Trick 3: Sword play in modern times

Inside the storage room I was astonished by the vast variety of training weapons raging from long pole arms to dulled edgeless throwing knives and morning stars. Even with the wide variety of choices, my laziness kicked in and grabbed the practice blade by the entrance and didn't bother to go in and make a choice. The weapon I grabbed appears to be a scimitar that is two thirds the length of my arm.

"Wear this and get on the platform you slow poke." mocked by the teacher after shoving me a pair of tracksuit.

This particular tracksuit is made from carbon fiber to prevent slashes and avoid any injuries even though the blades were dulled and edgeless. It also cushion strikes to avoid bruises.

I made my way on the flatform where Misaki is waiting for me. Her weapon of choice is a katana. My carelessness already gave me a huge disadvantage in terms of reach.

I position myself on the line drawn of the flatform and took my stance.

A question suddenly hits my head hard. Why are we even having a sword fight? I mean we have Plastic and rubber ammo guns and even lazer sensored vests in this time of age. Why an outdated close combat? Who in their right mind would pull out a sword to fight let alone carry one in public. What's the point with all this?

"Naoshi Misaki against Gebara Mikeru... Begin!" The teacher shouted.

"Go Mikeru! You can Do it!" Gen cheered on the side.

Misaki took the first move and swung her katana forward. I blocked by swinging my scimitar upwards. It threw both of us with a huge opening. She then quickly recovered using her quick footwork and spun following with a full swing slash. I imitated her spin and swung my blade upwards leaving us with the same opening as before. I then hopped backwards to regain footing.

Misaki is indeed talented with the blade which hits me another set of questions. How is she good with it? And what's in the school system while I'm rotting in AGE?

"Not bad for a half blind." Misaki taunting praised my movements.

"I'm just making sure I play the right cards."

"how about you set the table this time." provokes Misaki while pointing her blade at me.

I took a stance rasing my blade to my left back. Misaki took a stance as if she is waiting for a right moment to slice me in half with just one swing. I charged leaning forward.

I swung my blade too early. With this distance, I wont reach her but She can reach me. Misaki then took the bait and took her swing.

Using the momentum of my missed swing as I jumped, I dodged her swing while spinning in the air. I landed closing the distance between us. Enough to reach her neck and take my win.

"The winner... Gebara Mikeru!" The teacher declared.

Loud cheers from our classmates echoes the room.

"I underestimated a half blinded orphan like you. I admit defeat." Misaki said in a slightly frustrated tone.

"I have a name you know!"

She Just turned her back on me and went down from the flatform. Before I can even get off, the teacher stopped me.

"You stay there. Since we got no one to pair up with Kosaru and You look very skilled, Fight him." the teacher said with a smugged look that you really want to punch.

"Yo Gebara! don't hold back cuz I won't either!" Kosaru said while spinning his staff.

Kosaru charged before the teacher could initiate the fight. I was caught in surprise but managed to block the thrust and redirect it to my left. He quickly followed it up with swings from all directions possible. I somehow able to block them but unable to gain a proper opening to counterattack.

"Ya pretty good!" Kosaru praised my while pressuring me with his flurry of attacks.

As I am running out of Ideas, Kosaru then swung upwards. I blocked it leaving my weapon flying upwards as well. With that swing, he left his legs open so I swept it with a kick.

He fell face down and I placed my foot on top of him to prevent him from standing up.

"The winner... Mikeru!" the teacher declared.

Once again, our classmates cheered in entertainment.

"Yo man's pretty good! I say we make a good team!" Kosaru praised.

"You're pretty good too! All that pressure almost made me lose my calm." I praised him back.

I reached out my hand and helped him. We then get off the platform and went to change off our tracksuits.

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All three of us became celebrities and got a crowd surround us. They gave us praises and questions regarding our skills. It's pretty troublesome.

Claire-sensei finally arrived along with our data sheets from the exams. She saved us from our troublesome classmates. To be honest, the ones that were annoyed were just Misaki and me since Kosaru seems to be boastful with his crowd.

"I got some news for all of you. To start with a good one, all Three of you passed the Qualifications to become class Combatants."

Everyone cheered but was silenced by Claire-sensei with a straight face.

"But due to lacking one Qualified participant. We are to discuss which class should you be moved to. The minimum requirement for class Combatants to qualify for the draft are four. Since the other classes already have have a complete team we are going to exchange students and move the three of you there."

"Yo isn't it Bull? We ain't moving nowhere!" Kosaru objects.

"I guess its for the best." Misaki counters Kosaru.

I stud up and walked to the front and swiped the data sheets from Claire-sensei's Desk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Claire-sensei glared at me in annoyance.

"I think the Qualification Exam is biased to only Melee centered Combatants. All the potential Combatants that are specialized in Mid to long range are in a total disadvantage." I answered her while browsing through the Data sheets.

"Your point being?" she questioned my words with interest.

"The storage for practice weapons includes some throwable weapons. It wondered me why it exist."

"Its to provide support in combat. You could have grabbed some if you wanted you know!" She boasted while crossing her arms.

"You're on point to what I am thinking Sensei. What we need to complete our team is a support who is capable of aiming with those throwable weapons. It would be optimal since all three of us are good at melee combat. It would be like a sniper backing up the assault team. It would be too messy if all four of us would be melee Combatants. Where would he be attacking from?" I spouted out a senario to back my logic.

"With four melee Combatants one would go forward while the other two would be at flank. The last one would be behind them doing nothing until one of the three gives way." Misaki voiced her thoughts.

"That would mean we won't be optimizing our strength at the first attack and would lack pressure. And to Optimize it, we need to synergize and plan our positioning before hand. To much thinking would also lose our pressure to secure a win! Yo! Mikeru Got it good man!"

I was surprised with Kosaru giving out some productive deduction from Misaki's response.

"I will take that into consideration then. Indeed your strategy is very knowledgeable. As expected from a student from AGE. Given that you would want a support for your team unless no one is capable let alone willing to also participate as a Combatant then I am afraid we must proceed with the transferring. Since you're looking for a mid-range combatant I would would have this last person take a special qualifications exam if you can find one." Claire-sensei said with expectation and challenge.

"That won't be needed. We already got one. He almost got an ace from the accuracy and precision tests and his physique, flexibility, and agility is enough to keep himself in a safe distance."

I made an eye contact with Remi and she gave me smirk and a tumbs up.