"Jace." I looked over to see who called out my name. It was Fredrick who waved me over.
"The opening ceremony is about to begin, they're all here, the new recruits. You said you have a brother. Is he currently here right now?" Fredrick asked as I scanned the area to see the usual rich people who rocked up to this school, and to no success, my brother was not one of them who was in the crowd.
"He's not here. . . he must be late."
"Late? That sounds like you when we came to this school the first year." Another person had joined in the conversation.
"Dominic?!" Me and Fredrick saluted him, as he dismissed the salute.
"Come on now, you don't have to salute me we've known each other for 3 years now. That's only for the new recruits and the sophomores to do so." Dominic said looking over his shoulder. "Speaking of the sophomores where are Liam, Elijah and Lucas? They should be here by now, this is not a great start for an opening ceremony," Dominic muttered.
"No id-"
"We're here! We're not late are we?" Elijah asked.
Dominic looked at his watch, smiling at them.
"Just in time." He smirked at them, as all three of them saluted me, Fredrick and Dominic.
"It's time we will be unveiling the curtains now." The principal walked in to tell us all.
The curtains were unveiled to see the 10,000 juniors who were talking to one another, but as the principal cleared his throat on the microphone it was dead silent. To the point where if a pin had dropped to the ground it would sound like a nuke.
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Protege De Academy high school, you are the selected few who have been invited to join, in becoming the best of the best when it comes to fencing. As you know this is the place where we produce the elites. We produce 10 elites who represent their country in the Olympics, so I welcome you to this school. Now to give context to this school. In this school, there are 6 campuses and you will soon know why we have that, everything in this school is done for a reason. First, we have already evaluated your talents and skills we will now determine where you belong.
"Determine where you belong? Who do you take us for! Commoners?" The random person in the crowd scoffed.
"You there what's your name." The principal pointed out to the crowd.
"My name is Jovan, Jovan Desaint the future business owner of the biggest luxury company in the world!" He pointed at himself, proudly.
Great. Freshmeat.
"And do you value yourself that highly? That you don't believe that you should be evaluated."
"I know that I don't need to be evaluated for any reason whatsoever. I know I'm good, better than the others on that stage over there." The boy slicked his luscious side part with his fingers.
"Excellent! I believe we have our first competitor." The principal looked over at us.
"Now which one of you seniors or sophomores will be up for this fun challenge."
Elijah, Liam and Lucas kept quiet while Dominic and Fredrick from both sides nudged my rib.
"You should teach that punk a lesson it'll be fun, show them Mr Top 20 who's boss around here." Frederick snickered.
"What about Dominic over here, his top 1 at this whole school shouldn't he be challenging him." I retorted as Dominic put his arm around my shoulder.
"Don't be like that Jace, come on you should duel that stuck-up kid over there," Dominic suggested grinned.
"Is that a request or order?" I asked.
"Neither it's just a little fun. . . Not to mention you never hold back." He patted my shoulder.
I sighed as I stepped beside the principal.
"Interesting it seems that Jace Rues the number 20 ranked in this school has decided to take on newly blossomed Jovan Desaint. . . tase or no tase?" The principal whispered the last part only the people on the stage could hear.
"I think I should teach the crowd a lesson so let's have tase." I simply stated, and the principal smiled at my answer, as Dominic slapped my back in response.
"That's the Jace Ruez I know. . . showing that guy no mercy huh? This is something I've always liked about you ever since we were juniors. . . remember have some fun, don't make this match too quick." Dominic said to me.
(Klein's POV)
Me and Emma had finally arrived at the opening ceremony, we pushed our way through the crowd to see the commotion that was going on. It appeared that people weren't giving us the stink eye anymore, as they were too busy to even notice that we were even here at all.
"What's going on? I asked Emma.
"What kinda question is that? If you can't see it, what makes you think I can see it?" She scoffed at me.
Damn this girl was really something else. What was worse was that she was right. I was asking the dumb questions now. I really need to step up my game if I want to beat Emma in a battle of wits.
"Everyone take your seats, as you know this is a large stadium that we have so there is plenty enough for 10,000 of you juniors to take a seat in.
Everyone quickly scourged for a seat capturing it for themselves. Emma and I went on a search for a seat, every time we had to try to sit with some rich folks they gave us the stink eye telling us to back off. It appeared we wouldn't get a seat but thankfully. . .
"Hey, you guys! Come sit with us!" A boy and a girl waved us over to the seat next to them. There was a common thing between us all, we were all wearing school uniforms, while the rich folks didn't.
"I'm assuming you guys are from the lower class of society as well?" The boy asked.
"You figured it out as well? Yeah, I guess you can call us that. . . speaking of which can I have both of your names?"
"Oh my name is Julian and this girl over here is my sister Rebecca," Julian said, as Rebecca gave a slight nod to the both of you.
"Well my name is Klein and this demon over here is Emma." What once was a smiling cheerful Emma had suddenly turned into a vicious girl as she slapped my back. That really hurt.
"Sorry if this is insensitive, but can I ask about what happened to your eye?" Rebecca quietly asked.
"Oh, my eye?" I pointed at it. "It's nothing, it's just some rich snobs beating me up." I chuckled softly as I glanced over to Emma who I could tell felt bad for me as well. Even if she was demon.
"So we're not the only ones experiencing this as well. . . surely there's more of us people that are experiencing this as well," Julian added.
"Anyways let's not talk about that anymore. . . what's going on here is that we were a bit late for the opening ceremony, did we miss anything?" I asked.
"You didn't miss out on anything much. . . however a rich kid who was so full on himself decided to challenge a senior because he thinks he could take one of them on. . . speaking of which they right over there, getting prepared for their duel," Julian said.
"This is going to be interesting," Emma whispered over to me, as I nodded my head, looking at the guys battle-ready, getting into position on the elevated horizontal stage for us to watch.
(Jace's POV)
"You both should know the rules by now, good luck." The principal said.
The boy had the decency to salute me as I did the same back to him then saluted the principal who would be the referee for this game at hand.
"On guard."
We both got into our position on the mat.
"Go!"
I quickly but calmly step forward to create a gap for Jovan to attack. As Jovan surges towards me to make contact, I pushed myself back and executed a sweeping 6 parry while raising myself to find the angle for the flick riposte.
(1-0)
"You got lucky Mr.20. I wasn't trying at all this time, I won't hold back," Jovan stated.
I just went back to my position ready for the next point to be mine once again.
I begin the move with the same jump step, but instead of appearing to slightly jump up, my front foot actually landed very quickly. And I was immediately prepared for the next movement. This time, I took another step closer to him while parrying with a sweeping 8. Before Jovan can bring his point into the line of the attack. After carefully determining the angle and making a successful hit, I begin to vary how I initiate the action.
(2-0)
I couldn't see Jovan but I knew he was starting to get pissed off.
Good.
The time I start with a step forward, which allowed me to have more observation time, with what Jovan was attempting to do, searching for his blade. I jump forward once more, searching for his blade again, drawing the attack from Jovan. Jovan quickly lunged forward, thrusting his blade at me but I manage to maintain my balance not making contact with his blade my body, as I make a last moment to parry, meanwhile Jovan has already committed too deeply to his attack with me. He cannot recover and I simply score another point on him again."
"You bas-"
"AHHH!"
Jovan quickly dropped to the ground, shaking on the ground uncontrollably for a couple of seconds the audience could only watch in fear as spit began coming out of his mouth.
"W-What just happened to me!" Jovan groaned in agony as the pain had just washed over him.
"Didn't we forget to tell you?"
"T-Tell me what?!. . . Tell me!" Jovan slowly got back up from the ground.
"Every point you get tased and it gets more painful every time . . . and when I mean tased you get tased to death. That was only a taste of what's next to come." I said. I couldn't help but let out a sly smile. I always loved putting people like him in their place. And when I mean by place, I meant 6 feet under the ground.
"Tased? Are you crazy I'm not taking part in this anymore." Jovan attempted to take the equipment off him, but it just wouldn't budge.
"Why. . . Why can't I take this off me!"
"Once you're in that fence wear in this school, the only way to get out of it, is when you defeat your opponent soundly." I pointed my blade at him, as the audience widened their eyes in fear of what they had heard. Even if they tried to escape they wouldn't be able to. Trust me when we were juniors we tried the exact same thing, they would know why soon enough.
"Now pick up that blade of yours and let's settle this match of ours."
Jovan slowly grabbed his blade, trembling in fear, getting back to his position not being able to look me in the eye.
Time for the next round to begin.
I take a modest half step forward to extend my arm in an attempt to elicit a response from the trembling Jovan as I take a jump step forward once more. We both hunt repeatedly for our respective blades. Jovan decides to take a step on the spot, moving his front foot forwards and back foot back, to keep the right of way without changing the distance. I could easily read him and recognise this moment, turning his provocation into an actual stop hit. I noticed at this point in the duel, the options are still open as I maintain a good balance, hitting it once more this would be the last of him.
"STOP IT! IT HURTS! STOP!"
Jovan screamed in desperation, trying to take the fence wear of himself, dropping to the ground once more.
But this time, this time the noises stopped slipping out of his mouth. A motionless body that lay down on the ground.
I walked up to him kicking on the ribs, still motionless as ever.
"He's dead. . . someone send him to the decomposer." I kicked him once more, to make he sure he was dead.
I looked over to see the audience with their eyes locked on me, as I could finally take the mask off the fence wear had unlocked itself once I was done with a duel, shaking my head to fix my hair, as sweat was trickling down my face.
I quickly scanned the crowd as I could tell most of them were standing there frozen in fear, while the others even if they didn't show had a face of excitement and glee for what had just happened.
I could tell who would make it far in this school and who wouldn't, my brother would be one of those, the selected few who would be the. . .
Chosen.
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