Faction Showdown XVIII

Faction Showdown XVIII

Xavier Paltho had been simply overpowering in his ability to check everybody as they entered the doors to the Locked Arena. By the time he had glanced people over, he could effectively guess the things that were in their pockets and belongings, without having done more than a visual inspection. Inside Dash’s pockets were varieties of herbs and spices, along with the sweet, gum-like cotton. Inside Bill’s was a surprising amount of money, and so forth. Drake concluded that Xavier must have been some kind of mentalist; a trickster able to form accurate conclusions by merely looking at people. Apparently he could deduce things about people by sight, and this made him dangerous to compete against on the battlefield, as he could conclude a line of spell casting before the spells are cast. Drake understood how he wasn’t considered the highest ranking magician, however, as Paltho lacked the spells necessary to remove enemies from the playing field. Or so he had heard.
The Central team stepped safely onto the center of the Locked Arena and noticed, instantly, that Lance had most of his members sitting on one side of the sideline benches. Every member was there, with the exception of Helen Marlowe, who was presumed to still be quite traumatized by the accident. As they approached, Bill made sure to remain in front of Tracy in the face of individuals like Myxt Heliosso. All of the Wildcard team rose as Drake approached the center of the arena. Lance approached Drake with caution, and kept his distance which signaled Drake to do the same. Xavier Paltho took to the side of the Wildcard team, his gaze always fixed upon some individual in the room.
“You wanted to discuss something with our team.” Lance outstretched his arms. “We are able to speak candidly. There are no others outside to listen, and no outsiders to interrupt any longer. No need to fret with Oliver Cain or any others.”
Drake frowned.
“You knew about Oliver Cain? He didn’t cast any spells inside the quad.”
Lance didn’t smile, he merely raised an eyebrow.
“I knew he was there.” Lance let out a sigh of disappointment. “Drake, you must understand that someone in my position is willing to be an opportunist when the time calls for it. We will help, but only when we are certain you will help yourself.”
“An opportunist?” Lloyd broke silence. “You’re willing to sacrifice us to get a higher hand? You’re scum, Lance?” He grinned, sarcastically. “I didn’t know you had the capacity to look over justice and toss people aside like trash.”
“I said I would help and I did.” Lance’s eyes focused forward, and on a single neutral position. “I have made no promises I could not keep, nor did not keep. You understood before I showed up that I could not have been expected to witness any magical signature unless they had cast a spell. You were incorrect. I can sense intention, though I assumed you were able to ward off the houses of supreme magic, and you did.” Lance smirked. “Drake Irving, you must understand that out of courtesy I opted to take the worst of three opening spots, captain a team many thought could not work together, and compete with spell casters when I, myself, am not a true spell caster. If we are playing a game, I must do what I can to ease our burden and lessen numbers on any side.”
Nobody could say anything. Lance was at a disadvantage and was willing to take either side as a viable enemy. It intrigued Drake, however, that he viewed both Central and Malevolence as equal threats. Perhaps he didn’t know everything about magic.
“Now, back to the topic.” Lance outstretched a hand to Drake. “You wanted to discuss something.”
Drake nodded.
“We are at a crossroads, our teams.” Drake began to speak loudly and with more authority. “Our groups are the weaker of the three, because Jay Slatford has positioned himself to have one of the better positions and the stronger magicians. Due to this, he was able to fortify his position and can launch devastating attacks at any point in time. Both of our teams have had severe casualties, and we can’t sit by as Jay picks us off one at a time.”
Lance nodded, then one eyebrow rose once more.
“Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that you were right, and that Jay Slatford is playing this game from the powerful point. What, then, would we do about it?”
“We would launch a joint operation to defeat him.” Drake began again, matter-of-factly. “We would gather all of our force and launch an attack for a force double the number he has prepared. The captains could even remain where they are in spots of safety while the overwhelming force takes over the fortress. From there, we could retreat and resume the tournament against each other.”
Lance was difficult to read for Drake, or anybody for that matter. His eyebrow lowered once more, which made his expression as neutral as it usually was. His wide eyes didn’t shift when he blinked, and his dark-colored pupil was masked by the overall dark color of the whole of his eyes. It was difficult to see who he was looking at, and it was equally difficult to understand his expression. His mouth didn’t move, and his eyebrows rarely shifted to extravagant positions.
“Myxt, would you do me a favor?”
The wind magician closed his book, almost in an irritated fashion, and raised his eyebrows. Lance continued.
“Would you take the negative stance for the time being?”
Myxt walked to Lance’s side and faced Drake with a smirk. He was getting to do what he wanted.
“Who’s to say you’re not more of a threat to us than Jay Slatford?” Myxt made several sneaky expressions, which suggested he was not convinced that Slatford was that powerful. “His magicians have single-magic casters, whereas you have a wide variety of ability, less reputation. It’s rather safe to say that you ought to be the target.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Myxt.” Bill was upset with his rival wind magician. “Jay Slatford is over there laughing at our inability to put a dent in his defense. He’s so sure of himself that he’s willing to send Charles Trylven out to bug us. Trylven is a spark mage. To anybody else, a valuable skirmisher in an army. But Slatford treats him like crap. Why? Because he’s nothing compared to everybody else in that group.”
Lance frowned at this.
“Myxt, the contrary?”
“On the contrary,” Myxt retaliated. “He sends Charles out by himself because he feels Charles is worth sending on his own, to dispose of scum like you. Bill, you may be able to hit every wind spell you use, but your wind spells are trash. Charles could put you out like a candle.”
Bill’s eyebrow rose.
“Oh really? I’d like to see that bastard try.”
Bill reached for his wand, but Lloyd outstretched his arm to block him from doing so. With a sharp look, he denounced such behavior.
“You can see how it is difficult for me to sacrifice my teammates for a cause that may not be worthwhile.” Lance shrugged. “Suppose we do launch an offensive: some of my members may fall while all of yours live. Then how would we go about making things fair? Would you be willing to give up a member or two, should I lose one or two in the process? And how would we allocate values to each of our members, should they happen to need evaluation?” Lance shook his head. “Drake, it’s an interesting idea, but it’s not something that either of us can risk our teams for. If either of us really wants to win, we must do something more intelligent than rush in like soldiers. You must position your people to provoke an attack, then counter-attack as best you can. You coming here serves only one purpose: to cause the Malevolence group to hide in their fortress, instead of gain the confidence necessary to make foolish attacks. They are prideful, not unintelligent.”
Almost at once, the Central group all looked down in shame.
“You are no student of war, are you Headmaster?” Lance asked, curiously.
“I’m not.”
Lloyd frowned, then added, “I am.”
“To understand how to win, you must determine the mentality of your enemy, then strike when you are most prepared to strike. And while I am not one for deception, I know how to fight a battle due to a very close friend of mine.” Lance raised one of his fingers. “And this is assuredly the best way to do it.”
Drake nodded in agreement, then looked up to see Lance passing by each of his members, pacing the floor.
“So I guess we’ll just have to return to the Administrative building and wait out another day, huh?”
“Well, while I’m one for fair play, I think it’s fair to assume that this is not an opportunity I can easily pass up. So how about we have a duel, hmm?”
Drake frowned.
“Are you freakin’ kidding me?”
Mimicking how Myxt responded, Lance stopped at the front once more and smiled. “On the contrary. You ought to be punished for endangering my team by appearing here, tonight. So you may hand over someone as a bargaining chip, or we will fight to knock off as many of you as we can.”
“That’s suicide!” Lloyd pointed angrily at Lance. “You’ve led us here as a trap! If we have an all-out duel here, we’ll both be too weak to take on Jay and Malevolence!”
“I know. And you wouldn’t risk the all-out battle, would you?” Lance continued to smile. “This is not deception, Lloyd Leal. It is retribution. You took a risk; a foolish one at that, and now you will be punished for dragging me into it. My team deserves consideration.”
Drake lifted his hands, defensively.
“Look, I didn’t come here for trouble, and this is something you agreed on. This is something Kaeso said we would do.”
Kaeso mimicked the lifting of the hands as a defensive gesture.
“Hey, I was just making up stuff in the moment. Can’t blame me for this one.”
Drake turned his attention back to Lance.
“So then what do you want me to do? Evaluate my team now and give you someone who I think is ‘less important?’ Or do you really want me to start a one-on-one duel with one of your people?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Drake Irving.” Lance waved a hand. “I wouldn’t dream of dueling you, just as none of your people would dream of dueling me. You have confidence in your ability to beat any one of mine, just as I have complete confidence in my ability to beat any one of yours.” Lance raised a finger. “I’ll tell you what. You may all leave, but one of you will leave with a sworn oath to me as the captain of this team. How does that sound?”
Drake shook his head incredulously.
“What?”
“It’s simple. You all get to go, but you select one member who will swear an oath. In that oath, he or she will state that they subject themselves to a simple clause: I swear to never cast a spell against any Wildcard member. Should they break such an oath, they will endure a simple spell that I have prepared for such an occasion.”
“Lance, you know I can’t do that.” Drake swallowed. “I may need this person in a duel against you. Any of these persons.”
“I am willing to cast the first spell to set off an all-out battle between your group and mine, Drake Irving.” Lance sounded mildly irritated, all of a sudden. He outstretched his hand and a staff materialized into it. “I know some of the spells your team can conjure, but I doubt you can claim the same. If you want to avoid a greater set of casualties, you will accept my terms.”
Drake looked down into the ground.
“You would really force me to have to do this? To have to pick who would be cursed?”
“If it burdens you that much, I would have Xavier pick.” Lance nodded his head towards the opposite team and Xavier spoke up.
“Nemkeltura Pesture. He seems very prideful in his abilities as a basic magician. Perhaps hiding some kind of secret weapon.”
Lance beckoned Nak with his left finger.
“Nak Pesture, if you do not come forward and swear that oath in front of me, I promise you I will cast a spell to end the niceties.”
Lloyd turned to Nak and shook his head. “No, we will do this.”
“I have to make this decision, Lloyd.” Nak gripped his fist. “Damn it.”
“…no.”
Lance’s eyebrow rose as he viewed Drake, who only shook his head once, decisively.
“We won’t swear an oath, just like we won’t get into an all-out duel here. It’s too early.” He waved an arm. “If you want to cast your spell, go on ahead and cast it. The Central team will retreat in suit; we will run and hide if that’s what you want to force out of us.”
Lance frowned.
“You would risk the safety of your team for the small price of not having Nak in a duel against any Wildcard member?”
“That could be any number of situations in which we need Nak to defeat you, and I’m not willing to allow that.” Drake shrugged. “Sorry. Cast your spell if you want, but a captain has to make a decision.”
One at a time, both sides of magicians raised their wands or casting tools. Desentaro Burns only looked around oddly at the walls and the ceiling during this time. Kaeso brandished his flame swords while Bane reached into his battle vest for a melee weapon. Salas Revv threw his cape off. On the other side, Bill brandished his wand while Dash prepared himself to run outside the back door. Lloyd brought out a medium sword and Drake stood, unmoving. Willing to make himself more of a target, he only smirked.
“I dare you to cast your spell,” Drake lifted both of his hands and, in a relaxed fashion, tilted his fingers toward himself in a beckoning manner. “Come on.”
Lance’s emotion wiped from his face and he pointed at Drake with his staff. He muttered a few words in an unknown language and silence ensued. For a few moments, everyone stood in wonder over what was about to happen.
Nothing happened. Drake stood with his hands slowly entering his robe pockets while Lance began to look questioningly at his staff before he tried again.
“Issi Dei. Issi Dei!” Lance almost shouted at his staff while Drake stood and slowly brandished his wand. He began to take several steps back, the rest of the team in-sync, when the other Wildcard members began to cast spells. Myxt fired wind spells which were negated by Bill’s opposite currents. Salas Revv fired rapid orbs of shadow, but they were countered by a wall of fire put up by Jake. Kaeso manipulated the fire out of the way and Bane was about to rush forward when he stopped himself to feel an invisible barrier directly in front of him, blocking his path. The others could only watch as the Central team continued to put up defensive spell after defensive spell, even without opposition. They were leaving regardless of what was thrown at them, and all because Lance could not cast a single spell.
There was no question that Lance was a proficient caster, but it appeared that he temporary lost the ability to cast spells in that moment. And after all of the Central team had left, he sadly looked down at the floor and shook his head.
“Something stopped me. Note that, everyone. Someone on that team can negate spell casting.”