“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FIRST-YEAR, CLASS E!!!”

  The crowd roared with applause.

  The door to his class’s waiting room opened, and the five pods of four marched out.

  “Squad formations?” Duchess Norellia asked.

  Basque nodded. “A free-for-all battle does nothing to help train a hunter.”

  “ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST BE IN THE ARENA IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS!” the announcer yelled.

  Banca was the first “Yani” out. She flashed across the arena and crashed into Saevi’s pod. She made a feint for Ryleegh, and when Miya collapsed on her, Banca switched to Miya, catching the hazel-haired girl off guard. For the spectators, her shield flashed, and 50% of Miya’s health vanished. Banca spun out of the pod and dashed off to an unoccupied corner.

  While Banca was attacking, Jan and Kamron sprinted out and attacked the closest group to them: Emilisa’s pod. Trudea sucked in a breath and clutched her chest as her daughter’s and Kamron’s blades clanged into each other.

  Jan made a swiping slash at Emilisa’s legs, but Arion collapsed from the 3 position to fend the blow off. Emilisa backed up towards Dmi at the 12, pulling the two Yani into the center of her pod so that the other three could surround Kamron and Jan with her.

  Coming in from the 6, Medow lashed out, but her strike was too slow. Jan shoved her arm up, and Kamron stabbed the now defenseless mint-haired girl. Her shield immediately dropped to zero, and Medow locked up, “dead”. With the opening in the pod, Jan and Kamron scampered out, but not before a retaliating blow from Dmi took a quarter of Jan’s shield.

  Avae and Reianna joined the fray next. Like Jan and Kamron, they also fought in a pair. They tore through Braelyne’s pod. In a sweep, Maecy and Thoms at the 3 and 9 positions were taken out.

  “Braelyne! Jardan! Reform!” Emilisa commanded, and the two stragglers joined the pod of three.

  “Honey, that be our girl!” Trudea fanned herself with her hand. Her husband nodded and grunted.

  Not waiting around to be attacked, Cayelyn led her pod over to help Saevi’s pod with Banca. Basque understood her strategy; since Banca was alone, Cayelyn figured two pods could remove the one threat, freeing them to help the others.

  Unfortunately, as the two pods focused and collapsed on Banca, Reianna and Avae came slashing through once more, decimating Saevi’s squad, “killing” Saevi, Kyre, and finishing Miya off. Ryleegh only survived thanks to her agility.

  The Yani didn’t go completely unscathed. Banca lost a quarter of her health while Avae lost two thirds of hers. Even Reianna was dinged for a two percent reduction when she took on Kolt and Kyre simultaneously. Whereas Kolt paid for the attack with his life, Kyre lost half of his shield. Cayelyn absorbed Ryleegh into her pod and drove the three Yani away.

  Alternatively, Fawna directed her pod to go after Kamron and Jan, pincering them in with Emilisa’s reformed group. Between them, they took out Kamron and put Jan down to 10% while only taking minimal damage themselves.

  “They’re only first-years. How long have you been practicing formations to get them to react so tightly?”

  “Only a month, which is why their tactics are so lacking.”

  “You call this lacking?”

  Basque nodded and pointed at Emilisa’s group. “It’s hard for them. Because they’re shielded, they only know they’ve taken damage, but in real battles with Yani, they would need to cover for Dmi. Jan’s attack would have taken her arm were it not for the shield.”

  “The rumors I heard said you were highly against unshielded fighting, though.”

  “I am. Just because we can reattach arms doesn’t mean I want the students to know that pain. That can be simulated through the shield, but it isn’t configured like that here.”

  Norellia’s eyes widened. “Something like that is possible?”

  “Yes, it’s not an easy setup and has to be repeated every new battle, but it is possible.”

  “I’ve never heard of something like that before.”

  Basque turned away from the action in the arena to look at her. “It’s probably because of the mentality here of avoiding using the shield that you haven’t.”

  “Pit fire, Kyre!” his dad yelled. He stood and punched the air as Kyre landed a hard blow on Avae. Reianna swooped in, and Kyre joined Avae on the ground as one of the “dead” students.

  He sat and looked at Basque. “Werewolf killer. No bounce.”

  Basque smiled and nodded.

  Kyre’s father patted Basque on the leg, stood, cleared his throat, and said, “Th-thank you.”

  “It’s my pleasure.”

  Even though the battle was still going on in the arena below, Kyre’s father walked out of the stadium.

  “I get where he be comin’ from,” Dealin muttered.

  “Do you know what he said?” Basque asked.

  “He said, the silver-haired girl, no comin’ back from her. I’m havin’ to be agreein’ wif ‘im.”

  Down below, only two full pods remained, but Reianna, Jan, and Banca remained for the Yani side.

  “I can’t believe she’s not a mage. If I hadn’t seen her interface myself, I never would have believed it,” Norellia said.

  “Mistress, is Cayelyn doing well?”

  “Yes. There is a massive gap between the children not in pods and those in pods, but Cayelyn is holding up well.”

  “Oh,” Cayelyn’s mother said.

  The crowd roared as the two pods collapsed and took Jan out, but Emilisa lost the remaining bit of her health and fell.

  “Lisa!” Trudea cried.

  “She done good,” her father said with a nod.

  Unlike the Opening Tournament, where the crowd had been so against the commoner class, this time, they cheered and roared for them. In fact, the crowd seemed more captivated by the Yani versus Pod game than they were by the free-for-alls.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Of course, that made sense as there were two clear sides, and it gave the audience more than one person to root for. Most of the crowd seemed to be rooting for the “Yani” as Reianna’s actions got the biggest responses. That also made sense as she was well known.

  Basque could hear them talking around him: the elevator who won the Opening Tournament; the commoner who defeated a duke’s daughter. Seven months prior, the crowd had been against Reianna. Now, she was building a cult-like following.

  She flashed into one of the pods. Grabbing a fallen dagger, she threw hers at Taraia. The lime green-haired girl spun out of the way, but Reianna had led her into Banca’s attack. The Pods were down to seven students.

  Xav took command and had Jardan and Ryleegh counter Banca. Banca slipped forward, past their attack, but that led her into Dmi’s waiting strike. Banca dodged the brunt of it, but her shield fell to 20%.

  Reianna downed Dmi, and the remaining six pod members pulled back.

  “Fawna, Ryleegh, on me!” Xav commanded. The two girls pulled back to him, while Cayelyn, Kamryn, and Jardan formed another triangle.

  Rotating to the left, Reianna crouched. Even from where Basque sat, he could see that she was breathing heavily; they all were. Reianna caught Banca’s eyes, then motioned with her own. Banca nodded in response.

  “Rei-anna! Rei-anna! Rei-anna! Rei-anna!” the crowd chanted.

  The way the two girls dove into Xav’s pod was a thing of beauty. Reianna and Banca flowed through them like water, using the momentum from deflecting attacks to perfectly counter.

  Cayelyn commanded her group in, and they also stood no chance. Reianna and Banca twirled and spun with and by each other as they used each other as diversions—while Ryleegh attacked Banca, Reianna cut Ryleegh down as Banca deflected Jardan’s attack away from Reianna and used him as a body block to dodge Cayelyn’s strike.

  In a flurry of spins and swipes, the remaining six fell to the ground, leaving only Reianna and Banca. Simultaneously, both girls jumped away from each other.

  “What an incredible round! Did you all enjoy that?!”

  The crowd roared. Even as enthusiastic as they usually were, Basque had never heard them be as loud.

  “Master Basque, please allow me to apologize for how I have behaved towards you. Yesterday, I was rash and made unfair comments towards you. I understand that you reacted the way you did only due to how I started it.”

  “Thank you, Duchess.”

  “Please continue to care for Natt.”

  “That’s my plan.”

  “ALRIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! What an exciting turn of events! We’re getting a rematch of the amazing finals from the Opening Tournament! Champion Reianna Santi versus Banca Cormik!”

  Reianna and Banca stood apart with their eyes locked on each other. Both of them breathed heavily. Reianna readjusted her grip on her dagger. Banca raised her fist up in front of her.

  Lowering the dagger, Reianna stood up straight and raised her other hand. They shook their fists at each other three times and shot. Reianna held her thumb up for “human”. Banca extended her index and pinky finger for “Yani”.

  Banca won.

  Reianna nodded and dropped her dagger. Banca still didn’t move.

  The crowd began to murmur.

  A second passed with the two girls still staring at each other. Reianna waved for Banca to come at her, but Banca shook her off. Reianna waved again.

  Once more, Banca shook her head, then held up her fists in a fighting stance, and then pointed at Reianna. Reianna assumed the stance.

  Banca launched herself at Reianna, pulling her dagger back to strike. That’s when a purple-haired Loushee flew out of the stands and crashed into Banca.

  The surprise attack sent Banca rolling across the arena—her dagger tumbled from her hands. Basque and Duchess Norellia jumped to their feet. Over in the fifth-year section, Natt also jumped out of her seat and rushed down to the barrier.

  In the arena, Reianna charged Loushee, but the fifth-year backhanded Reianna, sending her flying, as Banca recovered.

  The lilac girl grabbed one of her classmate’s fallen daggers and charged Loushee, who spun by Banca and grabbed a dagger of her own. She shoved the blade into Banca’s shoulder, then grabbed Banca’s other hand.

  Spinning once, Loushee flung Banca, and the former noble went sailing through the air. She crashed into the arena’s wall and fell to the ground.

  The crowd cheered and roared.

  Basque was at the railing and jumping over and down into the arena, just like Banca’s father had done half a year prior. Natt was joining him. The second Basque’s feet hit the ground, a black dome crashed down on Reianna and Loushee, separating them from the rest of the world.

  Sprinting over to the dome, Basque crashed into it. It was one of Loushee’s constructs. Glancing over at Banca, Basque saw that Natt was already there. Tyze rushed out of the nurse’s room and was almost to them. Basque would have to leave Banca to them.

  Pulling out one of his pre-interface metal spikes, Basque smashed it into the black dome. He wailed and banged on the dome, but it didn’t budge. Even stabbing and slicing at it didn’t make Loushee drop it.

  Basque screamed and stabbed the dome with all of his might. The attack should have been excruciatingly painful for Loushee, incapacitatingly so, but still the dome remained.

  As he reached back for another strike, the fifth-year head teacher, Jael, Class A’s teacher Alhan, Class C’s teacher Martintin, and Class E’s teacher Briyan grabbed Basque and restrained him, each man taking an arm or a leg.

  “Let me go, you Yani bastards!”

  “Calm down, Basque!” Alhan yelled.

  “Argh!” Basque roared. He struggled in their grips. With his tattoo covered, Basque couldn’t access the class option in his interface. He couldn’t make himself strong enough to throw them off.

  “Let go!”

  “Master Basque, please!” Jael begged. “You can’t stop her! You’ll just piss her off more. If you want Reianna to live, don’t disturb Loushee!”

  “Yani-shit!” Basque screamed and ripped his left hand free from Briyan’s grasp. Reaching over, Basque grabbed Jael and flipped the head teacher. With his arms free, Basque ripped the top part of his robe off, and the class option in his interface lit up.

  Choosing fighter, Basque felt his tiger tattoo change stances. While he wanted to kill the teachers getting in his way, he knew he couldn’t. Fighter was his best option to disable them without killing them.

  As soon as Basque kicked off the teachers hanging onto his legs, more teachers had come over the railing and were charging him. The crowd was going wild. So was Basque as he beat and crushed the teachers who were trying to keep him away from the black dome.

  Kohner, a count and the second-year’s head teacher, put up the biggest fight, but Basque soon sent him tumbling away. The rest of them barely made a dent in slowing Basque down.

  “Basque!” Krill screamed and jumped in front of him.

  “Out of my way, Krill!”

  “You need to calm down!”

  “I’ll calm the Yani down when Reianna is safe and by my side!”

  “What can you do against a mage like Loushee?!”

  “This!” Basque said and held up his metal spike. He threw it, and it bounced off the dome.

  “What the Yani is that supposed to do?”

  “It hurts her! It hurts Loushee! Instead of stopping me, help me!”

  Basque pulled out his other spike and rushed past Krill. The Deputy Headmaster didn’t try to stop him. As Basque resumed stabbing into the dome, Krill came up next to him and began beating on it with his sword.

  “That won’t work!” Basque yelled. “Use the thing I threw at you.”

  Putting his sword away, Krill grabbed the metal spike off the ground. “What is this?”

  “Pre-interface metal. Now hit the dome!”

  Krill joined in with Basque, smashing and stabbing the dome. Bloodied and bruised teachers stood by and held their injuries as they watched Basque and Krill bang on the dome.

  Nurses came rushing out and tended to the wounded teachers.

  “Do you have another?”

  Basque looked over at Harnel, who stood next to him. “No.”

  “They’ve taken Banca away. Nurse Tyze said she’ll live.”

  Basque continued banging on the dome. “Thank you, Harnel.” While Basque was glad to hear the news, he felt no relief. He’d sparred with Reianna. He’d fought Loushee. While Loushee was no match for Basque, Reianna was no match for Loushee.

  As Basque wasn’t an Appearance mage, he didn’t know what having a construct hit by non-interface metal felt like, but he knew from a friend who was. The friend had equated it to being repeatedly kicked in the testicles.

  The fact that the dome still stood proved that Loushee was still conscious inside of it. While changes like the cup and the dress were permanent, created constructs like the dome required the mage to actively hold it up. Loss of consciousness or death would make it vanish.

  Banging on the outside was the only thing Basque could do for Reianna. He hoped the pain Loushee would be feeling would be enough of a hindrance to even the gap between their skills.

  Eventually, the dome would come down, and whatever state he found Reianna in, Basque promised himself he would leave Loushee in the same state.