Jin sliced through Ignis, then immediately used the Korean Step cel in order to retreat out of Ignis’s attack rahis should’ve made Ignis whiff a ter-attack like before, but...

  "You're not getting away, kid!" Ignis didn't retaliate right away. Instead, she charged straight at her oppo!

  This KC shit is sure cool but it's not invincible. Ignis grinned. I've already figured it out. Yeah, I'm that smart!

  She's catg up. Jin frowned.

  Even though he used KC to cel his recovery animation early, he had to step backward in order to get out of Ignis’s superior attack range. Unfortunately, backpedaling was slower than running forward, such were the rules of this game.

  Therefore, instead of retaliating right away, Ignis chose to run toward Jin. Within moments, she caught up and pced him back withitack rahen, she swung her big bde!

  Good py. But, it's no problem. Jin simply turned around and rolled out of danger.

  "Shit!" Ignis cursed. "This kid, I swear."

  "My, are you having trouble against a middle schooler?" Esmeralda giggled.

  "Nah, I'm just warming up," Ignis said. But seriously, what's up with this brat? I've never seen a kid who pys this smoothly. He moves like somebody who has been pying since birth. He’s like a mae.

  Ignis has been sloting to the kid's KC shenanigans, but their test heless felt like an uphill battle for her. Yes, an uphill battle... for a pro against some brat. It was absurdity in the making.

  Well, I'm just not used to pying against KC, that's all. Ignis stuck to that excuse. I'll mop the floor with this little shit once I adapt to his tricks.

  And so, Ignis tiruggling to the best of her ability against this fn teique. Ead every one of her bde swings was cautious and deliberate, aiming to bait her oppo into mispying. She already figured one weakness KC had, so she just had to find a few more in order to er this whippersnapper.

  Unfortunately, Ignis's HP wasn't infinite. So, even though she has beeier aer at responding to the kid’s KC, Ignis was bound to run out of HP first. After all, she started this struggle at disadvahat damn KC caught her off-guard during the first time, so she paid dearly with her HP for that mistake.

  At this point, she couldn't hold onto the ne for much longer, not with 30% HP remaining.

  I'm already pushing it. Ignis smiled wryly. Against a real pro, I would've recalled at 40%. Tch. I just don't wanna lose to this kid, damn it! But, looks like he got me in the first round.

  Swallowing her pride, Ignis had to cede defeat to the kid at this time. Retreating was embarrassing, but dying would be dht shameful.

  "Hawk, get your ass over here," Ignis anded. "I gonna recall, so you have to defend Top for a while."

  "For real?" Hawk cracked a ugh. "You're recalling first? Against a middle schooler? Must be a cold day in hell."

  "Hmph. This brat isn't half bad, I'll give him that. I'm also not used to pying against KC, so that doesn’t help."

  "Heh, you’re making excuses against a kid?"

  "You wan punched, bitch?"

  "Haha, okay, okay." Hawk ughed. "I'm ing over."

  "Make it quick."

  "Man, you sure know how to ask for favors, don't you?"

  "It’s not a favor. I'm just telling you to do your job, junior."

  "Fine, fine." Hawk smiled wryly and shrugged. Man, everybody here bullies me. I almost feel like g... Well, not really.

  Hawk rotated to Top and switched pces with Ignis. It was aable development given how things were going fnis, yet the situation still astonished everybody.

  Sis retreated first!? Howard couldn't believe it. I saw she wasn't doing so hot, but this is...

  Howard didn’t have the luxury of following everything that happened in Top, his ne oppos didn’t give him such freedom. As such, he had no idea what tactics Jin pulled to gain the upper hand against Ignis. The unknown made Howard shudder a little.

  Sis got her weaknesses, I’m not going to deny. But, fighting 1v1 in ne is the one area where she’s an absolute beast. So, how somebody so much younger test her...?

  Perhaps Ruez’s exaggerated evaluation of Jin’s skill wasn’t so exaggerated after all. StormBlitz might indeed gain valuable informatiooday from watg Jin in a.

  To think that they have a pyer at this level oeam... Hulped. It looks like taking the regionals this year won't be as easy as I hoped.

  Until now, Howard thought only the Leopards stood between him and winning the regionals. In other words, the Leopards should have been the only real challenge he’d have to overe in order to get a reendatioer to Grandview High and join Utopia, the stro high school team in the try.

  But now, this Korean kid showed up out of nowhere. Teically, he was also part of the Leopards, but he was clearly a threat on airely different level.

  I feel like we'll have to review the heck outta this game ter. Howard took a mental note and shifted his focus back to his own ne, where he and Ellen weren't doing so hot.

  "Ah!" Howard realized a moment too te. While he was busy examining the situation in Top - the enemy made their move!

  IronWall erected an ice wall behind Ellen while Argus activated his Fan the Hammer. They were going in for the kill!

  "My, they caught me~!" Ellen smiled nervously. "My leap is on cooldown, too. This might get a tiny bit ugly~"

  "No problem. I'll get you out."

  "Oh, my prince is ing to the rescue? Aww, how sweet~"

  Howard rolled toward the se and activated Gaia’s Prote, granting Ellen a thick shield. It’ll be able to withstand a few hits, but...

  BAM! BAM! BAM! The Gunslinger fired nonstop. Bullets mercilessly barraged Ellen as she was forced to waste time cirg around the pesky ice wall.

  Eventually, she got out of the danger zone, but not without hefty injuries. This was clearly a mispy, from both of them.

  "Sorry~" Ellen apologized. "They caught me at an aosition there."

  "Yeah, that wasn't the safest spot to farm from," Hreed. "But, don't worry about it."

  "Of course I don't." Ellen smiled meaningfully. "After all, it's your job to watch my position and tell me if I'm doing something wrong, right Wardy?"

  "Huh, so it's my fault now?"

  "Hehe~" Ellen giggled ily. "But seriously, what's wrong? You've been distracted the entire game. Normally, you'd spot such a terrible mispy right away and se."

  "Maybe I'm just getting a little tired. This is our third game, after all. It's exhausting to py our best every game and still get beaten so badly every damn time."

  "You say that again." Ellen nodded. "But, that's not all, is it? I mean, you’ve beeier aer at maintaining your focus over long periods of time. I'm not sure what kind of training you started doing i, but it's sure paying off~"

  "I haven't started anything." Howard averted his eyes. "I’m just starting to lose focus during the 3rd game. It always happens, doesn’t it?”

  "But, retly you’ve been sting until the 4th game just fine. Are you sure you're not distracted? For example, by w about your dear sister~?"

  "Does she look like somebody I have to worry about?" Howard asked. "Besides, she's fighting a middle schooler."

  "That's why it’s so worrisome, isn't it? To think that Igny lose a duel to someone e. I'm shocked beyond words."

  "Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable..." Hreed. "I couldn't even tell what trick he used to get the upper hand."

  "Aha! So you were distracted by what's happening in Top!"

  "Agh." Howard walked into that one.

  "My, Wardy is such a worrywart when it es to his dear sister~"

  "No, I’m not! I was just w what kind of monster we'll be fag at the regionals this year, seeing as he do this much against sis."

  "True, that is worrisome." Ellen nodded. “But, we’ll cross that bridge once we get there. For now, we have to focus on what’s in front of us.”

  “You’re right,” Hreed. “Alright, let’s show those two what we’re made of. They won’t catch us off guard again.”

  “I’m ting on you to protect me, Wardy~”

  “How about you first t on yourself to not end up in a bad spot?”

  “But, if I don’t put myself in trouble, how I py the damsel in distress~?”

  “Look, I have to watch the entire map, not just you.” Howard sighed. “So, I’d be grateful if you don’t put more work on my pte than absolutely necessary.”

  “Roger~” Ellen saluted, but was she really going to follow on that? Who could tell.

  And so, Howard stopped fog on how his sister was doing in Top auro the entire map as Aegis, the team’s shot-caller. And naturally, he paid the most attention to the two enemies in front of him.

  Still, he couldirely fet what he had just witnessed. Howard and Ellen alyed their best against pros, but they heless struggled against IronWall and Argus. Meanwhile, Jin somehow domiop without much trouble. The differen their performances was scary to think about.

  That guy is going to be reatest obstacle at the regionals, no question about it. But for now, I have to figure how to survive against these two merciless pros in front of me...

  DarkestCymore