(A/N Big thanks to everyone for the Power stones and Golden tickets, they mean a lot. As usual, please don't hesitate to comment or drop a review. ENJOY)

(Power stones, people. Lets's make the rankings 😤😤😤)

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The girl activated Kairos step once more, eager to dodge, but surprise clouded her eyes before she got hit and blanked out.

"You caught me off guard the first time, not again. Kairos's step in front of me is useless." Seris said with a scoff, her tense body relaxing from combat mode.

She looked at all three collapsed bodies, a hint of pity flashing on her face before quickly fading off. She had taken care of the leader without her even realising how.

She shook her head and quickly searched their bodies before gathering their stones. She had a boy to catch up to.

She collated all the stones and was pleasantly surprised to find a sum of 25 points.

'Seems they were quite effective as a team.' She thought before merging them with hers.

She opened the rankings again, a tick mark appearing on her forehead and a small frown marring her face.

Orion- 142 points Daenys- 117 points Erevan- 108points.

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Seris- 94 points.

'How in the world?' She thought, perplexed by the initial score.

It hadn't been up to ten minutes since she last checked the rankings, and Orion had gained more than 50 points.

She looked down at the second position,

"Daenys," She muttered, the name rolling off her tongue with an unreadable edge.

And there she sat at 5th. It was supposed to be a good thing; her rank had increased, but seeing those names above her completely washed off the feeling of fulfilment.

Besides, the ranks won't last long anyway.

She closed the screen with a huff, her gaze turning to the already fading bodies.

Mana instinctively flooded her legs before she exploded off the ground in a blur, her mind already working on her next target.

The next fifty minutes were a rollercoaster of action; she fought, dodged, tracked and ambushed, her skills rising with each encounter.

Her cousin had been right all along. The more she fought, the more she learned to understand the rhythm of battle. Foes she would have struggled with at the beginning of the trial now seemed easier to overwhelm.

It was exhilarating and liberating for the usually cuddled and protected Seris.

She didn't even realise when she had started smiling and laughing mid-battle; of course, her process of deriving amusement didn't in any way sabotage her skill or make her overconfident, but it certainly did more to infuriate her opponents.

But she couldn't care less, she was having the time of her life, looking forward to every battle.

She scanned and observed each enemy before engaging; one wrong move or slip-up, she'd be sent packing and that more than anything terrified her. She couldn't imagine bringing such news to her father; knowing him, he'd comfort her and tell her to try again next year.

Absolutely not.

As she took down foes and challengers, her points soared with every victory; she didn't even bother to check her points anymore.

She'd noticed the deeper she went, the higher the points her foes had accumulated. It all served to further increase her gain.

Presently, she was in a fight with a boy shorter than her, and that was saying something as she wasn't particularly tall for her age, but that fact was the furthest thing from her mind currently.

At the start of the fight, the boy had referred to himself as Jamal, and the name had struck her as very odd. He had dirty brown hair forming very large curls on his head and intense black eyes complementing them.

Initially, she had found his short stature unconvincing of strength, but she still kept her guard up, and it helped that the boy had told her not to underestimate him.

Very noble of him, she had thought. She had fought some that played the part of a weakling just to try and spring out some unknown ability or greater than perceived strength, but it turned out the boy had great reason to be noble and proud.

A spinning kick smashed directly into the side of her face, her cheeks contorting from the force of the strike, spittle flying.

'Move!! Another's coming,' She shouted to herself mentally.

She jumped immediately, her muscles exploding with force. She backflipped three times, creating distance to stop his momentum.

And as expected, when she landed, she caught the boy in a crouching position, his plan to trip her foiled.

She exhaled steadily, sweat dropping from her chin. But all that did nothing to undermine the smile on her face.

Jamal gradually rose up, his serious expression looking somewhat comical on his diminutive stature.

"You seem more excited than surprised." He said with his head tilted.

"I am more excited than surprised." She admitted, her smile unwavering.

"Is that so. For most, it's the opposite." He said, his fist rising and clenching.

"Most are foolish; my being here currently exempts me from most," she replied, her own stance shifting in preparation.

"Don't tell me you're bothered by their perception of you," She said with a raised brow, her voice teasing.

"Far from it, I simply stated what I observed." He said, his expression unchanged.

"Now enough talk, the next contraction will be here soon. I have limited time to defeat you." He said, exploding into action.

He swerved left and right in quick succession, his footsteps moving in a complicated manner, and his height giving him a strange sense of nimbleness.

Seris' eyes immediately went alert, her eyes tracing his movements.

His sudden acceleration had almost startled her into stumbling, but she refused to be caught on the defensive.

A swift strike to her side, she blocked immediately before lunging to grab him, but as she'd come to expect, he slipped away immediately.

He spun, his elbow racing towards her gut.

She reacted instantly, her left palm reaching out and blocking it with a muffled impact.

The force behind the strike caused her to jerk back a little, but she caught herself and sent a retaliatory strike with her right fist, the punch surging straight for his head while he faced the opposite direction.

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