How To Survive A Calamity

A few minutes before Barn's death.

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'It really was just like what he said.'

Deandra thought as she pushed her sword forward. Her blade met with the steel of another and ignited sparks in the dry air.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Number 1499's nonchalant assumption had been spot on about a likely trap and a more likely ambush. He had cracked the plot as easily as breathing.

But did that matter?

Yet still they found themselves in this situation.

A direct confrontation between two groups; a five against ten battle.

'I don't know, what truly goes on in his head!' Deandra gritted her teeth in frustration and channelled her Mana for a spell.

What was the point of knowing about a trap if you were just going to walk right into the same trap?

Victor was... strange to say the least. He was vague, and unpredictable.

Was he really crazy and insane as the rumours said? Deandra, even while mid battle, found herself seriously thinking that at the moment.

To begin with, her interest in the Cadet only began from her inability to comprehend why Ceres would choose to deny a duel with her, but accept one against him instead.

Prior to that, Deandra hadn't paid much attention to Victor, before, and even often never realised they were classmates.

It slightly began to change after his duel against Ceres that described the epitome of insanity and stupidity.

After that, cadet 1499 had always appeared unreliable, arrogant and shamelessly detached. Deandra had next to know expectations from him and only tolerated his character for the sake of the the practical field experience.

But she wasn't sure what truly went through the young man's head at times.

"Cadet number 2, Deandra Lunar de'LaCurt — princess. I never thought we'd meet like this." All of a sudden, the cloaked figure of a female cadet appeared before Deandra, barring her path forward.

Deandra gazed coldly at the young girl with long brown hair and eyes. Her eyes coldly swept over her. She wasn't a classmate like Don and her teammates.

The girl was a dual sword wielder possessing two short swords in both her hands. She leaned forward, with a strained smile on her dust covered face, preparing to lunge forward for an attack

At the same time, two more figures appeared by the flanks of the the unfamiliar female cadet and slowly began to encircle the target.

Deandra resolutely stood unperturbed, glancing between the three trying to encircle her and pricked her brows.

"Three against one?"

The famale cadet shrugged with an unamusing laugh.

"Do excuse our treatment, princess, but you're probably the most dangerous person here, so we'll have to stop you right now...!" As soon as she ended her words, the three figures all charged together at once at Deandra.

Deandra took a quick step back, her red hair swaying, and channeled her Mana inside her body and a red magic circle unraveled underneath her feet.

Then three points of concentrated flames emerged from behind her back just over her shoulders, emanating such thickly concentrated amounts of Mana, and pulsing like stars.

The three figures instantly froze in place, and the eyes of the female cadet widened in shock.

"That's...!"

Three points of Mana... three Stars.

The power of a Mage primarily consisted of the amount of Mana they could harness and use in the form of points called 'Stars'. And the amount of Stars a Mage could summon was more or less qualitative to their level of strength.

"That's impossible, she's a tree star Mage at only Mortal rank like us?" One of the cadets said in disbelief and awe.

And then the brown haired female cadet laughed dryly with apprehension.

"As expected of Number 2."

Usually the amount of Mana a Mage could use would increase as they advanced through the Awakened ranks, and simultaneously, so would the number of stars they could control.

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Beta rank, One Star.

Mortal Rank Two Stars.

Eta Rank, Three stars....

And so on like that.

What would set them apart from there would be Mana density, purity and quality. Ultimately, a Mage's level of Mana refinement.

But Deandra was only still just a Mortal Rank Awakened.

But one who commanded three Mana Pockets [A/N: Stars, Points, Pockets are all the same thing.]

But what the cadets who were still low level didn't know was that one of those Stars was actually still incomplete and merely a Point in name.

"You're not second place for no reason." The female cadet said and Deandra's expression turned incomparably fierce at that point.

The radiating Points fo Mana behind her began to rotate and rise in pressure instantly.

Second place...

Deandra glared at the female cadet.

Ah.

That accursed phrase.

"Don't call me that!" Deandra roared and raised her sword, vibrant crimson flames ignited along its blade as it cleaved the space forward.

•[Skill: Ignition]

»[Rank: Rare]

»[Description: Endow any weapon held by the user with the blessings of fire.]

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As Deandra's sword cleaved apart space, a sea of vibrant crimson flames followed like an ocean tide and exploded against the targets.

The cadets swiftly reacted barely in time and scattered. They felt the incinerating heat of the Skill graze their skin and bodies even from underneath the protective cover of their cloaks designed to withstand temperature.

-Boom!

The sound of a mild explosion detonated into the region and a burgeoning cloud of smoke carpeted a portion of the surroundings.

At the same time, one of the bright points of fire behind her back dimmed and lost a portion of its radiance.

[Ignition] didn't seem like that highly of a ranked skill, but it's true power lied in its output amd the amount of Mana consumed.

As the last vestiges of the wind caused by the explosion dispersed through her hair, Deandra stood as an indomitable figure amongst the small scale destruction she caused.

Her expression was still terrifying, masked with rage and anger, but she quickly tool a deep breath to calm herself.

She had to remember why they were there.

'I acted too rashly on my emotions. It would be troublesome for all of us if i attracted the attention of the Desert King right now.' Deandra sighed under her breath.

Although things may not have been going as planned, she and her group were there to steal the other group's water, not to engage in a long drawn out or full-scale confrontation with them.

And who knows, they might even be lucky enough to wipe them out for points — after they had secured water first.

Water.

Indeed, that was the priority.