A battle's rule

The three teams got separated after realizing that this was a competitive battle against knight Roger. In a second they all charged towards him.

Supplying the dual swords with fire, Knight Roger created a tornado of fire, covering himself from the others view.

Each group had already halt in their steps due to the heat radiating from the fire tornado, everywhere became dark like it was about to rain.

When the fire started dispersing all they could hear was sound of metals clanging.

With great speed, knight Roger was hitting each one of them with his dual sword, only few were able to counter his attacks while the others were too slow to react to his speed and were soon seen falling to the ground.

Now remaining three people standing, Mark who kept distracting his opponent by firing immense amount of beam persistently, Casey who kept shielding herself with her fire and Jade whose speed was an advantage against his opponent.

Surrounded by the three still standing was knight Roger who was still waiting for them to attack.

"It seems like you three are special in your own way. Super speed that could almost match a Razeki soldier's own, ultimate defense that could rival that of a maneki's and powerful attacks amplified by whatever you call it. " knight Roger praised, pointing to each one of them."Though to me, it totally useless."he shrugged.

The first to attack was Jade and Mark, they were both firing beams towards him which was just being knocked off by knight Roger's swords like they were nothing.

The others that got attacked previously were now watching the fight in a sitting position though injured, they couldn't care less as they watched in awe.

Casey, closing the distance between her and knight Roger was now exchanging attacks with him while Jade and Mark was still firing beams.

After some time of exchanging attacks, the trio was getting tired from using their abilities.

'how long can these guys remain standing! they might even become the village's aces. Too bad you are now in your last legs.' knight Roger thought, defending each one of their attacks.

Kneeling on the ground, Mark was breathing heavily and that was when knight Roger got his chance to take care of one more trouble or so he thought. On getting there, he swung one of his sword towards Mark.

Just when the sword was few inches away from Mark's face, Mark look at him with a smirk and said " The best way to catch a rat is a trap, what do you say, knight."

Immediately, knight Roger got blown up to the sky by a detonative mine on the floor.

'wow! It seems like this one knows how to act and still keeps to strategies.' knight Roger thought, falling from the sky. 'wait!... He never mention anything explosive.'

Jades seeing this opportunity, shot out beams of fire from both of his knuckle-spiked gloves which knight Roger couldn't evade completely while still descending, making Jade's team come out second.

With Mark's team being first and Jade's team being second, these caused the fight to end with Casey's team being the third.

The rest of the team gathered as knight Roger walked up to them from where he fell.

"That's it then, you all became useless after being consumed by your selfishness. If you all had worked together as you initially planned, I bet this match would have ended earlier." The knight said putting back his swords into their sheath.

"But you were the one that placed that crazy rule at the start." Saz said, angrily, cause he felt useless and defeated.

"I'm sorry but maybe you weren't listening to me when I said 'in battle there's no rules.' and that's the only one rule in battle. Your enemies will always try to break your cooperation especially when you have more advantage over them." Knight Roger reminded. "And Mark, that's was a clever trick to pull, but you never mention anything about mines, why, if I may ask?"

"Cause it good to always have a trick up your sleeve, I mean, it gives me an advantage over my opponent." Mark explained, shrugging slightly.

"Anyways, that was a great match, if you got hurt you can go see Mrs Lillian, if only some of you were putting on an armor. Let's meet back here tomorrow morning. I am going to educate you all on various strategies used in fighting.... Bye then." Knight Roger said and started leaving the open space.

The others were still waiting for Mark, Jade and Casey to relax, talking about how amazing they were, except for Saz who followed knight Roger back to the castle.

After some time, they all left, saying their goodbyes to each other.

"You look defeated, don't tell me you are comparing yourself with those guys. I bet they've come across their own share of countless crazy opponent to gain that much experience, though except for Casey unlike you that has to be kept safe in the castle. "Knight Roger said, in a comforting tone on their way to the castle.

"That's what I'm talking about, experience! I don't have much fighting experience....."

"What do you need it for?" Roger interrupted. "Why do you need much battle experience if you are going to end up being protected as a king? Why do you need much battle experience if you would never go to war? Why do you need much battle experience if you can only get it from dangerous situations? I mean you are the only son the king has. Think twice before showing those broken emotions on your face." Knight Roger advice, almost sounding angry.

"I guess you are right, I don't really need it. Sorry about that, it's just that.... I don't want to become a weak king. "Saz said, staring at the ground.

"Then try reading some war strategy book at your dad's library, i think he might have one, that would definitely help you as a prince." Roger said, smiling assuredly.

"Thanks, I'll try." Saz answered.

"And if you're not too busy maybe you should go see Jade, his birthday is today. Have fun with each other, you know..." Knight Roger advised.

***

Reaching the next day at the same time, the three groups were waiting for the knight in the open ground at the end of the street which was still busy with people going to their place of work.

Minutes passed and people was now scarcely seen knight Roger arrived holding a cardboard.

They greeted each other and the coaching begun.

"Today, we won't be wasting much time so you can go and park your things for tomorrow." Knight Roger said, opening the cardboard for them to see. "Here are various strategies used in combat and what you will mostly need in this expedition."

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