The room had been pre-set-up in different dedicated sections, as on the day of their ranking. However, there were slightly less people present. Although the Melee Arms class was popular, and there were some blue and even a couple of indigo sashes joining them this time, the other five classes when combined still accounted for just over two thirds of the year.
The arena-like aspect of the environment only served to increase the nerves and adrenaline further, people stood right next to people they may be fighting at any moment. The tenseness was palpable, as the large group stood just inside the door waited for some kind of update on what would be happening next.
Master Wood stepped up on one of the platforms distributed around the room for the Masters to referee from. "By the door, you will find some boxes. Pull out the first tag you can find and place it around your neck."
Everyone looked around, scanning for the boxes being referred to.
"Go on then," said Master Wood. "No time like the present."
Instantly, they all made for the boxes, grabbing one and quickly leaving the area where everyone was jostling to get their hands on one. As they placed them around their necks, a number would appear on the screen made of little white circles of light. At first, Lenny could not see the relevance, but as he finally got a hold of one, one of the last in the group to receive his, and the number '250' appeared, he finally understood.
Master Wood continued: "We will start with the lowest rank matches first. Once we get to the top students, we will reduce the number of fights taking place. This will make it easier for us to prevent accidents but also give you all an opportunity to learn how those from more well established factions fight. Perhaps you will learn something. Everyone must fight today, no exceptions. You will fight once and once only. If you beat your opponent, you will take their place, and they will be shifted down the rankings. When your name is called, pick a weapon and find an area to fight. You will not begin until all the cells are full, understood?"
Silence.
"Do you understand!?"
"Yes!" the crowd cried in response.
"Good." She lifted an organiplastic tablet and began to read. "Lenny Hope versus Shane Andrews."
The very first name called out. "How embarrassing," Lenny thought. He spotted the boy Shane he would be fighting. He was quite broad and had the number 248 on his tag. He had hoped that a few more of the ranks above him would be in other classes, but if he was to skip forward one or two at a time, this would take a while. Still, he needed to not underestimate him. There was a reason the red sashes were picked after all out of all those without an ability. "System, scan."
"Name: Shane Andrews. Ability: None. Strength: 15. Speed: 9. Stamina: 9. Perception: unknown. Spirit: unknown. Health: unknown."
He was stronger than Lenny? One of the lowest ranks in the school, and his strength was higher. It was only one point, and Lenny was better in his other stats, but it went to show that nothing could be taken for granted. Still, there had to be a reason he had ranked so low after the event.
Lenny had, strangely, not even considered which weapon to use for sparring in advance. He only really had any experience with the dagger and hammer, but as his opponent picked the hammer, he felt like he should go for something different. The weapons were all somewhat blunted anyway, just as the hammers were on the lighter end of what you would typically expect, but they could still do some serious damage if the Masters didn't step in in time. As he grabbed a dagger off the wall, he felt its weight in his hand. It felt heavier than the mandible dagger. This was neither a good or a bad thing, it was just unexpected. However, he felt that if he drove it into Shane, the red sash boy he was fighting, it would do some damage and simulate a real fight well enough to indicate a victory.
As he walked through a gap in the clear moveable walls, one of the instructors, Master Garcia, closed the gap behind him, as he had done for Shane already. There was a strange psychological change in that moment. You were no longer with the group. Now, there were two of you, both wanting to defeat the other, and you would not be leaving until someone was on the ground, or a Master had jumped the wall to save you from a fatal blow.
Lenny waited, holding the blade tightly, waiting for the other names to be called out. As strange as it seemed, he didn't really register anything that was being said outside of the cell. He didn't want to look at his opponent directly, it being awkward, so had settled on observing him from his peripheral vision.
A few moments later, Master Wood turned and spoke to her companion: "Do you want to do the honours."
Master Kaminski shouted: "Fight!"
*
Shane instantly charged forward, a heavy plod of a sprint, charging at Lenny with a wild downward swing. It was clear he wanted to end the match in a single strike, and had committed to it with such force, there was no stopping the blow. Lenny simply side stepped at the appropriate time, moving towards his right dominant side and lunged forward with a strike of his own with the dagger. He felt it dip into the flesh of the stomach, but the dulled blade made the attack feel more like a butter knife and the referees had not stepped in declaring a win. It was obvious they believed the fight would not be over from this strike alone, but the moment of hesitation on Lenny's part had left him exposed to an elbow strike to the face that had made him temporarily a bit light on his feet.
He stepped back, recovering his wits.
"I can't rely on adrenaline rush for a fight like this," he thought. "I'd be useless afterwards. And besides, I'm sure I would have found a way to win before I unlocked the ability."
Shane made another wild swing of his hammer. Lenny realised in that moment just how useful his speed stat was. It wasn't just that his opponent was slower, but his attacks were in such large, telegraphed arcs that, though in theory deadly, could easily be evaded. So Lenny simply stepped back. This time, as the hammer hit the ground, he lunged forward with what looked like a flying elbow but was more of a forearm smash. The steel plates in his arm had connected with the elbow joint and Shane's arm now bent at a strange angle as he was forced to drop the weapon. He cried out in pain, cradling the arm with his other hand.
"Winner, Lenny Hope," cried Master Garcia.
"Common opponent defeated. 25 exp."
The experience boost was small, like he had expected, just like youth he had poisoned back in that underground tunnel. What was his name? Dave?
Master Garcia opened up the cell and a healer was called over to see to Shane's wounds, which looked quite severe for a single strike. If anyone asked, he'd say he studied martial arts. That might have only been true for a week now, but they didn't need to know that. However, it seemed like his fight had one of the lowest number of spectators, clearly assuming there would be nothing worth seeing.
Lenny took a position against the wall. Being one of the first to finish his fight, he thought he would have a good chance to watch some of the others. He was hoping to watch Rose, but she hadn't been called up yet, and instead she'd watched Lenny's fight and was quick to congratulate him.
"Good fight, over quickly," she said.
"Still, doesn't push me up the rankings much."
"Worse than you might have thought," she replied.
Lenny didn't understand what she meant at first, but then spotted that his tag, instead of showing the number 248, which his opponent had had before the fight, now showed the number 249. That means the 249th fighter must have beaten someone higher ranked than either of us.
This would be an incredibly slow process if he was only able to go up one place each week. As if understanding what he was thinking, she said: "You know, in a couple of weeks, it'll be open sparring. They call off the dedicated session for each of the combat disciplines and everyone gets an opportunity to fight with those from other classes. You can challenge who you want."
Lenny nodded. It would be nice to leap up the rankings a little, but at the same time he had to be careful. Ideally, he didn't want to give away that he had an ability until he was able to defend himself against serious threats. Perhaps staying low in the rankings was what he needed for now. However, the more he thought about it, the more he thought he couldn't just throw a fight. Besides, there was an element of pride at stake, and he did not want Rose to think of him as weak.
"Rose White and Gareth Owen," said Master Kaminski.
Lenny leaned against the wall, closely analysing as his companion went to take her turn. It turned out she had not been allowed to use her regular staff, even though scavenger tier affinity was quite weak, simply disrupting an opponent with a shriek. Instead, she picked up a very plain wooden quarterstaff made of a lighter wood.
She started off with a rhythmic series of strikes. Although her approach was aggressive, her opponent had used a sword and shield, which had turned out to be quite a good counter to the heavy blows from the staff. Then, her opponent used his ability, which produced some kind of tar-like substance that shot out towards her.
Although she'd been quick to react, the tar she had initially evaded had only been a preliminary volley and was followed up by a large blast which covered her from head to toe. Although she was still able to fight, her grounded footwork was now clumsy, slipping on the strange substance and slowed down by its weight. Although she was able to hold on in the fight for a long time, she was tiring herself out avoiding the slashes of the dulled blade, and eventually, a strike had hit her neck that Master Kaminski had deemed critical.
"Winner, Gareth Owen."
Although technically Rose's place had not moved from the fight, this being an opportunity for her to fight a higher ranked opponent, it was still frustrating for her to lose in such a way. All that training, and still, she wasn't good enough. It many ways, it was bad match up for her, who would usually be able to offset the damage caused by her opponent's offensive abilities, but in this case, the tar was not inflicting damage, but more of a debuff.
Lenny had repeatedly scanned both of them throughout the fight. He had realised for the first time he was able to keep track of their remaining stamina. Although it was unlikely he would frequently have time to pause and do this during his own fights, it was good to know. Though their base stats were quite similar, initially, Rose had been winning the fight and might have been surprised to see just how close Gareth was to exhaustion.
The fights after that were intriguing, gradually getting more intense in terms of the ferocity of striking and abilities on display. Lenny saw many abilities he had never seen before, from telekinesis to duplication of the fighter to a form of mind control where she had had her opponent beat himself. However, as time went on, and the numbers thinned, eventually, they were only left with two pairs that hadn't fought.
All four of them wore an indigo sash.
Aware of the change in severity of the situation, the 8 fighting cells which had reduced to 4 cells for the blue sashes was now being condensed down to only 2. One of the blue sashes called Edmond, from les Chevaliers, seemed to be in the know when it came to the various other factions and relationships between groups, so had taken on the role of a sort of commentator.
"And now we're down to our final four. We have Finius, a speed user from my own glorious faction; Tobias, a homegrown spirited with a gravitational affinity from the Western Alliance; Ivan the Terrible, from the Upstarts; and Charlotte, who, honestly, I don't know too much about. Who will be fighting who? And how will they measure up? Will two of the Four Pillars make it a clean sweep? Or will there be an upset? Stay tuned guys for Edmond's Amazing Analysis, live in your front living rooms."
Lenny found the exaggerated style both somewhat entertaining and slightly annoying. But was there was one thing for certain: he was learning a lot.