The Best Friend's Inescapable Fate

Chapter 3. Watch out, fireball!

"This day could not get any better!" Vivien exclaimed, fully beaming with glee.

I'm dead, so, so dead! Ruth mentally cursed. It was time for magical self-defense class, which was by far the most painful subject to deal with. For first impressions, Miss Marie Justine had plans for the class to partake in a physical activity.

The entire class was gathered outside of the school building, on the grass fields. She turned towards the students. Miss Marie appeared to be in her twenties, around the same age as Sir Andy. She was also extremely tall and had a bulky frame. She had a blue crystal dangling earring on her right ear. "Miss Marie Justine, Magic Self-Defense Class teacher, 80 power points."

"The game is simple." Miss Marie sternly explained. She held a ball in her hand. "This is a channelling sphere, which can absorb and channel a person's magic. You charge these up and throw them at the opponents."

"The goal is to eliminate as many of the opponents as possible. If that protective shield from those bracelets break, you are eliminated." Earlier, Miss Justine had made every student wear a rune bracelet, which provided a magic shield on students to prevent them from being injured while playing. The shield was quite weak and could be broken with a single powerful hit.

The class was split into two teams of eight under Miss Marie's instructions. Ruth was with Rene, Ezra, and unexpectedly, Cherany. Lillia and Vivien were in the opposing team.

"Good luck and may the best player win."

It was only now that Ruth felt fearful for her life. She wanted to just start running away, pretend to be sick or whatever excuse a student would belt out to skip gym class. This would be her first time seeing anyone use magic for offense, or using magic AGAINST her. Aside from that, even in Ruth's previous life, she was extremely unathletic and hated sports, most especially dodgeball. But now, she was playing magical dodgeball, which was certainly more dangerous.

Storyteller laughed evilly. "Good luck on that, Ruth. Don't die, ok?"

"F*ck you, you sh*tty guide!"

Vivien had the ball in his right hand. When he started channelling magic, the ball combusted and flared up into bright blue flames. Ruth suddenly remembered his ability: Ghost Flame, the inextinguishable fire that could only go away if Vivien wills it to. It would never die down by any means except by its own, hence the name of the ability had "Ghost" in it.

Ruth could see the violent glint in his eyes. Vivien took a step back to throw, and when his arm lunged forward, the ball shot through the distance at breakneck speed like a ballistic missile.

It was coming for Ruth!

Vivien let out a vicious cackle. Ruth managed to dodge the fireball on time. It hit the grass, leaving behind a long stretch mark in the dirt where the ball dug through. The smell of smoke rose from the slightly charred grass.

"RUTH! INCOMING!" Rene yelled. Another ball came in Ruth's way. Her body jerked violently by instinct and moved to the side. This shot was even more powerful compared to Vivien's. Lillia yelled at her from across apologetically. "Sorry, Ruth!"

"What are you doing?! Don't just dodge, hit back!" Rene reprimanded her. He caught a ball that was coming towards him and launched it back, which hit Daria Heller on the opposing team and blew her backwards from the sheer force. The magic shield on her chest immediately cracked and fell apart. "UGH!" She groaned. Miss Marie sounded her whistle and Daria ran off.

A lot of students have been knocked off already, so now only a few remain on-field. Ezra surprisingly got eliminated early in the game and casually walked away before Miss Marie could even blow her whistle. Cherany and Rene were throwing back at incredulous speeds while Ruth dodged. With each of Cherany's throws, the ball struck like lightning and electrocuted whoever got hit. Malachi was unfortunate enough to meet that fate and he fell onto the ground, twitching from the electric shock. Several students had to work together to pull his numb body away from the field. Cherany had a smile of satisfaction and smugness with each victim she struck down.