After the round of morning exercises on Thursday, as well as a light breakfast, Mikayla's class found themselves directed to the change rooms closest to the obstacle courses by Coach Yoro. Unsurprisingly, this part of Cloudscraper was to be the venue of their Practical Training class.

  "Lydia, are you coming?" Mikayla asked, seeing that the perennially cloaked woman was hesitating at the entrance to the change rooms.

  "Um. I think I'll just duck into the toilets and get changed privately," she squeaked. Honestly, Mikayla reflected, Lydia was so mousey that nobody would be at all surprised to find a long pink tail underneath that cloak. "I'll catch up with you all in a few minutes!" she promised and scampered off.

  ". . Okay then,"

  They'd all been issued a skintight leather suit as additional protective armour, to be worn under their robes during classes that were likely to involve combat, as well as a high-visibility vest and leggings made of a reflective orange material that Mikayla couldn't identify. It was uncomfortably heavy and Nya had warned Mikayla that it was liable to get sweaty, so it was only to be worn during Thursday and Friday's practical lessons. So Mikayla started pulling off the loose robes that were Cloudscraper's uniform and unloading the pack of armour they'd brought with them.

  Looking around, the other four girls were doing the same, and - she couldn't help but be startled, staring at Banki as she undressed.

  "Like what you see?" The tigerkin flicked her tail, winking.

  And suddenly she couldn't look at her classmate at all. "Uh - no - I mean - yes - um - not like that - why did you paint stripes all over your body?"

  It hadn't been Banki's naked flesh that had drawn Mikayla's attention, but rather the fact that the black stripes on her cheeks, contrary to expectations, continued all the way down her body to her wrists and ankles.

  "Huh? Oh, that. No, this isn't paint. They're real," Banki waved her off. "If I'd painted these on, I'd have chosen prettier colours,"

  "What?"

  "Did you know that all humans and beastkin have stripes?"

  Mikayla paused. Hadn't she read a blog post about that back on Earth? "Go on,"

  "Well, you do. Just they're so subtle that no one notices. Except on tigerkin like me," Banki jabbed thumbs at herself. "Something about the intersection of tiger with beastkin makes this happen. My stripes are all natural!" She quirked a playful eyebrow. "Though, if you wanted to try them on, I could lend you some body paint,"

  ". . think I'll pass on that," Mikayla denied.

  She inspected the training shoes they'd been given. The soles were made of layered leather studded with metal for durability, with leather straps holding them onto her shoes. It was a strange mix of hiking boot and sandal.

  "So, it's highly likely that we are going to have to fight. We should discuss our abilities in advance, prepare each other to work together," Nya asserted.

  "Or, in the likely event that we have to fight each other for practice, sharing our abilities in advance might give you an advantage," Irin folded her arms. "You just want to make up for the disadvantage that you're a Yevgenia, so everyone already already knows what you can do!"

  "Hey, it's cool. I don't mind sharing," Banki interrupted with a friendly grin. "Like, me. The school officially lists me as an offensive focus, but in reality I'm a stealth specialist,"

  "I'm with Banki. They wouldn't really make us fight, right? I'm a DPS/tank hybrid, I suppose, though I'm trying to specialise more towards tanking," Mikayla contributed.

  Several confused looks were cast at her, and she realised a few seconds too late what she'd said. Burying her face in her hands, she added, "DPS is what we call offensive focused warriors where I'm from. It's an acronym that stands for 'damage per second', IE, how much injury you can inflict in how many seconds,"

  "That does sound like a good metric for evaluating offensive focuses," Nya mussed, nodding to herself.

  "Damage per second doesn't start with 'D-P-S', though," Banki mumbled.

  "It does in my language," Mikayla waved her off. "System translation, remember,"

  "Oh yeah right!"

  Footsteps warned them that Lydia had rejoined the girls . . but barely looked any different. She was still swaddled by the cloak, and was still wearing the long pants and boots. All she'd done was trade her usual undershirt for the high-visibility vest and tie the shorts around her neck like a scarf.

  No one said anything, so Mikayla decided it wasn't worth fussing about.

  Banki rounded on Lydia. "How about you, what's your gimmick?"

  "Eh?"

  "We're going to have to fight, so we need to have a general idea of what everyone can do so that we can strategise better,"

  Lydia drew breath, only for Irin to interrupt, "Not a word,"

  She faltered, remaining mute.

  "Aw, come off it," Banki rolled her eyes.

  "Yeah, I'm with Banki," Mikayla agreed. "It's not like we're actually going to have to duel each other on the first day, that'd be insane,"

  <=====}—o

  "Alright, class!" Coach Yoro was back. Mikayla suspected that he was the assigned teacher for all first-year practical classes. "For our first practical training session, we're going to gauge where you're at by holding a series of one-on-one duels!"

  Mikayla did a spit-take. "We're actually fighting each other?!"

  "I tried to warn you," Nya hissed.

  "Of course we are, Aiadon," Yoro boomed. "It's the most time-efficient way to give all of you a chance to show off what you can already do. Then I'll know what you all need to improve on!"

  Mikayla slouched into her seat, burying her head in her hands. "This is what constitutes common sense in this world, huh,"

  "Since you're so enthusiastic, how about we start with Aiadon versus Spaflazzi!"

  Quietly cursing herself for not knowing the group's surnames, Mikayla saw that Banki was rising from her seat too. "Looks like it's you and me. Let's put on a great show!"

  "Uh, yeah, sure," Her only experience with fighting other people was against Mahendra and Flyreh. When she and Keldryn had been travelling together, she'd suggested practice fights, but he'd dismissed the idea as not only being a waste of Mana, but 'a monster hunter doesn't have anything to learn from fighting other people'. Of course, their subsequent experiences had put lie to that statement.

  Hopefully, her limited experience would serve her in good stead here? Oh, who was she kidding . .

  The two girls strode out into the arena, to the marked starting positions. "Oh! Coach! Are we doing this at normal size or Kaiju-fighting size?" Mikayla shouted back at the bleachers.

  "You're training to fight Kaijus, aren't you? Obviously we're doing this at maximum size!" Yoro hollered back.

  Mikayla nodded, flexing her Mana. It flowed into the Lapis of Black Knight, conjuring her black-and-red armour in all its spiky edgelord glory. This was her first time deploying Nocturnus' armour in front of her classmates, many of whom she was already (perhaps optimistically) thinking of as new friends. For a minute, she was overcome with embarrassment, but then she remembered this world was full of medieval sensibilities. They all probably thought the Black Knight looked badass.

  "I don't believe it, she's actually using an armour matching the Black Traitor? I thought those were all destroyed!" Irin sounded scandalised.

  "Out in the Kaiju Coast, you use what you can get, regardless of how ugly it is. There are still a few Black Knights in circulation," Keldryn shook his head.

  Oh, right, of course. Mikayla had momentarily forgotten how much everyone hated Nocturnus.

  A deep, rumbling sigh filled her ears, and she realised Nocturnus was now listening in too. "Hey, Nocty, let's show them how awesome the Black Knight is, yeah?"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Verily!" the old ghost whisper-shouted in her ear. "Bloody conquest!"

  Looking up, Banki had already summoned her own Armour Core, which Mikayla remembered was named Suoyou Deng.

  It was a walking rainbow.

  Most Armour Cores were only two colours, their own and the colour of the user's aura. But Suoyou Deng was a limber and elongated tangle of limbs with colours rippling across every inch of its surface, cycling through every hue imaginable. Large spikes crowned her shoulders, and it bore a heavy-looking crested helmet and feet that seemed to end in ice skates, leaving furrows in the ground. A long and slim spear hung from the claws in her right hand.

  Mikayla frowned at it. Stealth specialist? This Armour Core was the least sneaky thing she'd ever seen in her life.

  "Three. Two. One. Begin!" Yoro barked.

  Mikayla raised her sword, and Banki exploded.

  She only barely had time to register the words "Stealth Field!" before an an expanding storm cloud of bright lights and loud noises had wrapped around her, stripping the world away. A cacophony of trumpets filled her ears and her vision had turned into a kaleidoscope of random colours.

  "I thought you said that you were a stealth specialist?!" It had only been a few seconds, but Mikayla was already feeling overwhelmed by the lights and noise surrounding her on every side. She twisted her head, stumbling around in search of a reprieve from the overstimulation, but the effect seemed to be moving with her. Or perhaps the area of effect was just too big.

  "That's right!" Banki's voice came from her left, and Mikayla swung in its direction, but only struck empty air.

  "There is absolutely nothing stealthy about this!"

  "I'll accept your criticism -" The voice came from behind her, but by the time Mikayla had finished turning to face it it had changed position. Which wasn't to say that it had moved, no, it was simply suddenly coming from another direction altogether, mid-sentence. "- if you can answer one question for me,"

  The hint of sadism buried behind the playfulness in Banki's tone had Mikayla on edge. "What's that?"

  "Where am I?" The voice seemed to come from all around her, echoing and reverberating. Mikayla, acting entirely on irrational animal instinct, dropped her weapons to press the Black Knight's hands over its ears, stifling a whimper.

  This was part of Banki's strategy, she suddenly understood. The overstimulation was entirely on purpose. The so-called stealth field wasn't just a distraction, it was entirely by design that she was feeling overwhelmed by its bright and cacophonous glare.

  She could even imagine how ir would work against a Kaiju. They would be confused, disoriented, try to escape, but the field would move with them. Eventually, they'd be so overwhelmed that they would simply lie down and hope for it to go away on its own. And that was when Banki would strike.

  But Mikayla was no Kaiju, and she had an advantage that even other people didn't. "Nocturnus,"

  "Aye, lass?"

  "You can look through my eyes, but see things I can't, right?"

  "Lass, I can look through the Black Knight's eyes. You can look through every other part of it,"

  "Right," Mikayla grinned, because that hadn't occurred to her but it meant her plan would work even better. "Then we'll split our attention. Tell me if you see anything,"

  "Aye aye. And keep moving. Even if you can't see the lass, standing still like this makes you a far too easy target,"

  Nodding, Mikayla focused on making the translucent panels that comprised the Black Knight's exterior go even more see-through. She scanned the area through the panels of their chest, keeping their head on a swivel and taking erratic, dance-like steps in random directions.

  There were shadows, she realised. Though perhaps that was the wrong word. Flickers of motion, spots where for a moment the lights dimmed. As though something was passing between her and them, something translucent but not invisible. "Nocty, you see those?"

  "Aye. Some of them are fake, distractions, but I can see a trail. The best angle to attack you from is behind your right shoulder, and she's moving towards that spot. Get ready,"

  With Nocturnus' guidance, Mikayla could see the pattern by peering through her Armour; a shadow that bounced around, popping in and out of view amidst the illusionary spotlights. Banki wasn't simply walking around, if Mikayla guessed correctly she was doing cartwheels and high jumps to make it harder to track her position. Hard, however, was not impossible. Not when she had Nocturnus' keenly honed battlefield senses to fall back on.

  The shadow stopped in place for a moment, right in the spot where Nocturnus had warned her the sneak attack would come from, then jumped into the air and flipped. Suoyou Deng had blades on its feet, Mikayla remembered seeing them. Which meant Banki was going for a double kick, probably hoping for a one-shot knockout blow.

  Twisting at the waist, Mikayla swung her sword towards the shadow - and stabbed straight through Banki's world.

  Cracks spread out from the point of impact, the lights and sounds all around her breaking apart and disintegrating into Mana-dust. Suoyou Deng was sprawled on the ground, limbs splayed and bladed feet in the air.

  Banki started to get back up, raising a hand that condensed pink Mana around it, but with a frustrated growl Mikayla cleaved through Banki's arm at the elbow. "One ride on that sensory nightmare was enough for me, thanks,"

  "Okay, okay, you got it. I give," Suoyou Deng collapsed, and Banki picked herself up. Mikayla shrunk back down and approached, arms folded. "Still, what'd'ya think? My Stealth Field is a real show-stopper, right?"

  "I hated it more than words can express and if you ever do that to me again I will seriously consider murdering you," Mikayla flatly retorted.

  "Pfft! I'll keep that in mind, fam!" Banki grinned, and, after a moment, Mikayla couldn't hold her composure anymore. They both laughed, and when Mikayla instinctively raised her hand for a high five, Banki immediately grasped the concept and slapped her palm.

  "So!" Still grinning, Mikayla sauntered back towards the bleachers were her class was waiting, Banki stumbling after her. "How was that?"

  The coach looked awkward. "I was planning to give you constructive criticism regarding your fighting styles, but . . I don't have any idea what to tell you two to improve on. I couldn't see a starring thing,"

  "Ehe," Banki giggled. "Whoops,"

  "If we've got time at the end of class, Mikayla, you can go again against someone else. As for you, miss 'all the lights'. You are going to spar against me, and we'll see what you can learn from how I overcome that Technique,"

  Banki gulped, and Mikayla left her to her looming dread.

  "That was embarrassing," Nya sighed as Mikayla sat back down.

  "I'd like to see you do any better. I hate to admit it, because it's so silly, but she's cooked up a genuinely good strategy. I could probably figure out a counter if I had prep time, but I went in blind,"

  "No, you're right. I don't think I would have done any better," Nya admitted, a sulk in her voice.

  ". . then -"

  "It's still not good enough, though. We can't afford to be seen as weak or ill-prepared! It is beneath me!"

  Mikayla's first response was indignation, but she forced herself to stop and be more empathetic. "I really think you're stressing out too much about that. What are they actually going to do if they think we're weak or imperfect or whatever? It's not like they can steal your 99% accurate DNA from you,"

  "I still need to keep up appearances!" she hissed.

  "Or else what?"

  "Everything will go wrong and I'll be ruined!"

  "How?"

  Nya paused, her jaw working. "I . . um . . don't know,"

  "Then don't worry so much,"

  

  Sorry this is a bit behind schedule. Had a minor mental health crisis right around when I was supposed to be posting this. My backlog is shrinking and I'm not sure I can keep up the schedule of three updates a week.

  But I've still got two whole arcs in my backlog before that becomes a problem. So we'll see how it goes.

  Still hoping for Chapter 100 suggestions! Or new Patreon subscribers!