Capture The Flag!

'I can sense their attackers approaching us.' Zane thought as he ran through the forest. 'Why is one of them running on top of the trees?'

"Got any plan of attack?" Lanius asked him.

"Uhh, let me think for a second." Zane replied, subtly grabbing the amulet that hung from his neck.

'Amulet, what's a surefire strategy so that we win all 3 rounds?' 

[You should face Firenze, the boy above you, while Lanius ignores the girl and attacks their base directly. Tell him to use his strongest spells. Lisa can easily hold her own against Sally.]

'Wait, you want ME to fight the guy with 4 spellbooks without blowing my cover?'

[You don't need to hold back against him, just let loose enough to stall him completely. And if he threatens to tell others about your true strength, just blackmail him right back. Just get Gunther to distract your masters so they don't sense your magic.]

After explaining, the amulet turned off as it could only be used once a day. 

'Blackmail on Firenze?' Zane scratched his head before coming to a realization. 'Oh, right! He was sneaking around the restricted areas that one time! Alright, time to destroy this squad!'

"I got it!" Zane called out to Lanius, who looked at him expectedly. "I'll hold off the attackers while you go over to their base and just blast it as hard as you can!"

Lanius frowned. "Are you sure you can handle their attackers?" 

Zane gave a thumbs up. "I won't have to if you can do it fast enough. This strategy will have to change next round, though."

Understanding him, Lanius nodded with a smile as his spellbook appeared next to him, vibrating. 

"Accelerate!" Lanius called out his spell as his body glowed with mana, his speed doubling as he quickly left Zane behind, who stopped running completely.

"Ok, this should end in about a minute." Looking up, Zane keenly followed Firenze's location as he came closer. The redhead had no clue Zane was patiently waiting for him to appear in the air. "This should be enough for now."

Firenze had arrived and was finally about to bypass Zane. He leaped from the tree he was running on and was in the air for just a moment, already ready to land on the next tree.

"Mana Bullet."

Before Firenze could land on the next tree, he felt a solid projectile make contact with his chin, stunning him momentarily and making him lose focus. He fell, landing unceremoniously next to Zane, who had a finger aimed upwards.

"What the hell…" 

Firenze started to stand back up before Zane shot him again in the face, stunning him again. It felt like someone was throwing rocks at his face.

"Ow! You little…" 

BOOOOM!

Firenze and Zane both turned towards the source of what sounded like an explosion, but only one of them had a smile on his face. As Firenze got back on his feet, a silver blur passed by them in a second, bombarding the two boys with strong winds.

After a few seconds, they heard Vincent's voice ring in their ears. 

"Round one is over." He said. "Point to Mage Squad 6. Everyone return to their bases to start the next round."

"Don't think the next two rounds are gonna be that easy." Firenze got up in Zane's face and glared at him. "You won't catch me off guard again."

Firenze was really pissed right about now. Just from that one loss, his squad no longer had the chance to go on a mission. However, he could still stop Zane's squad from winning it as well.

"You know, you already lost the mission." Zane didn't back down, grinning at the seething Firenze. "You could just step aside and let us get it."

"Go to hell."

Keeping eye contact, the two boys slowly backed away from each other, putting distance between themselves before they returned to their respective bases.

"Your plan worked, Zane!" Lanius patted Zane on the back. "Cynthia had to go grab that George guy to pull him out of my Amplified Mana Cannon, and I just ran back with the flag!"

"Ugh, at least that spell came in handy." Lisa shivered as she was reminded of the entrance exam. "...Let's keep it up for two more rounds." 

"What's the plan for the second round?" Lanius asked with a smile on his face, not even remotely affected by casting strong spells one after another. 

"Let's just do the same thing." Zane stretched an arm. "It's not like they can beat you, or get past Lisa. If anything, the round will just last a little longer."

"Hey, you're pretty good at stalling too." Lanius wrapped an arm around Zane's shoulder.

Lisa glanced at Zane. "Don't sell yourself short." 

"Heh, thanks guys." Zane acted sheepishly.

'But I'm TRYING to sell myself short!'

They relaxed for another minute or so before Vincent's voice spoke in everyone's ears once more.

"Round 2 may begin."

"Let's go! Accelerate!" Lanius casted his spell almost instantly before running off into the distance.

'Gone as fast as he arrived.' Zane shrugged, waving at Lisa before running off as well, at a much, much slower pace. Unlike Lanius, he wasn't that athletic, in fact he was quite skinny compared to the other students.

Zane continued through the forest as he heard magic spells going off in the distance. It seemed that Lanius was now just facing George head on, while Sally was going straight to their base to face Lisa.

Oh, and of course, there was Firenze who was barreling towards Zane at an alarming speed. It looked like Zane had pissed him off so much that Firenze chose to actively target him.

Zane felt a burst of heat from the side as Firenze emerged from the thick brush, his arm pulled back for a punch as fire spewed out from his feet, propelling him forward. Zane quickly put on an expression of shock, pretending to actually have fallen for Firenze's ambush. 

"Ah!" Zane gasped as Firenze's fist slammed into his face, the impact releasing a miniature shockwave as Zane went flying away, bouncing off a tree or two. 

As Firenze watched Zane be thrown into the distance from his attack, he roared, having not noticed a thin layer of mana present on Zane's cheek where his fist landed.

"Fuck you!"