Benjamin pushed the thoughts out of his head as Lennox suggested.
He had more pressing matters at the moment.
He spent the rest of the school day, alternating between lifting weights and practicing his sword empowerment.
Benjamin was getting quite good.
He had gotten the timing of his sword empowerment to only a few moments off.
Benjamin smiled at the progress he'd made that day as he walked to the outdoor stadium.
He found Meltwan, Velena, Charles, Xavier, and Evan and sat next to them.
"Who do you think is gonna win?" Xavier asked.
"It has to be Jackie," Velena replied, "She would never do something like this if she wasn't expecting to win."
"I think Corey, Lennox, Sean, and Isaiah will win," Charles replied, "They're not complete weaklings after all."
Benjamin looked down at the battle platform.
It was made out of extremely tough concrete, built to withstand damage from high-level paladins.
He saw Corey, Lennox, Sean, and Isaiah huddled in a group.
They were planning something.
Meanwhile, Jackie was sitting down on the other end of the platform meditating.
She sure has a lot of confidence, Benjamin thought.
He looked around at the other students there.
They were all discussing who would win no doubt.
C'mon Corey, you've got this, Benjamin thought.
Corey backed out of the group huddle and swung his hammer over his shoulder.
Sean did the same with his hammer and Isaiah with his mace.
Lennox pulled out his chain daggers and swung them around.
"The rules are simple," Coach Chrisante said from the bleachers, "If you hit the ground, you're out."
Corey nodded in understanding.
"Three… two… one… GO!!!" Coach Chrisante yelled.
Jackie suddenly vanished.
Sean placed his hand on the battle platform and froze the surface.
Isaiah generated a gravity field allowing him to detect Jackie's movement.
Isaiah's eyes darted around as he tried to track Jackie's movement.
"A pattern," he mumbled.
"There!" he yelled, pointing to his left.
Lennox immediately threw one of his chain daggers.
Jackie dodged the attack, revealing her.
Lennox lunged, using his ability to increase his speed.
Jackie landed on her hand and launched herself into the air.
She did a flip and landed on Lennox's back, pushing him to the ground.
"Lennox is out!" Coach Chrisante yelled.
Isaiah used his ability to suspend Jackie in midair.
Corey used his ability to send pieces of metal flying at Jackie.
Jackie twisted in midair, dodging Corey's attacks.
She eventually managed to get her foot on a piece of metal.
She launched herself forward, breaking Isaiah's suspension and vanishing from sight.
Jackie dashed past Corey and Isaiah.
She wrapped her arm around Sean's neck and slammed him into the ground, shattering the ice covering the battle platform.
"Sean is out!" Coach Chrisante yelled.
Isaiah tried to suspend Jackie in midair again.
However, she was able to dash away and vanish from sight.
Isaiah used his ability to gather ice shards into a large ball.
Isaiah's eyes darted around once more as he struggled to keep up with Jackie.
Eventually, he got a read on where she was.
He launched the ball of ice at her.
Jackie dodged the attack and threw a dagger at Isaiah.
Isaiah dodged the dagger with ease.
Jackie dashed to the dagger in an instant, taking Isaiah by surprise.
However, Corey was there.
He swung his hammer at Jackie, who twisted to avoid it.
She grabbed Isaiah by the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground.
"Isaiah is out!" Coach Chrisante yelled, a look of surprise on his face.
Jackie vanished again.
Corey's eyes darted back and forth.
He had no trouble keeping up with Jackie's movements.
All he had to do was wait.
The moment Jackie got close enough, Corey gripped his hammer and swung.
Though the hammer was extremely heavy,
Corey swung it with ease and at extreme speed.
Jackie was only able to narrowly avoid the attack.
She kicked up at Corey.
Corey dodged the attack with ease.
Jackie began to rapidly attack, punching, kicking and slashing.
Corey weaved between the attacks, dodging them all.
He waited for the right moment to counterattack.
Jackie jumped into the air and kicked.
Corey ducked and swung his hammer up.
Jackie grabbed the head of the hammer and used it to launch herself to the ground. She then slashed at Corey's neck, stopping the dagger right before it touched Corey's throat.
"Alright, you win," Corey said, raising his hands in surrender.
He put away his hammer and turned to leave.
She's fast, Corey thought to himself, Scarily fast.
"She didn't even use any soul energy," Benjamin said.
He could feel shivers going up his spine.
"She technically did," Charles replied, "She used soul to increase her speed and mask her presence.
If she didn't do that, Isaiah would have probably just stopped her whenever she came close, allowing Lennox and Corey to eliminate her."
"How am I supposed to reach her level?" Benjamin asked, the feelings of inferiority creeping up on him.
"Don't think like that," Charles replied, "The only person you need to worry about is Izabella. Her scale rank is only 1.8. She's barely above you. You just need to focus and come up with a plan."
"You're right," Benjamin said, "Thanks, Charles." "No problem," Charles replied, smiling.
Authors Note: Another shorter chapter, sorry.