After Brutus announced the beginning the Heroes froze, none of them had actually fought against the others before, mostly. The silence was broken, by Mina, as shadows silently enveloped her form as she vanished. Panicked screams and bellows erupted as she popped up behind a group of men who had teamed up, they had some of the more normal Classes. The only one, who reacted fast enough, was the Rogue of the Group, an assassin variant, with many perception related abilities. Unfortunately he was not able to react in time as a mass of Shadows headed towards him.

The Rogue was thrown back by the force of impact. He vanished just after he impacted heavily against the ground, with a crack and thud that was audible. The rogue appeared in what amounted for an Infirmary or Medical center, within the Castle. This would happen, if the injuries were too severe, compared to what the healers present could deal with. The other members that had been teamed with the Rogue, panicked, some ran, others tried to attack, futilely and foolishly. The two members of the group who stayed engaged Mina. Though they were both skilled for having such common classes, Monk and Warrior, respectively, none of their hits connected.

Mina’s lithe form vanished and appeared, dancing amongst their strikes. Though a melee had started shortly after Mina made her move, there were those who were entranced at the sight of her dancing. It held a dangerous grace to it, not dissimilar to that of a big cat stalking its prey. The pause was brief, it was interrupted, by the sound of the ground crackling and groaning as frost spread across it. It was situated in front of where the other two members of the Rogue’s group had fled. The frost was crawling up the legs of the unfortunate duo, too fast to fight off, not that they would have been able to anyways.

Certain classes pertaining to the elements, would forgo the usual weaknesses elements have, towards other elements. Elemental Archons, were one such class type, only eclipsed by similar variants of the rare Archmage or the legendary Overlord classes. The sight of the two students, who were now akin to ice sculptures caught the eyes of a couple of the more senior mages. Though Ice Witches were skilled in their element, they were not usually able to show such versatility. This was especially the case when they were still learning. Witches and Wizards did not have the potential and speed that more advanced magic classes gave.

Their attention was diverted as a loud agonized cry was heard. By the time they diverted their attention, the Monk had fallen to the ground, joining the already unconscious Warrior on the dirt ground. Afterwards Mina stepped into her own shadow and disappeared, before reappearing next to Theresa. Around the Parade Ground, similar scenes were playing out. They were similar in the fact that those with the rarer and less common classes were dominating the battles. However, there were those, with more mundane classes that were holding their own. Though most were in pairs of two or more or larger groups, that was not always the case.

There was one individual who was holding his own, that student was Diego Montoya. His class was among the most heavily armored, in a sense. His class dealt with armor and defensive spells, but also blast magic, which was a sort of type of wind and fire magic, that specialized in what would be considered AOE effects. The spells ranged from being able to unleash a wall of force that would create shockwaves and push things back, to blasts of force, which would form a sphere that would shoot out in a wave pushing things back. It was a versatile and destructive class, which was known for its ability to hold its own, but was really rare.

Diego was wading through the melee, a shimmering barrier around him. Those who made contact with it were pushed back, the more force directed at the barrier, the more force was used to push back. The barrier was extremely effective, but it was not without cost, it took magic power to sustain it, and each impact against the barrier took a certain amount of mana. The greater the impact the more mana was needed. This was one of the major weaknesses of the class, it had an insane mana consumption, in addition to the fact that magic attacks were only weakened by the barrier, not deflected entirely.

Though it had not seemed like long, the battle had been going on for at least an hour, if not longer. There were only around ten people left, including six of the 9 people with exceptional classes. The other 4 were all on a single team, and had classes that had excellent synergy with one another. Aside from those 4, Theresa ad Mina were together, Diego was still solo, but was panting from exertion and such. Richard J. Davidson, the Battlemage, and Gerard Silverman, the Magnetic mage, had teamed together with Tracie Bronson, the Elemental Archmge, she had survived thus far due to luck and well-aimed strikes.

The field had gradually been cleared of the unconscious and groaning casualties thus far. None of the remaining students were in top condition, those who were closest were Mina Hasegawa and Theresa Nicoletti, though they weren’t unused to similar situations, albeit with less magic involved. The ten were standing in a circle, roughly, each group or person eyeing the others. This standoff continued for a time, and then there was movement, this time not from Mina. Diego, made the first move, he launched a series of blasts, around him and in front of the others, obscuring the view.

Groans could be heard, coming from the group of four. The cause for the noises, could be seen as the dust and debris cleared, helped along by several bodies beign sent flying out of it. One, a Guardian, had been able to stand strong against the barriers recoils, but only slightly, after the waves of force ended, they fell unconscious, still supported by their tower shield. During this time the others went into motion as well. The group of three went against Mina and Theresa, Tracie conjured a series of lightning bolts that headed for Mina, who stepped behind Theresa as a shell of ice formed over the two of them. Though it held admirably, it started cracking under the destructive force.