"Begin—"

    The moment Sophia heard the command, she sprang into action, charging straight toward Leo.

    She knew that if she did not seize control of the battle now, right when it had just begun, she might never get the chance to do it again later.

    Since Leo was the number one ranked cadet in the Elite Class as per comprehensive evaluation, Sophia fully expected him to be faster and stronger than her. However, when she saw that he favored a dagger as his primary weapon of choice, she recognized an opportunity to potentially create an opening.

    Leo’s daggers were barely 12 inches long, and when added to his arm reach, his maximum attack range reached about 46 inches.

    In contrast, her scythe measured 20 inches, and with her 30-inch arm reach, she had a peak attack range of 50 inches—a full four inches longer than her opponent’s.

    This meant that she had a range advantage over him, which when coupled with her skill move, [Accelerated Slash], might just give her the edge she needed to win.

    It was a very small difference, but in a fight like this, every inch counted.

    ’Okay Sophia, You will go in and place a vertical slash, forcing him to dodge left, however, the moment he moves, you will activate the skill, and take him by surprise....’

    ’It’s an opening sequence you have done countless times before, and maybe it can work on him too–’

    Sophia thought, as she narrowed her gaze, however, before she could execute any her thoughts—

    Before she could even raise her scythe to attack him, Leo disappeared before her very eyes, without leaving so much of a trace in the air.

    ’What? Where did he go?’ She wondered in panic, as she looked to the left, then to the right, and finally over her head.

    She expected an attack to come flying in from any side at any time, as her senses went into hyperdrive, however, the expected attack never came.

    1...2...3....

    3 painful seconds passed, as sweat beads began to form on her forehead.

    She no longer had any sense of her opponent’s movements, as having spun around thrice in these three seconds, she no longer knew where Leo was supposed to be.

    She had spun, because she felt a constant fear of being stabbed in her back, however, no matter how many times she turned, she simply could not spot her opponent.

    Initially, he felt jittery when he began circulating mana within his body to activate [Vanish]

    However, once he started it was almost like he did not even need to consciously think on what he was doing, as his brain completed the rest of the process automatically.

    It was almost like he had performed the move a thousand times while training, and now he only needed to initiate the process before muscle memory took over and his body did the rest.

    And while he was not sure if this was the case for [Vanish] alone, or for all his skills, he did not wish to fight Su Yang again, until he found out.

    ’Just you wait Su Yang, I’m going to return every hit you landed on my face tenfold in the coming days—’ Leo thought, as the grin on his face widened while staring Su Yang down.

    At this moment, both of them knew that Leo was on his way to regaining his peak battle form, and although he had some distance left to cover, both were genuinely stoked to see him on the path to quick improvement.

    "Alright, time’s up. Everyone shifts one battle zone to their left.

    Number one will go to zone two.

    Number two will go to zone three

    Number thirty four will go to zone 1

    And number thirty five will move to zone thirty five" Major Hen declared once the first 2.5 minutes were over, as everyone quickly shifted to the next battle zone, where they encountered their second opponent.

    "Greetings, I’m Jiang Gu, and I shall be taking the top spot from you in the class rankings very soon—" Said Leo’s second opponent, as Leo’s eyes beamed with joy when he introduced himself.

    This was the same guy who had shouted boldly that he was going to win it all, when Major Hen was explaining the rules, and he had done the same once again when he introduced himself now.

    "Aghhh, so you’re Jiang Gu—" Leo said, as he pretended to have heard his name before.

    "Yes, I’m Jiang Gu? Have you perhaps kept an eye on me as a rival?" He asked, his eyes shining brightly as he took his battle stance.

    "Yes, let me be honest Jiang Gu, I must tell you precisely how I feel about you before we fight...." Leo began, as he drew in his opponents curiosity with his words.

    "The truth is.... I don’t give a fuck about you Miang Chu–" Leo said, deliberately pronouncing his name wrong, as the expression in his eyes turned stone cold.

    "Begin—" The referee announced at that moment, as it was Leo this time who took the initiative to charge first.