"Surrender Markus. Lose with the little dignity you have left." Wren said
Markus felt the burn on his right side. He felt how hard he was immobilised and how greatly he was outnumbered. There truly was no hope.
"You'll have to kill me to win." Markus said with a defiant look
Instantly all five masters released powerful techniques that tore into his body like scorching or flesh shredding calamities. His whole body was convulsing in pain but he did not scream. He refused them the satisfaction.
Blow after blow his body and mind were worn down. As his consciousness faded away, Markus realised no one was coming. The wind did not whisper anything into his mind nor did it offer a miraculous intervention as he had hoped by gambling his life once more.
In such a moment, his careful control over his essence had collapsed entirely. So it left his body and found its host under attack. As a good little force of nature, it fed off Markus' frustration and anger at his defeat and failure to ascend to the fourth rank and mingled itself with whirlwind particles.
Nobody could do anything about it in time. No containment could work and no neutralisation was possible for it did not have a consciousness. Instead the mass of power simply unleashed itself upon the world.
Everyone and everything was pushed backwards as if a magnetic force repelled them away from Markus. This repulsion was strong enough to daze all five experts however, this did not defeat them.
When they stood up and tried to approach however, another pulse of repulsion shot forward keeping them at the very barrier edge. They were in a stalemate from a battle perspective.
That said… they were not in a battle. They were still in a competition and ultimately, all of Tuatri's contenders had been defeated. Moreover due to the lack thereof control over the battle, a final substitution could not be enforced by Markus.
And so after the headmaster and headmistress of the respective academies exchanged a look, Charlotte Windbourne sighed and raised her palm.
"We surrender." she said, looking over her students with pity.
'At least they tried…' she thought, looking among the wounded students
The barrier collapsed and the experts of Crimson city were extracted. Then when the Tuatri students were meant to be evacuated, the attending medical staff were sent flying back.
Markus' essence could not yet differentiate between friend and foe– just between dangers and harmless. Incapacitated students did not pose a threat so they were unaffected.
Charlotte herself stepped forward and suppressed Markus' essence. To her surprise however…
'He has so much essence– it is hard to encompass it all and suppress it… its almost as if he were a rank 4 by the resilience of his essence but lacked the inherent quality improvement that usually came with the ascension to a higher rank.
Eventually after suppressing him, the medical staff were able to retrieve the students. Then the headmistress herself had to put essence suppressing handcuffs on him to entirely suppress his essence and allow him to be treated.
All in all, Tuatri was comprehensively defeated in this competition. Helen and Amy had sombre expressions on their faces as they saw their friends carried out on stretches by doctors and medical staff.
The headmaster himself came down.
"I must express my surprise Charlotte. Your academy did better than I expected." he said looking at the casualties on the Tuatri side
"It is a shame. If only Markus were slightly older and an expert this battle would likely have turned out very differently. Especially if his rank four allies were there to assist him." she said
"The terms were clear and fair." he replied
"But the teams were not. Tuatri academy's student council only has two experts, eight learned and two learners. Your student council has twelve experts." she said
"It was your council who challenged us. You cannot complain about the matchup you yourself chose to face." he said
"I am not complaining. Merely stating the obvious." she said
"This does bring me back to our day. You were trying so hard to impress me and allow you to enter my council in the Capital's academy." he said with a chuckle
"You are digging up long forgotten graves." she said, rolling her eyes
"Sure Lotte- sure." he said with a smirk and chuckle
"Thank you for having us." she said before tacking her leave with the rest of the students.
Markus and the other competitors were transported back to Tuatri through a medical transport. Their recovery took a whole week and most noticeably, Markus' celestial essence remained dormant, and thus not healing him.
When they finally awoke, back in the infirmary of the academy, Markus simply stared at the ceiling.
"We lost… we were absolutely overwhelmed…" Markus said aloud, incredulous at the overwhelming loss
The others looked around them.
"We tried our best. That's what matters right–" June asked
"Yeah!" Jacob said
"We did… but that does not make it any less of a loss. I really thought we could do it… but I guess we just need to grow more. Raise our ranks… in due time… I suppose…" Markus said in a sad tone
"There is always next year, Markus. We will be stronger by then!" Triss said
"Sure… you're right. There is always next year…" Markus said aloud but inwardly he thought
'For you guys that is. If within the next few months I don't become an expert– there won't be a next year for me. There won't even be a next month past June.'
The nurse came over to check over them and discharge them. Markus, after being discharged, went to see Amy.
"Hey…" he said as he walked into the chambers
She got up and approached him. Then without any warning she slapped him across the face with tears in her eyes.
"Why didn't you surrender!" she shouted at him, tears falling down her cheeks
"... I thought that if–" Markus began to say before she shouted over him
"That if you put your life in danger the wind would save you! IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT– you cannot force nature to rush its course. You've been so obsessed with this– and for what!" she screamed
"..." he remained silent
"FOR WHAT!" she shouted
"I can't tell you, Amy. It would put you at risk–" Markus began to say
"Screw you Markus– I don't care about risk! I fell in love with a peasant– I risked my entire family's status by being with you but I did not care. I don't care about risk and I don't care about excuses hidden behind secrets. You tell me right now why you are so obsessed and why you won't stop killing yourself over becoming an expert or we are done–" she said
"Don't do it–" Anax said quickly but Markus already began to speak
"Fine… then we are done." Markus said with trembling nerves
"What–" she asked incredulous
"I can't tell you Amy… people have died because they knew when they should not have. I would rather lose you… than know you have died because of me. I refuse make the same mistake twice." he said as his voice broke and tears formed in his eyes
He then turned around and left.
Amy felt dazed and physically could not go after him. As he left, Helen was on the other side of the door.
"Mark–" she said
"Not now Helen… not now." he said, moving past her
She walked in and saw Amy crying, her body in shock and daze.
Helen approached Amy and led her to sit down before she collapsed. They did not talk. Helen just sat in silence as she let Amy cry and wear herself down.
Meanwhile in the dorms, Markus laid on his bed.
"It needed to be done…" he mumbled as he tried to hold himself back from crying
Young love was fragile. And yet it was valuable. So when it broke down… it broke the pair too.
Markus forsaken all his duties of the student council, including his disciplinary committee duties. This further meant that the rest had to pick up the slack all whilst he spent every waking moment of every day throwing his head against the wall of ascension.
Meanwhile the others…
In the executive chamber, June had just delivered another stack of papers for Helen.
"These after school clubs and activities need to be looked over and approved…" she said sheepishly
Helen sighed and nodded, starting to dig into the stack
Latham and Kal were looking over the budget left for the student council. Since no tutors were hired for the preparation against Crimson City, they realised something.
"We actually have money to fund a new club… but Helen will have to decide which one…" Kal said
"All that talk about serving only to up and leave us to pick up his slack– the president is meant to review budgets with us and allocate available funds." Latham said, frustrated
On the disciplinary front, Triss and Meer had just finished breaking up some tension.
"I swear– we lose one battle and people don't even fear us anymore." Triss said with a sigh
"They would probably still fear Markus… but its not like he is showing himself these days…" Meer said, sighing in return
Overall, everyone was busy with not only their studies but also their work for the student council. Eventually, it all came to a breaking point.