All combatants turned and bowed in the direction of the seniors seated on the high platform.
At the command of the Grand Mage, they turned to face each other taking their individually chosen offensive stances.
Jarred just starred at him without blinking, he had a cheeky grin and Nathan couldn’t wait to wipe the smirk of his face, yet he felt something was wrong... He’d known Jarred too long to know he didn’t have some secret advantage.
“Fight!” declared the Grand mage, lowering his staff in the ceremonial fashion.
Jarred's opening move was to launch forward, a jumping spin in the air intent on delivering a direct spear strike to Nathans head. Nathan had seen Jarred do this many times to take down practice partners, it fascinated him & he wondered how he had come up with such a devastating attack.
Nathan had played this moment out in his mind, and did believe he had a defense; but he had not yet had a chance to practice it, always forbidden to practice against Jarred.
There was no time to doubt now, Nathan spun backwards, taking one knee to the ground and holding his spear with both hands, he pushed upwards to defect the blow, his defense working, but not perfectly his own spear uncontrollably spinning out of his hands.
Completely unsuspecting of a defense, carried forward by the motion of a strike that never before missed, Jarred fell forward face first on the ground his own spear dropping to the floor near Nathans feet.
The crowd was silent and then a sudden uproar of laughter...
Jarred was on his feet within seconds; again facing each other Nathan swore Jarred's face had turned as bright as a fireball... there would be retribution sought.
Face screwed up in anger, instead of continuing the battle Jarred yelled something towards someone in the crowd.
With this apparent order a hooded monk stepped to the front, pulsating energy sparking in his hands as a fireball gathered strength.
It happened so quick Nathan was unsure what to do next, there isn't suppose to be interference during the ceremony, yet he knew if that fireball directed at him was launched he would be toast!
Confident of his honed physical battle skills, in more of a reactive and instinctive move vs. skill Nathan hooked Jarred's spear up with his foot, flicking it to hand and launching it swiftly at the unknown assassin.
The spear seemed to fly in slow motion, the direction was true and Nathan felt confident it would knock the assassin off balance. It was a perfect hit, the spear hitting the person in the chest hard, but instead of knocking them back as expected, the spear pierced right through them, blood exploding onto the crowd.
The crowd went silent and Nathan was startled like everyone else, why would a practice spear be sharp like this?
Witnessing the event the Grand mage halted the fight, and all the seniors rushed over to see the disruption.
Nathan stood stunned unable to process what had happened, the crowd retracted from the assasin, now pinned in place a spear through the chest and into the floor.
The hood fell back and the wood-be assassins face was revealed... it was Patrick! he had just graduated last year as a fire Mage. Nathan felt like his heart would explode, this dream was now a nightmare.
Feel free to enjoy, Upvote and resteem if your still enjoying the story.
Cheers
lordnigel