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Guillermo Jovega and four commoners his father managed to get into the Royal Academy were prowling the streets of the simulated ruins looking for other contestants to defeat. And unlike some of the other nobles and commoners who took up Edmund Berkeley on his bounty for Luke Ironcrest, he did not see the need to stoop so low.

His house was rich and powerful enough to disregard such a thing as a paltry minor favor, even if it meant a Berkeley heir owing him one.

Guillermo, was more interested in continuing the tradition of proving the honor and martial prowess of the Jovega family, just as his father and older siblings did before him.

But that did not mean Guillermo was arrogant just because his father got him the best swordsmanship tutors money could buy, no, it was because of his private swordsmanship tutors that he knew enough to know where he stood in the pecking order of combat skill.

While Guillermo could confidently say he was close to the top of the totem pole for his cohort, he recognized that there were monsters above him, and above those monsters, were Talented Monsters like Luke Ironcrest, and Guillermo very much wanted to make Luke’s acquaintance, forming a friendship if possible.

But despite recognizing Luke Ironcrest to be a future martial and perhaps political powerhouse, he was currently a poisoned fruit for those who ran in Guillermo’s circles, especially with those rumors going around that he was the cause of the great shakedown a few months prior, causing the execution of many high profile people caught up in illegal and possibly traitorous activity. Thankfully, Guillermo did not hear any news of his immediate or extended family getting caught up in that whole mess.

So if he ever wanted to form any sort of connection with Luke Ironcrest, Guillermo could only wait for the situation around Luke to cool down further, or wait until he graduates and make contact in a less formal setting.

But all those plans were for another day as Guillermo picked up the sound of fighting nearby, that meant more chances to show off, and if he was lucky, he could blindside those who were fighting.

When his group reached the scene of the fight, Guillermo and his team pressed their bodies close against the walls of the ruins to conceal themselves as best they could. When they peeked at the ongoing battle they saw that it was two groups of two going at.

After a few seconds of observing the battle, it was obvious that one side was less skilled and was on the defensive. This made the choice of target for their surprise attack an easy one, they just needed to circle around behind the winning group and backstab them, then finish off the weaker group.

Guillermo brought his team together and went over the brief yet simple plan, then moved to carry out said plan.

At his signal, Guillermo’s four teammates dashed from their cover to backstab the winning team, swiftly followed by Guillermo himself.

Guillermo’s team swiftly engaged the winning team from behind but only managed to catch one of the participants off guard, scoring an immediate ‘killing blow’ triggering the mana shield.

Now faced with a superior force, the remaining three contestants came to an unspoken truce to fend off Guillermo’s attack.

Seconds into the fight, Guillermo could say that his opponents were putting up a good defense, but with how much on the back foot they were, victory was all but assured as long as his team kept up with the formation and did not get greedy with their attacks.

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Soon, the last opponent from the previously winning team was struck down and his mana shield was deployed, leaving the already exhausted two-man team to face Guillermo’s.

Just after the mana shield was deployed, Guillermo heard one of his men shout out in surprise as he turned and saw his right-most teammate fall over stiff as his mana shield enveloped his body, and standing above his fallen teammate was a participant wearing a hooded red surcoat with the bottom half of his face concealed, Guillermo did not recognize him at first sight until he saw the coat of arms on the red surcoat.

Guillermo, recognized the coat of arms belonging to the Viscount Cassor family, which can only mean the person who took down one of his teammates with a sneak attack was Janos Cassor, a blowhard and a braggart who somehow always managed to find some excuse to run away when challenged to back up what he boasts, and most recently, he had been boasting that he was strong enough to run this group battle tournament solo.

‘Too bad for him, as that will be the last ‘kill’ he is going to get.’ Guillermo thought to himself as he signaled two of his teammates to go take care of Janos. Guillermo knew that the only reason Janos even managed to score a kill was because of a sneak attack, and any member of his group could easily take Janos down.

After trading blows with the remaining opponents, Guillermo managed to land a ‘killing’ blow on the opponent he was facing and was about to turn on the last opponent, who was doing a rather good job surviving with excellent shield work, he heard the voice of one of his team flying through the air behind him.

When Guillermo turned around, he saw one of the two he sent to deal with Janos, stiff as a board and enveloped by the mana shield.

Guillermo turned to find the other teammate he had sent, lying at the feet of Janos, mana shield deployed. ‘This cannot be! It has not even been a week since I had seen Janos fumbling around with his sword in class, how did he defeat those two?’ Guillermo thought to himself, but as he took a closer look at Janos, he started noticing discrepancies… this person was not Janos Cassor.

The Janos that Guillermo knew was slightly taller and had shoulders that slouched more than the person before him, but the most damming evidence that this was not Janos Cassor, was the eyes.

Unlike the shifty and rather dull eyes he had seen on Janos’, the eyes staring at him now were sharp with concentration and confidence, the same eyes he sees when facing his private tutor or any instructor in the Acedemy. Whoever this was, Guillermo knew he could not take him lightly.

Quickly, Guillermo came up with a quick and simple battle plan, “Finish those two off and back me, quickly!” Guillermo shouted at what was left of his team and charged the disguised man.

***

After I took down two of the noble kid’s lackeys, the noble kid, whose team I ambushed during ongoing combat, charged at me after calling for backup when the rest of his boys were done with another group.

He came at me and only attacked me at the maximum reach of his sword like he was not really trying to hit me. I can only assume he is trying to buy time for the rest of his team to come and back him up.

Whenever I tried to advance on him, he would always position his sword to try and let me impale myself on it if I charged in too aggressively, and if I tried to bat his sword away, he would retreat as he tried to lead me away from his team at the same time.

Clever boy, but if he is going to play it that safe, I am going to play dirty. As I chased him around a ruined wall, I pulled a broken brick out of the wall and chased him around the corner. When I was once again face to face with him, I took a fencing stance with a hand behind my back as prodded his defence with my sword.

My change of stance put him on edge, but I did not care and carried on. Once I felt it was time, I slapped his sword aside and charged, as usual, the noble boy retreated while positioning his sword tip in front of me, but I had a plan for that.

From the arm behind me, I slung the brick at his face, and as expected, he reacted by bringing his sword up in defence, this gave me the chance to close in as I swung my sword at his foot leg that was still in motion from retreating.

This sent the noble kid crashing to the floor. I immediately took advantage of the situation and stabbed my sword at his chest, activating the noble kid’s mana shield. Shortly after the last two in the noble kid’s group were done with their fight and turned to me, only to see the umpire carrying their team leader away. It did not take long for me to finish the two of them off.

“That is the first big group I kind of took out.” I muttered to myself as I looked around and listened to the distant sounds of combat, “and many more to go… hopefully they do most of the work for me.”