Felicia came at me on all fours this time. The same distance that she had covered in a second previously was now done in less than half the time.
I may have been able to match her speed, but there was no need to play on her terms. Tiara’s instincts took control over my body, and I leapt straight up into the air.
Felicia could only squint up at me with the sun to my back and wait as I rapidly descended. I flipped multiple times to increase my force and brought my foot down hard. She should have simply run out the way, but decided instead to contest her strength with mine.
She raised her arms to meet my attack and shield her body, but they trembled under my weight, and her feet were forced down into the ground as a result.
“Got you!”
She yelled and grabbed at my leg.
But her hands felt nothing but air as I vanished.
Phantasmal Panther. That was the species Tiara belonged to, and it was native only to the Feral Abyss. They had an innate ability called Phase Leap, which allows them to teleport short distances. There were more tricks in their arsenal, but my current skill level could only reproduce this one ability right now, and only at a lesser level of the original.
Considering the lowered range, I referred to my version as Phase Step.
For my current purposes, this should still be enough.
Immediately after making contact, I teleported down to the ground in front of Felicia. With her attention still focused upwards, she could not see the next attack until it was too late.
I swung my clawed hand wide and slashed her across the thighs horizontally. This should slow her down somewhat.
Reflexively, she responded to the pain and counterattacked. Her foot ripped up through the ground as she drove her knee into my face.
My mask cracked further, revealing one green catlike eye.
Felicia was already mercilessly pressing the attack, so I decided to meet her head-on without any tricks… for now.
A rapid flurry of strikes and slashes follows as we clashed, and it became apparent quickly that our physical abilities were about even, which is terrible for me because her technique was far superior.
For every glancing blow I scored, she scored three. I could spot her openings, but unlike her, that didn’t mean I know how to best capitalize on them.
I had confirmed where I stood in a fist fight. It was time to change the pace again.
I intentionally invited an attack, and timed the exact moment her claw dug into my shoulder with my next Phase Step.
The maximum range I could travel was just 3m, and since I had to rely on Tiara’s mana capacity, I could only use it five times a day. However, I had practiced more than enough to use it properly.
We suddenly appeared 3m away, and I intentionally shifted our position to be very slightly off the ground.
Felicia stumbled due to her sudden lack of stable footing and the unexpected shift in position, but her impeccable reflexes prevented her from falling down completely.
That small opening was enough, though.
I delivered a kick to her abdomen.
“Oof!”
She is sent sliding back, giving me 5m of space to work with.
The momentum of anything moved with Phase Step is maintained, a fact I would use to my advantage.
I focused carefully on the tiny movements of Felicia’s leg muscles while also preparing to lunge forward with my full strength.
There’s no such thing as over-preparation…
This was the best time to make use of my mask’s enchantment, Self-suggestion. A word murmured beneath my breath is all it takes to activate, and my mind sharpened to the point that everything except for my target faded from view. Self-suggestion was a spell I had carved into the mask itself, and would allow one to hypnotise oneself. I used it to focus all my senses solely on the fight at hand.
What probably only lasted a couple of seconds felt far longer. The world around me had slowed to a standstill, and I immediately understood every minute detail of Felicia’s movements.
We reacted simultaneously. At this range, our bodies would surely collide, and the fight would boil down to a display of raw strength.
That was likely Felicia’s intention, but I had to disappoint her.
I activated Phase Step and immediately closed the gap. I could have aimed to attack from a blind spot again, but what I needed was a decisive attack to end this.
My momentum colliding against hers, focused entirely in my fist that was aimed directly at her abdomen. Such a precise application of force should not be possible for her body to resist, that was what my analysis so far told me.
An instant strike that lands the moment I reappear, one where a person’s reaction time is useless. Only predicting the attack before it happens can help in dealing with it.
Which is exactly what Felicia had done.
We were frozen in our positions. The onlookers had gone quiet and my mask crumbled away, my body slowly returned to normal.
Blood had covered half my face and the backlash from using Primal Soul left me feeling wobbly. If my opponent could still fight it would no doubt be my loss.
Thud
Luckily, my gamble worked out.
Felicia collapsed to the ground, a fierce expression still frozen on her face. Her eyes had rolled back in her head, signalling that she was unconscious.
In that final moment, my attack had succeeded, but she must have noticed the magic of my mask activating. She had begun to swing her claw at me before I had teleported, and was able to cleave through and slice my forehead open, hence all the blood.
Of course, she didn’t know Phase Step had nothing to do with my equipment, and she must have thought she could tank my attack then win after removing my ability to teleport. If not for the misunderstanding, and she had aimed for a different part of my body, this could have ended in a draw.
“Match over! Medics tend to the wounded, the next duel will take place shortly.”
The crowd cheered, and two men ran over in blue and white cloth robes. One of them scooped up Felicia with surprising ease and jogged off to the first aid tent set up behind the audience seats.
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The other came up to me and reached up with a cloth that had somehow wet itself the moment he reached for my face.
I realized a little too late that I should have stopped him.
I risked a glance to my left, where I had spotted Rose and Lloyd earlier.
“...Haaaa… Thank God…”
With my face now exposed, I feared Rose would have made a scene, and I'd need to have a very awkward reunion in front of all these people. Luckily, it seemed she was swept up in the group that came to sing Lloyd’s praises for his earlier fight. They must have been waiting for the fight to end so they could cut across the field.
I quickly grabbed my discarded robe and threw the hood up. Tiara popped out from inside and meowed loudly in my ear.
“Yes, yes. You must be starving now.”
The medic was still waiting patiently in front of me. He smiled and reached out with two fingers towards my head —the spot where Felicia had cut me— and his hand began to emit a sparkling golden glow.
“It’s alright, I’d like to let it heal naturally.”
I politely stopped him and briskly walked away.
***
Benedikt Kuhn stroked his chin in thought. He was replaying what he had seen over and over in his head, trying to sort it out before coming to a decision.
“That kid… Where’d you find him?”
He directed his sight to Ada, who was positively beaming at him.
“What do you mean? He’s my son.”
“Don’t be an idiot, I’ve known you long enough to know you’ve never been pregnant.”
“I grew him in a cauldron?”
“...Fine. Keep it to yourself.”
He gave up on getting an answer from her for now.
“So? Will you take him in?”
She smiled widely at him and waited expectantly.
The first round wasn’t noteworthy at all. Sure, both fighters displayed good enough skill to be admitted to the IMA, but there was no secret factor behind it all that caught Benedikt’s eye.
The second round, however, was remarkable. Rex Jaeger definitely lacked a Mana Organ, and he did not have any mana flowing in his blood from alternate means, yet right after he touched that cat, he was filled with mana. The same mana that Benedikt could see in the little black creature.
Storing mana from outside your body is not a foreign concept, but to take it from another living being and immediately harmonize it with your body is entirely different. Ordinarily, this would strain the mana pathways and burn the body from the inside out.
How Rex did this was intriguing enough, but the third round took it much further.
From his speech, Rex implied he was using an ability similar to a Therian’s True Form. The way his form changed probably convinced many people in the audience that this was true and that he was a Therian himself.
Benedikt’s eyes saw through it though.
“Seriously, Ada, did you teach him that?”
“Nope! He learned it from a Goblin.”
He stared at her, but she showed no intention of saying anything more on the topic.
“You realise how dangerous it is for humans to alter their bodies to that degree? And that’s saying nothing of merging his mind with a cat!”
“Tiara is very intelligent, there’s not much of a difference in their brains.”
Did she just call her apprentice stupid?
Benedikt kept that thought to himself.
“Aaanywaay…”
Ada prodded his arm playfully.
“Are you taking him or not? I know you want to, just admit it.”
She was right. Benedikt’s eyes could not determine Rex’s potential or comprehend the nature of his abilities. All his other students could be categorised one way or another, and it was because of this that he knew exactly how to nurture them, but Rex Jaeger was an unknown factor.
“Yes, I’ll take him.”
Part of him wanted to say no just to humble Ada. Who now bore the smuggest expression a human face could make.
***
I sat in the medical tent next to Felicia, who had yet to regain consciousness.
I had pretended to be concerned for her health so I could hide away from Rose, but now I felt ridiculous. We are going to the same academy, and she will figure it out sooner or later.
And it’s not like 'Rex' was a common name. Why the hell did we just add a surname and call it a day? I should have changed it to something totally different, like Bibius or something. 'Bibius Jaeger'.
These were stupid thoughts, and I knew it. I didn’t return with the intention of hiding my past; it was just necessary to have a new official identity to be enrolled. Ada had already confirmed that Rex of Redwater was declared deceased six years ago, and proving that I was in fact alive would be a long process involving too many questions.
Being recognised wasn’t really a problem so long as I could explain things quietly, but for it to be Rose, of all people, made me panic and react childishly.
A smirk broke out subconsciously across my face.
After being reborn, I felt… Distant. Disconnected.
So even this embarrassing display was, in its own way, a comforting reminder that I was still alive and human.
“The hell are you smirking about?”
A voice grumbled from the bed I sat beside.
“How badly I beat your ass.”
“Hilarious. I’ll win next time, so you better prepare yourself.”
“I’ll prepare myself a victory speech.”
We locked eyes for a moment.
“Heh.”
I broke my composure first with a snicker. Felicia relaxed and laughed back.
“It was an exciting fight. I thought this school for humans would be filled with soft weaklings.”
It appeared I had earned her approval.
“Glad to be of service.”
She rose out of the bed with ease and turned to face me.
“Rex, right? I’ll remember you. See you in gold class.”
She walked out without looking back.
“Gold class, is it?”
The ranking system for the IMA was simple and could be laid out as follows:
Diamond: Only the best made it here. The class size rarely went beyond 5 members. There have even been times when nobody made it to this rank across any of the three grades.
Gold: For those who exhibit exceptional skills in both theory and practicals. Gold and diamond ranked students could be dispatched on official missions on behalf of any of the nations affiliated to the IMA.
Silver: For the above-average performers. You could make it here if your skills in one field were good enough, even if they were lacking elsewhere. Technically, silver ranks could also go on missions, but it required an extra level of approval from the administration. It rarely ever happened outside of emergencies.
Bronze: For those who still want to pursue a combat role, but don’t meet the silver standards. This is where most people ended up. It is also where Jasper was when I last saw him.
Support: This position is for those looking to support the military in some way but do not want a combat position. Rose would aim for a place here.
Felicia seemed to think we were both worthy of gold rank. By my own estimate, our fight should certainly be deserving of that standard, but I don’t know how well I did in theory. Silver is probably more realistic for me.
“Oh? There was still someone here?”
I turned to look at the girl who had walked in. Her crystal-clear eyes and soft platinum blonde curls gave her a soothing aura. I had to stifle the urge to pet her head.
“Were you in need of healing?”
She smiled kindly and stepped toward me. Judging by her age, she must have been a student here, but her attire matched the medics from earlier.
“No, just taking a breather. It’s been a stressful day.”
I smiled back at her.
“Oh, I see, sorry to intrude. I take it you are applying for the academy too? Perhaps we can become friends one day.”
She lowered her head to me slightly and stepped aside to let me through.
“They will be announcing the classes soon, you’d best rejoin the others.”
“That time already? Thanks for letting me know. Tia, come on.”
Tiara popped out from under the covers of another bed and leapt into my arms.
“Faelora bless your soul.”
I chuckled inwardly at that comment, but wisely keep my mouth closed. I knew damn well none of us were blessed by the gods, but I take no issues with the believers who showed me kindness.
I gave another wave to the polite medic girl and walked out to see how well I had performed in the eyes of the IMA.
Rex/Tiara fusion