Begin The Final

“Sorin, let's focus on Boyle.” Ino seemed to have the same idea: that focusing on Boyle was the bigger threat. “I will take his right, and you can take his left.” Ino moved a couple of steps to the right, into the huge open room. It felt empty despite all the people inside; its size was at least two hundred.

Sorin moved himself towards the left of Boyle; there wasn't a way now for him to reach both of them at once, meaning two attacks would have been sent out, but they were going to be faster than one man. That was the intention. Boyle knew this too but didn't move; he knew there were five council members, even old were able to provide support.

Hey, Sorin. I made sure to cut off our communication from the rest of them; in reality, we can't take a direct hit. Just know that with our student master bond. We will be able to surpass him!

Are you going to really make me believe in the power of a bond in the middle of our most intense fight? Just hear me out: the council can't use massive spells or anything to clash with us. They might be able to provide a tiny spell, but still, if we get hit, then it will be bad. Boyle is also too destructive, so we can use the council people as hostages to prevent his attack.

You are talking like a real strategist! Wow, got it, Mr. Leader. I will outspeed his spells and absorb ones I can take on. It's not like he's too scary by himself when I'm not getting attacked by twenty of his men.

Seems like my master has fallen off to be stopped by a mere twenty. But you managed to kill the rest, so stop complaining and let's focus. And I'm serious. I don't want this all to be for nothing; just these council members and Boyle would be able to control everyone. That's the difference in power from everyone out there.

I know, I know.

Ino was now standing at the right side of where they were; Sorin was on his left. Full one hundred eighty degrees needed to attack both of them if he wanted; being able to react to either side was important to him. However, his staff slowly leaned over towards Ino. Sorin then saw the council members move towards his side of the field.

I guess I will have a bit more trouble.

Just don't die to some pitiful old man!

Ino burst out wind from her shoes, which instantly got Boyle's attention as he shifted his staff towards Ino, sending out an instinctive fireball. Ino ducked underneath the fire and took out her hand, pointed it up, a dark shade of orange appearing for a split second before disappearing.

You're siphoning the spell even if just for a moment?

That's right, I can tell this will be a tough fight, so I prefer having just a bit more magic if I could. It's basic survival skills, Sorin!

Sorin, from the sideline, got ready to burst out fire towards Boyle, but as expected, a council member quickly sent an earth chunk straight at him, forcing him to sidestep before he sent a piece of his own earth chunk back at him. He also dodged; however, Sorin got a closer look at his face. It was the bearded man from before. The one who announced his bounty of fifty gold coins.

“You put quite the bounty on me. What if I were to come out of this, then do I get that fifty gold coins for myself?”

The man just laughed back. “I suppose that would be fine, but I'm stingy with my money, so I'm going to have to claim the bounty for myself.” He cast out water towards him before Sorin responded by clashing directly and redirecting the water onto the ground. “Challenging you head-on is pretty much impossible, I figured.”

Sorin duck down.

Hearing Ino's voice, he lowered himself as a fireball came right past him. He turned to his left, seeing one of the council members taking his left. And the bearded man sighed, “That was supposed to be your end.”

Quit looking out for me, focus on your own fight.

Ino sighed within his head. The raging fire spells from his right and the sound of earth and wind echoed around him; he didn't have time to look over; he could only have magic sense in case Boyle decided to switch targets. But it was fuzzy, like reading everything vividly; the nature of the building left him puzzled.

There is one thing they have on me: numbers and experience. I only know that one of them has no hood, the bearded man has earth and water, and the hood on the left has fire. But the issue is there are three more that I can't account for and keep track of all of them. Isolating them to a one-on-one is my best choice.

Sorin burst out fire to the left, moving towards the council member. He hit out a fireball spell, but Sorin quickly focused on the center point, putting his magic, causing it to disperse completely. Now he was within arm's reach; he took out his staff and struck straight into the stomach of the man casting earth, which sent him into the wall of the council building.

That's one down; I think I can handle the lesser number even more efficiently.

He turned towards the bearded man who just clapped his hands. “Isolating us. That leaves only measly four members, right? I wonder if a hero with four elements beats as many as totals over ten. Who knows, we have to teach the youth; it seems that a group of old people can still match up to a prodigy.”

“I might be a prodigy, but I'm also the student of the greatest mage I ever will meet other than myself.” Sorin prepared himself as the council members stepped up, meeting his eyes.