Chapter 10:

Ready, Set, GO! - The Four-Man Team Battle Begins

The Obscure Witch Hunt - Volume One


          The recently yellow tree leaves waiver with the wind. The forest is completely quiet. A bush begins to shake, and a brown rabbit comes out. It stands on its hind legs and stares into the distance with its ears raised. Its nose twitches for a few seconds then the rabbit darts off. Adrion and his team come to a halt. There is a magic communication orb floating in front of the team, which is magic from one of Abelone's assistants.

          Back at the supervisor's cabin, which has been moved further up the mountain thanks to Aaron's magic, Yaketsuku stands from his chair.

          "Now that I'm done dealing with the expelled student's paperwork, time for some entertainment," he says aloud and heads for the door. He swings it open and startles Vanera, who was just about to knock on the door.

          "Oh! Going somewhere?" Vanera asks.

          "Yes. I'm going to zone one. If I remember correctly, Abelone is having them do a team battle. The three most promising students are present there, so I want to spectate. I want to see how Henry's kid does," Yaketsuku answers and walks off.

          After waiting twenty minutes, a "5" appears on the transparent orb. It counts down to zero, and the magic orb pops, transmitting a loud horn to signify the start of the trial.

          Adrion goes into a full sprint, with the other three following behind him. They traverse the forest with minor difficulties. As discussed in their team meeting before the start of the trial, Spiro releases a thin layer of smoke to surround the group. He makes it thin so it wouldn't consume too much magic but creates a slight illusion that others can miss at first glance. The plan is to catch others off guard, even if just for a second. They leap over a bush landing behind another team. Once the other team notices and turns around, they instantly get jabbed in the gut by Adrion's hardened black mass. Lina releases a bunch of strings from her hands and then launches them, targeting her opponent's limbs. Once Lina pulls the string to tighten it, the enemy team pulls back onto a tree, unable to move. Team Adrion sprints past the other team, each taking an armband and continuing to run.

          The team feels a rise in temperature. Adrion notices a blinding light heading straight for them like a bowling ball targeting the pins. He raises his right arm, and a wall of hardened black mass rises with his command. A fireblast smacks the wall and explodes on contact. The blue coats on the team cover their faces from the heat radiating. Adrion creates a massive wave beneath his feet and rides the wave towards the new group of opponents. The four enemies get washed away and lose their balance.

          Once they get a grip, all four set their eyes on Adrion since they don't see anyone else. They infuse magic to launch their attacks. Before they can, their arms get pulled back and tied behind their backs.

          "We'll be taking those," Ivika says as she and the others grab the armbands and continue running.

          Over on Alia's side of the map, her team dominates any enemy teams they come across. The team started at the far top right corner of the red belt. It is opposite from Adrion's team that started in the far bottom left corner of the red belt. Alia summons light orbs and launches them at her opponents, knocking them out. The other three girls on her team are worried they aren't doing much besides following her lead. Alia is completely carrying the girls.

          Ringo's team is taking it slow. They hide in the forest and ambush other teams. They have successfully taken out one team so far. Ringo's team leader instructs Ringo to create bark around everyone so they can blend in with the trees.

          Back with Adrion, he stops and quietly tells everyone else to do so. All four of them look over some bushes and spot two teams fighting. He counts three purple coats in total. "We better go around," Adrion suggests.

          "What? Why not just take them out while they're busy with each other?" Spiro loudly whispers.

          Lina continues looking over the bush and has a look of realization. "Don't be an idiot. Look over there," Lina tells him and points across the clearing. Spiro squints his eyes, and after a few seconds, he spots the top of the heads of another team hiding in a bush.

          "He spotted them in only a glance?" Spiro thinks to himself while staring at Adrion. Adrion signals for them to move around slowly and quietly. The team goes to the right side to sneak up on the other hiding team. Once they're ten meters away, Lina takes a step forward. Adrion feels a sharp pain in his right shoulder, then turns around and spots something from the corner of his eye. He immediately makes a solid platform to catch Lina's foot. She gets startled and looks down.

          "What's wrong?" Lina whispers. Ivika crouches down and investigates. She spots a nearly invisible thread below the small platform where Lina's foot is about to step.

          "A trip wire. How did you spot this?" Ivika whispers.

          "A lucky guess," Adrion responds. Due to the tripwire being magic, Dark Splatter notified Adrion that there was magic around them.

          "You got it," Spiro responds.

          He gets low to the ground and releases a thin smoke from his hands. "Revealing smoke," he chants. The smoke gathers around the trip wire and turns red. Ten tripwires are detected. The four of them traverse through them carefully. They see the team only two meters away. The enemy team is preparing to jump into the clearing to ambush the other two teams. Adrion turns to Ivika and nods down. Ivika closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

- Fifteen Minutes Before the Start of the Trial

          "You said you can make illusions with your smoke, right?" Adrion asks Spiro.

          "Huh? Didn't hear me the first time? Yes, I can!" Spiro responds with his arms crossed.

          "I'm planning on pushing at the start and getting as many points as we can. Of course, depending on the circumstances, I will decide when we rush or ambush. Spiro, can you create a constant minor illusion around us? One that forces the opponents to take a second look to spot us."

          "Hmmm. I think I can do something like that," Spiro says.

          "Great. Lina, I want you to focus on restraining our targets. Ivika and I will do most of the fighting. I need you to bind them when they're distracted on us or when they're disoriented."

          "Okay, will do," Lina responds.

          Adrion turns to Ivika, "I need you to use the true nature of your magic."

          Ivika is bewildered by what he just said. "Huh?" is all she can say.

          "Sorry. I don't know if you were trying to keep it a secret. Since I need exact ratios to combine my magic, training with you forced me to adjust those ratios constantly. That made it clear for me to figure out what your magic is," Adrion explains.

          Ivika is still completely baffled and has no idea what Adrion is talking about.

          Adrion picks up on her confused stare. "Wait.… Did you not know about your magic?" Adrion asks her.

          "What are you talking about?" Ivika responds.

- Present

          Ivika holds her hand up and focuses on the ground. She is aiming right in the center of where the four opponents are. The enemy stands up, ready to dart out of the bushes to attack the other two teams. It seems like time itself has slowed. Their leader begins his run by moving his right leg forward and planting his foot firmly on the ground. He pushes against the ground to get his left leg moving forward. As the heel of his left foot hits the ground. He feels a resistance tugging on him. All four of them quickly get pulled back and crash against each other, falling to the ground. They try getting up, but their bodies seem to be stuck to the ground. Their leader uses all his strength to lift his right arm a few centimeters off the ground, only to come crashing down.

          "What's going on? I can't move!" says the one girl in their team.

          "I don't know. It's like my body is being pulled to the ground," another says as he grunts.

          Their leader looks around and spots a large wave of black mass heading straight for them. They also spot thin threads mixed with the black mass. It engulfs all four of them, and Ivika releases her magic. Lina manipulates the strings to control the movements of her target. One target at a time, she makes them sit up, put their legs together, and hold their hands behind their backs. Adrion makes the black fluid harden around their legs, arms, and mouths. He calls back the extra black mass.

          “Get their armbands” Adrion tells them. Since this enemy team had already defeated another group, they have an extra set of armbands on them. Lina creates a pouch out of her string and stuffs all their collected armbands. In total, they have thirty-two points. "Those restraints will wear off once I get a certain distance away," Adrion tells the group. He rushes pasts the bushes, and the other three scramble a bit before following him. The team with two purple coats defeated the other team with one. They get distracted by wanting to loot the headbands that they don't even notice an attack of hardened black mass heading straight for their backs. Three of them fall forward, and one of them, a female purple coat, dodges the attack last second. She releases a bunch of her magic to attack back. A red liquid oozes out of her arms and forms sickles.

          "Blood Magic - Sickle Storm!" yells the purple coat. The blood forms into a dozen razor-sharp sickles in the air. She launches them at Adrion. Once Adrion hears the word blood, he immediately recalls the black fluid. He shields his face with his arms as the blood sickles strike him, cutting up his sleeves and arms.

          "What happened? Why didn't you defend yourself?" Ivika questions him.

          "I can't," Adrion responds.

          "Why?" Lina adds.

          "Blood causes the most violent reaction when mixed with my black fluid. It shouldn't affect it once it's already mixed, but it's a risk I'm not willing to make," he states.

          "Oh, is that so? Hahaha. So does that make me your natural enemy?" says Yoko, the purple coat girl.

          The other purple coat, Mamoru, slams his hands on the ground, which causes a minor tremor. "Chaos Terrain," he yells out before large stone spikes emerge from the ground in rapid succession. The ragged spikes emerge closer and closer to where Adrion and his team are. Yoko sends out another wave of blood sickles to prevent Adrion from blocking with his black fluid.

          "Being a natural enemy means always having an advantage against your target," Adrion says. He creates a massive amount of hydrogen peroxide and releases all the energy he stored to increase the wave's current. The wave crashes against the blood sickles, causing the blood to foam and swell instantly. The wave continues and smashes through the stone spikes. It didn't destroy all of them, but it did prevent more from emerging.

          Ivika turns to Lina, "tie up the six on the ground. Adrion and I will fight the purple coats."

          "Right," Lina responds.

          Lina and Spiro run off to the left side, and Ivika stands next to Adrion. Mamoru creates a large stone hammer next to him and picks it up. Yoko uses her blood magic to create a sword.

          "You're crazy if you think you can take the two of us when only one of you is a purple coat," Yoko says as she laughs.

          "Haha, it's about time we put you in your place. You should've never been a purple coat to begin with!" Mamoru yells. He then raises the large battle hammer and slams it into the ground causing the earth to shake. Yoko creates an insane amount of blood needles and launches them. Mamoru stomps his foot on the ground to raise a boulder, then swings his hammer like a bat to cause the boulder to fly out and smash into a bunch of smaller pieces.

          "Can you create another gravitational pull on the ground between them and us? It doesn't have to be strong," Adrion asks her.

          "Sure," Ivika responds. she holds her arms in front of her and focuses on the ground. The stone shards and blood needles drift down. Adrion sprints forward while infusing his magic to create hydrogen peroxide. Before creating more, he manipulates the hydrogen peroxide from the last attack and moves it forward with him. Mamoru raises the ground around Yoko and himself at a sharp angle to split the incoming wave.

          Adrion runs up the steep ground and jumps into the crater. Yoko swings her sword, but it crashes against the hydrogen peroxide that Adrion forms around himself. The sword foams up and loses structure. Adrion punches her lightly in the shoulders, then uses his left leg to trip her. He then turns to Mamoru, who is in the process of swinging his hammer. Adrion releases the stored hydrogen peroxide and fills the crater. Mamoru drops the ground around them to drain the fluid. He coughs from having some of it enter his mouth. Adrion approaches while increasing his strength from the stored energy and throws two punches. Mamoru tries blocking by holding up his stone hammer, but it snaps in half where Adrion's left fist makes contact. His right fist hits Mamoru in the left shoulder, causing him to fall back. As he falls back, he notices Yoko is about to strike Adrion's back.

          Yoko raises her blood sword to the right and swings it down to her left. The tip of the blade only barely knicks Adrion's blazer. Yoko feels something pulling her back and eventually loses her footing, causing her to fly backward. The gravitation force wears off, and Yoko turns around to face Ivika. Yoko uses her right hand to divert Ivika's left fist and then blocks her right fist. Ivika raises her right leg and kicks Yoko back.

          Yoko stumbles but balances herself. "You're overstepping your boundaries. You should have stayed out of it!" Yoko shouts and creates blood sickles around her. Yoko folds her right hand back to launch her attack. As she swings her hand forward, strings wrap around her hand and pull it back. The blood sickles drop to the ground, and Ivika rushes forward to slug Yoko twice across the face. First was her right fist slamming into Yoko's left cheek. When her face forcefully turns to the right, Ivika's left fist crashes into her right cheek. Yoko's head turns to the left, and she falls back to the ground. Lina's string wraps around Yoko's body to restrain her.

          Ivika reaches for Yoko’s armband and hands it to Lina to store. She looks for Adrion to help him out, only to find him walking back with a purple armband in his hand. She looks behind him and notices Mamoru knocked out on the ground.

          "Let's get out of here and take a short break," Adrion suggests. Spiro increases the smoke's density, and they walk away to find a good resting spot. Once they find a safe spot, Spiro removes the illusion to rest. Adrion and Lina quickly catch a rabbit to eat with the rest. Ivika creates a small fire to cook their meal. Adrion creates cup-like containers with the hardened black mass and fills them with water. Once fully cooked, the team quickly scarfs down the rabbit meat and drinks the water.

          Ivika sighs, "Using my magic is so much harder now. I still have to get used to using it like this."

          "I feel you. Putting up a constant illusionary smoke around us was eating away at my magic," Spiro says.

          "Right? I thought I was the only one running low on magic," Lina adds.

          Spiro turns to Adrion, "I want to apologize for doubting you before. I had no idea you were this good. You have quick judgment and an impressive amount of magic compared to us."

          Lina smiles, happy that Spiro swallowed his pride and acknowledged someone.

          "Thanks. You guys have helped make it all possible," Adrion replies.

          Fifteen minutes after their meal, the team is about to resume the trial. They all get up and get ready to strategize. The four turn their attention to a loud bang in the distance. Yelling follows after the loud bang, and they see branches shoved out of the way with two figures running straight for them. The two figures jump over the nearby bushes and come to light. Ringo and Ritsu crouch as they land and stand back up, only for Ringo to crash into Adrion.

          "Huh? Adrion, what are you doing here? Forget that, run!" Ringo shouts.

          "Well, well, well. Look who I found. Heh,"

          Adrion looks past Ringo and notices Roland walking past the bushes. He spots fifteen purple armbands around Roland's left arm. Roland grins as his three teammates catch up to him. The fingers on Roland's right hand twitch as his whole right arm turns metallic. "Time to score us some good points," Roland says to his teammates. Everyone in the vicinity feels the powerful magic aura oozing out of Adrion and Roland as they stare at each other. There is a minor rumble in the ground, one that is barely noticeable. Roland swiftly draws his hand forward and fires a massively powerful shot. "Cannon Explosion!" he yells.

          The bright flare light emitting from Roland's hands blinds those facing it, and the tremendous sound causes everyone to cover their ears. Though the sound of the shot was painfully loud, it did not compare to the cannonball crashing into the non-Newtonian black fluid that Adrion puts up. The shockwave is directed to Roland's team, causing two of them to blow away. Roland stands his ground, and his feet slide back two meters. Asahi slides back four meters as he shields his face from the shockwave.

          "Heh. This is going to be fun," Roland grins.