Christian Miles & Zane Reav
Battle Royale
Zane was ready, he had been briefed on what the school was and he knew that there were others like him, well, sorta. Apparently, he was a bit unique even among these people called "Mancers" or whatever. He didn't care, at least he didn't right now. The only thing that mattered to him was that he was supposed to duel some kid named Christian Miles. For some reason it sounded like a rich kid name to him, kinda like when someone's first name is James. It just sounds rich, that's all there is to it.
Zane didn't worry about the name for long though, as his mind quickly became attached to the idea of planning for the duel. It was just something he felt inclined to do, and knowing Zane he wouldn't leave it alone if he was interested in it. Originally, his plan involved using one of the fields with all boulders. He figured it would be harder to attack, but he could play defense as hard as he wanted, which was one of the things he preferred. After all, it was pretty difficult to fight back when blinded and deaf for ten or so seconds. Unfortunately, both of those fields were claimed by two of the quicker pairs, which aggravated Zane to no end. That left him with much worse choices, in his opinion. The water field and air field were too unstable to have any consistent attack, while the fire and metal field were really open nullifying most of his defenses. In the end he figured the metal field would probably provide the most for him. If he wasn't going to be able to use his defenses fully he would make do, even if it meant taking collateral damage.
Moments later, Zane walked off to inspect the metal cage that surrounded one of the fields. That's when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to notice another boy, approximately his age from the looks of it, just standing there.
"So, you Zane Reav?" asked Christian.
"Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. I'm Zane. So I guess you're Christian? You willing to have a cage fight?" Zane pointed at the metal field, smiling.
Christian nodded in affirmation. Christian knew that he could have an advantage in the cage, nowhere to run or hide in a cage, which played to his liking. It only took a couple of clean hits and he could beat anyone. All he had to do was force this Zane kid to play close and the match was as good as his. A small grin managed to show through his cool exterior, clearly indicating his competitive nature was starting to flare.
They both started to walk into the cage before noticing the loud noises and splashes of the other matches. Regardless of who you were it was unnerving to think about it. The cries and cheers from one of the matches were also intensifying both Zane and Christian's composure. That's when they noticed many of the aforementioned crowd was starting to gather around them. Whispers could be heard from a handful of them.
"Are these guys the ones in the rumors?"
"I heard only one set shows up every fifty years."
"I wonder if it's true about them being crazy strong."
These were the kinds of things that could be heard from the crowd, but neither Zane nor Christian paid much attention to it. They could only focus on the task at hand. Each had their own reason for being here, and they both didn't want to accept a loss so early on in the school year. Zane's breathing became heavier as one of the teachers, an older man that he heard was called Paul Sandford, began counting down.
"Good Luck." Zane gestured.
"Luck? I don't need luck." Christian retorted.
As soon as the countdown hit zero Christian launched an enormous attack. A large all-encompassing wave of darkness shot out of him. The attack was way too fast for anyone to react to, but it also caught the crowd. The people in the front probably only felt a pressure wave, since the cage should have taken quite a bit of the blow, but Zane wasn't as lucky. He was struck full force and was launched back into the cage behind him. His frame left an indent in the metal to match the blow. Ironically, the cage hurt more than actually attack, but the wave pushed him with a surprising amount of force.
Once Zane regained his composure and gave the teacher a thumbs-up to signify he was alright. Right then and there Zane knew this wasn't a joke and that he'd have to pull out all the stops if he wanted to win. He took a traditional stance that he had practiced, both feet parallel, one arm outstretched, finger gun aimed. The pose reminded him of aiming a shotgun; touch the barrel to the object and shoot. That was literally the best way to describe it. Christian gave a look of astonishment to what he was witnessing. That's when Zane muttered the word "bang" and a beam of light struck Christian faster than his eyes could register the shot. The shot landed firmly on Christian's left shoulder, and upon further inspection the shot went clear through his shoulder, just like a bullet.
Christian grabbed his shoulder for a few seconds before prepping his next spell. A shroud of darkness started to envelop Christian until he was completely covered. After casting the spell he just stood there, nonchalantly watching the crowd, who seemed stunned. Zane wasn't even sure what was going on with this new spell so he fired off a few more light beams to see if they'd do anything. A bit to his surprise the shots went straight through Christian, almost as if wasn't even there. Two more shots were fired to confirm what Zane pretty much already knew.
"You know, it won't help to waste your time shooting me. When I'm like this I'm untouchable."
It didn't make sense to Zane. If Christian couldn't be hit then why wasn't he attacking himself? There had to be a catch, that or this Christian kid was one of the types who made their opponent realize how hopeless their chances were. The latter didn't seem likely, 'cause those types took every chance to talk that they could.
"You can't hit me either, can you?"
Christian didn't say anything to that statement, which pretty much confirmed Zane's suspicions.
"Heh, I bet that means you can't stay like that very long, especially if you want to win."
Christian knew it was only a matter of time before his Shadow Forme would give out, which left him with only a couple of options to retaliate. The wound from the gunshot earlier was also starting to take a toll on his left arm. He decided to give one last blitz to give him the advantage and, hopefully, the win.
"Don't worry about me. I can stay like this as long as I want to."
He didn't give Zane any time to respond as he disabled his Shadow Forme and launched another one of those Dark Waves. This time the crowd and Zane seemed prepared for it as they braced for the attack, but the attack was just a distraction for Christian to get close enough to use his clutch spell. Shadows and darkness surrounded his hands resembling vicious tiger claws. Christian was only a few feet away from Zane at this point and in a single moment made a quick slashing motion with both of his hand-claws. Zane was caught off guard, just as Christian had planned. One of the claws connected with Zane's right hand, cutting it rather severely. To make matters worse Zane couldn't move his hand anymore, but he couldn't understand why. It wasn't until he looked at Christian that it started to make sense. Christian started to move his left hand, and almost as if connected by a thread Zane's hand mirrored. Somehow Christian's spell had taken over Zane's hand, and it didn't take long for Zane to figure out how bad not having control over his hand could be. Luckily, the arm in control of Zane's hand had been damaged to a point where Christian probably couldn't use it effectively.
Christian didn't wait long to go back on the attack as he started to go for the other hand. The main difference now was that Zane knew what to expect, and as such he could retaliate. Christian wasn't the only one with a trump card, and now was the time for Zane to play them both. The distance between them was only about a foot; Christian was lunging with his right claw when instantly Zane disappeared only to reappear a few feet away. It took a few moments for Christian to realize what happened. Somehow Zane moved at a speed that Christian's eyes couldn't keep track of. That's when Zane really started to make it hard to see him. He'd disappear and reappear constantly, making it nearly impossible to figure out where he was. It eventually got to the point where he was basically circling Christian, almost as if he was playing with him. It was pretty much futile, but Christian swung at thin air trying to predict where Zane would be. Zane realized that Christian was retaliating to his attacks and finally decided to stop playing around. He positioned himself a few feet in front of Christian, making sure he was far enough away. Then his body started to glow. The glow instantly became a flash strong enough to overwhelm any eyes watching, to make it worse the flash was accompanied by a deafening sound wave. Christian collapsed to the ground from sensual overload. Zane simply held a finger gun to Christian's face while he was dazed on the ground, the teacher called the fight instantly and gestured Zane to put his hand down.
The fight was over, and after about thirty seconds Christian regained his senses, realizing he lost. Zane held out his hand to help Christian back to his feet, which he obliged in. A quick pull and Christian was back on his feet. At this point they realized the crowd was speechless before breaking out in applause, which they gave a couple of nonchalant waves to.
"Heck of a fight. If you'd hit my other hand you probably would've won."
"Yeah, it was close. You have to give me a rematch sometime."
"Sure thing."
They quipped back and forth for a while about the match, but their wounds required one of the school nurses to attend to. Zane needed to be checked for broken bones and Christian needed the bullet hole healed. Mr. Sandford escorted them out of the gym towards the infirmary. They both could've sworn they heard someone yell out something about how ridiculous their fight was, which in retrospect it was pretty crazy thinking about magic fights. Mr. Sandford tilted his head to the side a bit.
"That was a pretty good fight you two, but then again I guess it should be expected from you two."
Christian and Zane just looked at each other, puzzled by the old teacher's words.
"Ah, I guess you wouldn't know, but you two are a rarity. Probably the first Luxomancer and Noxamancer since the Bastion twins' way back in World War II. I honestly didn't believe it when Headmaster Vale told me about you two this morning. She told me to specifically judge your match, and I'm glad I did. The match was raw, but the potential was wonderful. That wave spell and light gun were very unique, though a bit cliché I suppose."
They listened intently to Mr. Sandford until they finally arrived at a door with a cross above the door. He gestured that they go inside, which they were hesitant to do.
"Go on, you boys need to be checked on, especially you," he pointed at Christian. "That hole in your shoulder won't go away on its own, you know."
Reluctantly they oblige.
