Since there were quite a few support oriented students in every level, the tournament which only included the combat oriented students was composed of extremely few participants from every year batch of students. The total number of paticipants roughly totalled up to around 80 students.
The first match was a team match. Roughly 20 teams of 4 battled each other and 10 teams will come out victorious to go on to the next match. That left 40 students to do a series of 3 1 v 1 matches. The last 5 winners will battle it out to be the victor of the tournament. This tournament roughly determined your rank in school by gauging your strength and potential , which wasn't limited to your year batch. So you could have a high rank and still be a first year.
The ranks gave some perks and privileges in school, essentially there were 5 ranks, starting from the highest it was a pentagon print on the top of your wrist, right below your knuckles. Then the next was a square followed by a triangle, followed by 2 parallel lines and lastly a vertical line that led from the middle of your knuckles to your wrist. As you could have guessed it, the rank corresponds to the number of lines on your wrist.
The lowest rank, mainly meant that you needed help, thus they were in the second class of that particular year batch instead of the first. The second class has longer lessons and less break, so that the students could improve and receive more assistance in learning. This 'second class' system is used in every year and the students may sometimes be looked down upon by the students in the 'first class' which is just a side effect of many systems that seperate people based on results.
The second lowest rank and the middle rank essentially meant that the students had potential and were also placed in the second class.
The highest and second highest rank go to the 'first class' where lessons were generally much faster and lesser in comparison. It conpletely depended on the student's ability to learn fast or they face a chance to go to the 'second class' due to failing theory examination. The students with the 2 highest ranks also have a privilege to consult teachers for advanced learning, though it's roughly just getting extra lessons and matching the amount of study hours as the students from the 'second class'. The actual privilege of being in the 'first class' was that the king of the kingdom visited yearly and it apparently helped extremely well with your resume.
In order to get the middle rank, you just had to win in the team match. After that you just needed to win a single 1 v 1 match to get the second highest rank. Due to 3 quarters of the student population being in the 'second classes', there was generally very less tension between them. People who picked fights were really rare and were usually reprimanded if they even had the slightest intention to get violent. Everyone here was a noble after all.
In order to get the highest rank, you had to win the second 1 v 1 match, which essentially made you one of the "top 10" in the school. Usually, the 7 great families easily enter the "top 10" and the 3 other noble students would also be recognised as great individuals. The 7 great families had many other branch families that entered the "top 10" when their heirs weren't old enough to enter the school yet. Obviously it wasn't healthy to "make a heir" every year.
The support oriented students were generally rare, so they get a free pass to the 'first class' unless they failed their magic theory test. Generally, if their employers found that they were in 'first class' due to just being support oriented, it only helps them get hired by the national military which actually pays them decently well. They would get mugged for money by their adventuring parties unless they were paid so well that they don't bother mugging the defenceless noble. The reason why support oriented classes were rare was because of how classes worked in this world. Classes are usually hereditary unless you had a strong will to differ from your parents or a strong will that wanted to achieve some other goal. My goal was to assassinate my uncle, that or the vadim family was a clan of assassins, I don't actually know.
In this world where immense strength can offset numbers and strategy, teamwork only mattered half the time if the enemy wasn't overwhelming. Basically the first match which consisted of teams only served to weed out the weak. There were a few teachers at the sparring ground where the tournament is held, they worked together to set up a barrier that numbed the pain of the participants and prevented them from dying by sending them out once they reach half health. After being sent out by the barrier, another team of teachers will heal them, so there was no real danger. That is if I don't behead and instantly kill them before they get sent out. That will be difficult as my speed will sever their whole bodies in half if I don't hold back.
The first round started, other than me my team had 2 front liners and 1 back liner. The enemy team consisted of 1 front liner and 3 backliners. Putting strength into my legs, I shot for ward and kicked through one of the back liner's torso. They were immediately sent out, leaving me with half my leg bloody. About to attack another back liner, the front liner of the enemy team shouted for surrendar. Apparently my display scared them to the point that 1 of the back liners shat their pants as I almost attacked them. The other 2 were shivering vigorously. The one who was injured by me was immediately healed by a priest nearby.
Oh, right. Outsiders were allowed to spectate the tournament and a priest just happened to be nearby. Due to the size of the sparring ground, 4 matches were allowed to go on at once. After the team matches it was the 1 v 1 that ended the day. The tournament would continue for 2 more days before ending.
My enemy in the 1 v 1 was a front liner that grew overconfidant. "Haha, little girl. Surrender now unless you want to be defeated utterly. It is not my preference to fight little girls!" (Random noble student)
"Check my stats you bitch!"
Before he could reply, I was already under his bossom. I pulled my fist down with strength and injected all my remaining strength into my right foot that supported my whole body. My left foot was practically in the air as I push my fist up his neck as fast as I could with a spring like motion that coursed through my body. *Crack*, an ominous sound resounded throughout the whole sparring grounds. Collapsing on the ground and getting sent out of the barrier, it looked like he had died, but he probably used his skill and was barely hanging on to his 10% hp.
Exitting the sparring ground, most of the students were shivering at the sight, except for a select few. Looking back, there was an ominous crater left on the match ground where I had been a minutes ago. Whoops, looks like I overdid it.