Mountian Trial: A Battle for the Flag

With a menacing smile imbedded on his face, Joe observed the looks of those left standing before him. Most showed a sense of disbelief. In the blink of an eye, he single-handedly removed a third of their defense forces and now, he appeared to be mocking them. Rage began to spiral their minds to irrationality.

Three of the remaining four opponents began to advance in Joe's position. If they had thought logically, they would have second guessed this decision. They were being baited away from their flag. The only requirement to complete the trial was to obtain you enemy's flag.

Clara remained in her position before the flag and simply watched the remainder of her squad fall to the hands of Joe. She had expected the rest of his group to rush her because she was alone. Yet, they never came. Joe had instructed them to only move from their positions once he gave the order. Without any doubts towards his leadership, every one of them obeyed.

With a calm expression, he now stood ten feet in front of the lone survivor.

"They won't take the flag unless I tell them to. I fully intend to see this fight through to the end so you can focus on taking me down if you can."

The end of his statement left a bad taste in his mouth. He was confident in his abilities, but he hated being portrayed as cocky.

His pride was a small price to pay if it meant a more invigorating fight was coming his way. An effective tactic that quickly bore fruit. Clara drew her sword and readied for the fight. Unlike the others of her squad that had already fallen, her sword was lighter. Where a standard longsword favors a heavy strike, her rapier exploited her speed.

Sensing that he wasn't facing a novice, Joe drew both of his daggers and readied his stance. With a single kick off his right foot, Joe closed the distance and attempted for a midsection strike with the pommel. Before he even had a chance to steady his own body after the lunge, Joe found himself twisting in the air to avoid the sharpened edge of a blade.

Landing a single foot on the ground, Joe was forced to redirect his body away from its intended target. Just as he came to a standstill, he was again forced to block the blade. Unlike all the previous opponents, Clara grew up training.

Being the only child of the highest ranked military officer gave many advantages. An abundance of training resources was easily the largest advantage she had over everybody else her age. This imbued her with confidence enough to rush the vary man that she had witnessed eliminate her team. What she didn't account for was her lack of life experience coming into play.

Immediately after their blades connected, Joe dropped the dagger in his right hand and drove his fist into the side of Clara's ribs. On connection, her body was sent flying nearly fifteen feet before she bounced off the ground for another ten. Joe had grown up fighting and knew all too well the lack of honor involved when your life is on the line. With his life experiences, he made the strike that decided the battle for his tea.

After her body finished rolling, Joe collected the discarded dagger and returned them both to the sheaths on his belt.

"John, take their flag. The rest of you, begin gathering the wounded from Second Squad. Once you're done, make your way down the mountain."

Joe commanded his squad into action and without hesitation, all did as they were told.

Immediately after the flag was taken from its position, a red flare was shot into the sky. This signaled the end of the trail and served to inform all participants to return to the start. Those from Second Squad who had evaded the prying eyes of Joe and his squad were left speechless but still began their walk of shame.

Once the rest of his squad had moved out of the area, Joe approached the non-moving body of Clara. After rolling her onto her back and returning the rapier to its rightful place, he carefully took her into his arms. Wasting no more time, he began to rush towards the rally point. Halfway there, she regained consciousness before confusion set into her mind. Realizing her situation, she attempted to struggle out of Joe's arms before a searing pain shot through her chest.

Feeling the minor struggle and hearing the pained sounds coming from his arms, Joe tightened his grip on her body.

"Just hold still. I put more into that hit than I thought I did, and you likely have a broken rib or two. Your struggling is making me slow down. If you'll ignore your dignity for a couple minutes, we'll be at the rally point, and I'll leave you to the medics."

Although his words came off as harsh, there was a sense of gentleness embedded within them. A gentle but firm tone that allowed for no argument and instantly served its effect. Clara simply nodded in agreement before relaxing her body into his arms. All her life, she had been taught to be strong and to show no weakness. All her tutors told her that any weakness that the enemy found would be exploited until her life was void.

Yet, in the arms of this classmate, she made the conscious decision to allow herself to show weakness. From birth, she was merely a soldier to be trained in the eyes of her father. After her mother passed, she was never shown kindness from those around her. Her upbringing should have left a deep-rooted sense of resentment towards any who could beat her and still she felt none of that in this moment. With her body relaxed fully in his arms, her mind followed, and she drifted into the deepest sleep she had experienced since she was a young child.