Runes - A Tale Of The Abyss 73 Chapter 65 - This Is A Pickle...

"Okay. You're all in your teams now. I won't waste your time by talking unnecessarily. We will have three matches, and I will observe how you all fight. Do not forget that a squad of 4 is the smallest unit of an Order. Act as the knight candidates you are!"

The students all nodded in agreement.

"Very well. Which team wants to go first. I'll leave it to you to pick your opponents."

He yawned as he snapped his fingers and a chair made of stone appeared behind him. He sat on it, overlooking the circular training ground.

The students were in chaos. Some were complaining about how much of a s.h.i.+tty teacher they had while others were actively avoiding some of the other teams.

"So, what do you guys say that we do?"

Griff said with his arms folded.

"It doesn't matter as long as I get to fight!"

Lance said as he cracked his knuckles in excitement. Truly a muscle brain...

Jewels yawned and simply stood there.

"I don't care what happens. You decide."

Kato, however, was keenly observing the opposing teams with a mischievous grin.

"It seems that we might be able to win against some of the teams here... I say we go for the smaller fish, and that we don't fight first. We're better off watching how the others fight first."

Griff pondered at that. It certainly made a lot of sense. He was good at fighting, and he certainly was not an idiot when it came to it, but planning was not his forte. He decided to trust his teammate.

"Alright Kato, let's do it your way."

Kato's smile slowly widened as his eyes got smaller.

"Finally, someone who thinks unlike these two."

Jewels yawned again while Lance simply stood dumb-founded, trying to process the insult.

Suddenly the sound of students going back and forth intensified. It seems that an argument had started.

"Listen here you little punks. You better take that back."

A boy with piercings on his ears and a shaved head said in annoyance as he pointed at a team of four. One with messy, long black hair stepped up, standing between him and his teammates.

"No one's going to bend to your will here Jared. I don't care about you being the son of a n.o.ble. Here, it's the strongest who determines the rules."

"Oh so you think I'm weak? I'll show you. I'll definitely show you. Come on! My team against yours! We need to fight some weaklings anyway..."

Two of Jared's teammates snickered behind him while the other one, a short boy with grey hair fidgeted.

"You'll regret that. I wonder... how your dear daddy will react when I send back his battered sons face."

"You tell him Kyle!"

Griff whispered to Kato who was observing what was going on.

"Hey who are they?"

"Ah yeah I forget that you're new here. The one with the black messy hair is Kyle Drein. He's the son of one of the merchants that governs the merchants guild. The other one is Jared. He's the son of a s.h.i.+tty baron, but n.o.bility none the less. He's just a lowlife that likes bullying people because of his status."

"Well... at least this means we won't be going first."

"Indeed, but... this does change my plan for an easy victory. Not only did we lose the chance to fight an idiot, we're just a makes.h.i.+ft team. I seriously don't know what the Professor was thinking about this exercise, but we can't properly fight as a team... we don't know each other good yet."

[This kid seems to be the a.n.a.lytical type.]

'He's definitely smart.'

[Smarter than you.]

'Shut up you glorified peac.o.c.k.'

[Pe?! LISTEN HERE YO-]

Griff severed his mental link to Caphriel. He couldn't bother with her right now. Suddenly something clicked in Griff's head.

"Wait you said that this ruined your plan for an easy victory. Are the other teams strong?"

"... the one with Ellen certainly is."

Kato glanced to the right where a blob of red could be seen. She was talking with her teammates.

"Other than her... I can say that the teams other than Jared's will put up a decent fight."

Kato sighed.

"We just got to pair up with a team other than Ellen's and we're good."

Griff looked over to his right and his eyes slightly widened. Sylvie was a part of Ellen's team, and she definitely was NOT happy. She saw Griff looking and her eyes brightened. Ellen, who was probably trying to explain how to function as a team, saw her eyes brighten up, and looked to where she was looking to see Griff. Her eye twitched in annoyance at him and that Sylvie didn't have interest in what she was explaining.

"Sheesh, she looks like she's going to explode."

Griff remarked.

"Shh. Keep it down man. I don't want to fight a monster so soon."

"So soon? That means you'll eventually fight her?"

"Everyone has a weakness. I just have to find it."

Kato grinned and slapped Griff on the back.

"Come on. Kyle and Jared are about to fight."

Griff nodded and ran after him towards Jewels and Lance. The training grounds were separated into two parts. One side was reserved for training with several devices, golems, and other tools placed around. The other part was a moderately large arena.

"So... can you tell who will win Kato?"

Griff gestured at the arena. At the left was Jared and his two punks, and the timid gray haired boy. On the other side, Kyle and a plain looking boy stood firm, with two girls standing behind them.

"It's easy. Kyle's got this in the bag. He might not have the natural mana a n.o.ble does, but he's more level headed. Also... Jared's an idiot. Everyone can see the outcome. Their teams don't differ a lot too. However... Jilk's a wildcard."

"Jilk?"

"The grey haired kid. He's very timid in cla.s.s and doesn't talk a lot, so no one knows his magic attribute. It can change the whole battle."

Griff nodded and turned back to watch. On his other side, Lance was busy cheering for both teams to have a good fight. Jewels was... sleeping.

"...I just hope Jewels doesn't sleep during our turn."

Griff sighed as he turned back to watch the fight that was about to start.

——————————————————————

Kato was certainly right. As soon as Julius gave the signal Jared and his lackies ran off, and surprisingly they left Jilk behind. One of them even shove him when he tried to talk to them. Kyle's team had laid a smart trap where one of them, the plain boy, had created several pitfalls using earth magic, and then covered the top with thin layers of dirt. After one of the lackies fell, Kyle and his teammates surrounded the other two. It was pretty anti-climactic.

The interesting part, however, was when Jilk suddenly appeared behind the plain boy, Kyle had shouted for his name, Xavier, after he saw Jilk appear, but it was too late as Jilk sneak attacked him by tackling him.

'Well... other than Jilk's last stand it was very predictable. Did he use some sort of teleportation magic?'

[Yes. He used teleportation.]

'That's so cool! I wonder what would happen if I contradicted it.'

[Uh... I advise against it. It's already an unstable attribute.]

'Party p.o.o.per... I'll try contradicting it after I get stronger.'

[Sheesh... you're one determined kid.]

'Thanks, you're not half bad glorified peac.o.c.k.'

[I swear to go-]

Griff cut his mental link once more, slightly chuckling.

"Oh? What's so funny?"

Kato remarked with his trademark grin.

"Oh it's nothing. Just remembered something. Forget that... your prediction was spot on man!"

Griff said with amazement in his eyes. Kato was certainly a great teammate to have.

"Ahahah! You flatter me! I just did some simple a.n.a.lysis."

Kato said as he scratched his head in... apparent embarra.s.sment, but it was obvious he was enjoying the praise.

"Hey Kato... I think that there isn't a need to be scared of Ellen."

"Eh? Why's that?"

"She might have control over four of the basic elements... but that's that. They're only the basics! And you've got the brains to outsmart her. I think you could win."

"Eh? Uh, Griff that's nice to say and all but now's not the time!"

Kato began freaking out slightly as Griff basically outrightly said that he could beat Ellen easily.

"I can't beat her yet!"

"Oh? You can't beat me YET?"

Kato cursed inwardly. He didn't mean to reveal that he was planning on fighting her in the future. d.a.m.n... this was a slip of a tongue. He didn't let his guard down usually.

"You can't beat me in your dreams weird eyed freak."

Kato's eye twitched, but he decided to not say anything. He would bide his time to bring her down her pedestal, but he didn't have all the right cards just yet.

"Oi... back off from my teammate you red head."

"Eh? You again... you stuck up newbie. Who do you think you are? You're all just half a.s.sed mages... d.a.m.n it... I just HAD to be stuck in the Phoenix Cla.s.s of all places because of a stupid bet too. Now I get to go to cla.s.s with idiots like this who don't know the world is too big."

As Ellen was ranting, Griff's eyes began to twitch in anger. He had had enough of her. He didn't like her, yes, but her pressuring Kato's pride was another thing. He was making a friend, a good one too, and he wouldn't let this friends.h.i.+p end before it began because of a red head egotistical man child.

"Your team against mine, come on red head. I'll show you how big the world REALLY is... You asked who I think I am right? Well... I'm the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that's going to f.u.c.king kick you down from this throne you've built!"

Kato's eyes widened in shock as his usual mischievous grin dropped.

"Uh... no no! That's not what he meant! Come on Ellen, you honestly aren't going to bully a newbie?"

He tried to reason with her, but Ellen was dead set on fighting.

"You are ON! Bring your useless buddies too. Next fight, it will be between our teams!"

"You're on red head!"

"Don't call me red head!"

She growled as Kato slowly separated them and pulled Griff back away from her.

"Griff! What was that for! We have a decent winning chance against everyone BUT her! I know you don't like her, but why didn't you control yourself there!"

"Just trust me on this Kato..."

Griff said as he squeezed Kato's shoulder.

"Believe me, I wouldn't pick a fight I don't think I can win..."

Kato sighed as he raised his hands in defeat and took a step back.

"You're either very crazy and c.o.c.ky, or very strong and brave, and I don't know which one is going to be scarier..."

"Why not both?"

Griff grinned at Kato, who slowly regained his smile.

"Fine. You've got my trust. Let's see how this plays out."

He raised his hand for a handshake which Griff happily complied.

"Partners?"

"Partners."