Morning came with the greeting of sore muscles.
Soren woke at 06:30. His shoulder still ached. His hip had a bruise the size of his fist. Medical treatment helped but it didn't erase the fact that he'd fought five matches yesterday.
And today was finals.
**[You look worse than yesterday.]**
*Feel even worse.*
Jake was already up, Dual heart users recovered faster. Lucky bastard.
"You ready?" Jake asked.
"Not even a little."
"That's the spirit." Jake grinned. "I'll be in the stands cheering. Try not to die."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it's solid advice."
Soren dragged himself to the shower. Hot water helped marginally.
He dressed in the finalist training gear. black coloured with silver accents. His AR pinged with tournament updates.
**Finals Begin: 09:00**
**Bracket: Top 30 Students**
**Matches: Elimination Style**
**End Result: Top 10 Final Rankings**
He grabbed breakfast at the cafeteria. Protein blocks, synthetic eggs, water. His body needed fuel even if his stomach wasn't interested.
The cafeteria was quieter than usual. A few finalists sat scattered across tables, each wandering in their own mental space.
Mira Zhang sat alone by a window. She caught his eye and nodded once.
Soren nodded back.
His AR pinged. There were message from his mom.
**Mom: Watching the livestream today! You made top 30! I am so proud!**
**Mom: Are you eating enough? You looked tired in yesterday's matches.**
**Mom: Dad says to watch your left side. You're dropping your guard.**
**Soren: I'm eating. Tell Dad I'll work on it.**
**Mom: Love you. Win or lose, we're proud., just take care of yourself and don't overdo it.**
He pocketed his device and headed for the arena.
The finals facility had been completely reconfigured overnight. Center arena was twice as large. Holographic displays showed bracket progressions. Stands were packed with not just students, but upper-years, instructors, and those corporate types in their fancy suits.
All watching.
**[Top thirty means you're in the upper ten percent of first-years. That's already impressive.]**
*Doesn't feel impressive.*
**[Because you're comparing yourself to people from combat families. Stop that.]**
The staging area held thirty students. Soren recognized most from yesterday. Some looked confident. Others looked like they were rethinking their life choices.
Lyra sat in meditation pose, eyes closed. Completely calm.
Zara reviewed data on her AR with expression neutral as always.
A guy Soren didn't know was shadow-boxing in the corner. Wolf DNA, probably. His movements were fluid, trained. Not just enhancement, actual martial arts technique.
More students from combat families showed similar tells. The way they stood the way they moved. Small adjustments in posture the that spoke of years of training.
Soren had... instinct. Enhanced perception. And two weeks of Vale's brutal treadmill sessions.
He was starting to realize how outmatched he actually was.
"Finalists!" Instructor Vale's voice echoed in the arena. "Today separates the talented from the trained. Raw ability got you here and skill will get you further."
She let that sink in.
"Matches start in fifteen minutes. First bracket is already posted. Check your assignments."
Soren's AR updated.
**Round 1 - Match 7: Soren Cross vs. Adrian Reeves**
He pulled up Reeves' profile.
**Adrian Reeves | Biological Enhancement | Leopard DNA | 11% Integration**
**Background: Reeves Combat Academy (5 years training)**
**Fighting Style: Mixed Martial Arts, Weapon Combat**
**Preliminary Record: 5-0 (Average match time: 2:14)**
**[This is going to hurt.]**
*Yeah.*
**[You could forfeit. Ninth place isn't bad.]**
*And miss getting destroyed by someone who actually knows what they're doing? Where's the fun in that?*
**[Sarcasm. Good you're learning from me.]**
Fifteen minutes passed like three minutes.
"Match Seven! Cross, Reeves report to central arena!"
The walk to the platform felt longer than yesterday. Crowd noise built, some cheering some just curious to see the insect DNA guy fight someone properly trained.
Adrian Reeves waited on the opposite side. Lean build, confident stance.
The ref stepped between them. "Standard finals rules. First to yield, knockout, or I call it. Choose weapons."
Reeves walked to the rack and selected a combat staff. Traditional wood and metal. His grip adjustment was automatic, practiced. Muscle memory.
Soren grabbed his batons same as yesterday.
They returned to the arena. Barrier activated.
**[His stance is perfect.]**
*I see it.*
**[He's reading you already. Watching how you stand, how you hold the batons.]**
*What do I do?*
**[Survive. Learn. Try not to embarrass us too badly.]**
"Ready?" The ref looked between them.
"Ready," Reeves said.
Soren shifted his weight. "Yeah."
"Fight!"
Reeves moved immediately.
He closed distance immediately with careful steps. Staff held in defensive position, testing Soren's reaction.
Soren circled his enhanced perception tracked Reeves' micro-movements. Watching for openings.
The staff came in fast. Testing strike aimed at Soren's shoulder.
Soren dodged.
The staff redirected mid-swing. Caught his ribs.
Not hard hit Just a tap. But it landed clean.
Reeves pulled back to ready position like nothing happened.
**[He feinted. You fell for it.]**
**Yeah it's going to be harder than i thought.**
Reeves struck again. This time a sweep. Soren jumped to dodge.
But the staff was already changed the direction. It caught him in the shoulder before he landed.
Another clean hit.
Soren tried to create distance. Reeves closed it. Not rushing. He was Just... there. Always in the right position.
Three more exchanges. Three more hits. Soren landed none.
His enhanced perception let him see the strikes coming. But knowing it and countering were different things. Reeves' technique was too clean and refined. Each strike flowed into the next. Defense became offence and it became defense again flawlessly.
This wasn't fighting. This was getting schooled.
Soren tried his burst speed. He tried to catch Reeves off guard using his burst.
But Reeves' staff moved like it had a mind of its own. Blocked one baton, redirected the other, swept Soren's leg.
He went down hard.
Staff pressed against his throat before he could recover.
"Yield."
Soren's jaw clenched. But he wasn't stupid, to continue fighting a lost battle again and again.
"I yield."
"Winner: Reeves!"
The crowd's reaction was mixed. Some disappointed cause they have bet on Soren and some were unsurprised as they knew what will we the outcome of this match.
Barrier dropped.
"You've got good instincts," Reeves said. "Perception's excellent but you're not trained."
"That obvious?"
"Very your footwork's all over the places. You don't know how to create angles. Your counters are predictable."
"Thanks I will work on it."
Reeves shrugged. "You made top thirty with raw talent. That's impressive. Get some actual training and you'll be dangerous. I definitely want a rematch after you properly get trained."
They walked off together. Medical drone was already waiting.
"Minor bruising detected. Treatment recommended."
"Yeah, sure."
His AR updated.
**Match 7: Adrian Reeves - VICTORY**
**Soren Cross - ELIMINATED**
**Current Bracket: Top 20**
Eliminated. Just like that.
**[You were outclassed.]**
*I know.*
**[He had five years of training. You had two weeks of running and instinct.]**
*I know.*
**[You did better than most untrained fighters would.]**
*Doesn't feel like it.*
Soren found a seat in the staging area. Not eliminated from the tournament he'd still get ranked based on performance. But the finals bracket was done for him.
He watched the other matches.
Lyra fought someone with bear DNA. The bear user was strong even trained in martial arts that complimented his strength but still Lyra dismantled him in ninety seconds. Her movements weren't just fast they were perfect down to every movement. Footwork that created angles the bear user couldn't cover. Defense that flowed into offense without pause.
And on the other match.
Zara faced a wolf DNA user from a military family. The wolf guy had training, technique, strategy. Everything Soren wanted for himself at this moment. But Zara outlasted him. Her dual hearts gave infinite stamina but that wasn't the difference. She positioned herself better. Controlled distance accurately and made him work twice as hard for every exchange. Clinical precision that came from family drilling combat scenarios since childhood.
Combat family students dominated every match. M
Students like Soren, talented but untrained, got filtered out fast.
By midday, bracket had narrowed to top fifteen.
Soren wasn't in it.
Mira Zhang was there. She'd made it through three matches. Her mantis DNA gave her incredible precision but watching her fight, Soren realized she had training too. Not from a famous family maybe, but someone had taught her basic techniques. Her strikes weren't just instinct they followed techniques.
She lost her fourth match to someone from a combat family but she still made in top ten.
The final rankings updated throughout the day.
By 04:00PM hours, everything was decided.
**FINAL TOP 10 RANKINGS - FIRST YEAR COMBAT ASSESSMENT:**
1. Lyra Shadowmane (Black Panther DNA - 10.8%)
2. Zara Steelheart (Dual Heart System - 11.2%)
3. Marcus Webb (Wolf DNA - 12%)
4. Helena ross (Tiger DNA - 11.5%)
5. Adrian Reeves (Leopard DNA - 11%)
6. David Park (Gorilla DNA - 12%)
7. Mira Zhang (Mantis DNA - 11%)
8. Sarah Kim (Dual Heart System - 10.5%)
9. James River (Wolf DNA - 11%)
10. Soren Cross (Tiger Beetle DNA - 10%)
Tenth place.
Bottom of the top ten.
**[You made it.]**
*Yes barely winning yesterday's all matches paid off.*
**[Top three are all from combat families. Four through nine have training backgrounds. You're the only one in top ten without formal martial arts training.]**
*That supposed to make me feel better?*
**[It's supposed to make you realize you did well with what you have. But you need training real training.]**
Instructor Vale's voice boomed through the arena.
"Final rankings posted. Top ten—congratulations. You've earned advanced training privileges, first pick for missions, and priority access to enhancement resources."
She paused,
"But this assessment revealed something important. Raw talent isn't enough. Enhanced abilities aren't enough. You need skill , technique and good foundation."
Vale gestured to the top three. "Shadowmane, Steelheart, Webb , you're products of combat families. You've been training since childhood. It shows."
Then her eyes found the others, Including Soren.
"The rest of you got here through talent and determination. That's commendable. But you were exposed today your lack of proper training was obvious."
The words hit Soren harder than Reeves' staff.
"Starting tomorrow, mandatory combat training for all first-years. Weapons, martial arts, tactical fundamentals. No more relying on enhancement alone. We're making fighters out of you."
Vale's expression was grim. "Because outside the city walls, mutant beasts don't care about your potential. They care if you know how to kill them before they kill you."
"Dismissed. Top ten report to Administration. Everyone else— get rest. Training starts 07:00 tomorrow."
**[Tomorrow you start learning for real.]**
*Yeah.*
**[Good. Because that was embarrassing.]**
*Thanks.*
**[You're welcome. Now get up. You've to report to Administration.]**
Soren stood. His legs still worked. Barely.