Allen silently regarded the dark and sinister figure of his master while his vision wobbled. Bile rose in his throat as he choked out a bloody laugh. “What’s up doc?” he asked.

“Welcome back, Master,” Amon said, bowing his bald head in respect. The others around him mirrored the gesture with similar greetings.

The leader of the Spades nodded once and set his eyes on Allen, staring from beneath his ragged cowl. His face was coved in a thick leather mask reminiscent of gas masks from earth, though instead of a filter block, there was a jagged ear-to-ear grin made with heavy stitching. The two circular lenses of the mask stared back like windows into the void, though to Allen, the Healer was clearly smirking.

“Is this part of the assessment?” Doc asked rhetorically, gliding into the space between Glaedyr and Amon.

“I suppose,” Iana replied, covering the smile on her face with a gloved hand.

“Do I heal him?” Kläus asked, now deferring to Doc as he pointed to Allen.

Shoam snorted contemptuously. “He’s still standing, there’s no need,” he said. The elf offhandedly gestured at Allen who was down to about half his HP and unable to keep from wobbling in place from the loss of blood. “Look at him, he’s fine.”

“No,” said the Rogue girl. Her sudden interjection shifted everyone’s attention all at once, causing her to shrink back slightly. Nevertheless, she continued, albeit somewhat shakily. “Please heal him, i-if you would, master Kläus.”

The blood healer blinked once before turning his thin, toothy smile back towards the row of Spades.

“Wh—” Allen’s vision phased out for a moment before he caught himself. “Why the fuck would you want that? You should want the greatest benefit for yourself in battle; don’t delude yourself, girl…” he faced the recruit, masking a wince with a smile. “What’s your name?”

“Nora,” the Rogue girl said, “and you’re about to fall over. I want an h-h-honest fight.”

Many of the Spades laughed lightly at Nora’s declaration, causing the girl to grit her teeth as he face flushed. Little did she know, most of them were laughing at Allen.

“I like her, she’s trying hard, but…” Allen rolled his eyes at his colleagues before turning back to Nora, “A Rogue shouldn’t want a ‘fair fight’ at all,” he continued noncommittally. “She has a lot to learn.”

Nora was about to open her mouth to retort when Doc let out a playful sigh. She closed her mouth as everyone turned to the masked Healer who stood casually among them. “If she wants to make the fight harder for herself then who are we to stand in her way of seeking a greater challenge?” he started, lenses landing on Allen with an unseen grin. “You may heal Jerr.”

“Well, it would be hypocritical of me not to accept this advantage,” Allen mused, closing his eyes as Kläus’s blood healing rushed over him. “Plus, I have this ‘sneaking suspicion’ that she would have beat my ass otherwise.”

It took mere seconds to fully heal Allen, during which the Fellman blithely wrenched Joel’s sword free from his gut. Allen growled through the pain, shooting the Healer an irate look that quickly loosened into a mutual sneer.

The pain all passed in an instant though, leaving his body feeling refreshed and his mind cleared. Dead Calm had been active since the beginning of the first fight nearly ten minutes ago, but the effect had been muddled by the pain up until then. That long wasn’t enough time for any significant boost to his stats though. Break, on the other hand, was fully charged and ready to be set loose.

“A shame I missed the previous fights,” Doc started. He clasped his hands behind his back and cast a short and dismissive glance over the other three recruits. “I assume she is the last one.”

“Yes,” Iana said, “the others went about the way you might imagine.”

“I see,” the masked Healer replied smoothly.

Allen took his place across from Nora and reached for his blindfold. The Rogue was no younger than Allen appeared, but he still saw her as a ‘girl’ for a few reasons, his extra ten years being the chief among them.

Name: Nora

Human – Rogue – Level 117

“No blindfold,” Nora said, her voice wavering just barely.

Allen smiled, leaving the blindfold around his forehead.

Nora pulled two curved daggers from her inventory, summoning them directly into reverse grips in either hand. They were similar to the karambit from Earth, but nearly twice as long and serrated on the reverse edge. Then she donned a black steel mask with the face of jaguar and took a stance.

“That’s a cute mask,” Allen thought, deciding to form his own mask with Mana Shroud. He did the face with opaque, white arcane miasma, but he used the dark hue of his Dusk miasma to form the jagged ear-to-ear smile from the mask he typically wore. It wasn’t entirely accurate since he couldn’t cover his eyes, but it was close enough.

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Allen watched as Nora took a nearly imperceptible step back when his mask formed, though she quickly caught herself. “So, you recognize it then?” he mused.

Neither had the time to prepare themselves fully before Amon’s voice broke the tension. “Begin,” the powerful Mage said.

Allen activated Expanded Awareness as soon as Amon’s voice rang out. All lingering effects of overusing the skill had vanished with healing, so Allen greedily spammed it as he sprinted towards his opponent with his body held low to the ground. Nora’s shadow stretched out from her feet while darkness billowed up behind her, coiling around her back and shrouding her body in a small cloud of lightlessness.

With Sure Footed and Feather Walk both activated, the effect of Heavy Accelerate was enhanced even more. The former skill increased his balance and traction while the latter skill decreased the sound of his footsteps while increasing his speed even more.

Allen’s mind sharpened to a point as the single instant of the fight stretched into a small eternity. He lunged at Nora with three needles in his left hand, and his knife in his right. He closed the distance, leading with a wide, throwaway slash.

Nora easily dodged, her strength and speed at least twice that of Allen’s. She retaliated with her own blades, though covered in darkness as she was, Allen was having difficulty seeing the attacks coming. She was fast, but Killer Instinct and Expanded Awareness gave him an edge.

He had a fraction of a second to dodge or parry Nora’s relentless two-handed attacks. However, they were just as quick as they were predictable. Allen easily recognized the combination sets she used, allowing him to meet the faster Rogue with muscle memory. In turn, he allowed himself to fight more recklessly.

Allen dodged Nora’s left blade. He ducked under her elbow, taking a cut to his right shoulder but stabbing a needle deep into the recruit’s left leg. Nora hissed in pain and staggered back while Allen ignored his lesser wound. He knocked his opponent’s right hand out of the way before stabbing at her exposed chest.

Nora parried, but Allen pushed through her defenses, taking three more cuts in the process. The recruit’s body was still partially shrouded by darkness, but Allen could see her outline clear enough to stab at her again.

Nora dodged at the last moment, but she wasn’t able to keep Allen from opening a deep gash in the crook of her neck. She cried out in pain yet stayed in control. Her left knife plunged towards Allen’s neck, but he guarded it with his shoulder, not reacting pain of the blade embedding itself in his flesh.

Nora let go of the blade and wrapped her hand around Allen’s throat, taking three more needles to the gut in the process. The empty chill of Dark magic seeped into Allen’s neck as Nora’s grip tightened.

It felt cold, and sapped at his strength and his mind. The pain was dull and muted, but Allen knew he was in a death grip. He didn’t back away though. Instead, he pushed against Nora’s hand with a growl and threw himself against her.

The recruit let out a startled yelp as Allen fell on top of her. They both scrambled against each other in a grapple, kicking and punching as they rolled against the floor Then Allen caught Nora’s remaining knife, holding it centimeters from his throat as the recruit pushed up against him.

Allen soon realized her strength was enough to push against his whole body weight. With a sly laugh, he twisted in place. The knife shot up at his neck as Allen let go of Nora’s wrists. He dodged as far as he could, but the knife still tore into his chest, scraping past his collar bone.

Allen pulled both his hands free while Nora squirmed underneath him. He had his knee firmly on her stomach, but she would escape eventually. Allen wasted no time. He vigorously jammed his thumbs through the eye holes on the recruit’s mask, pushing in as far as they would go.

Nora screamed and thrashed, throwing off Allen and her mask with a sudden burst of strength. She rolled over onto her knees and tried to stand on her wobbling legs, but she slipped on a pool of blood and fell forward.

Allen found his knife embedded between the girl’s ribs. He lunged for it, grabbing the hilt just as Nora spun around with a third knife in her hands. Her face was covered in blood and her eyes were swollen and clamped shut. Tears of blood streamed down her face as she blindly slashed at Allen with a desperate scream.

Allen pulled himself towards his opponent using the knife that was stuck in her. He ignored the blade that opened his gut with a spray of blood, his mind blanking over. His fist, wreathed in midnight-blue miasma, raced at Nora’s exposed back with every bit of strength he could will into it.

The punch landed and Allen released Break. Pain exploded in his arm as he felt his fist smash through Nora’s spine. The girl seized in place while blood and bile forced its way out through her mouth and nose. Her blood-filled eyes shot open and rolled back in their sockets. Then she let one last choking cry escape before her legs went limp and she fell forward, motionless.

With a groan, Allen fell away from the recruit, barely able to stay seated upright on the floor. His right arm was a mess from below his elbow, he was covered in deep cuts, and his guts were slipping out of the gash in his stomach. Pain filled his senses as his vision began to tunnel. He slowly turned to look over at Nora. His mind was starting to fray at the edges, but he could still recognize the tendrils of Kläus’s blood magic quickly tending to the girl.

You have defeated Rogue – Level 117

For fighting an enemy above your means, you receive a 50% XP bonus!

For a non-lethal defeat, you receive an 80% XP deduction!

Awarded 1577 XP

Congratulations, you are now level 56

Requirements met: 15393 XP

Awarded: 5 Stat points – 1 Skill points

“Well… that’s that… and a level,” Allen mumbled, barely able to register the meaning of the messages. “So, I get something out of this after all.”

He chuckled as the cold feeling of death embraced him. It felt warm, but also haunting and empty. He shivered despite the warmth; even as the warmth spread. He turned back around and found Doc crouching beside him, a gloved hand resting on his shoulder. Allen hadn’t even noticed when all his wounds had been healed, as was the usual with Doc. The insane monster’s dual aspect Life-Death healing just worked that way. It was a feeling Allen had become intimately familiar with.

“That was an interesting bout,” Doc said, his smooth voice coming through his mask with remarkable clarity. “So… where have you been?”

Allen laughed. “Yeah,” he started. Clarity returned to his mind as his master’s healing withdrew. “About that...”