The welcome message reads as such:

[Welcome to this week's virtual showdowns. Today, your challenge will be different from your last experience. Alongside 50 and some odd number of your peers, you will be thrown into an arena where the sole objective will be to be among the five individuals to remain standing! This will test your decision making abilities, your fighting prowess as well as your ability to communicate!]

‘A battle royale huh.’

I am given some time to read and comprehend the announcement, and I am immediately thrown into the ‘arena’. I expected the same one I was thrown into during the very first Showdown, but clearly the DaiKar executives have decided to be more creative this time. What lies before me is the image of a ruined city.

The grand structures within my field of view have since long crumbled to mere shadows of their former selves. Upon further inspection, I notice that these vestiges are not that of a modern city. Instead of showing a hypothetical future, this arena displays the image of a desolate past. What surrounds me is the vestige of an ancient town, a place originating from lost times. All of the broken down buildings have clearly been built from stone or marble. While some of the ruins do reach considerable height, none of them match the stature of current day skyscrapers. At most, the tallest ones here would be classified as a mid-sized building in one of today's bigger cities. The paved roads beneath my feet are cracked and uneven, overgrown with vegetation which has taken advantage of the lack of maintenance. Vines crawl up the sides of buildings, and sprout from each of their crevices, reclaiming which was once theirs. Even the smells are precisely reproduced. The air is thick with the scent of damp earth and greenery. With every inhale, it becomes harder to accept that this is not reality.

Alongside me, I know that a few dozen other trainees have been thrown in as well. The infrastructure provides cover which makes it impossible to see everyone, but the area I am located in is somewhat of an open field. It resembles an open air theater. In this theater, I stand in the center of the stage. As I observe my surroundings, no more than four other trainees are clearly visible to me. They stand in the seats meant for the audience which had once been enthralled by they plays performed in this place

Similarly to my first Showdown, I am given the opportunity to pick two of the other trainees, going for the blast pipe. This instrument is generally less useful in duels as it requires one to be stationary and is meant for attacks onto a large group of people. For this event, I can understand why some would think it to be a better choice. Considering the battle royale style of competition, being able to take out a large number of enemies at once might be a good idea. If my [melody] was a wide area of damage type, then I might have considered it. Unfortunately, it is not.

A timer counting down from ten appears in the artificial blue sky, and I mentally ready myself to begin the challenge. Once it reaches zero, a soft female sounding voice resonates through the arena.

[You will now have three hours to reduce the number of participants to five. If that number is not reached by the end of the allotted time, then the five best performing trainees will be selected to move on to the next event. As of now, the trial has officially started, you may begin!]

As soon as the signal is given, I summon my aegis and I prepare. The four others who have been placed into the theater quickly look at each other and assess their options. I could fight them here and reduce the number of enemies or I could escape and wait for a better opportunity. Before I can make my decision, however, one of the four trainees raises his voice in order for everyone to carry him. Due to the architecture of the theater, his proposal is well carried throughout its entirety.

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“Listen! My name is Ugo Brightscar! The man you see on the stage is the executioner, the one who humiliated Peregrine Goldleaf! If you consider yourself part of nobility such as I, then let us join hands and put an end to this commoner who does not know his place… We can figure out the rest after that!”

‘Come on! Again with this executioner stuff? Please don’t let it stick!’

Considering Ugo’s proposal, the other three glance at each other, then at me, and then at each other once more. One of them, against all odds, decides to leave the theater as quickly as possible. The other two, however, give Ugo an approving nod and ready their stance, prepared to face me. My attention is drawn to one of them who carries a blastpipe. I had hoped that he would follow the other blast pipe user’s decision and fled alongside him. Its rate of fire may be slower than the melo-string, but its advantage is that each shot carries much more power behind it. This promises to be a difficult battle.

Ugo and the other trainee both wield sharpsongs, making it evident that they intend to rush towards me to engage in melee combat. I could always run away and avoid this situation altogether, but for some reason, I do not want to. This is the perfect opportunity to test something I have been working on for the past week. I steady myself, and prepare for battle.

Both of the close quarter combatants lunge in my direction. One of them quite literally rides the air as he heads towards me. In a strange manner, he finds footing where there should be none rendering his speed much greater than what it should be. Fortunately, it is not such that my eyes cannot follow, I’ve witnessed much faster. Ugo, on the other hand, falls behind as his companion approaches me rapidly. On my end, I prepare a new special attack while pretending to stupidly wait for him to come at me. He shouts as he approaches me.

“I’ll fell him in one strike! His victory against Peregrine must have been some sort of fluke!”

I ignore his provocation. Imitating Sebastian, I begin rotating my shield, faster and faster, until it reaches a considerable rotation velocity. This move was inspired by the way in which he uses his Sympholance as a disk of destruction using the power of his [melody].

Building on the exercise given to me by professor Silverthorn and professor Quill, I have been looking for ways in which moving my shield around may be beneficial for other purposes than defense. That desire led me to this solution. While I am unable to alter its size, duplicate it, or even wield it as masterfully as Sebastian does, what is within my abilities is to make it spin. I have been training to use it as a short-range projectile by launching it at the stone golem, but I quickly realized that by spinning it at a high enough speed, I could drastically increase its lethality and severing power, turning something purely meant for defense into a weapon of terrifying power. The only downside is that reaching that rate of spin takes a bit of time.

In this instance however, that does not matter. For an observer who is not right besides me, it is difficult to tell that it moves at all. To them, it only looks like I am readying myself to receive a blow. A few seconds pass, and the trainee reaches my effective range of a few meters. The rest all occurs in an instant. I send my rotating aegis flying at him as fast as I am physically capable of. With his momentum carrying him forward, and the speed at which my attack flies at him, dodging is not an option, and he understands that. Reacting quickly, he places his sharpsong in front of him to block, but it is of no use.

The property of my shield which makes this attack especially deadly is that it is inherently much more durable than any instrument. In a clash, it will always come out on top. As such, when its edge meets my opponent’s sharpsong, it slices clean through his instrument and aims straight for his neck. In a last ditch effort he manages to twist his body to evade the attack. Unfortunately for him however, he fails to evade it completely, and the aegis takes his right arm with it. Due to his momentum, he crashes a few steps behind me and wails in pain. His arm lies a few meters further, still firmly holding onto his now broken sharpsong. Looking forward, I notice that Ugo has stopped in his tracks. The tall man in the back donning a sleek mohawk firmly clutches his blastpipe, but I notice the hesitation in his grip. His eyes narrow, and he glances at Ugo for directions.

Taking advantage of their shock, I leisurely make my way to the other man who is still curled up on the ground in pain, and casually plant my shaprsong into his throat. This immediately kills him and his body disappears from the arena. Even the blood on my sharpsong and my aegis vanishes. I scoff and speak to my two remaining opponents.

“What was that about putting me in my place?”

Ugo grits his teeth and gives instructions to the man in the back.

“...He’s different from last week, change of plans! Use the blast pipe to pressure him while I think of something!”