Oliver quickly reized who he against as he stepped onto the ptform. The girl in front of him had golden hair, and Oliver noticed a few freckles around her nose for the first time. However, the girl didn’t seem tnize Oliver; at least, her eyes showed no sign of it.

  The boy looked around and saw that iher arenas, oppos were greeting each other. He thought it best to copy them.

  "Ni-'s o meet you. My name is Oliver. I’m from the Sed Battalion." Oliver had no idea why he was nervous. His feet were fidgety even while standing still.

  "o meet you. I’m Katherine. I’m from the First Battalion," the girl replied, notig her oppo’s nervousness. However, she assumed it was due to the battle they were about to have in the few minutes, unaware that the boy in front of her was experieng a storm of emotions within.

  Oliver bit his too avoid saying, "I know," and walked to the side of the ptform. He held onto his Artificial Ranger Badge.

  "Activate!"

  As usual, the liquid armor enveloped his body. This time, there were no surprises; he was already used to the transformation.

  [Wele back, Oliver!]

  The boy was no loartled by the familiar voice.

  [The battle will start in...][3...][2...][1...]

  [Battle started]

  As expected, the first move for both was to summon their ons. Oliver remembered that Katherine used a feng sword. The girl wasn’t sure what on he used, but upon seeing the Energy Pistol, she figured out the type of bat this would be.

  Oliver's initial nervousness had vanished; he would have been far more embarrassed if he couldn’t show what he was capable of. Besides, he still felt an unreciprocated sense of rivalry.

  Oliver focused on not giving Katherine space to get closer, stantly moving around the arena. When there were small openings, he tried to take a shot at her or used the shots to prevent her from advang.

  Oher hand, Katherine focused on avoiding the shots, which wasn’t too tricky given her speed. She aimed to thrust her rapier whenever possible, primarily targeting Oliver’s legs. She khat if she could immobilize him, the rest of the fight would be decided in her favor.

  'Think, think...' Oliver was trying to find any way to strike Katherine.

  Although the fight seemed deadlocked to the audie was gradually turning in Katherine's favor.Behind her impassive face, Katherine carefully observed Oliver's movements, waiting for the perfeent to capitalize on one of his mistakes.

  "Now!" she thought, finally allowing a slight smile to form beh her helmet.

  The girl lunged forward aended her sword, pierg one of Oliver's legs. It wasn't enough to take him out of the fight, but she had finally drilled through the armor and drawn a bit of blood.

  “Damn,” Oliver muttered under his breath. The adrenaline of the battle dulled the pain from the attack, but he could feel his leg growing numb, not moving with the same agility as before.

  'Maybe...' Oliver started to formute an idea. 'If she wants to slow me down, that's exactly what I'll give her.'

  He tinued shooting, trying to keep Katheri bay as she rapidly closed the distance. Oliver attempted to run to one side of the arena to avoid her.

  "Ugh," the boy grunted in pain. However, it was a feigned mistake. When Katherine saening, she lunged fain with her rapier poiraight at him.

  What she didn't expect was to see the boy’s Energy Pistol aimed right at her position.

  "My turn," Oliver said calmly.

  The point-bnk shot left Katherine no room to dodge. She had just enough time to raise her hands to protect her face.

  “BANG”

  The bst sent her flying into the arena wall.

  ‘What was that?’ Katherihought, uo prehend what had just happened. She shook her head, still dazed, but quickly regained her posure, ensuring no more shots hit her.

  It didn’t take long for her to realize that Oliver had set a trap. In her eagero attack, she had fallen right into it. The boy had baited her into making a move so he could terattaeither could fully it to an attack, leaving them both stu a stalemate.

  Katherine mao strike Oliver more than once, but the boy held his ground, unwilling to lose. He used all his stamina to keep moving. Meanwhile, Oliver used his feints to nd some shots, but Katherine was fast enough to dodge or even deflect most of the bullets.

  As both tried to find a solution, the three mihat felt like ay were too short. Before they could think of something to break the deadlock, time had run out.

  [Battle finished.]

  [Katherine’s win.]

  Oliver agreed with the result; she had dealt the most damage and hadn’t even used her Boons.Both oppos shook hands in the ter of the ring, and the boy moved on to the arena. However, before starting the fight, he noticed a new notification.

  [+5 Experience Points]

  He hadn’t expected that bat sparring would put him in a position to gain that much experience. However, perhaps it was because he had fought someoh more experiehan him. Still, the boy was happy; he had gained EXP points without obliterating his body with hours of exercise. Yet, the boy had bittersweet feelings. He wished he could have presented a better fight.

  Oliver was only wrong about ohing. Katherine had paid attention to their fight; she just didn’t remember the boy. However, something caught the girl’s attention: Oliver’s will to win and his ability to think of tactid strategies even when he was at a disadvahat absolute desire for victory was something rare to find.

  Katherine had fought many heirs from other Houses, and all of them had a "noble" way of fighting. But the moment they sensed defeat approag, they would accept it as if that made them superior.

  ‘Hmm, what was his name again? Oliver,’ Katherihought before entering the arena.

  The following fights varied quite a bit. There was a clear differeween the First and Sed Battalions. When fighting cadets from the Sed Battalion, Oliver could hold his own and sometimes even win. However, his best performances against the First Battalion were draws. Even within the First Battalion, some recruits stood out from the rest.

  To Oliver, it was obvious that Katherine was above the other cadets, but there were a few others he had watched who also seemed to stand out. One was a bald boy with a tattoo on his head and tanned skin. He seemed quite strong, made even more intimidating by his muscur build. Oliver didn’t get the ce to fight him, but from from a distance, his fights didn’t seem to st long.

  The other person who had captured his attention would be his oppo. The reason she drew attention was quite different.

  "Hello! o meet you; my name is Astrid. I’m from the First Battalion. I hope we have a great battle!" the girl introduced herself.

  Astrid attracted a lot of attention but for very different reasons. The first reason was that she looked like a younger copy of Captain Liv.

  For those who had already trained with Liv, they could only tremble at the sight of the devil before them.However, Astrid had apparent differences beyond age. The girl had braided red hair, and her face wasn’t marked with scars like the Captain’s.

  Ahing that caught the recruits' attention was Astrid's Ranger Armor. Each recruit had slight modifications in their armor, but hers seemed to have the most signifit ges. Her armor had no steel ptes on the abdomen, only a thiallic fabric, revealing a well-toned and trained abdomen.Finally, the st reason was what Oliver feared the most.

  [The battle will start in...][3...][2...][1...]

  [Battle started]

  As soon as the battle began, the girl rushed toward Oliver, not waiting to finish summoning her Ranger on. But as soon as they appeared, the attacks didn’t stop.

  Astrid was one of the few people who had a two-handed Ranger on. In her right hand, she held a war axe, while in her left, a round shield. This bination allowed her to be extremely fierce with her attacks, only needing to bloy terattacks from her oppos.

  Oliver had never been in such a situation, quickly ered by the secutive strikes. Even increasing his shots, he couldn’t pee the shield or stop her advances.

  Finally, one of the strikes hit the boy. Astrid swung the axe from a blind angle, hitting Oliver’s fad knog him to the ground.

  [Battle finished.]

  [Astrid’s win.]

  Oliver spent a few seds on the ground staring at the ceiling. His bored breathi him from getting up. It had been one of the fastest and most intetles he’d ever had. Before he could say anything, the girl had already approached him.

  "Oliver, right? Iing, iing. Yhting style is too passive. You should aim to be mgressive in the fight to win. If you keep fighting like this, just trying to gain space, you won’t be able to hit me." Astrid was overly enthusiastic as she analyzed the fight.

  Although she seemed to be trying to help the boy, she ended up mostly talking to herself. Still, the information was useful to Oliver, who listetentively.

  "Shall we go again?!"

  GCLopes