Chapter 6
The Elemental Trio
The entire Mess Hall fell into complete silent as Seva was sent flying across the room. He fell back first against the plywood floor. The students occupying a nearby table jumped away from their seats in shock.
Seva got unsteadily to his feet with the help of Xander and Hummel. He glared at his assailant, pure loathe and anger burning in his eyes. "YOU LITTLE TRASH!"
Tasia stood in front of the still sprawling Hellena. Her right hand clenched into a reddened fist, pointing directly at Seva.
"Can you stand?" Tasia asked with a calm voice. Hellena raised her head up and looked at Tasia with eyes flooding in tears. Without another word, Tasia grabbed her by the elbow and helped her up from the floor.
"Tasia, what have you done?" Kyro stammered in shock. And not just him, everyone in the Mess Hall were staring at the 16 years-old Tasia with shock and disbelief.
"Did she just…"
"She just punched Seva…a 1st Class…"
"Had she lost her mind?"
The Mess Hall was filled with chattering of students, but Tasia remained oblivious towards them. Her eyes glared defiantly at the Elemental Trio.
"First of, you three just ruined my lunchtime. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"What's that!?" Hummel exclaimed.
"You better take back what you just said before it is too late, little floozy." Xander hissed.
Tasia took off her purple Academy-issued jacket, revealing the black short-sleeved t-shirt she wore underneath. An image of a golden dire wolf's head was printed at the front of her attire; the image was actually the insignia that was used by her late father when he was a soldier.
She then removed a pair of protective, fingerless fighter gloves from her jacket; which also had the same dire wolf insignia located at the back of the hands.
After putting on both of her gloves, Tasia threw her jacket over to Sakura. "Hold that for me will you?"
Tasia then continued talking to the Elemental Trio. "And second of all. The name's Tasia, if you clowns must know. Although, I believe you'll forget it soon enough, because I'm going to hit your head really hard."
"Trashy bitch! Don't get cocky just because you've landed a lucky strike!" Seva spat in disgust.
Tasia was going to step forward, but then Kyro ceased her by the arm.
"Tasia. You better stop this at once." warned Kyro.
"And I suppose you're going to stop me?"
"This isn't like one of your everyday sparring practice. They are 1st Class Young Magisters, and they are ranked among the ten strongest students in the Academy."
"I just can't see your point. And besides…" Tasia looked at Hellena again, sitting on the bench quietly with Sakura, who was trying to console the girl.
"They've gone too far this time."
Kyro tightened his hold on Tasia's arm. "You can't win against all three of them, Tasia. You're just a…"
Even as a boy, Kyro's strength was nothing for Tasia. She easily shrugged his hand off of her, and she countered by grabbing on the collar of Kyro's shirt.
"A 2nd Class? A lower class student? Is that it?"
She pulled Kyro's head closer to hers, and spat out her words directly at his face. "Listen to me carefully. I may not be as strong as you guys, but I'm nothing like you. I'm not some coward who would just sit back and watch as their friends get hurt."
Tasia shoved Kyro to the bench where Sakura and Hellena were sitting on. The boy didn't retorted back, instead he remained quiet, stunned by Tasia's verbal assault.
"Tasia." Sakura suddenly called her. "Just don't get hurt, okay?"
Tasia nodded "And you better stay as far from here as you can. This might get ugly."
"Leg it, floozy!" barked Hummel. "You can't fight all three of us at once!"
"You know, it's been a whole since I had such a good exercise. I could use one right now." Tasia said, cracking her knuckles as she strode towards the Elemental Trio.
"You have some serious death wish, that's for sure." Seva growled.
"All this time, I have no qualms about you three being the Academy's number one douchebags. But, now…. You've hurt my friend… And I won't forgive anyone that tries to hurt my friends!"
And so, Tasia vaulted towards Seva, Xander and Hummel. The trio dropped into their fighting stances, with Hummel taking the lead.
"You're not getting anywhere close to Seva." Hummel said, a yellowish aura began to envelop his right arm.
"Fine! I'll start with you first, baldy!"
"Mons Brachium!"
Tasia threw a direct center punch, to which Hummel had blocked easily with his right arm. Surprisingly for Tasia, the yellow aura on Hummel's arm had vanished, and was replaced with a giant shield-like gauntlet entirely made of gravel.
"You have to hit harder than that if you want to break my shield!"
"Aqua Verbere!" Xander chanted aloud.
Tasia was about to launch a second attack on Hummel, when she felt a tight nudge on her stomach. A tendril made entirely out of clear water had silently snaked up her body and coiled itself around her waist. She turned around and saw that the water tendril was rooted to the ground behind her like a tree.
"Upsy daisy, little floozy!" Xander raised his index finger up. The tendril catapulted Tasia into the air; splinters flew and plates and mugs scattered to the floor as she came crashing down on a table four rows away from where the Trio were standing.
"Tasia!" Sakura cried out, thinking that Tasia had fallen unconscious.
"Ouch. That actually stings." Tasia grunted.
"I'll make sure you stay down this time!" Xander shouted. "Aqua Verbere!"
Another water tendril emerged from the floor nearby and brought itself towards Tasia like a deadly guillotine. Without a second to lose, Tasia quickly back flipped herself off the table and landed on another table next to it. The tendril whipped heavily against the first table, splitting it into half with ease, spraying hundreds of splinters against Tasia's face. If she was a few seconds late, the water whip would've smashed her bones into pieces.
"Not bad. See how you dodge this." Seva said, taking a stand in front of Hummel and Xander. The Trio's leader clapped his hands together, dozens of ball of flames began to float around him.
"Ignis Avem!"
Seva spread his arms in a wide arc. The flames then shaped themselves into a flock of eagles. The birds flew towards Tasia, their burning bodies were ready to strike Tasia down.
Hellena almost screamed in terror when one of the scorching birds reached Tasia's head, but then the young fighter managed to sidestep backwards in the nick of time and the eagle hit the floor instead of its target, leaving a trail of ember in its fall.
The other fire eagles came raining down on Tasia one after another, and she evaded them with a few leaps and sidesteps. Not a single one managed to put even a little sear on her.
Hellena took a small time to glance around the Mess Hall. After the fight between Tasia and the Elemental Trio had commenced, all of the students, including herself had a line of spectators at the right and left end of the room. A crowd of 1st Class Young Magisters have gathered around the edge of the mezzanines to watch the intensive battle.
Even though everyone was paying attention to the fight, not a single one of them bothered to cheer nor boo; not even the 1st Class students. She could only here constant mumbles and whispers among the students.
"She'll get herself killed."
"No kidding. She can't even get close to them."
"Shouldn't somebody call the High Magisters?"
"What's the point? By the time they're informed of this, she's a goner."
Of all the conversations Hellena has overheard, none of the students seemed to putting their winning bets on Tasia. Even so, none of them were siding with bullies neither. It was just that, they believed that Tasia had no chance of winning against such uneven odds, especially when her opponents were three 1st Class students.
Hellena dropped her gaze down on her trembling hands. All of this happened; Tasia attacked Seva because of her. Because the bully had hurt Hellena. The feeling of guilt overwhelmed her. From the beginning, everything had happened because of her.
"This is all my fault…If I hadn't just… If I could just…" Hellena's thoughts mumbled.
Then a gentle touch knocked her back into reality. Hellena lifted her head up and she saw Sakura resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't you worry, Hellena." said Sakura assuringly. "Tasia will win."
Hellena was surprised. Sakura was the first person among the crowd who believed that Tasia can defeat the Trio.
"That airhead. What's is she up to?" Kyro said as he observed Tasia with concentration. "She's not even trying to get close to them. It's like she's evading those attacks on purpose. Don't tell me she's evaluating the flexibility of Seva's magic."
From Kyro's theory, Hellena had noticed that Tasia was only dodging Seva's attack and not even once did she attempted to get close to her opponent even when there was an opening or two. From sideway dashes to zigzagged leaps, side dives to backflips, every time she performed different evasive maneuvers, and at the same time the fire birds also change their attack patterns. But still, they couldn't hit Tasia.
"Well, Tasia may be clueless when it comes to desk assignments. But, in a fight like this, she is way a lot smarter than you and me." Sakura smirked.
"If she knew about the nature of Elemental Magic, then she'll probably know that trying to strain them of their Mana would be futile." Kyro explained.
"Although, it's not like Tasia is using any of her Mana, right?" Sakura added.
Kyro gave Sakura a look of disbelief.
"Didn't you noticed it? I thought you were more observant than I am."
"No way…" Kyro's eyes widened in disbelief. "All this time…she has never used her magic?"
Now it was Hellena's turn to go into shock. Since that Sakura had mentioned it, she never did saw Tasia casting any form of offensive nor defensive magic. Either she had casted a magic to boost her speed or reflexes is highly unlikely because she was only moving at a regular human speed.
Hellena gathered her confidence, and spoke. "Umm…Sakura, is it?" she successfully caught Sakura's attention. "Just what is…her magic? What's…Tasia's magic?"
A thin, yet bright smile etched across Sakura's face. "Oh, you'll see if for yourself soon. And like I said before, Tasia is going to win this. Trust me."
"One way or another…" Kyro muttered, his eyes were glancing over the mezzanine floor where the 1st Class have gathered. "…this isn't going to end well."
Hellena followed Kyro's glance, where she saw a very odd-looking figure standing among the crowd of 1st Class who were spectating from above. She couldn't get a clear view of the person since he was standing on the other side of the Mess Hall. Still, Hellena could make a rough description of the figure, which she believed to be a young male.
And unlike the other male students, who wore red overgarments, this person donned a white trench coat.
Seva's onslaught came to a halt, and so Tasia stopped backing away any further. The two opponents stood still, eye to eye. Seva's chest was heaving a little, Tasia was absolutely calm and in control.
Smirking, Tasia taunted her opponent. "Out of breath already? So much for a bunch of 'elites'."
"Idiot!" Seva spat in disgust. A tiny flame ignited in the palm of his hand. "In case a klutz like you didn't know, Elemental magic consumes external Mana more than the user's own Mana. You just made a grave mistake if you were planning to wear us out."
"You can't win, little floozy!" Xander cackled fiendishly.
"From the beginning, you had zero chance of winning! A pathetic 2nd Class could never be at the same level as us!" Hummel barked.
"That's right." Seva said. Pointing his flaming right hand at Tasia, he crushed the still-burning fire with his hand, extinguishing it with ease. "You're nothing. Just like this flame! A small candlelight that is waiting to be put out by a powerful wind like us."
"Lucky for you, though. I myself am a very generous person." Seva said with a mocking glee. "It's not too late yet. I'll give you one last chance. Get down on your knees and bow. And perhaps I might consider to let you off easily."
The crowd once again fell into silence, fixing their eyes on Tasia to see what her next move will be. As for Tasia, she was now as stiff as a pole, her eyes gazed down on the floor.
"Bow?" Tasia muttered. The young girl shot the Trio a hard and defiant glare. "To the likes of you? A bunch of typical hypocrites!"
"What did you just say!?" Seva exclaimed furiously.
"What good are those powers of yours, if you can't even use them properly? You three, always go on and on, blabbering about your strength, self-proclaiming yourself as elites. What a load of crap! All you ever was pushing everyone else around. Stepping on their heads as you see fit, and you refer them as 'trash'. Well, it is you who has made a mistake!"
"A strong Magister, needs to have respect for his power and everyone around him, and use that power to protect those who are in need. Without this, he has no right to be called a Magister." Tasia repeated the exact words that her late father had said to her.
Tasia pointed an index finger directly towards Seva, Xander, and Hummel. With a high and powerful voice, she shouted. "You three are the real garbage here! Do you hear me!?"
"YOU LITTLE SCUM!" Seva cursed, couldn't bear to hold his anger any longer. Raising his hand up in the air, he conjured a large flame in his palm. The flame then reshaped itself into a sphere of the size of a human head.
"I tried to make this easy for you, but you just had to do this the hard way! Fine then! I'll just have to turn you into cinders!"
Seva readied himself to throw his fireball.
"I dodged your attacks before, I can do it again!"
But this time Tasia couldn't leap backwards. Her legs wouldn't obey her, as if her legs had been rooted to the ground. When she looked down, she was shocked to realize that her feet has been covered in a thick crust of hard earth.
"Feel our true power- the group combo of the Elemental Trio!" Hummel shouted.
"NOW YOU DIE! IGNIS MALLEUM!" Seva swung his arm and threw the fireball towards Tasia.
With Tasia being stuck at a specific spot, the fireball successfully hit its designated target and exploded, engulfing Tasia in towering inferno.