“Everyone find a partner to…”

Ever since class started, a lot of eyes lingered on me. It could have been because of my disheveled hair caused by reasons I don’t want to get into. It could even be because of my radically small height. More probably, was the sick uniform I had on.

Well, it was either the uniform or the person sitting beside me… No, not the creepy white-haired one; that guy was sitting somewhere else and I was perfectly fine with that. I would feel a lot better if I forgot he existed. But his presence was too much for me not to mention in passing. It’s almost as if he’s going to be relevant in the future.

“Daniel, look! It’s a massive spear!”

“It’s wood…”

I couldn’t tell if she was acting up because I was around, or if she seriously lacked the brain cells to see that it wasn’t a real spear.

“Alright, come up and grab a weapon.” Everybody rushed in at Professor Eigenvalue’s order.

The two of us got the same pair of swords, both of which were practically identical to the wooden ones we used to have.

“Daniel, do you care for a rematch?” said an approaching pokémon train—I mean, eh? That heterochromia girl… Was it Melissa or something?

Before I could answer, Sam had already intercepted, “He’s with me.”

“And who are you?”

“Why does that matter to you?”

I could only laugh inwardly at such a quarrel. I wasn’t about to fight a monster who could grope my ass at any given moment. And I wasn’t about to embarrass myself publicly like that, so it was out of the question who I would not pick as a sparring partner…

If only life were as simple as a yes or no.

“Daniel, you’re my partner, right?”

“If you’re a man, you should finish what you started, so let’s continue from yesterday.”

One was a landmine, and the other thought I was a man. Jokes on both of you, “I’m the greatest manchild known to exist!” I said with a posed look… Not really.

“How about you two become partners and I will find someone—oh, hey! You looking for a partner too?” I waved my hand out to a nearby strag—ah, not the ominous dude. Fuck. Why is it this white-haired kid.

I looked around for anyone else, but God was playing five-dimensional chess here to screw with me.

I wanted to turn around, but in doing so I would trigger the landmines resulting in my imminent doom. Not to mention the fact that I would also be double-teamed.

‘How bad can it be?’

The only thing I could do now was to convince myself to be resolute and not be a hypocrite even though Hypocrite was my middle name.

He noticed me approaching and nodded silently with a dagger in hand. It was in a natural icepick grip; its blade was facing behind him.

“Alright, you can all start. Remember this is an elimination game. If you get hit, please sit out. I don’t want any arguments over who hit or did not hit.”

I held my sword against my pelvis, while he raised his tool sluggishly.

“You ready?”

He nodded.

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I stood there waiting for an attack. I may not know much about weapon usage as I wasn’t a kali practitioner, but I knew enough to understand the concept of range. It was a loose term, but my general understanding is that having weapons over bare hands was always better as weapons provided different sets of attacks.

The sword, compared to the dagger, was an odd matchup since knives and the like were used in close quarters while swords could be struck from a medium distance. It was for this same concept of distance that modern firearms such as guns were so deadly. With a sword, you couldn’t beat someone far away, but with something like a sniper or a longbow, you could essentially sneak in vital blows at practically any distance.

It was a major misconception that snipers and bows were only useful for long-ranged attacks but if you took a moment to think about the physics, the closer a target was, the less distance the bullet or arrow traveled, hence, greater damage. The only reason nobody talked about the sniper being used for close-range is because assault rifles and the likes outclassed them in that respect.

‘Do they have bows and arrows here?’

The guy kind of just stood there so it allowed me time to think up a meaningless rant. Either he was well aware of the disadvantages of going head-first against a swordsman who had more range, or it was something else.

Eventually, it got to the point where my patience couldn’t handle it and half of my attention had gone elsewhere. My eyes still watched him for any sign of action, though unlikely because he was stiller than a statue.

“Eh? How did you do that?”

“Uh I just cut it though?” My ears perked up hearing that voice.

In the corner of my eye was Sam scratching her head while Melissa was questioning her reality with only the sword’s handle intact. The bladed part had been sliced off somehow by a wooden weapon.

‘I’m a smart boy.’

I complimented myself for avoiding the fate of having to spar with that brute. She didn’t know how to hold back at all.

Come to think of it, I remember Scarlet saying something about her being a Hero or something. Was she the protagonist of this world? That’s such a deep narrative!

Bullshit aside, “Are we going to… or no?” I asked my “partner.”

His bangs covered his eyes, but I bet he was staring daggers at me for no reason whatsoever. It was my own bias to always judge books by the cover, and to a certain extent, covers were a good indicator of what lies beneath.

He looked at me for a couple more wordless minutes, before saying, “I lost,” and fled to take a seat.

“...”

I watched him go on, not sure what to say. But since he had no intent to trade blows, that was the end of it.

The heterochromia girl was out as well while Sam found someone else to humiliate, I mean, “spar” with. The number of people still in this mock-tourney-Esque activity has thinned considerably due to the presence of this single spartan.

“Oh, hey! You want to have a go at it?” said someone who had just come out victorious in his bout.

“Sure.”

The guy was much larger and bulkier than me. And while his feet were aggressive as he rushed at me, he was full of vulnerabilities. The biggest mistake anyone could make in a duel was rushing directly towards the opponent at the center-line. That kind of posture was asking to be destroyed. It was no different from walking from point A to point B and announcing to everyone where you will be in the next hour. Simply put, his movement was predictable.

So I kind of just threw my sword at him like a Savage. Nothing more nothing less. It was too simple to be true.

But as I expected, my judgement was correct; the leaning dash made it hard for him to see the sword coming. No one in their right minds would have expected a sword to be thrown like a javelin after all.

When he realized what I had just done, it was already too late as his forward momentum worked against his favor, creating a giant impact with the blunt wood.

It bashed into his shoulder which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good news was that he didn’t die from blunt trauma to the head. Bad news was that my aim was shit. Either way, this goes to show that any passing troglodyte could beat him like this too, heck, their aim would be even better.

He then proceeded to drop dead on the floor and die profusely until killed… Wha? Why is he smiling?

“That was a great move! Alright, you win!” He got over the pain rather quickly and gave a bright smile for some reason… A real-life masochist?

"Good luck!" he chanted.

By the time he had taken a seat, I realized my biggest mistake.

‘I’m an idiot.’

It was definitely odd. No one would have been moronic enough to expose their entire body for an attack unless they had an ulterior motive…

Ah, I see.

‘Fuck.’

I let that guy off easily with a flying sword and he knew it… I should have let him hit me instead…

“Daniel, let’s go at it!”

Other than me, there was only a rampaging animal left on the field.

Lord knows that my ass was going to be clapped publicly this time.