“The four of us against him? He’s not going to be able to keep up,” Kallie said skeptically.
Danny gave a small laugh. “We’ll see, sweetheart. Unless you’re too afraid to challenge me, even as a group.”
“We’re not afraid. We just know you’re going to get torn to pieces once we’re done,” Charlie rebutted.
“Please,” Danny scoffed. “You have no idea what I can do.”
I expected this exercise to last all of five minutes. “Whatever you say.”
Oberi knelt before me, and I slid out of my wheelchair and onto her back. The illusion saddle pad appeared as I got on, and Charlie fastened the straps for my legs before we faced off against Danny.
Amber and Wykoff moved out of the way. Once they were standing at the wall, Wykoff said, “I would like you all to treat this as an actual fight. Don’t hold back. We have healers to helpyou recover, should you get injured, but we cannot afford for any of you to go easy on each other when we have so much at stake. Begin.”
The four of us flung magic at Danny at once. I threw out a combination of Fire and Water, Charlie blasted Air magic, and Kallie and Marcus tossed battle orbs. Danny used his super speed to sprint out of the way, and all of our hits missed.
Kallie transformed into a wolf, so she could keep up with him. She ran after Danny and opened her jaws wide to catch him. He rolled out of the way of her snapping fangs and tripped her up. She went tumbling to the ground, and as he did so, he reached out.
Danny grabbed Kallie around the waist, spun her around and tossed her across the arena with his super strength. She smashed into the wall, and a bit of concrete crumbled off the side. She groaned as she hit the floor, struggling to get up.
“Kallie!” Marcus shouted. He created a battle orb and Rishi jumped into it, zooming around the room. Rishi went after Danny, but Danny grabbed the battle orb that Rishi was in and smashed it with his hands. Rishi yowled as pieces of magic shattered like glass, and he went skittering to the other side of the arena to hide.
Danny ran toward Kallie again. I wasn’t sure why he was making her his target, as she was already down for the count, but Marcus didn’t stop to think. He slid to a stop in front of her, putting himself between her and Danny. Marcus flung his arm out, and I watched as a silvery specter began hovering outside of Danny’s body. Marcus was attempting to rip out Danny’s soul as a gut reaction to protect Kallie.
Danny leveled Marcus with a heavy stare. Once Danny’s eyes fixed on Marcus, he gave a cry of agony and dropped to the floor, landing heavily on his right arm. Danny had practically turned him into a limp rag doll.
“Don’t try to rip my soul out of my body, pal,” Danny warned. “You ain’t gonna like it.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of power he’d used, but Danny’s magic had completely incapacitated my friend. Marcus rolled on the floor, wincing in pain.
Danny had taken down two of our teammates in seconds. We were underestimating him. Oberi cantered around Danny in a circle, while I observed him as we went around. Charlie waited, looking for the right opportunity to strike.
This guy was too good. There was something off about him. We needed to figure out what that was before we tried to take him down. I blasted off different types of magic in succession— first a fireball, then a stream of Water, then orbs of Spirit magic, to see how he’d react to them and how he countered each one.
He didn’t react how I expected. Instead of dodging the magic, heran toward meand slid underneath the shots I was firing. He pulled a dagger from the hilt that was attached to his calf and slashed it upward. The cloth cinch holding the saddle pad in place was sliced clean through. With nothing to hold me on, I toppled off and to the ground. Oberi nickered in surprise as I crashed downward, and Danny sprinted to the opposite side of the arena.
I tried to push myself up, but I found that my hands were stuck to the floor, and I couldn’t move any part of my body. I realized that when Danny had cut the cinch, he’d also nicked my knee, and a tiny cut was oozing blood there. I glanced up, and saw Danny focusing his gaze on me.
He was using my blood to compel me. I couldn’t fight back. “Oberi!” I called.
I can’t move, either, Oberi nickered, and she let out a huff. Danny had cut her, too, and although the injury was barely visible, the few droplets of blood that dripped out of the cut on her belly were enough to enable Danny control of our bodies.
When Charlie realized that Oberi and I were down for the count and that he was on his own, he went ballistic. Charlie siphoned Danny’s vampire strength and speed. He hurtled at him, raising a fist to drive it into Danny’s face.
It seemed like Charlie wasn’t able to take all of Danny’s magic, because Danny kept his abilities. Charlie did what he knew how to do best and began throwing punches that became blurs due to the high speed. I heard Danny laughing, like he thought this was a fun game as he flung back hits of his own.
Charlie realized this wasn’t going anywhere. He used his Elven illusion magic to conjure a sword, and he swung it at Danny’s head. I was pretty sure the Elven healers couldn’t sew Danny’shead back onshould Charlie knock it off, but Wykoff and Amber didn’t stop him. Danny ducked and allowed Charlie to swing at him carelessly time and again before eventually, Charlie lost his footing and stumbled.
Danny took the opportunity to twist Charlie’s wrist, and Charlie loosened his grip on the sword. Danny ripped Charlie’s weapon out of his hand and kicked his legs out from under him. Charlie fell backward, and Danny pointed the blade at his throat.
“Surrender,” Danny said. “You’re done.”
Charlie sneered, and Danny took a few steps back. I felt the compulsion magic holding me and Oberi break. The unicorn knelt to the floor, and I pulled myself back onto her. My group hobbled our way to the center of the arena, where Danny tossed the blade to the floor.
“Are yousurethese guys are demigods? They don’t seem like they’re at the top of their game,” Danny said, gesturing to us.
“That wasn’t fair,” Charlie spat as he caught his breath. “What’s his demigod power? It gave him an edge.”
“I had an edge, sure, but you still should’ve been able to overpower me. You guys are untrained as a team,” Danny said. “If you noticed, most of the maneuvers I did were to avoid you,not to fight back. I only went on the offense when I saw an opening and you guys left yourselves defenseless. I didn’t have to kick your ass or be the strongest guy in the room. I just had to outsmart you. You guys fight well as individuals, but not together. We’re not gonna last if we can’t battle as a unit.”
