The next day Arthurs class was officially assigned to the ring. Their opponents were a class that strictly used sword and shield. The class was ecstatic, as they had practiced for weeks on how to counter such opponents, but Arthur reminded them that the classroom and real life were totally different. This class may have learned a completely different fighting style as the system skill only gave him the basics of an unnamed form.
Being a class of only twenty-eight competitors, there was a possibility that two people in Arthur's class may have to fight twice if the score was a tie. Mackenzie and Asura had already volunteered, but neither of them thought that they would have so many losing matches that it would come to that. All they had to do was win sixteen matches, when they hit that number they would automatically advance.
The cadets had all drew slips of papers with one through twenty-eight on them to determine the match order. Somehow, Mackenzie had drew number one and walked up to the ring for her first and, hopefully, only match.
Mackenzie waited for her opponent and was met by a stocky well built young cadet who had the expected sword and shield. Standing more than a foot taller than her, he got in his stance with his shield up and sword at the ready.
"Don't underestimate your opponent Mackenzie!" Yelled Arthur before the whistle was blown.
Mackenzie shook her head and led with a quick thrust that was immediately blocked with the shield. Her opponent swung his sword at her side and Mackenzie expertly deflected it.
It was obvious from the spectators that these two in the ring were probing each other's defenses before mounting a real attack.
Mackenzie tried a few other quick attacks from various angles and were all blocked by the shield. Her opponent did the same and was equally repelled.
Having a good idea of her opponents skills, Mackenzie went in with all that she had.
She thrust her naginata towards her opponents chest. Her opponent dropped his shield and purposely let the blade slip by his side. Trapping the blade under his arm, he rammed his shield up with all his strength hitting the shaft of the naginata trying to knock it Mackenzie's hands.
Seeing she was in trouble, she quickly retracted the handle before it was too late, turning her naginata into a curved short sword. Her opponent charged forward with his sword for an overhead chop. Mackenzie blocked the chop only to get hit by a shield bash in the face, dropping her to the ground and almost knocking her out cold.
Mackenzie knew she was in trouble as rivers of blood came from her nose, but she was still in the fight. Her opponent, not giving her time to rest, ran forward to finish her off. Mackenzie extended her naginata again, and used all her strength to sweep her opponents legs out from under him. She quickly hopped up from the ground and stumbled from vertigo but recovered just in time.
Seeing her opponent on the ground, she thrust her naginata at him just to have her naginata glance off the annoying shield.
There was a reason most units used a sword and shield and everyone was seeing it before their very eyes. In a skilled opponents hands, it was exceptionally hard to break that defense.
Mackenzie watched as her opponent hopped up and charged her again. She feinted left with her naginata, and as her opponent went to block with his shield, she retracted the handle, spun to the left, extended her naginata again mid spin and struck the opponents foot, causing him the crouch down and protect the injury. Mackenzie ran forward, jabbed her weapon down so the opponents shield would be angled up. Seeing the shield where she wanted it, she continued forward, and used the shield as a launch pad to jump and twist in the air. Bringing her naginata back around, she struck her opponent on his unprotected back ending the fight.
And just like that, the match was over and Mackenzie walked out of the ring
"I still think the retracting handle in a fight is a cheap parlor trick, but there's no such thing as a fair fight" Thought Arthur as he nodded approvingly at Mackenzie as she walked out of the ring.
"Let's get that nose cleaned up in case you have to fight again" said Arthur has Mackenzie walked by him headed towards the medic on assigned to their company for the tournament.
The next few matches were hit and miss. Arthur's class did good but not good enough to his standards. They were stronger and faster in a lot of cases, but some of the students' weapon choices were at a disadvantage to the sword and shield combo. Some of the cadets did really well, and some obviously struggled. There were a couple of halberd users that tried to use the retracting handle trick to no avail and ended up losing pretty earlier in the fight.
Arthur thought this was a good lesson for the class though. They were finally battling skilled opponents and learning the hard way that combat was more than training and sparring. Real opponents don't wait for you to recover, they try to kill or incapacitate you as fast as possible.
By round twenty-two they still needed one more fight to win the bracket. Arthur crossed his fingers as he watched Asura walked up to the ring, finally being her turn. She had been impatiently waiting for her chance and she finally got the opportunity to prove her combat effectiveness. Asura still had not forgotten her seemingly draw with Mackenzie not to long ago and could not lose her matchup knowing Mackenzie won hers. In her eyes, that was the same as losing to her in a direct fight.
The Sword and dagger weren't very good counters to the sword and shield, but Arthur had faith that Asura could somehow pulled it off. Mackenzie did win her matchup with the naginata, and that was a lot harder matchup.
Asura walked to the stage and awaited her opponent. Her opponent soon stepped up and she was a girl around the same height and stature as herself.
"Win the bracket right here Asura, you can do it!" Yelled Arthur as the whistle was blown and both competitors started probing each others defenses.