"Do you think we can pass?" Number 7 asked as she fiddled with her Wand Rifle. They were currently situated in a tavern near Central Square. To be able to have a huge room in one of the hottest taverns is considered to be a luxury but that was the power of the King.
One word from him and the royal servants would be able to get what he wants as long as it was within the means of the servants. Right now, the First Mage Air Squad were lying around each corner of the room while quietly practicing their physical reloads of the Wand Rifle as a habit.
A few others were merely cleaning it up and only Number 4 was attempting to recite incantations as a means of practicing other miscellaneous magic. Experience more tales on m v|l e’m,p| y- r
"Not sure. From what I heard, the disciples of Grand Sage Mex were at least Senior Captains and above in ranking. And they had proven themselves time and time again on various occasions while defending the Kingdom." Number 6 replied as she put in the bullets into the Wand Rifle and manually uncocked every bullet out.
"Technically, we would be killing monsters at a race event. Just one dungeon. Either we make it or break it." Number 4 replied.
"That’s right. Just one dungeon with my name on the line. It’s either you fail with me down the drain or you are going to soar with me. I reckon with all of your timings, you guys should be able to do it." Jin said as he entered the room without knocking, as if citing to them that the competition was about to start.
"Portal 4 is closing soon after being picked clean and I would be waiting for that lazy ass Mex to walk on his old bear to reach the scene. That is why I am chilling here, too."
"Any advice?" Number 4 asked, and Jin shook his head.
"Not particularly. I did say it’s a dungeon run event, but to be frank, it’s not exciting compared to fighting against each other. It would not show the hard work that all of you combined had gone through." Jin said as he sat on the chair and rocked his chair backwards while maintaining composure with his Maqi.
"Then why did you propose that dungeon run in the first place?" Number 5 asked, as he was curious about Jin’s rationale.
"Because honestly, I do not know how good you guys will be at the end of two weeks." Jin smiled, and the rest laughed bitterly as they finally knew the reasoning behind the ’long’ training sessions that they had endured. They had no idea such a magic had existed and some said that Jin might be more powerful than Mex since he could manipulate time.
"I also did not expect the training to be dragged that long."
"But seeing you guys right now, I think a duel might prove to everyone that you guys might be the better bunch compared to those disciples. Of course, I am still limiting you guys to all that incantation that you all practice. Float Magic, Defensive Barrier, Offensive Penetration and Explosion Magic Projectiles. Elementals are restricted for now, but Healing Magic only Number 9 and 10 can use them."
"Why not allow us to explore and use other magic? The disciples would surely use a plethora of magic against us." Number 5 asked and Jin nodded his head. "I can only say a famous phrase from my world." Jin stood up and went into a battle stance with his fists out.
"I do not fear the man who practiced 10,000 different punches." Jin demonstrated a few angled punches and moved his hand to demonstrate various stances before he relaxed to a basic combat stance. "But I fear the man who practiced one punch over 10,000 times." Jin said as he punched once through the air without any Maqi. And the force of the punch could be felt within the confines of the room.
If Jin could win in this fight, the balance for the command of mages can finally be shifted into Jin’s favours. It was something that he needed to obtain to start a proper revolution of the city and culling the demons that were lurking beyond their borders.
"Investigation for doping will now begin." An examiner said out loud and Jin let them check his Mage Air Squad. All they did was to ensure there were no signs of doping and a spell of truth telling. The other opponents were also checked by an ’independent’ examiner, but Jin did not care whether the other side had done it or not.
All he knew was that he had confidence his squad could defeat them in a fair fight.
"Heh. Look at those puny ruffians. Holding a weird type of wooden stick as their weapon." One of Mex’s disciples said. "They cannot hold a candle to our equipment and relics. "And of course, they asked to run a Rank A dungeon! It’s because they are too weak to fight against us directly!"
"Guess we do not need to provoke at all. Lol." Number 4 said as he purposely took a white glove out of his side pocket and threw it on the face at the strongest disciple of Mex, Wara. The Elder Sister of Gara.
"I see. So you want a duel with us?"
"There is no denying that you people looked down at us. So I am merely hastening the process. Not to mention, we do not have to waste the King’s energy since we can just use the desolate land of Portal 4 to perform our team duel. No wastage of resources."
Number 4 said.
"What’s your name? Are you the leader of this squad since you initiated the challenge?" Wara asked as she was still on her horse mount when Number 4 threw the glove at her.
"I had been stripped of my name. Leader of Mage Air Squad 1, Number 4."
"Heh. Fine. Master, is it okay for you to cast the Lethal Damage Protection Charm for us and those people?" Wara asked and Number 4 shook their heads.
"We have no need for that. I suggest you do so for yourselves. After all, we will still need the top 10 strongest mages to work for the kingdom once the duel is over." Number 4 said, and it infuriated a few more of those mages under Mex.
"Of all things to learn from the king, it looks like the Squad Leader got his attitude from the King instead. This is worrying." Gara said at the sidelines as he saw Mex nodded to his disciples and gave them the Lethal Damage Protection Charm, showing that they would proceed with a team duel instead of a dungeon run.
"Since it’s a duel, then I guess the restraints should be off too," Jin said as he signalled his Mage Air Squad to remove all the weight limits that they had been carrying ever since the day they put them on.
The entire group smirked as they obeyed that command with joy.