Today's the day when the tournament actually starts. The past week I've been helping Vanessa out with training but 2 days before she asked to stop so she could prepare a surprise for me. Where did that just make something up idea go? Oh well, i like surprises so I'm fine with it. The whole academy has prepared for this and made the tournament a sort of festival, with stalls selling snacks and such. Businesses with plans of either making connections or simply advertising have even made deals with participants to "lend" equipment such as weapons or training facilities to help them in the tournament, obviously this is basically a sponsorship deal but i don't really mind it. Since i am a director of GRM i didn't get any sponsorships, not that I'll accept anyway since i don't need to. 

I look at the match list to find my opponent, his name is Roberto Vespucci, son of an Italian nobleman who's family has trained in fencing and the use of rapiers for generations. I ask Epsilon to dig up a training video or something so i can have an idea of what I'm up against, seems that he relies on speed and aggression to win. His focus is on fast heavy hits, probably due to his fencing heritage. Dodging and a quick counter attack may be effective but he's probably prepared for that so I'll have to beat him in speed instead, rather than baiting an attack it's better to strike first and not let him gain momentum. 

I walk down the hall to the arena locker rooms since I'm the opening match of the day, that principal probably had something to do with it i can feel it. I get checked by the nurse from the infirmary and i receive the badge that records damage and detects hits for points. Once everything is in order i walk on to the arena as my opponent does the same. He draws his rapier and i draw my wing blade, staring each other in the eye we wait for the referee to start the match. 

-Contestants Ready? 

-Aye. 

-Yeah. 

-Match. Start! 

We rush to the center and Roberto tries to make the opening move by trying pierce me. I lean right and return with an upward slash grazing his arm, while not a major blow it does give me first blood. We both disengage and back off to prepare our next attack. Roberto takes an offensive posture, looks like he plans on retaking the initiative and deal a decent hit on me. Let's oblige him shall we? I take a defensive stance with my sword prepared to intercept his rapier. 

He charges again while i simply stand still, the look in his eye tells me he's hesitating slightly but he presses on. He thrusts his rapier towards me but i intercept, his rapier tip striking the blade perfectly. I manage to completely kill his momentum and in the brief moment Roberto is stunned i attack with my sword ready to make a wide horizontal slash, Roberto reacts barely in time so i only graze his chest instead. This puts me in the advantage. This time Roberto will have to try a new strategy. 

While Roberto tries to catch his breath i dash towards him and started rapidly swinging at him. A rapier is very effective on the offensive but it has basically no defensive capabilities. With my lightning fast strikes and aggressive maneuver i put Roberto on the back foot. I land a few more blows but He quickly disengages and launches a counter attack, by copying my strategy he rapidly thrusts his rapier at me. He lands a few hits but not enough to put him in the lead. 

Now that we're in the second half of the match Roberto is probably running low on stamina and probably needs to catch his breath. I amp up the pace of the fight and keep the pressure on him, by constantly attacking and getting close i force him to either dodge or retaliate. He retreats a few times before realizing I'm not letting up. Now with his back up against the wall he counter attacks with multiple thrusts with the aim of at least buying him time to pull back to the other end of the arena. 

I let him get away for a few moments while deciding whether or not to keep toying with him. Let's keep playing shall we? As he regains his stamina slightly he opens his mouth to chat a bit. 

-Are you not going to rush me again? 

-Perhaps, are you prepared for it? 

-Ohoho, bring it! 

After that provocation we both charge and go all out, we both know this is the last clash so don't pull punches. Roberto's thrusts het even faster while i keep up, seems that he's given up on conserving strength and bet it all on this. My swings versus his rapid thrusts, i parry his rapier and chain it into a slash. Roberto leans to the side barely dodging and strikes again. We repeat a few times with me changing the angle of attack and Roberto striking at different points. Eventually though he tires out and i start landing more and more blows before finally reaching the score limit. 

The match bell rings and the referee declares me the winner, the crowd claps their hands in applause. I walk up to Roberto and shake his hand. 

-Good fight Roberto. 

-Good fight indeed! Ha! Its been so long since I've been out paced in battle. 

-If you like we could spar in our free time, I'm sure we could both improve our speed together. 

-I was just about to ask! I agree, a worthy opponent is not something you can find easily. 

-Oh believe me i know the pain. 

We each go our separate ways and return to the locker rooms. I check the schedule and it looks like Vanessa's match will be the third match of the day, should give me enough time to clean up and maybe buy a drink before coming back to the arena.