"I hope everyone ate well during lunch," professor Scilla asked the class. S class had congregated in the training center for their afternoon combat class. The small class of 30 students sat in a small group in front of the professor. They had finished lunch about 30 mins prior and awaited instruction from him. "Since today is the first day, I will need to find out what level everyone is currently at. Although you were tested on your strength, that test did not give a full picture into your capabilities." He walked off of the platform and over to a rack of wooden weaponry. He took a wooden spear from its resting place and gave it a few light thrusts. "What are all of you waiting for? Come over here and pick something."

The group of students followed their instructor and moved over to the weapon rack. Tara picked a large wooden axe. The axe was heavy and unbalanced, but looked like the most fun to use. Celine was in a panic. She rarely ever touched weapons to begin with. In her panic, she chose an oblong wooden stave. Alastair surprisingly chose a broadly shaped longsword. Tara had assumed he would choose something small and dainty like the rapier he used during the examination.

"Now that everyone has chosen something, get back on the platform. We are going to be conducting a small tournament of sorts. Participation is mandatory, by the way." the professor told the class. A few students groaned, but the majority of them looked to be excited. They were about to be given a chance to prove themselves to their peers. As per usual, Tara was always happy to fight. She had especially looked forward to fighting Alastair after he placed so closely to her during the strength test.

"The groupings will be determined based off of your scores," Scilla began, "You will be facing students who scored similarly to yourselves. The winner of each group will have a chance to face off with the next group if they so please. Finally, the two students who scored the highest will be in a completely separate group by themselves. They will also fight first as a mini demonstration. The winner of the last group will have a chance to fight to the loser of the demonstration fight. If, by some unlikely chance you are able to win, you can challenge the winner of the demonstration fight."

He turned his gaze to Alastair and then to Tara before saying, "Also, whoever comes out as the final winner, will have a chance at challenging me directly."

Tara looked at the professor and giggled. She had already assumed she would come out of this as the final victor, but she never imagined that fighting the teacher would be the prize. She assumed that, although the professor was clearly knowledgeable in magic, there was no way he would be able to fight well with his weak looking body. She decided she would give it a shot anyway, because why not.

With that all said, the class S mock tournament began.

The majority of the students left the platform and sat down in the seating area above the platforms. The only 2 students left on stage were Tara and Alastair. Professor Scilla gave them a few ground rules. Magic was allowed, but only low tier magic so as not to destroy the grounds. No cheap shots toward the eyes or groin, but any other area of the body was okay to target. The winner would be decided based on the professor's decision or if someone gave up. With those rules laid out, he walked off the stage. He positioned himself a small distance away from the stage and spoke, "At the count of three, you may begin the fight." He raised his hand and counted, "One, two, three!"

At the sound of his voice, Tara leapt into the air, readying her axe over her head. She quickly closed the distance between her and Alastair. She swung her axe downward towards Alastair's head. To her surprise, Alastair caught the blow with the side of his blade. He parried her strike to his left. Her axe slammed into the ground and broke through the platform. Following the parry, Alastair raised his weapon to the right of his face and prepared for a stab. Tara followed the movement of his blade and ducked under the incoming stab.

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At the full extension of his stab, Tara flipped her body backwards. Using the momentum from the flip, she kicked at Alastair's hands and dislodged her axe from the ground. Tara's kick just barely missed her target as Alastair brought his blade back into a readied position. He provided Tara with no breathing room and immediately thrust his weapon in her direction before she could fully land her flip. A barrage of stabs rained down on Tara. She took the full brunt of the attack with the flat of her axe.

Multiple glanced blows skirted past Tara's body. A few hits managed to make some leeway and cut into her skin. The attack was brutal, with no end in sight. Tara took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Suddenly, the stabbing stopped. Tara looked around her axe, never breaking her guard. Alastair had taken a few steps back. His blade was still pointed in her direction and readied for an attack. A surge of mana welled up inside of him. The mana began pouring into the tip of his blade, forming a torrent of wind.

Tara prepared a spell of her own. A simple spell to increase the density of her body. She planned to anchor herself to her spot on the platform and take the full brunt of the coming magic attack.

The two participants simultaneously finished their spells.

Alastair struck out with his sword and released his spell. A heavy curtain of rampaging winds lashed out toward Tara. Tara leaned forward and accepted the attack. The initial impact of Alastair's attack landed squarely on Tara's axe. Cracks formed on the head of the axe as streaks of wind engulfed her body. The wind tore at her body. Minute cuts covered her from head to toe.

Suddenly, Tara remembered her fight with the massive headless ape just days prior. A certain attack that she took came to mind. Tara lifted her left leg amidst the cyclone that surrounded her. With tremendous force, she slammed her leg back down. The moment her foot met the ground, a shockwave emanated from the stomp. The force of the shockwave rang out and disrupted the flow of the wind around her. The winds died down, leaving a tattered mess of a person in its wake.

Luckily for Tara, although she looked to be in danger, the injuries to her body were surface level.

For the first time since the fight began, Alastair had lost his composure. He looked at Tara with a confused expression on his face. He had expected much more damage from the attack he unleashed. Although the spell was considered low tier, the amount of mana he put into it was considerable. From the power alone, it was possible to consider it a middle tier spell.

Tara took advantage of Alastair's momentary confusion. She cast 2 spells at once. One spell was used to increase her speed and strength. The second spell was used to reinforce her weapon. She needed it to stay together just long enough for one final hit.

With her spells completed, She dashed toward the confused Alastair. With her strengthened body, she contorted her waist and reared her axe to the side. Like a spring, she released the energy she had built up and swung her axe at Alastair. Alastair frantically reacted to her attack, but was just a bit late. He brought his sword up to block, but wasn't able to bring it up all the way. The face of Tara's axe hit into his guard. Due to his slow reaction, Alastair was unable to fully place his weight into the guard. An audible crunching noise accompanied the hit as Tara's axe made contact.

Alastair was thrown into the air. He landed on his back, a solid 20 feet from the initial impact. Alastair gasped for air as his broken ribs compressed his lungs. He grit his teeth and attempted a healing spell to help him recover. He wanted to recover just enough to be able to get back on his feet.

Before Alastair could complete his spell, Tara ran towards his broken body. Loud thunderous steps accompanied her as she stomped towards the panicked Alastair. She came to a stop just steps away from him. Tara brought her axe over her head and readied it. She swung the axe downward. She stopped the attack just short of Alastair's face. A small gust of air smacked Alastair, pushing the hair away from his face.

Alastair stopped his spell. Beads of sweat ran down his face. Tara looked down at him and a massive grin spread from ear to ear. They both knew in their minds that this battle was over.

Alastair looked to the professor and nodded. He opened his mouth and uttered a few simple words, "I concede."