Duel

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The entire platoon was quiet, the actions of their instructor reacting to this kid in such a manner meant he might be the real deal.

Silence lingered for a few seconds before someone scoffed, then another joined in. Whispers were starting to spread while Atlas still had his eyes closed.

He slowly opened one eye, not a single stone was reacting to his presence. Atlas waved his arm slowly back and forth, nothing. He began circling the table. Somehow he felt relieved more than anything. Not a single stone reacted to his attempt at bonding with it.

What is happening?

Finally he looked back at Merlin, who had his arms crossed.

Merlin removed his helmet and rested it down by his side, revealing the face of a dashing young man. Long flowing blonde hair and silver eyes like a shining like untainted steel. The entire platoon focused their gaze on him, their snickering and jests halted in an instant. It was as if a celebrity had walked into a room and took everyone's breath away. The knight walked over to Atlas and placed his arm on his shoulder, whispering to him so only they both could hear the words being said.

"Better luck next time." His smile was extremely off-putting.

Atlas could not help but understand that Merlin hated him. Maybe even Lena as well, by the way he was acting. He kept his thoughts to himself as he fell back in line.

Merlin placed his helmet atop the hammers hilt, then he began pacing over the the 91st platoon while sounding off what sounded like an order:

"Those of you who have successfully tuned, please make your way to the observation ring along the walls."

The crowd began to disperse at his command.

"Short! You will remain here with these two. I have a special request for you."

"Yes sir!" 

Elizabeth Short, the only recruit to receive any sort of praise from the knight.

She had long black hair, and her silver gaze sent iced chills through anyone who laid eyes upon her. She seemed emotionless. Yet when she spoke, she was stern and direct. It was like looking at a ghost or spirit.

Atlas was suspicious of her demeanor towards him, though she at least was one of the only recruits that did not mock or laugh at either him nor Lena. Perhaps she was a kind person after all? She was obviously well accustomed to using magic already, by how she carried herself during the selection process of the stones. He wondered about her for a moment more, before Merlin spoke up again.

"Castell and Vail, you two will assist Short in a different task."

The three of them followed their instructor to the center of the arena away from the other students.

Atlas could not help but wonder why he was unable to tune. Why wasn't I able to get any of them to react now? What is different?

Merlin halted as soon as he knew no one else was in earshot of them. He handed Elizabeth a staff, it had a slot in the center carved into it for the insertion of a stone. A catalyst.

"Place your stone here Short."

Elizabeth did not hesitate as she pulled the bright and large stone from her pouch. She slotted it into the staff, it almost seemed to crackle and pop as the stone pulsated and stretched out into a vein of white outlines into the weapon. A soft wind-chill swirled around the three of them. Atlas could barely make out a tiny speck of dust flickering near the stone after it made contact with the staff.

Merlin walked over to Atlas and Lena, handing them both training clubs. Though without a stone, they were just hunks of metal. 

"The three of you will be dueling each other. To make things fair, Castell and Vail will team up against Short. The goal will be to obtain these tags."

He handed the three of them a sticky paper with a skull symbol scribbled onto it.

"If that tag is removed, consider yourself defeated. Use any means necessary outside of death to remove the tag."

Elizabeth averted her gaze from the two of them, she had been able to hear the command from Merlin, she was unmoved by the request from the soldier. Though she seemed almost ashamed to look at them now. Before Atlas could even question why exactly they needed to do this, Elizabeth surprisingly spoke up in his stead.

"Sir, what is the purpose of this? I thought we were going to continue tuning?"

"The vanguard motto: Invictus Illumina, it means to be the undefeated. In the Mage Corps, this rings even more true. To lose means not just your failure, but also the death of countless others at the hands of the Nexus. If you can not defeat an amateur mage in combat, you are unworthy to be in the service."

Atlas and Lena were in shock. They could tell he was targeting them specifically because he disliked them. Elizabeth seemed to understand this too, she turned to face her opponents. Her gaze had softened, though she stood confidently.

"Any objections then you two?"

Atlas confidently stepped forward.

"No objections here!"

"S- same with me!"

Lena was hesitant, Atlas could feel it. But they had no choice, this was their only right move. They all understood what was at stake here.

"Though I disagree with the method, I won't hold back." Elizabeth insured them that she would carry herself to victory.

Merlin grinned, his golden hair obscuring part of his smirk as he turned away from the recruits. Walking a few yards away, he picked up his helmet from where it rested. It disassembled into just a straight staff, then he latched it into a slot on his back, the handle shrunk down into the head of the weapon.

"Fight like your life depends on it." He looked sternly back at the three recruits. He then began to float in place, making his way up to the viewing stands surrounding the arena. Atlas had not noticed it before, but there were other figures sitting among the seats.

Who are they?

Atlas counted six of them exactly.

He felt the same wind-chill from before, despite this heat somehow there was a cooling breeze.

This again? Why is it so cold all of a sudden?

Lena stood nearby, a few feet to his right, standing in a battle-ready position that she had likely learned from Xander.

Atlas took his club and raised it over his head like a bat. Due to his hospitalization he missed out on some of the pre-training Xander provided for Lena. Though he used what little experience he had to calculate his next move against a season mage.

Neither of them knew what was in store for them, they had little knowledge of Elizabeth's experience or even her affinity for magic, aside from the scene they had witnessed just moments ago. They waited for her to make the first move, it was safer that way.

Elizabeth was just standing there, her staff planted into the ground squeezing it tightly.

She spoke out to the two of them, "Prepare yourselves!"

Atlas observed the surroundings near her, the chilling breeze flowed passed him once again, he could feel the sweat on his head cool. His hair was waving around in the wind.

She isn't doing anything. Or... Oh shit! Atlas remembered the color of her stone. Putting together the clues he could piece it together.

Of course!

He was just about to shout at Lena, but just as his lips moved. He felt it again, only this time it came much stronger.

In seconds the area around him was grey, he was caught in something, the wind swirling around him. He could barely see in front of him and it had immediately gone from blazing desert heat to an icy winter frost.

A snow storm!

"Lena!" He shouted for his companion. Who was probably also consumed by the blizzard swirling around them.

He ran forward towards where he last saw Elizabeth, he swung to the right and it connected. He heard a painful grunt as he followed through with the swing.

The small localized storm disappeared before his eyes in an instant.

Atlas caught his breath for a moment. Then he turned to see his enemy lying in defeat, only it was not her.

Lena was kneeling on the ground beside him, using her club to prop herself up. She coughed a bit and then slumped over, trying to recover the wind that was knocked out of her.

His heart sunk the moment Atlas witnessed her in pain, he had just hit her square in the gut with a full-force swing.

"Shit... Sorry!"

"I'm– fine... Focus." Lena coughed through her words of reassurance.

Atlas had no time to assist his comrade, he quickly observed his surroundings. He had to hope she could recover on her own.

He found Elizabeth who was now standing further away. She positioned herself so that Lena was in-between them. She swung the staff and a volley of ice chunks emerged in a line, flying towards them.

She's targeting Lena!

Atlas tried to get in front of her but it was too late, luckily Lena forced herself to move, she rolled out of the way and dodged the ice. Leaving him to brace himself like before. He dug his heels down and swung fiercely at the projectile. Smacking one of the chunks away like a baseball, the force snapped reverberated in his hands. It forced the weapon in his hands out, it clanged to the ground. He had no time to react to it, another volley flew directly at him.

He dove to the the left and was unscathed. Atlas quickly got up and tried to predict the next attack.

Lena stood to his right, her breathing was still a bit labored. Still probably a bit dazed from Atlas' strike earlier.

"Listen, I don't think she can hear us–"

Lena's words were drowned out by another blast of icy wind, they were enveloped in a tomb of snow once again.

Atlas could feel Lena dash into him, tackling him to the ground.

The wind above them swished violently, Elizabeth had sent ice flying into the storm, the only safe option was to stay low. Lena read the attack well, even though they were both senseless in this storm. It was impressive.

"Atlas listen–"

She was on top of him, their faces were practically on top of one another. She was blushing slightly, she swiftly leaned into his ear and spoke loud enough for him to hear but not so much in case their enemy was close.

"Take my weapon and I'll try and close the distance. If we spread out she can only focus on one of us. If we pinch her, one of us will get in close enough to grab her tag. I don't think she would fair well if we closed the distance."

Every attack thus far had been a direct fire attack from range or to obscure vision, meaning Elizabeth was likely not confident in close combat. She may panic and be forced to fight hand to hand.

This could work. But...

She got off of him and knelt facing right, he then knelt to face the left. The both were still concealed by the small blizzard, once they were out of the swirl, they would have to identify her position and hope one of them could make it to her before she could take them both out.

"Wait Lena..." He turned and whispered something to her. She nodded and smiled at what he proposed, they were ready.

"Go!" Lena shouted off her command.

Atlas took off sprinting, he emerged from the cloud and looked right, Elizabeth was still standing in the same spot as before. 

Perfect!

He charged at the ice mage, he looked across the way and saw Lena also running towards her, they were separated enough that Elizabeth would have to choose to attack one or the other, and likely the attack would come to the strongest of the two. Double likely the one with the weapon... He concealed 'his' in a blind spot, hoping she would take the bait.

Atlas charged forward, freeing himself up to be attacked. He was the logical choice, the highest level threat. The mage took swift aim at him with the staff, just as predicted, light was being absorbed into the staff for a moment before it shot something out towards him. It was different than the ice from before, an icicle shape.

Elizabeth cried out in confusion, realizing she had just made a mistake. Atlas could barely hear what she said from that far away.

He slid down, diving like he was going to reach home plate. The ice shard flew over his head by inches. He slid to a stop and then flung his club towards Elizabeth. It spun rapidly through the air. Although he lacked in combat training, he was an expert and throwing things. He predicted exactly where Lena would need to catch the weapon before Elizabeth could react to it.

Lena drifted from her course darting straight towards the trajectory of the flying object, Short could barely react to the events unfolding.

Catch it... Atlas desperately watched, almost in slow motion.

Lena reached up for the club that was spinning high into the sky like a baton, Atlas could see it arcing down towards her until it slammed into the palm of her hand. She caught it!

Spinning to face Elizabeth who was only a few feet away she shifted her entire focus, moving the club to her left side, sprinting towards her opponent like a soldier armed with a knife or dagger. She let out a cry and then jabbed outward, slamming the blunt point of the club into Elizabeth's shoulder. Knocking her onto the ground.

Lena straddled her opponent and tore the skull tag off of her arm.

Elizabeth rested her head back, breathing heavily as Lena stood triumphant.

Atlas jumped up in excitement as the stadium was filled with cheers. The rest of the platoon had been glued to their intense duel, even some who mocked them before had started to encourage them.

Elizabeth who was now being helped off the ground by Lena spoke first, "Good fight. You two work well together."

"You too, Elizabeth. Your magic was imcredible!"

Atlas ran over to them both. He also praised Elizabeth for her magical ability.

"I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to control, sorry Atlas. That last attack... I meant for it to be non-lethal, but you fortunately saw it coming. I was completely overwhelmed..."

Elizabeth bowed in shame at her mistake, hoping that it would suffice as an apology.

Atlas froze in his tracks. Realizing that he could have been killed by that icicle.

Seriously?!

"That was indeed and impressive, I will admit."

Merlin had flown back over to their position with the wind, landing softly next to Atlas as he spoke. He then turned to shout at the other recruits.

"Now you all have seen what the best among you is capable of. Whether you have magic or not, survival in this world comes from more than just talent and magic."

He turned back to face Atlas specifically, still shouting so that everyone could hear him. "Experience, strategy, communication, and even skill. They all play a part, you all lack in some and excel in others."

Even through the helmet that Merlin wore, Atlas could tell that a newfound respect had blossomed. Though he felt he was not out of the woods yet with the knightly figure.

"I underestimated the two of you. But don't think I will not take it easy on you. Those without magic are a risk to not just themselves, but also the lives of others. Being powerless can also be just as destructive a force as wielding power."

Atlas could sense the double meaning behind his words. He was just happy that he made it through today.

"Though it left much to be desired... Your movements were clunky, communication was abhorrent! And Elizabeth, your control was disturbed in a moment of panic. Extra duty for endangering the lives of your comrades."

Merlin went on to criticize Atlas for harming his friend, who was now getting checked out by Elizabeth for any external injuries. She would need a full check up later. After his rant was over he had them all join the others in formation. Many of them had their boots removed and tied around their necks by the laces as punishment for belittling their fellow recruits.

Atlas looked around the stadium again as they began to leave as a group. The shadowy figures from before had all vanished, no one else mentioning them once on their march back to base. It lingered in the back of his mind for a moment before he brushed it aside.

After a long and stressful first day, the entire platoon entered the barracks. A large feast had been prepared for them on their arrival. Some jumped for joy while others were just relived they could put their boots back on. Either way, the first stage was clear. At least that much could be celebrated by all who still remained.