Jace the Elemental

"Hell yeah." Jace said, grinning with excitement as he gave Ethan a fist bump. "So, besides that, let's figure out who's doing what." He crossed his arms, already thinking through the various options.

"The magical gauntlet is going to be the difficult part." Selene mused. Her brow furrowed in thought.

Aurora nodded in agreement. "I agree. The fact that it requires five people suggests it's going to be a real challenge." She paused, her gaze distant as she tried to imagine what obstacles they might face.

"I just had a thought," Jace said as he walked towards Lord Severian. "Excuse me sir, are we allowed to know who we're facing in the upcoming contest?" he inquired.

A sly grin formed on Lord Severian's face. "Yes you absolutely are," he said, flipping to a different page in his book. "Aurora's group will be facing a rank 9 group led by one Miss Lila Everwood." Asking questions was going to be pivotal for everyone, and Lord Severian was glad someone had the stones to ask.

"Thank you sir." Jace said, turning to leave before pausing with a thought. "Sir, if I can ask, the teams were just formed. How do you know who we're facing?"

"Magic." Lord Severian said simply, tapping his notebook as a clue.

Jace smiled, understanding who would've thought that his notebook would be enchanted. With the information secured, he headed back towards his group. "Rank 9 Lila Everwood," he announced, sharing the information he'd acquired.

"What about her?" Aurora asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"That's who we're against," he said nonchalantly. "At least that's what Lord Severian said."

"He just told you," Astra said, baffled

"Yup." Jace nodded, "I'm guessing that after this contest, they want us to start scouting our opponents. Testing our ability to gather intel."

"That would make the most sense." Aurora said thoughtfully, already considering their next steps. "Knowing that we're going against rank 9's is helpful enough, though."

"Well, I think that we all agree that we have to go for all three points." Ethan said, kneeling down and writing in the dirt.

"I think that our best bet is for Ethan and Selene to start working on their teamwork right away in the two on two." Felix suggested, pushing his glasses up again.

"That actually might be the best plan," Aurora murmured, deep in thought. "That way, it allows our four utility elementists to participate in the gauntlet, since we don't really know what's going to be in it." 

"Okay, so other than the four utility elementists, who do we bring in as the fifth?" Orion asked, rubbing his temples as if trying to think hard

"Well our options are the offensive speed type Lyra; the turtle, Lucian; or the long range artillery, myself." Astra said, thinking aloud. "We add speed and the Crystal magic with Lyra, Lucian brings his light barriers, and I bring my long range precision with Ice and Metal magics. 

"I think that our best option is probably going to be adding Lucian," Aurora mused. "We don't know if we are going to need offensive power, so having the shields should have more upsides."

"Alright we agree then," Jace said nodding. " We run Aurora, Elias, Orion, Felix, and Lucian for the magic gauntlet. Ethan and Selene do the two on two. And then I'm in the one on one." He grinned, liking the plan.

"Sounds good to me," Aurora nodded. "I'll go and submit the roster to Lord Severian." With that she walked over to Lord Severian.

As the group were discussing plans Jace took a second to himself. He had dueled plenty of times before, but he felt a different kind of pressure settling in. This was going to be the first time that the result of one of his duels affected more than just himself.

Ethan noticed that Jace had a weird expression. "Hey, you good man?" Putting his hand on his back.

"Yeah I'm good," Jace said, with an uncertain smile. "It's just…my duel isn't going to affect just me this time."

"Bro… you're one of the best heads up duelers I know." Ethan put him in a headlock, messing up his hair. "Just go out there and school whoever it is like you normally do."

Jace couldn't help but laugh, relaxing a little from Ethan's teasing. "Thanks man." He said, with a smile. "Your ability to not feel any pressure is legendary."

Ethan brushed him off. "Jace, I definitely feel pressure man," he said, his voice holding a rare moment of vulnerability. "Knowing that not only Selene is going to rely on me during the duel, but the other eight of you outside the duel too… it's heavy. But I just gotta buckle down and trust in my magic."

Jace put his fist out, "then all we gotta do is win." Smiling properly as they fist pumped.