A Friendly Spar

"As your combat teacher, I want to see what you're capable of. This is why I decided to hold a few duels on the first day."

Currently, we were in the gym standing in a line while Rose was explaining to us the rules of the competition.

"I want you to treat this as a friendly spar which is why you will be fighting without weapons. I need to see how good you are at hand-to-hand combat."

A few kids groaned when they heard this. Not everyone had combat-oriented enhancements and a lot of them didn't have any aether techniques yet since they are extremely rare.

"For the first duel let's have two students who were at the top of the leaderboard in the entrance exam do a demonstration."

She menacingly smiled:" Ren Astaroth against Simon Cross."

She was clearly holding a grudge against Ren because he was late on the first day. This teacher displayed a level of pettiness even surpassing that found in a game.

Simon Cross is one of the strongest students in the first year. In the game, he was very good at dealing damage and his enhancements made him an impenetrable wall. At this point in time, his weakness should be poison and electrocution. Well, my photon sword can easily slice him, but I don't intend to reveal the fact that I own rare alien technology. I also don't want to relate to my other identity 'Zero.' 

Simon's enhancements should be [Metal hands] and his aether art is 'tiger fist'.

The real enigma is the main character because in the game you choose what enhancements he starts with.

Ren walked into an arena marked with a holographic projection.

Standing opposite him was a green-eyed youth. His brown hair had a slight greenish tint, and his perfect face displayed a calm expression. The youths exchanged lingering glances, a palpable tension settling among the students as we braced ourselves for the imminent standoff.

"You can go all out. There are shield arrays here that will protect you if you get put in a critical condition."

Both contenders changed their stance in preparation for what was to come.

"The rules are simple. The person who gets put in critical condition, surrenders, or gets pushed out of bounds loses."

I know what to expect from Simon. However, the main character is an enigma to me because in the game you can start with different enhancements depending on what you choose. His eyes are red which means he is using [Red world darktech optics] which gives him the ability to detect organic material through walls and they also improve his reflexes a bit.

For the other enhancements, I'll have to wait and see. I guess this duel is a blessing in disguise since it provides me with more information.

The teacher raised her hand and signaled.

"Start!"

A clicking mechanical sound could be heard followed by a hissing sound of steam as Simon used his cybernetic enhancement to dash toward Ren with unnatural speed.

Ren's eyes shone with a deep crimson-red color when he easily sidestepped the punch that was heading for him. 

He counterattacked with a right hook, but Simon's hands suddenly changed color into silver metallic. His hands were upgraded with the latest nanotechnology which created a malleable metal layer around his hands. His family clearly spared no expense when it came to arming him with shiny toys. The count clearly cared about the family image, unlike Elijah's parents who never gave me a single enhancement and left it up to me to decide. 

Simon parried the punch with his metal hands. Ren decided to withdraw by backstepping.

A few girls gasped when they saw blood trickling down Ren's knuckles. 

Those metal hands were the perfect defense and offense. They could deflect bullets and swords and when they hit you it felt like being hit by a metal beam. 

Simon threw a barrage of punches at Ren pushing him toward the holographic line.

Ren desperately tried to launch a counterattack but every hit that he received completely stunned him. 

Attempting to jab at Simon's jaw, he found his punch effortlessly deflected as the youth retaliated, smashing his metal fist into Ren's side.

A loud crack could be heard, and Ren vomited a mouthful of blood. A few students flinched at the brutality. They were clearly not mentally prepared for something like that right after experiencing a terrorist attack.

A disturbing sound of flesh meeting metal could be heard whenever Simon punched Ren. 

Ren's battered hands were shaking from the damage he received and drops of blood could be seen trickling down from his mouth.

Ren decided to retreat into a corner of the arena to put some distance between him and his enemy.

Simon reactivated the enhancement in his legs and a crisp clicking sound could once again be heard as he flew towards Ren. 

Ren's gaze was filled with determination as he faced Simon. 

Half a second before Simon's fist met with the face of his opponent Ren disappeared from where he was standing and appeared behind Simon. Ren spun around and hit Simon's back with a devastating kick.

With the added force of the kick, Simon couldn't stop his dash and he flew out of the arena.

A ringing sound could be heard signifying the end of the match.

A hush fell over the crowd, their collective silence echoing the astonishment that hung in the air after witnessing the jaw-dropping conclusion of the match. Ren's unexpected move left everyone in disbelief, as no one had anticipated such a feat from him.

I smirked and thought to myself: 'This is the reason I spent so much effort acquiring countermeasures.'

What Ren used to suddenly appear behind Simon was a cybernetic upgrade called Extol named after the company that made it.

The way the enhancement functions is that it puts your nervous system into hyperdrive making you experience a bout of time dilation. Paired with the right movement technique it becomes an unstoppable combination. The person using this technique will feel like time has come to a stop while he can still freely move around.

The way Ren used it was actually very predictable if you played the game multiple times because pushing someone out of the arena is a lot faster than knocking them unconscious and after you play the game a few times you will start to look for shortcuts.

In the game pretty much all of the important characters have this upgrade as Extol is considered a rudimentary upgrade in the higher noble circles and in the military. This in my opinion makes it kind of lame because if everyone can stop time then being able to stop time stops being meaningful in any way. 

Ren was carried out of the gym on a stretcher because of his internal injuries and Simon just calmly retreated after congratulating him on his win.

The teacher directed her gaze towards us, stating, "After this impressive demonstration, I'm confident you're all eager to showcase your skills. Any volunteers?"

Surprisingly Amelia was the only one who lifted her hand. I guess others don't want to reveal their trump cards yet since it will put them at a disadvantage when dueling for stars later.

Wait. Why did Amelia lift her hand?

"So, who do you want to fight against?" the teacher asked.

  My hair stood up when I heard the question. 

"Elijah Royale."