“What are you looking at?!” Blaine asked, turning to look at what Cael could’ve possibly been staring at.

“Oh, sorry, umm, the view’s nice I guess.” Cael said with a chuckle, before pushing his system panels to the side.

He felt an immediate increase to his strength and prepared himself for the upcoming battle.

Holding his tight stance, he took a deep breath in anticipation of this intense battle.

Ring!

The timer started, and the fatigued Blaine remained at range, which wasn’t his usual style of fighting. Routinely resorting to the use of powered gauntlets, he’d rush right into battles and overwhelm his opponent with not just skill but superior power.

Blaine flicked out a jab that Cael swiftly took onto his already lifted forearms. In quick succession, a side kick was thrusted onto that same area, but he remained firm. Even with his great fatigue, the power that he possessed was still dangerously high.

Blaine rushed in, throwing a hook that Cael managed to slip under. In this same motion, he lifted with much greater speed than he would’ve expected from himself and caught Blaine straight on his jaw with a right-hand strike.

Swiftly after though, he was rocked with a punch of the same nature. Both warriors backed up, with Cael more tentative after taking a punch of that calibre from him. As they continued their bout, Cael could feel that he was lighter on his feet, and punches that he’d throw rather half-heartedly still had some decent power behind them.

The two fighters continued on with determination but also calculation. It felt like a novel experience to see Blaine fighting in this way.

He was certain that after his shocking defeat to Viktor a few days prior, he was more willing to incorporate his technique and intelligence into his fighting style.

Cael felt better able to compete with Blaine, as they exchanged attacks for a time, but the gap became apparent as time passed. Still weakened by fatigue, Blaine’s physicality eclipsed Cael’s.

Lunging forward, Blaine aimed forward for an elbow that Cael just managed to catch on his forearms. Instead of falling back, he remained on his feet and started to wrestle with him. With the two fighters being of similar weight, it looked like an even match to begin with.

Both sparring partners were finding opportunities to take the other down, but just couldn’t complete the manoeuvres in the end.

However, Blaine’s greater strength gave him the ability to finally bring Cael down onto the canvas. With him on this position, he started shouting and vehemently punching the fallen warrior with everything that he had.

He looked enraged, and didn’t hold anything back in these powerful blows. Friso and Keagan seemed indifferent to the beatdown, and Vanessa was the only one that started to edge forward upon seeing Cael taking haymaker after haymaker.

His nose started bleeding, but Blaine was utterly relentless. He didn’t even give his adversary half a second to breathe. After a few more seconds, Cael was saved by the bell.

Their 7-minute round was cut short, and Blaine sharply shot air out his nose, taking a deep breath as he raised up. Upon raising, there wasn’t a hint of sympathy or respect in his face as he walked off the canvas.

Cael just stretched his face, taken aback by the burning sensation that he felt pretty much all over it. He felt a little unstable on his feet, but just tried his best to steel through this feeling, stepping off the canvas as well.

“You see. You need to be training with us the most.” Vanessa bluntly remarked.

Cael felt the desire to retort her claim but decided to stay silent instead. He never felt accomplished playing these people’s game.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I’ll make sure to keep it up.” He stated, just looking forward to the empty canvas that was then filled by Friso and Vanessa.

“I hope you do.” She stated, looking back to him with a snobbish smile on her face.

After their long training session, Vanessa didn’t seem to be breathing as much as the other Carlo City fighters. Even Cael felt terribly fatigued after overexerting himself so much, and Friso could barely even walk.

Vanessa continued with her back straight, almost as if she had the energy to fight on some more.

“Come on guys, with tanks like these we’ll be embarrassed every single day that we’re here.” Vanessa boldly claimed, walking along with them in the open area of the institution.

There were rows of bushes along the cleanly paved walkways of this complex, and they arrived at the main staircase to the central five-tower area.

This view was still breathtaking to Cael, no matter how many times he took it in. These towers eclipsed the ones of his own institution in Carlo City with ease, and there were still numerous other large structures that surrounded this central centre.

Just before this five-tower structure was a fountain, with a white star made of quartz at its centre.

The weekend was soon over, and the group were woken up at the usual early time for the events of the coming morning.

After having breakfast in the capacious canteen that they usually dined in, they were directed to a certain building near the central towers of the institute. It was a dome and made purely of a black-tinted glass.

The building resembled a stadium in size and appearance and was quite intimidating from up close. Cael and those of Carlo City continued to be silently amazed by the grandeur of this institution compared to their own.

Even C-Grade institutions were some of the most futuristic structures found in the entire nation. B-Grade and A-Grade institutions clearly went above and beyond.

They walked through the large semicircular opening ahead, before working their way through the labyrinthian halls within.

They were illuminated with pure, white lighting and had several images of some of the most esteemed officials of the institution on the walls.

Arriving at the second floor, more students were present here and they could all assume they’d arrived at their destination..

Instead of the birch doors they’d seen previously, they could see an open double door of dark oak ahead. Several students flowed through these specific doors, and Cael followed the crowd to see what was happening now.

Two static colonial officers stood behind these doors, clad in their dark-grey camo outfits. They arrived at what resembled a lecturing hall, with seats raised up to their left and right.

Just ahead of them were four military officials, stood boldly and side-to-side.

Cael followed his schoolmates along to an available row, and the doors shut with a heavy thud as the last student arrived.

As silence befell these individuals, one of the soldiers stepped forward. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood forward, with greyed hair and a thick, grey beard.

“Good morning, students!”

“Good morning, Sir Agramonte!”

“Thank you all for arriving in a timely fashion. Now, for this following week, we are going to be sending you into a squad of colonial officers. 2 to 3 of you will shadow a specific member of these squads and follow their schedule.”

“This will consist of mainly patrolling but could also include administrative work and emergency responses. Be prepared for anything to happen because, from experience, the worst can happen in this world. The angel of luck cannot keep you safe from the demon that is chance.” He explained, with a firm, deep tone.

His booming voice almost forced the students that sat before him to remain seated and still. Nobody was willing to gain his attention.

“We shall call up names of 2 to 3 students, and when your names are called out, you shall walk outside with the colonial officer that will be stood at the doors ahead of me.” He continued.

After this, the students were then broken up into teams of three, with Cael, Vanessa and Blaine being thrown into a team. Their names were called out, just as expected, and they could see a single pale-skinned officer stood at the door.

He had dark red hair and black eyes, welcoming the incoming students with a smile.

This official stood at 6’3 and had a much more muscular physique than was ordinary, even with soldiers. They could see the stark contrast in size between him and the officials at the door upon approaching it

“Just to introduce myself, I’m Mr. Lennox. You’ll be shadowing me for your patrols for the next week. When I tell you to do something, you do it and I don’t want to see any of you faltering. In this field, just as Sir Agramonte described, the worst really can happen.” He explained.

“Where are we heading now?” Cael asked inquisitively, as they followed along.

“Well, we’re heading to begin some patrols. You’ll be given some needed uniform and an exosuit for patrolling, but we’ll be on the streets from 12 to 5. After that, we’ve got some paperwork to run through from 5-8.”

Cael was not liking the sound of what would be a tedious day, but it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter. He didn't react, just like the others, but Vanessa just looked to Cael with a look of sheer disinterest as they walked along.

A slight smirk grew upon Cael’s face as he resonated with her sentiment. Even through the silence, a thousand words were spoken.