Chapter 4: The flag

As Michael had thought, the lumbering, muscular types went charging in on their own. The tall, blonde young man dragged behind still looking around. His blonde hair flopping over his steely blue eyes. It looked as though he could barely see where he was going. Michael decided he would use the others to do the heavy work. He would stay on the defense.

On the other side of the field, Lucia's team gathered around. A thin, sharp-looking boy took the lead and began instructing the group.

"We need to separate into defense and attack. There's no difference in the field so it will come down to the best strategy. Red and Black haven't made a move but purple is making their way here as we speak."

"Who put you in charge?" A larger fellow interrupted.

"There's no time to argue", the first sneered.

The group quickly divided into attack and defense. They began to make their way out. Lucia had been assigned to attack. She was at a disadvantage without having any mana but she was confident her experience would see her through. As she made her way to the black base, she could see members of the purple team and the red team were fast approaching. It didn't make sense to stop them yet. The Black team had remained on full defense.

However, as she ascended the mound, a purple contender approached from behind. She barely managed to block in time as she skidded down the other side of the mound. From the corner of her eye, she could see the red team were also being fought off by the purple. She focused her eyes in front on the boy who had struck her.

His mana was all focused on his upper body. His strikes were powerful but slow. Lucia knew she couldn't withstand another body blow. As he lunged again, she swooped under his arm and used the weight of his blow to throw him over her shoulder. Once, he had been knocked to the ground, she returned her eyes to the target - the black flag. The black defense was on all sides, she needed to figure out how to breakthrough.

As Keitel knocked his opponent to the ground, he couldn't help but notice the small, red-headed boy make his way through the black defense. The boy was sharp. He hadn't wasted any energy on the purple team. All his movements were precise, no movement was wasted. He became interested in this boy.

Watching the boy make his way through a member of the black team, it occurred to him that the boy had yet to use mana. All the contestants here, surely, were mana users yet the decisive boy had yet to use a single ounce of it. Could it be he didn't even need to use it? Keitel didn't intentionally mean to follow the boy, but somehow he ended up trailing him with his eyes.

For Keitel, the other contestants were nothing in comparison to his master. He knocked through them easily. But he knew Victor. There was no way it would go this easy. When Keitel had first entered the exam, he had spotted his childhood friend.

Victor was a finance minister's son. Everyone had expected him to follow in his father's footsteps, but Victor had surprised them all when he announced he wanted to become a knight. Keitel couldn't help but be envious of his friend. Once Victor had made his mind up, he was truly a force to reckoned with.

The Emperor, on the other hand, had made it clear what he expected from Keitel. There were absolutely no exceptions. He was always the Emperor first and a father second. The Emperor believed the greater one's power, the more one must rise to the challenge. From the moment Keitel was born, his father expected him to be exceptional.

As Keitel knocked another enemy to the ground, he looked around the black base. Something was wrong. All the members of the black team were gone. Only members of the purple, red and blue remained. The red-haired boy seemed to realize something and turned back on himself to ascend the mound. That was when Keitel noticed too. The black flag was gone.

"Typical, Victor", Keitel thought to himself. He knew there was no way his old friend would go down so easily. Most likely, the black team's defense had been a ruse while they took their own flag out of reach. Keitel felt somewhat relieved he had instructed most of the red team to remain. Victor was one of the most intelligent people Keitel had ever met. And while he loved him as a friend, he didn't like the feeling of being on the other side of Victor. Moreover, he knew exactly what his father would say if word came that he had failed. Keitel made his way back over the mound and took a moment to analyze the field.

The black team was on course for the purple domain. It was the least guarded and an easy target. He spotted the flash of Victor's platinum hair with the black flag on his back. He was headed to purple as well.

Once Lucia realized the black flag was gone, she had begun to make her way to the purple base as it was the least guarded. Since the members of the purple team had wasted most of their men on attacking against other members instead of aiming for the flags, most had been knocked out from the playing field.

Lucia ascended the purple mound. There were only two on guard? What was the purple team thinking? She was about to dash towards the purple flag when two contenders flew across the base. She looked up confused. A floppy-haired, young man lowered his arm. Lucia watched carefully from the distance as another three contenders pounced on him. Each one was sent flying. She studied the interaction. From what she could tell, he wasn't even using mana. It was raw power. Though the moves were unrefined, he had unnatural physical strength.

Michael was as surprised as the rest. The lanky young man had introduced himself shyly as D.B. Michael hadn't thought much of him at first, but his incredible strength was nothing short of a miracle. After the black team had suddenly entrapped them, he thought it was all over. Michael decided he needed to step up the game. He would use his secret weapon.

Michael had developed his mana at a young age. Though he could only use the ability once a day, it came in handy for situations like this. Like everyone else, Michael's mana had started off as raw energy he could use to strengthen his body. However, after some practice, he realized he could draw the energy out. It could extend out of his body and take a form. Michael, who had grown up on a small island outside of the empire, always imagined it was like a great wave.

Michael drew his sword as the other contenders surged towards him. He released the power with a swift motion of his wrist. The blow of the sword rippled out from him.

At first, his contenders hadn't thought much of Michael slashing his sword out into thin air. However, no sooner than the motion of the sword spread out, a force sent them crashing back. It felt like being hit by a heavy body of water.

Keitel, in contrast, sensed the release of mana and reinforced himself. It was rare to see another young person his age have such developed mana. Keitel struck his sword into the ground just to prevent himself from being sent flying back. It took him a moment to recover. He made his way towards Michael.

Michael took a breath, the release of mana had been draining. He expected to have a moment to recover. However, before he could even sheathe his sword, the Prince of all people, was charging towards him. Michael quickly drew his sword to block the first blow. A flurry of attacks followed. Michael was barely able to keep up. The Prince was as strong as he expected.

As Keitel faced off against Michael, he felt a strange feeling of nostalgia. Michael's cunning green eyes, chestnut hair, and olive skin reminded Keitel of a figure from his past. The words he heard as a child came back to him. He recalled the time he had met the Cirillium wizard.

The Cirillium Wizard had been a crazy, old man. But now and then, in between his strange antics, he would say something with an air of seriousness. Although the wizard was his father's friend, he hadn't taken much notice at the time. For some reason, all these years after his disappearance, his words rang in Keitel's mind.

"Mages! Too many pesky mages! ALWAYS floating around in my business like bees to honey. As I always say, a good kick never hurt anybody. I don't know why they complain so much about it"

Keitel had dismissed the old man's words as nonsense before. Yet, an idea occurred to him now. He had broken the distance between him and Michael but he couldn't get through his mana defense. Keitel dropped his sword to one hand and struck down a light blow. As Micahel's arms rose to meet the blow, Kaitel dipped below his defense and punched with his bare fist.

It was as Keitel had thought. Michael staggered back. Focusing mana in one area leaves the body unguarded. They say mages have one weakness. They focus so much on their mana training, they have no physical strength. As Micahel's guard dropped, Keitel sent him flying back with a kick.

While Keitel and Michael had been facing off, Lucia had made her way to D.B. He was way taller than Lucia first thought. He was at least two heads taller than Lucia.

D.B gazed down at the small boy in front of him. He felt conflicted. He wanted to defend the flag, but this seemed unfair. He had only hesitated for a moment, but quick as a flash, the boy had disappeared from his sight. Lucia dashed past him towards the flag. It was within her grasp when she felt a force yank her back. D.B grabbed Lucia by the collar and thrust her back down the baseline. Lucia barely landing on her feet. She had no time to catch her breath before she saw DB lunge towards her again. She deftly, flung herself aside, just missing his blow. She came to her feet unsteadily.

Even if she could make it to the flag, DB would easily take it from her. She had to take him down. Despite his lumbering body, he was fast. Lucia needed to close the distance. She made a run for the flag again. DB followed close behind.

DB regretted his hesitation. He couldn't forget why he was here. He mustn't hold back, he told himself. He chased after the boy. As they both approached the purple flag, the boy, instead of reaching out, began to run up the length of the flagpole. DB used all his strength to stop short of the pole. He tried to look up. Before he could defend himself, he felt a blow at the back of his head. DB rolled to the ground.

Lucia landed on her feet and caught her breath. At the corner of her eye, she could see Keitel standing at the same distance from the flag. Their eyes locked. They both lunged for the flag.