At another angle, Kiera, a girl with silver-white hair and crimson eyes smashed her gauntlet into the robot's torso. A burst of red exploded from the impact, sending the robot flying as it hurriedly stabilized itself mid-air, then shot a flurry of arrows at her. She calmly parried each arrow until one exploded on her, blinding her momentarily.
Though it was just momentary, six arrows arrived at her side almost immediately but she skillfully blocked them with an energy shield that appeared on her left gauntlet. Her lips curved into a knowing smirk as she shot forward at blinding speed and delivering a heavy blow to the robot's head—the metal denting from the blow. Her grin faded when the robot suddenly delivered a vicious kick to her side, sending her flying.
Pain flared through her side as she suspected a cracked rib with minimal internal bleeding.
'Jerk!'
Brimming with rage, she launched back at it, her eyes glowing with an eerie glow.
.....
On another platform, Liam changed his stance as the enemy's blade came down upon him. Gambling, he rushed forward instead of retreating, shocking the onlookers as he slashed his sword against the belly of the robot. The attack disrupted it's momentum as it missed him entirely, allowing him to step onto it's knee and headbutt it. Before it could recover, he delivered a fully powered kick to it's adam's apple would be—if it had, and at the same time, slashed the neck.
Clang!
Boom!
The attacks rang out loudly as Liam distanced himself from the robot. His gaze rippled when he realized his attacks didn't leave any debilitating damages on the robot.
'I have to strike harder then—'
He thought when he was suddenly distracted by a soft cutting sound. Turning his head, he saw Kaiser's opponent almost lose its left wrist as it blocked a blow to the neck.
The whole room fell into momentary silence which was broken by Kaiser himself who slapped the robot with the flat of his spear, gaining distance from it. The robot's eyes turned red as it dashed at him with vigor, emitting artificial killing intent which added a kind of pressure on it's opponent.
'My skills are getting rusty.'
Kaiser thought as he used his spear to perform a pole vault, dodging the blade of the robot.
He locked his legs around it's neck and used the momentum to flip it. The robot crashed unceremoniously onto the ground as it struggled to get up with one hand.
He slammed his boot into its head — metal caved under the force, jarring his knee.
Suddenly, his senses locked on a sneak attack as he dissolved into shadows, narrowly dodging a zooming mace which returned to the hand of the robot.
Appearing a distance away, Kai exhaled slightly. A hot breath escaped his lips as his grip on the black spear tightened. As he was about to charge, Mr Natusalene commanded the group to stop, halting the robots' movement also.
Kaiser calmly dismissed his spear as it dissolved into a whirlwind of black sparks.
"Your results were pretty good, but you all need polishing to your skills. During the next class, we'll expatiate more on that.
Now, one final question before we leave. What, is the essence of Combat?"
Mr Natusalene spoke with an intriguing smile on his face as he pointed at Kiera.
"Reason" She said.
"Explain"
Kiera exhaled slightly then said, "Cause and reasons determine the intensity of a battle. If there's no reason to win, you won't put in your all. So I think it's all about why you are fighting"
"Logan?"
A grumpy boy with a thuggish aura snorted as he replied. "It's all about killing"
"Liam?"
"It's about determination" The brown haired boy said with a peculiar glint in his eyes.
"Haruki?"
"Uh… maybe it's… skill? I-I'm not sure…" The timid Japanese boy replied.
"You have all gotten it wrong. It's nothing. Nothing is the essence of Combat. You either kill or be killed. Either by overwhelming force or trickery? It's all the same. Think of that later and you might find what you need."
Mr Natusalene said with a confident smile on his face.
With that, he dismissed them, allowing the students to finally visit their dormitory for the first time.
A male student with long silver hair and green eyes stood out particularly, attracting the attention of the girls from other classes.
Feeling bothered by their gazes, he prepared to leave for the dormitory.
"Wait, Kuramoto-kun!"
Suddenly, someone called out to him from behind.
Turning, he saw Isabella Wayne hurriedly approaching with a small smile on her face.
'What does she want?'
"Huff! Huff! You're very fast, Kuramoto-kun."
She panted, seemingly after him for a while.
Composing himself, Kuramoto tried to sound polite—
"Is there something you need?"
—only to fail miserably.
Because of his limited interaction with people, he was genuinely awkward.
"Ah, sorry for bothering you."
Probably thinking he was offended, Isabella averted her gaze, then continued. "I just wanted to have your contact information. I'm hoping we could be friends."
If not for her mentioning her goal of wanting to befriend everyone, any guy like Jose would have totally misunderstood her intentions. However, Kuramoto found this ideal quite... naive—so, he asked.
"Why?"
Hearing this, Isabella tilted her head cutely as if confused with his question. Then her eyes suddenly brightened.
"Ah, I've always wanted to be friends with many people. It's good to have many allies right? So that's why I want to befriend everyone. It's quite childish, isn't it?"
Kuramoto regarded her for a brief moment, then nodded.
"Indeed, it is very childish, especially for people like us."
Isabella was stunned, then slowly smiled. Normally, if she told people her goals, they would encourage her with words like 'That's nice. Here's my contact.' 'A very virtuous goal. Keep it up, Isabella.' and so on.
However, Kuramoto's answer was very logical and unbiased, surprising her.
"Indeed, being chosen by the System means we're thrown into the scuffle of the world."
She said wistfully, a painful memory of the past flashing in her mind.
"Indeed. It does."
After exchanging numbers, they parted ways with Isabella claiming she had to meet her friends at the Violet Mall—something Kuramoto earnestly envied.
'How can she make friends that fast?'