"Leo Skyshard—Number One, Su Yang—Number Two, Mu Shen—Number Three…"
Major Hen’s voice carried through the combat grounds as he assigned numbers to all students based on their enrollment ranks, keeping the process straightforward and without any unnecessary complications.
The list continued until Hen reached the final number.
And then, without a pause, he moved to the matchups.
"First flight, Number One versus Number Thirty-Five, Zone One. Number Two versus Number Thirty-Four, Zone Two…" He read, as he assigned everyone a combat partner at once.
After hearing the number of his opponent, Leo’s gaze shifted briefly.
He had no idea who Number Thirty-Five was, but his opponent clearly knew who he was.
From among the crowd, a girl was already staring at him.
Eventually, as Leo made eye contact with her, she began walking toward him at a casual pace, stretching her arm out to introduce herself.
"Hello, I’m Sophia Venn and I will be your first opponent today," she said as Leo accepted the handshake but responded in a tone laced with detached arrogance.
"You already know who I am." He said, as Sophia smiled at his remark, tilting her chin up ever so slightly, as if trying to meet his gaze on even ground. But it was nothing but a poor attempt at bravery and unfortunately for her, Leo saw straight through it.
She tried too hard to appear confident, although she was not feeling it. And while she somehow managed to maintain a straight face, the rest of her body betrayed her resolve.
The tension in her shoulders. The slight imbalance in her stance. The way her fingers curled just a bit too tightly before she let go of the handshake, told Leo that she was very nervous to face him.
Whether it was his reputation as the number one student? Or his freakish performance this morning while training that scared her?
Leo had no clue.
However, looking at her body language, he felt sure that she was indeed afraid to face him.
’Being scared of your opponent means you’ve already lost half the fight.’ Leo thought, as he purposefully bore his gaze down on her, trying to look even more imposing, as he tried his best to intimidate her even more.
However, before he could properly pressure her, Major Hen’s voice rang out once again, saving his opponent from unnecessary psychological pressure.
"Listen up." Hen said, as all attention snapped back to him.
"You will each participate in five consecutive matches before being allowed any rest. Once your match ends, you will rotate one zone to the left and take on your next opponent immediately.
This will go on until you complete a total of ten fights today."
The weight of his words settled over the field.
"Each fight is a maximum of two and a half minutes. If no decisive victory is reached, it will be ruled as a draw. There will be no breaks between rotations—recover as you fight, or fall behind.
And the break after the fifth match will only be ten minutes, where consumption of any potion is not allowed."
A murmur rippled through the students—some whispering complaints, others barely concealing their frustration.
However, Leo did neither.
In Fact he welcomed the format with open arms.
Fighting five opponents consecutively without rest would test his endurance, his sharpness, his ability to stay dominant under fatigue.
And although it would be tough, he desperately wanted to know where his limits lay.
Which was why he was grateful to Hen for pushing him in such a demanding regimen.
"Assistants, take your positions." Hen commanded at the end, as at his command, a squad of instructors stepped forward.
Unlike the professors, these men and women were not mere educators.
They were soldiers.
Their role wasn’t just to referee. They were here to enforce discipline, to observe and to ensure the safety of all participants.
Each assistant took command of a designated zone before calling out the cadets assigned to fight in their zone.
"Zone One, Number One and Thirty-Five." A male assistant called, as Leo and Sophia answered his call, moving towards that particular fighting area.
Beside them, Su Yang took his own position in Zone 2, While Mu Shen was further left in Zone 3.
The entire training ground had been divided into smaller battle zones, each outlined with thick white boundary lines.
The space wasn’t large, but it was just enough to engage in a close range battle and to maneuver a few steps.
It was designed in a way where running away or stalling for time became impossible, pushing cadets to go for wins, rather than gambling for a tie.
"Number 1, Stop here—
Number 35, Go there" The assistant pointed, as he assigned both Leo and Sophia a starting spot within the marked area.
"Standard combat rules apply to this fight," he began, as alternating his gaze between both cadets he explained the rules once.
"Protective gear is mandatory. No strikes to vital organs. No maiming or crippling blows. Forced out of bounds equals a loss. Referee’s decision is final." He explained as he handed Leo and Sophia their protective gear, which included light padding for the chest, forearms, and legs, along with a helmet. Ensuring that both candidates had sufficient protection to prevent crippling injuries.
Leo strapped his armor on without a second thought, completing the process quickly, while across from him, Sophia did the same—but took much longer.
It looked like she took the extra time to make sure that she was padded up precisely and so that she did not get hit on her vitals, as she subconsciously seemed to be preparing herself for a crushing defeat, and was only hoping to make it out of round one without any major injuries.
’Pfft— Weakling’ Leo thought disappointedly, as although he could accept a weaker opponent losing to him in a fair fight, he somehow had no sympathy for weak minded warriors that threw the fight before it ever began.
To become a warrior, one had to become a mentality monster first and it looked like she did not have the mentality of a predator within her.
Eventually, she did finish gearing up, as she looked up at Leo once again, this time with an unsure smirk on her lips.
"So, the famous Monarch-level talent is my first opponent…. Unfortunately you will lose your very first fight." She said, her voice cracking slightly, as the fear was evident on her face.
Leo said nothing. He merely scoffed at her meek behaviour before shaking his head, as the referee introduced the weapons tray.
Coincidentally, both Leo and Sophia were assassin’s, however, while Leo chose to fight with daggers, Sophia preferred scythes as her weapon of choice.
It was not the usual choice for an assassin, however, this was exactly what Hen wanted from this combat class, which was to expose students to all kinds of opponents.
*Swippee*
*Swippee*
Picking two of them up, Sophia spun the curved blade in her palms, before rubbing them against one another to produce small sparks, as she smiled in satisfaction.
Apparently, holding a weapon in her hand finally gave her the courage to look Leo in the eye, who felt equally confident after gripping a pair of daggers in his palms.
"Fighters ready?" The referee asked once both had chosen their weapons, as both Leo and Sophia nodded to show their approval.
"Begin!" He declared, as Sophia charged at her command, only to be bamboozled, when Leo disappeared before her very eyes within a split-second.