"YOU GUYS ARE NEXT."
My voice was a slow, glacial whisper that seemed to suck the heat out of the clearing. Marcus and Caleb stared at me, their expressions a volatile cocktail of shock and pure, unadulterated hate. Then, Marcus began to laugh.
"Hahahaha!"
The sound was jagged. The air in the clearing was no longer oxygen, it was a pressurized soup of killing intent and ozone. I stood at the center of the scorched earth, my amber eyes locked on the two brothers. Marcus Cinandra's laughter died abruptly, replaced by a mask of twitching fury. Beside him, Caleb vibrated with a mixture of fear and adrenaline, his fingers twitching toward his belt.
"You think you've won, don't you, Veyron?" Marcus spat, his voice trembling with the weight of his bruised ego. "You think because you can bully some Tier-seven nobodies, you're on our level? You're just a Tier-one fluke!"
"A Tier-One fluke that's about to delete you," I replied. My voice was a calm, chilling contrast to his explosive rage.
Marcus reached into his tactical vest and pulled out two shimmering, metallic tunics. They looked like liquid mercury woven into cloth, catching the light in a way that felt predatory.
"These are Valkyrie over-tunics," Marcus sneered. "They are incredibly expensive these days. Not even the combined wealth of two middle-class noble houses is enough to afford one. Though illegal for a standard exam, for special circumstances... they're a godsend. They synchronize with our mana cores to provide a five times multiplier to our total output."
"Why must you cheat to face a Tier-one nobody like me?" I asked, my tone dripping with mockery.
"Shut up! Do you think there's fairness in a real battle?" Marcus roared, his face turning a deep crimson. "You wanted to see what a Tier-eight power looks like? Here it is!"
They donned the tunics. Instantly, the atmosphere buckled. The ground beneath their feet groaned as the mana synchronization began.
Marcus's Kinetic Ability flared into existence, the air around him distorting like a heavy heat haze. Every step he took cracked the earth—not from physical weight, but from the raw kinetic potential radiating from his skin. Caleb, meanwhile, became a human lightning rod. Blue arcs of high-voltage electricity danced across his frame, hissing like a thousand angry vipers.
"Five times the power," I muttered, a small, dark smile playing on my lips. "So you've gone from annoying to slightly dangerous. Congratulations."
"Die!" Marcus bellowed.
-----
Three kilometers to the east, a different kind of storm was raging.
Kael Vinsord and Ria Lisbon were backed against a jagged obsidian cliff face. Before them stood three Iron-Hide Behemoths—monsters the size of small houses, armored in plates of organic, reinforced steel.
"Kael! My blades aren't even scratching them!" Ria shouted over the din of battle. She swung her dual metal-tethered fans, her metal affinity allowing her to manipulate the density of the air around the blades, but the behemoths simply swatted her attacks away like bothersome flies.
"Stop wasting energy, Ria!" Kael yelled back, his voice strained but analytical. He was in a low defensive stance, palms pressed firmly against the dirt. He was using his metal ability to Sonar-map the beasts, feeling the vibrations of their internal structures through the ground.
"They're Tier-eight in durability, but their joints are Tier-four!" Kael's eyes darted around, his brain a whirlwind of variables. "Ria, on my mark, don't aim for the hide. Aim for the acoustic resonance! If we vibrate the metal plates at their natural frequency, they'll shatter from the inside out!"
Ria grinned, sweat matting her azure hair. "A little science in the middle of a death-match? I love it."
"Now!" Kael commanded.
Ria spun like a top, her fans creating a high-pitched, piercing whistle. Kael reinforced the sound with a localized magnetic field, focusing the vibration into a single point on the lead behemoth's chest.
C-C-C-CRACK!
The indestructible iron hide spider-webbed and exploded outward. The monster let out a metallic wail of agony before collapsing into a shower of blue particles.
"One down, two to go," Ria panted. "But Kael... did you feel that? That massive mana spike from the center of the zone?"
Kael looked toward the horizon, where a pillar of red and blue light was piercing the clouds. "It's Oliver. If he's fighting Marcus at that output... the whole zone might collapse. We need to finish this and head over there."
"Let's hurry up! We can't fall behind!" Ria said. They moved in a blur of leaps and sprints, navigating the canopy. But as they crested a ridge toward the final zone, they came across a figure with a fearsome aura. They immediately leapt backward, weapons drawn.
"Damn it. Who knows when some other bullies will come in the way," Ria muttered.
"Seems we'll still be kept at bay for now, Ria," Kael said, his eyes narrowing.
"No need to worry. Just drop your stances. I'm not looking for a fight," the figure said calmly.
"Who are you?" Kael asked, his voice low and cautious.
"She's Sinata Leesburg," Ria whispered, her eyes widening. "The one who was in second place before Oliver took over the leaderboard."
"So you already knew who I was. That's nice," Sinata said, her long azure hair catching the sunlight.
"Did you hear that?" Ria asked, surprised by the girl's range.
"Of course. I have super-hearing, you know," Sinata replied with a small smirk. "Anyways, let's head towards Oliver's location together. It's on the way to the final zone."
"Why would a high-tier like you want to team up with E-ranks? That's fishy," Kael said, ever the skeptic.
"Well, teaming up is the right thing to do," she replied with a genuine smile. "Because even those in the higher ranks can die if there's no teamwork. Besides... I owe Oliver a favor."
"That makes sense," Ria said slowly, lowering her fans.
"Now, shall we get going before time runs out?" Sinata asked.
"Yeah, let's hurry," Kael agreed, and the trio vanished into the trees.
-----
Back at the central clearing, the ground was vanishing.
Marcus was a blur of kinetic force. He lunged at me, his fist carrying enough energy to level a skyscraper. I dodged, my coat fluttering as I tried to close the distance.
'Shit. If that ever lands, the damage will be beyond recovery,' I thought. I tilted my head as the wind of his punch tore a massive furrow into the earth behind me, uprooting ancient trees by sheer air pressure alone.
"Stop running, you coward!" Marcus roared, his tunic glowing with a blinding silver light as he gave chase.
System sage, analyze this idiot's stats, I commanded.
<<
[NAME: MARCUS CINANDRA]
[TIER: 7 (A-RANK)]
[STRENGTH: 45,000 [×5 MULTIPLIER ACTIVE]
[ABILITY: KINETIC ENERGY/ GRAVITY MANIPULATION]
[SPEED: 540 M/S]
[ENDURANCE: 2,300]
'Dang it! His stats are off the charts. That tunic is multiplying his output to insane levels. But... he's still nowhere near me in raw speed.' I scoffed.
"Chase me all you want, Marcus, but you'll never catch me. You're too slow!" I mocked, darting between the craters.
"You bastard! Why don't you wait so I can hit you, coward?!" Marcus screamed in a blind rage.
"Is it?!"
Caleb's voice exploded from behind me. He had used his electrical discharge as a jet-propulsion system, hitting Mach speeds instantly. He thrust his hand forward, a concentrated bolt of lightning aimed at the base of my skull.
I didn't turn. I expanded my standing wave into a spherical shell.
BZZZZZT—WHAM!
The lightning slammed into the resonance field and was neutralized, the energy fed harmlessly into the earth. 'Damn, that was close,' I breathed.
But Caleb wasn't finished. He reappeared by my side with a burst of static and grabbed my face. I couldn't register the movement—his electrical acceleration had briefly surpassed my perception. He lunged, dragging my face downward into the dirt.
"Haa... hahahaha!!" Caleb laughed like a psychopath. "Oliver, I've always wanted to make you suffer like this! Now die!"
He dragged me across the rough earth, using his lightning to add a searing torture to the kinetic friction. I tried to halt his movement, but the five times boost was too much for a standard grapple. He rolled and flung my body toward Marcus.
Marcus didn't hesitate. He delivered a heavy, kinetic-boosted blow to my stomach.
I felt my ribs groan as I was sent flying, spitting out blood. I stumbled and bounced across the earth, crashing into a massive oak tree that finally halted my momentum. My head was spinning. I struggled to stay conscious, the world blurring at the edges.
I checked the timer.
[01:35:20]
[01:35:18].....
"Tsk. Time is running out," I coughed, wiping blood from my lip.
Marcus and Caleb stood together, looming over me. "Worried about time?" Caleb mocked. "Don't worry. We have plenty of time to make you suffer. No more woman's skirt to hide behind now, Veyron." He clenched his fist, grinning darkly.
I didn't answer with words. I simply smiled, rolled my sleeves higher, and did a few light warmup jumps.
"That will do you no good!" Caleb hissed, lunging again with lightning speed.
But this time, I was ready. I spun on my heel, and delivered a roundhouse kick that caught Caleb square in the ribs. Even with the five times tunic, the sheer mechanical precision of the strike sent him flying like a ragdoll, his electrical aura flickering out.
"Caleb!" Marcus screamed. He clapped his hands together, creating a kinetic compression wave. The air between us solidified into a wall of pure force that hammered down on me.
The weight was staggering like a mountain dropped on my shoulders. My boots sank six inches into the soil.
"Do you feel it now, trash?!" Marcus laughed, his eyes bloodshot with mania. "The weight of a superior bloodline! Kneel!"
'Shit... this force is trying to crush my internal organs,' I thought, gritting my teeth.
System sage? I believe I must have ranked up by now.
[YES.]
<<
[NAME: OLIVER VEYRON]
[TIER: 0]
[RANK: S+]
[LEVEL: 150]
[SPEED: 858 M/S {MACH 2.5}]
[SKILL: ZERO-POINT MARTIAL ARTS {UNLOCKED}]
[MANA: HEART OF NEBULA]
[SHIDAN: RISHO BLUE, RED{UNAMED}]
[UNIQUE SKILLS: MONSTER COLD VEINS/ ABSURDITY MULTIPLEIR {LOCKED}]
I looked up at him. My amber eyes were no longer human, they glowed with a predatory, cold light that froze the laughter in Marcus's throat.
"Superior bloodline?" I whispered. "You're using a store-bought tunic to reach a level I achieved while eating breakfast. Let me show you what real weight feels like."
I stopped resisting. Instead of fighting the pressure, I absorbed it. My monster veins pulsed, turning a deep, angry violet under my skin. I took a single step forward, shattering the kinetic wall like it was thin glass.
"Impossible!" Marcus backed away, his hands trembling. "That was five times my maximum! You should be a pancake!"
"Kinetic energy is just motion, Marcus," I said, closing the distance in a heartbeat. I didn't use a punch. I simply placed two fingers on the center of his valkyrie tunic.
"Zero-Point Collapse."
I reversed the frequency. The five times multiplier didn't vanish—it inverted. The tunic imploded, the massive kinetic energy Marcus had built up turning inward.
"AGHHHHHHH!"
Marcus's own power crushed his ribs, sending him into a violent spin. He crashed into Caleb, and the two brothers tumbled across the clearing in a heap of shattered pride.
I stood over them, bored. "You're lucky this is a simulation. Now... are you going to disqualify yourselves, or do I have to help you?"
From the trees, Kael, Ria, and Sinata burst into the clearing. They stopped dead at the sight of the two elite brothers who were just knocked out.
"Uh... Oliver?" Ria whispered. "As expected of Oliver-sensei!"
"Ria, how many times... drop the sensei part," I sighed, then looked at the girl who beside her.
"Sinata, right?"
"Yeah. Glad you remembered my name," she said, her eyes fixed on the defeated brothers.
I gave them a casual smile. "You guys are late. But don't worry. We just have to head towards the final zone."
I glanced back at Marcus and Caleb. The system had already registered their critical damage, they flickered and dissolved into blue particles, finally disqualified. Without another word, the four of us turned and headed for the finish line.