Reginald went into his usual combo.
A series of staff techniques to try to attack his enemy.
Xiltharina blocks them all with magic seals, not seeing the need to even parry it herself.
“A mere student wants to take on the dark mages of Prince John?” Xiltharina mocked Reginald as she continuously blocks his staff blows.
“Lets try this now.” With a small grin, and a wave of her fingers, vines began sprouting out and captured Reginald’s staff.
“Fey Magic – Bramblevein” as she continues to wave her fingers, sort of like a conductor controlling her orchestra.
As more and more vines piled on, Reginald’s staff was stuck.
With a swift tug, it pulled both Reginald and his staff into the air.
Xiltharina’s laughter filled the air.
It seemed like the female dark elf was playing around with her prey.
The nearby students started erupting in boos, though there remain a group of males still cheering for the elusive dark elf beauty.
While in the air, Reginald steadies himself.
He is used to being in the air.
In his posting, he was sent to hunt beasts.
Flying beasts.
Being in the air is what he was trained for, but being in the air and being restricted by vines is another thing.
I have to get rid of these vines first, thought Reginald.
With a whisper, flames erupted from his staff.
It burned through the dark vines holding his weapon.
The vines writhe and wrought as most of them burned away, while the remaining vines fell to the floor, moving away on its own.
“Flame magic – Combustion” Reginald swung his stuff and flames roared down towards Xiltharina.
A wave of her sleek fingers and a vinewall appeared.
“Fey Magic – Bramblewall” as she hid behind the wall of thorny vines that sprouted from the ground.
The vines that shielded her caught the full blast of flames emitted by Reginald’s staff.
As the duel is ongoing, students began talking among themselves.
Even Leo and Jayzee watched with bated breath.
“Fire is supposed to beat wood.
Why does it seem like it is not having an effect?” “Isn’t that what we learned?
About the Primordial elements?
It does not seem to obey the laws” Xiltharina heard that and turned over.
“This is why combat experience is more vital.
A small fire against so much wood energy.
Can it even burn through?” She then lifted up her hand and push it outwards to the air.
The vine wall, which was taking the hit from the flames, shot out several spikes.
One of them slashed through the side of Reginald’s arm.
Reginald immediately fell to the ground, but landed safely.
He grasped his arm, bleeding from the wound but something was there.
A single vine.
With a swish of her fingers, the vines crawled into the wound, causing much pain.
“Fey Magic – Gloom Bloom” as Xiltharina opened her fingers wide, into a hi-5 motion.
Vines began sprouting out of the wound and enveloping Reginald.
Reginald screamed in pain as his blood profusely flowed out.
Students were starting to get uncomfortable, some screaming to stop.
“You do not know how to fight other mages yet, Reginald, Scion of the Griffin Family.
Let this be a lesson that there are others out there stronger than you.
Cool your hothead and go to the infirmary to get that treated.” Xiltharina said proudly.
The other 3 dark mages accompanying the Prince nodded in agreement.
“Not….Yet” Reginald whimpered, thinking he still had a fighting chance.
He barely got onto his feet, one hand limp, the other grabbing onto the wound which has sprouts of vines coming out.
“Let me show you why wood feeds fire.
Flame Magic – Internal Combustion.” Reginald’s body began to shine with an orange glow.
His mouth started to spit fire, his eyes had streams of fire jets blowing out.
Then, the vines from his wounds caught fire.
It burned from the inside, burning the root and stem of this parasite.
Not only that, it cauterize the wound left by the vine spike.
The flames burned through the vines, giving its energies back to Reginald himself.
“Wood feeds fire.
Its energy is a direct conversion and thanks for the meal.” With renewed vigor, Reginald charged forward, picking up his staff along the way, and swung in.
It found purchase as it knocks into the hand of the dark elf.
The dark elf squealed in pain and hopped back.
It is her turn to grasp her hand now, visibly swollen by the impact of the staff.
“Why you…
Insolent Fool!” as Dark Fey energies started pouring out of her.
“I will kill you.
I WILL KILL YOU!” she muttered and then scream towards the student standing in front of her.
“FOR THE PRINCE!” Xiltharina lifted her hand.
She began chanting an incantation.
Spit of the marsh, heart of the thorn, From the ancient soil, be reborn.
Sap in the root, bark on the bone, Rise from the rot and claim your throne.
One branch to reach, many to grow, Entwine the earth where the wild winds blow!
The room began to shiver and quake.
The cobblestone floor started to crack.
Suddenly, vines, bark and roots began shooting out of the ground.
They began coalescing into a single entity.
The bark found like a skeletal frame, the roots form passageways carrying magic, the vines combined together, forming muscles for the thing it summoned.
Reginald stared at the huge lumbering beasts with 5 heads, roaring in the school hall.
XIltharina has gotten serious, and has no qualms about murdering a student.
As the last of the vines settled, Xiltharina finishes her incantation.
“Fey Magic – Bramble Vine Hydra” The vine beast roared even louder, as its multiples heads descended upon Reginald.
Knowing that this is too much wood for his flames to burn, he began running and using his staff to propel himself off the ground and into the air.
There, he used his flame magic to provide short burst of propulsion to move in the air, while he looks for opportunities to attack.
Xiltharina’s fervor to attack this student is reflected in her face.
Eyes wide opened.
Large smile.
She is clearly enjoying this.
The bloodlust she exude however, is so strong, its making the other 3 mages sit up in attention.
“Shouldn’t we get a teacher?” “Someone stop this” “He is going to die” Students began shouting and backing off.
Some ran off, panicking and screaming for teachers.
As Reginald flies in the air, the massive hydra’s heads lunges at him, one at a time.
There were some narrow dodges, like when Reginald almost got chomped by one of the hydra heads.
Reginald thought to himself.
His training from his posting comes pouring back into his mind.
I have handled beasts before.
We need to confuse them.
Find the best opportunity to strike.
Protect yourself.
Reginald flew in twists and turns, hoping to let the hydra heads crash into one another, while launching flame magic at it.
The hydra, surprisingly, began to knock its head into each other.
They almost even got tangled once or twice.
Reginald saw a spot which he determined that the hydra head cannot strike him.
He charged his flame magic and prepare to dive down.
The center of where all 5 heads and linked to the main body.
He had a few reasons for believing it so.
First, The hydra heads have to turn inwards and strike at its own body to attack him, which does not look possible.
Second, from there, he will attempt to burn the all 5 heads at once.
Thirdly, there must be a core, which should be at the center of its body.
All beasts has cores, be it their heart, a mana stone, even other monsters controlling it.
With that, his conviction in his own deduction held true and he whispered.
“Phoenix Magic – Divebomb”.
Reginald’s talent, Phoenix Magic, a high tier magic that takes on the aspect of the Phoenix.
That was why he was able to burn the magic inside of him and be healed.
Normal mages cannot do that, or poorly imitate it based on how a phoenix would have done.
In the air, an ethereal flame, blue in color, began burning bright, surrounding Reginald’s whole body.
Flames burn high, forming the image of wings.
As he positioned his staff downwards, the blue flames pushed him down with incredible speed, like a meteor about to make impact.
As he flew past the hydra heads, they reacted and attempt to chase after Reginald.
The heads knocked into one another and even their stalks/ necks, hampering their ability to chase down Reginald.
Reginald landed at his desired spot with high impact.
Vines began to burn and fray outwards.
The Hydra roared in pain as it got hit.
Xiltharina was shock at what happened.
She began to use her hands to weave magic, controlling the hydra as though it was a puppet.
“Burn through!
Burn it all!” Reginald mustered all his strength and increased the output of the flames.
The initial impact has burned through a good chunk of vines and roots, even some bark.
“Where is that core!?
I need to break it to dismantle this creature!” Suddenly, the vines on the sides of the impact site grew upwards.
Reginald turned and looked at Xiltharina, who was smiling from ear to ear.
She showed her hand to him, and then it closed into a tight grip.
“Fey magic – Nettle Prison” Vines began to swarm and wrap around the flames.
While the flames staved off most of the vines, it took massive amounts of mana and energies to maintain it.
More and more vines began piling up, eventually the hydra turn its head inwards and wrapped around it.
Sticky liquid began forming a thick coating on the vines to prevent it from being burned.
As the thick, wet sap from the roots flowed, the flames could not burn through the vines.
More and more of this cold, tar-looking ooze began emitting out from the roots.
While it did burned through some of the sap, as the sap evaporated, it created a mist.
As Reginald inhaled the mist, he felt his arms started to lose feeling, his legs were turning numb.
There is a anesthetic effect from this sap.
The final flames burned out and a sharp screech of a phoenix echoed the halls.
To Reginald, he saw vines and sap constantly bombarding him while his flames tried to protect him but gave way.
To the students outside, they saw a flaming phoenix, being held down by vines as it tried to break free and the flames grew smaller and smaller.
With the last ounce of his strength, Reginald aim to release the Phoenix flames in an outward motion.
He charged the last amount of his mana and aim out for a burst.
“Phoenix Magic – Sun Flare” The blue flames ripped out of the hydra, slashing through vines.
Xiltharina waved her hands more, aiming to contain the flames within the hydra itself.
The roots began emitting more of the ooze to protect itself from annihilation.
The hydra roared as it released more vines to capture the enemy.
By some miracle luck, Reginald with all his flames, actually did burn to the center.
The core should be in sight.
Instead, all he saw was more vines, roots and bark.
Then, it dawned on him.
It was a summoned creature, not a beast.
There was no core when the hydra formed from the plant materials that emit from the ground.
It was summoned at the behest of the dark elf.
In other words, the dark elf herself was the core.
Kill the summoner, to kill the summon.
What a fool I have been.
With the last of the flames burning out, Xiltharina detected no more resistance from within the hydra.
Reginald had just burrowed himself so deep, that he was literally imprisoning himself.
“It is my victory!” Xiltharina remarked.
She converted the hydra into a orb that held Reginald, like a Prison.
It was clear as night and day, Xiltharina had won.
The remaining students who were supporting her cheered.
“Dark elf!
Dark elf!
Dark elf!” While they expect her to revel in her victory and let the foolish student who challenged her go, none expected what she was about to do next.
“Now, you shall die for your insolence!” She created spikes on the walls of the nettle prison, while an unconscious Reginald lay inside.
Leo and Jayzee ran forward, aiming to attack the Dark elf to stop her from killing their friend.
They began charging their magic.
The dark mages sitting at the table now stood up and raised their hand, aiming to stop their colleague from doing something foolish.
Prince Kenius, sat there, oblivious to everything, eating his own food while everything was playing out.
Deep inside his subconsciousness, the spirit of Prince Kenius screamed out in desperation, not wanting to see his friend die.
“For the Prince” Xiltharina says it once again, and commanded the spikes to extend out to pierce the prey she had caught.
As the spikes started to grow, it extended forward, aiming to pierce poor Reginald like a skewer.
At this moment, the great hall’s doors blasts out a huge energy, throwing everyone off.
“Who dares to kill a student in my school!” It was the new headmaster, Prince Ryggatigris, along with a few teachers and students.
Seems like the students who ran to call for help managed to make it in time.
Being knocked back by the sheer aura of the Headmaster, Xiltharina fell on the floor and lost concentration on her magic, resulting in the spikes halting before doing any severe damage.
Prince Ryggatigris looked at the prison made of plant materials, and an injured scion of the griffin family lay inside.
He then turned to see one of the dark mages, whose hood had been pulled back to reveal a dark elf.
He walked over to the dark elf.
“What is the meaning of this?!
You will answer for your transgression!” Xiltharina knelt before the Prince.
“Your Highness, this student was attempting to harm our ward, Prince Kenius.
He then challenged me to a duel which is when you came in.
I seek justice in the name of Prince John.” “Silence, while you are working under Prince John, it does not give you free reign to kill my students!” Stripes began forming on Prince Ryggatigris’s face as his anger began to compound.
“Prince Kenius, is this true?
Did this boy try to harm you?” Prince Kenius, who was oblivious to the whole thing, just remained silent.
Another of the dark mage stood up, and spoke to the Prince instead.
“Prince Ryggatigris, while it is true that the boy laid hands on our ward, we are only acting in defense of the young prince.
My colleague may have went a little overboard, but we will not let a student die and be blamed onto Prince Kenius.” The striped one turned over and ask: “Who even are you?
Such insolence to speak to me with your hood down and face covered.” “My Apologies, your highness.” The being pulled back its hood, to reveal a serpentine face.
A snake’s head with the hoods of a cobra.
Scales lined its skin, shimmering with a gleam from the torches in the halls.
“My name is Sslisstith, a snakefolk, under the service of Prince John.” as he bowed to the headmaster.
“This is excessive force.
Layering so many kinds of magic, the vines, the spikes, even the sap, and even a magical beast.
These students just had their talent ceremony a month ago, and what could have deemed them such a threat that you had to use such magic on them.
This is not a high level mages duel.
Also, the Griffin family will expect an answer to what happened to their Scion today.” “We were just worried for our ward, Prince Ryggatigris.” Sslisstith spoke with bated breath.
“Lies, Reginald and Prince Kenius are good friends!” Leo shouted out.
The headmaster turned.
“They are good friends, then why do these mages claimed that he was harming Prince Kenius?” Jayzee spoke:”This is our first time fi-finally seeing our friend, Prince Kenius, after the posting.
We went up to him to greet hi-him, your highness.” Leo then spoke:”However, he was unresponsive and the mages attempted to shoo us away, before one thing led to another and our friend is laying there.” “You two are?” and at this moment, Prince Jyggawulf made the introductions.
“This guy with the burned off face, is Leo of the Chimera Family” He then points next at Jayzee.
“While this scaredy cat, is Jayzee of the Vermin Family.” He then turned to his father.
“These 4, including Reginald of the Griffin Family, are a tight group in this school.
Best of friends.
I cannot see why Reginald would have wanted to harm Prince Kenius.” The surrounding students began erupting in conversation.
“Yes, they are best friends.” “They would not hurt one another” “These mages are shady” ” The headmaster, feeling something amiss, went back to the mages.
“You said the Prince was about to be harmed by him, correct?
However, the school seems to disagree.
With the level of degree of damages occurred, I will submit a formal inquiry to the dark council.
Let Prince John be answerable for his subordinate’s actions.
Teachers, get that student out of the plants and send him to the hospital wing immediately.
All is to vacate the hall.
This is now an investigation scene.” “But, my lord-” Sslisstith spoke.
“This is too much, don’t you think?
Its like making a mountain out of a molehill.” The headmaster turned back and sarcastically said.” You should be thankful I am not arresting you immediately.
You lot have clearly escalated the situation and caused this much damage and impact.
This is completely absurd.
Run and tell your master, to come up with the best excuse he has.
” Xiltharina, incensed with anger and at the headmaster for denying her kill, shouted: “We shall run to our master to report this, like how the runaway prince has his tail between his legs!” Before she knew it, three slashes ripped across her face.
Blood splattered out and Xiltharina screamed.
Prince Ryggatigris, eyes flaring with murderous intent, said only this.
His hand, transformed into tiger claws and dripping with fresh blood from the dark elf.
“What did you say?” At this moment, the other 3 dark mages knelt in front of the headmaster, forming a wall between the dark elf and the headmaster.
“Forgive her insolence, your highness.
She is still young and do not know the ways of the world.” Prince Ryggatrigris manage to utter one word, filled with bloodlust.
“Leave” The 3 mages grabbed Xiltharina and headed back to Prince Kenius, who was standing.
They then left the great hall together, with the other students who were leaving from orders of the headmaster.
“Seal the great hall, send word to the dark council of what transpire here.
Have some students rounded up for questioning.
Let Prince John be answerable for this transgression.” Several teachers acknowledged the orders and began making preparations.
“Father, there is something wrong with Prince Kenius.
He seems unresponsive.” “Yes, I fear there is more than meets the eye.
I detect foul magic emanating from the young prince’s body.
This magic feels familiar, but I cannot place my hand on it.
I could also sense the presence of magical seals.
No matter, let the dark council deal with it.” With that, Prince Ryggatigris hand reached out to his chest, remembering the scar that runs through.
Events that contributed to it floods his mind.
“Father?” Prince Jyggawulf’s words brought Prince Ryggatigris back into reality.
“Its nothing, lets go.” With that, both Princes left the hall and two teachers seal the great hall for now.
In time, the dark council will come down to investigate further.
Thankful for your support.
I just hope I can share my story with all of you.