“I have to warn you. I’m pretty good at this. So you better pick a good sword.” The guy was walking throughout the room and lecturing me. Actually, he was being awfully thorough with his warnings.

What the hell did I get myself into?

Apparently, after coming inside the club room, everyone understood the situation and they just agreed to let us duel. I got a feeling that all of this was scripted but I let it slide.

Selene and I were going to have a pretty long detailed discussion after this. And just where the hell had she ran away, after making me go through this?

There were a lot of faces here that I never saw before. Come to think of it, I didn’t interact with the seniors ever. I only knew a few of them. I didn’t even know people from my own grade.

There were only two faces here that I recognized. One I’d never talked to before. The other? I didn’t care about: Robert.

Robert was sitting in a corner smirking at me but I just ignored him.

There were all sorts of whispers coming my way. The captain was out and so were most of the top members. But the remaining ones did treat me pretty well. So well, that it started giving me a lot of suspicions.

“Which models are you most comfortable with? We even have top-class models but you’ll have to be compatible to some extent to use them. We can do some synergy tests-” One of the seniors was showing me swords.

The floor was made of wood and creaked every now and then. So walking around was pretty scary.

Apparently, I could choose any sword and they were even willing to let me use valuable top-class swords. Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested.

“Can I get two base models? And it wouldn’t be a problem if they blow up, right? Oh, and is there anyone here who can create a barrier to prevent any unwanted explosions from creating too much damage?” It was probably a bit too late to ask these questions but I didn’t have much of a choice.

“Blow up?” The senior’s face went a little pale. “I think we can arrange a barrier.” She was chuckling a bit too much. Had I said something funny?

After a few minutes, the captain came out. “Alright, I’ll explain the rules. There will be no injuring your opponent. Mild bruises are unavoidable but purposely trying to cripple your opponent would mean disqualification.”

I had no idea how the captain knew about this duel without even being here but it made me even more suspicious about this thing being scripted.

So I have to hold back?

If they could arrange a barrier then that meant I could fight freely. But if injuring my opponent was out of the question, then that meant I’d be at a very big disadvantage. But then again this rule was probably created to ensure I didn’t get injured on my first battle. Just how much were they underestimating me?

I thought hard on it. “Would creating long term health hazards also be treated as a-”

“We would appreciate if you didn’t give him cancer.”

Apparently, my powers were famous.

“Alright, I’ve already got the permission to use the court. All that’s left is to get a judge.” Selene made her appearance: she was sweaty. She must have been running around a lot. I really wanted to have a word with her later though.

“I can be a judge but you might think of me being bias. I’ll ask the disciplinary committee if they could spare anyone.” The captain sure seemed enthused enough. But I never said I’d consider him biased. There was something bigger at play here. Something that I still couldn’t understand yet.

I did not like where this was going, though.

I initially thought this was going to be some sort of mock battle and it’ll go down quickly. And since Selene kind of set me up, losing wasn’t a bad idea either. But this sure wasn’t any of those sorts. This became a lot bigger deal than I ever thought. And to a point, where losing would mean my name being plastered as a loser throughout the entire school for a few months: at least, that’s the vibe the seniors were giving me. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“He-here.” The senior gave me two ordinary sabers. They were used and looked like they could crumble if used a bit roughly. Perfect!

“You sure you want those? I mean my BExcalibur can cut through them like butter you know.” I actually still didn’t know the guy’s name.

“Who names their sword BExcaliber? And are you sure you want to use it? It sure looks pretty expensive. So wouldn’t it be bad if it breaks or something?” I was giving him a fair warning. I wasn’t some guy who’d wreck people’s things without a warning anyway. Though this was probably one of the vaguest things I said all day.

“No worries. She’s pretty specked.” Apparently, the guy really loved his sword.

Too bad.

“Alright let’s go.” The captain led us out of the club room, through the fence, to the court.

There were people here. A lot of them. I even saw some teachers dressed in disguise. Just how much free time did people have anyway? But the numbers weren’t high enough to worry me. They were still in the two digits. One thing did worry me though. This was no mere mock battle between two guys.

The court itself was round in nature and roughly ten meters in radius. We weren’t allowed to get out of there once in. Of course, actual tournament courts were bigger and had much more free room but not this one.

“Are you sure you should be taking him lightly? I mean he fought me to a draw you know?” In the corner of my vision, I saw Eve and the guy talking. She was talking loudly and glancing at me every now and then.

Where the hell did she show up from? And was the news of this fight running wild or something?

The guy snorted like it was his second nature. “Says the girl who took it easy. Don’t worry I learn from other’s mistakes.” He was being a bit too cocky if I do say so myself.

“Do you?” Eve giggled but there was no more talk between the two.

But it only got worse as more and more people crowded the boundaries.

Yup, I’d been had.

“Go get em’ tiger.” Selene was right behind me.

“Unfortunately my ears are cat ears, not ti-” I Stopped. “Why the hell am I explaining things to you!” I was kind of pissed at this whole thing. Was this their way of deceiving me or something?

“I do appreciate you fighting for my sake you know.” She touched her chest and stared directly in my eyes. Apparently, she was serious.

I sighed. “Yeah sure,” I managed. “But don’t blame me if I lose.”

“I know you won’t.” Again with the confidence.

Her confidence made me want to crawl down a hole and stay there. But I wasn’t totally hopeless about the fight either. I did have a plan.

With a long sigh, I entered the court with my two sabers: they glowed with a faint blue tint. It took a lot of effort from me to make sure I wasn’t leaking out radiation anywhere near my hands. I didn’t want to blow myself up, no sir!

The guy entered through the other side.

“There will be no dirty fighting. You can only use your powers on the swords but not on your opponent. I’m sure both of you are already aware of that. “There was a new voice. I’d heard it before. It was that same Dickville guy. He was actually standing behind me. I hadn’t seen him and I had no expectations that he’d show up.

“AH lord dick-“The Captain froze in his speech the moment he saw Dick’s glare. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, the disciplinary squad leader himself will be our judge for the day. Good luck both of you. Are you ready?” He looked at me first and then at the guy whose name I was yet to learn. We both nodded. “Begin!”