"Begin—"
The moment Sophia heard the command, she sprang into action, charging straight toward Leo.
She knew that if she did not seize control of the battle now, right when it had just begun, she might never get the chance to do it again later.
Since Leo was the number one ranked cadet in the Elite Class as per comprehensive evaluation, Sophia fully expected him to be faster and stronger than her. However, when she saw that he favored a dagger as his primary weapon of choice, she recognized an opportunity to potentially create an opening.
Leo’s daggers were barely 12 inches long, and when added to his arm reach, his maximum attack range reached about 46 inches.
In contrast, her scythe measured 20 inches, and with her 30-inch arm reach, she had a peak attack range of 50 inches—a full four inches longer than her opponent’s.
This meant that she had a range advantage over him, which when coupled with her skill move, [Accelerated Slash], might just give her the edge she needed to win.
It was a very small difference, but in a fight like this, every inch counted.
’Okay Sophia, You will go in and place a vertical slash, forcing him to dodge left, however, the moment he moves, you will activate the skill, and take him by surprise….’
’It’s an opening sequence you have done countless times before, and maybe it can work on him too–’
Sophia thought, as she narrowed her gaze, however, before she could execute any her thoughts—
Before she could even raise her scythe to attack him, Leo disappeared before her very eyes, without leaving so much of a trace in the air.
’What? Where did he go?’ She wondered in panic, as she looked to the left, then to the right, and finally over her head.
She expected an attack to come flying in from any side at any time, as her senses went into hyperdrive, however, the expected attack never came.
1…2…3….
3 painful seconds passed, as sweat beads began to form on her forehead.
She no longer had any sense of her opponent’s movements, as having spun around thrice in these three seconds, she no longer knew where Leo was supposed to be.
She had spun, because she felt a constant fear of being stabbed in her back, however, no matter how many times she turned, she simply could not spot her opponent.
"DAMN IT… WHERE ARE YOU?" She finally shouted in frustration, as at that moment, she felt someone suddenly swipe at her feet as she lost her balance and was brought to the floor with a sickening thud.
*THUD*
At this point, Leo suddenly reappeared, a dagger pointed at her throat, as he ended the bout from start to finish in under 10 seconds.
’Please don’t hurt me—’
Sophia’s eyes conveyed this message, as they turned slightly teary and afraid, however, Leo did not care.
For him, resisting the urge to plunge a dagger in her back and ending the fight without inflicting any major injury on his opponent was already mercy enough on his part, and he had no interest in showing any more.
"Work on the perception skill that Professor Powell distributed today.
You need it a lot—" Leo advised as he walked away, with the assistant declaring him to be the winner.
"Winner, +2 points, Cadet number one" The assistant announced, as he nodded in acknowledgement of Leo’s skill, prompting Leo to nod back.
Apparently, only two cadets had finished their fights within the first ten seconds, and those two were him and Su Yang.
As Leo looked across to his battle zone, he found Su Yang staring back at him, as a maniacal smile played out on his face.
He said nothing, however, the excitement and the pure elation on his face conveyed the entire story of what he felt at this moment.
’Not bad, Skyshard’
Leo could almost hear his voice praising him in his head, as he grinned back, folding his arms as he boldly made eye-contact.
Leo felt it too—
The goosebumps crawling under his skin, as he felt the growing urge to fight Su Yang yet again.
Just a couple hours ago, he had been beaten black and blue by the guy, however, after getting his combat memories back, Leo felt his body itching for round two, as he strongly felt that the outcome between their fight would be different if they were to clash again now.
On a second thought, Leo realized that it might not be a great idea to jump into a rematch just yet, as although he executed the move [Vanish] perfectly in this fight, without facing any hiccups, there was still a chance he could face some challenges while trying to recreate some of his other moves.
It was an odd sensation, for although Muiyan Faye had warned him that it would take a while for him to recall and perform his combat skills, Leo found himself capable of recreating [Vanish] on his first try, which immediately boosted his confidence.
Initially, he felt jittery when he began circulating mana within his body to activate [Vanish]
However, once he started it was almost like he did not even need to consciously think on what he was doing, as his brain completed the rest of the process automatically.
It was almost like he had performed the move a thousand times while training, and now he only needed to initiate the process before muscle memory took over and his body did the rest.
And while he was not sure if this was the case for [Vanish] alone, or for all his skills, he did not wish to fight Su Yang again, until he found out.
’Just you wait Su Yang, I’m going to return every hit you landed on my face tenfold in the coming days—’ Leo thought, as the grin on his face widened while staring Su Yang down.
At this moment, both of them knew that Leo was on his way to regaining his peak battle form, and although he had some distance left to cover, both were genuinely stoked to see him on the path to quick improvement.
"Alright, time’s up. Everyone shifts one battle zone to their left.
Number one will go to zone two.
Number two will go to zone three
Number thirty four will go to zone 1
And number thirty five will move to zone thirty five" Major Hen declared once the first 2.5 minutes were over, as everyone quickly shifted to the next battle zone, where they encountered their second opponent.
"Greetings, I’m Jiang Gu, and I shall be taking the top spot from you in the class rankings very soon—" Said Leo’s second opponent, as Leo’s eyes beamed with joy when he introduced himself.
This was the same guy who had shouted boldly that he was going to win it all, when Major Hen was explaining the rules, and he had done the same once again when he introduced himself now.
"Aghhh, so you’re Jiang Gu—" Leo said, as he pretended to have heard his name before.
"Yes, I’m Jiang Gu? Have you perhaps kept an eye on me as a rival?" He asked, his eyes shining brightly as he took his battle stance.
"Yes, let me be honest Jiang Gu, I must tell you precisely how I feel about you before we fight…." Leo began, as he drew in his opponents curiosity with his words.
"The truth is…. I don’t give a fuck about you Miang Chu–" Leo said, deliberately pronouncing his name wrong, as the expression in his eyes turned stone cold.
"Begin—" The referee announced at that moment, as it was Leo this time who took the initiative to charge first.