_NOTE: 8 hours to relocation site.
“Everybody get to their positions!” Yells the Commander of Squad Two-Eighty and Squad Five-Four-Two in unison.
Squad Two-Eighty arrived two hours ago, along with the Commander of Squad Five-Four-Two. Dante hasn't had the chance to meet the new Commanders, nor has he gotten a chance to meet the last group of recruits. Ever since squad Two-Eighty arrived the Commanders have been co-ordinating the structure of the garrison and all the units they want prepared.
Dante's been trying to get a better idea of the plan, but Cassie is quite out of the loop, and the recruits of Squad Two-One-Nine are bedridden and ordered to stay at the camp. Including Cassie- who was prepared to burn down the entire after receiving orders to stay behind.
So, the four of them watched from the encampment as the largest garrison the recruits have ever seen sails into the distant wasteland under two massive shields.
“Ugh- Goddamn Commander Patel!” Cassie grunts, kicking the floor, “Who the hell is he to get an executive order from Vi just to keep me here,”
“It's for your safety, Heir,” Nadia tries to reason with her.
“My safety?!” Cassie punches the air and sparks her energy blades, “Our squad is in danger! What about their safety?!”
Cassie slices straight through an upright, steel beam beside her- collapsing a small, nearby tent of which a few soldiers step out in flustered confusion.
None of the recruits say more, knowing there's probably nothing they could say to calm her down. After watching the garrison drive off to meet their squad, they spent the next twelve hours in recovery. Dr Jiji used a few more of her tricks to help top up the HP and Mana of all the recruits and Cassie. Coupled with the Tai Chi and stasis chamber in the clinic, they're nearly fully recovered.
_ID: DANTE FORST
_HP: 84 (-16)
_MANA: 100% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 230/230
_ID: NADIA MEHDI
_HP: 100
_MANA: 100% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 50/50
_ID: JULIA SMITH
_HP: 100
_MANA: 100% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 100/100
_ID: CASSIE
_HP: 100
_MANA: 100% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 500/500
Before they could spend even a moment with their newfound health points- Cassie was prepared and overly eager to dish out the beatings the recruits earned.
Dante's conclusion is that the delay in their squad's arrival and the simple fact that she isn't there has her on edge. To a slight degree, the recruits hope the sparring helps Cassie clear her head.
The first unfortunate soul that had to fight with Cassie is Nadia. Lucky for Dante, he isn't fully recovered, so he won't have to fight Cassie just yet. With a much smaller crowd watching the training take place, Kate and Samuel are watching from the sidelines alongside a few other soldiers who have been in recovery training too.
The moment they both enter and assume opposite ends of the Arena, Cassie ignites her energy blades and Nadia spawns her whips- pumping one hundred percent of her mana into them from the get-go.
_ARENA: SIMULATION ENABLED
_LIFELINE: ENABLED
Nadia nervously shuffles her feet as she glared at Cassie, who has a menacing glare in her eyes. An anger she is all too keen to release. Nadia takes a deep breath, trying her best to control her nerves before she looks up at her HUD.
_START
Without any delay, Cassie sprints towards Nadia. Approaching her faster than any person or Krix has done before and in an attempt to keep Cassie at bay, Nadia flicks her right hand- A thunderous clap whails through the Arena amongst the flash of a bright light. But, when Nadia's eyes adjust to evaluate the success of her attack, Cassie has closed the gap and she is within striking range.
Before Nadia can process how Cassie dodged it, she flicks one of her whips to latch onto the wide railing of the Arena, and with all her strength she pulls herself out of the way before Cassie strikes. The technique is something Nadia's decided to take more seriously, she's noticed that she can dash and move in quick bursts when using her whips this way.
Cassie doesn't say a word, and grunts as Nadia re-establishes her distance and uses her other hand to flick her whip again, this time being more attentive to her aim- and launching it at Cassie's torso because it's a bigger target than her head.
Another loud crash echoes throughout the tent, alongside an extremely bright flash- much brighter than the first. Nadia can immediately feel the reduced control she has in the one whip. It's all too familiar a sensation-
She cut it!
Nadia now realizes that this is what caused the bright flash during both of her attacks, and the first one was Cassie's failed attempt at severing Nadia's whip.
Nadia looks out at her extended arm and notices the range of her left arms whip has reduced by about a third. Nadia looks up and notices Cassie no longer charging at her.
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She's going to do it again. The last thing Nadia wants to allow is for both whips to get cut. So, she decides to take the loss in this scenario and work according to the reduced range of the whip on her left arm. She slowly retracts the one in her right arm to match with the left, opting to extend it when she needs the range advantage again.
“The unconfident choice,” Cassie smirks.
Nadia doesn't respond and glares at Cassie with as menacing of a look as she can. She still has the range advantage, but against a fighter like Cassie, it's reduced Nadia's advantage significantly.
“C'mon then recruit,” Cassie says, “Show me what you've learnt,”
Nadia starts spinning both of her whips above beside her body, as though she's preparing to launch two lassos, each gaining momentum as she spins them faster and faster. Once at speed, the whips look almost like circular blades twirling beside her body. Then, both Nadia and Cassie run towards each other at the same time.
“This isn't going to end well,” Julz folds her arms.
“Why not?” Kate asks, watching Nadia in awe.
“She isn't a close combat fighter,” Julz shrugs.
A large surge of energy ripples from the centre of the Arena the moment Nadia and Cassie's weapons collide. Without much effort, however, Nadia is thrown back by the strength of Cassie, and with the small distance advantage, she flicks one of her whips- nearly striking Cassie's head before she retracts it again and maintains the spinning, without losing much momentum.
Cassie then goes on the offensive, and strengths checks Nadia with each strike- focused on hitting Nadia's twirling whips rather than going for a blow that would hurt Nadia.
Is she trying to cut through them again? Nadia realizes this when she sees the almost hacking-like downward strikes Cassie is relentlessly repeating.
Nadia parries Cassie's next strike and Cassie's balance is thrown off as she slices through the air. With this brief advantage, Nadia sends one of her twirling blades at Cassie's upper thigh, and a large splurt of blood ejects from Cassie's leg.
_ID: CASSIE
_HP: 73 (-27)
_MANA: 70% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 350/500
_NOTES: Deep wound in leg. Severe blood loss.
The small group of spectators cheer and clap in support of Nadia as she lands the best blow any recruit has landed on a first tier.
Nadia grins, and looks up at Cassie's face to notice she has an unphased expression- This alone sends a shiver through Nadia considering the damage she dealt was met with no reaction at all and she immediately uses her second whip to follow up on her attack.
_ID: NADIA MEHDI
_HP: 57 (-43)
_MANA: 0% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 0/50
What just happened? Nadia feels her entire body weaken and barely gets to look at her stats before her attention is drawn to her peripheral vision. She ever so slightly turn her head to see her left arm, the one she was preparing to strike with, crash onto the ground.
She couldn't even see Cassie's strike, and when she looks back at Cassie, she can feel a numbness pressing through her chest before she see's Cassie's blade extending through her.
When did she get so close?
_ID: NADIA MEHDI
_HP: 14 (-86)
_MANA: 0% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 0/50
_NOTES: Left arms amputated. Impaled through upper torso.
Nadia takes a step back, the sensation of the energy rubbing against the inside of her body leaves her shuddering as she moves to get the blade out of her. The moment it's out, she collapses to the floor having been held up by the support of Cassie's blade.
“Not bad, recruit,” Cassie says with a calm voice and fury-filled eyes.
Nadia doesn't say a word, still trying to process how Cassie moved so fast. She lost eighty percent of her health points in the blink of an eye. Is this the strength of a first-tier? The thoughts distract Nadia from the pain as she waits for the sim to come to an end.
“Get up,” Cassie grunts.
Nadia can feel the life draining from her body and the absolute lack of strength she now has. She twitches in an attempt to roll over but she can barely flop her body around on the floor.
“Get up!” Cassie yells at Nadia, the tension amongst the watching recruits revitalizes their collective fear of Cassie. “A fight isn't over until you're dead! Are you going to fight for your life, or accept death?”
She's right. Dante hadn't considered it but this comes back to Cassie's ability to identify bad habits in their training. Ending Sims before zero health points may teach recruits that they can tap out of combat before they die- essentially accepting death.
Nadia wriggles on the ground, planting her forehead on the floor and using her head and her non-amputated arm to lift herself to her knees. With extreme pain and a scream she successfully positions herself on her knees and looks up at Cassie towering over her.
One leg after the other, Nadia manages to get up to her feet, nearly falling back over once she stands up straight and amongst the twirling of the Arena and the pain throughout her entire body, she takes a few steps back, and extends the full range of the whip in her right arm.
“Good,” Cassie grunts. “From here on out, you fight until zero. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Heir,” Nadia chokes on the blood in her mouth.
Cassie looks at the spectating recruits with a rage-filled glare, “Is that clear?!”
“Yes, Heir!” All the recruits respond.
Cassie looks back at Nadia, and the both of them stare at each other across the Arena. Nadia's entire body sways as she occasionally uses a foot to catch herself from falling over.
Nadia starts running towards Cassie with pain-filled limps, throwing her whip which falls beside Cassie’s front foot- she pays it little mind. But, Nadia suddenly yanks the whip with all her strength when Cassie realizes it is now wrapped around her leg. Cassie's front leg extends forward, lowering Cassie into about forty percent of a split and putting her out of position.
Nadia uses this opening and the distance she's closed to place a solid punch in Cassie's face before she feels the strength in her body completely dissipate.
_WINNER
_ID: CASSIE
_HP: 64 (-36)
_MANA: 70% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 350/500
_NOTES: Deep wound in leg. Severe blood loss.
_LOSER
_ID: NADIA MEHDI
_HP: 0 (-100)
_MANA: 0% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 0/50
_NOTES: Left arms amputated. Impaled through upper torso. Large cut to stomach.
With little sensation in her body, Nadia looks down at her stomach to see a large gash bleeding- Cassie must have cut her as she ran past.
Nadia's body drops to the floor and before she can process much else, her vision falls to absolute darkness.
“Good job, Kid,” Cassie says as she stands back up.
_ARENA: SIMULATION DISABLED
_FIGHT DURATION: 3 min 27 secs.