“Okay, boys,” Brix called out to Drew and Elias. “Head towards the middle of the room where the red square is.”

The Harpy pointed at a tile that was originally white, which has now turned a bright red. The duo followed her instructions, making their way to the center of the training room.

Drew twirled his shortsword, adjusting himself to its weight. It was a bit lighter than what he was used to, but he could make do with it. Same with the buckler. Though it’s been kept in good condition, there were some parts that had been chipped from use, throwing its balance off. For the purpose of sparing against Elias, it was sufficient.

As soon as the two guys found themselves standing millimeters from the tile, a translucent golden box that spanned nearly the entire room formed around them.

From outside of the box, Brix waved at the duo and explained, “What you see is a barrier that can handle the power of a High-B Ranker. I’ve activated the barrier from the outside, but you two can also control it from the inside using your wristband. Unless you manually override it, this barrier will stay up until time runs out, which is three minutes. Whenever you two are ready, step on the red square to activate the timer!”

Not even waiting for a second, Elias stepped on the tile, cocking Drew a toothy grin.

3.

“Let’s get this going!”

2.

Excitement welled in Drew’s heart. He couldn’t help but feel Elias’s energy rubbing off on him as a similar grin formed on his face as well.

1.

“You got it.”

0.

Elias made the first move. In a flash, the edge of his left tonfa was right in his face. Drew leaned back, dodging Elias’s strike by the skin of his teeth. Without wasting a moment, the Avian raise his buckler in front of his chest.

BANG.

A loud, heavy blow from the butt of the titanium tonfa made contact with the shield. If Drew hadn’t used a bit of Otrio, his arm might’ve shattered. The power contained in Elias’s arms from wielding pistols with enough recoil to blast a hole in a concrete wall at close proximity was no joke.

Drew grits his teeth.

Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he’s actually yanked Elias’s attack head-on. He knew that Elias was well aware that in a match of speed, he couldn’t beat Drew. Rather, no one in the group could be Drew’s equal in that avenue. However, in a game of pure strength, Elias was definitely stronger falling behind Jay and Sylvia, as demonstrated during the finger-standing contest.

On top of that, Drew knew the longer the spar went, the more he was at a disadvantage. Besides having high strength, Elias was a stamina monster. He didn’t know how much it improved since half a year, but wearing Elias down wasn’t a good option. He would need a strike that would be fatal to him.

Before he could follow through with his next move, Elias spun his other tonfa around, hitting Drew’s shield smack in the middle without even taking a step while Drew felt himself skid back a meter.

“You slacking, Birdo?!” Elias taunted, holding his stance from the last strike.

Drew spat, feeling his arm tremble behind the buckler. This wasn’t the time to back down. The Avian’s pride as a Scout was on the line.

“Tch.”

The Nightengale twirled his blade.

I’m going to have to take a different approach.

“You’re asking for it!”

With a powerful boost from his legs, Drew disappeared from Elias’s line of sight. The human’s eyes darted left and right to keep up with his advances. Unsure of what to do, Elias crossed his tonfas together, preparing for the oncoming attack. The green-haired bird was now in front of him.

BAM!

With his shortsword, Drew sent an uppercut toward Elias’s chin. The tonfas breaking their defensive position.

"Now, that’s the tricky bird I know!" Elias exclaimed, swinging his arm back at Drew.

The Avian sidestepped away but was met with another heavy force applied to his buckler, which he deflected away. Both guys, seeing that their weapons were no longer touching each other, spared no second to make the next move. Drew changed his grip on his shortsword and spun on his heel. Elias’s neck was exposed to him without any sort of protection.

CLANG.

Elias knocked Drew’s blade, protecting himself from a fatal blow.

Of course, that would be too easy. But-

Quickly, the Nightengale tapped his other foot on the ground, leaping back far enough from Elias’s range.

I think I’m getting used to his rhythm.

>>>

“Hiya, everyone~!” Wan greeted from the entrance of the training room. “What’s going on?”

“The two idiots are sparring,” Jay replied, pointing over to the duo clashing weapons at the center of the room. “It’ll be our turn soon.”

Sylvia, who was following behind Wan, wandered over to Rider. His head was still buried in his knees.

“What happened to him?”

In the same curt manner, Jay responded and shrugged, “Emotional damage.”

Clang!

The familiar sound of metal hitting each other rang in Sylvia’s ears. She felt her sight being drawn towards the dome enclosing Drew and Elias.

She was breathless.

Her chest tightened as she clenched her hand over it.

She had only seen Drew fight when they were getting chased by the Diamonds last month but not with a shortsword or a buckler. His swordplay was only above average, as some of his swings were a bit wide, but the fluidity of his movements combined with it allowed him to follow through quickly while minimizing the time in which his opponents could take advantage of that flaw. However, this only really applied to opponents like Elias, who wasn’t quite fast enough to notice that with Drew.

Backhand.

Forehand.

Twirl.

Drew’s style of fighting, there was no other way than to describe it as basic. No fancy moves or Techniques. It was as basic as it could get. Thus, it wouldn’t be wrong to call Drew a fundamentalist.

“His basics are solid. It’s hard to find that amongst people our level.” Brix observed. “How did he manage to pull that off?”

Jay gave her a side eye, his ears fluffing up as he heard her speak. Perfectly, timing it with Drew’s slash to Elias’s torso.

“It’s because the basics are all he has. Without any access to external resources, he could only refine what he learned in Compulsory Education.”

“And how do you know so much about this?”

The Feline shrugged as he glanced down at the Ifrit.

“Roommate privilege.”

>>>

It was down to the last twenty seconds.

Going against Elias without using his Ice Otrio was much harder than expected. Using [Ice Manipulation] allowed Drew to extend his range, making him a tricky opponent to deal with both close and long range. [Aegis] could make up for this easily, but Gerald told him to minimize its use. Plus, the Otrio Cost to use wasn’t exactly the friendliest either, and considering his situation with everything, it was better to conserve his Otrio in case of an emergency.

There have been many people who’ve relied on their Abilities and lack the skill to fight without it. An Ability was a trump card of sorts, and the more it is used, the likelihood of an opponent finding its weakness increase drastically.

As of now, Elias had clearly used [Skill Replication] on top of [Speed] to keep up with Drew’s speed and [Polarity] to ensure he stayed within the reach of his tonfas. He also managed to land some heavy blows consecutively for a minute and a half straight that could’ve broken some of Drew’s bones. The scariest part about it was it was almost all raw power. Thus, the Avian had to applaud Elias for his crazy power, stamina, and being able to use his abilities more creatively in combat, but it was obvious he was lacking.

An opening! The Nightengale’s eyes locked onto the Human’s heart.

To Avian’s delight, Elias crossed his tonfas once again. Even with using [Skill Replication], there was a price to pay, a lag between when Elias can cast it onto himself. Drew knew he could take advantage of this cooldown to strike. It took a bit for him to notice, but it was better now than later.

Channeling Wind Otrio to his arm, Drew’s shortsword blasted forward like a pile bunker, breaking past Elias’s defensive position and “dealing” a fatal blow. The titanium weapon was only centimeters from penetrating Elias’s chest.

“It’s my win!” Drew cocked a cheeky grin at Elias three seconds before time ran out.

Elias scoffed, admitting his loss.

“You’ve gotten stronger, Birdo! Ah, what a surprise!”

The barrier fell, revealing the bright white-tiled room once more. Rider, who had accepted the fact he received emotional damage, picked himself up from the lonely corner of the room and scrambled over to Elias’s side to heal him.

“You weren’t using your main weapon, and if this went any longer, I probably would’ve been pummeled to the ground.”

“So, what are your thoughts?” Elias inquired, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“You’re pretty good offensively, but you’re defense is full of holes. Crossing your tonfas puts you in a vulnerable position for any skillful blade users, as they could easily uppercut you and break your stance. You also have a gap in your reaction when protecting your vitals, and if you were a tad bit slower, I would’ve ended up cutting your head. However, this leads to the next issue. You rely on your Abilities way too much.”

“How so?”

“You used your Ability to keep up with my speed, but that’s an inefficient use of Otrio. I mean, look how drained you are already.” Drew added, pointing his sword at Elias. “There are always alternatives to keep up with speed-type Positions.”

“Such as-”

“You could’ve used your tonfas to catch my arms. After all, you know I can’t beat you in terms of arm strength. You could’ve also blinded me with Light Otrio too.”

“I see,” Elias nodded, acknowledging Drew’s feedback.

Whenever he worked with the Hunters, Elias only dealt with weaker opponents, with many he could easily subdue in a couple of moves. Even within Star, the only skilled people he’s fought with are those in the same Position as him, and they were nowhere near as fast as Drew, who was a Scout. The Commissioner had told him similar things to what Drew told him now, but he couldn’t really understand it until he fought the Nightengale now. Perhaps it was his own arrogance that got to him, making him overlook his weaknesses, and Elias knew that. What the Human needed was not just some guidance but also to be humbled by the only ones who would be glad to do so for all of their benefits.

“Thank you, Drew.”

The Nightengale was astonished. Elias hardly ever called him by his first name since they entered the Academy. He was always referred to as Birdo or something along those lines. For him to say that, he must truly be grateful.

“Anytime.”

“Okay, I’ve just about finished healing him,” Rider announced, pulling his hands away from Elias. “Do you need a break?”

Elias shook his head from side to side, stretching his arms in all directions.

“I think I’m ready for the next one.”

“If you say so. Sylvia, you’re up!”

The crimson-haired Ifrit, who was leaning against the wall, finally moved toward the center of the room.

“Guess it’s my turn now.”

“What would you like to use?” Brix asked Sylvia, pointing to the weapon’s rack.

“None,” The Princess grinned, cracking her knuckles.

Drew tilted his head, a concerned expression plastered on his face.

“You confident about that?”

“Positive.” Sylvia gave him a thumbs up.

“Alright, then. I’ll let you take the stage.”

Drew smiled, leaving Sylvia and Elias alone, with Rider following behind him. As soon as they made it to where the rest were hanging out, the barrier went up. Both fighters were in their respective fighting stances as the time counted down.

At this moment, everyone thought this was going to be a long and drawn-out match.

3. 

2.

1.

0.

However, it was at this moment everyone realized they were wrong. Even the person who arranged this himself did not expect what was going to happen next.

BAM!

Not even three seconds later, Elias found himself on the ground. His head throbbed as he tried to comprehend what had occurred in those short moments. In his fading vision, the Human saw a bent tonfa whiz past his eye. Then a hot black rubber sole knocked it farther away. The smell of ashes pricked his nose as he felt his arms touch the ground.

On the other side, Drew’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he watched Elias collapse to the ground with rag-doll physics. It took minutes for Drew to secure his win against Elias, but Sylvia took seconds. Not only that, she only roundhouse kicked Elias to the head and ended him just like that.

He couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of the Princess ending Elias so quickly.

It was then he knew that if he were to ever piss her off, he might seriously end up dead.

With Elias’s swift defeat, the barrier lowered with Rider and Wan scurrying to the Human’s twitching body.

“HEY, HEY, HEY! Don’t move, Elias!” Rider shouted, getting down on his knees. “Wan, make use of some Ice Otrio on his head!”

“Okay!” Wan responded, bending down to help Elias. 

In the midst of their bickering, Elias’s eyes fluttered open for a brief moment. Though his vision was still hazy, almost as clear as day, he could easily make out Wan’s sea blue asymmetrical pigtails fixed together by their long gold cylindrical clips. Her sapphire eyes gave him tranquility as she placed her hand against the back of the Human’s head.

In his mind, Elias was overjoyed.

If this were a dream, I wish it would last forever.