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Chapter 10: Blossom
Earlier
Amity narrowed her eyes at her teammates. "Do I make myself clear on the plan?"
"Yeah. Yeah. We got this.
"It rinses and repeats like all the other times. One of them doesn't even have hands."
"Don't underestimate them. I wouldn't put the possibility of cheating past them." The mint-haired witch narrowed her eyes at Shirou and Luz in the stands, now wearing strange helmets. 'What are they up to?'
Her team raised brows at her new level of intensity compared to past classes.
Skara played a few notes on her harp. "Everything alright, Amity? It's obvious that you explicitly challenged Willow today."
The Construction student Bracks shrugged. "Yeah, Amity. Besides, Bloodgood oversees these games to a tee. My toe was slightly out of bounds, and I was eliminated."
"I highly doubt that they would risk getting punished for cheating," commented the Illusion member named Clara.
Amity looked at each of them, unfazed by their comments. "Keep your eyes peeled. I'm going to win this."
"You meant 'we,' right?"
"Whatever." Blight waved them off.
Dropping the subject, the team got into their ready position.
"Empire! Rebels. Ready or not!" Bloodgood slammed his fist against the ground. "Begin!"
Group 1
The pair of construction teens enthusiastically jumped into the fray northward. After jumping over a dirt wall, the team noticed a purple aura spreading over the entire field. They braced for any immediate effect, only for nothing to happen. The purple magic took shape of a dome over the field before fading from sight.
Bracks turned to his buddy Athan. "What do you think that was?"
"Might be illusion magic to distract us. Let's go!" Just as the duo turned a corner, a blue star fell toward them. "Scatter!" Trails of restraining tape exploded outward. They followed the duo but narrowly missed them.
Bracks punched the ground, summoning a dirt barrier over their heads. "What the heck was that? Did you see anyone?"
"No." Athan peeked around the corner, trying to find anything. "I can't see them."
"They're not even in the line of sight." They both flinched as another artillery shot rocked against their makeshift fort.
Athan tried to sneak ahead closer. He pressed his back against a wall, hoping to avoid getting spotted. Athan was halfway to the next trench when he spotted another blast heading his way. Like his friend, he summoned a dirt barrier which was soon blasted to dust, sending him back. Unfortunately for him, the strands of tape homed in on it's clear target, restraining him by his ankles. On the ground, he snarled, confused at the situation. It was only the beginning, but Athan was already out. Where was the other team? "How did they know where I was?"
Back at Willow's base, Celine sat cross-legged with both hands on a crystal ball. Her eyes glowed violet as she focussed on her magic. "Eighty Meters. Fifteen degrees, right."
To Shirou's suggestion, she created a rudimentary network of magical energy over the playing field. By limiting her focus to this bounded space, she could better track the movement of large objects inside the dome every 10 seconds. Even at her skill level of scrying, there was a margin of error of 5 meters. Thankfully her teammate could compensate for that margin.
Behind her, Viney slowly charged another bolt of concentrated magical energy. Who knew her long hours of playing catch with Puddles could be used in class? Instead of a typical beam, this projection would act more like a ball. After being given the location of their target, Viney aimed and fired the condensed bolt that soon arced toward the enemy. Like a mortar shot, the bolt exploded in an air burst of enchanted tape on impact.
As they continued firing shot after shot, across the field, the rest of their team would have a good estimate of the location of all the enemy positions.
Group 2
Clara and Darnell traversed the south end. Within the first minute, their other teammates started getting bombarded by the magic mortars.
Darnel whistled. "Looks like the other team has some new tricks."
"True, but we're not gonna be fooled that easily."
Since they couldn't spot the caster, they played a safe bet. Both crafted a couple of copies. Unlike a certain classmate, their copies weren't autonomous. With a little shuffle, the mixed group maneuvered their way across the battlefield.
To their merit, it seemed that the solid copies could fool whoever was shooting at them. Only their clones ended up getting shot at. As soon as the tape bound one, it dissipated into nothingness.
Once more behind cover, the two smirked. "We got this in the bag." With a gesture, they sent out a decoy trio wielding balls of flame to fish out the opponent's ground teams.
After a few seconds, they heard someone yelp. That was their cue. They climbed over the wall and crouched at the ready, tapes drawn.
Barcus downs an orange potion, and electricity arcs off his body. With lightning-fast reflexes, he weaves toward them.
The two members of the illusion coven engaged while also creating afterimages of themselves.
To their surprise, Barcus never once charged toward a clone. Insane flexibility allowed him to avoid their concussive magic blasts. For some reason, though, he never once struck at them. Instead, he gave lovetaps to their chest plates. In exchange for speed, power must be sacrificed.
With each dodge and weave, Clara and Darnell were pushed back toward a wall. Seeing that they couldn't back up anymore, they realized something was up.
Bo popped out from behind pillars. Earlier, Shirou seemed informed about the nature of illusion magic. Illusions and projections are only as accurate as the caster makes them. The more senses affected the more complex the illusion. For the illusion duo, their copies neither reacted to their senses nor gave off an emotional aura.
Before Clara and Darnell could retreat, a blue construct cut off their first escape path. What happened next was surreal. A bottle of green smoke burst at their feet. They coughed as the strange concoction filled their lungs. When their eyes cleared, the world around them shifted to shades of green.
"I'm out!" Needing a new vantage point, Clara sucked in her breath, drew a circle, and closed her eyes. This left Darnell as the only visible enemy when she vanished from sight.
"Coward!" Just as he was about to craft another solid illusion to chase the dog and witch off, Barcus chucked a yellow bottle at his feet, eyes closed with Bo to his side, covering his ears and doing the same. As soon as the contents contacted the air, they ignited.
When a sound comparable to multiple cymbals crashing together and a flash comparable to a professional-grade camera goes off one meter on a person granted temporary night vision, the effect is near instant.
Darnell falls to his knees, rubbing at his eyes. Seconds felt like an eternity when all he could see was bright white. In his blinded state, he could feel himself getting grabbed, thrown to the ground, and held down. As expected, when his senses returned to normal, he found himself bound with Barcus sitting on his back with a look of superiority. Bo looked smug as she took a photo of his state with her scroll. "Don't you dare post that!"
Bo grinned as she hit send with him tagged. "Dammit, Clara!"
Group 3
Bloodgood yelled over the arena. "Rebels are up 6 to 4! Let's see if the Empire can turn this around."
A rather paranoid Amity watched from her base the first few minutes of the competition. She wasn't sure how, but that strange purple dome combined with the unorthodox engagements screamed foul play. "Skara, get ready. We're going after their head."
The pinkish-gray-haired girl seemed uneasy. Looking outside, she didn't feel confident in a forward assault. "Wouldn't it be better to stay behind and support the others? They're not doing too well."
"They'll be fine," dismissed Amity. "What matters is that we storm the base and stop those tape bombs." She smirked. "After that, leave willow to me."
"... If you say so."
"Go ahead and start the distraction. Our team will need it."
"Alright." Taking a breath, she started pulling at the harp's strings.
Cue Song of Storms*
Dark clouds appeared within the bounded field. The air grew cold as the winds picked up. Slowly, the sky rumbled before releasing a torrent of rainfall.
Amity could see the result in real-time. Mortar shots veered off course and away from their teammates. The wind and rain slowly chipped away at the enemy's base and trenches. She had them now. "Let's go."
With her abomination up front, it easily pushed away the weakened barriers for a straight shot across the field.
Along the way, they spotted a bolt of lightning fly toward Bo. She took her chances and dove to her right with no time to make a shield. When the bolt struck, there wasn't the expected burning or explosion of duse. Unknown to Bo, it was all an illusion, and her left hand crossed the boundary line.
Bloodgood was immediately on the scene and declared her eliminated.
Back at base, Viney and Celine had abandoned the mortar strategy. The large storm was making the play near impossible. After hearing about Bo's elimination, the two decided to head out and support Barcus. Feeling the other team converging toward their base, Celine started preparing her spirit to summon.
Jerbo and Willow were left behind. Since the start, they felt on edge.
The young man gripped his pot. "Are we sure about this?"
The girl nodded, holding her abomination cauldron. "Everyone has a part to play, even us." She got down to one knee. "For a long time, I thought Amity was right, that I'm just Half-a-Witch Willow."
He attached a few potion bottles to his waist, handing Willow her own. "You know Amity is gunning for you."
"I know. She'll want to face me alone." Willow gestured to the right side of the field. "While that's going on, we need you to support the others so we can all regroup." Taking a breath, her eyes glowed green, animating her hybrid abomination.
Slowly but surely, she heard the notes of a harp grow louder and louder, even with the ongoing storm.
Unfazed by the water, Amity marches through the front entrance without worry, her Abomination following. Behind, Skara looked more drenched a little frazzled. She seemed to have gotten on the wrong side of a Shadow Spirit. "Skara, leave us. Take care of Jerbo over there."
The girl and boy nodded, understanding the rather personal situation happening between their leaders. The two rounded a corner, and once out of sight, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Jerbo looked at Skara. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be doing this right now."
Skara blew away a stray wet hair over her face. "Honestly, me too. Amity has been really sour the entire time. She almost made me take a tape missile for her."
Jerbo grimaced. "Harsh. Wanna double eliminate to get it over with?"
Skara took a moment to think it over. "Maybe. However, I want to see what happens with Willow and Amity."
"Sit and watch till the end?"
The girl smirked and held out a hand. "Deal."
Amity crossed her arms, glaring at the former friend in front of her. "You knew this was coming, Willow. There's no way you were able to beat me without cheating. Now, it's time for me to show everyone who is the top student."
Willow glowered. "That's what all this is about. For years, you kept backhandedly encouraging me to do better. Up until a point, maybe you did mean it, but now it's clear to me." She gestured to the hybrid abomination standing next to her "As soon as I do better, all you care about is your lousy class ranking."
Thunder crashed in the background. "You wouldn't understand. I needed to be the best for the sake of my future. Nothing can hold me back."
The blue-haired girl felt a pang of pity before scoffing. "How much are you willing to push away for this ambition? Maybe I don't want to know if our friendship wasn't worth the effort."
"I've worked too hard for it all to come down. Besides, we've already taken care of most of your team."
"We can say the same about yours," Willow countered.
"A minor setback. I don't know how you managed to pull that off. More help from that Shirou guy?"
"This is a school. I didn't learn from just him but from all my friends. Unlike you, I'm not doing this on my own."
'I can only rely on myself.' "It doesn't matter." Amity pointed to her intensely. "You're next, Willow!"
A hand tightened around a seed. Was it too late to talk her down? Maybe this would be the only way for her to listen. "Amity!"
By the passion of their will, the abomination goo of tightened like muscles. Willow's abomination stepped forward.
"Oh? Even though your team has a little chance of winning, you're coming right at me instead of surrendering?"
"I'm not taking your nonsense any longer."
Amity glared at the slight jab. "Attack!"
The two abominations closed the distance between them, entering a grappling situation. At first, their strength seems on par, but one would notice the increased strain on Amity compared to Willow.
'Why won't it move? It's as if that thing is planted in the ground.' Changing tactics, her abomination disengaged before landing a fist at the other's face. "You're too slow! My abomination is superior. Its speed far exceeds that of yours."
With their limited combat experience, the two used their golems as proxies in their novice fistfight. Not even Shirou could give proper verbal fighting advice for someone of Willow's demeanor.
Willow brought up the forearms, now tanking the flurry of blows. "Maybe, but mine is stronger in other areas." Slowly, bark started growing, acting like plate armor.
"You used plant magic in your abomination!?" Amity backed up in confusion. "That… That's…"
"Technically not against the rules." Seeing that the cat was out of the bag, Willow allowed the abomination goo to fall off. In its place, a flexible moss grew.
Amity stared at the golem made entirely of plants. "How? Why are you so stubborn about admitting defeat?"
"I could say the same about you."
The mint-haired girl darkened. With a trembling hand, she whipped her arm, drawing a large spell circle.
Willow paused her eyes. "What are you…?"
"No hesitation..." An evocation of flames spurred forth, engulfing most of Willow's abomination.
Willow jumped away from the heat. "No!" The fire blast lasted a few seconds, but the effectiveness was clear. When the flames faded, the once lush golem hobbled. The wooden pieces broke away into coals, causing them to fall over. Only its head remained intact, but embers slowly crawled their way there.
Like this morning, Amity walked over, stared at the flower, and crushed it. "Good riddance." She stepped toward Willow with a hollow smile, binding tape in hand. "I win."
Willow stood still as she approached, her mind racing. Her hand clutched onto her last chance: Luz's seed, her hope. She grasped hope in her hand and took a deep breath. With the remnants of her determination, a green aura washed over her body, igniting her eyes.
The sudden change gave Amity pause. "What is-"
In a swift motion of her hand, she drew a spell circle. "Blossom!"
The entire school shook. Originating from a single seed, massive roots, vines, and leaves engulfed the entire campus.
Shirou had sensed the change in the air similar to earlier this morning. "Oh my…" Plant transmutation of this caliber didn't come from your average mage. Perhaps, Willow could do well with more guidance from him. Shirou quickly projected a pair of black and white falchions, slicing the approaching plant fibers to shreds.
Unfazed by the magic, thanks to her servant's protection, Luz jumped to her feet and cheered. "Go, Willow! That's what I'm talking about, baby!"
That was the last thing Amity heard before her vision went dark. It sounded impossible, but Willow transformed everything into a jungle.
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