- Oliver -

  A pierg arm sounded in the arena when he was just a few meters from the mecha. Oliver stopped abruptly, fused about what had happehe metallic giant in front of him had pletely frozen. Still, uhe adrenaline rush, he hadn't noticed a crucial detail: the position of the mecha's left arm. It was mere timeters away from hitting the boy whech was interrupted.

  ‘I would have been hit,’ Oliver thought, feeling a chill run down his spi the thought of what could have happened.

  "IMPRESSIVE!" the entator's shout echoed, snapping Oliver out of his thoughts. "I pletely missed my predi. The champion of this arena is Oliver Nameless. Who would have thought we have a Nameless automatically advang to the sed phase!"

  Oliver looked around, still not uanding what had happened; it hadn't sunk i.

  He only noticed that some soldiers were starting to ehe area; some went straight to the mechas, helping the pilots out of their s, while others approached the boy.

  "You o exit through that door. ch," one of the soldiers poio the arena's exit.

  Still dazed, Oliver began to walk in the indicated dire. In the distance, he heard the sound of the mecha's pic doors opening and saw an officer emerging from ihe mae. It was the pilot he had fought against. Despite the helmet hiding his features, he didn't seem much older than Oliver.

  The pilot came out supported by another soldier. As Oliver walked slowly, the arena, the pilot passed by his side. "Good fight, kid. Great shot on the right arm."

  "Thank you," Oliver replied, surprised by the pliment.

  As soon as he ehe corridor after exiting the arena, the boy turned his attention to the holograms on his gauhat showed the st minutes of the match.

  "Let's go! A brief recap of this st stage while the recruits of the group are arriving," the entator expined.

  The camera presented a top-down view of the arena, showing each zone. As he had expined, only four people remained in the arena. Each was face-to-face with the mecha they were about to front—ahbreaker.

  The camera cut to present Sophie Laurent's perspective. Oliver didn't know the girl's boon, but she seemed to have some ability reted to metal manipution, as her hands were enveloped in a silver metal shaped like scythes.

  As soon as the round began, Sophie advaoward the back of the mecha. However, wheried to slide underh it, one of the giant's hands came down sideways. She was fast but not quiough to dodge pletely. The impact threw her against the wall of the bat zone.

  ‘That pilot took the girl much more seriously,’ Oliver noted. He wondered if the fact that he didn't have a visible bat boon made others uimate him.

  "What a pity! Sophie was unlucky. The pilot anticipated that someone might use speed to try to pass between the mecha's legs," the entator expined.

  The camera then switched to Max Cruz, who had grown gigantic, almost to the same height as the Mecha, but lost all his speed advantage. In the mecha's first attack, the boy could barely defend himself and was knocked down.

  After that, Max tried to grab the maecha's hands, which promptly attacked him with its legs. He even attempted to shrink abruptly to dodge, but it was too te. His body was thrown against the wall, and after that, it only took two more attacks from the Mecha to faint and be removed from the arena.

  Finally, it was Cale Thorn's turn, the boy who trolled is. Uhe others, he didn't try to run toward the Mecha. Swarms upon swarms kept ing out from within his clothes.

  The camera ihe pilot's showed his as thousands of flies and other small is began to cover the mecha's cameras. The pilot maneuvered the mecha to remove the is but with no luck.

  Meanwhile, Cale began trolling some tipedes to climb the mecha's legs slowly and gradually restrict its movements.

  "This was the boy's mistake that led to the end of the match," the entator expined.

  Ihe , the pilot could be seen giving up on using the cameras to fight and switg to radar. Instead to attack the oppo, he used the radar to locate the pilr. Without a way to bat the boy, he moved the robot directly toward his objective.

  Cale's expression showed his surprise upon seeing the Earthbreaker running in his dire. Just a few meters away, he decided to jump to dodge the mecha, thinking he was the target of the attack. But his assumption was wrong; the mecha went straight and touched the Defense Pilr, ending the match.

  Cale remained wide-eyed, surprised by the pilot's a and uo uand how he had discovered where to move since his cameras were obscured. Unfortunately, he didn't know this version of the mecha well and wasn't aware that they came with radars.

  His elimination occurred at the exaent when Oliver would have been hit by his oppo, ing him the champion of his arena.

  "What luck," Oliver was surprised at how his arena had cluded. Even so, he retty happy; all this had been a bination of effort, pnning, and the right amount of luck.

  As he walked back to the dormitory, Oliver notiew notifications. As soon as he lowered his head to see what he had received, his vision darkened, and his armor quickly dissipated.

  The boy leaned against the wall ohird floor to stay upright. Even so, he could feel himself getting worse; he felt like vomiting, and his vision was blurry, as if everything around him inning.

  ‘What's happening?’ Oliver thought, worried.

  "Let me help you."

  The boy heard someone speaking; he didn't o ask who it was. He had heard that voice hundreds of times.

  "Thanks, Kath," Oliver extended one of his hands for the girl to help him up.

  "First time experieng Energy exhaustion?" Katherine asked.

  "Yes, I never imagi would be so bad," the boy expined.

  “There’s always a first time. You’re lucky to have a lot of energy, so you’ve never had to suffer this until now,” she said, assisting him in taking the step.

  Katherine apanied him back to the dormitory. He sat on the bed, with Isabe and Katherig him closely.

  "Take this; it'll help," Isabe handed over some strange substance.

  Oliver read the front of the package: "EnerGelee."

  Upon opening it, he found an e liquid with an almost battery-acid taste.

  "It's one of the best supplements for energy recovery; I take it all the time," Isabe expined happily.

  "I'm heading up; it's my turn," Katherine said, hurriedly leaving the dormitory.

  Oliver was slightly worried about his friend, w if she'd find her arena, especially in a rush.

  "Which arena is hers?" Oliver asked Isabe, who was once again glued to one of the holograms on her gau.

  "Arena 12. There are still several recruits missing; she has plenty of time," Isabe expined.

  Oliver nodded, returning his attention to the notifications before watg the exam broadcast.

  | The Last Man Standing| Reward: +1 stitutiohe st one remaining in Tower Defense

  | ■■■■■| Destroy a Mecha

  "Shit. I didn't get the other achievement," Oliver thought. "Increasing a stat isn't as good as evolving a boon, but I'll take it."

  The boy saw a notification from Athena upon hearing his thoughts.

  | ><

  He let out a slight ugh before viewing his total status.

  | Stats| Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]| Agility: 19 [Knight] [Buy for 200 Exp]| stitution: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]| Energy: 16 [Knight] [Buy for 1600 Exp]

  Oliver closed his notifications and tables, switg his hologram to watch Arena 12. As soon as he finished setting it up, he could already hear the entator shouting.

  "What an arena we have here! We have two royals participating today. Do you know what the ces of that are?" the entator asked. "Actually, they're quite high; my assistants just informed me that this semester, we've had four royals entering the Academy. Even so, two of them are in the same arena simultaneously."

  The camera, which had previously showire arena, focused on Katherine's face.

  "On one side, we have Katherine York, the third heir of Mars," the entator expined.

  Immediately after, the camera cuts to present a boy. He looked young, but his gaze, hidden behind his visor, shoh a cold iy, radiatiermination. His angur face, marked by scars, was a sign of how much he had trained and sacrificed. His short, wavy hair seemed a vestige of humanity, trasting with the calcuted ess of his armor.

  Unlike many other recruits, his Artificial Ranger Armor seemed to fit him perfectly. Every line of the armor appeared desigo maximize his lethal efficy. Sharp shoulder pads and a stylized helmet that looked more like a battle ade him resemble a warrior prince.

  "And oher side, we have Mordred Lot, the first heir of Encedus."

  GCLopes