CH.5 - Combat Practice Day of a Swordsman

"I will now explain how we will proceed..." Meld started to explain how the tournament will proceed.

Basically everyone will draw a letter from A to D with five person in every group, they will then fight each other. At the end of all fights, the first of every group will face each other, the second of every group and this until the fifth. Everyone waited for Kouki to draw first and no one dared to do first, seeing this Kouki was smiling and was about to talk before he went to draw but was shut down before even a word could go out from his mouth since a person decided to draw.

It was of course Enkai, when he saw no one coming to draw he went to Meld and took a piece of wood where the letter was written. Everyone was silent, well Shizuku and Kaori were smiling and having a hard time not laughing when they Kouki's face becoming a little cramped.

"What are you all doing here standing like trees ? Let's go, oh and Meld-san, I got the D group." Eikan said completely obvious to the situation but not caring in the least, he then went back to his place.

"All right everyone he is right let's go and get started !" Meld said also smiling from this character different from the masse.

Eikan group was composed of :

Hiyama Daisuke

Yuka Sonobe

Jugo Nagayama

Ryutarou Sakagami

From what Enkai heard when they were having dinner Hiyama was a Light Warrior, Yuka an Acrobat, Jugo a Heavy Knight and Ryutarou a Monk. He didn't know their exact stats but anyway there was only one way to know and it was by fighting. Alas Enkai knew that the only outcome was their defeat for some, and humiliation for one.

The other group were also composed with Kouki in the group A and Shizuku in the group B and no one noteworthy in the C.

The first fight was him against Hiyama. Of course when Enkai saw Hiyama's face he already knew what was going to happen since surrender was allowed. But will Eikan allow him ? Of course not.

They were in an arena relatively big which was about 15 meter by 15 meter in the training ground. The both of them entered the arena under the eyes of Meld and all classmate, no one was making a noise they were curious about Enkai's power but more about the out come since Hiyama was knockout by Enkai.

"Begin !" Meld screamed

"I surre-" Before Hiyama could finish he received a punch from Enkai, he was not using his sword since he didn't want to kill him. Hiyama got up again but just received another punch more powerful which knocked out Hiyama once again.

"I thinks that's it" Enkai said.

"Myojo-kun is the winner" Meld announced.

"Hey ! Hiyama was going to surrender why did you hit that hard, you could had won without doing it, you are using your power in the wrong way Myojo-kun !" Kouki, of course immediately came to bicker with Enkai.

"Hmm ? Did he ? I'am so sorry, I was so focused on this fight that I didn't heard him, when he wakes up tell him I'am sorry" Enkai replied to Kouki with a smirk. Obviously no one believed his word.

"It's not the place to bicker Kouki-kun we need to finish the tournament today, you can solve your issue after" Meld interrupted with a loud cough.

Gritting his teeth Kouki went back to his seat while in the stand everyone already knew that it will be the outcome, some were thrilled about Hiyama getting his ass get kicked and some were fearful about Enkai's retaliation because of their bullying. The people from Enkai's group already knew that their fight will be difficult so they got more ready.

The last fight of group D was not something noteworthy since no one knew to fight, Yuka surrendered to everyone in the group where Ryutarou won against Jugo in a good fight. Enkai did not bother with the two of them and used his greatest asses, his speed to simply put the sword against their neck. He kept his speed at reasonable level so that no one would be suspicious but enough to defeat them.

As for the other group, Kouki won against everyone and Shizuku too everyone was surrendering after they saw their classmate lose, Enkai wondered the real goal of this test today. For group C someone named Kousuke Endou, he won since his speed was higher than everyone else. His class was Assassin.

After the fights finished the first of each group were facing each other. To get finished quickly everyone will be fighting at the same time. For the first match Enkai was against Endou, and not surprising anyone, he won when Endou saw a sword under his neck. Kouki won against Shizuku, but with difficulty since she was superior in swordsmanship. After that he was against Shizuku. Before the match she talked to him.

"Let's have a good match I'am also a swordmaster...like before, let's see if I improved" Shizuku, but whispering the last part to him which Enkai heard.

As much as Enkai wanted to smile, he remembered what happened between them and said nothing and got into a stance. At least for this match, he was only going to use swordsmanship against her, he wanted to win using skill instead of stats. Shizuku only sighed and showed a sad smile to her friend Kaori seeing the lack of response.

"Begin !" A soldier said, since Meld was a referee in Kouki's fight instead.

The both of them launched at each other slashing their sword at the same moment. The both of them were using the same style, the Yaegashi Style, a style of samurai martial arts has been developed by the "Yaegashi Dojo" that had been around for generations. Though its primarily focused on Kenjutsu, more suitable for weapons like a "katana", but it also has Iaijutsu techniques which utilizes the scabbard and also Taijutsu techniques which employed hand to hand combat.

They were exchanging blow and fighting back at everyone move they allowed. It gathered the attention of the other student who stopped fighting to see them.

After a long exhausting exchange. they jumped back, not everyone could see it but Shizuku was much more exhausted than Enkai, it was the difference between the stats and also the mastery, which Enkai had higher one. After a few seconds of staring at each other they went at it again. But Enkai rapidly gained the upper hand, and with his momentum slash with a high force at her, which in response she blocked but the strength behind the slash was too much and she lost the balance. Enkai used this chance to knock her weapon out from her hand and put his blade on her neck while holding her a little so that she don't fall down.

"You won...again" Shizuku said with a genuine smile at her childhood friend even tough she didn't expected an answer.

"Yeah, thanks for the fight" Enkai replied with a neutral face while smiling inside his head. He helped her gained her balance and bowed to her as a sign of respect a gave back her sword.

Shizuku was shocked, she didn't expect an answer from him, less a "thanks", she was really happy but hide it quickly even tough she was dazed for a few seconds as she also bowed and went to Kaori with a happy smile which dazed her classmates and Kouki was a bit awkward seeing this smile and had a bad feeling he also saw Enkai using the Yaegashi Style so he wanted to asked Shizuku about it. Her classmate then clapped the both for their wonderful fight.

As for Kaori when she heard what happened from Shizuku she was just happy for her while teasing her a little bit in secret.

"Alright it was a beautiful fight anyone can attest that but no one finished his own except Kouki so start again, you will have a fifteen minutes brake after that before your last match, let's go !" Meld interrupted everyone, and reminded them about their fight.