I leaned into the power of the suit. If nothing else my desperation, my urgency, was driving my affinity with it. I had never moved so well.

And, to my amazement, I started to gain on them.

Emilia glanced back, her eyes widening as she saw me closing on her. She leaped over the next fence, and I followed without hesitation. We landed in a wide pasture. There were no livestock, but there were still other animals.

Knights charged toward us. I recognized their emblems. They were Lance's father's men. Of the dozen that stalked this space, four came directly for me. They were targeting me specifically. Maybe they had been instructed to remove me as the greatest threat to Lance or simply because I was a commoner. The other eight made an effort to tackle my competitors. The people of Boston were watching, they couldn’t be too obvious in their focus on my elimination.

It was as it was before. Glowing weapons ripped through the air from all sides. Only the barest whispers of my agility, pulses of SHIELD, sparing me from me incapacitated.

One knight's power mace connected with my shoulder, sending me sprawling. Shield dulled the blow, but pain shot through my body, the SHIELD flickering under the strain. I scrambled to my feet, dodging another attack. I had to keep moving, had to survive.

Emilia was gaining ground again. I rushed forward, daring the mounted bastards to catch me.

A knight's sword clipped my side, the energy discharge sending me tumbling across the ground. I forced myself up, adrenaline surging. There was no time to dwell on the pain, no time to hesitate.

Again, the wall was before me. I felt the pains in my body as I thrust myself over it.

I fell badly, rolling in the grass, dirt smearing itself across my visor, obscuring my vision. I forced myself to stand, looking ahead. My classmates were very far ahead now.

As I ran, I kept flexing my new target skill.

The voice in my ear said, “Wouldn’t you be better served focusing on just running?”

“That’s the point,” I replied, my breath steady. “I’m not focusing on it. I’m giving that over to the suit, and look what’s happening.”

My feet were a blur. It was almost dizzying how fast the suit could make me move. I raced forward, faster than a racehorse. The wind whistled past my ears.

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“Well, look at that. Maybe you are getting it, sir. Maybe there is hope for you after all. Well then, I guess, keep flexing away at that skill. Maybe you’ll have use for it after all...”

The others were over the next wall long before I reached it. But my affinity for the suit was growing and I felt as thought something was different now. I wasn’t racing with just desperation. There was some belief in me now.

Over the wall, the same dance once more.

This time, I felt less panic. I felt less of everything. Just committed.

I left the suit to fight as I kept flexing away at my new target skill. The suit guided my movements, my blade flashing with precision as I dodged and parried the knights' attacks.

Everything was changing. I was less the frightened animal I had been. The last remnant of that toddling uncertainty had faded from my movements. I evaded uncountable attacks as I cross the field. But I was defter now. My blade flashed with CUT as I parried over and over. My feet moved so fast, but so surely.

I was surprised by how suddenly I reached the next fence. Then I was airborne once more.

I landed on the other side. My breathing was heavy, but spirits were suddenly light, lighter than they had any right to be.

Again, I was like a horse in full gallop. How could they outrace me for long when I could run like this?

Despair gripped me as I saw Gideon had already reached the tower and was turning back to race past me, his flag flapping in the wind. The other classmates were hot on his heels, each one a blur of motion, already carrying their flags. Facing the knights alone had delayed me over and over, and now they had essentially a three-mile lead.

I raced forward, watching my classmates racing back towards me. The sight of their determined faces, each one focused on the path ahead, made my heart sink. I moved faster, leaving the suit to churn the ground beneath me as I flexed my skill, practiced it. I would need it now more than ever.

The suit propelled me forward with incredible speed, the ground a blur beneath my feet. My classmates seemed to close in on me, but I moved so fleetly that I met them only a little over a mile from the tower. Where they had covered a little over one mile, I had covered almost two. The gap was closing, my hope reigniting.

Then a fresh disaster. Gideon was racing towards me. I shifted my stride to let him pass.

He had no designs on passing me just yet.

He stopped as I streaked towards him, and planted his feet, and before I could react I felt the full force of CUT blazing, crashing, exploding into my helmet.

The voice in my head was silent, the suit's systems reeling from the attack. I forced myself to my knees, my vision clearing just enough to see Gideon smirking down at me, his flag fluttering mockingly in the breeze. The other classmates surged past us, their flags clutched tightly, their eyes wide with shock at what had just transpired.

I could sense him hesitating, thinking about finishing me, but as the others swept past him, taking his lead, I could see he couldn’t stand that. He turned on his heel and fled after them, leaving me reeling in the dirt.