The Other Side/Rise Of The Crow

Sachi and I run towards the cave with everything we've got as we can see there is a lot of spells being cast near the cave. As we finally make it close to the cave we find a pack of 30 Colossi all surrounding the cave. Giant snakes, griffins, and large purple wolves are swarming the place. At the front of the cave Jack, Mari, and Layla are fending off the Colossi with everything they have.

"Bracadier Art: Double Axe Flaming Throw!" Jack yells as he throws both his axes at the wolves.​​

"Mardian Art: Masterpiece Beam!" Mari shouts as she shoots a blue magic beam that disintegrates some of the griffins.

"Scavian Art: Dark Blade Slash!" Layla exclaims as she cuts down two snakes with a dark slash magic attack.

"Seems you guys got started without us!" I yell as Sachi and I join them in battle.

"It's about time you two came back! I was starting to get worried!" Jack replies as he smiles.

"I'm glad both of you are back up too!" Sachi says to Mari and Layla, as she aims her bow at the enemy.

"That would've been a crappy end for me! Dying from a damn tree!" Layla jokes as she continues to fight off the enemy.

"Crow, Sachi? What the hell happened to you two? Your clothing is tattered!" Mari observes as she keeps shooting magic attacks at the enemy.

"It's a long story!" Sachi and I reply in unison.

"I guess you'll fill us in later. We got bigger problems right in front of us!" Layla says as she and I stand together against the enemy.

"This place is swarming with Colossi! It's like they won't stop! Do you have any clue why they choose here?" I ask as I cut down some of the snakes with Layla.

"Nope, they popped up outta nowhere after some weird explosion earlier! BACK AWAY!" Jack replies as he unleashes his Taqa and beats the crap out of the Colossi.

"Yeah, there was some fire not too far away from us! Somebody must've been fighting pretty hard! Take this!" Mari adds in as she shoots down more griffins.

Sachi and I exchange eye contact as we both realize it was us. For the next 10 minutes we fight our hearts out against the Colossi but their numbers seem infinite.

"Ugh, I'm starting to run outta steam!" Jack lets us know as his Taqa is getting weaker.

"Ditto that, I didn't expect to wake up to a bunch of angry Colossi!" Mari replies as she starts swinging her staff rather than spell casting with it.

"We can't keep this up for too much longer! They'll kill us of exhaustion at this rate!" Layla warns us.

"Wow, I expected better from you all!" A familiar voice says as a bunch of Colossi are eliminated from a dark magic attack.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Mari yells her voice full of astonishment.

Behind the Colossi on top of a long tree branch is Urmac and the rest of his team.

"Thought you could use a helping hand! Now everyone put these Colossi to rest!" Urmac commands as his team attacks the remaining Colossi.

"I was just so embarrassed watching a pupil of mother struggle this hard in battle! Mardian Art: Wings of Fury!" Verrona snaps at Mari as she takes down a dozen Colossi with no issue.

"Windian Art: 720 Mode!" Alida shouts as she starts shooting down the griffins.

"I see you've changed weapons half-blood! The way of the sword was just too intense for you eh? I'll show you how it's done!" Bracadier Art: Magma Slash!" Torak teases as he cuts down a bunch of the enemies with ease.

"And I'll finish them off! Scavian Art: Shadow Blade Triangle!" Urmac yells as she shoots a bunch of triangle-shaped projectiles at the enemy destroying the last of the Colossi on impact.

"No way, they killed all of them… " Sachi says her voice full of disbelief.

"Of course we did! You really thought you were the only one's training?" Verrona replies arrogantly.

For the next 30 minutes, we all sit in the cave explaining everything that has happened to us so far. For now, it seems like Urmac and his team aren't trying to fight us.

"That's quite a bad start if I do say so myself. But it is a little concerning that we're only a team of four and have managed better than the rest of you! Maybe you guys aren't cut out for the games?" Verrona asks condescendingly.

"You mind repeating that?" Mari asks angrily as she steps up to Verrona's face.

"Mari, relax!" I command as I pick her up and bring her away from her.

"Okay, okay! That's enough Verrona, we didn't come here to bicker with them. We came here for a strategic advantage." Urmac reminds as Verrona crosses her legs.

"Fine, I'll play nice for your little friends!" Verrona replies begrudgingly.

"So what do you want Urmac? I thought you said you'd fight me if you saw me in the competition?" I ask as Urmac shakes his head.

"That's true but the situation has changed. This competition may seem simple on the surface but it's actually a lot deeper than we originally thought. It wasn't until we ran into some corpses of the other competitors that we realized that." Urmac says his voice full of regret.

"What do you mean?" I ask as Urmac sips some tea.

"Well, out of the 150 students that were participating in this event, I estimate that 100 have already died… " Urmac discloses as everyone gasps.

"That's impossible! It's only been one day!" I reply as it's hard for me to process this information.

"It's true, using my tracking ability I was keeping up with every single squad in the forest. Not even four hours in 30 had already died and by nightfall, it just kept getting worse." Alida confirms as it seems she's being serious.

"We've been playing defensively the whole time and figured that things wouldn't get too serious until day three." Verrona chimes in.

"But our plan was thrown out of the window when we realized what was the true purpose of this test!" Torak adds.

"To be as blunt as possible, this competition is a test of our adaptability, not just our survival skills. I think even the people running the games knew something like this would happen." Urmac claims.

"And what does that mean for us that are still here?" Layla asks.

"Alida has been pretty proactive in keeping up with what's going on, that's actually how we found out that you guys were in trouble. But she found out something that was quite interesting." Verrona replies.

"Teams have been forming alliances with other teams from the very beginning. They've been teaming up and taking the smaller teams out one by one. It's so genius that we didn't even think about it." Alida replies as she cleans her bow with a cloth.

"That's unfair though! Isn't that against the rules or something?" Jack asks his voice full of frustration.

"Nope, if you actually pay attention to the rules they're actually quite flexible. They didn't say we couldn't form alliances, they didn't say we couldn't lay traps for our enemies, they didn't say we could use the Colossi to our advantage and other teams are aware of this!" Torak replies to Jack.

"This is where our issue lies! We haven't managed to get a single flag yet and that's because the teams that formed alliances are hogging all of them so the rest of us don't stand a chance!" Verrona admits her voice full of annoyance.

"That's crazy, they're trying to eliminate us before we even have a chance!" Mari rages as she hits the ground.

"I see… That is a big issue indeed." Sachi remarks as everyone grows really quiet.

"So what are you suggesting Urmac? I assume you have a plan?" I ask as he smirks at me.

"Yes I do, my friend! I think that we should form a truce and work together to get the flags we need! Both of us require two more each so that means four in total!" Urmac says as everyone seems a little reluctant about the plan.

"Not bad but where do we find these flags? And how do we know how many these teams have?" Sachi asks skeptically.

"I tracked two teams working together in the middle of the forest! One seems to be from Midna Academy and the other is from Jolagh Academy. They're pretty smart because surrounding the middle of the forest is a load of Colossi but if we can get past them we might stand a chance." Alida explains.

"Well, what do the rest of you think?" I ask as I look to my team.

"Having more allies on our side isn't a bad thing! I say the more the merrier! Count me in!" Jack replies.

"After our last battle we could use as much fighting power as we can! Let's do it." Layla answers.

"I'm not the biggest fan of working with her! But if it means we make it to the next round then I'll do it!" Mari responds as she pouts.

"Sachi?" I ask as she still seems worried.

"Okay, I'll do it. Urmac, if you dare turn on us I'll shoot an arrow right through your head." Sachi warns him as she shoots an icy glare at him.

"Haha! That's a good joke… It's a joke right?" Urmac asks his voice full of fear.

"I wouldn't try to find out if I were you!" I caution as Mari, Layla, and Verrona start cooking together.

We'll use day two to rest and day three to strike!