Trial by combat

Ares had prepared for the mission and because of this he carried his gauntlets. Seeing the ink figures hostile manner he quickly put them on his hands. The figure stopped still whilst he prepared his weapons and only upon adorning his arms with them continued to advance.

Upon getting within ten meters of Ares the figure suddenly shot forward swinging its axe down as it came close.

Ares jumped to his left as the axe came down and spun his gauntlet out to punch the figure. Trying to take advantage of his void spell Ares had cast it into his fist as he attacked. The figure was far quicker then he anticipated and had already recovered from its strike and had thrown its own one handed punch to combat his.

Their fists collided and Ares was thrown backwards. What the hell was this thing made of solid steel? His fist was red and bloodied. The void spell clearly didn't work against the body of the figure which was annoying.

Ares was no longer as untrained as before and after being thrown backwards he wasted no time in jumping to his feet again and adjusting his stance for the next attack. The figure had already advanced and covered the distance created. It again stuck with its axe seemingly trying to split Ares in two half's from his head down to his legs.

Instead of trying to dodge this time Ares braced his body and grabbed out with his gauntlets towards the falling axe. If anyone else would have tried this Ares would have called them suicidal. Circulating the spell in his mind Ares imbued Push into the gauntlets. Both gloves began to glow ever so slightly silver as they made contact with the axe. There was a resounding twang sound as the axe tip made contact with the gauntlets. It was then promptly thrown backwards into the distance.

Not wishing to waste his advantage Ares stepped forwards and threw out an open palm into the ink figures chest. The seemingly solid chest seemed to fold under his palm before the figure flew backwards into the distance.

Ares quickly released the spell. Using push once or twice wouldn't hurt his magic core but having a continuous spell on his gauntlets was far more costly. He could keep it up for a maximum of ten minutes but that was without extending it onto a figure and using it only in a defensive manner.

The figure landed a distance away before melting into a pool of ink. There were a few minutes before two figures arose from the spot the first had disappeared. Ares had been stood catching his breath when he saw the two arise. He cursed under his breath, this was going to be a painful test.

The two figures began to advance at the same time separating and coming from Ares in two different directions. One figure like the previous one had an axe, the other was carrying a spear.

Ares took a deep breath and stood facing forwards. As the two figures advanced they split up and stood at opposite sides of Ares one to his left one to his right. Ares circulated the push spell and imbued his gauntlets once more with its power. Ares knew that the speed of the two figures was beyond his, if they attacked at the same time he would likely suffer. Picking the figure with a spear he darted forward and aimed a punch at its chest with a pre-emptive strike. The figure raised its spear and went to stab Ares. Ares adjusted his attack, using his spare hand to slap away the blow of the spear. Had he not managed to use a gauntlet to glance the blow off target he would have been impaled through his neck.

The spear rebounded off his defensive embedding itself deeply in the floor. At the same time Ares's other palm collided with the figures chest sending it flying. While Ares had won a small victory he was aware that the figure clutching the axe behind him was about to join the fight. He turned around to see the axe already mid-flight aiming at his waist. Not having enough time for a proper defence he moved his gauntlets to block the blow. He managed to put the gauntlets between his body and the blow but did not have enough time to brace for the impact. The axe landed and was rebounded by the spell but at the same time Ares was thrown backwards onto the ground. The axe figure spun twice from the force of push but did not relinquish his weapon and otherwise was completely unhurt.

Ares again picked himself up. At this point Ares could feel the rapid drain of his magic core. He still had enough for a few more push spells but keeping the defence around his hands up continuously was beginning to take its toll.

After twirling twice the axe figure started to walk towards Ares. Knowing that he would likely not be able to continue much longer Ares decided to act daringly. Putting his gauntlets together in a prayer position he started to charge two push spells. This would quickly diminish his core but the impact would be worth it.

The figure was unaware to the new strategy and continued to approach. After getting within three meters the figure once more swung its axe swiping it to cut Ares in half at his waist. Ares opened his palms and faced them towards the figure before letting the spell erupt.

The condensing of double push spell gave it an almost explosive reaction. The air in front of Ares was displaced almost immediately with the figure which was mid attack thrown away like a leaf in the wind. It rolled several times before melting once more.

Ares let a breath out and fell to his knees. That last attack had been improvised and was far more costly then his normal spells. Hoping the test was over Ares tried to regain his breath. After five minutes there was a squelching sound once more and he grimaced as four more figures rose from the ground. This time the two new figures had a chain and two handed sword in hand. Was this test just a way for Solis to kill off a few recruits, the difficulty was far too difficult.