Accepted

Limitless potential

"How much energy do you have left?" I yelled back at Bea.

"Not much," she admitted.

"It's better than nothing. Leo, I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"We need to combine our powers. With my and Bea's magic and your fire we could send a blast down there that would clear most of them if not all."

"That could work, but they're all scattered. They got smart after they saw you knock out the whole line of them with dark magic," Larx said, poking a hole into our plan. I looked down and she was right. They were scattered, attacking from all angles so it wouldn't be possible to attack them all at once.

"I have an idea," Bea said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Larx, let yourself get hit. If you let yourself get hit, then we could come after you and when they see all three of us coming down they'll come towards us to attack. That's when we attack them."

"That could work," Leo agreed.

"Okay, once Larx falls I need you to get closer to me Leo. It'll be better for us to combine our magic if we're touching."

"Got it, you ready Larx?"

"Not at all but let's do this!"

An arrow came soaring through the air and instead of dodging it, Larx pretended not to see it and let it hit her. She howled in pain, sinking down to the ground right into the hands of the students.

"Larx!" Leo yelled, descending after her.

"Leo!" I yelled, taking off after him. Just as Bea said, the scattered clusters of students got closer as they attacked us further waiting for us to hit the ground. Once they were close enough together and we were close enough to them, Leo reached out and grabbed my hand. I reached out my hand channeling as much dark magic as I could combined with my power combined with the fire magic from Leo and Bea's magic. I released the earthquake sized blast straight down and out and it hit the students, radiating through the ground and knocking out each student one by one.

Larx had stopped falling, rushing back into the air and we hovered with her, watching the aftermath of the attack. By the time the dust settles, every students was down minus a hundred or so. I stretched out both my hands, releasing the last bit of my dark magic that I had stored and flooding it down upon them. I watched each of them go down as the dark magic touched them, leaving the stadium filled of thousands of defeated students with just us left standing. Once all of them were down, we descended to the ground.

I heard slow claps coming from the students in the corners of the arena.

"WE DID IT!!!" Larx laughed, throwing her arms around Leo, then me, then Bea.

"WOOOOOOO!" Bea cheered as the clapping around the arena got louder and louder until almost everyone was cheering for our victory.

Congratulations, you have won your battle.

I looked over to where Oreres was situated in the far end of the arena, smiling at me proudly. I smiled back, grinning from ear to ear as I felt Leo pick me up as he cheered.

"Where's Chel?" Larx asked, looking around.

"Here," Chel replied. I looked around, hearing his voice from a distance. He was walking over to us from a distance away, rubbing his head.

"Chel, we won!" Leo yelled, running over to tackle him in a hug as well.

"You know you're not too bad for an Arogen," Bea said.

"Is that a compliment?" I asked, cocking my head at her in surprise.

"Shut up," she said, rolling her eyes as the corner of her lip turned up into a smile.

You may all be dismissed. Before you leave, I'd like the winning team to come speak to me.

The students slowly started to clock out, talking amongst one another. As we made our way through the arena, many congratulated us. Some shook our hands. Others asked for selfies. Bea jumped at that opportunity, making sure to place herself at the center of each photo.

As we approached, Oreres held open a box that held five medals.

"Congratulations on your victory. Your team is the first and likely the last to ever battle half of the student body at one time. I know it must have been terrifying but each and every one of you worked together despite the odds and came out on the other side triumphant. I'm extremely proud of each and every one of you and this medal is a symbol of your bravery. When we survive this war, you can use this medal to move up in your year to whichever year you'd like. This medal also entitles you a private room in each of your wings, if you so choose. Now I'm sure you all must be tired, so you're dismissed. Saron, I'd like to have a word so if you'd stick around awhile longer."

We each took a medal, fastening it around our necks. I said my goodbyes and wished them all off, staying behind.

I noticed her looking at me expectantly as if she was waiting for me to say something.

"You were right. Is that what you want to hear?" I teased, rolling my eyes.

Suddenly, her face grew stern as she fixed her gaze upon me.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine."

With a nod of approval, she said, "You've tapped into your true potential."

"What do you mean?"

"You used every last bit of your energy when you fought in that battle, did you not?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Yet, you don't feel exhausted."

"I- no. I guess I don't," I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

"This practice was designed for you. I had to simulate a war like environment so you could feel the sense of desperation and urgency that's needed to fight this war."

"What do you mean it was designed for me?"

"When I created dark magic, I created it so that it couldn't be destroyed or run out. Not until all of its enemies were wiped out. But there was a loophole to all of that power. Dark magic would only reach it's true potential if it was in the right hands, with someone who had pure intentions. In the wrong hands, it's powerful but it has its limits. You fought half the student body yet you haven't passed out from exhaustion. That's because you've reached your limitless potential. Now, everytime your magic becomes depleted, the dark magic will replenish itself. Now you're finally ready to train to fight the Yuri."

I stayed silent, still processing what she just said. The idea that my dark magic now had no limits was difficult to comprehend. How is that possible? Didn't magic always have a price?

Unable to find the right words I settled with, "do we battle again tomorrow?"

Shaking her head, she said, "you will no longer be training with the other students. Now that you've successfully unlocked your potential, you will resume training with Narxus privately. Fighting with students barely half your strength won't help you defeat the giants. Your training will be more rigorous for the next couple of days, harder than anything you've ever endured. Go and get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."