132 – No Point

Mal forced himself to stand upright, to meet Ekron's gaze.

He was going to kill all of them?

"That seems a little harsh. What did these students ever do to you?"

Ekron's eyes widened and he brought his hands up. "Oh, it's nothing personal, really. It's just that the Fourth Vessel said this is what must be done, so that we can finally bring back—"

Nima jammed his elbow into Ekron's side.

Ekron winced. "Sorry, I almost spoke too much."

Nima coughed into his fist. "Now, we do actually have an offer for everybody here. If you have any sense of wisdom, you will prostrate yourselves before us, and we might allow you to live. You might even become a member of the Bird Eater Cult. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

A nervous chuckle rang out from someone in the crowd. A few more people started laughing, until the entire Coliseum was filled with the sound of chuckles and giggles.

"Ah, very funny," Nima said. "Ekron, if you would?"

Mal, in too much pain to stop them, could only watch as the swarm of black ascended into the air, then rushed toward a random student in the crowd. The bugs surrounded them and—

A blast of flame. A column of flame erupted from below the student, instantly wiping out the blackened swarm.

"Did you really think we weren't prepared for you?"

Mal had never been so happy to see Igna's smug face. She strode up to his side. Her hand was outstretched, clearly indicating that she'd been the one to cast the spell.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to leave our students alone," Vigil said.

Vigil stepped forward on the other side of the aren, his gait stilted and awkward, steel in his eyes despite the pained movements.

Ekron and Nima went back to back. Mal was only a few feet away from Igna, facing Nima. On the other side, Vigil and Rolam were facing down Ekron.

"Come now," Nima said. "You underestimate us. Did you really think that was all we had in stock for you?"

Ekron tapped his foot against the ground. A mole burst from the ground, its skin blackened and dry. Then another one, then another one, all across the stadium floor. Behind them streamed out mutated corpses of various animal wildlife: deer, stray dogs, squirrels, all with an empty white look in their pupils, and with long dead skin.

So that was their plan. Dig underground, all the way up to the academy and through the mountains? Complete maniacs.

Igna held out her hand to char them red. When Nima appeared in front of her, Igna stumbled back without a sound, then regained her footing and redirected the spell toward Nima. Flames blasted from her hand and lit Nima on fire.

The image of Nima cracked and shattered.

Mal shut his eyes and spread out Total Awareness.

Where is he? Where did he go?

There!

Mal's Airgrass boots shot him backward and straight into Nima.

The two fell into a tumble, the translucent glass barrier that Nima had put up shattering instantly. Mal maneuvered his elbow under Nima's chin.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mal caught sight of what was happening to the students. The resurrected creatures had climbed up the Coliseum walls and were rapidly approaching the first row of students. Stray Arcane Spheres and Bolts from second years tried to ward them off, but it was unable to deal serious damage. One of the moles got close to a student, slashed its claws.

Blood splattered against the stone of the coliseum floor.

Mal tightened his chokehold on Nima. Total Awareness flared and screamed at him that something was coming from behind. Mal tossed Nima off of him and rolled to the side. A hoof stomp from a deer hit exactly where his head had been a split second ago. He bounded back up and looked around himself in a circle. He'd ended up next to Igna.

"Professor, if I buy you time, will you be able to defend the students?"

Igna's eyes widened and she stared at him. "You want to take them on by yourself?"

"Just Nima. Rolam and Vigil should prove to be a match against Ekron."

"What about these resurrected creatures?" Igna said. "The ones still on the field?"

"I'll just have to deal with them."

Igna's teeth clacked together. Her hand shook before she forced her fist shut and stopped the shiver. "Very well. Hold him off as long as you can."

Igna ran toward the Colosseum walls. Flames blasted out and seared the resurrected creatures in a tidal wave of fire. Mal caught sight of a few other students attempting to help. Savaly was slaying them by the dozen, and the senior students who'd shown up had entered the fray. Norin sent out fireball after fireball—charring them to bits.

Then something happened.

One of the resurrected creatures that Igna had killed shivered. The dead body parts coalesced, then began to come back to normal. Mouths. Hearts. Lungs. Bit by bit they reassembled.

"Do you like it?" Nima coughed, then picked himself back up. "We spent a lot of time figuring out how to defend against the weakness. It's not invincible, of course. None of them are. But did you think we really wouldn't have figured something out by the time we arrived here?"

"But how?" Mal said. "You can't just... ignore the type system like that."

"We can't. But you know what has a neutralizing effect on fire?"

Mal looked closer at a stray arm that had fallen in front of him. There was a slight shimmer to it.

"Water. You somehow added water type to them."

"Gold star. Excellent work."

Mal's heart dropped in his chest. They were going to lose through attrition. Over time, their energy would get exhausted, and they'd be killed.

Mal jerked back. He reached into his satchel and pulled out some of the medicinal herbs he always carried on him.

Yes, those types of herbs were effective against resurrected creatures, but there was no way they had enough to use as a tool to fight them.

Unless...

"Philo!" Mal shouted. "Where are you?!"

A heavy thud landed from Mal's side.

“What is it?" Philo said.

“We need to carry as much medicine to here as possible.”

“What?” Philo stared at Mal. “Why would we—?” His eyes shot wide open. “Oh, Philo sees.”

“Let’s go!”

Total awareness screamed at Mal.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Mal dodged to the left and avoided a knife to the stomach.

Nima's body shimmered into existence, the illusion dispelled. He shifted his hips and slashed at where Mal had dodged. Mal easily shifted away.

“Go on without me!” Mal shouted. “Get the herbs, quick!”

Philo looked at the two of them, then nodded up and down. He broke off into a sprint.

It was just Mal and Nima. In the background, Rolam and Vigil fought against Ekron.

"So," Mal said. "How'd you avoid the church?"

"A false flag. We woke up the one graveyard they missed. A dirty place in the slums. They're far too busy taking care of that to be here."

"Clever."

Three creatures closed in on Mal from below. He jerked back, then used his Airgrass boots to dodge.

Nima pointed his palm at Mal and let loose an Arcane Sphere. Mal brought his forearms up, and the Arcane Sphere bounced against the Waterrose-threaded cloth, then shattered into mana particles.

Three moles erupted out of the dirt, sand spraying everywhere. One of them rushed toward Mal. He met it with an easy dodge by following the way the withering-type mana moved through its body.

He brought out his hand and clenched it around the arm. The Fireglove erupted into flame and set the fur ablaze—!

Or at least that’s what Mal had wanted. Instead, the fur smoked and smoked, like Mal was trying to preserve meat, not fry the creature alive.

Need a plan, need a plan—that's it!

Mal reached into his satchel and pulled out some of the extra seeds he still had on him. He tossed them at the ground. His Bramblevine bracelet flexed, thorns spiking and jutting out against his robes. The seeds on the ground expanded, and a mix of Elder root and Waterrose. The Waterrose didn’t flower, but vines and roots came out of it just like the Elder root. They wrapped up and around the three moles, dragged them down, then pinned them against the ground.

“Leave them alone. They get unsightly when confined for too long.”

Two black bolts like crossbow shots in flight hit the plants at the base. The vines shriveled up and blackened, then turned to ash. Ekron strode toward Mal, his footsteps light and easy. Behind him, Rolam was trapped by a horde of resurrected creatures.

“Get back here!”

Vigil teleported in front of Ekron, then held out his hand. Chains came up and out of the ground, similar to Mal’s own seed move. The chains wrapped around Ekron’s shoulders, then pulled taut.

Ekron’s body shattered, indicating it was an illusion.

The professor won't be able to get a pin on him—!

Mal froze.

He shut his eyes.

“Professor!" he said. "He’s directly in front of you, five feet!”

Vigil jolted. Within an instant, he pointed his hand at where Mal indicated, and four ethereal arrows made of pure mana appeared in mid-air. They blasted forward, then pierced through flesh. Ekron’s body rippled into existence behind him, Nima kept him propped up by the back of his collar.

Ekron reached up and ripped out the mana arrows with a pained grunt. The wounds on his body knitted back together.

Mal stared intently at the wounds.

It wasn’t healing.

There was no blood coming out.

“A worthy attempt,” Nima snarled. “But he won’t get the better of us.”

Vigil swiped his palm through the air and another set of arrows appeared. Mal shut his eyes to expand Total Awareness.

It's an illusion!

He snapped his eyes back open once more. “Thirty degrees to the left, now!”

The arrows pointed that way, then shot out with another flurry. The false illusion to the right cracked. At the same instant, the arrows met resistance, and Ekron had once more been used as a pincushion. Ekron repeated the same procedure, ripping the mana arrows out.

“Those are coated with a paralytic agent,” Vigil said. “How are you still moving?”

“Not important,” Ekron said. “Can't you see that there's no point in doing this? You can't kill me.”

The sound of growls and yips sounded out behind Mal. Both Vigil and him were in the middle of a ring, created by the diversion of the resurrected creatures from the students to Mal's current engagement.

Mal's heart sunk in his chest. They'd been barely keeping even with Ekron and Nima, and they might've even had a chance to win. But with the introduction of all these creatures—

“Mal, get down!” Vigil said.

Mal, long used to sudden commands given on the battlefield, dropped to the dirt. Vigil shot an Arcane Sphere over Mal's head. It landed against the first creature, then exploded the resurrected monster, along with everything surrounding it, disintegrating it into dust.

“Next to me!” Vigil said. “Now!”

Mal scrambled along the ground. Vigil shut his eyes. A thin ring appeared around them, then expanded out in a quick wave.

Ring, the third basic spell pattern. The perfect tool against enemies surrounding you from all sides!

The Ring pulsed, and all of the creatures caught on the edge started to boil. Their skin lit up and shone with an iridescent white light, then they slowly melted into the ground.

Mal had forgotten just how experienced his professors were. Perhaps they might have stood a chance, after all.

A sensation entered the edge of Mal's visible Total Awareness. Mal quickly darted forward and shoved Vigil to the side.

A knife cut straight into Mal's gut.

Nima appeared, growled, then pulled the knife out. Before Mal or Vigil could react, a black stream of mana hit Vigil in the arm. He rocked backward and gripped the affected arm with his other hand.

Ekron appeared from behind Nima.

“Apologies. I know how much that hurts from personal experience. It's nothing personal.”

Just when Mal was about to lose all hope—

“Let him have it, lads!”

Deacon Thoma's clear voice rang through the coliseum.

Bolts of white streamed through the air and hit the resurrected creatures in a volley. Screams of pain ripped from the creatures' throats on impact, like some sort of twisted imitation of a choir.

Deacon Thoma strode into the Colosseum. Behind him, a number of mages dressed in pure white followed his movements.

Next to Thoma, Philo towered above all of the other humans.

Mal's jaw dropped. He'd had managed to hunt down Deacon Thoma.

“Catch!”

Philo threw a pack of medicinal herbs through the air. Mal snatched it, then reached in and gripped a bundle.

Mal reached his hand into the bundle, and his fingers rubbed against something hard. Seeds. Philo hadn't just gotten herbs, he'd gotten seeds.

He knew. He noticed and he guessed what I would need most. That clever draconid.

Mal tossed a handful of seeds onto the ground. One of the resurrected creatures lunged at him. He sent out a pulse of mana to his bracelet, and the seeds on the ground responded in kind. Vines snapped out of the seeds and around the paws of a blackened deer. On contact, smoke wafted from where they touched. The blackened deer stopped in its tracks, swayed from side to side, then fell.

Okay, Mal thought. That's pretty cool.

The white mages rushed forward and met the resurrected creatures in single combat. Within seconds, the tide had turned, the creatures getting pushed back, unable to withstand the healing magic of the white mages.

Then Mal saw Nima and Ekron sneaking out through the rear entrance.

Oh no, you don't.

Mal kicked his Airgrass boots and sped across the ground after them.

Mal dashed out of the coliseum.

Nima and Ekron were already at the west wall of the campus. Ekron perked up and looked behind himself. When he caught sight of Mal, he staggered, stumbled midstep, then said something to Nima.

Nima looked around to face Mal, turned his head to glance at Mal, then said something back to Ekron.

A faint buzz came out from his head. A swarm of insects poured over the wall, then wrapped around Nima and Ekron. The swarm lifted them up into the air and over the campus wall.

Mal watched them pierce through one of the defensive wards with ease, leaving a visible crack—visible only to Mal, though.

There was no way to catch up to them.

“What are you doing?”

Mal turned around.

The person continued speaking, “Aren't we going to go after them?”

What was he doing here?