[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qSXKgkY.png[/img]
[sub][@Nanaya][@Psyker Landshark][@Estylwen][@AThousandCurses][@Sifr][/sub][/center]
Two blinks.

[b]“No need, Hildegrunde,”[/b] Otis said. [b]“We won't be here long enough to require eating our own.”[/b] A joke? Hard to tell, when two overly serious people spoke to each other. Instead, the Strigidae stood up from where he was and then reflexively snapped his head to one side. A ninety degree tilt, characteristic of the owlkin ran. An arrow whizzed by an eighth of a heartbeat later, burying itself in the ground.

The mannekin.

Chunji’s report aligned well with Otis’s initial memories of their wooden classmates. Three spears, two bows, one axe, one sword. All of them guarded by Personal Barriers; if they weren’t, they too would have been broken by the overcharging of the leyline. Rio rushed for the instructor. Chloe was still separated from the group. And the nature of the Primal Leyline was…

[b]“Listen!”[/b] No need for telepathic links here; their opponents were fewer in number and everyone was in earshot. [b]“Overcharged Primal Leylines offer three main benefits! The one who overcharged the leyline gets a massive boost in power. Primal magic is incantationless. All other forms of spellcraft require incantations to be spoken in reverse. Extra benefits exist depending on Alto’s prime essence!”[/b] He pulled out his own firearm, that handcrafted revolver with a hammer that rang like a crystal. [b]“Hildegunde, take the mannekin archers. Twenty meters is nothing for a long gun. Chloe, under the cover of her gunshots, join the rest of us. Iraleth, face down the spearmen coming in. Due to the Personal Barrier enveloping them, it’s easier to target their weapons and then restrain them, rather than attempt to destroy them with a singular blow. Ciara, the remaining two mannekins are still beneath the canopy. That’ll give you plenty of shadow to work with. Go advance alone. Same advice about the weapons. They’re still just sparring implements.”[/b]

It was a simple enough division of tasks. Unless the mannekins had become even more exceptional than when they were charged up to a frenzy by Gulliver’s Ethos, Otis doubted that this served as nothing more than a warm-up. Which meant…

[b]“After that, any who wish to can challenge Instructor Alto in many-versus-one combat.”[/b]