A timer appeared on the big screen, a clock icon accompanying the numbers as the five minute countdown started, bringing alongside a message; “Choose your King”. I kept quiet for a few moments, until I noticed my allies were staring at me, waiting for directions.

Rudan, as usual, broke our silence. — So… who’s it gonna be? Any ideas? Kasia, Isane, Lucen?

— Well… wouldn’t it make sense for our King to be Lucen? I mean, he’s certainly going to be the one people will focus on the most, won’t he? — Said Kasia, looking around the area as she spoke. She must have already been looking for one of the training weapons.

— Exactly. And that’s precisely why I’m NOT going to be the King. Come here, I have a plan. — We huddled up in a circle as we discussed who would be King, and the battle plan we would soon follow.

— …I don’t think I could come up with something better than that. — Isane quickly grasped the idea.

— That’s crazy! — Rudan smiled, pointing a pair of finger-guns at me. — I like it, hehehe!

— It’s settled then. Gear up, everyone, we’ve got one minute left. — As soon as we made our choice, everyone put on their vests. The sensors were strapped to our backs, taking the form of a target mark. This test was about precision, in this trial, a second more or less off mark could be the difference between victory and defeat… but with our plan, that will not be a problem.

As soon as the signal went off, we charged forward, and split up from each other. Isane and Kasia ran together towards the same direction, I ran alone towards a different path, lastly, Rudan stood still. I kept counting as I ran — one, two, three, four, five, six… — my thoughts were going a thousand miles an hour.

— It lit up! — Rudan called out from behind us. — Thanks, Hawk. — He took to the skies, spreading out his wings as he hovered in the air above us. I kept regularly looking up towards him.

Fortunately, I was soon able to find a weapon, a wooden hatchet. It was not ideal for me, but it could be of use somehow.

I heard footsteps coming from the left, and so I moved to hide behind a tree, being careful not to touch my back against it. — Actually, hold on. Would we lose lives if our sensors touched the ground or any other surface? They never said anything about that, hell if I’m going to test it now… — It was more than one person, there were at the very least two… or rather, three of them. They ended up passing me by without noticing it.

The first one looked physically strong — and from the looks of it, was a show off — he was wearing a tank top in this cold just to show off his muscles.

The one in the middle was somewhat skinny, with sharp-looking eyes. He looked smarter, more alert than the other two.

The third one was taller, with a high fade hairstyle and a spaced-out look on his eyes — the kind of person who follows orders, rather than give them.

I could see their armbands, they were the Brown team… It was not time to strike yet, the lights were still off — not for much longer… — I kept watching them, around four seconds later, the light on the sensors lit up. I gripped the hatchet in my hand tightly, taking a deep breath.

Analysis.
The most basic spell in Battle Tactics. My eyes glowed blue, almost imperceptibly so, and all of a sudden, their movements seemed slower. — Use your brain when you’re about to strike. Analyze the movement patterns of your opponent, their blind spots, wait for the exact moment to make your move. — I can still evolve this technique even further, even though it was the first spell I ever learned, the first one my father thaught me. I remember his words — It’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about when.

I took another deep breath — One, two, three, four, now. — and threw the hatchet at the guy in the middle, hitting the sensor on his back.

— Someone hit me! — He exclaimed right afterwards, looking around hurriedly as he picked up the hatchet.

— Where did it come from?! — The tallest one started looking around too, the other member also joining in on the search.

Score for Yellow! — I ran out of my hiding spot, still counting in my mind, as I charged towards them as fast as I possibly could. The LED lights were still on, but they were going to turn off soon.

— There! It’s Osfner! — The one with the tank top pointed at me, as I saw their sensors’ lights turn off. Good. Mine went off as well.

— The light went off! Don’t strike yet! — The skinny one shouted towards his teammates. I ran past them as soon as he did so. Now I knew they were locked onto me, I quickly turned my body around, resting one hand on the cold floor, and stood up right afterwards.

— Three against one, kinda cowardly, don’t you think? — I smiled as I looked at them.

— Says the one hiding and attacking people from behind. — The skinny one answered, pointing the hatchet at me.

We stared each other down for a few moments… Until I heard a shout.

— Lit up! — You’re awesome, Rudan. I have ten seconds. — One…

It took the three of them a bit to understand — Two… — and then, the other two tried to run right at me, while the one with the hatchet followed from afar. — Three… — Clever, great teamwork. But well… not every style of Martial Magic is about raw strength, you know.

Martial Magic, First Strike.

Martial Magic, styles of combat born from the teachings of ancient martial arts schools, when combined with the use of the mana flowing through one’s body. And The First Strike, for it’s part, had counter-attacking as it’s core aspect — Strike down the enemy before they strike you. — One of my uncles said that…

— Four… — The first one was too easy, he tried to punch me. I simply took two steps backwards and pushed his arm away. — Five… — The second ran at me in a low stance, almost like a raging bull, while aiming for my leg. — Six… — I moved forward, picking up speed after the first two steps, and jumped over him, trying to kick him in the back, unfortunately, he grabbed my other leg as I was doing so. — Damn it, I lost count… — I got a bit frustrated — if he were a little shorter… — I was reckless, the snow caused me to slip, and on top of that, I got my leg caught.

I elbowed his head before he could throw me to the ground, causing him to let go of me as he went down, but not before forcing me to flip my body, leaving my back wide open for an attack from the guy with the hatchet… I smiled as I looked over my shoulder. Fortunately for me, I was not alone.

Rudan dove from the skies, landing a flying kick dead center on my opponent’s back, right on his vest’s target mark. — Here comes the air support!

The boy, who was about to throw the hatchet at me, was instantly knocked down, crying out in both shock and pain as he let the weapon fall from his hands. Not wasting any time, I went ahead and touched the big guy’s target mark — And once again, the Yellow team scores.

— Let’s bounce! — Rudan stretched out one hand towards me, picking up the dropped hatchet with the other.

I grabbed his arm, and as soon as I did, he took off, flying us as far away from there as possible. He wouldn’t be able to handle flying with me in tow for too long, so we just widened the gap between us and them a little, Rudan looked down at my vest so he could drop me once the target’s light went off, and our “landing” was cushioned by a thick layer of snow, we’d ended up in an open area, not many trees around.

— Thanks, with that, we’ve got three points… but we’re not done yet. — I said, as we high-fived each other.

— Three, eh? I wouldn’t be so certain. — Rudan pointed at the scoreboard. Isane and Kasia had scored a point each. — Five! We’re in the lead!

I looked at the big screen and saw that most teams had not scored at all. One of them — the Orange team — had already lost a member. Miken’s team, on the other hand, had already gotten three points. That miffed me a little — he didn’t look like the kind of person who played fair, to put it mildly.

— Nice! Did they hide like we planned? — I asked as I turned back towards him.

— Yeah, they’re somewhere around. I saw you needed help and used our secret code, Scarf.

Our plan was simple. We did not know when the LEDs would light up, only that they would remain lit for ten seconds. In that case, all we had to do was have Rudan be our crow’s nest, our watchbird, to help us keep track of everything. Each one of us had a codename — Scarf, Ninja, Hawk and Druid — when one of us said a codename out loud, it meant the person they were talking about was in need of backup, and the person saying it was on their way to go help. Thus, the reason why Isane and Kasia went into stealth mode; Rudan would not be able to watch their backs.

— Great. Rudan, check the perimeter. — As soon as he took off, I looked to the side, and saw something fly towards him. — Watch out!

Rudan dodged mid-air, barely managing to evade a dart that had, seemingly, been aimed at him.

— I see you! — Rudan pointed towards a pair of people that had approached our location. When I saw them, I noticed they were from the Green team — they already had four points.

One of them was a boy a little taller than I was, with gray hair and eyes of a color that seemed to be somewhere between blue and green. I’m not sure why, but something about him gave me the impression that he was smart. He was holding a light crossbow in his hands.

The other was a girl a little shorter than I was, with slightly wavey blonde hair that flowed a little past her shoulders, her pink eyes that made her stand out. She seemed very sharp, but she was holding her spear in a rather strange manner.

I noticed the both of them were also wearing Translation Receivers — Damn it, I missed. — The young man said.

— Hey, you two. — I pointed at them, and said — Let’s call a truce.

I looked upwards. — Rudan, come down!

They looked at me in confusion, and even Rudan raised an eyebrow, but came down nonetheless. I walked towards them after seeing them lower their weapons, with Rudan following behind. It was probably that, with me being an Osfner, they knew it was unlikely for me to pull any dirty tricks on them.

— What do you want? — The girl tried to sound somewhat serious and intimidating, but the calm, soft sound of her voice kind of got in the way of that, despite her best efforts.

The boy looked at her, a little red in the face, and then looked back at me. — You want to form an alliance?

— I mean, that would be a nice bonus but… I just wanted to say you’re wielding the spear incorrectly. You’re meant to hold it a little more upwards, like this, look. — I stood beside her and tried to teach her, but quickly understood it was not a matter of her not knowing, but rather, that the spear was a bit heavy for her.

— Dude, are you helping our opponents…? — Rudan stared at me, flabbergasted — We could be scoring right now!

— Relax, Rudan, this kind of thing is important too! Networking, you know? That kinda stuff… — I answered sardonically, and went back to talking with them. — You don’t seem to be handling it very well, maybe the spear is just too heavy?

— Whuh? Networking? Are you nuts? — The boy confusedly commented as Rudan and I talked.

— Yeah… it is kinda heavy, to be honest, even though it’s just wood. — She conceded, sighing with frustration. They seemed a bit more comfortable now, I guess they understood I wasn’t there to fight them.

— Hmmm… Wanna trade? — I walked towards Rudan and picked up the hatchet from his hand. — This should work better for you guys. The hatchet for the spear, what do you say?

— Sounds like a good idea. Sorry April, I didn’t notice it was heavy… I should have asked if you wanted to swap… — The boy showed signs of embarassment.

— Ah, no… it’s okay, It was me who was being stubborn, not saying anything about it… sorry… — The girl, whom I now knew was called April, blushed a little as she talked to her gray-haired teammate. I see how it is, love is in the air.

— Lucen, you SURE this is a good idea? — I could tell I was starting to test Rudan’s patience, but still, he handed me the hatchet.

— You’re the one who said you didn’t need any weapons. I don’t see why not. — I shrugged.

April handed me the spear. — Thank you, I think I can work with this, it’s way lighter.

— Ok, with that said, let’s split up here, the trial is not over yet. — I said, already turning to walk away from there.

— Alright, we won’t come after you guys. — The boy declared, talking a little louder as we got farther away from each other.

— Wait, you didn’t tell me your name! — I exclaimed, looking back at him.

— Ah, it’s Pietro! — He lifted the crossbow above his head, talking even louder.

— See you guys later! — I shouted, already on the other side of the field.

We had no time to lose. I ran alongside Rudan as we searched for our teammates, but he couldn’t help but ask me what that was about, seeming a little upset about it. — Man, did you hit your head fighting the Brown team or something?

— That’s not it, it’s simple really. The type of weapons I’ve got the most experience with are polearms, that’s all. — Trying to show off, I stabbed the tip of the spear into a tree, and used the handle as a bar to gain momentum, pulling it out of the tree as I jumped forward. I quickly noticed the blade of the spear wasn’t very sharp.

— Just a liiiiiiiiiiiiil’ bit of a tryhard, ain’tcha… But I get it, you wanted to make sure you’d be able to score more points later. — Rudan shook his head with a half-smile. — Just try not to lecture our opponents next time, you feel me?

We kept on running, and after a few moments, I saw Rudan put his finger in front of his mouth in a shushing motion.

— I think I heard something. — He pointed at an older-looking tree up ahead of us, with thick branches and lots of foliage.

We approached carefully. Rudan quickly took a short flight, grabbing onto one of the tree’s branches.

— Gotcha! — Rudan grabbed Isane by the leg, trying to jumpscare her. Needless to say, it did not work. — …Did I get you?

Isane shook her head, not even bothering to turn around to face him.

— Oh, come on… — He said, looking downcast.

— Teehee… — I heard a giggle from Kasia, coming from all the way up the tree. She was crouched on one of the highest branches, almost camouflaged amongst the snow and shadows, her eyes trained on the terrain. Isane was lower down, lying over two branches, with her hood up and her sight focused, the sort of thing one would expect from a hunter.

I looked up and jokingly spoke to them, before climbing onto a branch myself. — Scarf and Hawk, returning to HQ.

— Your tactics are really impressive, Lucen… and thank you so much for helping us, little bird! — Kasia said using the branches as if they were a ladder, she seemed to have known how to do that since she was a child. She brought her hands together, closing her eyes as she smiled at Rudan.

— I’m not a little bird… — Rudan scratched the back of his head, a little embarassed.

— Aww, you’re so cute when you’re shy! — Kasia ran her hand over his head, gentlly. Rudan panicked — I could see it in his eyes, a silent plea for rescue.

— H-Hey, cut it out… I’m not good with compliments… — Rudan didn’t seem uncomfortable with the praise. He’s much less impulsive around her… They look somehow cute together.

— It’s not that big of a deal… It could have been better… I went alone against a team of three, had Rudan not swooped in when he did… — I sighed.

— Had I not slipped when I did… I could have beaten them on my own. — It’s not like they were particularly skilled…

— Hey, tone it down, will ya? — Rudan walked up to me and gave me a slight slap on the back. — Don’t be so harsh on yourself, a team is all about teamwork, ain’t that right? You’re not supposed to do everything alone!

I closed my eyes and smiled, thanking him. I’ve been alone for a while now… — You’re right.

— On that note, hey, Isane! You’ve been kinda quiet, whatcha doing over there? — Rudan flew up and laid down beside Isane, imitating her.

— Don’t distract me. How is the scoreboard looking? — Now that I was closer, I could see she was holding a bow. The tip of her arrow, much like my spear, didn’t seem to be very sharp. Again, people dying during the entrance test would not be a good look for the school at all.

— Holy moly, the red team got ahead of us. Seven — The scoreboard changed as soon as she spoke, forcing Kasia to cut herself off mid-sentence — Eight points… And the blue team is already way ahead with ten. — She told Isane.

I looked at the screen, and quickly noticed something odd — Miken had not scored a single point — Could it be hubris? Is he only going to start trying to score later…? No, something’s fishy about this.

As I was busy theorizing about whatever it was that Miken was thinking, Isane continued with her plan. — I have a theory. Taking into account how childish he is. — I sank deep in thought for a few moments, when my mind finally swam back to the surface, I managed to catch the tail-end of my team’s conversation.

— Kasia… can you see how many lives the blue team members have left? — She asked, her gaze still trained on the horizon.

Kasia looked once again towards the scoreboard. — One of them is down to one life only, the brunette. The others still have two to three lives left.

She had nocked an arrow on the string. Eyes focused, Isane looked far more locked in than even I was. — I see. — As soon as those words came out of her mouth, she let loose the shot. The arrow flew between the branches of trees with absurd accuracy, despite the considerable distance between the bow and it’s target. On the scoreboard, the picture of the girl Kasia spoke of had now been greyed out.

— Jackpot. — Isane cooly celebrated as she stood up, stowing away her bow.