Inside the arena, where most students had gathered. Dosh stood with arms crossed on his chest, his sharp eyes swept through the people around, but found no trace of Cain's team.
Dosh glanced at the entrance door, hoping they could arrive. His thoughts were interrupted when a shadow appeared on the corner of his eyes. It came from a young man in his late teens.
"What's the matter, General Dosh?"
The young man's voice snapped Dosh to face him. He was Oliver, a senior known for his strength and leadership capability. The young man also boasts a level eight mutation potential. One level lower than the anomalies, Abel.
But was that even relevant?
If Abel was an anomaly, then what did that make the level-one boy who led him?
An irregular?
He shook his head and took one last glance at the entrance gate, seeing no sign of the five entering. The man exhaled a short breath.
"Nothing, there were five students who still hadn't arrived."
Oliver raised his brows. The young man's sharpened eyes scanned the door, nodding to himself.
"Are you talking about Abel's group?"
Upon mentioning the name, Dosh barely hid his twitching brows. The general cast his gaze at Oliver. They stood still for a moment, probing each other's intentions.
"Pay attention, everyone, we will start the spar."
From the middle of the arena, a feminine voice rang out. Her voice brought Dosh and Oliver's attention to the source. They witnessed the green-haired girl, Helena, holding a training bow with a quiver strapped to her back.
In front of her was a junior, a female cadet holding a longsword in her hands. She prepared her stance, yet Dosh furrowed his brows when he noticed the girl's stiff expression.
On the side, Stella glanced right and left. After watching both contestants ready, she swung her hand downward to signal the spar.
At the same time, the first to move was Helena. Her right hand blurred and took an arrow from her back. She placed it on her bow before pulling the string.
Her opponent bent her knees down while lowering the longsword tips in her hands, ready to swing an upward slash. She kicked the floor, surging forward to shorten the distance between them.
However, she was a bit late as Helena released her finger and let the arrow in her bow fly in a straight line, aiming at her opponent's middle brow.
It seemed the junior also anticipated Helena's action and swung her sword to deflect the arrow, but her eyes widened as a second arrow materialized an inch from her forehead.
The arrow's tip hovered within a hair's breadth from her forehead. Once the arrow hit her skull, it jolted not just her body, but her entire understanding of the battle. She never knew the first arrow was nothing but a trick to hide the actual attack.
Helena sighed in relief. She lifted her feet to get closer to the junior, who was still petrified by the result.
"Thanks for having me as your opponent."
Her voice pulled the junior's attention to Helena's side. Both stood facing each other, then bowed their heads slightly in mutual respect as practitioners.
Away from the center where the spar had ended. Dosh shrugged as he exhaled. Helena was an archer who could shoot a target at a half-mile range. On the other hand, her opponent was a rookie with no experience in the field.
Even a walking random kid could tell the results.
The general shook his head. A wave of murmurs spread around the junior camp; they were whispering about which opponent they could spar with.
Aside from Oliver, who stood beside Dosh as he was tasked to become an observer. The junior cadets were surrounding the other four; their chirping voices echoed in the closed room.
A while after, Dosh's ears twitched when the sound of footsteps entered the arena. He shifted his attention sideways and watched Cain, along with his team, enter the space.
However, thanks to the commotion around them. No one was aware of their presence besides the man and the senior. The general held Cain's gaze, but soon frowned when he spotted that the two girls behind him were snuggled close together, one of them even had swollen, red eyes.
His expression hardened. The man's large body moved toward them and stopped before Cain. Dosh shot a questioning look at the boy, yet Cain only shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze toward the center of the arena.
'What happened to them?'
Cain snorted at the sight of a male senior who held a longsword as he faced off against a junior in a spar. He crossed his arms on his chest, wondering what the intention of their coming was. They even interrupt his training routine.
Also, the fact of Dosh's evident distress overwhelmed him, causing his face to contort in disgust. The grey-haired boy shook his head, pushing away the unnecessary thoughts.
'No focus on your mission.'
He swept his gaze through the sea of people and saw the fox boy. Behind him was a line of female cadets who awaited their chance to receive a favor from their seniors.
The grey-haired boy looked toward his teammates. They glared at the same spot, all except Louise, who was still having a hard time swallowing the group's intention.
Cain nodded and couldn't help but part his lips to show his smirk. His current objective was to shatter that fox pride and make him pay for what he did to his crew.
And if possible, he uprooted everything around him, including the violet girl who nagged at him constantly. Her voice started to buzz in his ears once more.
He shut his thoughts, watching the sparring between them. The boy raised his brows, wondering what the meaning of sparring was.
The junior male who held his longsword had his mouth wide agape as the tip of a dull blade happened to settle on his neck. The boy's face turned ghastly pale, but it was only a sparring contest, and the senior lowered the sword in his hand.
"That was a good match."
"Thank you very much, senior. I learn so much from watching you."
Both exchanged pleasantries, but in Cain's ears, their words were nothing but an empty shell with no shape or meaning in them.
'No, no, no! What the hell!'
Cain cursed internally. He didn't have a chance to analyze the senior battle pattern, his breathing, habits, and positioning. All of that became irrelevant as the edge of his blade had stopped next to the junior nape in a matter of seconds.
'Tutoring my foot. This event was nothing but a place to show off their power.'
He clicked his tongue and snapped out of his reverie when a looming shadow appeared on the corner of his eyes. The boy turned to the source, then widened his eyes to face the crimson-haired senior once again.
"Nice to meet you, are you Abel? I heard a lot about you."
The grey-haired boy held his breath. His black eyes looked down as he watched the senior offer a handshake. Cain parted his lips, showing a slight smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Nice to meet you, too, senior. How about a single bout with me? Can you do that?"