"Ambush!" Marcus shouted, drawing his sword in one fluid motion.
From the ridgeline above, six figures emerged, bows drawn. Another eight appeared from behind rocks ahead, wielding a mix of swords and axes. They wore mismatched armor—some pieces military-grade, others cobbled together from leather and scraps.
Leo dove from the wagon, rolling to avoid an arrow that thudded into the dirt where he'd stood. This wasn't right. Bandits in these parts typically operated in smaller groups of three or four, poorly equipped and disorganized. These attackers moved with precision, spreading out to control the battlefield.
"Protect the cargo!" Leo called, maintaining their cover story.
Elly pulled twin daggers from her sleeves, her movements no longer those of a merchant's assistant but of a trained fighter. She deflected an incoming sword strike and countered with a precise slash that sent her attacker stumbling backward.
Soren had already engaged two attackers, his fighting style methodical and controlled. "Their formations—" he started to say before ducking under an axe swing.
Elena noticed it too. The bandits weren't fighting like desperate thieves. They maintained distance control, covered each other's flanks, and focused attacks on what they perceived as the weakest targets. One of them barked orders using hand signals that looked eerily familiar.
"Nine o'clock!" Marcus shouted, using Military Academy tactical language as he fended off two attackers simultaneously.
An arrow grazed Leo's shoulder. He spun toward the source, catching sight of the archer—a woman with close-cropped hair and the steady stance of formal training. When she adjusted her position, her sleeve rode up, revealing a faded tattoo partially covered by dirt.
These weren't common bandits. Their coordination, equipment quality, and tactical awareness spoke of military background. They fought like a unit that had trained together extensively.
As Leo parried a thrust from a sword that was far too well-crafted for a simple bandit, realization dawned. The Military Academy hadn't just sent them to handle a bandit problem—they were testing a theory. Someone had suspected these "bandits" were something else entirely, something more organized and dangerous.
The students had been told this was a standard mission, but they'd been dropped into something much deeper. The Academy was using them as bait to confirm suspicions about a more significant threat.
The attackers seemed to multiply, emerging from hidden positions around the caravan. What had appeared to be fourteen bandits quickly swelled to over twenty. Despite their numbers advantage, the academy students maintained formation, their training evident in every coordinated movement.
Marcus and Soren fought back-to-back, creating a defensive perimeter around the wagon. Three apprentice knights flanked them, their movements synchronized as they repelled attacks from multiple directions. At the edge, Elly used controlled bursts to slow advancing attackers, creating patches of treacherous mud that trapped feet and disrupted charges.
"Push north!" shouted a senior apprentice knight, his voice carrying over the clash of steel. "We need to secure the high ground!"
Leo assessed their position. The bandits had them surrounded, but the academy group's superior training was holding. He pressed his palm to the ground, channelling his earth affinity.
"Earth wall!"
A barrier of compacted soil and stone erupted from the ground, cutting off the approach of five attackers. Leo followed with "Stone skin," coating his body in a protective layer of hardened earth. The spell settled over him like a second skin, the familiar weight comforting as he prepared to counter-attack.
The first warning was a prickling heat at the back of his neck. Leo started to turn—too late.
A fireball slammed into his back, the impact throwing him forward. His stone skin absorbed much of the blast, but the force still knocked the wind from his lungs. The protective spell cracked, fragments of stone falling away as Leo rolled to face his attacker.
Elena Fireheart stood twenty paces behind him, her hands still glowing with residual flames. Her red hair whipped in the wind created by her own spell, eyes narrowed with cold determination.
"What are you doing?" Leo gasped, struggling to his feet.
She answered with another fireball, smaller but more focused. Leo barely managed to reinforce his stone skin before it struck his chest, the impact driving him back several steps.
Around him, chaos erupted as other academy students turned on their companions. Marcus took a dagger to the shoulder from a fellow knight student. Elly narrowly avoided a water whip from another apprentice mage.
The "bandits" stopped attacking, instead forming a perimeter around the fighting students. They weren't enemies—they were just helpers.
The betrayal unfolded with brutal efficiency. Students who had trained together, eaten at the same tables, and sworn the same oaths now turned against each other in a coordinated assault.
Leo blocked an wind spike from a third-year student he'd once admired, countering with an earth bullet that struck the boy's chest. "Why?" he shouted, his voice cracking with confusion and rage.
No answer came—just more attacks.
Elena Fireheart moved with practiced precision, her flames finding gaps in defences with terrifying accuracy. Her latest fireball caught Elly in the side as she desperately fought off two attackers. Elly stumbled but maintained her stance, blood seeping through her scorched tunic.
"Leo!" she called, her daggers flashing as she cut down an opponent and moved toward him, while using her water magic for protection.
For a moment, hope flickered in her gaze. They could still escape—together. Or that was what she thought.
Then Elena's fireball exploded at Elly's feet, knocking her off balance. In that split second of vulnerability, an arrow whistled through the air, striking Elly in the back of her head with sickening precision.
Time slowed. Elly's body crumpled, her green eyes still open but emptying of life. Blood pooled beneath her blonde hair, staining the earth.
"NOOOO!" Leo's scream tore from his throat, primal and raw. The ground trembled beneath his feet, responding to his grief and fury.
Bodies littered the ground around him—Marcus with his throat cut, Soren impaled on his own sword. The loyal students had been systematically eliminated, leaving only the traitors standing with the "bandits."
"You motherfuckers!" Leo roared, tears streaming down his face as he was forced backward toward the cliff edge. "I'll kill every last one of you!"
Elena Fireheart approached, flames dancing around her fingertips. "Nothing personal," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "Just following orders."
With enemies closing in from all sides and Elly's lifeless body burned into his vision, Leo made his choice. He glanced behind at the sheer drop of the cliff, then back at his attackers.
"This isn't over," he growled.
Leo dropped to one knee, slamming both palms against the ground. He channelled every ounce of his earth manipulation skill, creating a cocoon of soft soil surrounded by a hard outer shell. Before Elena could launch another attack, he rolled backward off the cliff's edge.
The traitors rushed to the precipice, watching the earthen ball bounce violently down the rocky slope before disappearing into the forest below.
"Should we pursue?" one of the bandits asked.
Elena shook her head. "No need. No one could survive that fall."