"Good grief..." Clipboard muttered, shuffling into the bleachers behind us, a tablet in his hands.

  Elysia... Stel and Sparrow disappeared in a fsh, and I could feel the barrier dome solidifying around them, sealing off any outside noise or distras.

  "Finally." a familiar sighed, behind me and watg as they faced off. I turned in surprise. She ractically hanging over the railing on aed ptform between the bleachers.

  She was bloh a blue domino mask, dressed in a tuxedo. This time, she had her hair done up in a side-ponytail, and her domino mask had intricate golden filigree. A blue rose adorned her hair, matg the ats of the mask and the bck tux.

  "Ace?" I asked in surprise, standing up to face her.

  "Hey Luxie," she said, smiling, hanging with torso draped over the railing. "The one and only. Ace of Diamonds!"

  Ace of Diamonds?

  That was the first time she hadn't introduced herself as 'Ace' alone.

  "Diamonds...?" I muttered bnkly.

  She winked "Yup. That's right. That's the name I go by, but it's too stuffy. Kinda. So, I'm just Ace here."

  "Huh..."

  Ace's team was the stro I'd seen so far in the freshman css. She'd given me a mysterious and pyful vibe in her iions with me, and even in her speech, but now it felt more... grounded. She seemed a bit less aloof. Her smile was a lot more rexed tha few times I'd seen her.

  "Anywho, Sparrow there's been itg to fight Elysia siesseract's training exercise," Ace said. "And it was super annoying trying to calm her down. So this'll be o watch. Sparrow's a real handful when she's like this, ya know?"

  I shivered, thinking back to the terrifying, feral expression Sparrow had made at Elysia a few days ago.

  I couldn't help but feel sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of that gaze. Even if Elysia was a match for her, that kind of iy would make anyone nervous.

  Ace stretched out her limbs, taking in a deep breath and sighing as she let it out and draped herself over the rail again, looking a bit tired.

  "So I'm really happy she finally gets to spar Elysia. She wouldn't shut up about it," she sighed.

  "Y-you call that a spar?!" a boy's voice excimed.

  "Hmm?"

  We turned around to face a small group of students that were standing behind us, having heard our versation.

  I bli the group.

  A girl with a neon rainbow ponytail, the same color scheme as her uniform.

  A Mediterranean girl with bright green waist-length hair and a green and white ensemble.

  My eyes nded on a girl who looked like a stereotypical corporate secretary. Except, she looked like a ically de-aged version of one. She had gsses that glowed a faint purple and had ly cut straight bck hair tied into a high ponytail, and she wore a formal white blouse and bck pencil skirt bo.

  Clipbawked at the spectacle unfolding in front of us o her, his eyes wide and jaw sck.

  The corporate girl looked on impassively, but she seemed ied in the brawl breaking out in the arena. She took notes on her notepad with a meical pencil. "That was a rather intense opening attack. It seems Raging Sparrow has been training hard. She is quite strong, but so is her oppo," she muttered to herself.

  I blinked in surprise, realizing who this was.

  "Spreadsheet...?"

  She looked at me with a curious, yet impassive expression. "Yes?"

  She g Ace, who gave her a wave from her dangling position before she turo give me a slight nod.

  "Hello. I do not believe we have met in perso, have we?" she said. "I am Spreadsheet, a member of the Offiterns trio. You must be Lux?"

  She had a soft, almost monotone voice, which sounded rather strange ing from her.

  "I'm surprised you know my name," I replied, smiling sheepishly.

  She nodded. "It is my duty to gather and aa on every cadet, especially those with impressive showings in orientation and training exercises. You are one such cadet. As are the other students brought in through emergency tracts. And, of course, Elysia. You all are impressive, especially given your ck of formal training and education."

  She spoke like she was a puter reading out of a textbook.

  "Oh... well... thank you. I think," I muttered. "You're impressive too. Your team doesn't like to use your full transformations, right?"

  Spreadsheet nodded. "We have a very versatile and u of abilities, and we have trained hard to master them. oal is to bee a highly sought after, effit support unit. So we focus more on developing skills outside our transformations. I am very pleased to meet you, and I look forward t with you iure."

  She spoke very matter-of-factly.

  "Oh, thank you. I appreciate it."

  The irl with a neon ponytail and rainbow outfit ractically gawking. "Man, Elysia took me out in a couple of seds and she's on the back foot?" she excimed, watg the brawl below us. "And she was using a lot of defensive and enha spells! I thought she was supposed to be a cold type!"

  "She's an all-rounder. Her magic is extremely adaptable. It allows for a wide range of offensive, defensive, and supportive capabilities," Clipboard expined. He was muttering under his breath, too quietly to make out, as he observed Elysia and Raging drop their ons to take up fancy-looking martial arts stances.

  "Wait. You were the girl iraining exercise. The one who was an absolute jackass about me having an emergency tract," I spoke, staring at Rainbow Girl.

  She turo me and stuck her to. "Neo Dymium, don't wear it out."

  I stared at her, fused, before realizing that was her name.

  She gave me a cheeky smirk.

  "Anyways," she tinued. "Sorry about that, by the way. You proved yourself pretty good, I guess."

  She g the fight, wing as a bst of frost smmed Raging Sparrow into a cliff face, and she immediately bust out of the icy prison. Neo let out a whistle. "Those two have to at least be Css 5. That's some is weaving!"

  Spreadsheet nodded in agreement, jotting down more notes in her notepad.

  "Yes, that would make sense given their physical skills alone."

  I looked down at the fight below us and watched them blur across the field in a mesmerizing bad forth exge of kicks, punches, elbows, and knees. For some reason, it was giving me a nagging sense of deja vu...

  The two fighters blurred from one end of the field to the other, trading hits in a dazzling dance of strikes and blocks as they tore up the terrain.

  "H-how..." I heard Verne say over by Instructor Strike. "T-those are real, right?"

  "Huh?" Azraq asked.

  "There are some scary folks in this year's css, huh?" Nivalis mused. "I'm gonna have to keep my guard up."

  "Wait... what do you mean?" I asked.

  "Raging Sparrows has insane trol over her mana, even if her style is pretty raw and crude. It's holy quite amazing how much ford power she mao put behind each hit. It's no wonder she has such high ratings as a cle batant," Clipboard observed.

  "Ratings?"

  Clipboard looked up at me. "Knights and Pioneers who are registered with the Heroes' Guild are rated periodically on a scale of 1 to 10 based on a variety of factors. Their overall magical aptitude, the amount of mana they have access to, and the quality and potency of the spells they use. Some choose to opt out istration or formal ratings, but it's a requirement for most teams and formal ission opportunities within the Guild. Uered heroes and vilins alike who make enough of a spsh will sometimes be given an unofficial rating by the Guild or various other institutions."

  "Ah... so her details are publicly avaible?"

  "Indeed," Spreadsheet answered. "Sparrow's st assessment two years ago had her rated at Css 3, but she has physically developed since. Her ratings were already a 5 out of 10, which put her firmly in the middle of the road for adult knights as a barely pubest teenager. But I dare say she may be the most dangerous cle specialist in our cohort. Her speed and precisioruly awe-inspiring."

  "That was over a year aght? If she's improved this much..." Clipboard mused.

  "She'd be a Css 5. Maybe even a 6, depending," Nivalis said.

  "Elysia seems to be holding her own, though," Ace said, watg as they both threund cshed, the air between them exploding out. "And you're close. All three of us actively train at parity with our state's adults. Sparrow's the best of us at one-on-one bat."

  "You think they're a Css 5, then?"

  "Maybe," Clipboard muttered.

  Spreadsheet nodded.

  "Probably. They're both strong, that's for sure."

  "I see," I muttered.

  I looked back over at the battlefield to see Elysia crackle with magic as her speed shot up, her body practically a blur as she moved faster than the eye could follow. She'd activated Lightning Overdrive at some point, but Sparrow seemed to be keeping pace with her. The ground was starting to freeze around the edges of their brawl, and Sparrow's attacks were leaving behind shockwaves that split the terrain.

  "Hmmm...."

  A deep rumbling in Strike's throat broke through my thoughts. He was stroking his ihought. He'd stopped eating his pop, his gaze fixed ily at Elysia and Sparrow's fight.

  I stared at him curiously, and noticed that Ace's attention had drifted to him too.

  "S-Something wrong sir?" Azraq asked, notig the sudden shift in his mood. Even Verne and Nivalis stopped chatting with each ng over curiously.

  He stared quietly as he put his pop down, watg as Elysia's aura fred a brilliant blue, her speed and agility reag an incredible peak.

  Strike blinked, before looking back at us with a smile. "Oh! Nothing to it, kids. I was reminded of a cherished cohort of past students. It was so nostalgic that it brought me right back."

  He picked his pop bucket up, popping another pie his mouth and chewing loudly.

  "Ooohh. You're really, really old, huh?" S Dream said, smiling pyfully.

  "S Dream!" Aurora scolded.

  Instructor Strike chuckled. "No, no. It's okay, Miss Aurora. I know how old I am. And yes, you say I'm n chi! But that's what I love about being an instructor here, I suppose. There are so many bright kids, all from different walks of life."

  His gaze drifted to Elysia and Raging Sparrow. "And that's what makes you special, isn't it? Ead every one of you are unique and amazing in your own ways!"

  I followed his gaze, my eyes widening.

  Raging Sparrow tackled Elysia out of the air, her wings arg back as she grappled my sister in mid-air and pounded fist after fist into her ribs. Sparrow shot forward like a missile, the shockwave rippling outward in a e and shattering the frozen ndscape in front of her as she smmed Elysia deep into the ground, sending cracks rippling through the ground.

  "Ah!" Azraq gasped. "That's so brutal! How is she still standing?!"

  "Is Elysia alright? I-is this normal?" Luna e whispered, clutg onto Nivaliis's arm.

  Nivalis whistled. "Normal? Not really. Most of the fights in our year haven't been like that. It's pretty rare for someoo go that hard at the beginning of the year, but Elysia seems fine."

  "Sh-she's fine, Luna. Look at her. If anything she looks pissed off," Aurora said, her eyes wide as Elysia kicked up and reversed the position, her eyes sharp and cold. Elysia was clutg onto her ribs with one arm as Raging Sparrow bucked up and broke free. She was grinning, a gleeful and wild look in her eye as she wiped blood from her forehead and spat onto the ground.

  "Frozen Void: Expansion!" Elysia roared.

  The temperature iire arena dropped, iing around her and freezing the ground around the two of them. Raging Sparrow's footing was thrown off, her face twisting as Elysia leapt forward.

  "Ice Pilr!" Elysia roared, a pilr of ice shooting up beh her.

  Raging Sparrow tried to fly out of the way, but the expanding ice smmed her into the ceiling with a thud. Her wings beat as she struggled to orient herself in her fall, her aura glowing a brilliant red as the steam from the tact of their magic billowed out and blinded our vision.

  Strike sighed. "Great Scott! I will have to lecture these two on proper use of school facilities..."

  We winced as we heard another loud, resounding crash and watched as a bst of hot wind and a shockwave rushed outward from where Elysia and Sparrow were.

  "Uh..." I started, but the words died on my tohat was..."

  "Yeah. That was... intense. I think they're legitimately throwing with bad iions. This stopped being a normal spar a while ago," Nivalis expined.

  Strike stood up, pg his pop down.

  I stared at the two girls, who had just maain their footing and were staring daggers at each other. Raging Sparrow's aura had turned a brilliant, violent red as the ground arouarted to steam and crack. Elysia's eyes had narrowed into slits, her aura was a blindingly bright blue as her body tensed and her arms crackled with energy. I could seheir magical presences from here. They were preparing for their final attacks.

  They looked at each other with mutual, murderous i, their bodies coiled t, their eyes burning with anger.

  Then, their bodies shot forward in a blur. I could barely cry out in and arm as a greatsword rapidly formed in Elysia's hands. It glowed a brilliant blue and white, crag with energy and frost.

  "Off I go then. Be ba a Kaleidosinute!" Strike said cheerfully.

  I stared at him, fused.

  Before I could say anything, Strike suddenly crackled with a golden shroud of energy and blurred in front of me. Then he disappeared, a gust of wind and a rush of air hitting me in the face as I heard the sound of crag gss.

  "Rime Breaker!"

  "Apocalypse!"

  The air itself shook, the world around the two batants seemed to and distort as the ground below them exploded outward in a shockwave. My vision was filled with steam and ice. It looked like the whole arena was engulfed in an explosion of id fire. The air was filled with a r sound of rushing wind as a cloud of dust, dirt, and debris flew upwards.

  "Holy... that was insane," Azraq said in a hushed voice.

  "It was a lot of mana. That's for sure," Clipboard muttered.

  I stared bnkly as a small shockwave hit me, knog the wind from my lungs. A huge gust of hot air blew past me as I saw a fsh of light. It was followed by a thunderous boom that echoed across the field, sending shivers through me.

  And then, as the smoke cleared and the dust settled, there stood a single man in a narrow stance, his arms extended in an exaggerated narrow pose as he stood betweewo girls.

  Elysia and Raging Sparrow both stared in amazement, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open. I couldn't help but be dumbstruck myself.

  "Is... is he T-posing...?" Luna muttered in disbelief.

  "T-posing?" Nivalis asked.

  "Is it some sort of martial arts thing?" Clipboard asked, fused.

  "No," she answered quietly. "Uhhh.... it's like... standing in a T shape. It's an i thing," Luna said, her cheeks turning red as everyoared at her.

  "Anyways. Goodness gracious, you two!" Strike beamed from across the field. "That's enough! Good fight. I'll let this slide for now. But o take it so seriously, you're n to kill each other here."

  The two of them stared bnkly at strike for a sed, before scowling simultaneously, gring at him.

  "Stay out of this!" Sparrow shouted. "This is ht!"

  "Old man....!" Elysia whined.

  "Old...!" Strike gasped, pg one hand on his chest in an exaggerated gesture. "Listen here, young dy! I'll let you off with a warning since I'm so nice, but I am the primary bat instructor here. I will not stand idly by while you fight like a couple of rabid dogs in MY arena."

  "But Urike..." Elysia protested. "We aren't..."

  Strike gave Elysia a sharp gre. "I'm your instructor, not your uncle here, Miss Elysia," he stated firmly. "You've both already pushed the limits of my patience. So no more nonsense, okay?"

  "Urike?" the girl in the green and white exotic dress finally asked, staring bnkly at the giant.

  What was her name... Ves... Vesper? Right. Vesper Nightshade.

  Vesper stared in disbelief as Instructor Strike gave Elysia and Sparrow a firm gre, a look that would have sent me quivering in fear.

  "Oh. Uh..." I said, trailing off.

  That was awkward. It just occurred to me that Stel robably familiar with the Star-Sprahurike.

  "I don't wanna hear another word," Strike said, ign the ent. "Get ed up. The fight is over, and the rest of us have more matches to see."

  "Hey, old man! I said this was ht!" Sparrow shouted.

  Strike frowned, but before he could respond, Raging Sparrow lunged forward at Elysia. She came in swinging, aiming a punch right at Stel's face, but Instructor Strike just looked at her zily.

  Suddenly he was by her side, holding her in the air by the back of her breastpte with one arm. She squirmed and kicked as Elysia looked at the two of them, bewildered.

  "Why I oughta..." Sparrow hissed, filing her arms.

  "Goodness!" Strike muttered out loud. "I see I have my work cut out for me with this year."