“What’s the situation?” a voice asked through the radio

“Our soldiers are out of the battlefield. The girl has achieved over 25 confirmed kills in 15 minutes,” the woman answered.

“What were their stages?”

“Integration stage step 4, one step below her.”

From the top of a nearby building, she watched the girl fight three soldiers simultaneously.

She wielded a pair of military knives and unlike some of the soldiers, she didn’t have a refined and elegant fighting style. In fact, her technique didn’t resemble any martial art at all. It was like seeing a wild animal fight.

The three men charged at her with murderous intent, the rage for their fallen comrades visible in their eyes.

Swiishh!

She ducked just in time, hearing the blade whistling through the air as the sword barely missed her head. As the man’s momentum carried him forward and slowed his reaction, she seized the opportunity, leaping onto him with deadly precision. She wrapped her legs around the man’s torso like a snake seizing its prey, and with a vicious thrust, she drove her knife deep into his throat.

Blood gushed out from the wound, bathing her already bloodstained hands in more of the warm, sticky liquid. The man’s eyes widened in shock and agony as she wrenched the knife to the side, ripping open his throat in a spray of blood that painted her face in crimson streaks.

With her blade still lodged in the dying man’s neck, she caught sight of the other two soldiers dashing toward her. The nearest one raised his sword, ready to cut her in half.

In one fluid motion, she tore the knife free, its serrated edge destroying what was left of the man’s throat, and using his body as leverage, she propelled herself upward, vaulting over the dying man with incredible agility. She gracefully spun in the air, landing behind him and using his body as a human shield.

As the second soldier’s sword descended, it met the flesh of his friend, embedding itself in his body and slashing his chest open. The second soldier who hadn’t had time to stop his attack, was stunned by the scene.

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Seizing that heartbeat of hesitation, the girl used the first soldier's corpse as cover and swiftly positioned herself behind the second soldier. With a fluid motion, she leaped onto him, simultaneously throwing one of her knives at the heart of the incoming third soldier. She wrapped her legs around the second soldier’s torso as he struggled to free himself and with a swift move, she slid her knife across his throat, tearing it open.

Thud!

The body of the second soldier swayed as the light faded from his eyes, then collapsed to the ground.

She had killed every single one of the enemy soldiers. As the adrenaline wore off, the girl started feeling her body lose all strength as she fell to her knees. At the same time, she also ran out of energy and her grip on reality vanished.

She remained on the ground, finally being able to rest and wondering what the woman’s opinion of her performance would be.

“You f*cking bitch!” a man’s voice shouted.

Watching as the third soldier approached her she suddenly realized, she had missed the heart.

“I don’t know what you did, but it has finally stopped working!” he shouted as a layer of ice appeared on top of his right arm. “Was that your ability? Or something else?” he said as he stood next to the girl. “Well, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

The girl had stopped looking at him and had simply let her gaze fall to the ground. She had lost and she knew it, she was going to die because she failed the test and there was nothing else she could do about it. She couldn’t activate her ability anymore, and even if she could, it wouldn’t matter if she couldn’t move her body.

“Not even gonna look at me, huh?” the man said. “You’re pretty unlucky, a little lower and I would have been gone for sure,” he said as he pointed to the knife in his chest. “However, you still pierced the aorta so I’m gonna die anyway. But at least this way I’m gonna take you to hell with us,” he said as the layer of ice in his arm morphed into a blade and he raised it, ready to cut the girl’s head off.

Suddenly…

Whoosh! ROAR!

The man burst into a torrent of black flames that engulfed him instantly.

“AAAAAARRGGHHHHH!” he screamed in pain as he was burned alive.

The girl watched the man scream in agony, and she felt hypnotized by the black flames and their overwhelming power.

“That was a close call,” the woman said from behind the girl, shifting her attention.

Her right arm was covered in black flames as she extended it toward the burning man. Although the flames were clearly her ability, the girl could still smell the scent of burnt meat coming from her as well.

“Why?” the girl asked.

“Because you passed the test,” the woman answered with a smile. “The board of directors accepted you as a citizen. Welcome to the New World, Achlys Leywin.”

“What?”

“Achlys Leywin, that's gonna be your name from now on. Show them you deserve it.”

******

Ring!

An irritating sound woke Leywin up. When she opened her eyes, she noticed a holographic screen filled with numbers and information being displayed at the foot of her bed.

After slowly rubbing her eyes, she started reading the information. All the data displayed was about the finished and ongoing matches of the last phase’s first round. The clock at the top right corner of the holographic screen read 6 am and so far 52 out of 64 combats had taken place.

Once she finished reading all the information, she made a hand gesture and the holographic screen disappeared.

Pulling the blanket off herself, she sat up on the bed, her gaze resting on the pair of black disks Cypher had given her the day before.

“Today I’ll know for sure,” she thought.