25 The Match - Part 1

Zora glided a hand over her smooth bald head again and flexed the muscles in her arm habitually. That boy from the termination list, Rhys Anson... He was strangely unsettling. She did not notice at first because of his humble appearance, but now, it was clear that there was something eerie about him. He was not like the other six trainees she had her eyes on who all stood out among the group of sector five trainees. Zora honestly would not have noticed him at first if she had not seen his name on the termination list. however, she only had to watch him fight to realize how dangerous he was. He seemed to have a power that made him untouchable but at the same time meant death for his opponent if he touched them...?

"Ridiculous..." She muttered as she stared at the young man talking to one of the other trainees she had been keeping an eye on, Sampson the fire manipulator.

Zora shook her head free of worry and sucked in a deep breath before shouting across the gym.

"Listen up trainees, the third round will commence shortly." She pointed to the board that displayed the six remaining groups and their random pairings.

{team 12 vs team 25}

{team 9 vs team 1}

{team 5 vs team 8}

"Unlike in round two, these matches will not be held at the same time. The matches of the third round will be held one at a time. I expect all of those who did not make it to the third round to watch and learn from these upcoming matches. Use this opportunity to learn from those who are better than you. And for those who will be fighting soon, don't lose your spirit. All the members of the winning group will be ranked as A students and will enjoy all the privileges that status has to offer. that could be you."

Zora eyed the students and their different reactions ranging from despondent to confident.

"Teams twelve and twenty-five will go first. You have five minutes. Those who are not fighting can watch from outside the barriers." With that, Zora retreated to the back of the gym where she could have a better look at all the trainees.

*****************

Rhys stared at his status and his upgraded skill, trying to come up with a better plan than the one he had.

[Name: Rhys Anson]

[Race: Enlightened Human]

[Level 4]

[Exp: 203/400]

[HP: 25/40]

<Statistics >

[Intelligence: 13]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 10]

[Stamina: 6]

[Spirituality: 8]

<Skills >

[Spectre Form lv 5:

The User's body has upgraded from the spiritual level to the spectral level. Once the user applies this skill, the user's body will hold the power of a spectre. Spectres are metaphysical beings whose bodies are the result of spiritual energy and mental capability.]

< Common Applications of this skill >

•Intangibility

•Physical disruption

•Aura extension (dormant)

•Spectral manipulation (dormant)

•Spectral movement (dormant)

•invisibility (dormant) ]

The bright ideas that usually lit up in his head had all gone dark. He could not think of anything better. Team 25 was just too strong.

"Dammit." He sighed and looked forward into Nim's expectant face. She still looked traumatised from the first match and Rhys could tell she was hoping that he had come up with a way for them to win easily like he did for the last match.

"Listen up guys." Joel and Nim looked at him keenly. "Team twenty five outclasses us in pretty much every way, so if we want a chance at winning we all need to stick to this plan."

['You imbecile, no human power could outclass the ghost system. Not in a million millennia.']

Rhys ignored his irate teacher and carried on talking. He quickly explained the power of each member of team 25 and also quickly explained how he thought they would use it. He could not be sure on exactly how they would attack because he had not seen them in action but if he thought logically about their different abilities and from the wounds he had seen on Aria, he could somewhat piece together how the team would operate.

Once he had finished explaining the plan he stared at his teammates, wanting to gage their reactions. They looked just as worried as he felt. His plan was by no means perfect and honestly relied heavily on luck. You would have to be an idiot to feel confident about following such a plan.

"That's it?" Joel clutched the daggers at his side anxiously. This was not at all like the detailed strategy Rhys had come up with last round which had guaranteed a win for them.

"Umm... guys." Nim was quiet and unsteady as she spoke, the doubt and anxiety were visible on her face. "We could always forfeit. Being in the A category isn't everything, aren't our lives more important than..."

A ferocious look from Sampson silenced her. The little confidence she had used to speak up vanished in the face of Sampson's glare.

"We've only got a few minutes left before the match. Don't waste my time." Sampson looked at Nim as he spoke, the threat in his words was clear.

Rhys raised an eyebrow at Nim who looked back up at Sampson somewhat defiantly. She was definitely still scared of him, that much was obvious from the way she was pressing her hands against her stomach to stop them from shaking. She was scared but she was determined to say what she thought was necessary.

"This fight is pointless..." her words came out strained like she was holding back tears. " There is no way we are going to win, but we could seriously die if we decide to fight them. Let's just forfeit and..."

Sampson backhanded Nim across the face. She crumpled to the ground clutching her cheek, tears spilled out out of her eyes as she stared back up at Sampson in shock.

"Sampson!" Rhys didn't think he would actually get physical with Nim.

"What the hell? You didn't need to do that." Even Joel who was usually quiet in front of Sampson spoke up. He immediately crouched down to help Nim.

"Just shut up," Sampson growled as he looked down at her mercilessly. "You came to the military academy for what? What did you think you were going to do when you got here? You fucking seventeenths are so clueless. You can go and be weak when you're not part of my team and you're not affecting my future."

Rhys watched as Sampson's fiery aura blazed and crackled. What Nim said really sent him into a passion-filled rage.

"Get back up. Stick to the plan and do your bit. Or I'll fucking kill you."

He was deadly serious.

Rhys watched as Sampson walked towards the match pit with his aura still ablaze. Rhys knew that Sampson would never admit it, but the idea of this match was probably winding him up as much as it was Nim. It's just that the two different people had very different approaches. Nim's reaction was to escape from her reality by forfeiting, while Sampsons method was to confront his reality head-on. They were really like oil and water. Right now, Sampson's approach was the one Rhys preferred.

"His delivery was way off, but his message was right, Nim. You have to want this win as much as we do." Nim's eyes were hidden underneath her curly hair so Rhys could not see her expression. However, her green aura looked calm and steady, maybe Sampson's slap helped her regain her cool.

"Let's go." Joel helped her off the ground and held her hand as they walked to the match pit together.

Rhys sighed as he walked behind them, his entire plan revolved around two uncertain points: Firstly that Connor would not use his power until his teammates failed, and secondly Rhys's own ability to properly utilise his upgraded skill. Their chances were very low.

"That team is so screwed, they're already turning on each other." The voices of the other students picked at Rhys's ears as he walked by.

"I've heard about that guy Sampson before, he's got this great fire core. I don't know, they could still have a chance with him on their team."

"No way, even if Sampson has some decent power the others are all weak as shit. Connor's gonna fry them, no contest."

"Oh no. That girl on their team is a healer. Isn't it a bit messed up to make a healer fight?"

Rhys could only clench his fists as he listened to the chattering going on around him. He had to admit to himself that it kind of stung that after he had fought twice, still nobody recognised him. Then again, their had been a lot of teams participating in the first and second rounds and the people who were out would obviously go and watch the matches of their friends or people they knew. The only people who had even seen his powers in action were the instructors and the teams he had fought against.

['You lack charisma. You should try to stand out more like Connor and Sampson. People will notice you more then']

'Shut up.' Every time the teacher spoke it got more annoying.

Rhys stepped into the match pit and glanced around the edges of the pit to see all the other groups staring in at them. Their beady eyes were desperate to discover weaknesses they could then exploit if the opportunity ever came. The people here were so cutthroat.

"Hey Grey, you seriously lost to that team?"

Rhys's ears picked up on the familiar name. It was the name of the water manipulator he had fought in the first round. The guy who put razor blades in his water pockets so that his water attacks became more lethal. That guy probably could have gone much further in the tournament if he hadn't been paired with Rhys's team in the first round.

"Yes." Grey replied begrudgingly. "You see that guy with black hair."

Rhys could feel quite a few eyes on the back of his neck.

"Uh-huh." "Yeah." "Yes." A few people around him responded as their eyes landed on Rhys.

"You better watch him. He's the MVP of this team."

"Huh? Grey Are you serious?" The disbelief in their voices was obvious. "But they've got Sampson in their team. Surely he's..."

"Just watch if you don't believe me." Grey snapped angrily at them.

Rhys couldn't hide the small smile on his face as he got into formation. A strange formation that he knew would earn them a ton of criticism from the people watching their match.

"What the fuck is team 12 thinking?" Rhys heard the shocked audience outside the pit.

"What are you guys doing? If you stand close together like that you're done for! Spread out!"

The orange barrier shot up around the pit and made the voices of the students watching their matches a bit muffled. However Rhys could still clearly hear the onlookers dissing their intelligence and strategy.

"Those fuckers better watch out for me when this match is over." Sampson glared at the people booing them from outside the pit.

"Let's make it out of this alive first." Rhys could feel sweat beading on his forehead.

Rhys was standing in the middle, while his three teammates were standing with their backs to him. They were practically touching each other they were standing so close together. They created a compact triangle formation with Rhys standing inside the triangle.

"Is everyone ready?" Rhys couldn't see their face so he wanted to check up on them.

"Yeah." Sampson sounded vaguely annoyed.

"Yes!" Joel was chipper but nervous.

"Yes." Nim sounded calmer than he expected she would. That backhanded slap from Sampson somehow worked wonders on her resolve...? That couldn't be it.

['You see, violence is always the answer.']

The stone-faced instructor who oversaw their first two matches spoke from outside the barrier. "the match between Team 12 vs team 25 begins in, five..."

"Four."

Connor was on the other side of the circle slumped against the barrier with a bored look on his face. Rhys sighed because it didn't look like he would be participating anytime soon. His strategy was still valid for the moment.

"Three."

The other three members of team 25 were spread out a few meters in front of Connor. The very muscular guy with the bear physiology core was in the front, the red-headed teleporter was on the far left, and the girl with the long straight hair who had a wind core was on the right. Perhaps it was because Aria's strength had taken them all by surprise that they all looked concentrated and ready for a fight.

"Two."

"One. Begin."

A cruel smile slid across the teleporter's face as he stepped forward. "Don't worry guys, I've got this. I really need to vent some frustration until that poison girl gets out of the infirmary." The teleporter's grey mesh aura surged, he was about teleport.

"He's coming," Rhys whispered to his teammates.

In an instant, the ginger guy was gone and the people outside of the pit gasped and drooled at the demonstration of such an awesome core ability. Rhys knew it was an amazing ability, however to him, an ability like that was no longer a threat because of one simple reason. What made the teleportation core so frightening was that the user could pop up anywhere within a certain distance that only the user knew. The user could do this in an instant without a sound, without a trace even. It made fighting a teleporter mentally exhaustive as a person would constantly be in fear of their opponent popping up behind them.

Rhys grinned as he saw the teleporter's grey mesh aura begin to reform in front of Sampson. If a person had the ability to see auras, then the teleportation ability drastically decreased in ineffectiveness, because like a shadow the aura followed the being wherever it went. And in this case, Rhys could see where the teleporter would reappear before the teleporter's body completely reformed.

[Spectral form used +5 Exp]

Time slowed as Rhys lunged forward through Sampson's body to where the teleporter was teleporting to. The teleporter had both his arms raised holding small pocket knives in his hands eager to carve up Sampson.

Just as he completely teleported to the space in front of Sampson, Rhys's arm went through the teleporter's shoulder and his other arm went through the guy's stomach. Rhys immediately shifted back into his human form and heard the disturbing squelch of physical disruption tearing up the inside of the guy's shoulder and stomach.

The teleporter fell to his knees, his mouth was agape but he seemed unable to scream. The veins on his forehead were sticking out and his eyes bulged in his head as he stared up at Rhys.

He looked more shocked than in pain as he stared up at the person who had somehow predicted where he would teleport to.

"H-how?" He mouthed as blood splattered out of his mouth.

The blood was oozing and spurting out of his wounds and Rhys watched as he to swayed on his knees. He fell onto the floor unconscious, his blood gathering around him like a pool.

The entire gymnasium was silent as everyone was trying to make sense of what they had seen. The teleporter had teleported, and somehow the guy with the black hair had taken him down. Some had seen him run through Sampson like he was made of air but they were keeping quiet because they didn't want to sound crazy.

From the audience, Grey let out a loud laugh at everyone's reactions.

"I told you so." He slapped the shoulder of one of the guys who had doubted his words about Rhys earlier.

From inside the pit, Rhys looked up to see that Connor was staring straight at him. Connor's cold eyes were focused on him. Whether that was a good thing or not he would have to wait and see.

"Let's do this guys." Rhys locked eyes with his teammates, Joel and Nim looked like they had regained some confidence. The team dashed forward ready for the fight of their lives. The crowd cheered as they realized that this would not be the one-sided battle they were expecting.

**************

On a planet far away boney creatures wandered through a dark thick forest in search of meat. They were the creatures of nightmares that Rhys had managed to survive only a few weeks ago.

A tall man walked through the forest and arrived at the edge of a black lake. After he had seen the burnt trees in the forest, it was obvious that some other life form had made it onto this planet. He frowned as he stared at the lake and the stepping stones that made a path to the castle. Whatever beings had come there even made it to the castle.

This was not good.

He ran his fingers through his long white hair and walked to the castle. At the entrance, he was greeted by a pool of half-dried red blood. There were so many species that bled this color that he needed to test a sample. He crouched down beside the red pool and dipped his finger in the sticky substance. He loaded a sample of it into the device around his arm and after a few seconds, the machine pinged.

"Bodily tissue identified. The lifeform is a human from the planet Earth." The device read out its findings.

The screen of the device displayed a picture of the pretty blue and green planet, as well as its recent history and location in the universe.

He realized that he did in fact know of this planet. It was the planet the Xerserth Empire had tried and failed to colonize. For a planet that had so recently been involved in a war, it was recovering quite well.

The man stepped over the blood and continued into the castle, up the stairs to the room at the top of the tower. There he found that the place had been somewhat ransacked. Many of the gems were gone and their cases were upturned. He paused and he stared at the empty glass container in the middle of the room. It was the case where the core was being held, but the core was gone. Something had taken it. And for their sake, he hoped that taking it was all they had done.

With his sharp eyes and skills as a tracker, he scanned the room and deciphered what had happened there. He followed the small seemingly invisible clues that beings always left behind, the small traces like smudges and footprints even lingering sells that he could pick up on. He tracked the traces of the human who had taken the core. The trail came to a stop somewhere in the forest. He crouched down low and examined the black soil around the area. Nested in the ground he found the glittery remains of the core. There was no doubt about it now, a human had infused with the core.

The tall man stood up and raised his arm to his face. He tapped an icon on the screen and recorded a message in his language that would then be sent to his organization.

"Agent 2 speaking. I arrived on the planet Sepulcris and found that the core was taken. There is enough evidence to show that an infusion with the core took place. The suspects of this crime are Humans from the planet called Earth. Any agents near Earth must immediately be dispatched. The traces of the infusion are still visible but faint, so the infused person has not been paired with the core for very long. The being cannot have progressed very far into the higher being state, before it can further evolve the dispatched agents must take care of it."

He finished recording his message and looked down at the black soil. His only thoughts were on exterminating the being who infused with the core as quickly as possible. For the safety of the universe it must be culled.