Faction Showdown XXI

Faction Showdown XXI

Drake Irving was once again sitting next to the window inside the Administration building. He had just gotten word that the food supplies were slowly dwindling away in the different rooms inside. The teachers were stocked, to be sure, but the chances were that Jay Slatford stashed the Administration buildings with a set amount of food per room, to give them at least a slight advantage.
When he thought about it with a deeper mind, Jay probably knew Drake would pick the Administration building. It didn’t make it any less lopsided, but to be fair, he probably put people on his team that knew how to deal with those vices. Drake wasn’t sure what the Lords needed to consume to stay alive; he was relatively aware that they could eat food eaten by humans, but what other foods did they really need to remain sustained? Drake was worried that they didn’t need food; that their sustenance depended solely on their elements. The water mage could live off of water, the fire mage off of heat, the electric mage off of electrical charges and the metal mage off of consummation of liquid metal.
These were not far-fetched. It was already known that even some human-spirit demons would consume metal at times, and it was not all that surprising to the general public. Such was what Drake learned; demons were an odd race, and they probably considered Geen-Arteshian Lumis just as odd. But nothing could be helped; the only thing he could wonder was how the wind mage lived off of air. That didn’t make any logical sense to him.
Lloyd sat across from him at the single round table, the only two in the same room. The others were all in separate rooms, as per the request from Lloyd as a military advisor. They had finally mirrored the Wildcard’s separation strategy.
“I know what you’re thinking, man.” Lloyd smirked. “There are seven of us left, but that numbers don’t matter, any more.”
“Not necessarily, but again, you’re on the mark.” Drake sighed.
“The Hells team always seemed so powerful, you know?” Drake continued with a glazed stare out the window. “They had every element pegged, changes of elements, morphing the laws of combat magic; learning more and changing spells to fit different situations. The only thing they didn’t have was combat aptitude, and that is something we are barely ahead in. The longer we duel them, the better they get at combat.”
“Are we sure that they’re that good?” Lloyd frowned. “Come on, we matched them in defense easily. Counter-spells were cheap as dust.”
“We actually did it twice, which means we’re better in combat and strategy than Wildcards and Hells, but worse in actual talent.” Drake shook his head as a finger rose to his mouth in nervousness. “It’s only a matter of time before they realize our tactics.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it. I’m not so sure.” Lloyd shrugged. “If they were that quick, they’d have learned by now.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.”
There was relatively quiet for the following three minutes, before Lloyd stood up from the table and walked over to the window to look outside. He continued to look as he spoke.
“So, I hear there’s this thing going on with Tracy and Bill. That’s…odd.”
“I know.” Drake’s eyebrows rose. He continued to look into the table. “Who told you?”
“I know these things.” Lloyd chuckled. “Like how it bothers you.”
“It doesn’t bother me.” Drake smiled a bit, truthfully. “It doesn’t.”
“No, it just makes you jealous.” Leal turned around to stare purposefully at Drake, so he wouldn’t become even the least bit defiant. “You’ve got her in your pocket, but you don’t like her talking to him. At all.”
“Bill’s always trying to start something between the two of them.” Drake sighed. “If she ever saw how much of an obsessed individual I really was, she’d quickly flip over to Bill. In fact, I’m almost sure that she should. Look at me, man – I’m a regular fool over here, trying to get in touch with his mortal side.”
“You ought to know that every girl likes at least a partially confident guy, right?” Lloyd gave a half-frown, half-smirk. “I’m not, but I know that if I were, I could get her.”
“Oh really?” Drake’s eyebrows rose and a cautious smile came to his face.
“Yeah.” Lloyd’s eyes bulged and he pat his left sword hilt. “If I could cut out my inability to talk to girls.”
“Right.”
In that precise moment, both boys heard yelling from outside the Administration building. The voice was Leo Pyrosso’s voice, and it sounded furious.
“Do you hear that?” Drake’s ears perked up.
“No, I’m deaf.”
They listened in a little longer.

“Let it be known to all that reside in that Administration building; let it be known to all of you in there who can hear my voice outside your doors that you will not be able to leave! You will not be able to scout! You will not be able to breathe so long as I am outside here waiting for one of you cowards to step out into the open and battle me under this sweltering sun! Can you hear me in there, master magician Drake Irving? If you were a man you would come out here and duel me like a real man is capable of doing so! Open up these gates if you have the courage to battle the very essence of fire – passion, courage, charisma, intensity, instinct; the five blades of flame – or keep them closed if you would cower away as the subsiding wind, the melting metal, the clearing water, or the frightened lightning! What say you, Headmaster? Will you come outside or send an emissary to do your bidding, if you are as bold as you were only a night previous? Coward, come out and face me! Any others who exit will be shot on sight if they are not Drake the Headmaster! You have five minutes!”

Lloyd turned to Drake immediately after the speech was over.
“Who does this guy think he’s kidding? He talks as though he has…shit.”
“Shit?” Drake blinked. “What’s that?”
“I’ve heard someone else say it when they were ups—what does it matter. Look, the point is that he’s talking like he has hostages. That’s bad for us.”
“I think I could immobilize him from here, if it makes any difference.” Drake peered to the window. “I just need an open sight to Leo and I could do it.”
Lloyd thought about it for a moment, before he pointed to the window and made a run for the door.
“Do that, I’ll go tell the others.”
Drake walked up to the front window as Lloyd opened the door and shut it behind him. He had Leo in his sights, Leo totally unaware of Drake’s casting of a binding spell when the window spontaneously shattered and Drake fell back in a rush of electricity. Relatively heavy boots hit the floor he was on and when Drake rose to see who was in front of him, it was none other than Oliver Cain, the necromancer. Someone who couldn’t cast electric attacks.
“Mornin’ gov’nor.” Cain had his withered wand out; he slowly revealed it from his tainted overcoat. Drake fumbled and threw down several fingers in instinctive spells, but Cain cast one or two in the same moment. Cain fell from a gust of wind, but didn’t fall out, as he was blocked by a wall of blood that replaced the window. In another instant, the blood appeared to form into a being and jumped in the way of another spell. Fairly soon, the window was open again and several strange abominations were rushing Drake to hold him down. They were made of flesh, shadow magic, bone, and necrotic tissue. Drake felt himself held down by pieces of dead bodies, powerless to cast all of them away.
When the pieces were through with holding down Drake, they slowly lifted him up and formed into cohesive beings, despite remaining abominations. They slung Drake against a wall and pinned him there with blades made of random materials they scavenged during their creation. Cain laughed at his own ingenuity and walked within spitting distance of Drake.
“Well, looks like I dun my job here.” Cain’s eyebrows rose and he pointed the wand right at Drake’s heart. “If I wanted to, I cou’d end it right here.”
“You couldn’t.” Drake frowned. “You can’t cast any more spells. It took me a while, but you can’t do it any longer.”
Cain quickly put his wand away and chuckled.
“I still win, dang it.”
Without a second thought, Cain punched Drake clean in the face. The pain was terrifying. For a necromancer, Cain hit like a baseball bat. He was strong for someone his height.
“Wanna ‘nother?”
“No, I’m good.” Drake frowned. “What are you hear to do, Cain? Gloat? The rest already sense your magic and will be here—”
“Oh, I don’t rightly think they will.” Cain’s eyebrows rose again, a wide grin still pasted on his face. “’member, D-man, this is mah plan. I don’t look it, but I’ve got a damn brain, and don’t ya forget it.”
The door opened and both Vyre and Hest walked inside.
“All right,” Hest said with a sigh. “We’ve got all the doors sealed, and there’s no way they’d leave outside with Leo and possibly Jay out there. They have to break my gravity to do it.”
“Not to mention some static.” Vyre rubbed his hands together. “Some of my best work, Cain.”
“’s all to indulge certain some’ne.” Cain walked over to the window and beckoned Leo up. In a vortex of fire, Leo had hopped up into the room through the window.
“Whoah, heh…where’s the fire?” Leo’s grin was unmistakable. Drake practically spat in his direction.
“You think I can’t get out of these binds that Cain has on me?”
“On the contrary, my dear friend Drakey Drake.” Leo walked nonchalantly up to the Headmaster and pointed directly in his face. “I think you would have if you were smart enough. It’s not a question of can; it’s a question of ‘why the hell didn’t you?’” He frowned sarcastically at Drake. “Come on, now, genius. You can’t mean you didn’t prepare for this ahead of time…you’re Drake Irving.”
With that taunt, Drake released static electricity from his body and the beings holding him either sizzled away or shattered. He raised both of his hands, fingers itching to draw spell, but each of the Lords simultaneously had their wands at the ready. Drake’s eyes went from caster to caster, and as soon as he saw a flick out the corner of his eye, he cast a bolt of electricity at the movement.
Apt as ever, Leo dodged the bolt and came up with an uppercut to Drake’s face; opening up the arena for Vyre’s static and Hest’s gravity spells. Suddenly, Drake couldn’t move due to both temporary paralysis and being crushed under wind. Leo laughed and thrust his hand towards the door; sign for Cain to exit the room, apparently. Oliver did as he was suggested and Leo knelt to sit at Drake’s level.
“You know, Drake Irving, I’ve been hearing relatively strange rumors that you think you beat the five of us the other night with all of your hide-in-the-trees tactics. I’ve got to say, I’m disappointed in your defensive maneuvers. If you were really all that great with this, you’d have surely known that fortifications is step one in the plan to win this tournament, eh?” With that Leo clapped Drake’s chest once, hard, which caused him to stumble under the pressure of the gravity spell. “Now look what I have to do. I have to go over here and teach you a lesson, huh. I have to come all the way over here, you know, get off of my comfy chair, and hold you down so you can listen as a child would.”
“What have you done with…my team, you bastard…?”
“I had Hest and Vyre stun them and silence them with their awesome powers of lightning and wind.” Leo frowned. “It’s a simple team strategy. Search rooms under the stealth of Hest’s wind, levitation, then when you know there’s someone in a room, stealth your way in with the wind, shock them half to hell, then bind them with gravity or pin or whatever works better.” Leo stopped and turned his fingers in a ‘lock’ motion. “Then, put up some barriers on the windows and doors, and bam. You have no escape.” He looked up as the door opened and in came Cain with Tracy struggling to get free.
She had no wand and was unsure of whether to cast spells or not without one. Cain practically threw her against the table when they entered, and she struggled to stand.
“Cain!” Leo gestured to Drake. Instantly, both binds were released on him and he got another hefty punch from Oliver, which knocked him into the corner of the room. Cain then held him against the wall and threatened another punch.
“You shock me ‘r anythin’ and this cloak releases ‘xious gas. Just sit back an’ enjoy th’ show.”
Drake’s eyes pierced into Cain’s.
“Show? What do you mean, ‘show?!’”
Hest waved an arm and the chairs, table, closet, and even the beds were tossed out of the destroyed window with forceful wind. Leo stood up tall and appeared to loosen up a bit as the other two magicians impeded Tracy’s path from her ability to exit through the back door or the open window. Leo snapped his fingers and theatrically turned to face her. Tracy remained completely unsure of what to do and appeared to weigh the different events on the spot.
“What do you do, what do you do, Tracy Bentohls?” Leo’s grin couldn’t have been wider. “Now, I might be a bit of a crasher, but I’m also the type of guy who can see when there’s a little bit of a, uh…connection…between two people. Isn’t that right, Vyre?”
“Oh, for sure.”
Tracy rolled her eyes and stood confidently.
“Is that so?” She crossed her arms. “Look, I know this is a situation I’m not going to get out of, but aren’t you wasting your time? You could take care of Drake right now and we wouldn’t have to deal with all of this nonsense.”
“I know.” Leo nodded as he took a step closer to her. She backed up a step. “I understand, but that wouldn’t be any fun at all. What would old man Jay say? Tell me what old man Jay would say, if he knew what we were doing, Cain.”
“Y’all wastin’ time and, uh…” Cain scratched his chin with his punching hand. “…and uh…y’all not accomplishin’ nuthin.”
Leo nodded.
“Exactly. But this is more fun. I don’t care about this tourney, hell, we’ve won this tourney.” Leo pointed towards Tracy. “You, though…I haven’t met you, before.”
“I’ve heard about you, Leonardo Pyrosso.” Tracy’s eyes moved from him to Vyre, and then to Hest on the other side of the room. “Look, I’m willing to take whatever you dish out, since casting a spell would just mean more trouble. But you should listen to your captain. You’re wasting time.”
“Ohh ho ho, another one who thinks just like Jay Slatford. I like that.” Leo took a step closer to her. When she was about to take another step back, he motioned to Hest, who created a gust of wind behind her which tossed her into Leo. Without thinking twice, he pulled her in. She attempted to avoid what she thought would be a full-mouth kiss, but in doing so exposed her neck. More than tempted to inflict pain on sight and pain on contact, he ran his tongue against the entirety of her neck and moved upwards over her chin. Before he could get further, she stomped his inside leg and shoved him off, forcibly. He released and squinted in pain before he stood, irritated and only a step away from her.
As she took a breath, he stepped into a backhanded slap which tossed her back against the wall. Drake instantly felt his rage increase, but as soon as he showed signs, he was hit with a punch and Cain wagged a finger.
“Nu-uh. Calm it ‘r get hit.”
“Leo, you…you shit. You’d better stop this or this tournament will end on rough terms between you and I.” Drake frowned and did his best to reduce his pulse. “She didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
“Oh, she did.” Leo wiped his mouth and gestured for Vyre and Hest to walk in towards her. “She did. And now she’s going to meet the ultimate sacrifice for having inflicted pain on a Prince of Fire.” He waved a hand and nodded. “You two may have your way with her.”
Leo took two steps back and watched as Vyre shoved her against the wall and began to remove articles of clothing. She began to struggle, and that’s when Hest got involved, and rather poorly. They had succeeded at removing several small strips of her inner tunic before she had shoved them both aside and fell hysterically to the ground. She struggled to rise, but Hest levitated her on her feet as Vyre took the offensive and pulled her back to him via her hair. She shrieked and screamed as Hest used wind to pin her against the wall. Leo’s face seemed to pierce with fury as he approached her. He reached her and suddenly took hold of the underside of her neck with his hand.
“I swear, if you scream one more God damn time, I’ll stab that pretty little neck of yours. Do you understand me?” He shook his head. “Why won’t you just surrender, if you can?”
“I…I can’t…” Tracy dropped her head. “…do your worst. The others will escape…D-Drake will still win.”
He took out his knife and twirled it once in his hands before he began to get it closer and closer to her neck. She struggled to remain quiet, but the tears had already escaped her eyes and she was searching for a way out. She couldn’t concentrate to cast, and casting would lead to worse fates.
“This is how you remove clothing, gentlemen. Seriously, you guys are the worst at this kind of stuff. First thing you have to do is this.” Leo appeared to be ready to cut through the fabrics of the upper tunic when he leaned closer, snuck a short kiss on her, then tossed her onto the middle of the room floor. He practically jumped on her and was about to begin to cut. She tossed him off and rose to her feet, but Hest held her in place with yet another wind spell.
“Oh for the Lord’s sake. Sit still and this will be quick.” Leo walked up to her and smacked her clean across the face.
Oddly enough, the slap didn’t seem to do much of anything. She winced, but then blinked in surprise. Leo frowned and shrugged before he attempted to cut through the fabric, but found his knife unable to pierce it.
“…what?” Leo frowned and turned to Drake. “Take him out, he’s doing something. I’ve had it with this. This tourney ends for him, now.”
Cain’s eyes widened and he pulled back for another punch.
“Whenev’r you ready to surrender, man.”
“No, no, wait! I’m not doing this!” Drake got punched again, and he let out a groan of pain as Cain pulled back for another.
Leo attempted to cut into her fabric again, but still had no luck.
“There’s no way.” Leo frowned. “You…you slut!” He was enraged. He whipped out his wand in a second’s notice and pointed it directly into her face. “Now we’ll see if you can withstand incineration, all right? Burn!” He nodded his head. “Hest, Vyre; if she doesn’t surrender, she will die!”
Hest and Vyre followed up by pointing their wands at her. They were about to cast when a blinding light took all of them by surprise; it emanated from her. They took steps back and peered out when the light subsided. They could see Lance standing directly between them and her.
Drake was freed; Cain appeared to have been knocked unconscious by a light spell prior to the revelation. Leo pulled up his wit in an instant and fired an incineration spell, with Hest and Vyre close behind with blades of air and a bolt of electricity. Lance outstretched his hands and allowed the incineration to burn away part of his shoulder, the blades to rip away some of his torso, and the bolt to hit him square in the chest. The magicians continued to cast spells, though some aimed at Tracy as she stood behind the monk. When a spell was not aimed at him, Lance moved purposefully and ungracefully into the way, so the spells would hit him. But no matter how forceful the fireball, how powerful the blade of wind, or how electrifying the bolt, he rose back to take the damage once again. Finally, he seemed to wilt under the pressure and the three Lords took in their energies for final spells, as they were taught to do under this situation.
Leo shot heat at Lance, but the monk raised one hand and the heat stopped in its tracks. The large bolt of electricity weaved with the heat in front of Lance as it, too, was stopped, and the blades of air subsided upon contact with the monk as he angrily looked up at the three of them and cringed as he held the spells in place. With nearly a roar, Lance released his hand and the three spells exploded into a wave of light that knocked all three Lords back and onto the floor. Lance’s shoulders relaxed and he stood up straight, once more.
As silence filtered into the room, the Lord magicians rose onto their feet and merely held their wands at the ready. Leo swallowed and slowly dropped his wand arm. He placed the wand back into his pocket and sidestepped toward the open window. Lance looked angrily at the three as they all did the same. Silently, Leo raised both of his hands and nervously swallowed again.
“…be cool, Lance…be cool.”
Lance looked down and grit his teeth before he raised an arm and pointed toward the opening. He looked back up at Leo, almost exclusively, and restrained himself from casting a spell.
“Get…out.”
The Lords of magic left quickly, having left Oliver Cain inside, next to Drake. After she was sure they had gone, Tracy fell to her knees and Drake rushed over to her and practically shielded her with his arms. In another moment, he looked up at Lance, and in a paranoid fashion, pointed a threatening finger at him.
“You’d better not be here to finish us off, and if you are, be quick about it for goodness’ sakes!”
Lance sighed.
“Drake Irving. If I were here to finish you off, would I not have simply allowed that ugliness to unfold?”
Drake blinked as he looked up into the slowly curving smile of Lance’s, before he released Tracy from his grasp and stood face-to-face with the monk. He was passive as ever.
“You saved us…you…saved her.” Drake frowned. “Why?”
Lance shrugged and lightly shook his head.
“They say…true love conquers all, hm?” Lance nodded once at Drake, almost asking if he knew that saying. “If I were in your position, I think I would want someone to come give me a hand. No good story ends in tragedy, is that not true?” Lance smiled and put a hand on Drake’s shoulder. “I will not have Leo putting ladies into distress any longer during this tournament. Even if it means I must physically appear myself, to stop it.”
Drake swallowed as Lance released his shoulder. Almost feeling compelled to do so, Drake slowly fell to his knees in front of Lance and bowed his head. Tracy looked at Drake, then peered up at Lance and followed suit. Lance let out a quick sigh of irritation and lifted his hand.
“No, no, no – stand up, stand up you two.”
They did as they were told. Tracy had to smile at the idea of this monk having saved them both for no apparent reason. Drake also grinned.
“Fine. But Lance, just know that you are a much better man than I…who admittedly would have allowed the other team to lose.”
“I would not be so sure, Drake Irving.” Lance turned to leave through the same opening. “You are a good man, Drake. We are both flawed in different ways. But let us both strive to be…perfect, yes?”
Tracy walked up to the monk before he left and fully embraced him.
“Thanks for that. Without you, we’d be done.” Tracy let go and had to give a sarcastic grin. “But don’t think we’ll hand over the win to you now.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Lance smiled and waved a hand. “Until we meet again.” And he levitated out the window and became wrapped in blinding light as he walked back to the Locked Arena.