“Where is he!” Pacing the halls of the academy corridor, Kira had a visible vein on her forehead throbbing intensely. That fucking brat! If I have to give birth to that bitch boy’s child because he’s late to the tournament I swear I’ll cut his fucking balls off and wear them as earrings!!

There was only 5 hours left until the tournament started and Daelos was nowhere in sight. Because of her bet with the principal, Kira was very jumpy. She had a lot riding on this, and she put all her faith in him.

…

In the cafeteria, Rhina, Daisha and Ellora sat around their table discussing battle strategy and tournament pre-cautions.

“At our current level we should be able to handle those at the 3rd year and under.” The always cheerful Daisha spoke with nothing but pride after surviving Kira’s torturous training.

“Hmph, I think if we go all out we should be able to fight evenly with 4th years.” As usual Rhina did everything possible to disagree with Daisha.

Seeing how both girls had become close over the past 9 months, Ellora watched with subtle interest.

“If you had someone supporting you two, you may be able to approach 5th years.”

Remembering that battle crazed young man that fought her to a standstill, even Rhina looked forward to seeing how much stronger he’d become. Originally she wanted to spar with him the moment he returned, unfortunately for her, he still hadn’t arrived.

*Ring!* *Ring!*

The bell sounding the start of the tournament rang, signalling them to make their way to the courtyard.

“Lets go.” Leaving their seats, the three girls headed towards their designated positions. For Daisha and Rhina, that meant joining all the other candidates on the courtyard as they got their brackets. For Ellora that meant joining the audience to watch the brackets and first few battles.

…

That motherfucker! How dare he not show up in my time of need!! I’ll kill him, I’LL FUCKING KILL HIM!!

Standing with the rest of the first year teachers, Kira was starting to get agitated over Daelos’s late arrival. Forgetting that it was her that didn’t tell him how to return to the floating islands.

Standing in front of a small podium, the announcer started announcing the first year tournament matchups. “Class 5 vs Class 3, Class 8 vs Class 1, Class 2 vs Class 6, Class 7 vs Class 4. In that order we will start the first year’s annual Mato tournament.” Stepping away from the podium the announcer had every class except for 5 and 3 leave the courtyard fighting area.

The rules of the tournament were quite simple. Once your opponent surrendered, received to much damage or was unable too continue fighting, they would be removed from the arena by one of the referees.

Once all the irrelevant parties were gone, he and the rest of the teachers set up a barrier around the courtyard to protect the audience from danger.

Standing on the courtyard a group of three elven girls in silver armour, carrying long swords stood with an air of arrogance around them. They were class 5’s tournament representatives. An all-female team of sword wielding maidens. Because of their synergy and similar fighting style, they were the best candidates chosen to fight for their class.

Opposite them was a more diverse group of elvish mage knights. The leader was a brown haired elf in typical ranger clothing carrying a sturdy bow in his right hand. To the left of him was a girl in light armour carrying a short sword. And to the right was a guy in studded armour wielding an axe.

Seeing both teams ready, the announcer started the match. “BEGIN!!”

*BOOM!!*

Class 5 didn’t waste any time. As soon as the match began they charged towards the opposite team in a tight knit triangular formation. “Zara take out the ranger, Maeve focus on the girl.” Hearing their leader's command, the 2 girls broke up and went after their respective opponents.

“Prepare yourselves!” Seeing the girls charge towards them, the leader of class 3 nocked his bow and stood his ground. Imbuing the arrow with the law of air, he held his breath and felt his connection to the wind element rise. “Release”

*WHOOSH!*

*PING!*

Deflecting the arrow with her sword, Zara covered her body in the wind element and appeared in front of the ranger with extreme swiftness. Raising her sword high, she swung down with all her strength.

*BOOM!!*

Jumping to the right, the leader of class 3 watched as the sword cracked the earth beneath its weight. Shit! That was close. Enhancing his legs with the wind element he jumped into the air and filled his next arrow with even more of the wind element. A sly smile appeared on his face as he had the swordswoman in his sights. “Try to block this!”

Releasing the arrow from his fingers, the arrow tore through the air at a speed that was unparalleled.

*BOOM!!*

Blocking the arrow with the flat side of her sword, Zara found herself being pushed back by the impact. “Its gonna take more than that to stop me!” Suddenly a shiver went down her spine as she realised that the leader of class 3 was no longer in sight. “Shi- Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Behind her, the sound of two objects whizzing through the air made its way into her ears. But before she had the chance to react, two arrows were firmly implanted into her back as the leader of class 3 lowered his bow. “You should have dodged.” Turning away from the fallen participant, class 3’s leader focused his attention on the two sword wielding girls fighting in the distance.

…

“For a first year he’s pretty good.”

“Not the way I would’ve done it, but impressive non the less.”

Inside the strategy room both Rhina and Daisha watched the battle on a yellow screen created through the law of light. Behind them Kira was pacing the floor mumbling something about earrings.

“Why did she block the arrow instead of dodging?” Looking to Rhina for answers, Daisha asked with a confused expression.

“Because she’s arrogant. Zara Pelaink, 194, skilled in both law comprehension and swordsmanship. She was treated like a princess by her village and that led her to become an overconfident bitch. In her mind, if she dodged that arrow it would have proven that not only did class 3’s leader threaten her, but also that she was incapable of facing him head on.”

Daisha stood there dumbfounded. “How did you know all that?”

“By knowing her background I understood her actions.” Talking as if it would obvious, Rhina looked at her like she was an idiot.

“NOT THAT! Why do you know her age and background!” Knowing that she was being looked down upon by Rhina caused a sour feeling her heart.

“Oh? She’s our opponent, so I looked into her.”

“But we only found out what the teams were today!” This was what Daisha couldn’t understand the most. The class representatives were only known to the class students and instructor. For every other class, they find out when the brackets were being decided.

“The teams might have been officially finalised today, but they were unofficially decided long ago. All I did was look at the three most talented ones of each class, then I built a profile on them.”

“But why! With our strength we don’t have to worry about first years.” Still not understanding the reason, Daisha continued to press on.

“Never underestimate your opponents no matter how weak they appear outwardly.” Saying this, she looked at the pacing Kira behind her.

…

*CLANG!!*

*CLANG!!*

*CLANG*

The beautiful sound of metal striking against metal riled up the audience as they watched as both girls went at it. Maeve swung her sword as if it was an extension of her body. Light, fast, and sharp. Every swing was graceful, full of beauty and enchanting. Wrapped in the wind element, her sword strikes were fast and accurate causing her opponent to constantly be on the defensive.

Class 3’s sword wielder was having a pretty hard time. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was completely outmatched. Whether it be her speed, power or technique she was inferior in every way. It took everything she had just to block several sword strikes. She was being pushed back and had no way to go on the offensive.

“Just give up little girl, you don’t stand a chance against me!”

*Clang!*

“Your weak!” *CLANG!!* “Your slow!” *CLANG!!* “Your swordsmanship is disgraceful!” “*CLANG!!* “And you can’t even use laws properly!” *CLANG!!*

As she berated the class 3 representative, her sword strikes became violent and sharper. The representative felt her arms start to shake as every strike left them feeling numb. She could see that Maeve was getting annoyed and planned to finish things.

No! I can’t lose now! I promised my father that I would show the world the power of his sword style and I REFUSE TO FAIL HERE!!

Remembering all the days she spent training with her father as a child. She felt a surge of anger rise within her as Maeve called her father’s sword style disgraceful. The sword style he’d perfected after he lost his arm protecting her mother only to watch her die before his very eyes! The sword style he perfected after neglecting his daughter and shutting himself off from the rest of the world! The sword style he perfected after being mocked and ridiculed as failure by his fellow villagers! The sword style that was his essence! His legacy! SHE WOULD NEVER ALLOW ANYONE TO DARE CALL IT A DISGRACE!!!!!!

SO WHAT IF SHE WASN’T GOOD AT USING LAWS! SO WHAT IF HER OPPONENT WAS STRONGER THAN HER! SO WHAT IF EVERYONE ONLY SAW HER AS THE DAUGHTER OF A FAILURE! SHE WOULD PROVE THEM WRONG!! WITH THIS SWORD STYLE SHE WOULD BECOME THE HOKAGE OF THE HIDDEN LEAF!! I mean WORLD’S STRONGEST!!!!!

Raising her sword arm she struck down with all her anger, rage, hopes, dreams, sorrows and love. In this strike she gave it her all! There was nothing but her and the sword. Forget the tournament, forget the opponent, only she and her sword mattered.

“This sword of mine glows with an awesome power!

Its burning grip tells me to defeat you!

TAKE THIS!

MY LOVE, MY ANGER, AND ALL OF MY SORROW!

SHINING SWORD SLASHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

*CLANG!* *SWOOSH*

“huh”

What just happened?

“You lose”

What? I lose? Looking down at her hand, she realised that her sword was no longer there. It was actually nine feet away laying in the dust. And in front of her was Maeve’s sword just couple of centimetres away from her throat.

…

“Ooh…that’s kinda rough. You can really tell she put her all into that swing and yet- *sigh* how tragic.”

Watching from the strategy room Daisha couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl.

“But what was with that battle cry! As she said it my heart actually sped up a little! And this is all the payoff I get! How anti-climactic was that! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, you don’t use such a cool line and then LOSE!! You just don’t!” Rhina was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Instead of the pity that Daisha felt, she felt nothing but anger towards the brat. I mean seriously, who in their right mind uses such a badass line then fucking loses!!!

Both girls watched as class 3’s sword wielding representative left the battle area.

…

Watching Maeve point her sword at his teammate, class 3’s leader knew that he’d finished too slowly. Although his battle with Zara could be said to be quick, he knew that if she had chosen to avoid his last arrow she would have definitely been a thorn in his side. Thank god for idiots.

Now that his teammate was eliminated, he nocked his bow and turned his sights onto Maeve hoping to catch her off guard. Imbuing his arrows in the wind element he hoped to end this in one shot.

*WHOOSH!!*

He watched as his arrow approached Maeve at an unbelievable speed. It tore through the air like a rock being shot out of a sling shot! As it approached closer and closer Maeve felt a sense of danger rise within her. As if on instinct she ducked to the ground, barely avoiding the speeding arrow.

Shit! She dodged.

Nocking another arrow, class 3’s leader shot a barrage of arrows at his target. Unfortunately, Maeve was now on high alert and easily dodged the approaching arrows. Enhancing her speed through the wind element, she charged towards the ranger with sword in hand.

Fuck!!

Seeing her charge towards him, class 3’s leader did what any ranged fighter would do when faced with a close ranged fighter: Run!!

Retreating while firing several arrows, the leader tried to create as much room between them as possible.

*Whoosh!!*

*Whoosh!!*

*Whoosh!!*

It was too bad that although his arrows very fast and accurate, Maeve seemed to know exactly where the arrows were heading and what the easiest way to dodge them was. Getting closer and closer, the leader started to feel his danger senses scream at him to avoid this woman as much as possible!

Seeing the distance between them closing, Maeve tightened her grip on her sword as she evaded another arrow without slowing down in slightest. I’ll end this now. Gathering the law of air on her sword, she encased the blade in violent winds as she swung it diagonally at the archer.

*WHOOSHHHH!!!!*

As if a dragon had just released a mighty roar, all the wind in the arena was drawn to the area around her blade. The sound it made was a sharp whistling noise. After releasing her attack aimed at the ranger, the wind around the sword shot through the air and charged at the ranger like a hungry wolf seeing a wounded rabbit.

The ranger’s eyes widened as he watched the devastating wind soar towards him. Pulling the last arrow out of his quiver, he infused it with the wind element, hoping that his mastery of it would surpass his opponent and break through her attack.

Unfortunately, not everything works out the way we want it to. Maeve’s attack swallowed the arrow and struck the body of the ranger, dragging him across the ground before it lifted him into the air and dropped him back to the ground.

Before his vision turned dark, the only thought in his mind was: This woman is to powerful for a first year! And with that, his body hit the ground.

…

The rest of the match was predictable as both Maeve and Azariah easily dominated the last member of class 3’s team.

After he was removed from the arena, the announcer yelled out the match results. “Class 5 advances!!”

Back in the arena both Maeve and Azariah bowed towards the announcer before leaving the fighting area.

“That was boring.” Now that they were out of ear shot, Azariah could finally let go of her façade.

Agreeing with her Maeve nodded her head. “Once we win the first year tournament we’ll advance to the second year stage and then we’ll arrive at the third year tournament.”

“We’re not going further than that?”

At the end of the first year tournament, the winning class is eligible to gain a spot in the second year tournament.

“If it was just me alone maybe, but…” Although she wasn’t looking at Azariah, Azariah understood that she and Zara were just holding her back. It was only because Maeve didn’t want the responsibility of being class 5’s leader that Zara managed to get her current position.

Shaking those thoughts away, she tried to change the topic. “What do we do about Zara losing so fast?”

It was only now that Maeve even remembered that the third member of her team was missing. “If she lost that quickly to someone of that level then we can ignore her from now on. If anything she can be used as bait or a meat shield.”

“She won’t like the sound of that.”

“And I don’t like being teamed up with useless people who think they’re princesses but look where I am.”

*Sigh* “Fair enough.”