“After the meeting with the commander, it is important to talk about the battle credit shop since the messages and schedule is self explanatory.

Any item can be ordered through your representative commander.

It will be delivered to your representative to be picked up in person.

You will receive a message indicating that you may pick up your item.

Please be considerate in placing your furniture with your roommate.

Finally the last piece of advice offered by this guide will be offensive and defensive items.

However to your disappointment this will not outline specific items and their uses.

These will be for you to discover and learn yourself. In this academy, competition is key.

If you want to succeed you will have to use sabotage and counter methods.

Offensive items are those which will aid you in the collection of data, whether that is training plans, movement strategies, or items of strategic importance.

Defensive items will be utilized to help protect your plans, strategies, or items of importance.

One last piece of advice to all students, competition is not limited to the arena. Learn and adapt to survive.”

Elias was somewhat confused and irritated by the last section.

It appeared he would have to learn everything from here on out by himself.

It would be extremely easier if he could get a list from an upperclassman about the purpose and functions of different items.

Just then a loud crash as something impacted the door from the outside.

William had poked his head inside after making the loud ruckus by colliding with the door.

“It’s here!” he shouted. Elias quickly stood up and they rushed out of the room.

They ran as fast as possible to the armory.

Most students in the hall heard the commotion and checked to see what was going on.

Soon Elias and William were being followed by a stampede of first year’s barracks C members.

Once they arrived they were third and fourth in line.

William held the two boxes he received in his hands.

He could barely contain the excitement of opening up the boxes then and there.

After it was Elias’s turn. He handed over his ID and the man at the desk.

The man handed back the card and disappeared into the back room.

Soon he came out carrying two large packages.

One package was long and slender. The other was much larger.

The larger was flat and definitely an oddly shaped object to carry.

He managed to akwardly lift his smaller box and place it ontop of the larger one.

Elias ran to keep up with Will. They got outside of their room and opened their boxes outside in the hallway.

Will managed to get his two boxes opened first.

The first long sword was longer in comparison to the second by almost an inch.

This would be the weapon he would place in his main hand. It had a red hilt with a silver sheen down the blade.

The second long sword had a blue hilt. It was smaller in comparison but not by much.

He got an evil maniacal look on his face as he stood up holding the blades in his hands.

Elias couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.

Finally Elias managed to open the  box containing his shield.

As he opened the box there was only one thing that stood out.

The crescent roundella was pitch black except for a giant white pawn in the middle.

He picked up the shield admiring his insignia. It was terrifying to behold.

His eyes seem to be entrapped by the dark black surrounding the pawn.

Elias finally managed to set the shield down. He picked up his wazakashi. It was menacing.

A dark steel blade flowed from the hilt. It winded down like a river bending back and forth.

The sheer look and feel of the blade had only one purpose, decapitation.

The final curve of the blade beckoned for a neck to give the kiss of death.

Both edges of the blade had the capacity to cut into most objects. Sharp edges met in a piecing point.

Elias sat in awe of the fear radiating from his equipment. The pommel size felt perfect.

It wasn’t too big to the point where he couldn’t grip it nor too small so his hand wrapped around the grip so far it felt loose in his hand.

His roundella had a black strap to throw his forearm through and a grip by the crescent cut.

He pulled the shield up through his arm and held it in front of him.

It was lighter than he was used to but the center of mass for the shield was difficult to figure out.

It would take him quite a bit of practice to get used the new weight of the shield.

Good thing he was taking two defensive classes.

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Due to the ‘S’ curve in the blade, it could not have a sheath.

Its unnatural size also made it impossible to clip onto his belt without the tip being damaged and scraping on the ground.

He pulled out the last thing in box which was a weapon clip.

He attached the clip to the bottom blade section of his wazakashi and held it up.

He reached over his back and attached the clip in an angled fashion so that the hilt could be seen by someone in front of him over his right shoulder.

His back gave a little shudder as the clip attached itself to his uniform.

After, he slung his roundella over his shoulder.

The crescent end was towards the left of his back with the large pawn standing tall.

His wazakashi became blocked by the shield so all people could see from behind was the hilt and tip of the sword.

As he stood up, he lost his balance and almost fell backwards.

He managed to catch himself on the wall and stabilize himself.

He laughed and went over to meet up with Will.

Will snapped both of his blades to the opposite corresponding side of his belt.

From there the two went to go find Liam and meet other members of their hall.

Liam had already opened his weapons and stood towering above those around him.

His tower shield was not quite as tall as himself but it did not need to be.

Its sheer size and width easily covered his large body and more.

On the shield was a white dove flying in the same pitch black field Elias had.

Elias was more intrigued by Liam’s war hammer though.

The war hammer had a pole like handle the length of a normal long sword.

At the end of one side was a spike. Opposite the spike was the hammer portion.

It had the appearance of a hammer tool instead of a giant hunk of metal that Eliass was envisioning.

It looked like a nice general multipurpose weapon either for bashing with the hammer side, or impaling with the spike side.

With Liam’s size if he could master the tower shield, he would be a formidable opponent with the speed and brute force behind the war hammer.

The fact that you could change where you gripped the shaft also could be useful for deceiving your opponent of your range.

Elias couldn’t wait until they started group practice.

The three went down to the practice rooms to see if they could get in and spar until dinner but the rooms were locked.

A notice next to the door said they were open and free to use but one had to register to reserve the room for practice.

Since they didn't have time to register, they went off to an early dinner.

Dinner was a combination of comical relief and wasted food.

Strewn through the cafeteria was a littered mess.

Students were knocking over trays, chairs, and even some tables.

None of them figured it would be this hard to eat with a shield on your back and swords hanging from your hips.

Most students it seemed were captured by the feeling of the new presents.

Elias, William, and Liam got their food and chose a table that was pushed up against a wall.

This way they could take off their swords and shield and lean them against the wall.

“So Liam, are you taking the battle field tactics course?

Elias is taking it but I have two offensive classes so it makes me very time dependent,”

asked William with a mouthful of corn in his mouth.

Liam swallowed the food in his mouth before he responded.

“Nah I decided against it. My older brother is two years older than me here said I should come to his advanced strength and conditioning course.

I asked the commander and he said it would be alright if I chose to go to classes even though I wouldn’t officially be enrolled.

He talked with the course teacher and said it would be alright so he placed me in the beginning strength and conditioning class.

Also, I would be unable enroll in the field tactics course because they are at the same time.

I figured I’m not much of a tactical person anyways, always relied on the brute force method.

Besides I can learn some things and then teach you two a little about conditioning.”

He made a wide grin on his face as Elias and Will both gave a reliant laugh.

“Looks like our cell team is going to be pretty balanced then with me as the defensive base, you as the offensive striker, and Elias as our tactician.”

They finished their dinner and continued watching the new students as they continued to walk in and destroy everything in their path.

One kid even tried to sit down with a roundella on his back.

It caused the chair to fall backwards as he tried to sit down in it.

Milk came out of Will’s nose after watching the poor kid try to stagger back to his feet like a turtle.

Eventually they got bored of watching other people and headed back off to their separate rooms.

Elias sat down in his chair and saw a message on his desk.

He opened it up and it read:

Dear academy student,

    Your schedule for the rest of the academic year has been generated. Please feel free to check it to make sure the information on it is correct. If you have any discrepancies please contact your commander. In addition you have been registered for your cell group Suicide Kings. A general meeting with your barracks will take place on the date inscribed in your calendar to discuss cell battles. Your are now allowed to register for additional time in the training rooms located at your barracks.

Elias discarded the message and opened his schedule.

On Mondays and Thursdays he had weapons training for two hours in between breakfast and lunch.

After lunch he had a three hour field tactics class followed by an early dinner.

Then their cell had access to training room three for two hours after his early dinner.

Tuesdays and Fridays were his dual defensive days.

Two hours of sword defensive tactics followed by lunch and then two more hours of shield defensive tactics in the afternoon.

Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays were normal battle days.

However judging by the time it took for the tournament and the fact that not every battle would be settled in the arena.

Which left a lot of time open for them to do homework and rest up over the weekend.

Because of what happened last night he would need all the sleep he could get for tomorrow.

Tomorrow was the meeting for the discussion of how cell battles would take place and he wanted to be alert as possible for the meeting.

Elias awoke to a familiar ring of the school bells.

Right on time and he was thankful they did not get another visit from the nobles.

He got showered, dressed, picked up his sword and shield, and met up with Will and Liam for breakfast.

Both of them were grateful for a peaceful night also.

After breakfast they followed the rest of barracks C into the barracks conference area.

There they saw commander Zacharias addressing the barracks.

“Good evening students. Once again I am commander Zacharias Tuxton of barracks C.

We are gathered here today so I can explain the rules of the cell battles.

There are three different types of battles. First, is the general field battle.

A general field battle consists of the teams fighting in a battle square in the arena.

Secondly, there are assault/defensive missions.

In these battles one side is designated assault and the other is designated defense.

The defensive group’s mission is to protect a certain item of interest.

The assault group’s mission is obviously to recover the items of interest.

Utilizing the battle store would be a great idea if you want to win.

And the final challenge type is delivery.

There will be two delivery missions throughout the year for each team.

In addition to the competiting teams there will be two "neutral"  teams.

Of the two groups battling, each will consist of three cell squads.

One squad’s mission objective is to deliver the item safely from one neutral group to the other.

If the other neutral group is in possession of the item at the end of the allotted battle time, than it is their victory.

The other three squads’ objectives are to intercept the item.

If the item is not in possession by the other neutral team by the end of the allotted time, than it is their victory.

So I would like to officially start the school year here with this. He pulled out a wooden circular ring.

Last team to have this ring in their possession by the end of today wins.

Although this will not count towards your record, I still want you to try.

So there is a five thousand credit reward per person to the winning team.

The final thing I will say once and only once. Violence outside of the arena is forbidden.

I will not have students resulting to barbarianism in order to accomplish their tasks.

If a single student is sent to the infirmary, someone will be expelled.

You each have brains and I implore you to use them. That is all I have to say today.

Classes begin Monday and everything else you should be able to figure out for yourselves.

Dismissed.”