Virtual Simulation [8]

5:39 PM.

Belle had already left a while ago since she still had lectures to attend.

The only ones left in the room were Evelyn and Vanessa.

Of course, Evelyn had to stay since it was her class.

But Vanessa…

She had too much time on her hands.

"How many students are left, Evelyn?"

Evelyn peered down at a rectangular white device.

On it displayed the timer and the amount of students left.

[32:21 Minutes left.]

[ALIVE: 4]

"Four."

"Makes sense. Most of the students teamed up, only to lose to the Locke and Ashfield pair, and the Blackheart and Victoria pair."

"Mhm… But it was smart."

"True. If they didn't, they wouldn't stand a fighting chance."

"There were some students with potential though."

Evelyn assessed some students who gave Brandon and Raven a difficult time. Though there was no helping it when they were against a Tri-Elemental Mage and the top student of the first years.

She redirected her gaze to the screen. She could see Brandon panting heavily after fighting all the pairs that had teamed up.

Switch–

The screen switched to Raven Blackheart, who did the same.

She once again shifted her gaze down to look at the device.

Click–

As she clicked on the map icon, she could see the locations of the two.

And…

"They're close by."

In a few minutes it seemed like the two pairs would soon run into each other.

From outside the room, she could hear muffled voices of the students. Chatter and laughter reached Evelyn's ears from the other side of the room.

But unexpectedly, another voice reached her ears. It was also muffled out.

"Everyone! No gambling!"

The voice seemed to belong to Belle.

'Did they really just…'

They seemed to have placed their bets on whoever would win between Brandon and Raven.

Surprisingly, Evelyn was interested as well.

The fight she had been waiting for.

Raven, the top student of the first year. And Brandon, the student she deemed worthy to be her protégé.

It's not that she discriminated against Raven being a Duelist. It was because she knew next to nothing about bladed weapons.

Raven would be a waste on her.

She once again redirected her attention back to the screen. She pursed her lips to mutter,

"It's starting."

***

"Haa.. Haa… How much time do we have left?"

"Haa… 29 Minutes."

The two heavily panted, trying to grasp for air as they continued forward.

They had already left the tundra biome after the timer reached the two hour mark.

But while they did, they were ambushed by a group of parties that had teamed up.

No, not a group.

'It was a battalion.'

Brandon realized that the students plotted to team up right before the Battle Royale started.

After interrogating a student, he found out that they had targeted whichever team had Raven, Amy, and Claire.

It made sense to not include him since he was quite irrelevant at the moment.

'But after this is all over…'

All of the attention would be on him.

Brandon Locke, the Tri-Elemental Mage.

Just thinking about it drained Brandon.

But there was no helping it. It was the result of his inexperience.

Despite reading all those books, the application of all the knowledge was still too hard for him.

Especially when it wasn't a one-on-one fight, but an ambush.

Regardless he was somewhat able to apply the knowledge to a certain degree. Evident by his newfound swordsmanship.

'Hopefully I can test out the skill on Raven.'

The whole time, he had never used Accelerated Cognition.

Since there was a cooldown, he planned to save it for when he'd finally fight Raven.

Rustle– Rustle—

His attention was then caught by the rustling of the bushes a few distance from him and Amy.

"...!"

Two figures emerged from the bushes.

Brandon scanned their figures, only to realize it was none other than–Raven and Claire.

The two seemed to have not noticed Brandon and Amy yet as they engaged in conversation.

No, they were arguing.

Their voices reached Brandon's ears.

"Haa… Haa… This is why we should've hid, Claire."

"Haa… Haa… Don't blame me, I didn't know all of them would team up against us."

"Haa… I'm not Haa.. Blaming you, I'm just saying the situation could've been Haa… avoided."

They seemed tired as well, gasping for air. They continued forward, only until they realized Brandon and Amy were in front of them a few distance away.

They paused.

"Haa… Brandon?"

"Hey."

Brandon waved at him with a smile on his face.

He was tired as well. But it seemed like Raven was even more tired than him.

'Should I go for it?'

As if his mind was read, Amy leaned in to whisper,

"This is our chance."

It seemed like she had the same idea as Brandon.

However…

As they turned to look at the two, Raven and Claire had already disappeared.

"...Behind you, Amy!"

Wooosh–!

Brandon dashed back as Amy did the same.

Raven appeared behind Amy, or rather–her shadow.

'Shadow Step, huh?'

Brandon breathed out a sigh of relief as Amy was able to react fast enough to dodge.

But if Raven was targeting Amy, then…

Tszzzz—!

In an instant, Claire blinked in front of him.

Crackle… Clank—-!

Her rapier thrusted forward. But Brandon was quick enough to react, and conjured an ice shell to block it.

Claire's eyes shot wide open.

"What…? Ice?"

Raven was taken aback too and took a quick pause.

"Brandon… You're a Deviant?"

"Who knows?"

Brandon shrugged.

It was finally time.

He'd saved it just for this moment.

[Accelerated Cognition]

At that moment, the gears in his head started turning.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The colors suddenly drained.

Emotions were drowned out.

Senses heightened to the maximum.

He could see it all.

Every move.

No matter how fast.

As if he was in complete control.

Nothing escaped his line of sight.

Millions of thoughts flooded Brandon's mind.

For every move he'd plan on making, a scenario of what would happen played out–all in a split second.

'As I thought, this skill is broken…'

This was the first time he had used [Accelerated Cognition] in a real fight.

He'd only used it when he was studying, trying to assess the skill.

After each experiment, he found out the skill had a drawback.

When the effects were over, his head started to throb, and he felt like he was having a mental fatigue.

An excruciating migraine then occurred. Excruciating enough that he found himself banging his head, trying to mitigate the pain.

After each experiment, he found out that five minutes was the sweet spot.

And to his surprise, the cooldown would shorten to five hours instead of ten.

Thus, he had to end the entire thing in five minutes.

***

'Why did he hide his abilities?'

Clenching her rapier tightly, Claire focused all her attention on Brandon.

Several questions flooded her mind, but now was not the time.

At first, she was confident she could beat Brandon.

She thought he shared the same affinity as her. Thus, thinking she could handle him.

Unlike Raven, Claire had never seen Brandon as a threat.

After all, he was way below the rankings. How could he be a threat?

She never understood why Raven was wary of him. And to her surprise, Amy started paying attention to him the past few weeks.

Just what was so special about him?

His attitude rubbed her the wrong way.

The way he spoke to her as if he was her equal.

No, not just her, but to everyone in the group.

It peeved her so that someone with such a low ranking had joined their friend group.

In her own terms, 'Why is this insignificant nobody hanging out with the cool kids?'

But she put up with him since he'd already cemented himself in the group anyway.

She pretended to like him. But it might've been obvious to Brandon with the way she spoke to him.

But now?

Things were different.

She clenched her teeth.

'So he was a Deviant this whole time.'

Then why did he hide it?

Claire stifled a laugh.

'Ridiculous.'

The person she had looked down on was way more talented than her than she thought.

She gripped her rapier tightly.

She couldn't accept the fact that Brandon was actually a Deviant the whole time.

It really rubbed her the wrong way.

Step—

It was then when Brandon strode forward.

Claire kept her guard up and scanned his entire figure.

'Huh?'

What caught her attention was Brandon's eyes.

They were shot wide open.

But his expression…

They were blank.

His mouth was a closed slit.

Step—

He continued to walk forward.

Each step exuded confidence. Yet at the same time, it seemed like his guard was down.

"...!"

But it was then when Claire could instinctively feel it.

Brandon had no openings.