The Captain of the Special Infantry Troop set up a small event on the training grounds where he invited atleast a few of his high ranking men. Nobody knows what was about to happen, so they were kind of excited to know what it was about.
When they showed up by the venue, Captain Wright was already there. "Captain Wright, sir!" Raphael greeted, along with Devian and Julia.
"Ah Raphael, it's good that you're here."
"May we know the reason for your sudden invitation?"
The Captain smirked. "There was this little shit trying to get on my nerve yesterday, she's about to show up any minute now. If you can manage to stop me from killing her, then I'd gratefully overlook your misdeeds... especially you Raphael."
When the Captain's opponent arrived, everybody was surprised to find a small petite woman. Was this really the person who challenge the Captain of the Special Infantry Troops?
For Raphael's case, he was completely shocked to see Claire. He never imagined this to happen. "It's you!? Claire!?" He got ignored by Claire as she was focused only on Wright.
"Heh, you're a few minutes late." The Captain stated.
"I apologize for the delay. I wanted to be in a proper uniform when facing you."
"You won't even need to wear that later on!!—" the fight began at an instant. "—Shifter blast!!!" The Captain's shifter weapon morphed into a small cannon, firing a pure ball of explosive energy at Claire.
Luckily, she was able to dodge it swiftly. "H-Hey, atleast give this fight a proper start!" Claire complained.
"The enemy never lets you know when they attack, so one must be prepared at all times!—Shifter scythe!!" The Captain's shifter turned into a scythe as he dashed towards Claire's direction, he tried to go for her neck but to his surprise, his attack got deflected when she kicked his shifter scythe with a shifter katana.
Everyone were astonished by the surprising event. It was a first for them to see someone wield a shifter weapon on the lower part of the human body. The Captain seemed thrilled and pleased by this. "I've got to say, that was amazing."
Claire grins. "Save the compliments once we're over!" She proceeds to charge at him, trying to slice through his torso with a series of graceful kicks.
But she got immobilized when the Captain used a shifter grip and held onto her shifter katana. "Hah! Got you!" The Captain was planning to swing her around and throw her away, but Claire was quite a fast thinker.
"Shifter blast!!" Her katana suddenly turned into a cannon that was aimed at the Captain's face. Before she fired, the Captain only had exactly 2 seconds to jump away. He then realized that he almost died if he were a second late.
Those that were watching from the sidelines were greatly impressed by Claire's performance, but Raphael wasn't so happy about this. "Was she always this strong?..." he thought he knows everything about Claire.
He thought all of his assumptions about her was right. But what's this?! The woman whom he always thought to be weak and fragile is actually competing against their Captain which was stronger than Raphael himself.
It's also completely unbelievable that this very woman almost killed their Captain earlier!! Raphael began to doubt everything he knows of Claire. He must have underestimated her, but is this really true? He can't choose whether to accept or doubt what he's witnessing first hand.
"You're quite skilled indeed, but I still won't accept you until you've beaten me." Stated the Captain.
"Hah! Understood." Claire charges at Wright with her shifter in the form of a katana on her right leg. She maintained the perfect balance as she ran, when she reached a certain distance, she slides on the ground and kicks her leg up on the air as the katana's blade extends to the Captain. "Woah!" It was a bit too slow for the Captain so he dodged it just on time.
The Captain then morphs his shifter into a rifle, firing it onto Claire whom got up quickly and ran away. "Heh, running like a coward now!? You're only humiliating yourself, just quit now!" He thought she was about to give up when she began to run away from his attacks.
Unexpectedly, her shifter morphed into some kind of spring that had her flying into the sky when she jumped. Everyone's mouth gaped just by watching her. Her shifter morphed into a cannon aimed at the Captain, and fired it in a split second.
With no time to escape, the Captain stayed in place and immediately turned his shifter into a shield. "This kid!..." he was really impressed by her performance, he could compare her skills and abilities to those who atleast rank from the 15th or higher.
Then while Claire was still on the air, she was about to have her shifter transform into a pole that will help her reach the ground safely. But she suddenly coughed up blood and got nosebleed. "N-No way! That's how far I can go!?" She can no longer use her shifter as she was already strained.
Now she was about to fall from a height of 5 meters to the ground. "Shit, I'm going to die at this height!!" Claire could do nothing but close her eyes and wait for herself to hit the ground.
"I got you." A gentle voice whispered. Luckily, she was caught by Raphael. Their eyes met before they can reach the ground safely. And from what Claire saw were eyes that seemed to long for her, she finds it creepy.
After all, she doesn't remember this dude.
"T-Thanks." She said as they landed.
"Just be careful next time." He got back to the sidelines while the Captain made his way to Claire. "I guess that's the limits of your capacity."
"...yeah, I guess so." Claire was still wary of the Captain, their fight still wasn't over until she completely beat him. Is he still going to attack a defenseless woman?
The Captain sighs, "It's fine, we're over now. But it's disappointing how you can't even last more than 10 minutes in battle. I can't have a soldier fainting on the battlefield."
Claire's eyes went huge. "What!? That felt like forever though!"
"Yeah, you won't cut it. You didn't even manage to put a single scratch on me." The Captain smirked.
She then felt completely defeated. Maybe I tried to join too soon, I should have trained more, is what she thought to herself. "...but for consideration..." her eyes lit up as the Captain had some follow up words.
"I won't be able to put you into my troops right away. Maybe you can start by training, push your limits and break boundaries. Got that soldier!?" It wasn't exactly what Claire was hoping for, but this will do!
She smiled and nodded. "Yes sir!"