One day as all the students were going about their day finishing their classes their instructors informed them that the day after and the following week afterwards there would be no classes. Instead, the Magic Knight Division was ordered to report to the northern part of campus before sunrise, followed by the magic division, and the knight division.

Thus in the following day, all the Magic Knight students woke up before sunrise and made their way over to the northern campus. Hiro woke up and dragged himself over to the fields where he met some unfamiliar faces.

His class only had about thirty Magic Knights when everyone was present, but currently, there were over seventy Magic Knights in the field not including the instructors. Hiro observed these unfamiliar Magic Knights and realized that these were likely his upperclassmen.

As Hiro recalled the fact that academy only sends out invitations once every three years, he understood why there was such a difference between some of these upperclassman physiques. In truth, some of his own classmates were quite close in age to some of these upperclassmen and even within their class they naturally had an age gap of one to two years.

Soon enough after the sun was starting to rise the Principal suddenly appeared descending from the sky alongside the two other Headmasters. He quickly cast a spell to amplify his voice and began to say, “Frankly we’re short on time so I’ll dispense with the formalities and make this quick otherwise we’ll be here all day. For you upperclassmen this is nothing new, you’ve experienced it three years ago, and some even six years ago. However, for you freshman, this is will be a defining moment for you.”

All the freshman looked at each other and began chattering when suddenly Miss Campbell struck the ground with her staff and shouted, “Silence!”

A powerful shockwave traveled through the ground and immediately silenced everyone. The principal coughed, “It has been close to a year now, and all of you have surely grown a great deal so during this week we will put you all to the test. We will hold an intramural competition to see how all of you have progressed.”

The principal looked over to Miss Campbell and she nodded, she immediately began chanting rapidly and a black sphere shot out of her hand expanding into a dome that covered everyone on the field. The principal then pulled out a blue crystal and it began to display several charts.

“In the beginning, all of you will be separated by year, and each division will hold a preliminary to determine their seeded fighters. Those who are seeded don’t need to participate until later, however, the rest of you will have to compete against the qualifying students and depending on the results you may be stripped of your position as a Magic Knight.”

The freshman gasped in shock, but they quickly quieted down in fear of any punishment that would follow. The principal laughed, “Don’t let it get to you, quite a few you of you will still be around by the end of the competition. However activities like this are vital for the academy, and there still lies a path for you even if you are stripped of your status. Also, the victors of the competition will naturally receive rewards, and the top contenders can even participate in the upperclassmen tournament to further win prizes.”

After the principal finished, he turned to Miss Campbell and the black dome broke into pieces. Then Albert the Headmaster of the Knight Division walked forward and shouted, “Let’s settle this quickly, split yourselves up into groups of six and then groups of two. We do it like a simple bracket tournament!”

Miss Campbell nodded, “And for those of you who aren’t confident in grabbing a seeded seat, the at least put in some effort here as a form of practice. Unlike the other divisions, every single one of you is taking part in the actual tournament. At the beginning of the year, you were the best among your peers. However a year is a long time, there may even be some individuals who have surpassed you. You should take the time to put your all into these matches as we’ve focused less on sparring over the year.”

Hiro quickly made his way over to one of the groups and grabbed a fake sword from a nearby crate. However as he stood there in the group, he noticed that everyone was looking at him weirdly. He asked, “Yes?”

One of them, a boy with a light grey hair said, “Um, nothing it’s just that I didn’t realize you used a sword.”

Hiro looked down at the sword and said, “Well I haven’t been really paying attention to my swordplay, it’d be a lot harder for me to improve if I practiced that. I don’t think I’ve really used a sword against anyone except Baldar.”

The other students grew quiet and turned to each other whispering. The grey-haired student sighed before walking forward and bowing, “I’m sorry to ask you this Hiro, but can we gang up on you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Ah, I could have worded that better. I mean can we fight you all at once?”

Hiro turned to Albert, before turning back to the grey-haired child and asked, “Can I ask why?”

The grey-haired child hesitated before saying, “To be frank we aren’t a match for you. We heard you were excused from sparring classes, but the prince wasn’t. And after sparring with the prince for a year, and seeing just how strong he is we’re sure that none of us can beat you. So instead we’d like to fight you together, even if we beat you we’ll still give you the win.”

Hiro scratched his head, “I mean I’m fine with it, but is this allowed?”

The grey-haired child nodded, “According to the upperclassmen there might be group events where you have to team up with other students in the main tournament so this experience won’t be a complete waste, and according to them matches like this have been done before for the seeded seat.”

“I see…”, Hiro took a stance his body being surrounded by a faint blue light, “Then let’s see what you’ve got! Come at me!”