33 Battle Royale for Magic Markers (2)

Hokuto had already fiercely fought the teams approaching her own group with some kind of bestial fury. Clearly, she had a lot of pent-up emotions that she needed to vent, and she took out the anger of losing her parents and her country on these poor guys who had nothing to do with her emotional state. In the distance, away from all the action, Vermont was able to clearly see Hokuto bulldozing through the competition like a madman.

He looked on with a worried expression.

Mercedes and her own team went on the move. They rushed forth as a cohesive unit, and Crystal was able to see them from afar. "Damn, Mercedes and her group are arriving! They're going to clash with us for the magic markers!" she called out, immediately turning her attention away from the unconscious group of kids and waving her arms forth, stone particles magically forming into spikes in the air as they whizzed at the enemies.

Jane had stopped casting fire magic after seeing Hokuto didn't really need her help, and instead provided more supportive fire alongside Crystal. Smaller fire balls compared to earlier were launched in the form of a salvo, causing Mercedes to call out fiercely. "Humph! Parlor tricks!" Mercedes grumbled as she concentrated electrical energy into her sword, swinging it forward and causing purple peals of lightning to rip through the earthen spikes and fireballs, dispersing them.

Crystal and Jane both looked a little shocked, as if they did not expect Mercedes to dispel their magic so easily. Jonas frowned while Hokuto positioned herself in front of the other three, pressing the knuckles of her gauntlets together menacingly. "You want the magic markers? You're gonna have to pry 'em off my body!" Hokuto taunted Mercedes.

"I'll show you what happens when you're a star surrounded by dog teammates!" Mercedes laughed as Nami began to channel her supportive spell into her, causing the Reverend of Trashtalk to glow with a resplendent gold light. Hokuto didn't recognize this spell, but Jonas did.

"Astrid, watch out! Nami put a Major Blessing spell on Mercedes!" Jonas cried out worriedly. It seemed that their rivals were very capable. Hokuto was unfazed. Before Jonas could move to assist her, he felt his ankles being tied down by vines. He hissed and looked at the distance, seeing a young man in an emerald cloak and hood waving his hands around as they glowed with a dim green light.

"Damnit!" Jonas cursed as he channeled energy into his ankles to try and break free of the vines. But this was enough to prevent him from helping Hokuto, who had to react to Mercedes charging at her with a glowing purple sword.

Hokuto charged Nature energy into her gauntlets. The calm prairie and the pristine environment now ruined by the aftershocks of magic caused the gauntlets to glow with an aqua-blue light, as she threw one of her gauntlets forward at an abnormally high speed, seemingly blessed by the wind itself. Nami could see this maneuver from a mile away and yelled out for Mercedes to stop her attack, but it was too late.

Nami closed her eyes as she saw Mercedes swing her sword forcefully at the gauntlet soaring forth into her face. With a determined gaze, Mercedes let her blade clash against the gauntlet. Hokuto's fierce strike shattered Mercedes' sword and landed into her body, causing her to spin into the air pathetically as she landed several meters away, right by Nami's feet.

The sight of their leader being sent flying like that demoralized them. Jonas was able to break through the vines while Crystal and Jane, who had been pre-occupied by the other members of Mercedes' team, were able to retreat. Despite the harsh blow Mercedes took, she was much stronger than the average recruit and was not knocked unconscious. Instead, she spat out some blood and looked at Nami, who in turn healed her injuries with magic.

Hokuto rushed forth with her gauntlets in an attempt to incapacitate Mercedes, but Nami frowned and decided Hokuto was going too far. She ran as Hokuto did and as Hokuto was about to bring her fist down on the kneeling Mercedes, Nami had stood in front of her and made Hokuto stop her movements.

"What are you doing?" Hokuto grumbled.

"Astrid, this is too much," Nami said weakly. "She's already down. You'll kill her with that thing if you strike her one more time."

"Then surrender your magic markers to me and I'll move aside."

Mercedes nodded and felt a bit awkward about continuously trying to pick a fight with this monster. She should have listened to Nami and avoided conflict with her, but this was still a competition. Hokuto was most likely to have the magic markers. Unfortunately, Hokuto with this pair of monstrous magic metal gauntlets was too strong for anyone to handle. Nami took the magic markers from Mercedes' person and handed them to Hokuto.

Hokuto nodded and started walking backwards, making sure to prepare herself in case Nami and Mercedes had any last trump cards to reveal. It was only after a minute had passed did Hokuto feel it was safe to have her back to Mercedes' group, who had given away five of their magic markers to Hokuto. This left them with four out of their original nine.

While Mercedes did not have the least markers since the other two teams didn't have any magic markers, she still felt awful for being the one put in her place. She resolved to improve herself so she could defeat Hokuto.

Vermont had seen this exchange from afar and nodded. At least this batch knew how to control themselves. He had been worried that Hokuto would really go so far as to kill Mercedes, but this was still a mock battle. Hokuto had already gone a bit far incapacitating the other recruits. On the other hand, this would allow her to establish a reputation of being very fierce and powerful.

After another minute had elapsed, the cross monument that acted as a timer started to ring loudly, the sounds reverberating across the entire plain. Hokuto's team and Mercedes' team both decided to help the others get up and recover first before moving to the meeting point out of respect and also because Hokuto felt especially bad for what she did. She did not mean to knock them out but failed to sufficiently control her strength.

Eventually, everyone arrived at the meeting point mentioned by Vermont.

"Welcome back. It's time to count everyone's magic markers. Please present them to me now."

Hokuto and Mercedes looked at each other while the other two teams seemed very dejected.

"I'm sorry," Hokuto apologized. "I didn't mean to be so violent."

"I'm sure you must have your reasons," Mercedes spat as she presented her two magic markers. "But this isn't the last you'll hear from me. I'll beat you fairly sooner or later."

Hokuto nodded. "I'll be waiting," she responded as she presented her sixteen magic markers to Vermont.

Mercedes flashed a rare smile towards her new rival.