Chapter 23:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a very special showing for you today. Take notes, recruits, this isn't something you see every day. Xavier Knight is not only going to take on one challenger for you, but two at the same time." The General called over the crowd as two of the other professors walked out of the tunnel on the other side of the arena. One had an amphithere snaked around his shoulders, while the other had that big drake that had landed on the wall the first day. "With that being said, let's not delay." 

With that, the General walked out of the arena, and Bane jumped from Xavier's shoulders, shifting to his full size as he let out a roar that shook the stands as his head swiveled back and forth in an eerie, serpentine way, as his wings flared and his tail whipped from side to side, throwing up clouds of dirt in his anger. Xavier didn't waste a single second, mounting the pissed-off dragon with an ease that I didn't even know someone could possess. Bane didn't even have to move to help him in the slightest; Xavier just simply climbed up like he had been doing it his entire life. 

Everyone went silent as the other two shifted into their full sizes, but both of them paled in comparison to Bane. He all but dwarfed the pair of them, especially as he spread his wings and roared in pure agitation, but this time, when he breathed in deep, he let out a burst of bright orange flames that had the other two taking several steps back. 

"He's a lot scarier in that form," Genie whispered, and I just nodded to her, but I didn't dare take my eyes off the six of them. 

They all stood there for a long moment before, all at once, they were a flurry of wings and motion. The drake leaped at Bane as the amphitere took to the sky. Bane easily dodged the drake before taking to the sky himself, launching from the ground in one swift motion before flying far faster than I thought he was capable of. He intercepted the amphithere midair, catching the creature between those huge teeth and tossing it towards the ground like it was nothing more than a toy as a bright red spray of blood rained down over the arena. 

The drake caught up with him in the sky, and they swirled through the air in a nauseating dance of almost vertical dives and twists as they tried to avoid each other's claws and teeth. That's when the drake ducked back slightly and grabbed Bane by the wing. They fell as the drake held on like its life depended on it, its rider let out a cry of victory as the four of them tumbled, plummeting towards the ground at a terrifying speed. My breath caught in my throat as my heart seized in my chest as I watched on in pure horror. At that height, either pair that ended up on the bottom of that fall was surely dead. Xavier's words from before flashed through my mind from when he told me that gravity was the real killer of flyers; now I realized exactly why. It wasn't just having to keep your seat several thousands of feet in the air, but this dizzying dance that could only end in one of them smashed on the ground. 

That was when a flash of something that reflected the light of the sun caught my eye, and I saw Xavier running down Bane's side a little way to where the Drake's legs were clamped onto Bane's underside. The flash of his sword caught the sun once more as he leaped across the gap and rammed it all the way to the hilt right under the drake's hind leg. It was the only spot a move like that would have worked; it was right where its scales were the weakest. The drake let go with a screech of pain, and Bane was able to steady himself seconds before they hit the ground. Xavier, however, was somewhere in the thrashing mess of the drake. Its tail and wing thrashed wildly as it tried to right itself, but with only one good leg and a broken wing now, it was all but impossible for it. Xavier got up from behind the drake. Apparently, he had flung himself away from the beast before they had hit the ground, and he got to his feet, still looking no less for wear. I watched him as he looked up at Bane for a moment before glancing at something behind me, then finally those eyes locked on mine. Then he was all-out sprinting towards me. 

Looking up, I saw it then. I had lost track of the amphithere during the fray, but it had taken to the air once more, and now it twisted its long, snake-like body at an impossible angle as it turned straight towards me, mouth gaped. I could have counted every single sickly yellow fang in its mouth before a flash of black jumped onto the wall in front of me, and the amphithere hit it. Coming to a halt only after it had latched onto Xavier's shoulder as its two front feet landed on the wall, and Xavier had been taken to his knees in the space between me and the wall that separated the arena from the stands. 

Sharp emerald depths met mine as he gritted his teeth as the beast sank its teeth in further, blood spilling from its drawn lips. I couldn't move, couldn't even make a single sound as my eyes stayed locked on his. He was inches from me, and there was no way I could have even helped him; no one could. He took a breath before I saw his arm move, drawing one of those long daggers at his hip before he leaned back and shoved it through the amphithere's snout. The beast let go with a sickening, suctioning pop as it reeled back, and Xavier stood. Blood flowed down his arm in thick streams as he turned on the creature that was currently flailing as it tried to remove the knife from its snout. 

Xavier placed a single hand on the paw that was still gripping the wall, and I felt every single hair on my body stand on end as power crackled and arched over the creature. Its entire body seized as its rider ran for his life. Everything went dead silent once more as its body went completely limp under Xavier's palm. 

"Attempting to bring innocents into a challenge is punishable by death." Xavier chided as he simply used the corpse of the amphithere to walk towards the now cowering rider as if he wasn't bleeding out as we spoke. Bane stood behind the cowering man, the other rider held down in his foreclaws as he lowered his head, breathing in a deep breath as a low, menacing growl vibrated through the whole arena. "So, tell me, how would you prefer? Dragon fire, sword, or would you rather follow your familiar? Although I will warn you, energy like that is definitely far more painful." Xavier taunted, wiggling the fingers of his good hand at the man. 

That man had been coming at me... if Xavier had been even so much as a second later, I would be dead right now. Bane ended up roasting the man until there was nothing left but a pile of ash that the breeze quickly blew away before he let the other man go as he conceded to Xavier's clear victory.