“Bodraig ordered you?”

The senior knights overseeing the mock battle evaluation stared at a platinum-haired girl in shock. They had not been informed of any guests arriving on premises, much less that those same guests would participate in the evaluation today. But Chief Knight Bodraig’s orders were final, so no matter how spontaneous the occasion was, they unreservedly accepted the change in plans.

“Is that Izlende Ryrarin?!” Gasps resounded among the cadets upon recognizing the top student and human mage of the Knight Mage Academy in Neu’arth.

Hearing her name, the platinum-haired young woman smiled and gave a little wave, evoking enraptured murmurs and squeals from fans.

“I can’t believe the student body president came here herself!”

“Oh! I could die happy now!”

“Izlende! My idol!"

Two young men standing by her side shook their heads in amusement. “Izra, we’re no match for you,” said one of the men with sandy blonde hair. “It’s like we’re invisible, even to the knights, haha!”

The other man chuckled softly at his best friend’s humorous complaints, replying, “If you were high enough rank to join the student council, then maybe you’d also hear them cheering Theryn.”

“What? Are you rubbing it in my face because some of them are chanting your name, too?” Theryn crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. “Thanks for being a supportive buddy as always, Rakun.”

The dark-haired man smirked at his friend’s sarcasm and turned toward the crowd of cadets, making his long side-bangs and ponytail swish gracefully. At the sight of his dashing face and tall figure, a huddle of girls swooned dramatically.

Theryn rolled his sea-green gray eyes and face-palmed. “Tell me why I agreed to come here early again?”

“Because if you didn’t, you’d be stuck traveling later with Brynhilde,” replied Rakun with a quirk of a smile.

“Oh crap, you’re right.” Theryn slapped his forehead. “I’d rather train a month with Hætherin than submit myself to hours of her whining about the bumpy roads or some other finicky nonsense. What torture!”

“Did I hear that right?” Izlende cupped an ear and rose her voice. “You miss old knight Hætherin?”

Panicking, Theryn shook his hands fervently. “Shh!! Don’t let him hear!” Leaning closer, he whispered, “Look, I finally got that old fart off my back since he transferred with Bodraig to the southern province. I don’t want to experience Helltherin again!”

Izlende snickered and patted Theryn on the back. “That’s too bad, it looks like he’s coming over to say hi.”

“What?! No! Please!” Theryn spun around, hiding behind the larger frame of Rakun.

“Come on now.” Izlende teased and poked him. “Act like a proud student of Neu’arth in front of all these cadets. I thought you were excited to make a valiant impression? It’s all you were rambling about in the car.”

Theryn soundlessly humphed. “I was not rambling.”

Smiling, Rakun side-stepped from in front of Theryn, remarking, “It’s too bad Ennrion couldn’t join us on the mission, but let’s introduce ourselves and how the evaluation works. Everyone is waiting.”

“Right.” Izlende nodded as her boyfriend’s face came to mind. He was holding down the student council as vice president while she was away. Ennrion initially insisted on joining the dangerous mission in place of her, but the group severely needed a mage with healing abilities like herself after the knights’ first horrendous failure. And now, on top of what she considered a thrilling mission, she could warm herself up in a fun evaluation game.

Clearing her throat, Izlende shouted, “Hello, knight trainees. As you saw, our arrival today was unexpected. But as some of you may know, a follow-up mission in Farinheld is occurring soon, and we are actually three of the members on that mission. But, we came here today earlier than scheduled to personally test you. With the recent rise in violent incidents, it’s more important than ever to grow your skills and experience. So!” The girl smirked charismatically. “Are you ready for a beating?”

The cadets roared in excitement, disregarding the ferocity of her question. Izlende Ryrarin, a rare battle mage who excelled in physical combat and magical support, was popular within the academic and knight circles for both her abilities and captivating nature. She was a born leader and intrepid soul who had withstood the wrath of a rampaging demon god. The long, tapered scar across a side of her head was a bold testament of that encounter and made all the more clearer with her quintessential hairstyle: a high ponytail and single bang on the opposite side.

“Good. Now listen up, newbies.”

After Izlende explained the altered rules of “The War Game,” the knight trainees split into two uneven groups. The three guests would join the larger team of low ranks in order to better support them and provide a challenge for the higher ranks of the advanced and intermediate classes.

“Based on the results of this evaluation, ranks and class assignments may be adjusted. So, take this seriously, or you might be disqualified. And remember, even though you’re working as teams, this is an individual assessment.”

Everyone cheered their agreement to the senior knight and hastened to their side of the playing field within the marked off forest outside of the city. This location was unique to Byar’non compared to other regional campuses who had simpler renditions of the classic combat evaluation. But none could employ the full scope and magnitude utilized by the Neu’arth campus.

Regardless, the woods that had been set up in advance for the mock strategic battle held a secret that could dictate the fates of students. But it would be up to them to figure it out in this twist on the game of capture the flag. Each side had to steal the opponent’s mobile device while protecting their own and recharging it at a station controlled by their team for at least one minute every half hour. Twelve stations were scattered across a large portion of the forest with red paint on bark indicating the borders. Each team began on opposite sides and were given a single map of the battleground. They weren’t allowed anything but this, the clothes on their back, and a basic weapon for each member. Thus, they had to be crafty and use the surrounding resources.

In the required ten minutes for strategizing and organizing before moving from their starter base station, Essairyn and Darren listened attentively from the back.

“I say we capture as many stations as we can with the key so that we can lure and find where the device is being held!”

“Good idea, but the other team is probably thinking the same,” rebutted another in the front.

“The question is how to keep control of all the stations without spreading us too thin? It only takes a second for the device to negate the effects of the key and reverse the control of the station to the other team.”

Another calmly countered. “That all depends on our mobility after locating the opponent’s device. It’s not a problem if they take control as long as we can capture the device itself while keeping at least one station in control, two to be safe, as backup.”

“Yeah, the key is a safe bet because it can easily move around and capture all the stations so that it’s harder for the other team to take control of the captured ones without revealing their device.”

“But the key can also be captured too!” A person shouted from the middle of the group. “We have to take that in mind!”

“Yes, but capturing the stations as soon as possible is critical because an already captured station can’t be controlled with just the key. So—”

“—it may be better to hide the device and recharge at the minimum while keeping the key highly protected while it’s mobile.” A different student finished the other’s words. Everyone was starting to think along the same lines. Now united, the team finished polishing their strategy and then separated into smaller groups for engaging the enemy, capturing the stations, and defending the device. Essairyn and Darren volunteered for the same assault team.

“Do you agree with the plan, or do you have any other ideas?” Darren asked while coming up next to Essairyn after the meeting disbanded.

The girl merely shrugged and replied indifferently. “The first plan isn’t always kept entirely and sometimes changes in the course of events. If I decide something is better, then I’ll do it. But for now, this is fine. ”

“I see,” murmured Darren. “Well, I’m glad we got to be a part of the primary assault team together. It’ll definitely be fun; even though, it also sounds like a lot of effort!” He laughed, and Essairyn smiled.

“Yes, we’ll definitely be getting our fair share of exercise in that group. But if necessary, or if we want, I’m sure we can always switch to another group. People get tired after all, and it might be good to confuse the enemy. Then again, if the group works well together, changes could negatively affect it too.”

“True…” Darren’s head was tilted down with his finger curved around his chin in thought. “I guess we’ll see how it goes. I’m pretty excited. But I wonder how long it’ll take for a team to eventually capture the other’s device. According to what the knights said, in the past, this exercise took an average of four hours to complete. Can you imagine that?!”

Essairyn laughed breathily at his incredulity. “Yeah, the device is a small object that becomes invisible when ‘worn’ by someone, after all. So it’s not too hard to imagine how this ‘war’ can be dragged out.”

“The War Game,” said Darren slowly, letting the words rest on his tongue and sink into his mind. “It’s a pretty fitting name considering that stations are akin to cities.”

“And I already feel the politics at play, too.” Essairyn chuckled mirthlessly as their group called them over.

Although some people wanted to contend with the two travelers on being allowed into the primary assault team, they kept their mouths shuts and settled on the next best option: the secondary assault team. Using the key wasn’t the only way to capture a station. Whether or not a station was controlled, it could be captured if a person stood in the center with a hand on the pedestal for ten minutes. That meant others had to keep guard and fight off any intruders. Because this was cumbersome, the instantaneous key was more favorable.

“In some ways, the secondary team would’ve posed a bigger challenge for us. Though, with these magical restraints… Well, at least they didn’t limit our stamina, too,” commented Darren as their assault team sped through the forest to the outermost stations, leaving the closer ones to the secondary group for the ten minute capture process.

“Yeah, thank goodness that they can’t affect our bodies to that degree. But I can’t believe that this bracelet yet again has another use. It’s almost scary thinking that they could manipulate our magic flow at any time outside of this battle through it.” Essairyn eyed her gray bracelet with shimmering gold engravings in newfound wariness. She noticed that most magical items in the Academy had gold etchings where magic flowed, including even classroom walls.

“Well, at least it doesn’t hinder physical abilities including magic amplification.”

Essairyn nodded at Darren’s words. “True, since only so much of magic amplification can be done to a body at a time, it’s not really considered outside the realms of fair. Still…this game is really disadvantageous for mages, not being able to use our magic… So what was the point of all the spells that we learned up to now?!”

Darren laughed at her incredulity. “Hey, you know that if mages were allowed their magic in combat, then us plebeian knights could only stand by and watch you all duke it out.”

“I suppose you have a point.” Essairyn giggled. “It’s enough that we can use it outside of fighting.”

They ran north for a few minutes, skirting the left side of the forest and passing a station on the way. Once the group neared the target station indicated as number six on the crudely redrawn map on a large leaf, they paused and surveyed the surroundings. Seeing no one approaching with only the whisper of the trees echoing around them, they swiftly stalked up to the station. The circular structure was made of stone with three carved out entrances and no roof. A lone, square pedestal inhabited the center with approximately two meters separating it from the inner walls.

Their team leader, a sturdily built young man with short-cropped hair, urged the key holder to hurry with the activation as soon as the two entered. The rest of the group stayed outside to keep guard. The whole process took less than a minute, and they moved out immediately after completion.

“Whew, that was easier than I thought. My heart was pounding just now,” commented a teenager who looked no older than fifteen with his small face and loose bowl cut.

“Shh! Keep quiet so that we don’t alert any enemies nearby!” Their serious leader snapped with a sharp glare.

“Sorry!” The boy apologized softly, hanging his head down slightly in the process.

An ashen brunette in the group rolled her eyes at the exchange. She thought that they were both taking this exercise too seriously. Whether or not they won was no big deal as long as they put up a suitable individual performance. And since she was part of the advanced class, she wasn’t at all worried whether she could pick off the scrawny lower classes. Inwardly, she scoffed at the supposed ‘challenge’ of having only three well-trained student-knights on the other side.

Silently, the assault group traveled to station seven. It was only a couple minutes away, and like the previous, looked to be empty. Taking no chances as they were nearing the enemy side, one of their members scouted the area. After giving the clear signal, the others sprung out from behind the tree trunks toward the station. They secured ownership without a hitch and moved onto the next post, going west instead of north into enemy territory.

With this station, they would successfully have captured all of the perimeter posts on their side. Once that was accomplished, one of their members would report back to the secondary assault group. This station took longer to reach than the distance between the two previous. But the coast was clear around station five, and they captured it seamlessly yet again.

However, instead of feeling relieved or pleased with their accomplishments, Essairyn was perturbed. She looked warily around for a second before bending over to Darren on the other side of the station entrance. “Something’s wrong. We haven’t seen any movements of the other team, meaning they either bypassed us, or they’re not crossing over onto our territory.”

Darren wrinkled his brows in thought. “You think? They could just be doing what we’re doing and capturing all of their own stations closest first.”

The ebony-haired girl frowned, murmuring, “Perhaps… I just have a strange feeling about this…”

He peered at her face which had turned away and was now staring vacuously into the emptiness of the forest. Before he could say another word in reply, their key holder had finished the task and their leader gestured for everyone to move out.

As they began running toward the next station on the opponent’s territory, Essairyn asked for the map from their second-in-command. They had designated this position should they ever need to split into a smaller group. He carefully handed over a supple green leaf twice the size of a hand.

Nodding her thanks, she unfurled the leaf and traced over the sketches earnestly with her eyes. Essairyn couldn’t get rid of her hunch, so she tried working it out by staring at the map and going through different tactics. Pausing on the opponent’s side, a sudden spark flared in her mind. With her eyes wide, she whipped her head at Darren reflexively.

“They’re placing one person at each station and moving separately.”

Caught by surprise, Darren sputtered, “What? What do you mean?” His warm sepia chocolate eyes lifted in curiosity and mild alarm.

“Instead of forming teams like us, it’s more efficient to move separately. It’s risky, but effective if it pays off. That gives them more time to cross over to our side and spy on us.” Her stern tone quickened with anticipation. A light seemed to fluoresce in the depths of her lavender-sienna orbs, a manifest sign to Darren that this girl was concocting something in her mind.

He was silent for a second while considering her theory. Certainly, that would be the better tactic in the overall strategy of capturing the most stations. It made him wonder why no one pointed it out before. But if this was really the case, then it would explain why the forest was so hushed. At times, he did feel as if someone was watching him.

“Time-wise, they could beat us to the middle because we stopped to activate stations, but then we still should’ve encountered them while moving. Earlier even, so then how are they—” He abruptly stopped talking and jerked his head up sharply, realizing an absurd possibility. “The trees,” he mumbled.

Essairyn looked up and gazed at the lofty forest ceiling with thick branches and foliage. Indeed, the cover was thick enough to hide and muffle any footsteps across the pathway of branches. And all the while, a bird’s eye view allowed for almost unhindered access. It dawned on her that perhaps the Knights had chosen this forest for more reasons than they originally thought. The sparse undergrowth allowed for great ease of movement while wide tree trunks could provide cover for two people.

“You think they’re…?” She trailed off and peered at him from the corner of her eyes.

“Well, wouldn’t you do something like that?” He asked with a somewhat joking tone.

She widened her eyes and blinked back up at the trees. “I would…”

Then, with a gasp, she sprinted a second’s distance toward their leader and announced, “I’m going back. I think they passed us.” And without even looking to see his reaction, much less hear his response, Essairyn pivoted and dashed off in the opposite direction.

Darren automatically slowed his steps in reaction to her decision and the wind that flew by as she passed him. With barely a heartbeat’s hesitation, he joined her after waving to the bewildered leader that he, too, would leave.

“W-wait! You two—!!” Their leader’s stifled shouts barely reached their ears as they ran away faster than when they were with the group.

The forest flew by, and they intermittently looked up at the trees for signs of movement. Instead of returning to station five, she headed for seven. From her deductions, it was more likely that the opponent would target station seven instead of five because if they had been watching them, they would go after the second to last deserted station nearest to the midpoint. It also gave them more time to distance themselves from the departing team when they did move to station five after seven.

“The only question is, how would they communicate through the treetops? Even on the ground, it would be difficult to get around quickly enough to act as messengers,” said Essairyn, thinking out loud.

“Then again, who would ever think to look up?” Darren pointed out, “They could have several spies running around, and we would never hear them due to the sound of our own running and the distance between us.”

However, while on the right track, Darren’s guess was incorrect. When station seven almost came within eyesight, they saw people departing from that direction. Immediately, they softened and slowed their steps, shifting more to the left as they moved in order to stay out of the enemies’ line of sight. With careful movements, they approached the station and observed it from the westernmost point. After detecting no activity within the station or above them, Essairyn slipped inside with Darren close behind on the lookout.

Immediately, she saw that the owner of the station had changed. Ten minutes had not passed since their assault team had left it.

“They have the device with them.” Essairyn turned toward Darren with a sly grin.

His eyes flew toward the yellow neon stripe around the top of the pedestal. It glowed with the color of the opposition. He smiled. “Bingo.”

Essairyn returned his smile knowingly, and they nodded at one another in wordless agreement. They could clinch this game that was barely even a quarter of an hour begun.

“But.” Essairyn narrowed her eyes. “If they have the device, then that means one or more of the Neu’arth students are in that group. Will we be able to beat them?”

“Weren’t you up for the challenge, anyway?” Darren grinned provokingly.

“I thought you were supposed to be my source of reason.”

Darren chuckled. “We could go back but—”

“—you know I wouldn’t want to.”

“Exactly.”

Essairyn smirked, and with harmonized motions, they raced in pursuit of the enemy.

“Darren, what do you think about distracting them from the left while I come from the right?”

“So that it looks like I’m coming from our base instead of from their side?”

She nodded, glad that he understood her intention perfectly. “Okay, let’s split!” The two diverged and encircled the opponent from opposite directions and timing. Essairyn let Darren get ahead in order to approach them first.

In the meantime, she flexed her hands, letting the current of magic build in her palm. Unfortunately, she felt a hindrance in the magical energy collected. Sure enough, the magic binding made the summoning of her sword too inefficient. Even if it was more lax, she still wouldn’t reveal her abilities to summon magical weapons. From the lectures she had received so far, it wasn’t something common.

In fact, it was a unique trait of Knight-Mages, the magical warriors that the Academy had been named after besides referring to the founders who were the first of its class. Only Mage-Knights, the reverse wording, could exhibit similar traces of the skill. Instead of creating the weapons directly, they could tamper with the flow of magic in existing weapons and items. It was more versatile than the fixed, pre-inputted abilities of a wand or amulet that could amplify spells or physical strength. Therefore, she was glad that she had kept it a secret. Akari’s words had run true yet again about keeping the extent of her magic hidden.

So, she redirected the energy back throughout her body and into her steel sword. The moment was fast approaching. She heard the cries of the startled enemies and burst forth from their back, catching them off-guard. Darren had done well and was currently exchanging blows with the second nearest opponent after knocking down the first from his surprise attack. As low ranked trainees, they stood no chance against him.

Essairyn whirled into the heart of the group, slicing three people in her path. They gasped at the unexpected pain, and in her own confusion at their pain, Essairyn paused her assault, trying to figure out why the knights had allowed the trainees to inflict injury on one another. From what she remembered, the bracelets were supposed to neutralize injuries.

In her momentary hesitation, she was struck from the back but parried it with a swift swing of her sword while dodging. However, the movement had cost her balance and resulted in a cut on her arm from another enemy. The stinging slash reverberated in her nerves. Essairyn snapped her head in the direction of the pain. But contrary to expectation, there was no external injury.

So, it allows us to feel the pain without actually damaging our bodies? Her thoughts cried out in astonishment. What the heck, that’s actually sorta messed up! She grimaced and decided it was better to end this fight as quickly as possible, opting to deplete the “life points” of each opponent in one shot.

Essairyn spun nimbly on her toes and swayed to the left before an approaching enemy. Before the other person’s sword could reach beyond the upturned position of a descending blow, she stabbed the poor fellow exactly on his heart. The bracelet prevented her sword from ever going past his clothes and into the flesh, but she hoped that he didn’t feel too much pain from the phantom injury. Promptly after her strike, the boy froze under the effects of the bracelet’s magic. His life points, as shown by the green bar that encircled his bracelet and only appeared when being struck, plummeted to nothing. Both the apparatus and the body went lights out. He plopped to the floor as if in a sleep.

Seeing the “dead” boy, Essairyn’s eyes bulged at the realism of it. She tutted and cursed inwardly at the knights’ cruel training methods. The only thing missing from this scene is blood and… With a disgruntled huff, she turned away and set about striking others at vital points. In this manner, the group was finished off in just over a minute.

Surveyed the strewn bodies in sleep, Essairyn sighed with her hands on her hips. “What a strange scene this is… they look so damn peaceful too, it’s almost creepy.” She cringed and shook off the eerie impression.

Darren chuckled while wiping a few drops of sweat from his forehead. “It really is, but now we know at least how the fighting mechanism works. Although, I suppose it’s not of much help knowing now after we won.”

“True, however…” Essairyn's smile quickly faded. “We didn’t encounter any of the three Neu’arth visitors. And no device either on this ground group. So they must not be in this group, or they or the device holder have returned to the treetops. Yes, that must be how they’re moving about after this outcome. It’s the only way. And by now, they must’ve seen us kill everyone and run away.”

Once someone was killed while holding the device, the small cube would drop near the body. So as long as a team member retrieved it before the opponent, they had lost the battle but not the war.

“Shoot.” Darren speared his sword into the ground. “They got us. I didn’t see anyone get away unless the person with the device had split up before we got to the group.”

Essairyn nodded slowly. She ruffled her hair and loudly sighed. “I wish I had thought of this. For all we know, Izlende or that Rakun guy as B-ranks could be taking all the stations and force us to a single station.”

“Who knew? It’s not like you can guess everything beforehand. Besides, moving through the treetops is still just a theory until we know for sure how they’re getting around.” Darren’s words that bordered on harsh were softened by the even tone of his voice.

“Yeah…” Her head hung slightly as she slowly swished her blade in the grass. “Well, let’s follow them and find out if it’s true then. It doesn’t do us any good to stay down here.”

Darren nodded in agreement, and they headed off to a more secluded area away from the station to ascend to the treetops. With the use of a magic circle, they flew up past the web of branches. What greeted them upon their entrance nearly took their breath away.