Escape

Aeon rushed back using his top speed. He was holding onto the pole of a large yellow flag. It was flapping in the wind while he was running.

Behind him, four teams were in pursuit. From time to time, one member of a team would stop and cast a spell to hinder Aeon and the other team's mobility.

Even though Aeon was extremely fast, he wasn't faster than magic. Moreover, the floor wasn't exactly flat and he had to dodge a couple of trees from time to time. It wasn't smooth sailing for him, so he couldn't shake off his enemies.

Suddenly, a large block of ice crystalized behind Aeon. It rapidly formed into a wall about 60 meters high and 100 meters long. It cut off the other teams' vision on him. Several spells attacked the ice wall simultaneously but it was too tough to break in a short period of time. The mages in pursuit had to increase their output. When they were finally able to open a small hole in the wall, Aeon was nowhere to be found.

He had successfully escaped.

….

Twenty minutes earlier.

Korona was panting heavily and looked completely exhausted. Her long black hair was now haggard, and there were leaves stuck all over her cloak and hair.

"We've been...running for almost….two hours now, are you sure...the flags are in the center of the forest?" She asked Aeon who was running ahead of her with difficulty. She was clearly out of breath and won't be able to keep up if they continued for another couple of minutes.

Seeing this, Aeon stopped. He looked left and right to see if there were people aside from them. After confirming that the surroundings were peaceful and that no one was spying on them, he lowered his guard.

He turned towards the panting Korona, "Do you know any spells that could block people's vision, like a mist or something?"

It took Korona a moment to catch her breath. Then she responded, "Yes, I can create a mist."

Aeon was delighted, he nodded towards Suri and the latter went closer.

"Here's the plan," Aeon said to the two, "We're going to rush in there, get a flag, cover the area in mist, then escape."

"B...b...but we'll need to cover a huge area with the mist if we're going to do that," Korona commented, "it would...take me quite some time to cast the spell."

Aeon rubbed his chin, "Do you have any similar spells that require lesser cast time?"

"Uh... I could cast an Ice Wall."

"Could it be charged?"

"Charged…charged…" Korona tried her best to recall the details of the spell, "Yes, it could be charged!"

"Good. Find a hiding spot here, somewhere. Then, fifteen minutes from now, start casting this spell." Aeon instructed.

Confused, Korona asked, "Eh?! Where will I be casting it on?"

"Behind me, of course," Aeon said mysteriously and turned towards Suri, "Suri, guard her while she's casting. There would probably be a team passing through here in a few minutes."

"And you?"

"I'll be getting us some flag." Aeon didn't say more and started running towards their original direction. He didn't appear exhausted at all.

Korona plopped to the ground. She was both physically and mentally exhausted. She just had a weird conversation she didn't understand at all. Start casting after a period of time? For what?

Suri, seeing Korona's poor condition, helped her up. They needed to find a safe spot for casting a spell. At that point, Korona will be his responsibility.

….

Aeon rushed toward the center of the forest. He was extremely confident that the flags were right there. He didn't mention it to Suri and Korona but he was paying extra attention towards the surroundings, in case the flags were scattered around the forest, just as the instruction said. But he caught no sight of it. Then that confirms his conjecture.

It had to be in the center.

As he was running, he recalled the layout of the map, printed inside his head. He would need 5 minutes from where he left Suri and Korona. It would probably take him another 5 minutes to go back if no one else got to the center before him. Maybe 10 minutes if he would encounter mishaps.

Let's do this.

Aeon rushed faster.

Just as he had predicted, he reached the center in 5 minutes. It was an open area and there were no trees. But, contrary to his expectations, there were fewer flags than he expected. He counted it in his head while closing in.

One...Two...Three...

Six?

There are only six?

Aeon was baffled. Probably, most of the teams would think that the flags were at the center. The administrators would surely place it there so it would be fair to everyone. The teams should have been placed on the edge of the forest with equal distance to the center to avoid unfair advantages. That was the logical arrangement.

But for there to be eleven teams faster than them?

Impossible!

Then there could only be two possibilities.

One, the flags really were scattered, and only a few were at the center.

And two, the teams weren't placed fairly.

Both arrangements were not logical at all. It would just favor those lucky teams.

Aeon stepped inside the clearing where the flags were positioned and stopped beside the one nearest to him. He had no time to waste, so he immediately wrapped his hands around the pole and started yanking. Unexpectedly, the flag was harder to take than he expected, and he had to exert more force. When it finally gave in, he realized that the pole of the flag was designed to be rooted to the ground and hard to remove. No wonder. He was already strong but it still gave him a problem.

Then he heard something snap.

Aeon rolled sidewards.

Boom!

A fireball hit his original position.

He looked towards the direction where the fireball came from. A person was closing in on him quickly.

When Aeon was about to turn around and flee, twelve other people, including the fire mage who shot him, entered the clearing. Based on the direction they came from, they didn't belong to the same team.

The twelve rushed towards the flag nearest to them.

Of course, not everyone got hold of one, since there were only five left after Aeon took one.

Worse, when those who reached the flags first realized that it was so hard to pull, the mages who were still a distance away started throwing spells at them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

There were explosions everywhere. The flags weren't destroyed but not all of them stood straight anymore.

Then, some more mages entered the fray and started shooting spells at each other too. It was utter chaos.

Shit! I got no time to watch this.

Aeon turned and flee. The last thing he saw was an earth mage pulling the ground apart to take out a flag.

Along the way, when he looked towards the sides, he noticed that some teams were still moving towards the center. But when they saw the explosion of spells, they stopped. Instead, they looked at Aeon who was already holding a flag.

Easy target!

Shit!

Aeon panicked. Two teams were now after him. from his left and right. He couldn't rush using his top speed either, the flag might get stuck on the trees. He had to carefully avoid the trees and keep the flag away from the branches. If only he had realized this problem sooner, he would've ripped the flag from the pole and curled it into a ball before rushing away with it. There were no rules that prohibited that. He couldn't do that for now though, else the flag's pole might get stuck into something. Aeon cursed his own negligence.

Ding!

An ice shard suddenly hit the pole of the flag and it wiggled. The impact was so strong that Aeon almost let go of the flag. He could feel his hands turn numb from the vibrations.

These guys are annoying!

Magic rained down on Aeon and he dodged them left and right. If the spells his enemies used did not require a cast time, he would've been subdued already. His mobility was greatly hindered. He had to look forward, behind, and sideways. It was simply too much.

Could things get worse?

God must have been listening to his thoughts.

Because it did get worse.

Two teams who were fighting each other appeared in front of Aeon. The two were locked in an intense fight and both sides were injured. When they saw Aeon who was holding a flag, the two teams fired some quick spells at each other and then rushed towards Aeon.

There were now four teams pursuing him. Aeon responded immediately and changed directions. He had to get behind the two teams who were fighting because his teammates were in that direction.

Fortunately, Aeon arrived at another clearing. Although there wouldn't be any cover for him to use, at least he could use his top speed.

Without the burden of keeping the flag away from tree branches, Aeon suddenly sped up. He moved in an arc to get around the two teams in his front. Since the two teams did not know that he wanted to get behind them, they did not prepare in advance and Aeon was able to accomplish his goal. However, he was still in danger since the two teams were now closer to him. He recalled the map of the forest. He went into a slight detour and needed to readjust.

Although Aeon was running, he was keeping track of the time. It was now exactly 15 minutes from when he left his team. By now, Korona should have started casting her spell.

Shit! I gotta get back fast.

He decided to take a diagonal path towards where his team was. He could only hope that Korona and Suri were paying attention to their surroundings.

….

Suri had already been standing guard, and Korona had finished her spell 2 minutes ago. Her white staff was now glowing blue. She was now concentrating on charging her spell to give it a stronger effect.

One minute…

Two minutes…

Where is Aeon?

He was starting to get worried. He did a quick 360 degrees turn to check for potential enemies and Aeon.

He was relieved when he found out they were safe. But then, he noticed something odd.

Why is the temperature dropping rapidly?

He looked at Korona who was now panting and sweating profusely.

Shit! She's having trouble controlling the stored magic!

Suri started to panic! At this rate, if Korona didn't release the magic, it would backfire on her. He had to get Korona to release the magic. He had to shake her off!

He rushed towards Korona, but when he was about to do so, a strong gust of chilly wind pushed him back!

"Korona! Drop the magic now! That's enough!"

The wind was getting stronger by the second, but Korona did not respond! She kept her eyes closed and focused on controlling her magic.

Korona heard Suri's pleas but she didn't comply. Someone finally entrusted her on something, and she would surely see it through.

For her, it was as if time stopped.

She entered a state where she could only focus on her magic and her surroundings.

Then…

She suddenly opened her eyes.

"ICE WALL!"

A thick wall of ice emerged from a distance.

….