"I must say I am surprised that your armor is much stronger than your drones," Alice said after I managed to fend off one of her attacks.

 

Thankfully I am not stupid and put extra caution in my battlesuit's armor. It has more advanced armor than my drones, but that doesn't mean Alice's attacks don't damage my armor. "Thanks for your kind praises." I stopped her new attack with my battlesuit blades and pushed her away.

 

I only need to stop her at one place for long enough, and it is over. She is too aggressive and too careless. Remember the experimental UAV I talked about pre-exam? It is an energy cannon with a cloaking (a system that reflects light to trick others) ability. My best chance is using it to take her down in a single hit.

 

But for that, I should get the lead. "Here I come." I activated my thrusters and began charging toward her. She began preparing an attack, but I stopped her by shooting with the rifle.

 

"To think someone chosen for STL will be bold enough to charge me head-on makes me both happy and excited." She said after blocking my bullets with her sword.

 

I leaped forward my swords and slashed them towards Alice, but she dodged my attack by creating an explosion under her and shooting herself into the air, and now, she is preparing an attack from above. Why can't she stay in her place for a second?

 

But keep your temper now, Leo. You can't let her have the high ground. I jumped after Alice, activated my thrusters, and tackled her with battlesuits weight, but she managed to slip around my armor and climb to its top.

 

"Not bad, not bad." She jumped into the air by using my armor as a jumping pad. "Let's see what you can do now!" She slashed her sword towards the back of my armor and cut the thrusters.

 

I dodged further attacks by leaning towards the side and kicking her away, but I just stepped into her trap. Her weapon began glowing even more. From where she stands, a direct attack on my head, the weakest point of my battlesuit, would be easy for her.

 

Maybe I can block it with my blades and finish her as she lost most of her power.

 

She pointed her downwards and grabbed its handle with both hands. "Let everyone see how your scrap metal couldn't do anything against the strength of a Crusader!" A beam of energy that I am pretty sure I cannot survive shot from the tip of her sword.

 

"Suit! Immediate eject!" I left the suit and harshly landed on the ground.

 

"You escaped? But, look at your precious battlesuit." She stepped on the damaged battlesuit when she hit the ground.

 

"You know. Let's keep going. Go on, bring everything you got. I am not here because I surrendered every time my machines stopped working." I pushed myself up from the ground.

 

"Oh, you can be sure that I will. I am not going to show any mercy." Her weapon began glowing powerfully as the time she shot that insanely powerful energy beam. "Now, die." She raised her sword to the air, the thing I wanted.

 

Jurries were screaming to the broadcast system for Alice to stop. How touching, but why stop her when she just fell into my trap? I clapped my hands, and my battlesuit beeped.

 

"Thank you for today's match, but I rather die another day than today." The suit AI activated, grabbed Alice's arms and legs, and locked her. "I know you are very powerful with your sword, but that's just the strength you got from the anti-oxygen, but when it comes to the raw strength, you have no chance against my machines, and you will know that!"

 

Finally, the charging sounds of the UAV echoed inside the arena.

 

Alice looked up and laughed. "You son of a. You didn't use that machine for once and hoped for me to ignore its existence, smart." The glow of her sword faded, and she began glowing this time. "But, disrespecting power gifted us by the god, I can't accept that!"

 

She blew herself and blasted away the battlesuit that was holding her. "Still, too late," I said, and the energy cannon of the UAV shot her from above. "Good luck surviving that." The energy beam destroyed Alice's shield instantly and blinded everyone looking at it for a second. I can proudly say my version of the energy attack was better than her sword tricks.

And after we opened our eyes, we saw Alice lying on the ground. She is knocked out, not dead or mortally injured, but she can't even move a finger. The doors of the arena opened, and medical teams rushed in. They directly came next to Alice and began waiting for any heartbeats or signal of life. But I already know she is alive from the glow of her weapon, which she is still holding.

 

One of the medical staff happily shouted. "The girl is alive, just knocked out." After an inspection, he began talking again. "She managed to focus her energy into a shield just before the laser hit her, I suppose."

 

*****

 

I left the arena and moved outside. Same as every time my father is waiting for me. And unsurprisingly, he is smoking while doing that.

 

"So, what do you think? Was I good today, or did I risk my soft human flesh too much?"

 

 

"I need to say I am surprised by the outcome, I was waiting for her to beat your ass, and she almost did it if it wasn't for your trick, but you can be proud about what you did today." He threw his cigarette away. "And I won a hundred bucks. Poor juries, even they didn't see what was coming."

 

Even though today's results will give me better opportunities in the future, my victory meant more for UDC. Alice was one of the strongest of her age group inside the Sacred Crusaders. Her losing to a kid raised by the UDC was a symbolic show of superiority for UDC. Which I think made lots of people happy.

 

"So, I want to talk about the future. I know STL is a program about choosing some of the strongest for fighting on the frontlines, but I have a different plan in my head. Rather than joining the training program of STL, I want to recruit some people I found around the globe for a secret team I will be leading." I pulled out my phone and gave it to my father. The profiles of some of the people I decided were on the screen.

 

"Don't you think it would be too much, even for you, and it will be hard for UDC to accept a wish like that?" He is scrolling and reading about some of the kids. "And I should say some of these people might be problematic."

 

"Don't worry about that part but coming to UDC. They will. Remember the deal I did with the high council? For my services, I will have extended rights."

 

"And what will be these services?"

 

"Clearing the pest. Do you think we need more engineers working on new machines or a random guy with a glowing sword on frontiers? We have hundreds of thousands of them, and even though Crimsons almost attack the world at least once a day, we are still moving forward. We shouldn't be afraid of inner corruption much as one coming from outside.

"Give me some examples."

 

"Leaders of militaristic countries slowly isolating themselves from UDC. Cults who believe Crimsons are gods who came to earth to save us, and UDC only commit sins by preventing them from destroying humanity. I don't even talk about small fishes like mafias, gangs, cartels, anything you can think about that damages our society in a middle of a war against seemingly never-ending alien invaders. I want to clear the world from them."

 

"So, you want to create a small team dedicated to the dirty jobs to prevent inner corruption from destroying the world before Crimsons? Personally, it doesn't sound half bad, and these kids." He looked at the files. "They might be useful."