A blonde-haired girl with gray eyes stood in one of the top stands of the training grounds, She had a slim but well-toned physique with defined curves, she was taller than other girls, and her stern expression gave her a hostile aura; her gaze focused on two other individuals.

“I can’t believe that” She clicked her tongue repeatedly.

Her name was Elis Launien she was the leader’s daughter of the Launien Family an ancient bloodline; as the clan leader’s only daughter she was also the family heir.

“I still can’t see what the vice-director sees on these two”.

She couldn’t understand why the vice director would place two weaklings instead of her on the upper five curriculum, when she started the academy everyone saw her as one of the favorites to be in that place but contradictory to her and everyone else’s expectations another two unknow students got the vacancies making her lose a lot of face on the academy.

“I can’t believe it as well”

Kendall Graird, who had dark red hair and a sturdy build, talked with contempt. The Graird family was connected to the Launien family, having worked for them as servants for years; this made him a member of Elis's group before she attended the academy.

 “That old man thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he is the vice-director even putting mongrel blood on the special curriculum I wonder what the director of HCC will do when the director fin-“.

 “Shut up Kendall and she wouldn’t do anything she is too busy leading HCC agents to give attention to the academy, the vice director is merely a replacement for when she isn’t here”.

Adler tried to suppress a chuckle but ended up failing, different from the other two he wasn’t part of an ancient bloodline but his skills guaranteed him a place in Elis’s group, he was leaner than KKendalland had black hair usually he had a stern look on his face.

Kendall decided that was better to ignore Adler’s laugh and looked at Ellis again, he was angry seeing her interested in this lesser blood just because they have the favoritism of the vice director.

Elis observed the two figures; in her opinion, the boy was too thin, and the girl, other than being a member of the Vlaith Family, didn't appear to be anything special.

She heard about how the Vlaith Family was having trouble producing Strong children and had to resort to other methods to prevent the loss of power.

“These two are very interesting don’t you think Elis”.

A voice drew the attention of everyone in the room.

A woman with amethyst eyes entered the room, she had long black hair with white streaks, and her curvaceous body was accentuated by the academy uniform, Elis was considered beautiful but when compared to the other woman’s stunninappearancece she could be only called cute at best, she had a well-trained smile on her face while and her Strong glance focused on Elis.

“You don’t seem to be in a good mood Elis,” She said with a dazzling smile

“Do you think so, Vesta?” Elis tried to sound unfazed to the best of her abilities.

“You know that you don’t need to call me by my family name we are both students here”

“Whatever Aine, are you satisfied now?”.

Aine Vesta was part of an ancient bloodline as well but different from the Launien Family the Vesta bloodline was still deciding their heir.

“That’s better”

Elis looked at the woman and couldn’t help but get even more frustrated remembering that Aine was also part of the upper five curriculum Aine was also the one who discovered the other students selected and told her about it.

“I wonder how stronger they are”.

Aine said looking at the arena.

“I wonder that too...”

Suddenly an idea crossed Elis’s mind.

“Kendall, Adler you two are going to fight them”

“Huh?” the two boys said in unison.

“You guys go down there and challenge them to a duo battle”.

“Elis I don’t think this is necessary they are just mongrel blood”

“Shut up Kendall and just do as said”

Aine just watched the scene with a charming simile on her face.

***

“Fuck I knew this was going to happen” Melia spoke in a low voice

She looked to the sides and the students around also seemed surprised wasn’t every day these guys would request a mock battle even Lunieve was surprised as a teacher, she knew that was very unlikely for people like these two to participate in mock battles or to even care about it.

 “Teacher do you have any objection to this mock battle?” Adler asked

“Huh? ...hmmm”.

Lunieve was thinking and she couldn’t find a reason to not let the battle happen after all this was a rule of the combat class if there was a request for a mock battle the students who were challenged couldn’t refuse unless they already participated in another battle this rule was specially created for classes that involved battles so every student would have to battle at least once.

“Ok this mock battle is authorized”

Evren was annoyed not because of this mock battle request but because he got tricked by the director, he found it a little suspicious why the vice-director didn’t give the access card to him and Melia already; but now he figured out why.

 ‘He led us here probably hoping that some students would challenge us....but’.

He glanced where the boys came from; the private rooms were built above them and meant to provide a wide view of the entire arena; the windows did not enable him to see who was inside.

'These two don't appear to have come here of their own free will most likely being commanded by other students who obtained information about us’.

His face was an emotionless mask but on the inside, he was grinning.

'I'm not planning to give you what you want.'

***

The four of them were standing on the battlefield, all the students were excited to see Kendall and Adler wipe the floor with the new students’ faces, some of them had eyes full of pity as they looked at Melia and Evren.

“You should be grateful fledglings you will learn a lot today and maybe become a little better than the rest of your family”.

Kendall snarled, he looked like someone preparing to go for a walk in the park instead of a mock battle, while Adler kept his expressionless face from the begging.

 “You sure talk big for someone whose Family act like obedient dogs, Melia asked her tone was neutral without a hint of provocation, she just said what came into her mind, When she realized what she had said, she covered her mouth.

As someone part of a named bloodline, she knew about how Kendall Family acted as servants for the Camiry Family, his Family servitude was a thorn in Kendall’s ego. Melia was red with shame again she spoke out loud about what was in her mind.

“What did you say shorty”

Kendall’s face was almost as red as his hair with rage, Adler stayed unmoved but his eyes were wide open by what Melia said, and Melia herself kept covering her mouth with both hands, staring at Kendall with terror, the only one smiling was Evren, who had an almost imperceptible smile on his face.

Both Adler and Kendall turned their gazes towards him for a moment before Kendall asked Melia again.

“Repeat what you just said shorty”

“Are you deaf?” Evren replied before Melia could apologize.

“Huh?”

“Why are you so angry with someone who just said the truth?”.

KKendall’sace distorted to the point he looked like a beast ready to attack at any moment he couldn’t stand someone from a lesser bloodline trying to humiliate him.

“I hope you four have already warmed up, ” professor Lunieve caught the attention of her students and proceeded to explain the rules.

 “The armband attached to your arm is a device capable of calculating how much damage your body is capable of receiving if the blue light turns red you are out, if your armband device is destroyed you are out”

The armband on their arms started to emit a faint blue light.

“The match ends when both members of the pair are incapacitated or have their devices destroyed, now let’s begin”.

A beep accompanied her words, and the lights flashed green, signifying the start of the mock battle.

Kendall Drew out of his case, two long swords; the twin swords were completely black with red veins along with their thin blades.

Adler's Eosium was attached to his right arm and reached until his elbow, his Eosium had a long curved blade, and the way that Adler held the weapon made resemble tonfas.

Melia's weapon had an unusual design, like a dagger with a circular grip; the students were agitated when they saw the three Eosiums; their high-quality weapons were a source of admiration and jealousy

 “*sigh if only I was part of an ancient bloodline clan”

“That’s unfair life is too easy for people who are part f, high blood families”

When Evren drew out his weapon, their attention was drawn to him; his Eosium was a black sword with a long blade and an unusual design, the metal of his weapon moved like it was alive, and there were some crimson accents on the weapon that Adler instantly noticed were made of Evren's blood.

The way the Eosium shaped itself like it had its own life grabbed the curiosity of the students; some of them got suspicious why someone without noble blood or a powerful backer like Evren had something like this.

A second beep echoed signaling the start of the battle the sound was followed by a loud noise of metal hitting each other.

Kendall jumped on Melia catching her unprepared she only had the time to barely block his swing making their weapons collide with a loud sound.

Adler let out a deep sigh before advancing against Evren, he was used to how Kendall would get reckless after getting angry.  

When his bloodline ability was triggered, his concern about Kendall’s rage vanished; Adler's bloodline ability was capable of tracking blood, and his senses were taken aback by the amount of blood that Evren's Eosium was draining from him.

 ‘Isn’t this thing taking this much blood from him?’.

Adler also could see that even though Evren was blocking every one of his attacks he had mistakes in his stance.

Evren avoided Adler’s stabs by redirecting the attacks with the blade but with each passing second, the intensity and speed of his swings increased making Evren take a defensive stance.

Adler wasn’t the only one evaluating the enemy, Evren noticed how his opponent’s attacks were based on quick stabs and crosswise slashes pushing him to move more during the Exchange of blows but the same applied to Adler, leaving openings in his stance. He relied on his speed so that the enemy would not be able to exploit them, and also the fact that Evren’s Eosiumin seemed to be heavy, unfortunately for Adler, his assurances did not last long.

Evren rotated reversing his stance as he avoided one of Adler’s stabs, letting the blade go a few inches past his side while landing a back kick in Adler’s exposed torso; he was thrown back by the kick while air left his lungs surprising his opponent.

Adler was sure that the kick wound’t have this amount of power because of Evren’s unstable stance. He swiftly regained his balance and started exchanging blows again, resistance wasn’t his greatest asset, but he wasn’t that frail either, which meant Evren’s strength was at least above average despite his slim body.

‘How he can kick this hard with a scrawny leg?’.

Deciding to stop playing around Adler attacked more fiercely and managed to cut Evren a few times compared to him his opponent had poor swordsmanship, but something kept nudging at his mind, none of Evren’s swings aimed at his armband and not a fierce attack either, he simply defended and counter-attacked when necessary.

‘Is he trying to go for a battle of endurance? But even so, his Eosium takes too much blood even if his body is capable of generating a lot of blood would still be a dumb strategy my ability of detection isn’t working on him as well...’

Looking for his colleague, Adler could see Kendall's situation wasn't good; Melia was able to keep up with him, and her weapon, which resembled a dagger, allowed her to defend against all Kendalll's attacks; Adler could see that anger was blinding his colleague, transforming his otherwise refined swordsmanship into simple and predictable attacks.

Melia avoided the first blade aiming for her stomach by simply slightly turning her body when the second sword came was a vertical swing aiming for her shoulder, which she blocked with her weapon.

The sounds of metal echoed through the arena and she felt her muscles and bones screaming in pain, Kendall’s strength was in pair of blood-beast if she didn’t strengthen the muscles on her body using blood she would have been crushed, the students watching thought the same they feared Kendalll’s strength.

Seeing the opening in his defenses Melia used her right hand to land a straight hook on his face, while his body was pushed back by the hit she took two quick steps using her footwork techniques and wrapped her leg with her opponent, she punched again aiming at his sternum making him stumble on her leg and fall with his back on the floor.

Kendall could already see his opponent’s blade aiming at his arm-band but he rolled over his back and managed to avoid Meilia’s next attack that would finish him off on the ground, his anger rose, even more, losing on the ground by falling on such a stupid trick was one of the worst outcomes he could think of.

‘How dare you Vlaith’ his thoughts were scattered all over the place now only anger guided his body and mind now.

Observing the situation Adler realized that they were severely failing in their mission

 ‘Learn about the ability of the fledglings’

That was their mission but neither Evren nor Melia were showing their full potential nor the cards they had hidden up their sleeves and to make matters worse Kendall was fighting like a moron even if they won the two would still fail miserably in the mission.

‘Focus Adler, focus if they don’t want to show what they got we have to force them to’.

He stared at his colleague on the other side of the battleground and an idea appeared in his head. He was hesitant to use this tactic, but if it was the only way to succeed, he didn't mind.

“KENDAAALL” he screamed to get the red-haired boy’s attention.

His partner looked at him and immediately understood his intention but not without putting on a reluctant frown, seeing him hesitating Adler’s eyes narrowed his gaze piercing his colleague, Kendall turned around and abandoned his fight with Melia, focusing his blood on the leg's muscles and beginning to race towards Evren and Adle.

Seeing this Evren scoffed.

“Planning to gang up on me, what a noble strategy”.

A small smile appeared on Adler’s face for the first time since the battle started.

“What, it’s not against the rules, is it?”

Melia was flabbergasted when Kendall abruptly turned around and began dashing toward Evren, She started injecting more blood into her Eosium The weapon reacted by altering its form.