The first sign of everything going to hell was how quickly Victoria lost.
He used a difficult style for Jacob to analyse.
For the entire lesson, Jacob had been disappointed by how little his combat system had been updated.
He had managed to fully analyse all the fighters, with the only exception being the other side's Jin clan members who he had only gotten to 64%.
Sadly, although he could now use counter combat on his classmates, the actual rewards towards his combat styles were minimal.
His best guess was that the only data used on his combat styles was what could be applied to him, hence anything involving throwing firebolts or blasts of wind was pretty much useless.
Despite this, the Jin clan student did manage to provide enough data for his [Dexterity style] to reach beginner.
Strangely, no matter how much he tried to analyse other fighters, his styles refused to gain a single percentage once they had evolved to the beginner state.
He wasn't sure why, and analysis had little to say about the matter.
It seemed that the inbuilt system was not something he was allowed to understand immediately.
Thankfully Arthur's style, while slow to analyse, was nourishing his strength style, bringing it to 90% as Victoria lost.
She limped off the field looking frustrated at her loss and almost… Apologetic? Towards Jacob to be specific.
A little weird since she owed him pretty much nothing and had performed the best in the group so far.
A fact that Jacob, being the socially inept person that he was, didn't use to lift her spirits.
Instead, he was considering who to send up first.
They did have the advantage, he reckoned he could take Fredrick in a one-on-one.
Not much of a claim considering his opponent would be a literal 14-year-old child, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right?
With that in mind, he decided on Ressana.
Victoria had lost and she was one of their better fighters, maybe even their best.
But Ressana had an actual weapon she could use, practically a cheat in this fight.
Although each of them had been through a nightmare trial, that didn't mean they were used to dealing with life-and-death combat scenarios. While many of the trials had life-threatening dangers, they typically allowed some room for mistakes.
The trial was always aimed at normal individuals, if they were 'lucky' then they would have some real-life experience with danger but otherwise the trial shouldn't have any facets that leave no room for error.
The same couldn't be said for a bladed weapon.
Anyone who hasn't been in a fight against someone with a knife wouldn't be able to properly comprehend the difference.
Not just in reach or lethality but the psychological effect.
A cut is a much more obvious and disconcerting wound than a bruise.
Not to mention that after a single cut, a psychological effect doubles down as people begin to focus on the blade even more. The weapon goes from 'something they have to watch' to 'the most important thing to watch'.
He hoped that the reason Arthur had won was because of a combination of decent skill and Victoria's lack of stamina after fighting twice before.
"FINALLY" Ressana cried out after getting the go-ahead from Jacob.
She practically leapt into the arena, summoning her cutlass as she did.
"Come on pretty boy, let's see if there's more to ya than a nice face!" she shouted, pointing at him with her sea-faring weapon.
"Ah, I didn't know we were allowed to use relics, sorry." He responded calmly, grasping at the air as he began to slowly pull something from a bright light.
A second later a meter-long two-handed sword was held in a battle stance by the young man.
"…Shit" Jacob said.
Sure enough, once the battle started properly it went downhill fast.
The two classed as a flurry of metal danced between them. Small cuts appeared on Ressana's body as she fought the young man.
Sadly the amount of cuts she managed to return in kind was much lower in number.
His plan was going to be a lot less effective since he was relying on Ressana's sword summoning spiritual ability to give them an advantage.
It was clear to everyone that Arthur had a Jin mana affinity, and was making full use of it throughout the fight.
Ressana was strong and had good instincts. But if Jacob had to be honest, he would put her actual battle strength in this fight below Victoria.
Not because she was weaker, but because she couldn't utilise her flintlock or her affinity for water-type environments.
Luckily, she had something Vicotria didn't, cunning.
Partway through the fight, she broke off from their engagement, ignoring the cut she got doing so and summoned her pistol, aiming it roughly at her opponent.
Anyone in that position would halt, dodge, or otherwise react to the new weapon in play.
But Arthur wasn't anyone, in an instant he recognised the weapon, its use and its lethality and concluded it as a bluff due to the non-lethal nature of the duel.
The problem with that assumption was that Ressana rarely acted within the line of common sense.
*CRACK*
A blast rang out in the arena as some of the ground was thrown up from the missed ball of lead, right next to Arthur's feet.
This did cause him to stumble in surprise slightly, but only slightly.
Once again, he instantly understood the move to be a bluff and regained his momentum, setting his sights on his target, only to be met with the barrel of the pistol.
In that instant, he noticed three things. One, based on her stance Ressana had full confidence in the shot. Two, she was already pulling the trigger. Three, he could potentially die.
In that instant, another shot rang out.
*CRACK*
A moment of silence.
Well, half a moment, because Ressana was already making her next move, a solid roundhouse kick to the new corpse's head.
Or not.
At that moment Aruthur's body blurred, energy radiated from it as the air hummed.
And in the next instant blue sparks dance inside the arena as Arthur appeared behind Ressana's back, swinging the blunt side of his blade at her head.
And with that, it was over.
Arthur had won his second round.
And revealed his dual affinity status.