...testing.

Reed looked up from the book at Lyn, who was resting against a tree, recovering her energy for his last test.

The book he was holding had questions written upon it that Reed had told Lyn to answer. She did so and Reed did not find any of her answers to be beyond his acceptance.

'Good news, Avalyn, you pass the test.'

He closed the book and walked around the edge of the clearing, placing down small objects every few meters. Then he walked to the middle and placed a metal pole with a cube-shaped top into the ground.

Then he put on a three-layer defense that he had made himself, using new-gen materials.

The first layer was a tight, grey skinsuit that covered his body from his ankles to his neck.

'Made from dynilk, resistant to cuts, and thermally insulating as well.'

The second layer consisted of the actual clothing that would be visible to any who saw him, covered with large but thin pieces of armor placed all over it, it also included new boots and gloves.

'ATLAS inner-armor,' Reed flicked off a piece of dirt from his forearm. 'reinforced with kevlar.' He summoned a thick black mask and put it on.

'Standard issue PAWN mask. Still haven't tested it against magical gas, but it'll do for now.'

The third layer, was the main armor, thick and heavy.

'Level 4 ATLAS armor, never thought I'd get the chance to own my own.' Reed looked at the helmet in his hands. 'The newest 'aegis' that everyone wanted to have.' He put it on, obscuring his face from the outside, but somehow, he could still see from inside the helmet.

'It works.'

He took a look over himself, inspecting his work.

'Pity I can't create the inner workings though.'

Not being able to visualize the complex inner workings of the armor, Reed had to use runes to be able to see through the helmet.

'I guess that a window does count as seeing through a wall then.'

Once he finished checking his armor, he turned to Lyn, who was still resting against the tree, eyes closed.

He walked over to her, and she opened her eyes.

"Come on, time for your last test." He said as she looked visibly shocked at his equipment.

"Is that ATLAS armor?" She asked, recognising what he had based his armor off of.

"Yes it is." He walked over to the pole in the center and waited for her to catch up to him.

"Put all your firearms here." He pointed to the top of the cube, and watched her put three pistols and a grenade launcher on it.

"All right stand here." He pointed a few meters away from him.

"Now, I have read your answers, and I liked them." Lyn felt uneasy, and with good reason. "But, I can't be sure how determined you are unless I test that." Reed could feel that her heartbeat had started to accelerate, and she stole a glance at her guns lying on the cube.

"So!" Reed said, and suddenly a blue light passed through them. "I'm going to test your determination."

Lyn looked at the barrier that had formed around the field, cutting off any escape routes that she could have had.

She looked at the pole in the center and found that a similar barrier had blocked it, meaning that she couldn't get to her guns either.

"I'm going to attack, and your actions will change my attitude towards you. Now then," 

Reed did not wait for her to process what he had just said as he summoned a sword into his right hand and took an attacking stance.

"Let's begin."

"WaiiiiIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!" Lyn did not manage to get an entire word out of her mouth before she stumbled back and to the left to dodge a swing that would have cut her stomach open.

"WAIT!!" Even as she shouted, she summoned her own sword to meet Reed's, only to stumble and fall backwards as she was off-balance.

'S***!!'

She quickly rolled to the side as Reed slashed down, just barely dodging his attack, only to get kicked in the stomach as she tried to get up, sending her a few meters away.

"Ugh!!"

Reed walked towards her, holding his sword in one hand as she shakily got back up to her feet, holding her sword towards him.

'That hurts!!!!'

Reed got within striking distance and swung his blade to counter her thrust, only for her to push against his blade to get closer for a kick with her right leg.

He saw it coming, and moved to his right, causing her leg to hit the air while throwing her off-balance by applying force to her blade.

He swung again, and she dodged, rolling to her side before getting back up.

'She's learning.' Reed remarked mentally.

She looked at him, breathing heavily as he walked calmly towards her.

'WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo??!!'

She backed away as he approached, until they drew close to the barrier.

'Come on!! THINK!!'

With her back only a few centimeters from the barrier, she decided on a plan.

Before Reed could attack her, she threw the sword in her hand at him, while summoning another one.

As he moved to bat it away, she moved forwards, trying to overwhelm his defense.

'WORK!!' She screamed mentally as she watched him realize what was happening.

Reed parried the sword flying towards his face, and when he saw the second attack aimed at his stomach, he simply sidestepped it and swung his blade.

He then stepped back to dodge the desperate swipe that came after as Lyn screamed.

'Quick thinking.' Reed was impressed, and paused his chase for a moment.

Blood dripping from the wound in her left shoulder, Lyn looked at Reed with fear as she turned towards him. Even in pain, she knew better than to clutch the wound and collapse.

Her thoughts were going haywire as she saw Reed advance again.

She ran to the other side of the field.

Reed did not stop her, he only continued his calm walk towards her position.

She tried desperately to maintain her breathing as she tried to understand what was expected of her.

'Determination, determination.' She understood what he meant by that, and she did not like it at all.

'He wants to see how far I will push myself for my goals, and when I will give up.'

Now that she understood what he was doing, she felt a sense of bravado wash over her, as fear gave way to anger.

'This bastard!'

She ran forward and swung towards him, only to be easily deflected and left open for a counter-attack.

Anger made her advance towards him, but it didn't stop her thoughts, and Reed had to jump back to avoid a fireball that emerged from her palms.

"Good." Reed spoke one word, but that word sent a shiver down Lyn's spine.

Reed's sword disappeared, and he put his fists up, before charging forwards and striking her abdomen, causing her to spit out some saliva as she flew backwards.

"Now the real pain begins."

Lyn looked up at him from the ground, a single thought flying through her head.

'F***.'

***

Lyn swung her sword, launching a blade of wind from it at Reed, who just leapt over it and came down at her.

She jumped out of the way, replacing her sword with a dagger in the process.

Reed swung his right leg at her in a roundhouse kick, which she tried to block with her left arm, which made an audible cracking sound when hit.

She rolled a few meters due to the force behind the kick, but Reed did not pursue her.

'Well done.' He looked at the dagger that had fallen to the floor after removing itself from his shin.

'She managed to drive it in while you were getting attacked, and was even able to coat it with mana for extra power.'

She managed to hit him after 4 minutes of getting beaten, with a risky but effective play.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the result she wanted.

'If my armor wasn't in the way, she could have very well cut through my leg, if I kept taking it easy on her, that is.'

Reed looked at her.

She was cradling her forearm, which was now broken, and looked at his leg, an expression of frustration mixed with pain present on her face.

He looked over her multiple bruises and small cuts and spoke.

"That won't work again."

She looked at him, breathing heavily. She kept her left arm in the same position while she moved her right hand to summon a small spear, and held it the wrong way.

'Is she going to throw it at me?' Reed started walking towards her again, slightly faster this time.

A film of blue mana covered the spearhead as she moved it to a throwing position.

Reed moved to the side as her arm moved to throw it at him.

Just when he was wondering what she was trying to do, a thought went through his head, and as the projectile neared his previous location, his eyes widened.

Unfortunately, he hadn't stabilized his position and the thought occurred far too late for him to react in time, so when the spearhead exploded, he was pushed by the shockwave.

Reed's legs were closer to it, so they were pushed more, causing him to hit the ground head-first.

When his head bounced back, the raging wave of wind pushed him onto his back and blew him even further.

Reed borrowed the wind's pushing force to do a backflip and land on his feet, skidding back a short distance.

He looked towards her location, only to put his arms up to guard against a wind blade.

It cut through his armor and into his arms before dissipating.

Lyn looked at him, trying to guess how much damage that wind blade had done to him.

'Come on, that should have done something!'

Suddenly, Reed chuckled.

She looked at him in stupefaction as he burst into full-blown laughter.

He laughed for a few moments, before coming to a stop.

"That was amazing Avalyn."

She did not have time to process what he had just said before he moved to attack her.

She panicked and swung her sword in an attempt to fend him off.

She failed as he slapped the attack down.

"Ugk!"

Reed picked her up by her neck before throwing her backwards, causing her to slam into the ground on her back, sending a shock through her body, she lost her grip on her weapon.

Reed picked her up by her leg and threw her across the field.

She screamed as her broken arm hit the ground as she rolled multiple times.

"Get up!" Reed commanded after she came to a stop. "You have five seconds!"

She supported herself with her uninjured arm as Reed counted down.

She managed to get up before Reed finished counting.

Reed did not attack immediately.

He looked at her face, not dirtied with a small cut across her forehead, likely caused by a small rock.

"I will increase my intensity from now on, prepare!."

He lowered his stance, putting his open palms in front of him.

Lyn looked at her injured arm, before gritting her teeth and summoning a sword while pulling her left leg back to stand in such a way that most of her body was blocked by her right arm.

Seeing this, Reed smiled under his helmet.

He started to attack when a blue film enveloped her arm and sword, causing her to pause for a moment before continuing.

She thrust slightly as he drew close, but turned it from a thrust to a slash as he side-stepped her thrust and punched at her.

Reed now had another injury in his left arm, he had tried to defend against her blade, but she had expected his dodge, so she hadn't put force behind the thrust, allowing her to take him by surprise.

However, Reed still had another arm, and his right fist made contact with her abdomen, causing her to spit out saliva as the force knocked the breath out of her.

The attack knocked her off the ground, and she lost the sword as she hit the ground and rolled backwards.

She got up immediately, and instead of staying on the defensive, she attacked him.

This took Reed by surprise.

'Bad idea.' With only one hand to defend against, he easily blocked her and landed a kick, sending her back again.

This time, she couldn't get back up immediately.

She put a hand to her waist as she grunted.

'Ah... That hurts.'

Reed did not give her time to think as he picked her up by her neck again.

"Not the time to think about the pain." He said as he applied pressure to her neck, making her choke.

A few seconds passed as she tried to pull his arms away, when suddenly something changed.

Before Reed could react, she grabbed his hands, pulled her legs to his chest, and kicked.

Somehow, she managed to land on her feet, and jumped towards him, summoning a spear into her hands.

Reed moved to the side, but gained a scratch on his armor as she swung at him.

She pulled her spear back and thrust, only for Reed to grab it and pull her forward.

His arm met hers, and she was forced to let go of the spear and jump back to dodge the same spear.

Reed threw it at her, as she moved to dodge it, slammed into her shoulder first, sending her sprawling on the ground.

She got up and screamed as she charged him again, only to get kicked in the stomach and get sent back almost a dozen meters.

She let out grunts as she tried to force herself back to her feet.

A wave of warmth washed over her as Reed's voice sounded in her ears.

"That's enough."