The squad leader of the yellow fangs dormitory watched with mild interest as her underlings charged the ragtag group of misfits. She did not know who they were or where they came from, though did think it was odd to have two males amongst them, wondering what their game was. But such things didn’t matter right now. They had done her wrong by so easily kicking an entire fourth of her dorm into the stands.

In this school, weak dorms are beholden to stronger ones. If she didn’t want to be seen as weak, then she at least needed to show that they were willing to go down fighting, dragging anyone and anything down with them. Otherwise they may be subject to a protection racket, meaning someone else would be siphoning off a portion of their hard earned merits and contribution points. Or worse, poaching some of her best minions for themselves…

As a group of low level nobles, some of which were commoners, losing here would be very bad… Even if she knew that her underling’s excuse was complete bullshit. It became a matter of honor when they so easily dealt with her people.

“Gods damn it… If only I didn’t need the stupid bitches family backing, I would have kicked her out to the lowest rung of our dorm.” She heaved a sigh and began to watch the battle like a hawk, slowly analyzing her opponents moves, strengths and weaknesses.

While this was happening, Van was wondering how things became like this. His first battle of sorts was with a bunch of students in a jam packed arena. All of which looked hell bent on kicking the shit out of him, or they would, if they didn’t seem to get cold feet at the last second. They seemed a little perplexed on how to fight a male, was it okay to touch them? Or hit them in certain places? What if they accidentally groped them? Would they get in trouble?

He was soon joined by Seral who came rushing towards his aid, brandishing his sword. “Sorry I'm late, I had to convince Samira to let me join.”

“No problem, just glad you're here. With you and Samira, it should be a more even playing field.” Van said confidently.

Seral winced. “About that…” Then looked towards his left where Samira was dragging Anna away from the fight. “Technically, aids may train with you, but not fight for you or with you unless given special permission. It was right there in the rules section above the sign in table, next to no summoning. So Anna fighting probably deducted a few points from your total score… Sorry…”

“Well… Fuck…” Was all Van could say as he saw Samira dragging an angry Anna away.

But he had no more time to watch as it was then that the students began their attack upon them. He took his dual sabers and blocked the incoming attack while Seral blocked another. After a brief struggle, he was able to push her off and kick her away in the gut, he followed it up with a swift cut towards her neck, but hesitated, jumping back and taking another defensive stance.

He wasn’t sure if being so bloodthirsty was the right thing to do. What if she actually got hurt?

The girl got up and gave him a glare that said she wasn’t going to go easy on him any more. Then charged at him throwing wild swings left and right at great speed.

Van easily avoided them. Even in his inexperienced eyes, the student didn’t seem to fully know what she was doing. Her movements were sloppy and obviously unfocused, with none of the smooth movements that come with years of practice and your body learning the rhythms of your moves down to their core.

This didn’t mean the student wasn’t taught, she hit with a great deal of weight behind her attacks. But for him, it was inadequate… She would never be able to touch him the way she was going. The problem was…

“Van!” Seral yelled.

Van didn’t need the warning, he already saw the other student try to strike his side from the corner of his eyes. It seemed his adversaries were wising up to the fact that one of them alone wouldn’t be enough to bring him down.

“Van, you don’t need to worry about hurting them, they would just get sent to the stands! So just fight!” Seral then blocked an attack from another student and slashed at her exposed throat. Instead of a fountain of blood, at the last second it seemed that her body shimmered and then she flew right towards the stands.

Van took a deep breath and when the next student attacked he experimented on her. First he countered with a few punches and kicks, and then slowly moved up using his swords, going from less lethal targets to more one kill attacks. Finally, after playing around with his opponent, who was wide eyed at this moment realizing she was no match for him, did he end it with a quick aura powered slash towards her waist, in a way that wouldn’t immediately disembowel her should the barrier not take effect.

But it did. And she was sent flying.

“Huh… I see now… For the most part, punches and kicks wouldn’t give that hard barrier feeling unless it reaches a certain threshold. While most attacks from a weapon would leave a welt behind and a small dull shimmer. Once enough damage has been piled on, or you do an attack that would instantly kill someone, the barrier takes effect and whisks them off.” Van thought as he took notice of this, not just from his opponent but from others.

“Hey! A little help!” Merody yelled as she was quickly being surrounded by more enemies. She sent spikes of ice and jets of water at them, while giving any that got close a good whipping. She whipped one so hard that it sent her straight to the stands.

Van tried to move in to help, but was blocked by three other students, one of which was already moving into circle him.

“Shit, they're coordinating now.” Then noticed how their squad leader in the back was giving out orders, using their numerical advantage to the fullest.

“Fuck! SHIT!” Merody yelled as one student went straight for her from behind and tackled her, ignoring the damage of the floating spikes of ice that hovered around Merody. Even as the student was sent straight to the stands, the rest of her comrades' dog piled on top of Merody and beat the shit out of her until she also was ejected out.

They then turned towards the rest of the group with malevolent eyes.

All around him this scene could be seen taking place over and over again. Luna literally had one enemy on each of her limbs, trying to pull her down. The struggle was seriously intense, but his wife still stood tall the best she could.

But he couldn’t keep looking around as an arrow went straight for his face. He was so surprised by it that he caught it right before it hit him. Then was surprised by the fact he caught it in the first place. He quickly found the student that fired it and charged up the arrow with electricity before firing it back. Only for another student to block it with a large shield, a third student behind her raised a staff creating a large ball of fire to send his way.

“You gotta be kidding me…”

Van’s eyes narrowed. “So you want to play it that way. Then fine… Let’s do this.” And used his flicker step to eat up the distance between him and the group attacking him, raising his sword to strike at his opponents and finish them off.

But instead what happened was his sword clanging against the sword of a fourth student who had also flickered stepped right in his path. Van jumped back a little disoriented, this woman was clearly a group leader with the way she held herself and how much stronger she was compared to the other students.

“Sorry.” She said, “But I can’t allow my friends to be beaten by a male. It would ruin their confidence and the others would make fun of them for it.” Then took a narrow stance as she held a rapier pointed right at him. “You’ll fight with me now… I promise to make this quick…”

Van frowned, but took his own stance, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

They studied each other for a long stretch of silence before they both disappeared to the untrained eye. Van felt time slow as his body sped up, the movements of those around him looking like they were moving through thick soup. All except for him and his opponent.

Their swords clashed once more, and he noticed how despite his sabers being superior to his opponents sword, a shimmery film seemed to cover her naked blade. It seemed even here the school had woven barriers into all the students and their weapons. He didn’t know if this was the effect of just being within the area of the stadium, or some other strange magic, but it forced him to fight on a more level playing field.

The group leader he was fighting was a lot better than the other students he fought. She at least seemed to know what she was doing, and had trained herself for a decent amount of time. Sadly for her, it still wasn’t enough for someone like him who spared against his father, a well known sword expert in his field of expertise.

Slowly, the difference between her and him was being made clear as the momentum inexorably shifted towards his favor. His attacks were swift and precise, and more importantly, faster than hers. For every attack she tried to make, Van gave two, making her go on the defense until she couldn’t do anything other than block or avoid his attacks.

Van moved in closer, eating up the distance with great hunger, feeling the kill and already salivating. It… Was… Exciting! He knew he was going to win. And that feeling of triumph honed his focus towards her inevitable defeat. Her fear and sweat made it clear she wasn’t going to hold on for much longer.

“Hurry up! DO IT RIGHT NOW!” She yelled.

Van paused, confused as his instincts screamed at him something was wrong. His eyes widened as a giant ball of fire was streaking right for him from the side. His opponent, even as she was losing, still had the mind to arrange for her comrades to exploit his over extension.

“Tch!” Van flung himself backwards and away from the fireball. He shot a quick bolt of mana towards it and raised a mana shield around him. An explosion of flames engulfed the area as the fireball prematurely exploded.

When it was over, Van was still standing, his heart beating like crazy, with an angry and more determined look on his face. “Two can play at that game…”

He raised his hands and dozens of shadowy arrows began to form around him. They shot out like homing missiles towards the students that did him wrong. Sadly, with so many shooting around, it was hard to control them all. This allowed his opponents to shoot half of them down, but not before getting the mage and the archer, the last one firing one last arrow that he dodged before she was sent to the stands.

That left the shield girl and rapier girl left. But then the shield girl dropped her large round protection and brought out two twin daggers that she spun around her hands. She took a low stance and looked ready to bring the fight to him. It was clear by the way she held herself that she was probably more of the rogue of the group, and only played shield when necessary.

Rapier girl gave a nod to the dagger girl and the two went at him in separate directions. Van was now fighting on two fronts. While not as fast as the rapier girl, the dagger girl kept him on his toes. But he was determined to see this to its end. Using a burst of aura, he quickly moved around to the dagger girl to get rid of her first so he could focus on the other one.

But the dagger girl was a lot more nimble than he thought, and she avoided his attack in the nick of time. The rapier girl then went in for the kill…

“No you don’t!” Arkina slashed the rapier girl from behind, sending the poor girl straight to the stands.

“Sorry I'm late. I had to go to the bathroom after the first test, and when the second test started I lost you completely.” She said, standing beside him. “But I'm here now and I’m ready to fight with you!”

Van gave her an appreciative nod. He then looked towards the last opponent remaining with a look of confidence. He then disappeared and reappeared behind her, sending her to the stands. “Glad you're here.” He said to Arkina, maybe we can change the outcome of this battle now.

“Yeah… That might be a bit difficult…” Arkina commented, looking around them.

Van noticed it too. Seral and Serena were gone, Luna, Nephi and Kira were the only ones remaining, and they were surrounded by at least a dozen students, with one that carried a large hammer, looking ready to use it, and another with a long spear.

“Shit. we got to get to them. Fast!” Van dashed towards them with great speed. “I didn’t want to do this, but if I don’t start getting more serious, we may lose!” Aura then began to form around his body. He wasn’t yet willing to show off his true power, but he was at least now going to stop trying to hold back.

With a great big battle yell, he slashed two of the students circling Kira and Luna from behind, sending them to the stands as electric energy coursed through him and on his body. Arkina ran as fast as she could to keep up with him and give proper backup.

This seemed to be the signal as the student holding the hammer gave a counter battle yell. Then everything went crazy. Luna started to give blow to blow, fist to hammer against the heavy set hammer girl. Kira seemed to be running out of fire talismans, but was willing to use her reserves to fight it out to the last. Arkina wasn’t the best fighter, and clearly showed she had no real skill, being constantly saved by Van, who learned he could use her weakness to draw the other opponents in and strike at their bloodspots.

The yellow fang squad leader looked upon this with a great deal of annoyance as she watched what little was left of her people being slowly picked off one by one. When she saw her last group leader, the hammer girl, finally fall to an exhausted Luna, she had had enough.

“Sq-squad leader! What are we going to do!? At this rate we’ll have no chance to survive to the next round!” The stupid bitch that started all this said.

The squad leader reached out and grabbed the stupid bitch by the neck and brought her close, staring her down with eyes red like fire. “I’M going to do something about this stupid mess you brought upon us! And you are going to go down there and fight!” She hissed.

“B-but they’ll kill me!”

“One can only hope…” The squad leader pushed the stupid bitch forward to the fighting and gave a hard kick up the ass for good measure to make sure she got the message. Not long after, and completely expectantly, the stupid bitch got decapitated. Or at least would have, if she wasn’t sent straight to the stands.

The squad leader gave a click of annoyance and sighed. “If you want something done right… You gotta do it yourself…” She then brought out a large kite shield from her soul realm which she carried on her left arm and a thick leather handle with nothing attached to it. She pushed her mana into the empty handle and a long stream of fire came out of it like a whip. She gave it an experimental slash, watching it stretch, bend, and move with her will.

“Yeah… This would do…” Then proceed to march down to give Van his friends a beating they would never forget…

DING! “Only half of all contestants remain, proceeding to level two!” A voice on the intercom said.

“What? Level two?” The squad leader looked confused.

Suddenly for everyone, the ground began to move and giant hills, mountains, ravines and forests began to form all around them. Giant wolves and other monsters began to form above in thin air and plop down to the ground where they proceed to attack everyone around them.

Van and his group at this time had formed a circle to protect themselves from the remaining assailants. They were now being moved upward high above on an ever growing mountain.

The squad leader looked up at them as they rose out of reach, letting her arms drop to the side. “Just my fucking luck…”