Chapter 48

Reward? The best thing Aaron could ask for was to be able to leave this place. But he didnt think that would happen.

"Yes I am talking to you sword boy. Dont be stupid. Tell me what you want?"

Aaron kept quiet. It was the best answer he could give.

Thunder king sighed.

"You will get your reward alright. I will tell you what it is later. " He said with a grin.

"As for the reward I mentioned for winning this game, you get to the next level. "

"You had fun fighting, right? Now you get to fight even more. This time your opponents will be mages. You four fight the White brothers. "

"I will be a fair and give you time to rest.

Aaron didnt understand what Thunder king was trying to do.

Did he really take this as a game? They barely defeated the guards. Now he wanted them to fight the White brothers.

"Are you all wondering why I am getting you to fight?"

Its like he could read Aaron's mind.

"Its because your precious mage association wouldnt teach you how to fight. You all are not worth it. " He pronounced mage association in a really weird way.

It seemed that the Thunder king held a grudge against the mage association.

The only issue Aaron had was that he had willingly stepped into this whole mess. He had volunteered his services.

As they sat resting, the carriage of the Wilson family arrived as well.

It just meant more hostages for the Thunder king now.

Once the situation was sorted, Thunder king didn't wait in the open. He went back in the house he came out from..

Ron and Elizabeth were still having headaches. They will need a few hours to recuperate.

Adam was busy thinking over things and the mage association members just sat with sad faces.

Thunder king had released one more villager and sent him as a messenger in the Wilson's Carriage. This time, the number of hostages included mages from the association as well as the mage families.

The mage association had to act this time around.

Everyone was waiting. They knew something would happen sooner or later.

The worst thing about waiting like this was that time seemed to pass by very slowly.

A couple of hours passed and Thunder king came back out of the house he was in.

"You must have rested well. Its time for the round two of the games."

Aaron knew this was bad. Elizabeth and Ron still had signs of weariness. Adam looked good enough but Aaron himself was the link here. Against common soldiers he was able to win because they had to get physically close to him. And he caught them unaware with his telekinesis. The problem with such tricks is that they work only once.

The White bothers would be on a look out for that. As for his Atomic blade, it was useless against them. They wouldnt come close enough and he would be a easy target for them if he rushed towards them.

The White brothers looked eager for a fight.

Aaron's group hesitantly moved to face them.

"Now rules! You are allowed to use stronger spells since you will be fighting mages. Getting hurt is a reality now. Although you all are pathetically weak, magic in itself is dangerous. I would prefer if you dont die, you are more valuable as a hostage for me right now. But accidents can happen. " He gave a nasty grin at that comment.

This was bad. The rules of the first round had prevented anyone from getting getting seriously hurt but this time around it was dangerous.

"You are defeated if you give up or are incapacitated. As for the rewards, there are no rewards this time. " He laughed as if he found it funny.

"Now begin or do I do I have to threaten you again?"

The White brothers werent scared as the guards were. They looked excited.

They knew they had more experience than the young mages they were facing off against. It was also good to teach those rich brats a lesson.

They knew that although Thunder king permitted killing, but he didnt like it. So they needed to take care of that.

White brothers were the first to launch an offense.

One of them fired a small fire missile at Adam. Adam raised a wind shield and easily defended.

Ron fired the same spell at the white brothers. The White brothers defended it as well.

This was more of a probe. The real battle would begin soon.

"Aaron, stay behind me. Move as I do. My shield should be enough for both of us." Ron said to Aaron.

Aaron was really touched. Ron and he had an interesting history. They had an awkward start. But they had become really good friends over the last few months. Ron knew Aaron was a space mage and didn't have many ways to defend himself. So he decided to protect him.

Aaron was touched by the sentiment. He felt helpless. He had a shield of his own too, but it was more for a physical attack than a magical one.

Both side fired spells at each other and defended using their elemental shields.

Aaron's group was put under pressure because of the difference of numbers. They were two people short.

They studied at mage academy and were more versed in the art of magic, that was the only reason they were able to fight the brothers till now. But they were losing ground.

Aaron felt helpless behind Ron. He had tried the trick again with the blade pieces he had collected last time around. But White brothers easily avoided it.

He could see Ron faltering. He hadnt recovered completely and was already pushed into the second battle. Elizabeth was the same. Adam looked a little better but not by much. If it wasnt for Adam, they would have lost by now.

"We should give up. At the most we would lose" suggested Elizabeth.

"Don't think about giving up. I know when you could still fight. It wont make sense if you give up mid way, would it?" Thunder king wouldnt even let them quit like that.

One of the spells of the white brothers finally managed to pierce through and hit Adam on the shoulder. They had aimed three spells at him simultaneously. Adam could only counter two of them.

"Alright, you are out." Thunder king allowed Adam to leave.

Elizabeth and Ron moved closer. They decided to use their shield at the same time to make a double shield to withstand the pressure.

The two shield defensebwas strong. As a result the White brothere began using even stronger spells. The five of them concentrated on firing spells simultaneously as to break the shields.

They aimed the spells at Aaron now. They first got rid of Adam since he was the strongest. Ron and Elizabeth looked like scions of a mage family. If something was to happen to them, the White brothers would be persecuted throughout their life. So they concentrated the stronger spells on Aaron who looked like a normal mage.

Ron and Elizabeth were under tremendous pressure. They couldnt even attack, they just defended.

But just as it looked like both sides were at a stalemate, something happened which would change Aaron's life for sure.

The White brothers once again fired 5 spells aimed at Aaron.

After the first spell touched the shield, the water shield broke down. The already tired Elizabeth fainted from the backlash of the spell being broken.

When two more spells attacked the fire shield left, they broke it down as well.

Ron somehow pushed himself to remain concious. He could see two more spells rushing towards Aaron who was a little behind him a bit to the left.

He moved a step left to arrive in front of Aaron and tried to conjure the shield again. But when he tried to do it, he found he was out of magic power. He tried again but he couldnt gather even a little bit of power.

Aaron knew something was wrong when he saw Ron standing just like that. The spells were almost upon him. There was not even enough time for Aaron to rush and push Ron out of the way.

The White brothers were pale faced as well. Why wasnt the boy moving out of the way if he couldnt make another shield. Was he stupid. The two spells might seriously hurt him. They couldnt stop their spells either. They knew it would be trouble for them if he was hurt badly.

Aaron shouted at Ron to move while he used his own shield to try and defend against the spells. Ron just turned back towards Aaron and smiled. He tried to say something but the two spells had already reached him.

The shield Aaron had put up was pierced through like paper. The spells crashed onto Ron's body. Ron was jolted by the first spell and fell down when the second spell hit him.

"Ron!" Shouted Aaron.