Slapping his face to hype himself up, William looks down the balcony with fear on his face.

It only lasts for a moment, before another questionable glance shoots forward. He sees the gap between this balcony and one up and forward and thinks he can make it. A slap will help him with that, he hopes.

“A swing with the rope did it some justice, so I hope it will remain in place, otherwise, I will regret it until the.... what?” William sights, and slaps his face again. “I am calm. Calm! The rope shouldn't snap because I didn't put too much of it around the sharp part of the knife, and the rope looks sturdy enough. The reiling does too. Let's do this. I am... not afraid. It isn't as if this is something I should do, but...” He gulps down the last words, as he looks from the 24th floor down. It's quite a far distance from here to the bottom, but he likes the view around the surroundings more than this straigh view downwards.

Alas, he goes for it, and a swing later, he is below the distant balcony, swaying and sweating his ass off. Now, he has no choice but to climb up if he doesn't want to die. He regrets it a second later with countless little curses appearing in his mind. The rope between his fingers is strong enough. He can tell that, but the fact that he is hundreds of feet above the ground doesn't make him calmer.

Still, he climbs up and does what he considers a bare minimum. It was his stupid idea, so he soon grasps the ground of the balcony, and then the railing.

Stumbling to the stone floor of the balcony, he takes the deepest breath of his life. He is on the 25th floor so he sits up and glances around and up.

To his surprise, or absolute shame and fear, there is yet another balcony in the same manner above. It was hidden behind the one he is currently on, so another idea appears in his mind.

“Crap! Fine... I will do it! If done once, twice, or thrice, it doesn't mean shit! I fled from tougher monsters, and climbed steeper hills to escape the dangers! Just like when I was 10, William. 10! I am grown up now... Walker even! No need to be fearful when no monsters are around.” William talks to himself and grabs his courage for the second time.

He does the same move with the next balcony and successfully emerges on the 26th floor in a matter of few minutes. To his disappointment, there is yet another continuation of the balconies, so he continues upwards. There are only 6 floors of balconies on top of each other, so he ends up rolling onto the 29th floor.

To his obliviousness, another section of the balconies is on the other side of the skyscraper, but he doesn't question it since he can't jump around the corner, nor toss the rope that far. It makes a twist, and perhaps on the next floor, he will be able to use this strategy again. Though, for now, this utterly shameless and ridiculous strategy is over.

“Anyway... Huh...” William sights as he stands on the balcony, oversing the academy grounds from the 29th floor. “29th is good. I saved some time with that and even skipped some opponents or one will come up to me soon? I bet none expected someone to be crazy enough to climb the balconies like that, so perhaps some troubles will come at me later?”

He isn't sure, but it is too late to regret any of his choices.

Securing his rope away to his bag, he proceeds to the halls of the 29th floor.

Meanwhile, the sights of the fights begin to change. The notion of Tiberon's desire and Agatha's idea has been successfully implemented. And right now, a girl is before Celleste on the 30th floor, standing like a large wall that is hard to pass. A not literal wall, but Celleste feels the pressure rising in the air, and danger coming from this girl isn't the lightest.

It's the 2nd girl she has seen, and unlike the 1st, she seems.... serious and threatening with her face and posture alone. She stands taller than her by at least a head, and her palms form tight fists. She stands there like a bodyguard, which isn't far from the truth.

Celleste is looking at her in the same manner as with all the previous foes ~ curious, expectant, and filled with wonders if she can flee. She awaits her words or actions as she approaches her with calm and curious steps.

“Hello, Well... there goes this incoming plan I suppose. Bunch of excuses, truly. Halt your attacks for now.” the girl stops Celleste by placing her palm forwards, with a small clock that rests on top. “There is a chance of orders, first timer. From now on, the students are allowed to use Rank 2 Skills, but there is a time limit. If you can continue, or be able to even fight as the timer runs out, it's your win. If not, it's mine. Got it?”

Hearing that, Celleste hesitates, as this is quite a crafty message that may be fake for all that she knows. She doesn't understand the implications of this strategy all that much, but if Rank 2 usage is implemented, then thigns will get nasty.

“Rank 2? Rulers or fight?” Celleste says, stopping before the girl 18 feet away. “Why does it matter? These fights aren't important for our ascent that is our trial. Why bother with such a rule where it doesn't matter much.” she asks with a serious attitude and unwavering ways.

“Because Overseer is an asshole. That's why and..” the girl says while placing much mockery on her words. ”... the fights matter. Do you think this is some fun? This is a challenge and... Nevermind. Let's forget it. “ She waved her hand, signing in disappointment as if words wouldn't make much sense.

The girl before Celleste has long blond hair, and a youthful face, and wears a combat uniform that some martial artists would wear. It strongly resembles what William wears right now but with a more feminine cut and features.

Her arms are bare as well, and the vest-robe-like cut slightly reveals her not-so-ample chest. That's where an Emblem resides, right between them and the neck. A swirling line shines in a glowing and flaming red color. There are also some sheens of yellow and orange, giving the Emblem a mesmerizing appearance as if it indeed is on fire.

She wears no trousers as William does, but the extending robe goes down, forming something between a skirt and shorts. Most of her thighs and leg is visible, and even her feet are bare.

“There is no rule as that.” Celleste shakes her head. “I don't have to fight you at all since I've already fled from few before. No one complained to me about that or anything, so calling some rules at this time is useless.”

“Someone let you pass? Who that was, I wonder?” The girl wonders and she is momentarily lost in those possibilities. “Was it Alex? He is quite easy on girls, or... I don't know what else. Zechariah with his laziness? Pluto?”

“Who knows? I don't remember.” Celleste replies coldly but her opponents don't seem to care much about it anyway.

“Anyway. Now with the restrictions gone, the possibility of fleeing from me is nonexistent, girl, so worry not about it. Why do you think we are at the intersections of the floors? It's for us to force you to fight in your ascend and make things a bit more difficult, or are you afraid? The fight is what Walkers do the most, so fleeting is...” she hesitates, feeling how the air around Celleste shudders and changes.

Celleste seems cold, on the edge of uncomfortable words, and with a strange glint in her eyes. For once, the student understands where the words stand, and fleeting is very much a perfect possibility when fighting more powerful foes. It is the truth she realizes.

Celleste's fleeting is a normal solution in her opinion, which this girl does realize right now. But better now than ever.

“I figured that much already,” Celleste says, thinking that the fleeting is about the best way to go about anything unless the situation calls for it.

The world of Walkers is yet that right with her, so the will of fighting isn't something she does that well. Especially against other humans, which she understands. But if a monster appears before her? She has no doubts that fleeting would be the only option if she wouldn't be able to cut it in half.

“So cold... I bet you don't have any friends.” the girl counters in some displeasure, realizing that the fight is about to happen and her opponent isn't weak.

Celleste sneers, and with a single motion of her hand, crack the floor and part of the wall in a rise of Vectors. A shimmering sword made of white and black vectors is in her hands, ready to let her intent to fight show.

“Start the clock then. I will fight with you because I am not a coward.”

“Fine.” the girl starts the clock and pushes some buttons close. It's the kind of clock that makes some noise when the timer runs out, so she rests it on the ground before the fight will start.

The moment she does so, Celleste flickers her right hand, sending sharp waves of white and black sword strikes toward the unsuspecting girl.

Sneering inside, she stands unbothered as she faces the sharp-looking waves. She isn't afraid for a reason, and then a fire starts as if an explosion of a volcano spread from her chest. The kind that is large and almost encompasses the whole hall towards the ceiling but she restrains herself just enough.

No one wants to turn this skyscraper into flames, so one way or another, she has to restrain her flames.

Her hair turns to flames too but like some kind of extensions of the fibers, or does it envelopes her hair alone? It is a hard thing to tell, but the fire subsides in no time, turning to her first alone. It is like a vacuum and her first turns into a swirling fiery tornado.

Swiping it before her, the flaming storm obliterates the waves of white and black and even flies further where Celleste stands. She jumps away in no time, dodging the heat that pushes against her face. It reminds her of feeling the heat of the fireplace of her former home.

“I give you 10 minutes, girl.” her opponent says, while the flames, more or less remain stronger than before. “That is how the timer works anyway, so don't run away if you feel you can take it.”

Then the flames change again, turning and shaking up in some strange form of molding on her body. It makes her appear like a human torch or a figure bathed in flames. Almost like a witch that is burning from the old stories in a fear of black magic.

She controls them, and before long, the flames turn to a much leaner, not flickering motion. Made from a large amount of Arcanite, the flames change to silk-like stripes, forming a battle armor that forms around her both hands, upwards to the shoulders and around her chest, and back. A veil of flames is receding outwards from the armors too, as if her body is on fire instead.

Her legs remain bare, apart from strangely patterned flames around her bare feet. They also have some flaming pieces of armor, resembling sandals with tiny scraps that resembles tiny 5 finger claws.

With her full power ready, she isn't one to go easy on any kind of opponent. Pouncing forward in this hall, she catches Celleste in a second without giving her time to dodge. Her speed is incredible, and much harder to detect than anything Celleste has seen before.

Pulling her blade for defense, right into the dominating heat she feels is coming, she meets the flame with her wind. It doesn't make sense to her that she doesn't hit a thing, since the flame has no physicality, but the arcanite-infused flames in the motion of those armors do. There is also the body of her opponent to worry about.

It looks even for a moment when the flaring up white and black flame flares up and goes against the flames. Celleste can't see what goes beyond the flames, and the heat coming from her opponent isn't hot to burn her, but it isn't anything comforting either.

This moment goes for a couple of seconds, until the flaming girl flips in midair, and makes a round kick which ends at Celleste's ribs.

Without a choice of defense, she barely manages to pull both hands around her sword, so that she wouldn't lose her touch of arcanite. That could only mean then the rest of the body is defenseless, and the flame girl uses it well to kick her into the hall with the second kick.

Backing for a moment, Celleste notices some pain, but this kick isn't something deadly. The flames also aren't there to hurt her, which makes sense. They are meant for the Dark, and not other Walkers.

It's a distinct rule for all elemental-type Walkers, which is also this flaming girl. They are prohibiting themselves to act with too much power. If they wouldn't, the power of elements, and especially this flame could be devastating. It is almost universal for a whole lot of elemental-type walkers ~ William included, but his case is rather unique in the sense of Annihilation.

Flame is different. After all, it is a very honest destructive element, closing on Annihilation, but in terms of validity and easiness, the flame is much more destructive because of how honest and clear it is. The flame is hot, burning, and raging. Annihilation is like the trickier brother of that, with unique implementations and elemental properties.

That's one of the reasons, the girl doesn't put anything up in flame and acts kind of reserved. In all honesty, if she wills it, she could scorch Celleste to quite disgusting wounds, but she isn't there for that. The students aren't meant to injure others so badly that they wouldn't be able to walk.

That is what Agatha told them, and that's what most do.

This is just a competition, while some... are exceptions to these rules because they believe in a world that requires rough, and unyielding courage.

Even though these rules, this doesn't mean this flaming girl has no way to attack. She is an expert and one of the newest talented Fire Touched. The Walkers which are prone to the element of fire on the extreme side, consistency and effectiveness.

Her hands, or to be specific, mold-up gauntlets around her forearms and palms make her primary weapons. It is her original mold, the same style that makes up William's claw but stronger because of Rank-Up.

She is Julieta Monroe ~ yet another walker who manages to reach a close sight towards 90 affinity with a reading of 88. That is a tremendous talent, and something many would dream to have.

“Brace yourself, girl,” Julieta tells, and pounces once again forward. She isn't afraid to get things going, albeit the flame is worth fearing. She can't be too harsh about it, yet the flames follow her behind, flowing around her like a part of her body.

Her gauntlets are the weapon of her Emblem as it's more than enough. Her whole body is enchanted by the mysterious effect of her element, but the majority of it is what Arcanite is about. Any Walker has a strong body, but some are unique.

Her pounce starts with her legs, where her feet explode in the flame, giving her more speed, and a flame is her platform. The floor cracks and turns black, but it isn't her problem. She isn't sending flame to catch fire. It is just enough power to effectively move.

Seeing her attack once more, Celleste grasps her blade horizontally, and both hands on her handle give some change to her face. She has no fear and she seems interested in what this will do.

A storm of vectors rises throughout the sword of black and white, emerging like flames but not flames as well. They are simple waves, like a storm and lines of Vectors. They diminish in their speed, focusing according to her will as they push inwards. She is modeling her weapon to make it slimmer, but taller.

Her sword turns into a greatsword in 2 seconds, with a distinct white handle, and a messy guard that is a line of white. The greatsword's edge is then deep black throughout the rest of the straigh blade that ends in a sharp point. There are some swaying motions at the start, giving it some small curle, but it continues straight afterward.

Black like the ink, the greatsword looks exactly like that. Storming waves of ink with a noticeable vision of the many waves overlapping over one another in less than 2 inches wide greatsword. Handle and guard are quite bigger and wider, but the edge is what makes up any sword.

Another notable thing is the length which is well over her own height by a foot or two, almost hitting the hall's ceiling.

“Quite a sword you've got here!” Julieta shouts, hiding behind the flames, and in a moment, arrives right as Celleste finishes her preparations.

A quick, upwards, and double-handed greatsword smashes down in a single moment of Juliate's expectations. In return for her strike, she places both gauntlets in a crisscrossed pattern above her hand, expecting a strike to hit her clawed hands.

However, that never happens. A wail of darkness envelops her vision, moving through her flames like phantoms. Then she notices no force on top of her guard. Instead, a wound is there right on her chest, going down with some flame and blood.

Grunting, it is a scratch, and flames soon engulf her wound to nothingness. This still doesn't please Julieta at all. She watched that strike well enough, but she couldn't notice the motion of the sword or the wound.

“Crafty girl... Emblem, or... What was that? It moved like a shadow?” She utters and decides to uncross some attacks she didn't want to use before. Celleste gives her no choices, so she turns much more serious than she wanted.

Her hands are still up in the air, so she pulls her fingers open, and a flame appears within them.

Smacking both forced palm strikes forward, the flame in her fist makes a wide explosion, which ceases the blackness away. It also pushes against Celleste, but Julieta doesn't know how much she can take. She can only hope she isn't some glass cannon, otherwise, she is in deep trouble because of her flames.

All of this has been just a brief exchange that took around 4 seconds, and Cellese is still before her but engulfed in the darkness of her Emblem. It protects her, giving her an edge over the flame, but she is setting and doesn't look that well. She frowns and holds her swords down.

A sudden counterattack forces her Vectors away, while she forces her greatsword onwards. Cleaving the fire in half, she watches the next one appear.

So, she decides on the proper stance and her first motion pulls her sword behind her hip. Resting it behind, she still grips the handle tight with her both hands. She lowers her posture to make a horizontal slash, where a black line cleaves the air, and flames away in a wide swing. Lines of blade follow that swing along, forming a black wave.

Julieta stands 10 feet from her, but her guard is already up, along with her crouching position. A gauntlet stops the waves from striking her up, so their physicality is still normal, which troubles her a little. She wonders how the previous attack hit her. However, time is tight, and failure is a failure. She decides to attack her by engulfing her fist in dense flames. She also jumps above, fearing the flames would affect the floor in her molding.

“Let's see you defend against my dragon claws, girl,” Julieta says, forcing both hands forward but also upward above her head. The fingers grow bigger, and the palms turn into vivid bright flames. They also turn crispier and seem like gems.

Each hand then resembles the claws of a monster, with a crystal-like appearance, and flames that shine brightly. It is like the extension of the real hands, literary. It is one of the easiest thigns to mold up, since people have hands, so it's easy to work around the extension of oneself.

Julieta makes two swiping motions against Celleste in her travel down. Celleste pulls her guard up by making a swirling motion of a black wave. It spreads from the side of the sword which faces her enemy. She crouches down, as the first claw hits her greatsword.

She loses her grip for a second, but before having a chance, a second claw comes. A claw strike scraps her by, but she dodges that in the nick of time. The only thing she suffers is 3 wounds around her shoulder and around her back. Coming from the swipe of the claw, they also sizzle slightly and close in a second. No wound is there then.

Her long coat is already tattered, so she discards it, as it is more of a bother.

Looking at her opponent, Celleste is already preparing for her next attack when she gets back her footing.

“You took it better than expected. You seem much more experienced in fighting. For a newcomer, that is. How come?” Julieta asks in surprise, and can't help it. Very few could defend against her full-on attack of her Dragon Claws.

“You are strong, so I'll answer. I grew up in Australia.” Celleste says, speaking as if her words are worth thousands of words, which they are. “That is enough, I think?”

“There? Are you serious? Wait, you wouldn't answer it if I was weaker? That makes me a bit upset.” Julieta grunts in displeasure and stomps the ground into flaming particles and glances at the clock behind her back. “Though, I don't mind knowing that. So an Australia... The Faded Continent? Interesting. My name's Julieta, so let's get this going for a bit longer if you are strong enough. You have 5 more minutes.”