Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – The Gauntlet

592 times. I’ve casted 592 times, and not once have I even come close to hitting Olympia. She just stands in the same place and waves her hand, sending the electricity right back at me. Same power, same speed, impacting the center of my chest 592 times. I’ve grown so accustomed to my body going numb that it feels weird to be able to close my hand at all. Aku and Amelia just sit on the floor in boredom, watching me fail continuously, playing with the korat when it gets unbearable. Olympia just stands there, her infuriating smile growing with deflection. The possibility of me hitting her feels more like a distant fantasy with each casting she hurls my way. For five hours we’ve been here. Other teachers have come into the training room with their pupils, furthering my embarrassment. A specific group of three have stuck around, receiving some weird pleasure from seeing me get borderline bullied by Olympia. Not all is bad, my ability to cast has improved exponentially. With every failure, I’ve found new ways to cast different spells, allowing me to cook up different strategies. For example, the bolt's target is whatever is in front of my ring finger, not what my palm is pointed at. If I ball my hand up, the electricity will take up a different form, morphing into a sphere or a cube, even a pyramid if I contort my hand correctly. The only downside to that is I can’t choose the target. And the most interesting, as well as recent one, I only have to flex my forearm to actually cast, instead of my whole arm.

 

“Let’s just call it a day bro,” Aku pleads, beginning to get bored with the korat as well.

 

“No need, this is the one,” I announce confidently, finally ready to move on with training.

 

“Oh, is that so?” Olympia hollers, her laughter causing tears to form in her eyes. I ball my hand up, allowing the warmth to build in my palm. Olympia’s posture overflows with arrogance, the hand she deflects my attacks with completely behind her back. The warmth turns into a volcano, feeling like the core of the earth is contained by my fingers. I flex my bicep, causing Olympia to wave her hand prematurely, opening herself up. My forearm flexes almost instinctively, a volley of electric balls soaring through the air and towards Olympia. The attack blows the fuse in the room as well as my own body through the air, sending me directly into the door of the female changing room, collapsing it inwards. Cheers can be heard from my previous position as I collect myself, slowly rising to my feet.

 

“You actually hit her, you crazy bastard,” Amelia yells, shaking me violently. Aku joins her, screaming in my ear as the audience I’ve gained laughs in awe.

 

“A fake out into multiple big projectiles, smart. You had me losing belief in you, Mofu, but maybe you are just as good as Amelia preaches,” Olympia congratulates, patting me on the head. “Now, onto the next part of your first day.”

 

“Wait, there’s more?” I ask, giggling in disbelief.

 

“Don’t tell me you blew it all on the warmup. You have some major catching up to do,” Olympia says, her wicked smile making a grand return. “Next, you three are going to run The Gauntlet. We’ll do this everyday until you can comfortably and convincingly win. Mofu, I hope you didn’t think all these pupils are here to watch you.”

 

“YES! We FINALLY get to do something!” Aku cheers, itching to get to the action. We all follow Olympia down the stairs and out to the courtyard where an even bigger audience awaits us. 

 

“You three are an official trio, which means you are officially ranked in The Mesa’s leaderboards. Because of how recent the trio was formed, you three are automatically ranked last, so we’re going to change that. You three, Team Yin, will run The Gauntlet. You will fight the first ten teams ranked directly above you consecutively, and if you manage to beat them, you’ll go against the next ten above that. For every team you best, you will claim their rank. You must defend your rank when they run The Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is run daily, so be prepared to keep the same people down repeatedly. If you are able to maintain rank 1 for five consecutive fights, you will take the test of the arisen, where you will fight the lowest ranked team in the tier directly above your own. If you win, you take their rank, and rise into the next tier. If you are in their position and lose, you will be sent back to the lowest rank in the tier directly below you. The Gauntlet strictly prohibits any form of casting, only your armaments and wit are allowed. Any questions?” Olympia explains.

 

“Yeah, what am I supposed to do with a house cat?” I ask, throwing my arms into the air.

 

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“Of course, let me help you out with that,” Olympia laughs. “In sectors, you can raise your skill cap once you’ve mastered your current level by proving it to the head of your respective sector. That warmup was more than a casting tutorial, as you proved your mastery over the basic level of the summoner sector by showing your persistence and stubbornness. Now, you are at level two.” Olympia takes my left arm and traces a symbol over my armament, making a violet stripe wrap around my wrist and end on the base of my ring finger. My korat runs to me, another tail sprouting from its backside. Its teeth sharpen as its legs grow, raising it further from the ground. It goes from my ankle to mid calf, its body producing the needed muscle in the process. “I think you’ll find the cat much more useful now. Now, Team Yin, please enter the arena.” Aku and Amelia practically run to the designated fighting area, excitement filling their every being. I follow suit, wanting to finally get to some action myself. The “arena” Olympia refers to is a big square surrounded by water floating just outside of the courtyard, only allowing access by ladders. We all climb up to the arena, stretching once we get up there. My left arm is incredibly sore from the hours before, causing me to wince as I loosen its muscles. “Your opponent is Team B.C, ranked 9,999/10,000.” Our opponents soar up the ladders and stand directly across from us as a viewing area joins the arena floating in the air containing the audience. Bruno hops over to the arena, a huge smile contaminating his head.

 

“Alright, here are the rules. If you step out of bounds in any way, you are knocked out of The Gauntlet. If you lose consciousness, you are knocked out of The Gauntlet. The fight shall end on my call, anybody who continues to attack after my call will be knocked out of The Gauntlet. Anything else goes. Are both teams ready,” Bruno explains. 

 

“Yes sir,” Team B.C collectively state, their eyes filled with ferocity.

 

“Yeah, yeah, start it already!” Aku exclaims, jumping in his place.

 

“Alright. Both teams, activate your armaments!” Bruno demands. My korat joins me at my leg as Aku withdraws a spiked mace, shadow boxing with it in his grasp. Amelia withdraws dual wield pistols, each looking modern and pristine. The other team activates their armaments, the boy in the middle sporting a large shield. The boy on the left boasts a great sword, while the one on the right wields a katana, their team name clicking with the medieval theme. Bruno slams his hand through the air before retreating to the edge of the platform, signaling the beginning of the match. Aku lets out a strange battle cry before immediately rushing the opposite team, smashing his mace on the middle boy’s shield with a laugh unlike any other. Amelia assists him by shooting at the great sword wielder, forcing him to use the width of the weapon to block. The katana owner runs at me, slashing at my head. I roll to the left, narrowly dodging the quick attacks. He keeps the pressure up, forcing me to duck and dodge. I weave a downward cut, placing a left hook comfortably on the samurai’s chin before following up with an uppercut, finishing the string with a jab crashing into his nose. My korat participates in the attack, headbutting the samurai in the shin surprisingly hard, lunging at the samurai’s right arm and sinking its teeth into its target, its mouth the only thing keeping it in the air. I take advantage of my opponent's distracted state, placing a jab on his throat before landing a roundhouse kick, catching my korat as he falls to the ground. Placing my korat down, I trade it for my opponent, holding him above my head, tossing him out of bounds. Amelia keeps the great sword man at bay with a constant flurry of bullets, always firing  a pistol while reloading the other. My attention instead falls onto the shield wielder, nullifying all of Aku’s attacks effortlessly. I sneak behind the boy, grabbing the back of his head. I force it towards the back of his shield as Aku shatters it, getting Aku’s face into his chest as a reward. They both fall to the ground, Aku getting on top of the boy. He slams his mace into the boy, grunting as he brutalizes him. The smell of blood fills the air as I pull Aku off of the boy, his victim looking like minced meat more than a person.

 

“Mofu, before you say it, The Mesa is protected by a spell making it impossible to wither with age and dying in any way shape or form, so he’ll be fine. Now let’s go jump the other guy!” Aku consoles. My worry is squashed before I could even voice it, wincing at the boy one last time before joining Aku and Amelia in the defeat of the great sword user.

 

“I forfeit!” He screams. Amelia pauses her relentless onslaught of lead as Bruno walks up to the boy.

 

“Are you sure?” Bruno asks.

 

“There’s three of them and one of me, and I have no way of protecting myself against all of their attacks,” The boy explains, dematerializing his armament. 

 

“Team Yin progresses onward!” Bruno announces. Aku jumps around like a primate as Amelia runs up to us, smiling brighter than a supernova. She brings Aku and I into a tight hug, giggling with pride. I can’t help but grin under my mask, the sweet moment interrupted by Bruno.

 

“Relax you three, it’s only one win against a stupid team concept. This next one is going to be a real challenge, so you better be prepared. Team Chrome, enter the arena!”

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