“Rain. Come forward.”

A beautiful, navy haired woman, with a long pony tail and more drooping over her shoulders, jumped down from the roof she had been sitting on behind the rookies. ‘I didn’t even sense her presence…’

The woman walked to the front of the crowd and obediently waited for further instructions.

“Jensen, surely you will fight a woman, yes?” Fortner pressed.

Jensen, who had not made a noise since mouthing off, remained still. ‘He really is stubborn…’ Blackfoot was in disbelief at the stubbornness of this human.

Jensen’s POV

The navy haired woman peeked back at Jensen. She began to grow a faint smile as if she found something amusing. Suddenly she walked directly in front of Jensen. Leaning in to his personal space as an obvious form of provocation, she brushed her hair back behind her ear and glared into Jensen’s eyes. With a slight grin, she spoke.

“Don’t be so prideful. If you’re scared to fight, then I’ll let you off the hook if you kiss my shoes and bark three times.” The incredibly vicious and taunting words rumbled through the crowd with an obvious aggression.

At these words, Jensen finally became mad. He leaned in even closer to her face, making their noses almost touching, and spoke in retaliation.

“I’ll remember those words when you beg me to stop. I refuse to take taunts from a little girl playing adult.” With these words, Jensen began to stir his markings. Releasing a sweeping low kick, Jensen’s attack was dodged when Rain jumped back. Doing a flip in air, she came back down 10 feet in front of him and looked back at him with a particular expression.

Jensen knew this expression. He knew this look in the eyes because he had always had it on his face since he could remember. The eyes that looked down on other people, as if the person in front of them is not worth looking at. These eyes further angered Jensen, who had always been the one to look down on others, not the one looked down upon.

“Excellent! Then I will announce the rules. This is a sparring match, and the loser must either admit defeat and apologize at the feet of the winner for their offenses, or be knocked unconscious. You may begin.”

A gust of wind blew through the courtyard. Rain’s blue hair flowed in the breeze, as if it were waves in the midnight moon. She glared towards her opponent, who was visibly angered. Suddenly, for just a moment, Rain showed a hint of surprise in her eyes. The reason for this was simple: the teenager that stood in front of her, despite his young age, was clearly drunk with pride. She could feel the pure malice emanating from his body, and realized that he was clearly going to attempt to murder her in this sparring match due to her taunts at his pride. Whereas most people would quiver in fear at the eerie bloodlust given off from Jensen, Rain was not phased in any way. She narrowed her eyes once more and smirked while letting out a light laugh.

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A gust of wind blew through the courtyard. Jensen’s black hair rolled through the breeze, as if it were hellhounds howling at the moon. He glared at his opponent, who was visibly relaxed. This further enraged Jensen. ‘She’s looking down on me… An inferior is looking down on me, with those eyes that belong to me…’ Jensen no longer felt the sense of reason in his mind. He believed that this woman, who looked down on someone as great as himself, was deserving of death. Suddenly, while glaring into the depths of the navy eyes before him, the woman named Rain let out a snicker. ‘Completely… unacceptable…’

At blinding speed, Jensen’s body disappeared before Rain’s eyes.

Leon the Prideful’s POV

An arrogant rookie. ‘It’s almost pitiful… Almost.’ Leon had felt completely underestimated as a gladiator. This skinny rookie, who was still little more than a boy, had disrespected his entire existence. Due to this, Leon felt no pity when his opponent for punishment was Rain.

‘Well, if it was me, I would knock him unconscious with one blow. However, Rain’s not that generous…’

Staring at the rookie, Leon continued to pick apart his ability from appearance. ‘He doesn’t appear to be that strong, so where does this confidence come from? He’s just a greenhorn! He’s probably shaking in his boots despite his outer appearance.’ Leon came to the conclusion that this person was either pretending to be tough, or completely out of his mind. As the fight began, the two stared into each other’s eyes. The wind blew through their hair and they remained unmoving.

‘Ha.. just as I thought. He’s too scared to even move! I knew he was-’

It was at this moment that Leon realized that, at some point, Jensen had disappeared from where he was standing.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom resounded throughout the courtyard, causing dust to block the view of the two.

“Wha…!”

“Where did that come from?”

“I didn’t even see what happened!”

Surrounding gladiators outburst questions. ‘Those that are not naturally gifted in cognitive abilities or lacking battle experience were unable to follow what happened… How was he able to close the distance so quickly?’ Leon, on the other hand, had barely managed to track the movements of Jensen. ‘If that were any of us but me, they would have been overwhelmed off of the sheer speed of his movement… However…’

As the dust slowly cleared, tension flushed through the onlookers. Blackfoot had, perhaps more clearly than anyone, seen Jensen’s movements. Due to his heightened senses as a Lizard, Blackfoot’s eyesight and motion detection were superior to most. Combined with his rich battle experience, he had seen Jensen’s movements. Suddenly, he spoke.

“To think he was this fast… Surely she couldn’t have defended, right?”

Leon heard these words and scoffed.

The dust had finally almost completely settled, and the outline of two figures were clear. One had pinned the other to the ground, but it was unclear as to who was who. Suddenly, a voice came from the dust.

“Surprised?”