“Wha-?!”

“Huh?!”

“Eh?!”

The noble and I exclaimed respectively as the Syressan boy was caught entirely of guard.

“What is the meaning of this?! What are you trying to pu-” the girl said, though she was interrupted by the instructor’s stern voice.

“Last I checked, Lady Sept, I am the instructor here. If you have any objections to the way I run my classroom, you are free to walk out of my class and take it up with the headmaster.”

Seeing that the instructor’s tone brooked no argument, the girl grit her teeth but ultimately chose to remain quiet.

Just as the hint of a smirk was about to show on my face, the instructor turned to me.

“The same goes for you, Ms. Azoth. You’re just as welcome to leave if you can’t behave appropriately.”

Now it was my turn to scowl and hold my tongue. Well, whatever. We don’t really need to work together to fight the instructor; we just need to stay out of each other’s way.

***

The three of us stood on one side of the arena as the instructor stood on the other. Standing between us was Nisos, who looked rather nervous.

“It’s like watching a mouse caught between two tigers… Poor kid.”

“I am excited to see how strong our instructor really is!”

“Since the instructor said those two are in a league of their own, I’d like to see why. Maybe we can impress the instructor if we beat them later on ourselves.”

The class’s chatter was all over the place, so I tuned them out to focus on the opponent. Before I could appraise him, however, Nisos spoke to the two of us.

“Good day to you, Lady Sept. Ms. Azoth. My name is Nisos Iphitus, and I have the [Unyielding Hoplite] class. This class lets me wield a shield and a spear, and I specialize in holding the line and in working with a team. Do you mind telling me what the two of you can do?”

“…I can use some ranged magic, but I am primarily a close-range fighter, so I am probably going to be fighting by your side.” I said, having no reason to pick a fight with the Syressan.

That didn’t mean I intended on revealing my gravity magic and or my affinity with the base attributes in a meaningless fight like this one.

“I am a chariot archer. That said, seeing as I can’t drag in a chariot with me to the arena, I’ll be fighting as a foot archer.”

Great. Now I have to watch out for arrows from behind.

“…But I don’t see a bow on you?” Nisos asked, though she shrugged him off.

“Don’t worry about it. I can summon my bow and arrow through other means.”

Quiet took over us as the dome began to rise.

“You both should know that Instructor Adelphius served as the champion of Syressa for nearly a decade, and that he wields incredible power. Learning from him is the entire reason I chose to attend this academy. I don’t mean to disrespect the two of you, but he’s on a completely different level from us. I have no idea why he decided to have us fight against him, since even ten of us wouldn’t be able to put a scratch on him.” Nisos said, resigned to a loss right out of the gate.

I frowned, not happy with my one actual ally being this fatalistic or the fact that he is underestimating me.

The stars once again appeared and passed by us as we landed on a barren desert that stretched as far as the eye can see. Instructor Adelphius stood atop a sand dune, wearing an ordinary outfit and wielding nothing besides a round shield.

“Alright, kids. Since this is a special fight, it’s only right it gets special rules! For this challenge, you have five minutes to reduce my health points by at least one point. If you manage to do that, the win is yours! However, if you fail to do that before the time runs out, then the win is mine. That should be possible even for the lot of you, don’t you think?”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

That last barb of his was unnecessary, since nothing he could say could infuriate me more than the conditions he set for the fight. Challenging me to deal a single point of damage in five whole minutes, against three of us? He might as well spit in my face!

My patience was already on its last legs dealing with the girl next to me and the instructor’s decision to pair us together before this. If they’re not going to treat me with respect, then I’ll just have to force them to do so.

“Your transparent taunts are not fooling anyone, instructor. We’re not school children.”

“Hmm? What taunts?” he said, his pinkie in his ear.

He then took it out and blew at it after a moment’s stare, making the noble’s eyebrows twitch. The assistant’s voice sounded through the desert, as she asked if we were all ready. We all were, and she began the countdown as instructed.

“3… 2… 1… FIGHT!”

The moment the bell announcing the beginning of the fight rang, I was already dashing towards the instructor, moving to end this fight before it started.

“Kiara, wait!” Nisos yelled, as the girl clicked her tongue.

The instructor’s eyes and thin smile were mocking me, and I knew that this was bait to get me to fight him on my own before the others catch up with me, but I’ve had enough.

I reached the top of the dune only to meet the instructor’s shield rushing towards my face.

“Naïve!” I yelled, having expected that as I slammed my staff into the side of his shield.

Just as the shield moved to reveal the instructor behind it, his boot slammed into my face and launched me like a marionette without its strings as I tumbled down the sand dune. Eventually, my rolling slowed down until I was laid on my back.

Nisos’s and the girl’s faces looked down on me; the former nervous and the latter contemptuous.

“Umm… Ms. Azoth, I understand that you’re upset, but the instructor is truly a fierce opponent. If you really want to win, we should work together.”

I had expected the noble to give me lip, but she just looked towards the instructor.

I stood up and picked up my staff with flushed cheeks, embarrassed and frustrated at this turn of events. The fact that she did not even say a word was humiliating beyond belief, even more than if she had insulted me like she usually did.

“Umm, if you guys don’t mind, I have an idea that might make things easier…” Nisos said, drawing our attention.

I slapped my cheeks and shook my head, the sand falling out of my hair. I can find a hole to crawl into later; we had a fight to win.

***

It wasn’t long before we moved up the sand dune; Nisos and I from opposite ends of the highest parts of the dune as the noble summoned her bow and arrow, which were apparently made of some kind of golden mana.

“Well, this plan is much better than your previous one of just rushing at me all alone, and uphill at that! However, there’s just one problem with it…” he said, as he simply dashed forward towards the girl, ignoring the two of us!

She reacted instantly and peppered him with arrow after arrow as she ran backwards, which he blocked with his shield as he chased after her. We were hot on his tail, and the instructor spoke again.

“Let me teach you one of the most fundamental lessons in tactics! Do not leave your ranged fighters without protection fro-”

He never finished his line as I launched mana blades towards him and Nisos stood in between us. Caught between my fire and the girl’s, the professor’s eyes widened in surprise for the fraction of a moment before he reacted like lightning. He instantly jumped to the side and set his back to it, angling his shield between us; he deflected my first mana blade with his shield and quickly angled it once more just in time to block the noble’s arrow. The force of both projectiles and his quick dodge were enough to push him out of the path of my second mana blade by a hair as his legs dug into the sand to halt his attack. He quickly got up from the ground and turned to face Nisos, who was rushing to strike at him!

“Hah! Nice try, bu-”

Once again, the instructor was interrupted before he could finish his sentence – my second mana blade had struck him from behind!

The [Mirror Space] spell wasn’t something I could only use for my opponent’s attacks, but my own as well. Even had it failed, we had seized the high ground and had him flanked by two ranged fighters on opposite ends, with a hoplite to get in his face to boot. The win was ours the moment the instructor dashed towards the noble.

As the dome began to collapse, the instructor was clapping loudly for us with cheer in his voice.

“Well done, you three! Bravo!”

The dome had finally reached the tiled floors of the arena as the rest of the class came into view, a dissatisfied look on many of their faces.

“That’s it?! That’s what the apparently higher-level fighters can do?!”

“What the hell was that match?! Give me back my money!”

“What money?”

The instructor turned to them and spoke again.

“While this fight was not nearly as flashy as many of yours – and it certainly did not display the full capabilities of any of the combatants – you would be missing the point if you choose to dismiss it as a waste of time. There are reasons I didn’t simply pit Mr. Iphitus against someone from the advanced line or Lady Sept and Ms. Azoth against each other, which would have gotten the results you were expecting.”

He let the words sink in before continuing.

“Now, I know I said we won’t be analyzing the fights this class, but I’ll make an exception for this one. Does anyone mind explaining what the purpose of this fight was before the bell rings?”

I sighed and raised my hand. If the embarrassing explanations have to be said out loud, it may as well come from my own mouth.