par with Kenneth but the thing was, Kenneth wasn't used to protecting. He wasn't that used to shielding someone and that's why he made a mistake and let a guy from Blake's team approach the Zyno.

He was quickly attacked by the sister from Edmonton afterwords but he did get enough time to slash his horn. But sadly not enough time to retrieve it. It just fell on to the grass beside Zyno's feet.

What happened next was something only Edward had expected. The Zyno cried a painful roar and the ground all around him started shaking. Soon earthdiggers were all over the place. Hundreds of them popping out of the ground and stealing any shiny thing they saw from the suprised students,as was their habit.

"Hey Blake congratulations. Your team gets the Andinn." Edward laughingly called out to Blake who saw a shiny thing approaching rapidly towards him. There was panic among the students and Kenneth wasn't currently attacking him and Blake successfully managed to catch the Andinn.

He had been fighting just moments ago and flames were leaping all around him which were caught by the Andinn. But he wasn't focusing on that right now. The girl from Ethan's team was standing close by and she was also staring at the Andinn. And so was Kenneth.

The thing was when Edward was holding up the Andinn he was far away and only it's front side was visible to them. Now that Blake had gotten hold of it he was able to closely examine it and find out that the Andinn appeared rotten from the back.

There was signs of a decaying and as if someone had taken a small bite of it from the back. Meaning that the Andinn was damaged and was nothing more than a stupid show piece. Which was currently burning from Blake's flame, producing a lot of smoke and fragrance that was clearly apparent to him now.

Kenneth stepped closer to Blake to get a better look at the damaged Andinn,not caring about the earthdigger which took the dagger hanging by his belt. The girl on the other hand was quick to make action and tried charging towards Edward. Only to be unsuccessful because of the massive amount of magical beast which had came upon smelling the strong smell of Andinn.

"Haha,see you folks later!" Edward bid farewell with a throw of his jacket towards the packed space below before quickly escaping.