"Aaron."

"Oh? You know me?"

Standing on the spot where I used to be standing moments before, was Aaron. Theodora Academy's number one ranked first year.

"Of course, I would. You're pretty famous." Taking a step back, I replied. "...It'd be strange for me to not know you."

"That makes sense..."

As if it was the most logical answer, Aaron crossed his arms and thoughtfully nodded his head.

Looking around, he asked, "...but, you still haven't answered my question. Where are the other two?"

"You're talking about Kevin and Jin?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Beats me. They are off doing their own thing."

Even though I knew; why would I give him the answer? That was a stupid question to begin with.

"Mhm, I see. Then I'll get rid of you first."

Aaron's eyes coldly flashed. Disappearing from the spot he was standing, he reappeared a couple of inches away from me.

Sha!

Slashing sideways, I could hear the faint sound of his dagger splitting the air apart.

"...khuk!"

Bending my knees slightly, I watched as his dagger pierced the area where my head used to be.

Thump!

Stomping on the floor, I pushed my body back. Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

"...that was close."

After distancing myself from Aaron, I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword and glared in his direction.

"Hmm, you're as good as I thought you were.", Aaron said as he looked at me from the distance.

"You too..."

There was a reason why Aaron was the number one ranked person in Theodora academy. Experiencing his skills firsthand, I now understood just how strong he was.

Furthermore, from the looks of it, he seemed to be taking me seriously unlike all of my other opponents before.

"Damn it."

Unknowingly, my grip on the handle of the sword tightened.

Sha! Sha!

Before I knew it, Aaron once again attacked me. Unlike before, I was more prepared and thus was able to dodge his attacks.

"...khuak!"

Unfortunately, cuts still appeared on my body as Aaron's dagger tore my clothes and skin.

'He's done his research on me...'

The more Aaron attacked, the more difficult my situation became. He was leaving me no room to breathe. Like a machine, he attacked, attacked, and attacked.

Because my rings needed half a second to make, and the Keiki style couldn't defend, I was truly in a stump. Slowly but surely, my injuries were starting to pile up as cuts appeared all over my body.

'Crap, I can't let this go on...I needed to create some distance.'

Gritting my teeth, I raised my head and directly stared at Aaron in the eyes. Slowly my pupils turned grey as I muttered inside of my mind.

'The one..'

Aaron instantly fell into a trance as his footsteps slowed down for a split second. Taking advantage of this opening, placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, a clicking sound resounded across the area.

Click!

"...Kahk!"

Clank!

Raising his dagger slightly, Aaron deflected my attack slightly as my sword changed direction and only ended up grazing his shoulder. A large cut appeared on his clothes as blood dripped on the ground.

With a smile on his face, Aaron took a couple of steps back.

"So you're finally decided to use that skill..." Touching his shoulders, his smile deepened. "As expected. You're a tough opponent."

"Likewise."

I calmly responded.

'...I really thought I had him. '

Staring at Aaron in front of me, my brows knit tightly.

By utilizing the one, and taking advantage of the small opening I created, I wanted to end the battle quickly, but from the looks of it, Aaron did not slack off in his research.

Even though 'the one' was a very strong skill, it had a severe flaw. If the opponent expected the skill and was not caught off-guard, then the effect of the skill diminished. Furthermore, if my opponent's mentality was strong, the effect of the skill was reduced even more.

From the looks of it, Aaron had found out the trick behind my skill after watching some of my clips online.

'What should I do?'

I was at a pretty severe disadvantage at the moment. Not only was Aaron extremely strong, but his fighting style, which was similar to Jin's, completely countered mine.

This was probably the first time since arriving in this world that I faced an opponent as skilled as Aaron.

'Actually, something is not quite right about this situation...'

Staring at Aaron before me, a thought suddenly struck me.

Was my meeting with Aaron truly a coincidence?

A seed of suspicion couldn't help but bloom inside of my heart as I looked back at the previous events.

The fact that he arrived right after I got rid of the five individuals was something suspicious in itself.

Was he there before...or was it truly a coincidence? I wasn't sure.

However, my suspicion further grew when I realized how familiar he was with my fighting style.

Although there were some videos depicting how I fought online, from how he was able to counter a few of my combos, it looked like he had been spectating the fight that I had with the five people before.

If it was like that...

"Shit!"

A curse escaped from my lips. Turning around, I activated drifting steps and made a run for it. A horrible thought suddenly emerged inside of my mind as I ran for it. On the opposite direction of where the portal was.

With the bodies of the individuals I took care of before near the portal, there was a high chance that an instructor would find something.

Therefore, if Aaron was truly another culprit, my goal was to get him as far away from there as possible. If that portal activated, we'd be doomed.

"Where are you running?"

Following from behind me was Aaron. Completely ignoring him, my legs continued to run as fast as they could.

Fortunately, with drifting steps at my disposal, the distance between Aaron and me increased with every step.

Before long, I was able to get a fair distance away from him.

Even so, I continued running. Something had seriously gone wrong with the plans. Somehow, the Monolith had gotten wind of Kevin's snooping and put countermeasures beforehand.

This was a serious problem since Kevin's situation might be even worse than mine. After running for a further kilometer, my feet stopped.

"This should be good enough for now."

Turning my head and no longer seeing Aaron, I hid behind a tree.

Taking out the red book, I carefully opened it. As I opened it, not once did I let my guard down.

Aaron could show up at any time. Especially since he had very terrifying skill at his disposal.

Dual-link.

An ability that allowed him to switch places with a selected target. As long as he saw someone, he could directly swap places with them. Of course, there were limits to it, but just the concept alone was terrifying.

If there was someone near me, Aaron could use that ability to directly teleport before me. I'd be screwed if that happened.

'Quick, quick, quick, quick.'

Frantically flipping through the pages of the red book, I secretly prayed that everything was going to be okay.

'Please, don't let it be like I presumed...'

===

Clank! Clank!

The sound of metal clashing reverberated across the area as Kevin swiftly dodged and parried the incoming attacks directed towards him from all sides.

"Haaa...haaa...fuck"

Kevin cursed. His breathing was extremely rugged.

Surrounding him from all sides were eight individuals. From the way they cooperated with each other, it was obvious that they were familiar with each other.

'What's going on?'

Kevin wondered as he distanced himself from the eight individuals.

'...This was a trap.'

Originally, Kevin had thought that there were only four opponents he needed to take care of, but contrary to his expectations, there were four more lying in ambush.

From the very start, they had expected his arrival.

Clank! Clank!

Deflecting two more attacks, Kevin took the offensive and counterattacked. Kevin slashed vertically.

Raising his sword, his opponent tried to deflect the attack when suddenly Kevin's sword disappeared and reappeared on his right.

"kuukh!"

Kevin's sword soon connected with his body and a small transparent shield appeared.

"One ou...khhh!"

Right, left, and back. Right as Kevin got rid of one opponent, three more showed up. In one swift movement, Kevin slashed horizontally, deflecting two attacks. Unfortunately, one managed to land and hit him in the shoulder.

"...khak."

Clank!

Without giving Kevin enough time to breathe, two more attacks came from his right and left.

"Shit..."

At this moment, it felt as though time had stopped for Kevin. Staring at the two attacks directed towards his head and chest, he knew he had to do something.

"Overdrive..."

He muttered.

Instantly, the veins and his muscles become more prominent. His pupils dilated and the side of his eyes became bloodshot.

Bam!

Like a meteor, his body shot forward and attacked the seven remaining opponents before him.

Bam! Bam!

Unlike before, he had the edge this time. His every strike was faster, more powerful, and more accurate.

The tides were changing. Kevin was slowly gaining the upper hand.

Sha!

Dodging another attack, Kevin stepped to the side and slashed vertically downwards. Immediately after he slashed, two opponents appeared and interlocked their weapons together to try to stop the attack.

Unfortunately for them, Kevin was expecting this. Suddenly, the arm holding onto the sword bulged. His veins wigged uncontrollably.

"Khhhh..."

Gritting his teeth, Kevin forcefully twisted his sword switching from a vertical slash to a horizontal slash. Right as the sword changed direction, Kevin planted his foot on the ground and did a 180 spin.

Thud!Thud!

Two bodies fell to the ground.

"Come on! I'm not done"

Having now Reduced the enemies to five opponents, Kevin regained some of his confidence back.

For the next couple of minutes, Kevin relentlessly pushed back all of his opponents. On multiple occasions, small cuts appeared all over his opponent's bodies. Nevertheless, even though he was pushing them back, his injuries were still piling up. Even though he was consuming potions whilst fighting, the rate at which his injuries were appearing, were much faster than their healing.

To make matters worse, his opponent's coordination was simply too great. Only being one person, Kevin was at a severe disadvantage.

"Haaa....haaa...crap. I need to do something."

In no time, like a battery that was about to run out of charge, Kevin's breathing became more and more rugged. He was running out of steam.

The effects of overdrive were wearing off, and the side-effects were starting to kick in.

His movements were started to become more sloppy. His slashes were becoming more predictable.

Clank!

"...khhh, damn it."

Blocking another attack, Kevin gritted his teeth decisively turned around. He judged that couldn't win. At least not in this state.

Unfortunately...

His opponents weren't just going to watch as he ran. Taking advantage of his state, their attacks became even fiercer. As though they no longer cared about their lives, their attacks revealed a lot of openings.

Kevin wanted to take advantage of that, but...

Not long after he started running, his feet stopped moving. He was too tired. His arms and legs refused to listen to him.

Thus...

Clank!

Not long after, a dull sound resounded across the area as a small protective shield appeared in front of Kevin. What followed that sound was another sound that caused the audiences who were watching the match to freeze on the spot as their blood turned cold.

"...pfffff"

As though time had frozen, Kevin looked down towards his body. Tilting his head, he looked at the sharp saber that had pierced through his heart.

Fresh blood spilled on the ground, as Kevin continuously spat blood from his mouth.

"Huuu...huuu..."

The sound of Kevin's desperate breathing echoed around the dome and televisions screens. Within seconds Kevin's legs became numb and he knelt.

Thud.

Falling face-first on the ground, Kevin's heart stopped moving.

On this day. Kevin Voss died.

===

"I-impossible."

My hands that were holding onto the book shook uncontrollably. My breathing quickened, my face paled, and my pupils dilated.

"K-kevin died?"

A/N : Sorry for the late chap, bit sick. If you find any mistake please tell me. Probably missed them cus my brain is a little bit fried. Oh, and yes. Cliff-kun never fails to arrive.