The paper shook in Basque’s hands, and he struggled with his sense of deja vu. They were close, so close, to having a reasonable event, but still so cruel.

  Since the Mid-year tournament had been fifth-years only, Basque was hoping that the promised end-of-year tournament would exclude his class as well. However, his dreams were dashed as the tournament was once again the entire school.

  “What’s with the unshielded?” Basque muttered.

  Harnel laughed through his nose. “A Yani will become headmaster before they get rid of the unshielded portion.”

  “How’s life dating one?”

  “Best sex ever.”

  “Okay, people! Let’s cut it with the side chatter,” Krill yelled out, silencing more than just Basque and Harnel.

  “The Opening Tournament was a good success, but we don’t want to keep trotting out the same one; it’ll get stale. Headmaster Yasher and I are thinking of maybe adding a little something extra, but we’re not sure of what yet.”

  Basque slid the piece of paper across his desk. He’d use the battle royale for his own purposes, maybe have a game of Yani and Pods, where some students were chosen to be Yani and attacked a pod.

  The event wasn’t terrible. If it weren’t for the unshielded section, Basque might have even approved of it. But having the final two fight unshielded was just insane.

  Krill prattled on and on about how to make the tournament fun and entertaining, but still didn’t mention anything about the safety of the final two fighters. Not that it would matter to his class, as once they got down to the final two, either one or both would surrender.

  He’d also have a little chat with Daymein, making sure the boy knew he wasn’t to kill his opponent.

  “Are there any questions?” Krill looked at Basque.

  Pursing his lips, Basque shook his head.

  “In that case, let’s all have a good day today.”

  Basque stood to leave, but Krill and Ashkar stopped him.

  “So, how are you planning on subverting this, Master Basque?” Krill asked.

  Basque raised an eyebrow and gave Natt, who was waiting by the door, a glance. She shrugged as if to say to leave her out of it. “No plans.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t object to the unshielded portion again.”

  “It doesn’t make me happy, but even if I said something, it’s not like you would change it.”

  Ashkar snorted. “Nice to see you aren’t totally stupid.”

  Krill held up his hand. “Master Ashkar, let’s not make this personal.” Turning his attention back to Basque, Krill said, “The students must fight in the tournament. None of that dodging stuff like last time.”

  “Of course. My students have most of the fundamentals down.”

  Krill narrowed his eyes. “During the unshielded section as well.”

  “What?”

  “They must fight until death or incapacitation.”

  “What?! That’s ridiculous! Why would you want to kill off someone skilled enough to last that long?! It doesn’t even make sense!”

  “Incapacitation is also acceptable, but surrendering without fighting is not.”

  “And what will you do if they refuse?”

  “The two finalists will be expelled from the school.”

  Basque looked from Krill to Ashkar. Ashkar was grinning. “See, Deputy Headmaster, I told you he would be thinking of doing something like that.”

  Krill folded his arms. “Medical staff will be on hand. You can also have your pet Tyze there as well.”

  “Ugh. Whatever,” Basque said. He could still arrange something with his students. But it still meant one of them would be injured, which was just cruel. The whole thing was cruel.

  Natt fell in line with Basque as he left the teacher’s room. “What sense does it make, Natt?”

  “The philosophy is that the students need to know how to fight injured.”

  “You don’t subscribe to that, too, do you?”

  She shook her head as they headed into the stairwell. “Of course not.”

  “You heard about the expulsion, right?”

  She nodded. “Ironically, if it weren’t for you, we might have had students volunteer to be expelled in the past, but they all have confidence now and want to graduate.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

  “Definitely a compliment.”

  When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Harnel was waiting for them.

  “Basky, Natty, how’s it going?”

  Natt pushed past him and headed towards the Class E classroom.

  “What do you want, Master Harnel?” Basque asked.

  Harnel flinched. “I was just wondering what you were going to do about the unshielded end.”

  Doubling back, Natt put her hands on her hips. “Why? So you can report his plan to Yasher and Krill?”

  “No! Yani! It’s like you two think I abandoned my principles!”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Natt threw her arms out wide. “Because you did!”

  “I didn’t think it would have that big of an effect, okay? So what if the kids in my class didn’t get to practice with the Class E students? That’s all I thought would happen! What classes have ever practiced together?”

  Natt turned around. “Come on, Basque. Your students are waiting.”

  Harnel held a hand out. “Natt, come on. Don’t be like that!”

  Basque walked past Harnel. “Look, I don’t know what I’m going to do, yet. I’m going to give it some thought and talk to my class about it.”

  “I’m not sadistic, you know? I don’t want my students to die.”

  “I know, but you do keep company with people who do.”

  “But the sex!”

  Basque spun around. Walking backwards, he said, “Is never worth it.”

  Flipping forward, he followed Natt into Class E’s room.

  The students stood. “Good Morning, Gerenet-Shr, Natt-Shr.”

  Basque waved his hand. “You may be seated.”

  The class sat.

  “So, I’ve got good news and bad news.”

  The class shifted in their seats.

  “In a month, the End-of-year Tournament will take place. It’s a full-school competition again, which means we’re in it again. That’s the bad news.”

  He looked around. The students looked nervous, but didn’t look like they’d given up, as they’d done at the beginning of the year. “The good news is it’s a class-specific battle royale.”

  Saevi raised her hand.

  “Yes?” Basque asked.

  “What’s a battle royale?”

  “It's supposed to be an every-man-for-himself battle where you fight to the last man standing, but that doesn’t have any practical training value. Which is why we are going to learn how to play Yani and Pods.”

  He looked around the classroom once more. Everyone’s attention was on him, even Banca’s. He’d been worried that she would have an attitude in class, but she was practically a model student.

  “Yani and Pods is a game we start playing mid-year in the second year in Hianbru, but as good as you guys are, I think we can introduce it now.”

  Usually quiet, the class buzzed when he brought up his home country.

  “Quiet down, please.” When they did, Basque continued. “In Yani and Pods, we divide into, well, Yani and pods.”

  “I never would have guessed from the name,” Taraia said and chuckled once.

  “Yes, well, we’re rather straight to the point in Hianbru.”

  “Except when you make acronyms,” Jame said. “Still trying to puzzle out how Automated Ball Thrower Machine Thing gets turned into c-o-r-e.”

  “I told you, I just translated it. It works out in my language.”

  “Well, I’m not going to believe it until you start teaching us Hianb,” Emilisa said.

  “'Cause you just want to learn more crap,” Kamryn said.

  Emilisa spun around in her seat and stuck her tongue out at the topaz-haired girl.

  Basque held his hands up. “Okay. Okay. Settle down. As our pods currently have five members and usually four is the preferred number for hunts, this actually works out well. We’ll have one member from each pod be a Yani, and the rest will work on fighting in a pod.”

  Saevi raised her hand.

  “Please hold your questions till later, Saevi.”

  She lowered it.

  “As I wasn’t expecting to do this until next year, we’ve not started working on group formations yet, so that’s what we’re going to do over the next month. Banca, Reianna, Kamron, Jan, Avae, you five will be the Yani.”

  “Covered in slime! Power outage leaving us dry!” Arion yelled.

  “Arion, no street,” Cayelyn chided.

  Basque pointed to Taraia, who sighed.

  “Covered in slime. Snot Fair. It’s not fair. Power outage leaving us dry. Power outage, all the strong people. Leaving us dry. You’re taking them from us. You should be able to pick up on this by now, Gerenet-Shr.”

  “Thank you, Taraia. Yes, Arion, I’m doing it for the tournament. They will need to practice in pods, too, but for now, I’m going with the strongest in the class as Yani to try to keep things fair.”

  Basque glanced at Reianna. “The Yani will not be teaming up. While they may attack the same pod in unison, they are not allowed to form a strategy together. Just like in this class, you’ll just occupy the same space.”

  Looking away from Reianna, Basque glanced around the room. “This will be hard, and considering the level differences between the Yani and the pods, I expect the Yani will win. In fact, I’m kind of counting on it.”

  “Arion was right! It is a setup!” Taraia moaned.

  “Well, Taraia, I’ve not finished my explanation. When the battle royale gets down to the last two opponents, it will become unshielded.” Basque glanced at Banca, but the girl was just as good at making a stone face as Reianna was.

  The rest of the class shifted in their seats again, and Basque wasn’t the only person to look from Reianna to Banca. Basque wasn’t worried about Reianna. She’d already proven herself several times.

  Basque looked at Cayelyn, who shrugged.

  “I’m still not sure what I want the final two to do, but I was explicitly told they have to fight. I was going to have one or both of them surrender, but if that happens, they will both be expelled.”

  “Yani shit!” Taraia said.

  “Taraia, enough.”

  “Sorry, Gerenet-Shr.”

  Reianna raised her hand.

  “Yes, Reianna?”

  “How does it end, then?”

  “Death or incapacitation.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “I’ll let whoever is left with me disable me. I can handle the pain.” She looked at Banca.

  “No, we’ll see. Give me some time to think about this. I might be able to come up with something. We have a month.”

  Reianna nodded.

  “Alright. So, that’s what we’re going to be working on over the next month: learning the initial basics of formations. In the morning, I will diagram it on the board, then in the afternoon sessions, you will practice with Natt or me.”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr,” the class replied.

  Good to his word, Basque spent the rest of the morning going over the simplest formation, the diamond formation. He knew they used it in Kruami, as it was the formation that the teachers had employed when they fought the Yani in the cafeteria, as terribly as they’d done with it.

  The theory was simple: the far endpoints of the diamond faced opposite directions from each other, and the two in the middle watched their backs. Most often, the formation had two looking north and two looking south.

  The Kruamian version he’d seen the second-years practice under Elaina was similar, but they all faced one direction. Even if there was only one identified threat, it was dangerous as it left backs exposed.

  With the difference in skill level, Basque hadn’t needed to exploit that flaw, but it was a flaw he wouldn’t allow his class to have. On more than one hunting trip, a “single” Yani had turned out to be more. Without the full coverage, lives would have been lost.

  After lunch, he led them and Natt through how to use the cores to work on group dodging. Setting the distance to the maximum, one student stood on the platform to activate it while the other students dodged the projectiles. Whoever got hit would then change positions with the student who was on the platform.

  Wanting to see how they would develop on their own, Basque waited around until Cayelyn’s group began calls.

  “Left!” Cayelyn shouted as a ball came from her left. Unfortunately, Kolt looked to his left, away from Cayelyn, and the ball smacked him in the back of his head.

  “Good idea, Cayelyn! Class! Round up!”

  All the pods gathered up.

  “Who heard what Cayelyn did?”

  “She called a direction,” Emilisa answered.

  Basque pointed at her. “Correct! Unfortunately, since half the pod is looking in the opposite direction, standard ‘left’ or ‘right’ can just cause confusion.

  “On boats, they have terms like ‘port’ and ‘starboard’, but those are oriented in the direction of the front of the boat. As a pod, there is no defined ‘front’. Cayelyn, Kolt, Jame, and Kamryn, come forward.”

  The four students he called came forward. Basque set them up in the diamond formation. “Since pods are fluid, direction and shape will change as the battle goes on. That’s why, before heading out, positions are assigned.”

  He put his hand on Cayelyn’s shoulder, and she blushed. ‘Six’ is the person in the ‘back’,” He walked over to Kamryn and put his hand on her shoulder. “‘Twelve’ is the person in the front.”

  Taking a step back, he put his hand on Kolt’s shoulder. “The person behind twelve and to their right, who looks the same direction as twelve, is ‘three’.”

  Last, he went to Jame. “The last person is ‘nine’.”

  “Why not one, two, three, four?” Taraia asked.

  “It’s based on something from pre-interface. It doesn’t really matter why, though. Just need to remember that. Each number has a job in the squad, but we’ll get to that later. For now, just choose the twelve, and the other roles will fill out from there.”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “When an attack comes, you call out the number. If it comes face-side from twelve, you say, ‘Twelve.’ If it comes from your right, it’s a ‘three’. Understood?”

  “Yes, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “Good. Now I want to hear you calling.”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “Resume!”

  His class went running back to their cores and began training once more. This time, with the sounds of the students screaming out numbers, Basque folded his arms and nodded.

  Excellent students.

  He paused to watch Cayelyn’s group again. Kamryn was out, and Banca was in. She stood in the nine spot, with her back to him. Her first few training sessions weren’t bad, but she was only mid-level in the class, well behind the four who’d been in the tournament.

  However, he could see why Jorellan boasted about his daughter. He could see Natt’s influence on her. The girl was nothing more than a savant. Within her second week, she’d evened out with everyone but Reianna.

  That wasn’t fair, though, as Reianna was a mage. Kruami was right to treat mages as a separate entity for their rankings. Mages were broken. None of the class could keep up with Reianna, not even Banca.

  However, it was clear that Banca would be the last one standing. She and Reianna would fight each other once more, this time completely unshielded. Basque needed a better idea—something to prevent that. Harnel had asked Basque what he was going to do, and he still had no idea.