The open tournament, one each day for four days, started with the culling. Instead of the small ring for two, the entire school yard was used for a battle royal, where participants had to leave when tapped out. It ended when the judges decided there were sixteen left. Twenty-four pennants tilted upwards by the stands, one for them each. Eight would fall.

  Ioha wondered why the school allowed a free-for-all that might actually end up fairly. The answer to his question came when they made ready for battle. Between the stands, every noble knight lined up, protecting the remaining noble participants from the two other classes. There were fifteen nobles and nine commoners on the field. Three cats, one knight and five mercs.

  A wall of seven heavily armoured knights came marching against them, and the screen made it difficult to see what happened behind them.

  One commoner girl, a merc, got too close to the onrushing knights. She just vanished between two of them. Ioha moved so he had Canadena and Karaki behind him. A protective wall was sound tactics. He chanced a brief look at the stands. They’re still all up?

  He looked at the advancing knights.

  Ai’s screeching roar carried all over the field.

  What the hell?

  “Let me go! They’re killing her!”

  All pennants were still up.

  Ioha lost his composure, and his dormant status display came alive with a burst of ability changes.

  I hate you! It was a thought, but it felt like it reached every corner of the school yard.

  The knights staggered and stopped.

  You dirty cowards!

  One by one, in a disorganised jumble, they all came rushing at him.

  I give you pain!

  On their way to assault him, Ioha saw several of them tearing at their own faces. Then, all of a sudden, two cats leapt over their guardian knights and rushed him. They didn’t as much as look at how the commoner knight closed in on them with three mercs in tow.

  Ioha threw four non-volatile fields between cats and knights. The latter would soon all find out what had happened to Anthony. Just in case, he created a hard shield just in front of where he hoped their friendly knight would make a stand.

  Without any cohesion left in what was once an organised line of knights, Ioha saw how the bleeding merc lying prone on her face suddenly leapt to her feet and fled the field. Further behind her, Ai collapsed in convulsions and even from this distance, Ioha felt her burning through aura at an alarming rate.

  My field! My battle! My domain! I’m your lord! Face me and face me alone!

  To his left, a bit ahead, one cat took a swing at one of the female mercs. Then he fell to his knees and blood burst from his eyes, nose and mouth. She spat in disgust and smashed him into the ground. At the same time, both the knight and another merc rammed their weapons into the back of the remaining cat, who stared at Ioha with a mixture of uncertainty and fear.

  All but one pennant still pointed upwards. The fallen one represented the girl who ran to the relative safety of the logistics students.

  Wrath!

  Any normal day, this was when fatigue ate him. His casting was inefficient, and he didn’t even fully understand the effects of some of the abilities he just used, which meant they came with an enormous cost in aura. Low on aura, he usually lost all his aura extending abilities, or, even best case, their effects were greatly diminished. Now his aura grew despite him burning through it like there was no tomorrow. Dimly aware he created aura out of hate and rage, Ioha rushed the knights caught in magic goo. He threw shields in a wide circle around him, hemming himself and his closest fellow combatants inside. Then they all went to work on the struggling knights. Canadena and Karaki tapped one each, but the pennants still stayed up. Then they slugged the knights to the ground one after another. Still, the pennants stayed up.

  Around them, whispers grew to angry shouts from windows facing the school-yard, but Ioha was too busy to care. He put up shields and fields to hinder the more nimble of their opponents who tried to weave their way through the obstacles he had created.

  “Enough!” The voice cut through the mayhem, and all the fighting kids who could still stand just stopped. Some even dropped their weapons. “I’m in command of a tournament and not this travesty. Shame on you!” Ioha could recognise that voice anywhere. Rede the greybeard teacher.

  Two rose from the stands. The Japanese murderer and the vice principal. “You don’t have the authority to…”

  “Enough!”

  Lord Clevasti?

  “Tally the results! Make sure it’s in order! I don’t see sixteen standing.”

  Corrupt or not, Lord Clevasti still had a reputation to take care of. Rigging the tournament was one thing; blatantly breaking their own rules in the presence of hundreds of eyes was another.

  Ioha staggered to where Ai lay shaking. When rage left him, so did all his remaining strength. From each side, he welcomed Canadena’s and Karaki’s supporting arms, and he used their feet instead of his own to cross the gravel. They were soon joined by the remaining commoner participants. He dimly saw them waving to the windows, and just before he reached Ai, a roar of approval descended from the windows. Commoners or not, they were the underdogs who stood up against twice their numbers, and everyone loved an underdog.

  Two more steps.

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  Ai sat up.

  I love you.

  “Self-healing is so cool!”

  You idiot! I still love you. He fell into her lap.

  “Ioha, what have you… you’re not hurt?”

  “He saved us.” That was the commoner knight.

  “I don’t know what he did, but yeah, he saved us.” The merc who faced the bleeding cat earlier.

  “You know, I didn’t score a single point,” Ioha said. His voice was too weak to carry. “Poor performance.”

  “For a cat, maybe,” Canadena responded. “I don’t think you are one,” she added. Her voice was a lot more sober than usual. “I don’t even know what you are,” she finished.

  Around him, feet shuffled. Someone offered him a glass of cold water with fruit juice added to it. Someone else gave him a towel.

  Huh? “Thank you!”

  “It’s what we do,” came the answer.

  Ah, logistics. Of course, they had it all prepared. He emptied the glass in two huge gulps and wiped sweat from his face with the towel.

  Ai took it from him and stroked his hair with it. “He’s mine.”

  Ioha turned his head in Ai’s lap and looked at the pennants. Of nine commoners, seven made it through. Another one got tapped out before Ioha found out how to use shields for area defence. He searched for the fallen nobles. The two cats, obviously. Three cats? Odd. That only left three knights tapped out. Damn! What a pity. Anthony wasn’t among them.

  “How are you doing?”

  Ioha looked up to see who asked. Ah, our princess. “Just fine, thank you.”

  “Scored some?” she asked.

  Ioha shook his head.

  “I got one,” she said and left. Ioha could swear she was smiling.

  He frowned. She hadn’t been anywhere near the chaos. Oh! Explains the third cat. He lay himself to rest in Ai’s lap and grinned.

  “Who was that?” Ai asked. A smidgeon of tension lined her words.

  “Our princess,” Ioha said. He wasn’t much for playing games of jealousy.

  She bumped his head with her thighs.

  “Everyone calls her that,” he protested.

  Another bump.

  “You’re my queen.”

  She caressed his cheeks.

  He lay there for a while. In a perfect world, they’d hug right now, but the audience was a bit too large for comfort. Right now was perfect enough, and yet he worried. He wondered who else knew what happened when her aura burst alive, and she consumed more of it than he had when fully rested. That distance healing represented a tactical treasure he didn’t dare to underestimate. Today she proved she could reach a full third across the school yard. If anyone knew she covered all of it, or maybe even the entire school. Need to keep that a secret. People will kill to get their hands on her. “You know I love you,” he said, both to banish his thoughts and to bribe her to some more of the pleasant cuddling.

  She bent down and gave him a brief kiss. “Yeah. I know. Love you as well.”

  He wriggled a little to feel a bit more of her legs.

  Canadena still hadn’t left. “You know, I think this is important,” she said out of nowhere. Her face and voice held something very different from the carefree girl who had no qualms about squealing a little extra the few times Ioha didn’t make it out of his shared room fast enough. He lifted his head a little to meet her eyes. Below him Ai just adjusted her legs a little, but he didn’t feel any of her usual playful jealousy. “I don’t think you’re a cat. I believe you’re something else, something new.”

  Ioha felt a chill crawling all over his body. She didn’t need to tell him. He already knew something was off with his abilities.

  “Or something very, very, old,” came a different voice. Male.

  Ioha turned to see who it was and found himself locking eyes with the commoner knight who had chosen to stay with the impromptu celebration. “What do you mean?”

  “We used to be nobles, a long time ago. Before the federation.”

  While a history lesson was fun in its own way, it didn’t really help him in the here and now. “And?” Ioha wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to hear the rest.

  “My grandfather told me, when his grandfather was young, wars used to be smaller but more brutal.”

  “Yes?”

  “He said back then or even earlier, one type of warrior vanished, and it took a long time for all of them to disappear. Hundreds of years.” The boy shrugged. “So it’s really all legends now.”

  He had still perked Ioha’s interest. “What type of warrior?”

  “Guardians, or battlefield defenders.” He scratched his chin. “Grandfather didn’t really know himself, you know. Protector of the line, he called them.” His other hand found his hair, and he looked like some kind of monkey. “They kept the losses down from what I was told, just like you did back there.”

  No way! I’m going to be a cat. The small voice that had whispered about differences rose in him again. The greybeard said there were different ways to be a cat. I’m just an unusual variant. That meant a very different variant, but whatever allowed him to stay a cat was enough.

  “First years, on the field!” Rede the greybeard once again.

  Ioha stumbled back onto the gravel together with six of his renegade compatriots. Only nine nobles out of sixteen had to be a major upset. He glanced at the spot where they had made their stand. Of the four noble knights who made the cut, three still received treatment. Fifteen nobles entered the field – less than half left it on their own feet.

  “I’ll call those who’ll participate in the open tournament. If you don't take your position, you’ll forfeit.” Rede sent them all as predatory as disgusted a smile. “I will allow you to be carried in place.” To his surprise, Ioha realised he was included in the disgust. The roll call began and ended. All sixteen took their places, even those who had to be carried. “You’re a disgrace. When you’re tapped out, you leave the field. No excuses. When you tap someone out, you do not beat them senseless if they’re not quick enough.”

  Ioha looked at a stretcher. OK, maybe we went too far. Then he saw the merc who fled the field after Ai saved her from getting beaten to death. No, we didn’t go far enough.

  “Anything to add, young Ioha?”

  “I need to train my offence as well as my defence,” he said. He met the eyes of his teacher. There was no backing down from this.

  After a brief staring match, Ioha noted how his teacher glanced sideways to the surviving merc. Then a short nod of approval. “You and Lady Nakagawa to conference room two at lunch. Food will be provided.”

  What the? There was no malice in the order, though. Ioha nodded and bowed. He dusted off shirt and trousers, fetched his jacket and weapons and searched for Ai. Normally, the students would have left their weapons where they lay for the afternoon bouts, but with the current tension, suspicion ruled the day. Sabotage was a very real item on the menu.