Thursday November 3rd, 2018

  Hinata felt bad as she left Helo to deal with her monster of a peer. In the few seconds that she fought against Adan she already knew that she was out of her depths. But she also trusts Helo to hold his own, if anyone in their year could contend with the Were-Wolf, its Helo.

  The last thing she sees is Helo’s aura wrap around him like a storm of shadows as he slides on the ground. Then she turns and runs to assist her party. They keep slowly moving back as Allen, Kumar and Adan’s party try and tear them apart.

  Summoning her magic Hinata throws herself right in the middle of the fight. She doesn’t know the name of Adan’s teammates. But she can tell that each one is a powerful physical fighter.

  Wrapping herself in ‘Illusion of Reality’, Hinata uses the glimpse she had of something more to wade into the fight. The illusion isn’t strengthening her, but it is constantly active and following her moves while making its own.

  In this small moment of enlightenment it is like Hinata has two swords, four hands, and eight limbs. Each kick, punch, slash and stab might be real, it might be fake, or it could be both.

  The only way to tell which sword is real is when the sword strikes. ‘Foxfire Imbuement’ glows with a fiery blue as it ignites from within and burns away at the spirit of her foes. Not only is it breaking concentration, but it also weakens auras and can have the effect of burning away mana.

  Hinata makes quick work of Adan’s party member. But it is too little and too late. The man is dragged back by Allan’s gang and healed, only to be sent forward again. No matter how hard Hinata pushes, there is someone there to push back, or take someone else’s place.

  Getting pushed back to the doorway of her mansion Hinata considers calling for a full retreat and taking the fight into the hall of her mansion. At least there the numbers against them won’t mean as much.

  Just before she makes the call. She looks up to see something odd. Pushing the Illusion that has been wrapping her away, it steps forward, while she steps back. Having a second, Hinata looks up at the… “Talisman?”

  The item glows with the light blue light of neutral mana before igniting into a ‘Mana Bolt’ and dropping down into the crowd. Allan is forced to scramble away as the bolt strikes the man next to him.

  Looking back to the sky Hinata can see two more talismans take the place of the first one. “WERE HERE!” Someone shouts from the broken open gate. Worried that another group is here to fight, Hinata prepares to call for their plan ‘T’.

  Then from the gate someone that she barely recognizes appears. It takes Hinata a moment. But she can remember the man from the beginning of the year. Only then he was wearing an old, stained shirt and torn pants. Now he is in extremely well-made clothing that emits the mana signature of enchantments.

  It takes Hinata a moment to remember the man’s name. Her train of thought is scattered as she must dodge an attack and help Rocco. Even if she is lost in her head, her party is still fighting.

  “Ren?” Hinata calls out. The man grins at her and gives a big thumbs up. Ren is the talisman maker that Helo helped deal with Allen, he is the reason Jorden started a protection racket. Behind Ren, a young petit girl that looks like she is fifteen years old steps into view with her arms full of talismans.

  “Yes! And JEN!” Ren calls out with a smile. He then proceeds to rapidly take talismans from his sister’s arms and toss them into the sky. The talismans glow in a rainbow of colors as random elemental attacks start to rain down on the attackers.

  Before her party can start cheering another person steps into the gate. Rohan runs through behind Jen. Beside him swords start to appear one at a time. He launches the weapon forward then summons another. Each weapon is a poorly crafted attempt to resemble a sword, but it works for Rohan’s needs.

  Helo and Rurgrim have yet to meet with him and forge him an assortment of weapons. But he does have one. Holding a nicely made sword in has grip, Rohan charges into the backline of Allen’s gang.

  Getting back into the fight Hinata hopes to quickly crush her opponents so she can go support Helo. What she doesn’t see is Da Chen and his party making their own walking retreat.

  With the gate wide open, more groups are making their attempt to take the flower from their party. Da Chen is doing his best to hold them off, but his party doesn’t have the same strength as Hinata’s or the staying power.

  Falling back into the property Da Chen uses his unique eyes to call out attacks and defenses for his own party. Seeing when someone is gathering their mana and what elements make up their spell, Da Chen is a perfect strategic asset.

  As the first group of fighters; Hinata, Allen, Kumar, and Adan. Meet the next wave of Ren, Jen, Rohan, Da Chen, and the new attacking group. Chaos ensues.

  The mob of people turn into a struggle for survival as five groups of separate fighters meet in the middle of Hinata’s front line. With two separate defending groups and three attacking, it is open season.

  The first to fall is Bibbin. In a heroic move that is far outside his normal personality. Bibbin drops his stealth skill and dives in front of an attack that was meant for Hinata. The attack came from the gate as another batch of fighters enter and try a cheap shot on the leader of the defenders.

  Hinata’s party pushes hard and Bibbin is struck and then disappears as the professors take him away. In their push, Rurgrim’s strength overwhelms Allen’s group in front of him, and he is pulled too far out of place. Being dragged further away from his group, Rurgrim is the next to fall.

  The third is Gabi. With her own unique fighting skill ‘Strength to the Bloody Dancer’, in a prolonged fight like this Gabi is running at max power, but at the same time her regeneration can’t keep up. Both her mana and stamina start to flag.

  Going out with a bang, Gabi leaps forward. Planting her massive axe’s shaft into the ground, she blocks Allen’s finger gun with the head of her axe. Spinning around the planted weapon Gabi dodges a sword thrust. Pulling her axe with her momentum Gabi whips in a circle while stacking ‘Momentous Blow’, ‘Steel Skin’, and ‘Surging Veins’.

  As her strength surges the last of her stamina fades. Whipping in a circle her axe cleaves through the four people surrounding her. At the end of her spin Gabi releases her trusty axe. It sails forward and lodges itself deep into Allen’s chest.

  The man grabs the axe’s shaft with both hands as the head is stuck inside of him. Looking up with wide bulging eyes, blood starts to seep from his mouth as he falls over.

  The last in the party to fall is Arisah. Her own fall is from friendly fire. With so many people trapped within her hedges and vines she starts to drink deeply from their vitality. Before she can go too far Hinata knocks her out.

  Seconds later she yells out. “Retreat!”

  Her entire party uses what little energy they have left to push away their attackers and fall back.

  Stepping out front Hinata calls out. “We will defend our house. But you can take the flower.” Pointing to her right, Hinata gestures to the building that can be seen around the corner of the mansion’s northern wing. This is the wing that has most of the crafting rooms.

  Just as Adan’s group is about to attack Hinata’s party, Alexia Runeglass appears between the attackers and defenders. “Now now now child.” Alexia looks down at the attackers with a stern look.

  “We let this game play out, but when it comes to letting someone be safe within their home, the school takes that very seriously.” Alexia gives the attackers a shooing gesture.

  It takes a few seconds. Those seconds are like someone holding their breath. Then it is released. “WE WON!” People start to cheer. Everyone is happy until the first person makes a break for the Greenhouse. Then another mob starts.

  Bowing to her professor Hinata says. “Thank you.”

  “Oh. Think nothing of it sweetie.” Alexia says. Disappearing she returns with Rurgrim, Bibbin, and Gabi. All three are in the process of healing.

  “HM. That sucked.” Rurgrim grumbles out. “Like a pack of Deep Crawlers.” Rurgrim shudders before making his way to Aiko. Holding out his injured arm her grunts.

  Aiko rolls her eyes, but she still starts the process of healing her party, even if she is exhausted.

  Seeing her party getting taken care of Hinata turns to the group that came to help. Bowing low Hinata says. “Thank you.” Standing back up she is going to speak but she is interrupted.

  “You’re just going to let them take the flower!” Jen leaps forward with her finger raised.

  “JEN!” Ren shouts and grabs his sister. Pushing her head down her bows with his sister. “SORRY!”

  “Ha.” Hinata weakly chuckles. Sitting down in an exhausted fall Hinata waves away Ren’s apology. “It’s fine.” She says from the floor.

  “Go look at the Greenhouse.” Hinata tells the young teenager.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Jen runs out of the house and stares with wide eyes. The area around the Greenhouse is complete pandemonium. Each separate group is fighting one another. At the same time traps are going off randomly as everyone fights. Not to mention the plants that are lashing out at their own volition.

  Stepping back into the front of the mansions Jen nods slowly in an uncharacteristically quiet way. Before she can say anything Hinata chuckles. “Plus, that isn’t the correct flower. We call it plan ‘T’.”

  Da Chen and Rohan’s mouths drop open. But Jen stares for a few seconds before laughing. “HAAAHHAHA!”

  Weakly Hinata holds a finger to her lips. “Shh.”

  Helo isn’t sure how long he spent laying back onto Alli’s chest. One thing he is pretty sure about is that he didn’t fall asleep. But he also wouldn’t bet on it.

  Coming out of a tired daze Helo starts to slowly get up. They are sitting in a pool of his cooling blood and Helo is starting to get uncomfortable. “Let’s check on the others.” Helo slowly gets up.

  It takes a few seconds to finally stand, but once he does, he checks out his body. His arm is mostly healed with only a line of scars going from his mid-forearm to his shoulder. Patting down his chest and to his hips Helo is happy to see that the claw marks on his hips are healed.

  Wrapping his arms around his body, his back is also healed. While feeling his back, Helo realizes that he is mostly naked. The only piece of clothing he has that survived the fight are the usual, underwear, bracers, and necklace.

  Looking down with a sheepish smile Helo makes eye contact with the obviously staring Alli. She is looking up at him and studying his body very seriously. Once she realizes that he realizes that she is staring Alli quickly covers her face with her bloody hands.

  Pulling her red hands from her face Alli looks at the her hands, then at the floor around her. “Agu. I need a shower.”

  “Haha! Me too.” Helo chuckles. Turning around Helo shows Alli his back. “Any scars?”

  It takes Alli a second to respond but she finally mumbles. “Nope.”

  Looking back Helo can see the blush on her face through the blood. “Come on. Let’s check on the others, then get cleaned up.”

  Looking around him, Helo laughs again. Just outside of the blood pool Lelai is sitting with her tail wagging happily. Dashing forward Helo tries to pick up the clean freak fox. “Ah! Were you worried?”

  “YIP!” Lelai jumps away with a scared bark.

  “Come on! I want a hug!” Helo chases after the fox.

  “Yip! Yip!” The fox barks angrily as Helo chases her.

  Helo only gets a few yards before he stumbles. Painting a red mark on the wall Helo steadies himself. Holding his other hand to his head he says. “Ohhhh. Whew. I’m dizzy.”

  Sliding down the wall Helo leans his head back. The vitality he got from Alli was thankfully enough to heal him. But it didn’t do anything for his empty energy reserves or the fact that he lost almost all his blood. All the nutrients that he had in his body are practically gone.

  Looking back toward Alli he finds he struggling to stand. She gave Helo as much blood as she could. Far past the limit that a doctor would allow for a blood doner. Not to mention her magical channels are still stressed from all the mana that she channeled. “Woooohp.” Alli mumbles out as she stumbles before standing.

  Slowly making his way back Helo gets a feel for his body beyond, ‘I’m healed.’ What he finds is that his own energy channels are stressed. But at the same time Helo’s bloodline no longer hurts him. His channels just need some rest after the fight, like a good workout. The rest of his body is pretty much lacking all energy and nutrients. What Helo needs is food and sleep.

  Making it back to Alli the two of them lean on one another and slowly walk back to the front of the mansion. When they get there, they find Hinata and the rest of the party sitting on what couches survived the wall’s collapse.

  With them are Da Chen and his own party, Ren, Jen, and Rohan. “What happened to you!?!” Hinata shouts as Helo and Alli come into view.

  Looking down, Helo sighs. He forgot his clothes. Plus, he and Alli are coated from head to toe in blood. Wanting to fall onto a couch, Helo stops and Hinata helps hold him and Alli up.

  Looking toward the fox Hinata says. “Can they get a cleaning?”

  “Yip!” Happily jumping forward, Lelai gives Helo a warning glare, before using her mist mana to create a warm cloud-pool around them. After a few seconds the now stained red cloud condenses about them and is sent out the hole in the wall.

  Not fully clean, but no longer horrible, Alli and Helo finally fall back onto the half destroyed couch Hinata was in with Luna and Aiko.

  Looking at Helo’s sunken appearance and lacking energy, Aiko stands up. “I’ll make some food.”

  Before Aiko makes it a few steps away Kristen appears in the middle of the living room. “You have done enough.” She says in a kind tone while pushing Aiko back. Then a table appears with a wave of her hand and with another wave it is filled with fresh food. “Dig in.”

  While Kristen speaks Helo is already diving forward and grabbing food. A few people around the table consider telling Helo to slow down, or use a fork, but after hearing him growl as he shovels food into his mouth, they think better of it.

  After almost thirty minutes of silent devouring, someone finally speaks up. “So? Any skill upgrades?”

  After that people start speaking once their mouths are empty. “Yes.” Aiko is first. “Regeneration turned into Greater Regeneration.”

  Everyone around the table congratulates her. This is big, that skill single handedly kept them all in the fight far longer than necessary. It is probably also the reason that they are devouring food like starving hyenas.

  Wiping her mouth and sitting straight Hinata is the next to speak. “No, but I think I might have touched upon my aura.” Everyone stares at Hinata with wide eyes before the flood gates open.

  “What?” “How?” “What’s it like?” Everyone starts to speak over one another. But Hinata waits for them to stop before speaking again.

  “I’m not sure. But my illusion’s seemed more real and for a moment… I felt something…” Hinata is talking about the moment where her illusion layered over herself to empower her defense against Adan.

  “Well… Mine didn’t upgrade, but it didn’t change.” Alli says with a grin. “My bolt skill changed into Channeled Explosion!” She says with a giddy voice.

  Everyone stares at Alli, but then they just shrug. For Alli, it makes sense.

  “I did.” Carl says in a serious tone. “Taunt, Thrust, and Shield Bash. Taunt’s name didn’t change, then I have Sword Thrust and Shield Rush.”

  “Mhm. Like the metal man over there. My Reinforce become Enhance Defense.” Rurgrim rumbles out.

  They all look between those who didn’t speak yet, it is Gabi that speak up. “Nothing evolved, but I do feel like a few of my skills are much closer.”

  Nodding Alli smiles at Gabi. “That’s great. It is like Hinata. Sometimes taking a step forward is just as important as rising a grade.”

  Speaking up Helo gestures to Gabi. “It is the same for me. It feels like the cooldown for two of my skills is lower.”

  The rest of the day passes with the group of friends hanging out in the destroyed living room of the mansion. The only person that isn’t there is Arisah. Hinata is intentionally keeping her unconscious until they can deal with her the next day.

  Friday comes far too quickly for Helo. Going to bed with a stuffed stomach, he wants to channel his inner Fuzzball and sleep for a season. Instead, he wakes up way too early in the morning.

  Incessant knocking wakes him up. “Helo, it’s almost ten, can you get up please?” Hinata calls him sweetly. Helo is almost convinced that she is a nice person. Then he remembers that she just woke him up, so she can’t be nice.

  “I’m tired!” Helo yells back.

  A few seconds pass and he hopes that she goes away. Only for his door to open. He can hear footsteps stomp up to his bed. “Now listen here mister!” Hinata says while grabbing his blanket and yanking it off his body. She has seen him in his enchanted underwear too many times to let it phase her like this. “You’re coming with me to drop off the plant. Now. UP!"

  “GAHHH!” Groaning Helo rolls from his bed, leaving behind his warm pillow, warm Helo shaped indent and two angry animals.

  Showing off his dimensional storage and the skill, he has put into its use. Helo focuses his mind and summons one of his sweatshirts onto his body. Looking up, Helo smirks at Hinata.

  She rolls her eyes at his antics. But she can’t argue that she is jealous. His storage is advanced enough that he doesn’t have to use his hand like Kristen’s ring or reach into a storage like their spatial bags. All he has to do is will it.

  Following Hinata, Helo tries the same with his pants. Only to stumble as his pants appear not on his body but twisted between his legs.

  “Pfff.” Hinata covers her mouth trying not to laugh.

  “It’s not perfect yet.” Helo grumbles under his breath while putting on his pants like a normal person. One leg at a time. “So? How did plan ‘T’ go?”

  “I hope plan ‘Thief’ went well. We might not ever know if the best outcome happens.” Hinata answers with an evil smirk on her beautiful face.

  Dorimer grins to himself like the cat that caught the canary as he enters the arena. His party follows behind him showing off his importance. He spent a lot of money, resources and favors for this moment.

  This will be great. Dorimer thinks as he waits for his own moment. He considers using his influence to push through the line, but decides that he is going to wait, he wants the recording to be perfect.

  Waiting with little patience, Dorimer keeps telling himself that the recording must be perfect. It isn’t very long before Dorimer is next in line. A similar pedestal to the last challenge is standing within the center of the arena. This time very few people are watching, but a highlight reel will be posted showcasing the battles and the best flowers.

  The man in front of Dorimer reveals himself to be a tier 2 third-year student. With a bright smile he presents his item to Mrs. Greenleaf. Jude Greenleaf is the head alchemist of the School of Awakening.

  “Oh. How marvelous.” Jude says in a happy voice. “I can see the care you and your party put into the growth of his flower.” The flower in question is the size of a normal rose, but it glows with a kaleidoscope effect.

  “Bah.” Dorimer scoffs. “That nobody’s flower is pretty, so what.” Dorimer looks around at his party to see them laughing with him.

  Some are genuinely laughing, but most of his party members are only there because of the money and resources. It’s not like Dorimer cares. He grew up rich; he understands that the only way to guarantee trust is with overwhelming money. Plus, it makes sleeping with the female members of his party easier when he can just threaten to stop the money flowing.

  Stepping up for his own turn Dorimer makes sure to smirk at the camera. Turning to the stupid alchemist that thinks she is important, but really, she is a plant loving weirdo. Dorimer approaches the pedestal in the middle of the platform.

  Halfway there, he pulls out the flower his people brought back from the Twin Heiress Mansion. He barely saw the flower himself. A few hours before one of the people he sent came back with a storage bag. He transferred the flower to his ring and went back to bed.

  Holding the flower in his palms, Dorimer smiles. He can see Jude’s eyes go wide as he reveals his flower. Hah, she is impressed. But then Jude is gone. “Stupid tier 3. It’s not respectful to move that fast in the presence of roya…!” Dorimer starts to shout. But before he can finish the flower starts to move.

  Mutating, all the energy within the flower propels itself into rapid growth. Halfway to the pedestal the flower that Dorimer brought out erupts into a ten-foot monstrosity of writing roots and poisonous petals.

  Due to his proximity Dorimer himself is caught in the middle of it. Thankfully his robes are enchanted to keep him safe. Just as Dorimer thinks this he can see the dripping poison eating into the barrier the robe made around him.

  Screeching in an undignified way Dorimer flails about. “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Dorimer shouts at his party. Grabbing a root he manages to free his head, only to see his own party caught within the monster they just unleashed.

  Everyone in the stands watches the show with amazement. Even the teachers watch Dorimer and his party struggle. After a few minutes one of Dorimer’s party members managed to get free.

  Struggling, he manages to free another member. She happens to be a mage with a fire affinity. The two then proceed to burn their way through the plant, saving one member after another.

  The entire time they work their way to the center Dorimer is screeching. “Get me first! I am your leader!”

  By the time Dorimer is pulled from the poison-filled center of the plant his robes are a mess and his perfect golden hair is mostly eaten through. Crawling his way to his feet, Dorimer looks back at the plant.

  Then a few feet from him Jude reappears. “Mr. Starhaven. Your plant appears to be dead before it was set on the judging pedestal. I’m forced to award you zero points.”

  Dorimer looks at the plant loving hippie as his face contorts into multiple expressions. Rage, disgust, humiliation, anger, Dorimer is about to attack Jude but before he can another voice gathers his attention.

  “Dorimer! How’d our flower treat you?” Comes the sweet and cheerful voice of Hinata.