Love at first fight.

"He's robbing us blind!!" Ian smacked the dining table. The Cadets were currently in the mess hall eating their dinner. At the table, the decided leaders of the Cadets sat together.

From the Seniors that were there a few weeks ago, all but three bought an early testing ticket and graduated early. That was a privilege only available to Senior Cadets. At the table sat 7 people:

Senior Cadet: Mike Falkin.

Senior Cadet: Echo L. Daminai.

Senior Cadet: Heather Knight.

Strongest of the females: Seraphina Ender.

Strongest of the males: Ian Matnuck.

Representative of the females: Ashely Curwen.

Representative of the males: James Ruther.

The 7 leaders were here to discuss how to deal with Instructor Kaiden's increasingly tiring group lessons.

"He sells the damn No Training tickets like they're damn Energy gems!!" Ian was furious. The 6 weeks of begging his father to find out about Phina's family ended in refusal. It forced him to grow up. Even though he was still annoying and arrogant like no other, he backed it up with his own personal power. He had even overtaken Echo, one of the Seniors, lately when he beat him in a sparing match.

"I already wasted 200 EPs just for buying two! That bastard needs to be stopped!" Heather, the strongest Cadet at the table, growled. "I could've bought a Skill book if I had added the 200 EPs I used with my current 5,822 EPs!!"

"I do agree that we need a solution." James sighed. "While 'not messing up' is the obvious answer, and it is, we need more of it, but Instructor Kaiden has a special eye for finding errors."

"We need time to relax...should we raise a formal complaint." Ash asked cautiously.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Mike, the Cadet most familiar with Instructor Kaiden in this hall, yelled. "If he finds out, we are dead!"

"Well, what else would you propose, Falkin?" Echo asked with a sneer.

Everyone fell quiet. They were all looking for a way to try and get Instructor Kaiden to ease up on them. Asking him to was definitely out of the question. Ash looked to the dazed Phina and asked, "Hey, Ender. What do you think? Got any ideas in that genius brain of yours?"

Phina snapped out of her daze as she look at Ash. She had been daydreaming a lot lately, she was daydreaming of the Flashing Step Skill. She had experienced and learned a few Skills in the past 6 months, yet none had captivated her like the Flashing Step. "I'm sorry, what was the topic?"

"Damn it, Ender! Focus! This is important!!" Heather scolded. "We were talking about the training lately!"

"The training? What's wrong with it?" Phina asked. Then she remembered how everyone was complaining about how hard it was. "Ah, that. Well...it's training. There's no point if it's easy. All of you need to grow up and deal with it. Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to train."

Everyone eyed Phina as she got up. While she had no qualities indicating of leadership, her strength was no laughing matter. While the last Skill day only had an Advanced-rank Skill, everyone barely reached a 70%. Phina on the other hand, had learned the famously widespread Weapon Light Skill which allowed her to exert World Energy at the tip of her weapon and send it at the opponent as if she was slashing at the person directly. Due to the Skill she learned, her actual ranking was pushed from her previous Middle stage Adult-rank back to her body's peak, the Middle stage Intermediate-rank, then pushed even further to the Peak of Intermediate-rank!! Her advancement rate was monstrous. Although, it had to be expected from the child of an Eternal Existence and a Lawsborne.

After she left, Ash sighed. "How does she still have energy to train after that hell?"

"It's because that bitch is healing herself at the Medical Ward using the EPs she got from us in the first week!!" Ian cursed hatefully.

"You're still on about that? If it wasn't for her 'taking our EPs', we'd all be in debt till today...you included. In fact, you'd have the largest debt of us all. If anything, you should thank her..." Heather smirked. "...on your hands and knees. Forehead too."

Ian smashed the table to pieces, attracting the attention of all 33 Junior Cadets eating. "Wanna fight, asshole?!"

"Sure! I'll teach you a lesson again, jackass!!" Heather stood up, unsheathing her greatsword. Ian also got up and took his spear that was on the ground since he was sitting. At the exact time, both Cadets spoke.

"Duel Mode: Heather Knight!"

"Duel Mode: Ian Matnuck!"

A large barrier was released from their black badges, pushing everyone it touched out of the area, except for the two combatants. The barrier extended to the diameter of 20 meters. All the Cadets voiced their annoyance aloud.

"You brought this challenge to me, what do you want to put up?" Ian asked, brimming with confidence. While he might not have learned the Weapon Light Skill during the Skill day, he had contemplated on it, even training on it sometimes. He had finally learned how to use it after 2 weeks of training.

"Since we're all in dire need of EPs currently, how about 700 EPs?" Heather smirked. She knew that Ian had a small fortune from other Cadets that tried to duel him. During the first 3 weeks, he pretended to be exhausted after a duel with the 35th place Cadet. Doing so, he had given everyone hope in defeating him. Yet, unfortunately for the Juniors, Ian was just playing weak. When a Senior challenged him, he had to go all out, yet he still barely lost. Out of respect for the young genius, Zeke, the Senior that challenged him, had gave back the bet of 100 EPs.

Ian grit his teeth at the bet. He then forced a smile, "Why be so cheap? How about 5,822 EPs?"

He had targeted Heather's exact amount of EPs. Heather smiled sinisterly. She gave Ian no chance to back out as she quickly yelled. "Duel Mode: Accept!!"

A cold mechanical voice sounded out. "Duel Mode: Ian Matnuck vs. Heather Knight. 5,822 Exodia Points as a bet. Starting in 30 seconds."

"What are you up to, Knight?" Ian glared at her. She was too excited to lose her EPs.

"Remember how I didn't have enough EPs for a Skill?" Heather chuckled. "I lied. I bought a Skill book, an Advanced one. I don't even have enough for the bet."

"B-But if you lose, you'll be expelled from the Exodia!!" Ian was stunned. She was risking everything with this fight.

"Don't go easy, Ian." Heather licked her lips. "Or it won't be fun."

"F-Fine!" Ian started to get nervous. Although he didn't particularly like the Cadets here, they would be an unstoppable force in the Enforcers. He didn't want to rob himself of the powerful subordinates he would have in the future.

"3."

"2."

"1."

"Start."

The two rushed towards each other at astonishing speeds. Even Jack, an Intermediate-rank, would be barely faster than the two Peak stage Beginner-rank fighters.

Clang!

Cling!

Boom!

The spear and greatsword clashed many times. Both the combatants were saving their Skills for the deciding moment. If they just blindly used their Skills and missed, they wouldn't be able to use them again.

Ian smiled. He was looking for a match, and there she was. She was completely overwhelming him in terms of pure strength. He could barely keep up with her using his superior techniques. He loved the feeling of his orange hair shaking every time he blocked the greatsword. He loved her long brunette hair flow into the air as she dodged.

He simply loved fighting, especially when it was a challenging fight. He had only felt this once...during his fight with Zeke. Whenever he trained with his father, he was simply overwhelmed. He had absolutely no hope. Although Zeke had not gone all out, Ian didn't know that. He loved overcoming a challenge.

KRRRRRRR!!!!!

A screeching noise sounded out as the two weapons clashed. While the two pushed their weapons, Ian looked into Heather's hazel eyes...he was in love. He wanted to fight forever.

Whoosh!

Heather pushed him back for 3 meters. She smiled, "You impressed, city boy?"

"Hell, yeah!" Ian said excitedly. "After I beat you, let's have a rematch!!"

"Trust me, you won't." Heather whispered to herself.

BOOM!!

The ground exploded beneath Heather's feet. She dashed to Ian in the blink of an eye.

Slash!

She quickly slashed her greatsword with almost every drop of Life Energy injected into her swinging arms. Ian raised his spear to block the greatsword swing. He flew back when he met the swing, his entire body going numb from the impact.

Crack!

The badge barrier around Ian's body shattered as he hit the blue arena barrier. His badge barrier took the maximum amount of damage allowed. The mechanic voice sounded out once more.

"Duel Mode: Finished. Victor: Heather Knight. Reward: 5,822 Exodia Points."

"Shit!!" Heather cursed in pain as she looked at her legs. They were completely shattered. 'I didn't think it would be this powerful!!'

"Oh, crap..." Ian looked at Heather writhing in pain. "I'll take you to the Medical Ward!"

He couldn't take more than three steps before he fell to the ground. He couldn't move much of his body. The momentum that Heather had swung her sword with caused his entire body to immobilize. That was one of the advantages of Heather's Skill, Charging Swing.

"What a pain in my ass..." Mike sighed. "Echo! Carry Ian to the Medical Ward, I got Heather."

They picked up the two immobilized fighters, taking them to the Medical Ward to get treatment.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"How many times have I told you to practice with caution?!?!" the female doctor berated Phina that was laying on the bed.

"Sorry." Phina chuckled lightly. "It's just that...practicing Flashing Step feels...so good! It feels like I'm feasting on Royal-lineage beasts!"

"WELL!" the doctor said aggressively. "A few more practicing sessions, and you'll break your damn back!!!"

"H-How bad is it?" Phina asked cautiously. She had been practicing Flashing Steps a lot. The force of Law rejection kept sending her into a wall, almost crushing her entire spine at times. She had already spent over 100 EPs at the Medical Ward! She currently had a little over 30,800 EPs.

"So damn bad that I have to write a note of excuse!!" the doctor snapped.

"Calm down, Doc." Phina smiled awkwardly. Doctor Willow had been taking care of her ever since Instructor Kaiden had sent her for a checkup. "I'll manage with it. Can you just patch me up for training tomorrow? If the others get extra training because the Instructor got mad at my absence, they might actually just assassinate me in my sleep."

"Yo-"

Knock. Knock.

"I'll deal with you later!" Doctor Willow pointed to Phina aggressively before she turned to the door. "Come in."

"Hey, Doctor. We got two patients for you today." Echo said as he opened the door with Ian over his shoulder.

"Good evening." Ian said as his ass faced the doctor.

"System: Analysis. Patient: Ian Matnuck. Patient: Heather Knight." Doctor Willow said lightly.

A screen appeared in front of her with both Ian and Heather's results.

Ian Matnuck: 2 destroyed blood vessels. Nervous system is damaged.

Recommended treatment: Minor Healing array.

Calculated Fees: 20 Exodia Points.

Heather Knight: 3 broken bones. 2 shattered bones. 232 destroyed blood vessels.

Recommended treatment: Minor Limb Reconstruction array + Major Healing array.

Calculated Fees: 350 Exodia Points.

"I guess I really shouldn't use Charging Swing at full power." Heather sighed when the doctor shared the screen's results with her.

"Yeah, I don't want to see you here constantly...LIKE SOMEONE I KNOW!!" Doctor Willow shot Phina a glare.

"I thought she only came for minor recovery, why's she on a bed?" Ash, who had tagged along, asked.

"I can't give you her info." Doctor Willow scoffed when she saw Phina's smiling face.

"Well..." Phina smiled. With no shame in her entire being, she said, "Long story short: I'm an idiot."