The next morning after Basic Combat ended, Gaius was about as calm as he could be, which he found quite surprising.  This was going to be the day that he finally regained some semblance of his honor and achieved some revenge upon the savage that had several times humiliated him.  He thought he would be jittery with excitement at the thought of finally crossing blades with him.

And yet, he was calm as could be.  After his talk with Tiberias and some reflection on the talk he’d had with Nicomedes, his older brother who worked here at the Knight Academy, Gaius just wanted this to be over.  To be in such a rivalry with a savage was truly unbecoming, and while he dearly wanted his revenge and to regain his honor, Gaius was looking forward to bringing this to a close.

In only a few hours, everything would be right with the world.  Leon would be put in his place, those around him would likely shun him for bringing this calamity down upon them, and Gaius would be free to put the barbarian out of his mind.

He glanced around as his fellow Deathbringers formed up outside of their tower instead of heading out into the city.  Not all of them were happy to be preparing to assault the Snow Lions instead of spending their money having fun in the capital, but just about everyone knew that this was going to have to happen eventually; the tension between them and the Snow Lions had just gotten too intense for anything except this to happen.

Besides, Gaius and the other two third-tier leaders of their unit, Linus and Actaeon, had made it abundantly clear that no one was allowed to skip this.

So, the Deathbringers were ready to go barely five minutes after being dismissed by their Senior Instructor—who Gaius informed of their move, and who in turn reminded him of the rules of engagement for the trainees of the Knight Academy—and Gaius led them out of the tower and toward their designated meeting place to wait for Tiberias.  Since the Deathbringers and Snow Lions’ towers were relatively close, it was assumed that the Deathbringers would arrive before Tiberias.  This assumption proved correct, as Tiberias was nowhere to be seen when they arrived, however Gaius did notice all three of their Instructors following at a distance, monitoring them and probably making sure they followed the rules.

Their meeting point was at the foot of a large hill that overlooked the road from the Snow Lions’ tower to the training field.  When the training grounds were first established, the earth and nature mages that built the roads and the forests made sure to create a number of ‘natural’ ambush points along each road, such as large boulders, hills, and thick tree lines.  This would help to reinforce many of the lessons the instructors intended to teach the trainees, one of the most important being to keep off of roads as much as possible when on the move.  Due to this ambush-friendly design, Gaius had been told by Nicomedes that most trainees typically stopped using the roads to move around the Academy by the fourth or fifth month of training, which is when most units really start to fight amongst themselves.

By the ‘final test’ of the training cycle, a simulated two-month long free-for-all war between the units known as the FTX or Field Training Exercise, traveling along the roads would be seen as near-suicide.

“He’s not here…” said Actaeon, a blade balanced across his stout shoulders, his light brown eyes swiveling in their sockets in a nearly-endless survey of their surroundings.

“Give him some time.  He’s coming from farther away.  In the meantime, have everyone spread out and keep an eye on that road,” responded Gaius.  Actaeon and Linus immediately got to work coordinating the second-tier trainees.  As they were all educated nobles, they moved quickly, but the same could not be said of the first-tier trainees.  Eventually, the entire unit had formed a rough line that watched the road from the hill, hidden from view—though it had taken several minutes.

It wasn’t even five minutes later that the first group of Snow Lions was seen walking down the road.  They walked at a leisurely pace, chatting amongst themselves.  There were only ten of them, and they were all first-tier trainees at that.

When Gaius was informed of their sighting, he took a look for himself.  He recognized several of them as people who frequently sat at Leon’s table during meals.  If he listened closely, he could even hear what they were talking about.

“… just go to a family clinic.  They’ll typically sell these contraception spells in packs of five for twenty silvers.”

“No shit?!  How have I not heard about that before?!”

“I know, right?  I only just found out about them last week.  I bought a few and tried them out last time I hooked up with a girl.  Worth every coin.”

As they were speaking, they drew near the hill.  Gaius waited until they were about halfway down the line, then emerged from the trees on the hill.  The Snow Lions weren’t paying enough attention to notice him, but he didn’t care.  He simply made a ‘follow me’ gesture to the waiting Deathbringers and charged down the hill with all the speed of a third-tier mage.

As soon as he started moving, Actaeon and Linus lead the second-tier Deathbringers out from the tree line and charged the Snow Lions, who were so surprised that they barely reacted until Gaius had already crashed into their group and brought his training sword down on one of them, knocking him unconscious.  Gaius barely even glanced at most of the Snow Lions, turning his head to the three in the group who he saw around Leon all the time and started to advance upon them, his expression one of stoic seriousness.

The man who reacted the swiftest was the largest and most heavily-built man among them.  He was the one Gaius targeted first, and he just barely managed to draw his sword in time to block Gaius’ strike.  He lacked the strength to hold the third-tier mage back, though, and his own sword was ripped from his hands by Gaius’ blow and painfully slammed back into his shoulder.

Gaius finished the job and knocked him out with a dismissive follow-up strike, then turn to the other two.

In the time it took Gaius to dispatch their larger comrade, they had drawn their swords and took the opportunity to attack him.  He swung his own blade to meet their attacks.  Just like their friend, they had no ability to defeat him in a head-on fight, and they were almost instantly defeated, falling unconscious at Gaius’ feet.

By the time Gaius was finished with them, the rest of the Snow Lions had been taken apart by Actaeon and Linus before the second-tier trainees could even arrive, let alone their first-tier trainees.

“Hehe, fucking peasants,” mocked Actaeon.

“Quiet,” reprimanded Gaius.  He was about to issue more instructions when another man emerged from the trees and calmly walked down the hill.

“Looks like you all started the party without me…” he nonchalantly observed, a friendly smile upon his face as he approached the Deathbringers on the road.

“No choice.  If we hadn’t attacked when we did, these Snow Lions would’ve escaped,” replied Gaius.  The newcomer was, of course, Tiberias.  When he swaggered over to Gaius, Linus, and Actaeon, many of the more hesitant Deathbringers started to smile.  Some of them had been worried about losing in this fight, especially since they would be attacking a numerically equal force in their own home.  But with Tiberias here, the odds swung in their favor since they now had four third-tier trainees to the Snow Lions’ three, and the Snow Lions had just lost about ten percent of their number in this strike.

“Well, now that we’re all here, how about we stop wasting time and get to that tower?” suggested Linus, his tall and lithe figure turned away from them, his bright blue eyes turned in the direction of the Snow Lions’ tower.

No one disagreed, and the Deathbringers began running down the road, leaving the ambushed Snow Lions lying where they had fallen.  None of them were in any danger, and with their Instructors keeping an eye on them, Gaius wasn’t about to let his people do anything untoward to their fallen opponents—such a thing would reflect excessively poorly upon him and tarnish his and his family’s reputation.  Gaius’ losses had done that enough in these past few weeks, he wasn’t about to try and add to that list.

The Deathbringers only encountered one more group of Snow Lions on their way to the tower, and this one was led by none other than Alphonsus, one of the third-tier trainees that led the Snow Lions.

“What the hells do you think you’re doing?!” he furiously demanded at the sight of Gaius and his entire unit appearing from around a turn in the road to block his way.

“Come on, Al.  It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to realize what’s happening,” responded Gaius, who then proceeded to wave and order the attack on Alphonsus’ group.  Alphonsus himself put up a valiant fight, but with four third-tier mages against him and only five second-tier Snow Lions at his back, he was no match for the Deathbringers.  The fight was short and left him and his subordinates lying unconscious in the dirt.

Gaius and his people at least left their fellow nobles with a little bit of dignity by laying them out in the grass rather than leaving them where they fell, as they did with the previous group of Snow Lions.  Tiberias, however, didn’t help in this, which Gaius noted.  Their erstwhile ally chose instead to watch and smile that damn noble smile of his.

The Deathbringers arrived at the tower only a few minutes after finishing taking care of Alphonsus.  When seeing the giant doors leading inside, Gaius smiled and took a deep breath.

‘This is it.  This is when I regain my honor.  This is when I finally serve Leon that defeat that he’s had coming since the Enrollment Test!’

Gaius gave his unit a few seconds to ready themselves, then he ran forward and threw himself against the door.  The Snow Lions were clearly not expecting an attack—not that Gaius could blame them, he knew from Nicomedes that most units didn’t really start to take their defense seriously until units started to take banners in earnest.  The doors were hurled open, allowing the Deathbringers to surge inside.  They were greeted with the sight of half a dozen very confused Snow Lions who were immediately cut down by the Deathbringers’ training weapons.

They then immediately moved on to the inner door, pushing it open and spilling out into the first-tier common room, catching the rest of the first-tier Snow Lions completely by surprise.

Gaius dispassionately lunged forward and started attacking any Snow Lion in his range, with the Deathbringers behind him doing the same.

“WE”RE UNDER ATTACK!  EVERYONE GET YOUR WEAPONS AND GET OUT HERE!” bellowed a second-tier trainee.  His voice carried through the entire tower, telling everyone exactly what was happening.  In all, the Deathbringers had managed to incapacitate about half of the entire unit in the few moments of initial confusion and the earlier ambushes, while taking minimal casualties of their own.

“Yes!  Call your people!  It’ll save us having to go to them!” shouted Actaeon in response.  Gaius smiled, appreciating Actaeon’s eagerness even if he didn’t share in his companion’s battlelust.

It took a few moments, but eventually the second-tier trainees started pouring out from the stairways.  However, the instant they appeared, they found themselves facing Actaeon and Tiberias, who each had half a dozen second-tier mages behind them watching the doors.  They hit this third-tier wall and were immediately repulsed.  The Deathbringers easily forced the Snow Lions back into the stairway, while their first-tier and spare second-tier trainees rampaged through the other rooms, attacking the Snow Lions who still hadn’t come out into the common room yet.

“Gaius!  Come here and help me with this!” shouted Linus from the center of the room.  He was reaching into the central shrine where the black Snow Lion banner was kept.  It was secured with an odd mechanism that Linus found himself struggling to undo.

Gaius sighed but went over to help, though he kept most of his attention over on the stairway, so he could be ready for when Leon arrived.  After all of this, he wanted to face the man who’d been running practically roughshod over and serve him up a defeat that would follow him the rest of his time in the Knight Academy.

He didn’t have to wait long.  The two third-tier mages hadn’t even figured out where to start to remove the banner from the shrine when they felt an icy cold killing intent radiate from the stairway, a killing intent that was far more potent than any another aura in the tower.

Gaius smiled in anticipation; he knew the source of that killing intent was Leon.  He dropped what he was doing and began to make for the stairs without hesitation, leaving a somewhat bitter Linus to continue where he’d left off.

“This is it!  I’m ready!” he muttered to himself.  It was time for him to finally face Leon and regain his honor.

---

Leon’s heart raced with panic and adrenaline, having almost hurled himself down the stairs as soon as he heard the call that they were under attack.  He’d been practicing his growing skill in enchantments with some guidance from Xaphan, but he’d dropped everything and grabbed a training sword with not a moment of hesitation.

He leaped down both flights of stairs that led back down to the second-tier common rooms, and then almost ran into the rush of second-tier trainees that were trying to get downstairs.  The stairs were only wide enough for three people to get through comfortably, but Leon managed to push through without too much fuss.  As soon as the second-tier trainees saw it was a third-tier mage trying to get past, they would move to get out of his way.

The first Deathbringer Leon saw was Actaeon, fighting against two second-tier Snow Lions at the same time.  The size of the stairway worked against both sides, preventing them from going all out.  However, this also gave an advantage to the stronger and more skilled Actaeon, and the higher position the second-tier Snow Lions held was only helping to keep them from being immediately overpowered.  With every swing of his sword, Actaeon was forcing them back step by step.

Leon unleashed his killing intent directly at Actaeon and the five Deathbringers behind him.  Unfortunately, the second-tier Snow Lions were also caught in it and so couldn’t capitalize on Actaeon’s momentary freezing as they were just as frozen.  In fact, Actaeon recovered first, but by then Leon had already pushed past his two second-tier Snow Lions and appeared in front of Actaeon, and he hadn’t waited to go on the attack.

Actaeon just barely managed to raise his own blade in time to block Leon’s first strike, but it knocked his sword away and almost knocked him off balance.  When Leon followed up with a slash from below, Actaeon had to block with his arm.  The force of the blow knocked Actaeon backward and the third-tier nobleman was sent rolling down the stairs into his own followers.

Leon lunged forward to take advantage of the Deathbringers losing their footing on the stairs, but his attack was just barely blocked by the second-tier trainees who’d appeared to take Actaeon’s palce.  As Leon prepared another slash, he heard someone shout his name.

“Leon!”

The shout came from behind the Deathbringers, so it momentarily confused Leon until he saw Gaius forcing his way past his own people as he hurried to engage him.  It didn’t take long with he Deathbringers almost making themselves one with the stairway’s walls in their attempts to make way for Gaius.

It looked a little bit like Gaius wanted to exchange a few words as he took up an opposing position to Leon, but Leon wasn’t the type to give his opponents the chance to speak; he wasted no time seizing the initiative and striking down at Gaius, putting all of his weight and considerable third-tier strength behind his sword.

Gaius shouted in exertion and perhaps some frustration as he raised his blade to block.  When Leon’s sword crashed into his, Gaius’ sword shook as the tremendous force behind the blow was transferred to him.  But Gaius held his ground.

Leon frowned a little but didn’t let up.  He pushed down on Gaius, trying to force the nobleman back down the stairs.  He used his height to advantage as much as he could.  However, behind Gaius were half a dozen relatively strong mages, and they all supported him, keeping him upright and helping to give him the ground he needed to push against Leon.

Leon only relented and pulled his sword back when he noticed that Actaeon had gotten back to his feet, re-armed himself with a training blade, and was rushing to assist Gaius.  Leon pulled back as much as the Snow Lions at his back allowed, while Gaius floundered a little after the surprising release of pressure.  Leon might’ve considered attacking again during this moment of weakness, but by then Actaeon had slithered through his Deathbringers and arrived at Gaius’ side, and the two Deathbringers immediately pressed forward.

Tactical options were extremely limited in such tight spaces; Leon could barely dodge, which severely hampered his fighting style, while Gaius and Actaeon couldn’t use their full strength fighting at an upward angle and with each other so close together—what was more, Actaeon’s arm had been stunned by Leon’s strike, leaving him unable to make full use of his strength, though he was still quite adept at fighting with just one hand.  Leon continuously tried to take back the initiative and get back on the attack, but he was time and time again forced to block and go on the defense.  He couldn’t exploit any of the openings he saw in his opponents because he was too busy blocking the other.

He decided to try something new.  Over the course of about thirty seconds, he allowed his killing intent to slowly fade.  This change was gradual enough that Gaius and Actaeon failed to notice the lessened pressure.  Once Leon’s killing intent faded, he suddenly allowed it to explode just as he blocked one of Gaius’ attacks and Actaeon was trying to use the opening that had been created.

With their own auras soaring and their magic primed to fight off the fear that Leon’s prodigious killing intent brought, neither Gaius nor Actaeon froze this time, but they were taken off guard just enough to stumble.  In that one instant, Leon made a snap decision.  There was only enough time to attack one of them once.  He chose to attack Actaeon as he already had one disabled arm; Leon was all but guaranteed to take him out, whereas attacking Gaius had a lower chance of success.

In the tiniest of moments that Leon made his decision, though, he and Gaius made eye contact.  He saw something in Gaius’ eyes; perhaps fear, or maybe resignation?  Leon couldn’t quite tell, but it seemed like Gaius knew that he was open and that a strike from Leon was coming.  He probably fully expected it to fall upon him, but Leon’s decision hadn’t changed.

Leon brought his training sword down square on Actaeon’s shoulder and upper chest, knocking the nobleman out completely and sending him falling back into the second-tier Deathbringers behind him, who managed to catch his unconscious form.

“Actaeon!” Gaius shouted in surprise as Actaeon fell back into the second-tier trainees behind them.  He went on the attack again, slashing and stabbing at Leon like a frenzied beast, the extra room in the stairs used to their fullest in his assault.  However, not once did he manage to land a good hit upon Leon.  Leon didn’t think this affected Gaius all that much, though, for his expression became only more and more determined with every block and parry that Leon used, and with every block and parry that Gaius himself used.

It wasn’t quite and even fight, Gaius was being forced back bit by bit.  Leon, for all that the narrowness of the stairs handicapped him, was proving himself the better fighter as he put unrelenting pressure upon Gaius, though Gaius was acquitting himself admirably; certainly much better than he did in their duel during the Enrollment Test.

The second-tier trainees behind both fighters could only watch in awe at the strength and speed of their senior mages.  Gaius’ attacks were so fast they could barely be seen, but Leon’s own sword would appear just in time to block or deflect, while Leon’s own strikes were only just barely blocked or deflected by Gaius.

Unfortunately, from the sounds of it, Leon could tell that things were hardly as rosy in the other stairway.  He didn’t know who was over there, but it seemed they were putting enough pressure on the Snow Lions that they were being forced back.

Leon simply gritted his teeth and redoubled his effort to deal with Gaius.  He wasn’t sure why they were here, but he knew that the Snow Lions were being attacked, and he couldn’t have that.  He would not go down; he couldn’t.  If he did, then the Snow Lions behind him would likely go down as well, and who knew what might happen after that while they were all unconscious.

Suddenly, it all became clear, at least on the surface, when he heard a voice boom from the first-tier common room, “I HAVE THEIR BANNER!  WE’VE WON!”

The tower practically shook with the sound of Deathbringers roaring in victory, and Leon could hear them start to spill out of the tower.

Gaius fought back against Leon with no sign that he was going to run, but as the Deathbringers behind him slowly filed out of the stairway, his support that he was relying on to fight Leon, who held the higher ground, was vanishing.  Leon could see this and attacked like a wild beast, forcing Gaius to go completely on the defense.  Leon could see that he was going to win this fight if he just kept this up, and it seemed like Gaius realized this, too, for he started to give ground as the second-tier Deathbringers behind him slowly did the same, following their comrades out of the tower.

The Deathbringers held only as long as it took for them to gather their casualties and then escape.  Leon could no more than watch from the door to his stairway, with Gaius locking him down with combat.  After a few more minutes, Gaius, too, turned and ran.  Leon pursued, but he paused for a moment as he saw two more third-tier Deathbringers in the tower’s entrance hall.  He recognized Tiberias, and the minor shock of seeing him there with a pair of daggers in his hands was enough to get Leon to stop.  Castor appeared at his side, and both Snow Lions were quickly reinforced by the remainder of their unit, a paltry dozen-and-a-half second-tier trainees.

With Leon’s brief pause, Gaius, Tiberias, and the other Deathbringer turned and ran out of the tower, following their comrades.  Leon made to follow them.  Now that the pressure was off, he could go on the attack now, an idea that several of the Snow Lions seemed to share as they followed him.  However, they were stopped by a shout from Castor.

“No!  Let them go!”

“What?!” Leon shouted back.  He felt like he could take some of them on, he didn’t want to just let them go after they’d attacked their tower and stolen their banner.

“Don’t bother,” Castor replied, his tone bitter.  “Seeing to our fallen people is more important.  You going off on your own and getting knocked out somewhere in the forest doesn’t help us right now.”

Leon clenched his jaw so tightly that he almost thought he was going to crack a tooth, but after he took a quick look around the first-tier common room and saw how many Snow Lions were on the ground unconscious, he relented, though not without a tremendously deep sigh.

He glanced back at the retreating backs of the Deathbringers.  There’d be retribution for this, of that he swore, but it would have to wait until their people recovered.

---

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