Oliver was still leaving the arena, unaware of the impact his battle had oher petitors. At that moment, everyone else thought, "I use all my abilities in this fight. There are no rules that will disqualify me."
Although, like in the sed challenge, using powers had been allowed, suspeg it was different from having it firmed.
As Oliver stepped down from the arena, he was no longer as ed with the uping fights but rather with his performahe dispy floating in front of him presented his performance level, "Pawn."
'Hmm. Could I have doer?' he worying to pinpoint something he could have done differently. But the more he thought about it, the more he noticed just how injured he was, especially his ribs.
The recruit to ehe arena was the girl with golden hair. From her posture and facial expression, she seemed pretty fident. 'Or is she always like this?' Oliver wondered. Oher side of the arena was Santiago, who didn't seem affected, although he had taken some hits.
[Test will begin in …]
[3… 2… 1…]
[Test initiated]
Oliver moved closer to the arena wall to get a better view of the match. Ohing he immediately noticed was the girl's armor. The armor on hters seemed to focus on enhang their strengths, and hers wasn’t different in this aspect.
'The armor looks lighter,' he thought. He could see gaps with no armor ptes, just a light fabric, allowing for more speed and flexibility in her movements.
'But it also seems like her armor has way more intricate details thahers,' Oliver observed.
Santiago again waited for the oppoo make the first move. She wasn’t going to miss the opportunity, quickly invoking her Ranger on. To Oliver’s surprise, it wasn’t a pistol. In the girl’s hand was a short sword that looked light and agile, with metal prote around the hand.
The girl wasted no time a on the offehrusting the sword at Santiago’s arm. But the anticipated cut didn’t happen; Santiago raised his gau just in time to block the blow. However, the girl didn’t give him any space to terattack, tinuing with a barrage of attacks.
Santiago waited for a brief pause between attacks to advance, but the girl repared and stepped baaintain her distance. She tried to take advantage of Santiago’s advao strike at his legs, but again, the Ranger dodged.
The girl took a few steps back. Her expression seemed deep in thought, trying to decide on her move. She appeared to be struggling with a decision until, finally, her expressiouro the calm demeanor she had at the beginning.
Santiago wasn’t sure what the girl nning, but so far, this was the best fight he’d had. He was eager to uand what else she had up her sleeve.
“[Blood Rose],” the girl shouted.
Some recruits’ faces grew more serious. Oliver noticed the ge in seriousness but didn’t uand what was happening. However, as soon as the girl finished speaking, a red liquid began to seep from where there were no armor ptes in her arms. Slowly, it enveloped her hands and flowed onto her sword, turning the bde a deep crimson.
Santiago’s gau again deflected the attack, but from the sword’s tip shot a red spike that finally hit the oppo. Santiago seized the moment to grab the red spike attached to the sword, but as soon as he captured it, the spike turned into liquid and slipped through his fingers, falling to the ground.
The Ranger's expression showed his surprise. "Iing. But it's time to end this," he ented.
He no longer kept his arms in a guard position in his advance. Instead, he used his full speed to dodge all the girl's attacks and the red spikes she unched.
Eventually, he mao close the distance. In a desperate attempt to push him back again, the girl tried to thrust her sword. However, her legs were swept off the ground before she could extend her arms.
Santiago executed a low ki one of her legs, knog her off bance. Before she could regain her footing, he was already upohat was her sentence: a quick punch to the ribs followed by two to the helmet, and the girl was unscious.
[Test pleted]
[Evaluated status: Strength]
[Grade: Pawn]
'What was that?' Oliver was still trying to make sense of the fight.
During the Agility Test, he could at least follow along and learn a bit more. But this time, he was left with more questions than answers.
'How was she using a sword? Did I have that option?' He tried to recall the interface of the Ranger Armor. 'And what were those Red Spikes? Was that something from the armor, or did she create them herself?' He remembered there was a Skills option, but there hadn’t been anything like that in his own armor.
'Aaaah! It's too muformation for someone who just used the armor for the first time only two days ago,' the boy screamed in his mind.
After this fight, each subsequent one was more fusing tha, leaving Oliver puzzled about what was happening.
'I should have explored the interface!' Oliver cursed himself with every new battle, seeing things that seemed impossible to expin.
As they reached the final two partits iest, An and Isabe, Oliver was trying to imagine how An would fight. He seemed weak pared to the others during the previous tests. But after witnessing the powers his fellow recruits had dispyed, Oliver no longer knew what to expect.
When An's fight began, ner on was invoked. Instead, the boy quickly activated some unknown ability.
"God's Weight!" An shouted.
The moment Santiago advanced, something pulled him down, f him to his knees.
"Iing. Rare, very rare," Santiago muttered, struggling to breathe.
Although the Ranger was slow down, the fight didn't st long. After a few exges, Santiago e, striking the recruit with a series of puhat brought him to the ground.
An quickly exited the arena, clutg his ribs where he'd been hit, but still happy to have passed the evaluation.
[Test pleted]
[Evaluated status: Strength]
[Grade: Pawn]
However, the fight that surprised everyohe most was Isabe's.
The girl was incredibly excited to meet a Ranger. With a wide smile, she cheerfully walked into the arena. Her eyes sparkled as she tried to take in every detail about Santiago.
trary to expectations, the Ranger remained impassive in the arena. Despite the numerous fights, he showed no signs of injury or fatigue and simply focused on his battle.
[Test will begin in …]
[3… 2… 1…]
[Test initiated]
As soon as the match started, Isabe quickly summoned her Ranger on. This time, a pair of gloves materialized around her hands. But she didn't stop there. Before Santiago could approach, she shouted, "Spring's Air!"
The moment she finished casting her ability, Isabe ropelled forward, her feet ung her toward her oppo.
She was right in front of Santiago in the blink of an eye. Without giving him a ce to defend, she used all her strength to deliver a solid punch directly to his face. For the first time, he had no time to raise his guard, and a punch struck the Ranger directly.
The surprise move excited all the recruits. Maybe someone would finally offer some resistao Santiago? Well, although the start was thrilling, it didn’t st long.
The Ranger recovered from the blow, and to make things worse, Isabe was still right before him. This allowed Santiago to exge strikes with her. As with other matches, he began with a punch to the ribs, which Isabe mao anticipate and block. However, the force was enough to send her flying. Followed by a few more strikes to her helmet.
Isabe didn’t have another ce to hit the Ranger, falling to the ground already unscious.
[Test pleted]
[Evaluated status: Strength]
[Grade: Knight]
----
----
As soon as Isabe exited the arena, it was official; the tests had cluded.
“Nicely doo all who pleted their evaluations.” The officer gave a few quick cps to the group before tinuing with his expnation. ”We will return to where the roups are. Each of you will have your name called and, finally, your battalion assigned.”
The group was exhausted, many with sore parts from the fight against Santiago, and others drained from using energy. But slowly, they tinued walking until they arrived at a rge hall. There, there was a bleacher where roups were already seated.
The newers took seats at the end of the bleacher and waited for another 30 minutes until the hall was finally plete. Oliver didn’t know the exaumber of students initially, but it was clear that less than 30% of all recruits remained.
In the ter of the hall, Major Five began walking to the ter of the stage. “Wele, everyone.”
“From this moment on, you cease to be recruits and bee official cadets of the h Army!”
