Combat Duel

Ojero moved first, trying to leap to the side, but due to his lack of any training he landed quite clumsily, and ruined any possible advantage it would've given.

Orpham in response, stuck his hand out, and a small ball of compressed space shot out, but similar to Ojero his lack of training made it miss by a few feet.

Ojero connected to his shadow crystal, and raised his hands, making the shadows around Orphams eyes lower to make his vision much darker. Ojero was not strong enough to make the shadows completely black.

Orpham, seeing he lacked enough magical training, rushed towards Ojero to try and use his superior strength to beat him.

Once he was within a few feet of Ojero, he threw out a wild punch with his right hand, but Ojero's body was slow and untrained, so the punch connected with his left shoulder.

The pain hurt, making Ojero stumble back and start to rub his shoulder. Orpham stopped at this, a little shocked he had hurt Ojero, but quickly snapped back into it.

'I'll let him hit me, and then pretend it was super strong to make me go down.'

However, when he threw out another punch, he saw Ojero clumsily dodge. He threw another, and the same happened, but this one seemed to be closer.

The third punch scratched by Ojero's hip, but still didn't completely connect. Orpham was a little surprised, and knew Ojero was untrained, until he remembered his two magic types.

'It must be his time magic!'

Orpham was correct in this. Ojero was using his time magic to see a few seconds into the future, and desperately trying to dodge. His ungraceful moves had no special focus, no hidden training, they were all just random.

His whole goal was to tire Orpham out, but soon realized he himself was getting tired.

Both of the boys were never trained in hand to hand combat, and it was showing.

Ojero decided to throw a right hook, but went out very wide giving Orpham more than enough time to duck, but Ojero followed with a kick to Orphams chest.

It dazed him, as he stumbled back, and by the time he recovered he knew it would look very suspicious if he fell down right after recovering. He shook himself off, and recklessly charged at Ojero, who leapt to the side.

Ojero hit the wooden stage hard, cutting his elbow a little and jarring him. Orpham had run past where Ojero was, and stumbled as he stopped. He turned around, and sloppily kicked towards his downed figure.

The foot hit Ojero in the knee, but didn't hurt much due to the adrenaline now surging through both of the brother's veins. Ojero scrambled away before rising his feet, his knee now a little cock-eyed after Orphams kick.

His bloody elbow was tucked closer to him, a few drops of blood running down his pale skin. He raised both arms in a position he once saw his father practicing.

It felt clumsy and unstable to Ojero, who was not only unused to the position but was doing it wrong.

When Orpham noticed Ojero's fragile balance, he almost fired off a bolt of condensed space, but reminded himself to hold back. He waited till Ojero adjusted his stance to be less unstable, but it didn't look like it gave him any support either.

While he rushed in, he was surprised to see his vision getting much darker than what it was, which distracted him for a few seconds, giving Ojero a chance to move out of the way.

Now both of the brothers were breathing heavily, with sweat sticking to their foreheads. Ojero seemed to be worse off with all of his erratic moves and reckless diving. He even seemed to be swaying a little, struggling to hold himself upright.

Orpham, his mind now a little fuzzy from all the adrenaline and lack of energy, ran up once more and threw another wild punch, hitting Ojero square in the chest. Ojero promptly fell on the ground and didn't get up, gasping for air.

Orpham fell to his knees after, also struggling to breath. A few of the students present were chuckling a little from the wild fighting they just saw, but not many thought they could have done any better.

The Professor who was watching this by the side didn't seem too surprised by the results or the fight. She told a few nearby kids to help get Orpham and Ojero to nearby seats. They didn't seem too happy about having to move sweaty kids, but did it anyway, not wanting to anger a teacher.

"Their current experience is about the range I expect all of you to be at as of now; random fighting with no real order. However, they also had the power of mythic magic. Even with it, they too had to rely on their fists. This is because they are not yet trained in magic combat. In the future their magic strength will render most if not all physical fights worthless, since they could destroy an entire city alone."

"Do not let this discourage you, because any mage can grow stronger with enough practice and knowledge. It is in this class that you test what you have learned so that you may see how far you have come."

"It will be tough, and many of you will get injured at some point this year, but we must push on."

The Professor looked around the class to see mostly anxious faces, many of them slightly worried of how hurt they would become.

She clapped her hands together to regain their attention, and continued speaking.

"Next, let us have Lucas and Morgan duel. Today I will try to see if there is anyone who may need to be sent to a different class with more advanced fighters."

After this, student after student was called to be tested. Ojero watched all of this from his seat, both his chest and ego a little bruised.

Although he was upset at Orpham, he could not deny his own weakness.

'I should have trained my muscles for this! I knew something like this was coming! I should focus on them next!'

"Do not be so hasty, master. Magic is still the best path for strength. This is only a momentary lapse of judgement brought about by a single defeat. Do not let it change you."

Hearing these words of advice, Ojero calmed down, and agreed to the Night Demon's advice.

'You are right, I should hone my magical skills. They will grant me the highest amount of strength. We can use magic in this class, so I will also beat Orpham in repayment for this defeat.'

Orpham too was deep in thought. Now that he had cooled down he was upset that he had won himself, instead of following through with his plan of Ojero winning.

'I hope it doesn't affect him too much.'

For the rest of class, over a dozen students fought. Most of them fought around the level Ojero and Orpham did, leaving the entire period full of whining and complaining about bumps and bruises.

The teacher was getting annoyed by the end of the class period, and just waved everyone off.

Ojero left that class tired, ready to eat and sleep once he returned to his room.

He was also planning how he could learn more magic to defeat Orpham, but slowly the novelty of the idea left him. There was still so much to learn, so he wouldn't waste time thinking about petty revenge.

***

The Book of the Known Undead

Chapter 8: Reaver

A reaver is an uncommon type of undead that looks similar to a zombie with clawed hands. They are usually six feet tall, and possess incredible speed. However, they lack much strength, relying almost solely on their claws to quickly rip through flesh and tissue. Recommended for quick missions, not for a main army

Reavers take little energy to maintain for a mid tier Necromancer.

Element: Undead (Necromancy)

Class: Quick Assault