Chapter 90: Get Out

The 3rd round officially started ad the professor blew the whistle.

Inside the a deep forest of the Wildland, wet leaves flew everywhere as two mages fought.

A female Wyrmwood cadet slapped both of her hands onto the ground ad she murmured something and immediately the ground started cracking..

Then a thick wall of brown roots shot up from the ground and blocked the Noble-High cadet.

But the Noble-High boy was too fast. He moved his fingers, and his shadow stretched along the ground like quickly and then it slide right past her root wall.

The shadow jumped up and hit the Wyrmwood girl hard on her chest.

She gasped and stumbled back. She then tried to raise another wall to stop herself, but the shadow mage gave a quick push with his magic.

Her boots slipped backward and crossed right over the glowing white boundary line.

BZZZZT!

The line flashed with a bright light.

She was eliminated.

The shadow mage gave a small smile, turned around, and walked back into the line of trees.

In another direction and up in the sky, dragon wings beat against the air.

Landon leaned forward in his dragon back. He held the reins tight. His dark red dragon let out a low groan and showed its sharp teeth.

"Stay ready, boy!" Landon called out.

Suddenly, the sky went dark above him.

Two Noble-High dragon riders flew down and trapped him from both sides.

"You getting busted, Wyrmwood!" one rider yelled.

The two Noble-High dragons attacked him together. They used their bodies against him.

One Noble-High dragon swung its big, heavy tail with a loud WHOOSH.

Landon pulled hard on his reins, and his red dragon dipped down to miss it. But the second Noble-High dragon smashed its large wing straight into Landon’s dragon from the side.

BAM!

Landon’s dragon cried out in roar as its head was knocked to the side.

The beast lost its balance in the air and rolled hard.

"Hold on!" Landon shouted, but the hard shake ripped the reins right out of his hands.

His boots slipped out of the stirrups and Landon flew off the back, fell through the tree branches, and hit the ground with a loud thud.

He groaned in pain, trying to get up on his knees to find his weapon.

"Looking for this?" a calm voice said from behind a tree.

Landon looked up. It was the same Noble-High shadow mage.

Before Landon could even stand up, black magic wrapped around his legs.

The shadow pulled him across the grass and threw him right over the whitr line.

BZZZZT!

Up in the big spectator stands, all the Wyrmwood students let out a loud, disappointed sigh as the baord showed Landon image with the world Eliminated.

Many cadets held their heads in their hands and groaned.

On the board, the score wad still:

W.A [ 16 ] vs N.H.A [ 6 ]

Back in the sky of the Wildland, another Wyrmwood rider, Laena was trying hard to fight on her green dragon.

She turned to the right, trying to get away from the same two Noble-High riders chasing her.

"Get away from me!" Laena shouted.

Her green dragon whipped its tail and hit the face of the first dragon.

But the other rider flew up from below, using his dragon’s horns to hit the belly of Laena’s beast.

The green dragon screamed in pain and tilted in the air.

The first Noble-High dragon did not waste time. It swung its heavy tail and smashed Laena’s dragon right on the neck.

The double hit flipped the green dragon completely upside down. Laena lost her grip on the back and fell through the sky, crashing through the leaves and hitting the mud.

She coughed and tried to crawl away.

Step. Step. Step.

From the dark trees, the same shadow mage walked out with black magic glowing in his hands.

"Bad luck for you," the boy said.

With one push of his magic, he slid Laena across the ground and over the white boundary line.

BZZZZT!

In another part of the Wildland, the second Noble-High mage—a girl using a tracking spell—walked quietly around the forest.

She stopped when she saw a piece of blue and white flag and red cloth hidden in the high branches.

"Found one," she said with a grin.

She lifted her hand, shot a quick blast of magic, and hit the blue Wyrmwood minor flag.

In another direction, the last Wyrmwood representative—a female mage—was completely trapped.

Her back hit a big tree as three Noble-High cadets walked up to her: the shadow mage and the two dragon riders who had just jumped down from their dragon back.

She raised her hands to make a magic shield, but she could not fight three people alone. The three Noble-High students attacked at the exact same time, breaking her shield and pushing her right over the line.

BZZZZT!

The three Noble-High cadets smiled and gave each other high-fives.

"Good job," the shadow mage said. "Our other mage already took down two minor flags while we fought them."

"Let’s split up and find the rest," one rider said.

They split up and ran in different directions to look for the other flags.

Up in the stands, the Wyrmwood crowd could not believe what just happened.

"Are you serious right now?!" a boy shouted, throwing his hands up.

"I always knew it!" another cadet yelled in anger. "Landon and whole of year 2 are the most weak-ass people in our whole school! What kind of fighting was that?!"

A loud ping rang out, and the board updated:

W.A [ 16 ] vs N.H.A [ 9 ]

Only the medium flag and the main Commander Flag were left.

A few minutes later, another loud ping sounded.

W.A [ 16 ] vs N.H.A [ 12 ]

Medium flag down.

The Noble-High section went crazy with joy. Students stood up, laughing and pointing at Wyrmwood.

"BOOOOO!" the Noble-High crowd shouted together. "Is that all you can do, Wyrmwood?! Weak! You are all trash!"

On the display big screens, all four Noble-High students met up in a small open space.

The two riders climbed on their dragons and flew back into the sky. The two mages turned on their tracking spells and ran into different paths.

After fifteen minutes, the shadow mage stopped near an old stone wall. His tracking magic was shaking on his hand.

"It’s right here..." he said softly.

The space in front of him looked empty, but his location spell was beeping.

He closed his eyes and pushed his shadow power forward and immediately, black mist wrapped around the air.

Slowly, the invisible Commander Flag showed itself.

"Got you."

He blasted it with a heavy hit of shadow magic.

BOOM!

The big screen flashed, and the score changed right away:

W.A [ 16 ] vs N.H.A [ 17 ]

Round 3 Over: NOBLE-HIGH ACADEMY WINS.

"Bloody hell!" a Wyrmwood student screamed, kicking the bench. "I can’t believe those year-two weak-ass students just lost us a whole ten-point lead!"

Across the arena, a Noble-High student stood right on top of a table, hitting his chest and laughing loudly at the Wyrmwood crowd.

"Losers! Losers!"

In the front row, Gwyn let out a long sigh. She rested her chin in her hand and looked at Nyx.

"Hopefully the year-ones will do great in the final round and win..." Gwyn said softly.

Nyx nodded slowly. "Yes. Hopefully."

Nyx stood up from the bench and held out her hand to Gwyn. "Come on. Let’s go buy snacks before the final round starts."

Gwyn took her hand, stood up, and they both walked out of the noisy stands.

Down in the representatives’ stand, the stand was dead silent.

Landon was standing with his head down, looking at his boots. Beside him, Laena held her arms tightly, looking down at the floor in deep shame.

"I gave you a game plan!" Nymeria yelled, her voice cold and full of anger.

She glared straight at Landon. "A simple plan and you went out there and did your own foolish thing?!"

Landon swallowed hard. He was too scared to look up. "I’m sorry... I just thought..."

"You thought?!" Nymeria cut him off. "You thought, or did you just let your little pet call the shots?!"

Landon quickly stepped in front of Laena to protect her. "No! Laena has nothing to do with it! It was all me. I was the one who wanted to lead and call the shots out there."

Nymeria let out an angry breath. She looked between the two of them with cold eyes.

"If your stupidity makes us lose this whole tournament," Nymeria said slowly, "you two better avoid me for the rest of your lives."

She stopped and pointed her finger.

"Get out."

They did not say a word. Landon and Laena turned and ran out of the stand as fast as they could.

Laena finally stopped. Her eyes were watery and full of guilt.

"Landon... I’m so sorry," Laena said quietly. "I really thought that if we used a different plan and won, Nymeria would be proud of me and give me a chance. I did not know it would make us get eliminated so fast..."

Landon sighed and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It’s okay," Landon said. "It’s done now. Let’s just pray Reynold and his group smash the final round."