“So,” Barti spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. “What rules were you thinking?”

  “Well, seeing as you are a much higher level than me, how about limiting your skills and power to what one might at my level.” Michael replied without hesitation.

  Barti nodded. “I can do that. But in return, how about we also keep from any ultimates our classes might have.”

  “What,” Micheal scoffed though he was shrugging. “You don’t want to go against my patron. Not sure you can take him?”

  “I just don’t think we need to go there,” Barti shrugged as he spoke casually. It was as if he wasn’t afraid of whatever, or whoever, they were talking about. “At least, not while we are having a friendly match anyway. If that will be all.” He waited until Michael nodded in affirmation before speaking in our direction. “Mindi, give us a countdown please.”

  “Ok.” She shouted as she jumped to her feet. Everyone's eyes locked onto the two of them and I could swear it looked like the girls were vibrating in anticipation. “On the count of three. Three.” Both of them looked relaxed as Michael pulled out a giant shield. It was one I had not seen him use during any of his last fights or battles. The thing was made of a darker metal and was at least a head taller than his monstrous height. In his other hand, he held a sword half his height and nearly a hand length in width. Given the gleam coming off the metal, it was likely made of something similar to my Chisa Katana. Though it was a bit shinier and the light it emitted was closer to a pure white than what Shizukana Arashi gave off.

  While Michael did this, the mana around Barti twisted and compressed in a way that I recognized. As before, the mana vanished as he pulled out a very recognizable dark red sword. “Wait, what the hell is that?” Jeremiah seemed to growl. His voice pulled my attention off the two fighters as I looked over at the five of them. Michael’s entire party looked to be in a state of shock as they got a good look at Barti’s weapon.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that neither Mindi nor Tindi were all that surprised to see the weapon. Hell, they had probably seen it before now. Maybe even trained against it. “Two,” Mindi yelled out. Given how long she was waiting between callouts, she was probably giving both parties time to prepare for the fight.

  Like the girls, I chose to ignore the question. I grabbed a sandwich and returned my gaze to the two people inside the ring. Instead of lifting his weapon into a ready position, Barti held his sword to the side. Michael must have seen this as a challenge because he roared “Don’t you think I am worthy of you at least trying?”

  The elf didn’t bother to respond. “One,” Mindi called out as she crouched down. The moment her right hand made contact with the stone circle, a loud gong rang out. Barti didn’t move, instead letting Michael come to him. Michael either didn’t care that it might be a trap or simply saw it as a challenge because he charged right at the elf.

  He couldn’t have been moving all that fast because I could still see and track the man as he charged. Shield to the side, he lifted his sword high over his head. Only to drop it as soon as he got within striking range. Dirt, dust, and stones flew as he planted his feet into the dirt as he transferred all of his momentum into the strike.

  Barti stepped to one side and let the sword pass him by. As the blade missed its target, Michael pivoted on one foot, turning the vertical strike into a horizontal one. Instead of dodging, Barti lifted his blade up and angled it to deflect the attack. A dull sound reverberated through the air as the weapons clashed.

  With the attack thwarted, Michael screamed out. It wasn’t the typical scream of rage, but something else. Something about the yell had every bit of my attention focused on him. I had the sudden need to attack him and only him. Thankfully, the sharp spicy flavor of the meaty sandwich was enough to keep me grounded, mostly.

  Barti, on the other hand, struck out. His sword blurred as he jabbed it at Michael. Michael took the hit, using it to push himself back as he said something. It was either a spell or a skill because his body started to shimmer. The light around him brightened into a dim rainbow of colors. He took another hit as the ground for fifty feet around him started to glow an off-white color.

  Michael took blow after blow. They hit his shield, his sword, and even his flesh, yet he didn’t respond. He didn’t strike back. It was almost like he was waiting for something.

  A dozen seconds, and a good amount of hits, later, the glowing field that surrounded Michael’s body shattered. At the same moment, the feeling I had to go and attack Michael finally vanished. When whatever skill he had been using ended, Barti leaped back in an effort to create distance.

  Michael didn’t seem happy that his target had gone and run away because he roared in fury before gesturing into the air. The gestures looked like he was pulling something from it. All at once, his body started to glow again. Streams of red and gold swirled around his form as he dropped his shield and once again charged at the elf.

  This time, his attack was much much faster. His body was practically a smear through the air as he moved. His sword left a smear of metal through the air as he pulled it along behind him. It vanished as he dug his feet into the dirt and swung forward. Barti managed to get his sword up and into the way. The two swords met edge to edge. While it looked like Barti was barely able to hold him back, something in his body language told me it was the opposite.

  A fact that was unfortunate for Michael. Barti had only been using his sword and speed up until now. Suddenly, the haze of mana around the two of them condensed as Barti did something. Used some skill. The moment it grew nearly to the point of being as solid as the people around me, drops of it flew in every direction. As one, the ground exploded with plants. Most grasped at Michael while others whipped out. They struck him as hard as they could.

  Judging by the fact that he wasn’t moving, Michael either didn’t feel the attacks or didn’t care. As if they could sense that their attacks were having little to no effect, the plants backed off. It almost looked like they were running away. This was proven wrong when, a moment later, something brown shot out of the ground and into the sky. It only stopped when it struck something high above.

  As suddenly as the first one came out, four more of the things joined it. From this distance, I couldn’t tell what they were doing, but judging by Michael’s reaction it was nothing good. His body blurred as he tried to run between two of the things. Spikes stabbed out from both to block his path. He sliced out with his sword to find that his attack was not strong enough to cut through whatever Barti had conjured.

  “How is this following the rules?” He called out as he moved to the center of the five plants.

  Barti’s voice was devoid of emotion as he answered Michael. “This is one of the first skills I got as a Master of Plants.”

  “Wait,” Michael yelled but Barti ignored him. With a simple hand gesture, one that he likely didn’t need, the plants stabbed spikes in Michael’s direction.

  “STOP!” Mindi called, though judging by the lack of screams or yelling, Barti had already stopped the attack short of hurting Michael. Without warning, the plants all crumbled into dust that blew away in the wind. It was like they had been used up and burned. When the cloud disipeared, it revealed Michael standing there with his eyes wide as he looked at the elf in fear.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Barti didn’t seem to care that his opponent had likely pissed himself as a result of the last attack. He just turned and walked toward our group. When he got closer, he spoke in a casual voice as he asked, “How many different skills did you manage to catch?”

  I had no clue why he was asking me that question, but I figured he had a reason, so I gave it some real thought. He looked to have used two. One for each set of plants he grew. As for Michael, I had to think back. There was the one to pull our attention to him. The one to make the ground glow. The one to make himself glow. Then there was the one where he pulled something from the air before glowing another color. Mostly sure of my answer, I said, “Two from you and four from Michael.”

  He looked a bit disappointed in my answer as he shook his head. “Try one from me and six from my opponent.” That surprised me. Not only that he had a powerful and versatile skill that was able to defeat Michael so easily, but that I had missed two other skills that Michael had used. “Then again, it isn’t your fault you didn’t see those skills. He tried to make a few look like one skill. Now, do you know why I asked you this question?”

  “Not really,” I answered before taking a big bite of my last sandwich.

  “The first step to finding a counter for any skill is to recognize that one is being used.” He started. “For example, did you feel the need to attack Michael during the fight?” I nodded as my mouth was currently full of food. “That was a skill to pull everyone's attention to him. It is a good skill for a defender to have. Just set him near the front to take the damage while everyone else kills the target.”

  “Then we have the shield ability of his.” Barti continued. “If I didn’t miss my guess, it allows him to shield someone from a set amount of damage.”

  “Oi,” Michael called as he got closer to our group. “Don’t go giving away my secrets.”

  Barti waved dismissively in his direction. “Just being able to see the skills as well as the effects is enough to give someone an advantage.” He gestured back at the ground that was still glowing an off-white color. “Notice the ground over there. When he cast that, I felt like I was wading through quicksand. While it wasn’t much, it might have been an issue if he wasn’t the only person attacking.”

  “If you are going to tell him so much about my skills, why don’t you tell us how your skill works? Hmm?”

  “Simple,” Barti’s smile showed a few teeth as he answered. “It allows me to call forth plants from the ground. Allowing me to use them to defend or attack as needed.”

  Michael looked skeptical, “That can't be all there is to it. If it was then tell me where those giant plants came from. They didn’t look native to this region.”

  “Oh, they’re not.” The elf said, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. “Those were plants from my home village. I planted them as I pulled you out of your little circle.”

  “If that were the case, they wouldn’t have been positioned so perfectly. You must have cheated.”

  “Nope,” Barti’s grin grew wider, showing yet more teeth. “Did you think that I called the first set of plants forth to hold you? Those weak things would have stood little chance against anyone here. Not in those numbers or without quite a bit of mana backing them.” Michael’s face told me that he wasn’t happy to hear that. “Those served as a distraction while other plants moved the seeds into position.”

  It seemed that, while Michael had been playing the game one turn at a time, the elf had been looking dozens of moves ahead. The moment Michael realized that he had been outplayed, his face fell. “Hey,” Mindi said from where she stood by the circle. “If you two are done. Can Jeremiah and I face off?”

  That caught Michael’s attention. He sounded a bit hesitant as he answered. “Sure?”

  “Good.” She jumped, a malicious gleam glinting in her eye. “About time I taught this idiot what a real mage can do.”

  “Hah,” Jeremiah called back as they both started for the center. “In your dreams. Rules?”

  “Basic spells only.”

  “Water and Air elements only.”

  “No,” she shook her head. “Any of the six basic elements.”

  “I can only use those two.”

  “And I cannot use Wind,” When I heard that, I thought back to when she had shown me magic. She had been hovering over the ground. Suspended in the air. So either she was lying or bending the truth. Not that I would say anything.

  Tindi must have seen something on my face because she whispered to me. “She can use wind, but only the most basic spells and they cost a ton of mana.”

  “Why?” I whispered back.

  “Because her affinity for it is so low. It is practically zero for Wind.” What Tindi said reminded me of something I recalled seeing on one of the many screens in my interface. Pulling it up, I found what I was looking for.

  It was just as I thought. While Fire was my best element, Dark was by far my next best. Then again, this only showed six elements. I was fairly sure that Space and Time were missing. I wonder what my affinities for them would be. Then again, what could the Time element even do? Space I got. But Time seemed a bit broken. I mean, it isn’t like one could use it to turn time in either direction or something. No computer ever made would be able to do that.

  The sound of a bell pulled me out of my thoughts and to the scene in front of me. The two of them faced each other as the match started. While it looked like Jeremiah muttered something, Mindi simply pointed a finger and released a spell.

  Jeremiah must have seen the ball of water that formed and shot in his direction because he dropped to the ground just as he finished his spell. It was a ball of water, looking no different than Mindi’s. The thing flung itself in her direction. However, unlike him, she just flicked a hand.

  A flicker of fire flew out and smashed into the oncoming spell. The two exploded into a small cloud of steam. Without waiting for him to react, she flicked a hand up. A pillar of stone rose in front of her.

  At first, I thought it was a wall to stop a spell I couldn’t see, but she started to tap various parts of it. Jeremiah must have seen something about the stone that he didn’t like because he began to cast in earnest. Balls of water. Torrents of wind. He sent anything and everything that he could. None of which managed to get through the stone wall.

  After one last tap, she rested her hand against the stone wall. Her head was bowed as she ignored the world around her so she could concentrate on something. Without warning, the wall exploded outward. Steam exploded in every direction as shards of stone sliced through the air toward Jeremiah.

  For his part, he fell to the ground. His knees and arms were tucked in as he tried to protect himself from the shrapnel. Something about the motion of those projectiles told me that she had some control over their movement.

  I must have not been the only one to notice as Michael called an end to the match. “STOP!” Mindi flicked out a hand and all the stones stopped midair before falling harmlessly to the ground.

  Jeremiah’s face was red with anger as he jumped to his feet. The first words out of his mouth were comically predictable. “You cheated!”

  “Nope.” Mindi, for her part, sounded calm. “The earth spell I used was one to form walls. I just modified it to create little pockets and to strengthen the back side. Add some water and heat and this is what you get.”

  “She created a claymore mine with magic,” Patric said to Michael. Given how quietly the two were talking, they likely didn’t want anyone else to hear them. Of course, it would probably help if they didn’t speak from where they stood just behind my chair.

  “ARGG!” Jeremiah didn’t seem like he cared. “I demand a rematch.”

  “Nope.” Mindi popped the p as she walked in our direction.

  “Jeremiah,” Michael called out. “Since you seem so fired up. I think it is your turn to take Kyren on.”

  I rushed to finish the last of my food as I stood up and made my way onto the field. “Same rules?” Jeremiah asked. Something about how he said this told me that he was going to try and pull something underhanded. That or he thought I would not be able to beat him. Which was likely as I knew maybe three spells.

  Before I agreed with him, I gestured Michael over. The moment he was close enough to hear me without Jeremiah being able to overhear my question, I asked, “Can I use an enhancement spell on myself and attack him physically, or is that against the rules?”

  Judging by his soft chuckle, he could see what I was getting at. “As it is a basic spell. I don’t see any issue with it. Just no weapons.”

  “What are you planning!” Jeremiah’s face seemed to grow even more red as he yelled at me.

  “You will find out in a minute,” was all I said as I got into position.