"Is that all ya' got, Adel?”

Jonath charged at me with his sword, wielding it by simultaneously attacking from left and right.

“You'd better not underestimate an opponent, who is holding back against you!”

“Sure thing, I'll keep that in mind while finishing ya' off!”

Jonath proceeded to follow up with amateurish attacks, completely ignoring his defense. Well, I am still an amateur too, so I can't lecture him about that.

He tried to finish with a horizontal strike. It was obvious that he was already exhausted, as his attack was slower than the ones before.

“-Heh~ You're overconfident!”

This is why I managed to strike his sword from beneath out of his hands.

The sword flew in the air and then finally pierced the ground behind him, leaving him defenseless.

“Seems like I've won, Jonath.”

I said smiling, while I pointed with the tip of my sword to his chin.

He just shrugged with his shoulders while sighing and raised his palms in the air.

“...I give up.”

Cheering from the crowd around us arose. Many other Squads looked like they were amazed by our performance.

“Adel is incredible! That move at the end was so cool! -Kyahh~”

“But Jonath was also amazing! And his looks are wonderful~”

We could hear some girls in the crowd chatting with each other.

From the other half of that crowd, Rie was running towards us while she was waving with her hand.

“Good work, you two~”

“T-thanks, Rie!”

Jonath was again completely overwhelmed by her positive atmosphere.

Of course, both of us were incredibly happy about being praised by her.

I began to grin amused by it at him and he did the same.

“Next time, you'll eat dirt!”

“I look forward to it, Jonath.”

He and I then shook our hands, which got supported by the cheering around us.

It has been 2 weeks since we have enrolled in the Academy. We received a lot of lectures about various Subjects for Soldiers and have begun our swordsmanship training. Of course, a certain someone was overjoyed when we did that.

At that time, all of the Squads got to know each other a bit. However, it was pretty obvious that Ralph did not participate much in group activities.

Just now, we had our first Show-Match in front of the other Squads. The supervisor for swordsmanship wanted Jonath and me to do it as the first ones. Seems like we managed not to embarrass ourselves in front of the others since we are all still new to handling swords and one on one combat.

“It was a good Match to conclude today's training session. I expect just as much the next time from all of you! With that, you are all dismissed!”

The supervisor announced the end of class. After saluting to him, all of us made our way to the cafeteria for lunch.

From the crowd, there was a white haired girl that stood out. It was not long until she saw us.

“Ah~ there you guys are.”

“Oh, hey Leyrid! Good morning~”

“Good morning, Rie~”

Leyrid joined us on our way. Now that I think about it, I did not see her just now in class. Should I ask her about it? … Actually, I am more concerned about the fact, that I have been incredibly hungry for a long time now...

“Man, I'm starving!”

“I know. I skipped breakfast earlier just like you did.”

“No no, you don't understand, Adel! I am literally that hungry that I think you need to carry me to the cafeteria!”

“...Don't drag me into that, no way I have the strength left to carry you.”

Jonath looked at me with sad puppy eyes, not letting go of his lazy scheme.

…Seriously, give it up. I won't do it.

“Why didn't you eat anything earlier?”

“Well, Leyrid, a certain someone thought that it would be a good idea to do some early jogging in the morning before class while neglecting to keep track of time.”

“Hey! I swear the time flew by faster than usual!”

Leyrid watched us while smirking teasingly.

I think she sees us as some kind of entertainment show for her.

When we arrived at the cafeteria, it was filled by many Squads already and so were the tables.

After grabbing a plate of today's menu, we found a free table after long searching.

“Ohhhh! Look at all this stuff here! It was totally worth to wait for it!”

Jonath watched his plate with greedy eyes. Just like a hunter upon its prey. It was filled with a variety of vegetables and meat stripes. On top of it, there was a lot of brown sauce dressing over the food.

“Well then, thanks for the meal!”

He did not wait long and began to eat the meat. All of us just watched him how he was overjoyed by finally being able to eat something.

It made us laugh and we decided to dig in as well.

“Did anyone of you see Ralph yesterday?”

Leyrid then spoke up. We looked at each other thoughtfully.

“Well, you know him. He hates everyone and won't do anything to get close to us. He is probably sitting on the rooftop by himself.”

I pretty much said what everyone here was thinking. We all know how he behaves by now and it is no real surprise to us that he went missing again.

“Yeah, he is always complaining about us and goes wherever he pleases! Ya' shouldn't waste your time with him.”

“Jonath!”

Rie glared upset at him. Of course, that intimidated Jonath. He'd never want her to be mad at him.

“...sorry, I went too far.”

“However, we can not leave things as they are right now. I think that a confrontation with him is in need.”

“Confront him? How do you plan to talk to him, exactly?”

I asked Leyrid, who simply smirked in her usual teasing way. …Does she think I am an idiot, or what?

“Well, we know that the only one he does not despise entirely is you, Adel.”

“So you want me to scold him?”

“No, of course not. That would just antagonize him even more.”

“...Then what do you mean?”

Leyrid giggled a bit before tipping with her finger on her lips as if she was mocking me.

“Why don't you challenge him to a one on one Show-Match? He is always going on about his great skills. If we show him, that he is not that outstanding like he thinks he is, then we might have a chance that Ralph will start working with us. He just needs to realize that he needs us, besides, it would be a great opportunity to see what he is capable of~”

Is she for real? She wants me to fight Ralph? That sounds like a stupid idea... but it's not like we have any other plan to fix his attitude...

I took a deep breath before I answered her request.

“Okay, I understand. I am going to challenge him, Leyrid.”

She was seemingly pleased with my response and Jonath gave me a thumbs up to motivate me.

“-but! I can not guarantee that I will win against Ralph. I don't know how good he is, or what kind of style he has. That is why you should not be upset if I lose.”

“Don't worry, I am sure you are going to be fine~”

Seriously, what is with Leyrid? Without realizing, I just did exactly what she wanted me to do, just like the other day when she wanted me to do the chores for her. A manipulative woman for sure...

She does not even seem to think for a moment that I could lose, is she that naive?

After we finished lunch, we began to look for Ralph. The Academy Area is pretty huge, making it difficult to think of all spots where he could be at the moment. Our first pick was the rooftop, but to our surprise, he was not there like we expected him to be.

“Not here. Where do we look now?”

“Let's check some of the lecture rooms and the boy's dormitory, Adel.”

We continued our search for him after looking at the places Leyrid suggested, but Ralph was nowhere to be seen. Not even in his room at the dormitory.

Of course, we could not get inside without a key, but after asking a teacher to open it for us, the room was empty.

“Do ya' guys think he went outside in the forest, or to the river?”

“O-or maybe he went back to the capital?”

True, those are possibilities and places we did not search for him, but at the same time, I don't think that he could be at any of those locations.

“No, we are not allowed to leave the area of the Academy and I don't think that Ralph would risk getting expelled from NEAS.”

“If ya' say so, but then again, we still have no clue where he is.”

It was then that we heard a faint voice. It sounded like aggressive screaming or rather yelling.

“Ya' hear that too, or am I imagining things?”

“No, I hear it as well.”

We looked outside his window and to our surprise, we saw Ralph in the backyard of the dormitory, training by himself with a sword. All of us were confused, as we thought that he would be lazing around somewhere.

“Do ya' see the same thing I am?!”

“Y-yes! He is training in his free time!”

“-Hm? Where are you going, Leyrid?”

I asked the girl who made her way to leave the room.

“Isn't it obvious? We know where he is, let's get him while he is still busy.”

“Pretty impatient, aren't we...”

It's no use disagreeing with her. We followed her outside and it did not take long to get to Ralph.

“-Hyah! Take this! How about a lil' of that?!”

Ralph was really concentrated on his workout and he did not realize that we were present yet. He continued to swing his sword in different directions and it took a while until he finally finished.

“Huh? Do you punks have some kind of business with me?”

He then said after noticing us. It does not seem like he is in the mood to talk, then again … I don't think he ever is so it doesn't matter.

Leyrid just smiled. Not even Ralph's ranting can shatter her self-confidence.

“Well, it is Adel right here who actually does have something with you to talk about, right?”

She just looked at me teasingly as if it would amuse her to throw me in the lion's cage.

I'm gonna get back at her for this...

With that in mind, I mustered up my courage and stepped forward to face Ralph.

“I don't like your attitude towards our Squad. Ralph, you are also a member of this group here. That is why you should try to get along with us.”

“And what makes you think that you got the right to boss me around?!”

“Vinelda kinda gave me the task to manage our little group here. You know, I'd like to avoid getting her angry by failing at it.”

Just thinking about how she'd throw me over and over to the ground because I did not what she wanted from me gives me the chills.

“Listen here, pal', that is not my problem! I already said on the very first day that I got no intention of being your guys best buddy! Just don't get in my way on the battlefield and we won't have any problems, you got me?!”

My words don't get through him. Is a duel between him and me the only option to convey our thoughts?

I sighed and clenched my fists.

“...Then would you like to prove it to me, your strength?”

“Huh? Where does that challenge come from, lil' Adel-boy?”

“You said yourself that you don't need us in a battle. If that is so then you should have no problem defeating me. I doubt the enemies on the battlefield are any weaker than I am right now, so if you can't even beat me, you will die for sure against them.”

“Brave words coming from you there! Well, it pissed me off anyway that you think you're on par with me! Just because I acknowledged your results of the examination on the first day, does not make you more than just a punk in the end!”

“You better watch ya' mouth there!”

Jonath stepped in. I appreciate his good-will, but Leyrid wanted me to do it so I have to clear this myself.

“It's okay, Jonath. Let me handle it.”

“-Tch, if ya' say so...”

“Are you done with your stupid chitchat? I think Adel-boy here wanted me to rub his face across the mud!”

“We'll see about that. How about we settle this in the training facility?”

The training facility is the big hall where we had our Show-Match earlier. It is essentially the location for swordsmanship sessions and official Matches between students.

Ralph agreed, of course, making things easy to get our plan in motion. The problem remains, however, that I still don't know how the fight will go. I guess that I'll just have to try my best and see if it works out.

We entered the hall and at the same time, the lights went automatically on by our movements. It was empty since all students are either free now or still have extra lectures they take.

“Alright kiddo', I don't want to drag this out unnecessarily, so let's get started.”

Ralph went over to the field and took one side for himself.

“You better make him shut his mouth, Adel! I get anger issues just by listening to his voice, it's seriously irritating me!”

“My goal is not to injure him, Jonath. If he realizes that he has to work with us, it'll be enough.”

“Do as ya' please, Captain.”

At that moment, Rie tucked my uniform from the side. As I looked to her she had a slightly worried expression on her face.

“Make sure not to get hurt, okay?”

I smiled and gave her a pat on the head.

“Sure, I'll see to it. Thanks, guys!”

“-Hey! How long do you think you can make me wait over here, huh?!”

I turned to Ralph's direction and then left my Squad-Mates. On the other side of the field, there was a sword distribution shelf, where I borrowed a sword from the academy. Ralph already had one so he just remained on his side of the field while watching my actions.

“Better pick one that does not break easily, because I sure won't deal soft blows on your sorry ass!”

“Don't worry, I also don't have any intention of holding back.”

The reason for that is, however, that I won't stand a chance if I don't make use of everything I got. He does not need to know that.

We took our marks and switched into battle-position.

Okay, now is the moment of truth. Am I able to defeat him? Ralph got one of the best if not the best results on the examination. His attitude also shows that he is quite confident in his skills. I don't think that he is just bluffing, so he will be tough to deal with.

Ralph stood on the other side wrapping both of his hands around his sword and clenching them with visible force. On his face, there was a sinister grin, full of fighting spirit. I see, so he is going to use an aggressive style, like his personality, it seems.

I, on the other hand, only wrapped one hand on the grip of my sword holding it in front of me. My other arm stretched to my side. It is a more commonly used style. By utilizing this position, you have more control over your balance and overall, you are able to fight in different ways with it. Offensively, defensively, focusing on speed, or on versatility, it depends on the person how you want to fight with it. It should also be harder for Ralph to predict, how I will fight with it.

However, just because I can kind of see what style he utilizes, that does not mean I can counter it, and Ralph knows that. Normally, it is a disadvantage to disclose information to your enemy, but I don't think that this concerns him. He knows, whether or not I know his thoughts, he is simply going to overpower me anyway.

So what I have to do is...

“Are the participants, Adel and Ralph, of the Show-Match ready for battle?”

Leyrid's voice rang through the field. She stood at the side of the field and behind her was a console for the facility. She entered our data in the system and on the big screen in the hall, there was a picture of me and one of Ralph depicted.

“Yeah, yeah, I sure am ready to wipe his cheeky face from the academy!”

“I am also ready, Leyrid.”

Leyrid smiled for a short moment at me, kind of like a thumbs-up, and then turned around to the console, hitting a single button.

The system voice resounded and announced the beginning of the match.

“All participants prepare for battle. The Match starts in 3...2...1-”

BZZZ

As the countdown hit zero, the match started with a loud serene buzz.

None of us wasted any time. We both instantly charged at each other and opened the match with a powerful clash of our swords.

CLASH

The sound of it filled the whole hall as we stood in front of each other, pushing our weapon on another.

Just like I expected, his strike was powerful. I had a hard time trying to keep up with his sheer force. He had almost no problems at all pushing my sword to me. I even needed to step back a bit, in order to keep up. This strength of him...

“What's wrong, Adel? I expected more of you, the one who rivaled my score in the examination! Don't tell me that my teammates are that pathetic, that they are not even able to withstand a single blow? Hahaha!”

“Adel!“

“Adel…!!!“

Followed by his laughter, I got concerned shouts from my friends.

See, Leyrid? I told you from the beginning that this will be extremely hard.

But … I also said that I will try to beat him, and I don't intend to let their expectations down!

“Don't worry, Ralph! I am also just getting started!“

“Oh, I sure hope you are! Otherwise, it would have been pretty dumb of you to challenge me, pal'!“

We then parted our swords and jumped backward. Ralph did not hesitate to charge repeatedly at me, one strike being as fierce as the other.

“-Shit”

All I could do was trying to block them, one by one as they kept following up on each other.

“Oh no ... Adel...”

Rie looked worried from the sidelines at Ralph and me.

Leyrid did not seem the least concerned and laid her back against the wall, still smiling at me.

There were short opening between his attacks, however, because he needed a short moment to regain the necessary body-posture in order to deliver those powerful strikes.

I think that this could be my chance to turn the tables to my favor. All I need is one good hit on him.

With that, I took the opening and slashed my sword from above, just like he did before. That should pack enough strength, to bring him down!

It was when my hope of victory went up high as I unleashed the strike when Ralph crushed it again. All he did was throwing his sword from the side at mine to block my attack without putting much effort into it. Yet, this was enough to stop my sword from coming any closer to him.

No matter how hard I tried to push myself further in order to match his strength, my hands could not move any closer.

“Did you seriously think, a weak move like that could do any harm to me?!”

“-Tch! Leave me alone, will you!”

We parted again, now being in the same position as we have been after the very first attack.

What does he mean by a weak attack?! It is literally the same thing as he did! Is he calling his own move weak?

“Adel, the hell do ya' think you're doing?! That's not how you fought against me!”

Jonath shouted at me, where he and the others stood.

“Listen up, buddy! If ya' wanna beat him, then stop doing cheap copycats and fight seriously!”

…Copycats? Fighting seriously? What do you think I am doing over here? I am already putting all of my strength into these attacks!

While I am in deep thoughts, Ralph kept attacking me furiously.

“Stop dreamin' you punk! Are you disrespecting me?!”

...Copycat...meaning no imitations?

Wait... That's it! Ralph was not referring to the move itself as weak, but to my execution of it!

I am a complete idiot. I thought I would be able to beat Ralph using the same moves and fighting just like him when he is clearly better at it!

What I need to do, is doing it my own way and not how others do! I beat Jonath before, meaning that I already have found my own way of fighting!

Finally, I pushed back against Ralph's sword again.

“-Oh? Did you finally decide to take this seriously, kid?!”

“Yeah, sorry I kind of wanted to try out, how you can fight like that. It's pretty plain, you know?”

Ralph just grinned amusedly at me.

“Big words coming from someone who is losing!”

We backed off from the clash of our swords. Ralph did not want to give me an opportunity to retreat safely and proceeded to attack me the instance we parted.

I won't fight poorly like before. This time, I'll show you what I have learned already!

I blocked his attack, but not like before. This time, I spun around and clashed my sword with his horizontally. The impact was so great, that Ralph almost lost the grip of his sword.

“Wha- the hell was that, punk?!”

“A nice little move I learned before the match against Jonath!”

I smiled at Ralph. Finally, I can fight him back. I found hope again that I could beat him.

“Just like that, Adel! Way to go!”

Jonath shouted again at me, but this time, he was enthusiastic.

I may have not the same raw strength as Ralph does, but I have many other areas where I exceed.

Ralph had to back off as he was thrown off-balance which gave me tons of openings to strike.

Unlike his fierce fighting style where he puts a lot of strength into a single attack, I made use of my higher speed and balance-control. That is why I could deal many strikes from different directions with varying strengths in them.

Left, right, from above or beneath, I made use of all possible open areas where I could deal a direct blow at him. In some of them, I integrated spinning to strike with even more power and more speed.

It was clear that Ralph had a lot of problems, trying to keep up with my attacks. While he has power, he is not nearly as fast as me and his stamina is getting drained away with each hit he is blocking.

“Why, you little- Don't underestimate me!”

Ralph went for a counter attack as I charged the next strike.

He made a fast spinning-kick to negate my attack and immediately put a lot of his remaining strength into a powerful strike from above.

...I see it, the direction his sword is going to fly down. I can avoid it!

I took a half step to the side, leaned forward and swung my sword from beneath. When it connects like that, his sword will soar through the air, making me the winner.

This is it, victory is at last mine!

RRRRRRRRR

“ALERT. MISSING PERMISSION FOR MATCH DETECTED. CURRENT ACTION MARKED AS A VIOLATION OF RULES. DATA TRANSMITTED TO ACADEMY STAFF.”

Our fight was interrupted by the loud serene and announcement of the academy system. We froze in our current pose, our swords only being inches away from each other.

“-What is going on here?!”

Jonath shouted startled. He was visibly irritated by the announcement just like the rest of us were. Even Leyrid was surprised and looked at the main screen in the hall.

“-Tch! I expected as much, but not this early!”

Ralph said while backing off from me.

What did he mean by that? Not this early?

“You knew that the system would give off an alarm?”

I asked him then. The room was still filled with the sound of the alert from the academy system.

“Don't tell me, you did not know that unofficial fights like these are prohibited by the academy! Are you complete airheads?!”

All of us looked at each other in shock. No one knew about this rule. Leyrid neither from the looks of it.

“-Ahh! Screw this! See for yourself that you get your asses out of here as soon as you can, punks!”

Ralph warned us as he ran towards the door, making his way outside.

“Oh, and Adel-kid!”

“Huh?”

“That fight ... Not bad, you are better than I thought. However, you better don't get cocky! Next time I will teach you a lesson you won't forget!”

With that, Ralph left, leaving us four behind.

Leyrid immediately ran after him and turned at the door towards us.

“Come on guys, get going! The teachers are going to be here soon!”

“-Ahhh! What a hassle!”

Jonath shouted and ran to the door. Rie and I followed them outside, hoping we will not run into the teacher's open arms.

About Ralph … I don't know whether he acknowledges us now as his Squad-Members or not. However, I do know that this was a great step in the right direction for our groups future.