Xarus watched from the treeline, along with Sarah and Selena, as Axel, Ranni, and Hayden fought Mr Garris, although calling it a fight was generous. A more accurate description was that Mr Garris was toying with those three. all their attacks failed to land, Hayden was easily thrown aside in the ground and Axel would have met the same fate had it not been for Ranni with her defensive magic.

  Her barriers, or shields if you prefer, weren’t all that strong but she managed to cast them exactly where she needed them to be and when, even if it was more luck than skill being able to do it at all was impressive.

  Sarah: “Is it time yet?”

  Selena: “No, wait a bit more”

  Xarus turned his attention to the two of them, who like him a moment ago, were diligently watching the fight. Unlike him however, Sarah stood with her arms stretched out in front of her, her right hand spread out like a fan while her left arm firmly gripped her right wrist. A blue orb of light roughly the size of a tennis ball was swirling around the air in front of her palm. It wasn’t necessary for her to use both her hands as she was able to cast this specific spell which she called with one hand, but adding the use of her other hand increases the strength, speed and accuracy of the spell according to her, which would obviously be useful against someone like Mr Garris.

  Sarah: “I feel like now would be a good time, especially since my arms are getting tired”

  Selena: “Just a little bit mo… NOW!” she said, her voice raising slightly.

  Sarah: “Wha! Yep! yep!” she blurted, the sudden change in Selena’s voice surprising her.

  The Blue bolt shot from her hand, leaving blue particles in its wake, and soared straight towards Mr Garris who had stopped moving, marking the perfect opportunity for their plan to succeed.

  Sarah: “Hah!” she laughed victoriously

  Xarus: “... that won't hit him” he said, pulling , his sword that he had been leaning on, out from the ground, flipping it upwards so that he was holding it by the blade with the pommel facing outward.

  Sarah: “What? of course it will!”

  Sarah’s blue bolt was seconds away from reaching Mr Garris.

  Selena: “yea, that's a good shot, no way it will miss” she said, just before Mr Garris leaned backwards, the bolt soaring straight past him and crashing into the trees beyond.

  There was a very brief silence, with Sarah and Selena being left completely stunned. But it was quickly broken by Sarah's loud complaint “Damn it!” she yelled loudly, the frustration in her voice was clear as it resounded across the clearing.

  Mr Garris briefly glanced in their direction before he returned his attention back to the trio in front of him.

  Selena: “so much for our surprise plan…” she grumbled.

  Xarus: “Don’t worry, I got it”

  Selena: “Huh? what do you me…” her voice trailed off as she watched him hurl his sword forwards. left his hand with such force that it caused shockwaves to ripple through the air. It was far faster than Sarah’s spell, and far stronger. There was a loud and heavy thud, as the pommel of the sword crashed into the side of Mr Garris head.

  Xarus: “hm… was that overdoing it a bit?” he murmured to himself, still in his throwing stance.

  His upper body jerked violently to the left. The mysterious projectile bounced off Mr Garris’s head and embedded itself into the ground, his balance disrupted, Mr Garris swayed and stumbled, clutching the spot where he’d been struck with his right hand.

  Ranni: “What was that!?” she yelled in shock, staring straight at the large object. "Wait, isn't that that guy's sword?” she realised as she saw a black greatsword sticking out of the grass.

  Axel: “Nice work!” he yelled cheerfully, not wasting the opportunity he ran straight towards Mr Garris, and then shot straight past him and continued on to the flags. While Axel ran to claim a flag Hayden ran over to Mr Garris who was still cradling his head.

  Mr Garris: “Owowowowow!” he groaned “What hit me!” he yelled furiously, his earlier boredom and disinterest now replaced with extreme irritation.

  Taking advantage of his dazed state Hayden swung his Falchion at his chest, despite his current state Mr Garris easily dodged it, sliding around Hayden he swept his foot underneath his legs, knocking him flat on his back.

  Hayden let out a groan as the air was knocked out of him.

  Mr Garris: “At least you have the common sense to take advantage of your opponents injuries” He grumbled returning his hand to where the sword struck his head “Ugh, that really stings, and it’s left such a large bump” two pink discs the size of a stop sign spun towards him, they weren’t in sync so he avoided the first one by ducking underneath it and smashed the other one with a back hand as it came towards him.

  Mr Garris: “So you can use those barriers to attack as well?” he asked, directing his focus to Ranni.

  Ranni: “W-well of course I can!” she said, trying her best to keep her nerves in check. She blinked and in that very brief time it took for her eyes to close and reopen Mr Garris had somehow moved so that he was standing right in front of her.

  Ranni: “Whoa!” the sudden closeness causing her to stumble backwards. She swung her staff in an arc In front of her, but it was a clumsy and desperate attack and he easily avoided it. Mr Garris pointed at her neck, then dragged his finger downward, drawing an invisible line in the air that travelled across her body. the moment his finger stopped, Ranni dropped to her knees as if a heavy weight was forcing her down. She pitched forwards, gracefully face-planting into the ground.

  Ranni: “Mmugh!” she spat out a wad of grass as she raised her head, the only part of her body that she could still move. “What the hell is this!” she yelled. Her face red from the embarrassment that typically comes from falling flat on your face.

  Mr Garris: “Stay here” he said, turning around and directing his attention to Axel, who had just reached the flags. He raised his hand and extended his thumb, pointer and middle fingers. Then he twisted his wrist, a transparent substance began to swirl around his fingers and then began wrapping around itself again and again until it formed a sphere.

  He grabbed the newly made sphere out of the air and pulled his arm back in preparation to throw it.

  Ranni: “W-wait! Stop!” she desperately called out, trying to stop him from throwing the sphere. She didn’t know exactly what it would do but it was likely that it would stop him from getting a flag and leading to their defeat.

  Mr Garris ignored her and threw the sphere, just as the sphere left his hand someone's foot struck his side.

  Mr Garris: “Guh!”

  The sphere flew out of his hands completely missing Axel, it didn’t even travel in his direction, instead flying off somewhere to the right as Mr Garris was forcibly shoved to the left. His feet carving skid marks in the ground as he slid across the grass.

  Ranni blinked “W-Where did he come from?”

  she wasn’t exactly paying too much attention to her surroundings, but even so, surely she would have noticed him approaching. But she didn't, not until the moment he kicked Mr Garris.

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  Xarus lowered his leg and straightened his body, raising his hands into a fighting stance.

  Xarus: “yo” he said, lifting his palm in a casual wave.

  Mr Garris: “oh… it’s you? Were you the one who chucked the sword at me” he winced as he rubbed the bump on his head.

  Xarus: “yea… I th- sorry” he started to say something but changed his mind mid way through, sheepishly apologising instead.

  Mr Garris waved him off “It’s fine, it’s fine, it was a good shot” he nodded as he praised him. A light blush crept onto Xarus’s face but he didn’t take his eyes off Mr Garris. “I was quite surprised with the sword and the kick, I didn’t expect anyone to be able to land hits on me yet. But it makes sense if it were you” he sighed “I didn’t know I had you in my class though…”

  Xarus frowned, tilting his head in thought "don't you have a class register though?”

  Mr Garris: “I don’t read those”

  Xarus: “... I-I see”

  After he threw his sword he and his team exited the forest and charged straight towards the flags, intending to claim a flag and then help out against Mr Garris, that way they could flee if it turned out that they were no match for him. Although seeing Hayden and Ranni be defeated in such a short amount of time with Mr Garris turning his attention to Axel, Xarus broke off from Sarah and Selena in order to at the very least delay Mr Garris.

  He could see from the corner of his eye that Axel had picked up a flag, and that Sarah and Selena had met up with him.

  Mr Garris lurched forward, closing the gap between them in an instant. He raised his hand up in a fist aimed directly for Xarus’s face, Xarus reflexively leaned backwards, his hands limply hanging by his side. Mr Garris's fist flew through where Xarus’s face was a moment prior.

  Mr Garris: “Since you're her kid, I can be a little rougher right?” he paused for a moment before adding “Not that I really want to piss her off though”

  Xarus: “well I don’t really mind” he said, grabbing onto Mr Garris’s outstretched arm with both his hands to ensure he wouldn’t be able to retreat, he then raised his foot and quickly delivered a strong kick straight to Mr Garris’s Abdomen.

  Mr Garris: “Ugh! Damn, that’s 3-0” he grunted, freeing his arm from Xarus’s hand and jumping backwards.

  Xarus backed up enough so that he was standing next to Ranni, who was still lying incapacitated on the ground.

  Xarus: “hey, Can you get up?”

  Ranni: “If I could, don’t you think I would have already!”

  She desperately tried to move her arms and legs, but besides some light wriggling that reminded him of a snake, she had no success.

  Xarus quickly glanced at her, she was currently lying flat on the ground, front first with her hands at her sides. Without taking his eyes off of Mr Garris he knelt down and hovered his hand over Rannis back.

  Ranni: “W-what are you doin–Eeep!? Hey!” she blushed hard as Xarus suddenly placed his hand on her upper back.

  Xarus: “... hey what does it feel like?”

  Ranni: “it feels like someone is touching my back!”

  Xarus: “oh uh” now it was his turn to blush “sorry, I meant the spell–mmhp!” he raised his arms up to guard against the sudden kick that was coming his way. The impact sent him sliding back a few feet, which isn't a very comfortable situation to be in when you’re kneeling on the ground.

  Mr Garris: “I’m not just gonna let you figure out my magic like that” he said, wagging his finger back and forth.

  He felt around the grass, looking for any small stones he could pick up to throw at him, but he didn't find any. He stood up from his kneeling position, shaking his leg in an attempt to get some of the dirt off his pants, unfortunately when he slid across the ground it smeared quite a lot of dirt over his legs so it was a pointless action.

  Xarus raised his arm beside his face to block a punch from Mr Garris, immediately throwing his own punch aimed for Mr Garris’s face. Mr Garris avoided the attack by twisting his entire body to the side, utilising the momentum to unleash a powerful hook to the opposite side of Xarus’s head. The attack pushed his head to the left but it wasn’t enough to throw him completely off balance. Before Mr Garris could do anything else Xarus bent backwards, pushing off the ground in a backflip, at the same time kicking Mr Garris beneath his chin, landing on his hands, Xarus pushed upwards once more so that he continued to flip around and land on his feet facing Mr Garris.

  Mr Garris dashed towards him, raising his foot in order to deliver multiple kicks, all of which managed to land, one kick struck his left thigh, another kick striking his stomach and the last kick landing squarely in the center of his face.

  Xarus' neck snapped backwards and he staggered slightly, but he immediately recovered, dropping to the ground to disappear from his line of sight and then punching Mr Garris in the chest as he came back up.

  Mr Garris: “fuah!”

  Before he could recover, Xarus grabbed Mr Garris, holding him in place so that he couldn’t escape. This action seemed to surprise him for a moment, but only for a moment as he realised the reason just as the hammer smashed into his shoulder, sending him crashing into the ground.

  Since he was facing the flags he could easily see everything that was happening in that general direction, so the entire time he had been fighting Mr Garris he was well aware of what everyone else was doing since they were all in that general direction. Hayden for example, after being thoroughly defeated by Mr Garris with little effort, had decided not to challenge Mr Garris for a third time and instead focused on helping Ranni out of her predicament. Of which he seemed to be somewhat successful considering she was standing, although judging by the strained expressions on both of their faces it seemed that there were still some difficulties.

  As for Axel and Selena, they were the members of their respective groups who were responsible for capturing a flag, Although originally it was meant to be Hayden, Axel ended up undertaking that role due to the actions of Mr Garris. But regardless the two of them had indeed managed to obtain a flag for their teams.

  And Finally there was Sarah, who’s main role was to essentially snipe Mr Garris with her spell ‘Blue Bolt’ but had failed to do so due to Mr Garris’s quick reflexes. So of course she was feeling irritated and decided to direct that feeling into something positive. Such as smashing her new hammer into the person responsible for her current irritation.

  After Sarah struck Mr Garris her hammer continued to swing to the right, dragging her along with it, she stumbled a bit but didn't fall over and was able to regain her balance. After righting herself she swung her hammer over her shoulder and started running forwards, grabbing Xarus by the wrist.

  Sarah: “Come on!”

  Xarus: “whuhh! oookay” he blurted out as he was suddenly pulled along.

  By now everyone was making a beeline to the forest with Xarus and Sarah being the ones furthest away, he wasn’t sure when they managed to get ahead of him but they somehow had. Fortunately was stuck in the ground in front of him, he hadn’t really had the opportunity to recollect it during his short fight with Mr Garris but since they were leaving and it was right there he easily pulled it out of the ground as they ran past.

  Now of course, Sarah's attack didn't really accomplish anything major, If it wasn’t for Xarus’s actions then the attack surely would have missed. However that’s not any fault on Sarah's part, Mr Garris is just ridiculously strong, Xarus being capable of fighting with Mr Garris at all is because Xarus himself is ridiculously strong.

  So while Sarah did manage to knock him off his feet, which in itself is an impressive feat, that was all it did. The attack did not inflict any actual damage like she probably intended it to. But with that being said, had she decided to continue attacking Mr Garris then that would have been the end of it, her team would have lost.

  So it’s a good thing she decided to run, pulling Xarus along with her, because it took less than three seconds for Mr Garris to get back on his feet.

  Mr Garris sighed, his job was to guard the flags, and thus he could not leave the clearing. And although they had not yet made it back to the safety of the forest and he was certainly fast enough to stop them, there were three other groups who were using this current situation to make an attempt for the flags, so he let them go, turning his attention to the new arrivals.

  They still had the two 13 grade students to worry about after all, so he doubted they would be able to actually exit the forest.

  Sarah: “oh jeez - - that was hard”

  Ranni: “Tell -- me -- about -- it”

  Hayden: “He -- totally kicked -- our asses”

  Sarah: “yea- - hehe, I finally got to use my hammer though!”

  Selena: “hah, why -is this so heavy!”

  Xarus: “You want me to carry it?”

  Selna: “yes please” she weakly handed the flag over to Xarus who carefully took it, holding it up straight so it wouldn't touch the ground, he read somewhere that letting a flag touch the ground was bad luck. He wasn’t sure if that applied to this specific flag but he didn’t want to risk it.

  Axel: “You don’t seem -- all that tired ”

  They had just been running at full speed for about 10 minutes straight in order to escape Mr Garris, although he hadn’t actually chased them in the first place, but they didn’t know that. So now they had finally stopped and were busy huffing and gasping, trying to catch their breath and rest for a few moments.

  Xarus however was the only person here who wasn’t completely exhausted.

  Xarus shrugged “I’m used to more exhausting situations than this, I guess you could say I have high stamina stats”

  Ranni: “...what?” she stared at him in complete confusion.

  Axel: “Heh, nice” he chuckled, smiling brightly and giving a thumbs up.

  Selena: “hey um, now that managed to get a flag for each of our teams, I think it would be a good idea to split up”

  Hayden: “oh? You think so?”

  Selena nodded “Yea, assuming that Mr Garris won’t be looking for us anymore, there's still the possibility of being attacked by one of the 13 Grade students. Smaller groups mean it’s harder for them to find us”

  Ranni: “But it would also be harder to fight them off if we do that”

  Selena shrugged “Yea, it’s a risk, but I think it’s the better this way, and truth be told I don’t know if all 6 of us could defeat a 13 grader”

  Sarah: “So decreasing the chances of being found is a smarter strategy in this situation… right?”

  Selena: “yea, I think it is”

  Axel: “Well I’m fine with that”

  Xarus: “Oh um, Yea I’m ok with whatever”

  Selena: “alright, then we'll split up”

  And thus they disbanded their alliance, wished each other good luck, and went in separate directions.