“Now, just to recap the rules of the school-wide tourney so that none of you make any dumb mistakes.” The S-Class sat quietly, waiting for their ‘orders’ from Jonathan, recalling a similar discussion before the Inter Class Tournament.

As a side note, why one was a ‘tourney’ and the other ‘tournament’ was an absent question which wasn’t really important… but sticklers for consistency got annoyed.

They got especially annoyed when the two were sometimes swapped around for the two events.

“For the school-wide tourney, it is a battle royale, with the entire school being your arena. Know that doing excessive damage is frowned upon, and you will be punished for doing so if it wasn’t necessary to your victory.” The class as a whole felt a tinge of fear go down their spine at how Jonathan’s entire forearm turned inky black with Darkness…

The threat was received.

“Next, teams are allowed and actively encouraged, though the final eight will be forced to battle each other until one remains standing. As the previous statement suggested, the maximum number of people in a team is ten but only eight can progress to the International Juniors.” Jonathan’s scoff said exactly what he thought of their chances in this battle.

Kazuya and the others felt no insult over that, because it was the truth, the S-Class first years had no hope of winning when the third years were involved in the competition.

The third years were all at the minimum peak three Star Sages with middling four Star Sages being the max with Bobby’s class.

In addition, having trained with Kim, the ‘weakest’ of the third year S-Class, they could confirm that even if all seven of their class fought her they’d probably lose still.

And that was if they ran into her alone… teams were a possibility?

“Sir… how often do the third year S-Classes lose this?” Edward asked, already having an idea given what happened in the ICT.

“Never have the S-Class lost such an event. In cases such as this year, with there being less than eight members of the S-Class, the follow ups may be B or A-Class, but all S-Class members make it through to the top eight.” Jonathan reminded, having been part of the early days of Elem, though back then Elem wasn’t headed by Headmaster Oren but by one of the other Kings.

“Figures…” Vince complained with a sigh. With one hundred students per year, ignoring the S-Classes, there would be three hundred opponents, the idea of winning that…

“There are also other gimmicks involved in the event. As you can recall, we have those bracelets to keep you alive, though these break a bit easier. They’ll break when you are injured enough to be considered ‘out of commission’ or knocked out, and they’ll heal you up.” Jonathan handed out the bracelets as everyone placed them on, they were also bigger than before.

“These bracelets also double as tracking bracelets as they will record things you do during this event, such as your location.” That last bit worried the entire class.

“Using that location system, every ten minutes a map of the school will be sent to your bracelet containing the location of all other students still actively in the tournament… it will not give you information on which student is where though.” So they could go after a close by student only to find themselves facing Bobby of all people.

That was like something out of a horror movie in the minds of the first years, turning the corner expecting to find a lone target only to be met with a bear of a man known as the Tyrant…

Oh it was a scary thought.

“If you wish to partner up with a person, it’s as simple at tapping your bracelets against each other, holding that for five seconds. By the way, be careful, it’s rare but from time to time we get people who forcefully team up with others. Such as Liza and the hero-brat over there.” Jonathan gestured to the two top students of the class, Kazuya trying to pry his arm away from Liza while she had his arm in a vice-grip, registering the two as a team…

“I feel so used…” Kazuya mock cried while Liza showed off a peace sign to the other members of the class in victory.

“…” The other members of the class just sighed, all joining forces one by one, knowing that it was the greatest chance they had of surviving… though that wasn’t saying much when they still didn’t even have a one per cent chance of winning.

“Good, work together, it’ll let you last longer… though I’m a bit unsure how likely you are to last…” Jonathan reminded with a furrowed brow, getting confused glances from the first years.

“The top student, Bobby Dore, is considered the Tyrant because he never teams up during this event, and he was the last man standing last year despite being a second-year…” Jonathan reminded the class about the most feared person in the school right now.

“As for the other more worrying group, my son. Yusuf is similar to his mother… that’s a good thing for him, but for his enemies, not so much. I doubt anyone my son disapproves of will come close to reaching the top eight.” Jonathan’s words drew frowns from the first years…

Surely it wasn’t that bad?

Meanwhile, across the school, in the third year S-Class group, their teacher had simply handed them the bracelets and walked away, not even needing to do anything more, leaving the five seated together.

“So, what are you going to be doing during this?” Bobby piped up, looking squarely at the one Sage he considered his equal, while Yusuf fiddled with his bracelet for a moment.

“Well I plan to fight like the weak…” Yusuf said, his words charismatic as he turned towards the other three members of the class.

“Would the three of you join me? We also need to go look for three other teammates…” The three girls all agreed to join Yusuf’s team, knowing that they were practically guaranteed a place in the top eight if they worked with Yusuf…

And Yusuf was only planning on having a team of seven total, including himself, because Bobby would refuse to join any team.

“Excellent. Now we just need a Lightning, Earth, and Metal Sage and we’d have all ten Elements in our team, diversifying our options… ah, let’s take a walk to the A-Class.” Yusuf said, standing with his three teammates following.

“See you at the end, Maestro.” Bobby said, kicking up his feet onto his desk, while Yusuf waved without looking back.

“You too, Tyrant.” And so Yusuf left with Kim, Vera and Su-Li.

“I must say, you two certainly are interesting when you interact with one another…” Vera said with a sly giggle, leaving Yusuf to shiver, knowing that Vera was quite the sadist and enjoyed implying odd things about people.

“That’s a strange thought.” Su-Li remarked, ignoring Kim’s blush at the insinuation while Yusuf looked around, noting that few people were moving around between classes, they had a whole hour before the event began, to move around into different positions or to recruit others.

Most forget this or just plain ignore it, as most teams would form within their own classes, inter-class friendships were kind of rare because of how the school arranged for competitions to work.

But Yusuf was always one to abuse loopholes in logic if he could… no one outright stated that teams spanning multiple classes was wrong or impossible, it was just that common sense dictated that it wouldn’t happen…

So Yusuf just went against common sense, opening the door to the third year A-Class, the classes murmuring halting as they took in the form of their previous rank one from the year before.

“Hi there, I’m looking for Kenny, Raj and Mika for my team.” Yusuf said, walking into the class like he owned it, ignoring the glare sent his way by Ludwig…

Mostly because, back when he was part of the A-Class at least, Yusuf was their leader, infallible and powerful, his only competition being the S-Class students, until he eventually managed to defeat the fifth ranked S-Class student in single-combat, resulting in the expulsion of said student and Yusuf rising to become the fifth ranked of the S-Class.

The A-Class was mixed in their opinions of Yusuf, with some being jealous of Yusuf and angry that he ‘left’ them, such as Ludwig.

Others admired Yusuf and still believed he was a brilliant leader, such as the three who were called out, each standing and nodding as they walked to meet with Yusuf.

“You’re really going to just waltz in here and demand they join you, why are you three listening to that traitor?” One of the students said as Kenny, Raj and Mika looked at their classmates, most nodding in acceptance except for a rare few.

“We’re being given a chance to win… we will take it.” Mika, the Lightning user of the three stated, a nod coming from Raj.

“Exactly, we’ve all done the same, Sages must take the surest path to victory.” The Earth Sage reminded, with Kenny smirking, knives floating around his arms already.

“And the Maestro is a brilliant leader… he’ll figure things out.” Such was the faith Yusuf held, those who had worked with him could only acknowledge that Yusuf was amongst the most tactical minded people in the high school.

Yusuf had never won the School Wide Tourney, but even in his first year he had managed to create a team which led to him being within the last one hundred to survive, a near legendary achievement comparable to Bobby defeating a third year in his first year.

Where Bobby proved himself through his own strength, Yusuf proved himself through how he utilized the strength of others.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence you three… come along… we have plans to form.” Yusuf turned, walking again with his three new teammates towards his own class, finding Bobby gone once he returned.

Yusuf chuckled, knowing Bobby, the moment the event started he’d show off his presence to all, and would take all challengers.

Even Bobby would be worn down if he had to face all three hundred of the other students, but his reputation scared so many that most would probably choose to fight each other rather than him.

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do…” Yusuf smirked, his six teammates giving shaky smiles of their own as they were reminded how scary Yusuf could be.

An hour after being given bracelets, an alarm buzzed around the school, signifying the beginning of the School Wide Tourney…

There was a quiet moment, a single moment where the world seemed to stand still…

And then time caught up with the world as an explosion of Metal and Lightning went off in the central courtyard of the school.

“FIGHT ME!” Yusuf chuckled, hearing Bobby’s roar of challenge, other sounds of combat occurring as well shortly after said roar, most likely few would actually dare take up such a challenge.

“Like you predicted boss, the Tyrant challenged everyone from the most accessible point in the school.” Mika said while looking at the map on the bracelet, swiping on the screen to show different areas of the map.

Yusuf took a moment to wonder how expensive they were, before shrugging and moving on. It wasn’t like Sage’s needed to pay much for mundane materials, the only costs of the bracelets were powerful Light Sages enchanting them, and some mass-produced touch-screen technology.

“Yeah, I remember hearing Bobby mentioning how he wished he could do it in our first year, but he wasn’t strong enough to pull off such a stunt back then… now, he can.” Yusuf reminded, looking at his own wrist at the map.

“Thanks to Bobby’s actions the central courtyard is now a no-man’s land, he’ll likely attack anyone who enters there… meaning that the sensible combatants would stick to the interior of the school and the outer grounds.” Vera reminded, knowing that their team could probably defeat Bobby… but it would come at a cost.

And Yusuf wasn’t willing to pay that cost, Yusuf wanted to win, certainly, but he wanted to win without losing any teammate before the final eight were decided.

“Essentially, he’s an arena gimmick, right? Like those floating block things in Mario.” Kim reminded, and the group as a whole agreed.

Yusuf found himself appreciating Kim even more when she said such references, he enjoyed those games himself after all… now if only she had the courage to tell his father that they were dating…

“Yeah… the question is, where do we go, outside or inside? If we are outside there’d be less hiding places, but there would be a wider space for movement and likely more opponents.” Su-Li offered, with Yusuf looking at his teammates for a moment.

“I think we should split up into teams. With the bracelets communicating with your teammates is possible, so we could coordinate our movements. As far as I can tell, the teams should be…” One explanation later had the two man teams made with the exception of one three man team.

Kim and Su-Li looked at each other with frowns on their faces, and Yusuf didn’t act like he couldn’t see it… both had been hoping to be on his team, and while he could see some powerful abilities going on there, he just didn’t fit in quite correctly…

Besides, hopefully this way his girlfriends would finally have time to talk without his presence forcing them to… Yusuf cursed his mother for her talk of how polygamy was perfectly acceptable for Sages due to there being a need for more Sages…

It was hard for two Sages to have a child, and such a child would be a guaranteed Sage in the future… and the chance of two normal humans having a Sage child was extremely small…

Relationships were really open for this reason, though there were much more cases of monogamy than there were polygamy… it was just that Sages were a bit more accepting.

And it just so happened that Su-Li and Kim both liked Yusuf enough to fight about it, then when he broke up the fight turned to him and demanded he choose.

Maybe he was just indecisive, but Yusuf refused to pick one over the other, not wanting either of his friends to be hurt, and the end result?

Yusuf now had two girlfriends, though only Su-Li was brave enough to say as much to his father…

He had gotten lost in his complaints about his girlfriend’s arguments… he had to lose that habit at some point, he already over-thought things in strategy, he’d rather keep that habit away from his love life.

The next team was Vera, Mika and Kenny, the reason Yusuf had those three work together was because of their personalities actually, with Vera being the calm one, Mika and Kenny were free to rampage with her support, especially given that Vera was a control-type Sage, focusing on attacking with her Elements and a smidgen of spells and physical fighting added on.

The final group was Raj and Yusuf, two opposing Elements of Wind and Earth, the reason Yusuf would work with Raj was because Raj had worked with Yusuf before on multiple occasions, and their combination was quite scary when done correctly.

“Alright, now, with this sorted, Kim, Su-Li, take the west side of the interior, Vera, Mika, Kenny, take the east side. Raj and I can handle the outside with him boosting my abilities.” Yusuf’s statement was met with nods, none questioning…

“My only word of warning is to look out for one another. Our opponents will try and win… but they will fail, we will hold victory in our grasp, and as a whole we will go to the International Juniors.” Yusuf’s statement was said in calm volume, no shouting, no whisper… a simple statement of fact.

In Yusuf’s mind, there was no question of loss, only victory. And this surety was felt within the souls of his teammates, each one nodding, smirks on their faces.

“Oh yes, if any of you run into the first year S-Class team… send them my way. I have a challenger from that class.” Yusuf said, as he and his team walked out into the hallway, three Sages noticing them and paling at seeing who walked out of the classroom… they appeared to be second-years.

Such a shame, to be taken out so early…

“My friends, search and destroy.” Yusuf said, his Orchestra being summoned into his hand as each member of the group summoned either a weapon or activated a Clad.

“Yes!” And like this, Yusuf Grant joined the battlefield.

On the other side of the school, the first year S-Class was finding the ‘SWT’ to not be much of a tourney… intriguing, but not a tourney.

With a palm hitting someone flying, and the sound of a bracelet breaking, Edward turned to his classmates who had each managed to take out an enemy, bar Liza who had once more begun to imitate a koala by clinging to Kazuya’s back.

Kazuya found little issue with this apparently, as long as Liza also fought when they encountered too powerful to deal with while burdened.

“Why were so many coming after us?” Tony complained with a huff as he watched a boy he had just kicked down the corridor walk away, his bracelet broken.

“We’re the top of the first years, so the other first years attack us, we have a target on our backs remember?” Vince’s own pistols had been adjusted for the event, as the SWT did not prevent death, only heavy injuries.

This was to teach Sages restraint when it came to fighting, though by now if a Sage actually killed someone in this event then it probably wasn’t an accident given they would have had about nine months of sparring and training to know when too much was being done.

The ICT was to allow a Sage to know how dangerous they could be, allowing them to ‘kill’ their opponent, many a student had been shocked and afraid when a student’s bracelet broke during the ICT as a result of ‘death’ and realizing how easy it was to die.

This event, the SWT, was to remind a Sage of restraint, to remember that against most Rogue Sages they weren’t supposed to go to killing first and foremost, Rogue Sages were typically captured alive so as to have extra fighters in the event of a powerful Mystic Beast attacking.

Mystic Beasts didn’t care for their inner conflicts after all…

“That target is getting annoying… oh well, the tall tree catches the most wind.” Jade sighed, checking her strapped on glasses for a moment.

Jade had eventually learnt that Sages could actually get corrective surgery for their eyes, or find a suitably talented and knowledgeable Light Sage and they’d fix her eyes, but she was still used to the glasses.

None of the first years knew this, but Kim Ellis had also fixed her eyes already, and only kept her glasses because Yusuf had called her cute with them on.

Love made people do stupid things.

“We’re likely to run into the A-Class members such as those three… it’s best if we establish our place.” Vince mentioned, only to get a shake of the head from Kazuya.

“That’s a valid strategy but only in the case where we are strong enough to keep others from forcing us out after getting dug in. We can compete with some second-years, but battling a third-year is likely to force us out of position. Rather, we need mobility.” Kazuya advised, and Edward nodded.

“Vince, you’re the hunter, so you know about trapping, can you work with Leah to lay traps as we move?” Edward turned to the jokester of the class whose eyes glinted dangerously.

“Of course we can, Leah, come on, I’ll advise you.” Vince said, Leah nodding as she followed along, Kazuya nodded at Edward’s order.

At current, Edward was acting as the leader of the group, with Kazuya as advisor for now.

As for why Vince and Leah were to work together to trap their rear, Vince’s experience as a hunter meant he had experience with trapping and tracking, and Leah’s ability to use surprise attacks/traps against her opponents in the middle of a fight was being trained by Jonathan, helping Vince would also allow her to test them out in a not quite so controlled environment.

“Following that, Tony, you and I will be up close and personal with support from Jade, Kazuya, you can slot in just about anywhere but you also need to move Liza around, she’s our heavy hitter.” Kazuya nodded, being Liza’s minder was starting to become normal…

Kazuya couldn’t really say he regretted that, only that it was occasionally annoying.

Their ‘formation’ decided, the seven moved, not truly aiming for anything, but after hearing a recognizable voice shouting ‘fight me’ in the courtyard, they had unanimously agreed that going there was asking to be kicked out of the fight early.

That left them to fight inside the building or venture outside, both were a bit opposed in that fighting inside weakened them but was safer, requiring a more technical style of fighting while the outside could be dominated by forceful fighting and many powerful enemies.

Of the roughly three hundred and twenty people within the SWT, the S-Class first years were in the top two hundred certainly, but any more than that seemed an impossibility.

It was while moving that they heard a shout of pain, causing the group as a whole to freeze, preparing to fight as Liza got off of Kazuya’s back, unwilling to be a burden during such a fight…

Before they could even move around the corner to see the cause of the shout, a body flew past, impacting on the wall to their side, the bracelet on their wrist cracking, signifying being knocked out of the competition…

And the person who was thrown against the wall? It was June, the first ranked A-Class student of the first years… an opponent that gave Leah and Kazuya a bit of pause when they fought back in the ICT.

And she was being wracked with painful coughs as she tried to crawl on the ground, and footsteps were heard approaching.

“Ah, got to remember that the first year area is around here, almost killed her when she got me by surprise…” Kazuya and Edward in particular shivered, being keenly aware of how powerful the speaker was, as Kim Ellis walked from around the corner, looking at Jade.

Knowing that other Sages were around the corner, Kim looked to the group of seven, blinking as she realized exactly who it was she was preparing to destroy.

“Oh, it’s you guys. Su, get over here, it’s the brats.” Kim called out to another of the third years, leaving the first years feeling terrified, maybe, maybe they’d be able to defeat Kim in a one on one fight…

Her and another third year S-Class ranked higher than her? It wasn’t happening.

“That’s quite the rude way of addressing them… but yes, I see.” Su-Li, the third ranked of the entire school said as she walked around the corner, much more sedately compared to Kim.

“…” the first years froze, essentially paralyzed in the same manner prey awaits the movement of a predator, hoping to not be seen.

“Well, I think they realize how badly they’d lose in this situation… hey, brats, we’re not going to take you out.” The first years narrowed their eyes, just slightly relaxing their stance.

“Yes, removing you all from the competition isn’t what our leader wants… in fact, we were asked to direct you in his direction if we were to find you.” Su-Li said with a soft giggle, and once more the first years found themselves afraid…

Not because of her words, but because there were vines following behind her, and the shadow gap between the vines seemed to be… alive, for lack of a better word.

Also, the three women of the third year S-Class were all scary. Kim was loud and violent, Su-Li was soft spoken with a hidden edge and Vera was manipulative and slightly sadistic.

Not that Kazuya and the others knew this, just somehow feeling that Su-Li was just as dangerous as Vera despite her soft smiles.

“Leader… I suppose you mean Yusuf?” Edward managed to speak out despite the nervous sweat.

“Yes, Yusuf is waiting for you all… in particular, you.” Su-Li said, giving a knowing glance to Leah who made a small squeaking noise when she noticed she was being looked at.

“Yeah, he said you challenged him? Well, he’s outside…” Kim said, pointing towards a window showing the outside area of the school…

The first years had been trying to ignore it, not wanting to even try and bother with the insanity going on outside, but being unable to see far outside the window due to the sandstorm going on outside was a good reason to stay inside.

On occasion a burst of light would shine through the sandstorm, or a huge boom could be heard, all that the first years knew was that the outside was a warzone of some kind.

“Don’t worry about the sandstorm. That’s Yusuf. And if he really wants to talk to you, he’ll at least let you close without worry.” The casual admission was terrifying given that the sandstorm was essentially around almost the entire school.

The school was not the largest of institutions, that title belonged to Valour Academy in the Empire, but the main school building had to be about a kilometre or two in area… the first years could attack over such an area, Vince especially…

But maintaining such a powerful sandstorm for that long, essentially attacking everyone outside at once?

“That’s terrifying… between him and the Tyrant, everyone is essentially trapped within the school halls, aren’t they?” Kazuya noted with a glance at Su-Li whose smile widened slightly, going from soft to predatory.

“Of course, Yusuf hunts the outside, Bobby the centre, and the school halls become a barrel… and all our enemies the fish.” The analogy was made, fish in a barrel was what every Sage in the school had been dropped to, their only hope was to make sure the members of Yusuf’s team didn’t find them…

“Su-Li, careful, your creepiness is showing.” Kim poked her partner in the ribs, getting a twitch from the other Sage.

“Sorry. Anyway, I recommend you all go outside. It’s pointless to try and hold out until later anyway, most of the first years have already been knocked out, along with the second and third years, you’re probably already in the top two hundred.” That was enough of a ‘pass’ for them to be able to just quit at this point…

But seeing the clenched fist of Leah dropped that idea. This encounter was important to Leah… and even if they lost, they’d at least help her with her goal, so thought the rest of the S-Class…

Because they made a promise, to always help one another. They might not be outside of the school, which was when that promise was meant to be used, but they agreed, where one of them needed help, the others would appear to assist, so long as they asked.

And so the six other students looked at Leah, the current lowest ranked of the class, and she curled into herself for but a moment before straightening and staring into the eyes of her classmates.

“Please… help me.” Leah realized what they were waiting, six smiles forming as they turned to Kim and Su-Li.

“Of course we will.” The six practically spoke as one, leaving the two third years looking at each other with a small frown, leaving the first years to walk away.

“…We weren’t like that until this year, huh?” Kim asked as Su-Li shook her head, looking at the first years moving towards the outside, into the storm.

“No. We competed, we fought, we went against one another… it’s why we lost four classmates… but they, they are working together from the beginning.” Su-Li noted and Kim clenched her fists.

With a flash of fire and light, two Chinese scimitars appeared in Kim’s hands, and Su-Li followed the example, wood growing over her legs before being overcome with darkness and leaving her wearing greaves.

“I hate to admit it… but I’m kind of jealous.” Kim said, getting the ping on her bracelet letting her know how many were left in the fight, and where everyone was…

“Me too… let’s go hunting to blow of some steam. Then we can see to ambushing Yusuf later.” Kim blushed a bit at the insinuation of ‘we’ but simply focused on the fight, moving towards the nearest group of Sages.

Meanwhile in the centre of the school, Bobby sat, taking a deep breath as he looked at the people who dared challenge him, all having to stumble away in pain.

“You challenged me, and fought bravely. Walk away proud.” Bobby called from his metallic throne, a great axe resting against the armrest of said throne, the axe being Bobby’s own Armament.

The defeated Sages stumbled away, a mix of third and second-years, though mostly third years, all sporting broken bracelets…

And it was during this that one last challenger walked forward, looking at the massive form of Bobby, who simply raised an eyebrow with a small smile.

“Ah, you finally approach me. Aren’t you going to fight with your classmates?” Bobby asked, looking at the determined glare on the face of Julian Benjamin, first ranked second-year student.

“No. They will be doing their own thing. I will not have them lower their ranks just to pander to my own goals.” Julian said, concentrating his element, his own Armament forming into the shape of a scimitar with a brown tassel hanging from it.

“Interesting opinion… you’d rather fail alone than drag your classmates into your failure… but I’m afraid you forgot the weapon triangle.” Bobby’s statement got a confused look from the Light/Earth Sage.

“Axe beats sword.” Bobby said, standing from his ‘throne’ while hefting his own Armament onto his shoulder, Julian glaring because of the implications of those words…

Not that Julian caught the reference, unfortunately.

And so it was that the SWT progressed, with the first years gathering together to face Yusuf, the second strongest third year, while the strongest second-year faced the strongest third year alone.

The amount of people remaining in the SWT is one hundred and sixty two.

Time passed, thirty minutes.

The deciding point was approaching.