William finds himself in the midst of a surprising situation. The youth around his age is proudly standing in his way, troubling him and proclaiming his fight with little of no shame.

“You are damn right! This is the true source of this Trial! A FIGHT!” the youth shouts and spreads his arms. His voice is quite loud as if his confidence is even larger. “It's even a form of reward for us to compete in, so it goes without question. This trial is sought out by the members of the Academy such as myself without any hesitation because of them. So don't feel too sorry for being reckless and weak as your path is going right through the great me! This is the Emblem Academy we are talking about so nice to meet you!” The youth explains and begins to walk down the stairs, grinning and brandishing his right palm around his face.

His attire is bare but manageable, consisting of a simple military uniform. It puts his wild nature to another level, with red hair and a wide smile to go along with it. Beside his hip, there is even a real sword for some reason, which isn't something one could expect from a Walker. These sorts of things aren't passable at this sort of level. Unsheathing it, he grabs his sword and lays it on his shoulder. He seems relaxed, and not one bit afraid of William as he should be.

“So we fight?” William doubtfully asks and shoves his bag to some corner to not be a bother.

“Damn straight!” the youth shouts with a mischievous smile before turning strange with mockery. “...that is if you don't feel like conceding. In that case, that's the same as my win. Heheheh. There are only 13 of you, so that means my luck! That would be great!” he utters and flickers his hand in a single surprising motion.

“Arise.” William unhesitantly starts his Emblem, catching the flying tip of the sword that is closing to his left thigh. Shattering it in one moment between his two fingers, he assumes the defensive position and faces the youth like a boxing champion. His right arm may be the only thing of the Vectors, but it works for what it is.

“Nice reflexes, but that sword wasn't cheap you know?” the youth commented, unimpressed. “Are you gonna pay for it? Hm?”

“No,” William answers. “you shouldn't have tossed it.”

“Figures... Right. I guess I may use my own, then.” the youth smiles and turns his right palm towards his face.

William sees the glistering round Emblem within his right hand. It is facing his direction and quite an impressive speed of bright and lighting vectors are inside of it. Without a word of caution, the gust of tiny little lighting Vectors reveals a long sword made of many lines of light. It resembles some lightning too, but only somewhat.

It is a straight and flat kind of sword as if the Vector lines have little or no mass to them. Even the edge doesn't seem sharp, but that's how it goes for most beginner molds at Rank 1. Even though it doesn't appear this way, it doesn't mean it couldn't kill or injure some foes. It is a weapon mold so it has a harder threshold of maintenance and form.

Though it could still be dangerous, it won't be a problem, as the differences between Rank 1 and 2 Skills aren't the smallest, but they aren't large either. It still puts some restraints on these students, since their focus is mainly on their primary Skills and Molds. Only at the later stages, one could have time and resources to focus on making more Skills or Molds much better.

Overall, in conjunction with these vectors, which aren't half-assed, the youth appears somewhat wavering in his control. It is clear this mold isn't his priority. After all, one thing that can't be stopped is the core affinity of his vectors. The youth may have Rank 2 Skill for his Vector affinity, but without using it, what else he should do? There are some passive ones, so it goes without question there are some Rank 2 Skills they can use.

Ending his descent, the youth ends up facing William a few meters away, who is yet to do much. He sees his opponent's right sword, and continuous lines of Vectors float right around his arm, making some form of makeshift armor. Though they barely cover his right arm, shoulder, and chest. It sounds and is worse than William's Vectors.

His lower body isn't the least bit protected either, but that's because his emblem position is further from the torso. William isn't far from having a worse position of the emblem, but he is better than this youth but quite a few inches.

“How do you want to do this? A fistfight isn't right, as you have a sword and I have a single fist. Wanna do rock paper and scissors instead?” William asks, faking his nervousness by making a joke. He has never fought someone his equal before. It doesn't even include Roman, who he didn't consider an opponent since he isn't one. He toyed with him for many days instead.

“A fierce fight!” The youth shouts and swings his arm to Allan's left side, arriving with his swords in split second.

Though, William expected this sort of attack, so he places his claw forward, catching the blade with the back of his claw. The metallic clinking sound echoes and the wild force from both youths seems to be equal.

“Ho? A strong form? You are tough, for a beginner. Your Emblem's Vectors are quite strong. You already reached the 1st affinity amongst some other things?” the youth speculates.

“Who knows? My turn now!” William asks and points to the foe with one finger.

“This isn't some chess! You watch your mouth and learn, newbie!”

The youth strikes before giving him a chance, and fierce clashes follow suit. Both of them don't move a single step back, and each holds some form of pressure over one other. Though, there are a couple of things to care about. The red-headed youth's speed is fast, and although his sword isn't perfect, his control and strength of his vector are quite good. On the other hand, William has his claw which is already familiar to him.

Swinging left and right, the pair exchanged dozen of strikes while William only defends with his right hand. No matter if the strike comes to his left or right side, he is never late, but it requires some concentration.

The youth grits his teeth while being surprisingly played by this rookie. If only he would be allowed Rank 2 Skills or Molds, he would be very different. That means a drastically different kind of variable. The Molds are precious, and similarly to William, this youth has a form that is comfortable to him but he isn't allowed to use it.

After all, when one reaches Rank 2 in the Molds Skill, it means he can't use it here, and its following skills too. Molds form a significant chunk of power and variables in strategies. For Skills, not so much, as some Skills can have various effects within some Molds. That means this sword is Rank 1, and it is not only the least favorite piece of mold he made, but the most recent.

However, even though it seems evenly matched, William can barely move against some of these quick slashes. Once again, he is met with a disadvantage on his left side, since he has so dominant right side. When in offense, it doesn't matter too much, but it seems Roman is more than right when it comes to the things he had told him. It is important to have a proper balance and know one's errors.

William, after dozens of exchanges, figures the skill of the youth before him is much higher than his. It feels that way to him. The way he moves his bright Vectors, swings his sword, and alters his posture, is quite smooth and powerful. He must be quite efficient in bladed combat, and this sword shouldn't be too far from his primary weapon.

Still, it doesn't mean William feels defeated, as he fought a much stronger opponent just the other day. In fact, it was even today, but who would pay attention to such a minuscule detail?

Deflecting, or taking the attack head-on with his Vector Claw, William feels correct that this basic form of his claw isn't good for this situation. Roman said so many times, and William remembers his words. Some things require a proper form or improve one to follow things up with different strategies. It makes complex combat lessons, and for the first time, William is seeing the fruits of his labor.

For this sort of opponent, forms of quick decisiveness are needed. It feels good enough that he could defend for now, but there is no chance for anything else. So, he can wait for a counter, and a chance to use some opening to attack.

Seeing William's tough defenses with his claw - that seems to be unwavering - the youth extends both hands, and a double-gripped swing pushes William against the distant wall.

Unhurt, and unaffected, he deflects this attack just right with the back of his palm but ends up pinned against the wall.

Feeling the power rising within this youth, it seems he can get stronger too. William clutches his claw and shoves the youth away along with his sword. A quick swing is all he does, and it works quite well. Stretching his right hand and shoulders, William walks forth in a more easy-going matter.

“Good. You made 1 damn point.” the youth smiles, still with the sword in his hand.

“Point? What is that for?”

“Yea. Points! What else?” the youth chuckle, and doesn't explain anything. “I will no longer hold back! Careful about yourself, newbie!” he tells and with both hands, holds the sword like some kind of samurai.

Appearing serious, the youth changes something about his sword. It still appears like a straight line, and into a thinner version, it goes. The same height as before remains the same, but something changed. He clearly uses some other form of Skill or a form of this mold, but William doesn't know the details. He could only guess it from his naked eyes which are without anything.

He is yet to use Velvet Eyes or Inner Enchantment. Whatever the youth did, the sword turns up lighter, and firmer to the naked eye. As if denser, and stronger, the vectors become faster in their cycling throughout the swords and lines of armor plates. Strangely, the sword becomes thinner, but flickering lines around it make it a bit more chaotic to see the true body of the sword - if it even is one.

“Oh, well.” William also gives up and takes some restraint from his mind. The kind he thinks isn't something he needs at the moment, but he feels he can use this opportunity to figure some things out.

As for this youth, he doesn't concern himself with him, so whenever this might turn out to be a mistake, it doesn't seem to be his problem.

William turns towards his Annihilation Element in a form of his Claw - not his Hand, nor additional forms of his Annihilation Claw.

Right as the youth decides on his attacking pattern and stronger form of this Mold, he swings not so fast, or slow. The 5 intricate lighting flickering strikes swell from a couple of his swings, descending to William, who crouches down.

William doesn't holds a defensive posture, or turn up to make one. He is quick and decides to do a small experiment. The defense wouldn't be a wrong call for this, but he has another thing he can create. A certain something that Roman taught him.

His Claw swells in Annihilation Element, and he feels as fine as always. The chance to make this decision is brief and small, yet something is happening within his posture and his claw. The Vectors of distinct crimson become denser and smaller as William holds it closer to his core as if preparing to unleash some mighty move.

There is a brief moment of silence until William decides to act before the swings arrive. It only takes 2 seconds, which is almost too much. Withing a still crouching position, he turns slightly up and twists his hip along with a powerful punch that seems to be small, dense, and quick. His arm curves, and flickers in a quick movement. The youth's attacks suddenly dissipate in their Vectors shapes, and he is flung back with quite some force. Flying right toward the stairs, his ending fall also destroys 4 pairs of stairs.

William takes a slim breath in and straightens his back. This is the sort of attack he wanted to do, and he succeeds with the right form from the get-go. A thin, quick, and unnoticed. It isn't also weak, as he feared thanks to the power of his element that is powerful. He doesn't know the name of this move yet, or if he should make one. He could, but... he lacks the motivation to do so.

William didn't create this move by himself but after some deliberations with Roman. It creates 3 important factors along with getting better at wielding his Emblem.

First is control of the Vectors and sustaining specific needs for certain moves.

The second is forming a specific move set that is possible to crate and go with the right posture, control, and amount of annihilation. It isn't like a swipe or a simple fist as he can do any time, but it isn't that far off from that. It is a long-range kind of fist, and William attacked the youth from more than 4 meters away - a distance that should be hard to reach with his melee kind of Emblem and the youth knows it too.

The third point is unleashing the move itself. It extends the Vectors in a brief moment and returns them as fast as they would unfold. In a sense, he creates a quick jab for his hand, which revolves around adding the range to his Vectors. A flicker jab is also a good and fitting name. It adds less power to his strike, but the added range is quite strong. Now, as he sees it, it is still quite strong, which surprises him quite well.

William expected to get hit by a couple of those flickering strikes, but his strike solved them along with the youth. Could he have dodged them? He thinks so. Well, dodge is possible if the one who faces it anticipates it. The youth didn't appear to be ready to take some hit, so he ends up unconscious, with his Vectors fading away back to his right hand.

William walks to him, and checks if he is alright. The youth he doesn't even know the name of lays on cracked stairs with some blood on his face. He hit him in the chest, and the amount of force he used wasn't the smallest.

For once, William isn't sure how to control and use his Emblem in this sort of condition and fight against another human. It didn't hit him that he would be required to hit and use his Emblem against another Walker, so he used what he considered enough. He overshot it.

Seeing the youth, he is... somewhat healthy, but any unconsciousness isn't a good thing. But this is a trial and it only caters to the rules. William understands it, and not like he would do things differently. Checking for health isn't the kind of his expertise that he can give him either.

Scratching his hand he stops his annihilation-infused claw away before returning to his journey towards the 5th floor.

With his watch, hat, and bag in hand, he feels right to not damage them. By now, barely half an hour passed since the start of the trial. Reaching the 5th floor in this sort of time seems very little, and so far, none of the participants reached the 10th floor.

After all, everyone has their respective battles according to the Overseer, while William is the last one to do so, as he is the slowest of the 13 first-timers. Though his case turns out to be the fastest fight out of any one of them since his decisiveness turns out to be his greatest tool. Truth be told, the opponents aren't on the weaker side, but the true challenges will start to appear on further floors. At least according to the orders of Butler A, and the overseer, who states that the students of the Academy shouldn't force things too much.

In fact, it's still a bit much to expect something good out of it, since the changes between half a year to 10 days are quite ridiculous. Their control with the Emblem, Skills, and fighting experiences are league beyond the first timers. That is an unsurprising fact.

A minute after William disappeared to the 5th floor, the red-haired youth opens his eyes as if nothing happened. Straightening his back to a sitting position, he curses some tangible words and scratches his head.

Rubbing his face, he also wipes some residual blood from his face. “What?” he suddenly asks, watching a butler in front of the destroyed stairs. Unbothered, he cleans his face and gets to his feet.

“Score?” the butler of an unknown name, but a different face than Butler A, says. He holds a small series of papers with scores of the fights so he asks what this youth views and gets from this fight. Not for himself, but for William.

“Hmph! Clearly 5 out of 5. This fight was too disadvantageous for me anyway. If I would have rapier or my staff, I would kick him to oblivion and he wouldn't be able to touch me.”

“You wished for that.” The male butler says. “Any sidenotes, Tom Baker?”

“None of the ridiculous ones, but he clearly made the right preparation and I doubt I would react better even if I didn't have any restrictions. His reaction time is above mine, and his talent as a Walker is impressive. To achieve this sort of comfort and might in 10 days is a bit surprising, while I was unable to determine his Emblem uniqueness. That crimson vectors.. is that Annihilation I heard about? Also, his handling of a Rank 1 Skills is quite strong so consider me impressed.” Tom tells what he should and unhappily tells the truth.

Walking away, he no longer wants to deal with this conversation or this butler, even though his chest hurts like being hit by a truck. He coughed up blood for real and took the damage for real. He was unable to dodge, and that is the reality of this little fight.

In similar sights and sections of the floors, the battles follow a predetermined path, set up by Overseer and butlers. Surprisingly or not, some of the first-timers take some losses already, but not one is out of the trial. It isn't that surprising, but the loss doesn't mean the end of their journey. If one would end up injured, or unable to continue fighting, one would lose, but their journey wouldn't disappear. They would remain alone, ignored by their opponents, while losing isn't important. Giving up is, while the timer of 10 hours is a time to push them to their limits.

At the above-left corner of the 6th floor, there is an injured girl staggering with a wound around her eye, and some bruises around her face and the left side of her abdomen. She also limps a little, indicating some ankle injury, or strained hip.

“N-no... just 1st fight and I am gone... What's wrong with this? What is wrong with me?” she complains, while a comrade to her left, helps her move up the stairs.

This is one of the 3 groups which travels in a team of 2. They are both girls, and only one of them has to fight when meeting their challenge, while the other one could only watch. It goes along the rules, but the academy student decides on the attacker with a flick of a coin. A rather strange thing, but it was unwelcomed by either of these girls.

Even Butler got involved at the end when it almost started to become 2 versus 1.

“I swear this mess what they made is terrible... They should make the rules more clear, then ask us to be like this.” The injured girl explains to her comrade, who remains silent.

“Maybe they discourage working together? In this way, one from the teams of 2 can fight less, so is it a disadvantage or an advantage? I doubt it makes sense, but it isn't right. This isn't right! It could be that, Annette. Being alone seems to be the best, I fear.”

“T-that? You...Sharie...” the injured girl hesitates. “...do you want to continue without me? I wouldn't blame you if you would.” Annette says, sighing and grunting in pain. “I wouldn't... I would consider doing so in your position.”

Sharrie pauses and chooses not to answer this topic. She too is inclined to agree, but for the time being, she won't do so, since working together is a major part of being a Walker. She believes in teamwork, and this trial isn't right in this regard. It is quite savage, in fact. Is it supposed to be like that? The world of unfamiliar and tough reality jolts her mind. She remembers it. Both of them do. World isn't a calm place, and nothing easy comes out of it.

They both wonder about what to do, but they can't blame the rules. It is the case for the game being an utter pile of shit, which is supposed to broaden the limits of these 13 Walkers. At least that is a view of this trial to everyone, apart from the majority of the participants.

The weak are set aside for stronger Walkers. That is a good setup since it elevates the growth and much-needed numbers of talented Walkers. They need attention, and Emblem Academy can work and desire to work with this sort of attitude.

The time continues, while losses and victories remain expectant.

Some losses are obvious to see since the premise of losing is standard in the Trials. Yet, here, in this sense of this particular trial, not so much. It's kind of harsh and brutal, but that isn't up to Butler A to decide.

At the moment in her hand, a watch is telling her only 1 and a half hours have passed. She stands in the wide and dark-looking room. There is nothing but illumination light from many screens that shakes any sense of exterior design.

She waits for nothing, as her place is to see the end of this Trial and not the aftermatch of the fights. That is for the additional butlers to do, while she possesses a higher position than that.

“A surprising upset!” a clear and laughing voice shouts. This one comes from the man sitting beside all of the monitors, with Butler A beside him. With a glaring sneer, and eyes that watch everything, he appears highly entertained and content with the ongoing trial.

The monitors depict many cameras of many intersections to the floors and potential locations for a fight. Most fights will go under their decision and vision, but some may change. There have been some surprises in this trial, which he or Butler A don't expect to see. For example, a pale girl who, instead of fighting, fled. It isn't one bit against the rules, so who is to blame her? None of them do, since it is how the rules are.