The fifth day passed much the same as the fourth. Although, I did check in with Mo and Kai. They were making progress surprisingly fast. The gang Kai trained started dueling that day, and things went so well that they surpassed my expectations. Meanwhile, Mo and Bear had formed a true mafia organization in just two days. I donât know what all happened exactly⦠But Bear ended up agreeing to join the guild simply because he wanted to follow Mo around.
On the sixth day, I spent some time at the dueling grounds to gather a few more marks and scope out some competition. Once again it passed by quickly, and once again Isy spent most of it sleeping. This time when she woke up though, I did the tests again. Whether it was because she was finally getting some much-needed rest, or because she was finally eating better, seeing her coordination improve gave me a lot of hope, and seeing her face light up when it did made it easy to see it gave her hope too.
And so, the final day had begun before we knew it. With one final test.
There was a tournament on the final day, a 4v4 battle that in theory would determine which guilds were the strongest and decide our seeding for the war. I gathered my crew, and we headed to the arena, a massive underground complex underneath the grand hall, big enough to fit the entire student body. Everyone was there to watch or participate, scoping out the competition. Some were looking for guilds to combine into their own, while others were looking for weaknesses they could exploit. It was a level of crowdedness and excitement I hadnât witnessed for a long time.
Just like with the rest of it, they didnât bother explaining much, a common trend. It annoyed me⦠But I was used to it at that point and stopped caring. They wouldnât even say who was fighting who, just to report to are x at y time. X being a small room on the ground floor with a massive closed door that I was fully expecting to open at any moment.
As we waited. Mo was cold as ice, Bear was stoic but tense, and Isy⦠Well, her legs wouldnât stop shaking from her nerves⦠Meanwhile, I was so busy finalizing my own team, and potential enemy teams, that I couldnât really say for sure what I was feeling. A state of mind where time suddenly passes in waves and you completely lose track of everything. Your mind becomes incredibly clear, and yet itâs as if you arenât thinking at all⦠It was another feeling I hadnât had for a very long time.
The doors opened, and instantly my eyes changed focus and my senses began taking in all of the information around us. Grassy plains spaned out before us surrounded by dense forests. I didnât have time to question how such an environment existed underground, just that it was the terrain we would be fighting in.
Everyone else stayed completely still until I stood up and slowly walked out the door, taking a single step onto the battlefield. âRegardless of the enemies composition⦠The first move will always be the sameâ¦â âMo, split off into the forest down the right side, scout ahead and gather as much information as you can, then report back. If you can take out one or two of them without risk go for it. Isy, bear and I will be building a defensive position in the forest on the left.â
âWe donât have archers, so we make camp in the trees. We will take advantage of Moâs fast movements and stealth, to gather information first and decide where to go from thereâ¦â
She took off like lightning and the rest of us wandered over to the opposite forest, walking around for a while, both of them still clearly nervous.
âSo what do we do exactly?â
âMostly wait⦠But Iâm not sure we wonât have to wait thatââ
A loud horn blew signifying the match was over.
âMust have been a weak guildâ¦â
To test our capabilities and effectiveness, in the next match I had Isy and Bear take them head-on. Bear showed a remarkable sturdiness both in taking a beating and holding his own against multiple opponents at once. Meanwhile, Mo and I quickly took out the leader, watching from the sidelines.
Although it dragged on for a while, both of them ended up winning. Although, I stepped in to help Bear in the end, if only to avoid him getting beaten up that early in the tournament.
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It wasnât until the third match that things got serious. Suddenly instead of random people, we were receiving the names of the guilds we were fighting. In other words, they had been previously established from the year before⦠And included members that were at least a year older, if not more.
âGenerally, with numbers this small, there are only three ways to fight⦠We can split a member off, drawing their attention before striking them from somewhere else. We can skirmish, by creating chaos and luring them into multiple battles, or we can just go in as a group. Bear and I would lead with Mo and Isy coming in after the initial clashâ¦â
âFrozen greatblade,â Mo mumbled.
âWhat do we know about them?â
âThey will likely put forward four men, all with great swords.â
âNot terribly surprising⦠Everyone HAS to know how to use one after all.â
âSo⦠What are we going to do?â Isy asked nervously.
âOnce we get out there, Iâll give you your opponents, we can just settle this with four 1 on 1 matches, all happening at once. Worst case, we go 2 for 2 and then Mo and I can finish off the ones you lose too. Although, hopefully, we just all win. If you feel outmatched, just focus on stalling out the battle.â
The door opened and we walked out, this time the entire arena was just an open dirt field, not even so much as a hill. Right away I could see all four of them and read their stats, finding the weakest one⦠He was still too far above Isy for me to comfortably have her fight him⦠It was an open field thoughâ¦
âI keep pretending like we donât have any archers⦠But that isnât technically trueâ¦â
I whipped out my bow and forced it to its highest draw weight, knocking an arrow and launching it. The moment I let go they all started to move, and calculating their movement I knocked another one, this time hitting him right in the head and knocking him out cold. âMo take the far right, Bear the one next to him. Iâll take the left⦠Heâs the strongest⦠Isy, cover for bear if he gets hurt.â
We didnât scramble, or run, but slowly moved into position to brace for the charge. Their captain struck first, swinging his sword even faster than my sister, barely giving me a second to duck under. The moment I did I lunged forward and slammed my sword's pommel into his stomach making his whole body go numb. âThatâs disappointing⦠Strong and fast⦠But doesnât think when heâs under pressure from a single archer⦠One of the reasons those swords are so heavy is so you can use them as shields⦠Not to mention the side the charges will always lose if they donât first reorganize before a clashâ¦â
I looked over to Mo and Bear. Unlike me, they were struggling. Bear was too nervous facing a blade to get in close past its long reach⦠And Mo was still getting used to fighting hand to hand, clearly uncomfortable about closing the distance against a faster opponent when she couldnât block with her daggers.
âBear! The bladeâs in its sheath! You donât have to pretend itâs sharp!â I shouted.
He let out a heavy growl, snarling before he blocked the blade with his forearm, sliding in one step and punching the man right in the nose. It didnât take him out right away⦠But the fight was pretty much over after that.
On the other side of him, I thought it best to just let Mo be. She had killed more people than I had fought⦠She just neededks in a duel. Does that make sense?â They all nodded in agreement.
âThis is almost too easy. They just listen to everything I say like Iâm some kind of genius⦠Ha⦠Itâs almost like Iâm some kind of noble or somethingâ¦â I sighed. âRight. Kai, you can take it from here yeah?â
He patted me on the head as I walked past toward the exit, placing his hands on his hips. âOk. Who wants to die first.â
I froze, slowly turning back over my shoulder. âThis wasnât a mistake, was it? I feel kinda bad for them⦠Well⦠Then again, their training canât possibly be harder than what I went throughâ¦â
âSiya?â Isy said, looking back.
âOh, sorry. Just thinking about the past⦠Sometimes it doesnât even feel real anymoreâ¦â
She giggled. âYeah, I know what you mean. Itâs like when someone asks if you like apple pie, but you havenât eaten it in so long you forget what it tastes like. You remember not liking it, but not the flavor.â
âThatâs an oddly accurate and specific analogyâ¦â âNow Iâm hungryâ¦âead while she was just finally starting to get better.
Before long it stopped feeling like a tournament and more like a death match, and so I pulled Isy even further from the battlefield⦠But as we walked back, the other three of us were starting to show signs of fatigue, bruising, and shortness of breath. Yet⦠Hers were the only shoulders that sunk forward.
We made it back to the waiting room for the next match and sat down.
Mo, who was the only one not exhausted, spoke first. âThis will be the last round before we take a break for two hours.â
âWeâve been fighting for 3â¦â I groaned.
âWhich is why we get a break now.â She said back
Bear took a deep breath, calming his lungs and steadying his hands, rubbing some old bruises on his arms. âBreak or not, I canât keep fighting like this much longer⦠My arms might break.â
I slowly grabbed my own over the scar I still had from when mine snapped in two. âRight⦠We stop fighting head-on then⦠We switch to skirmishing, fighting two on two, or three on two while one distracts them.â
Bear wiped the sweat from his brow, rubbing it out of his eyes. âWe fought like that in the alleyways plenty so we can support that. But what about you two?â
I leaned back against my chair. âThatâs right, theyâve been building experience fighting together, it would be more than ideal for them to keep doing so⦠Isy and I thoughtâ¦â
âYou donât have to do thatâ¦â Isy muttered. âI know⦠Youâre really only asking about me⦠Youâre a nice guy for pretending like youâre not thoughâ¦â
He let out another growl, looking away.
âWeâll be fine⦠We should worry about that later though. For now, we need to eat and rest, make sure to not eat too much, and drink a lot of water.â
Bear led the way, then Mo, finally I was feeling recovered enough to stand, my manna returning. I helped Isy up, and we went out together, finding another noodle shop, this time with lots of extra red meat just for her. She was quiet though⦠The whole time we were eating she didnât say a word.