First-rank cadets of the third category were rare; Syril and Dilliard had told him that there were no more than ten in the whole facilities. Most of them were second class and the new ones were first class.
So, you could say it was a special occasion, Nathan didn't know that, but in reality, the fight had happened because of him, as the third categories weren't supposed to fight today.
Nathan studied the two cadets who had climbed onto the platform. The first was a young man with a slender build, similar to Nathan's. He was wielding a sword about the same size as him, a strange sight.
The second cadet was a young woman with red hair that stood out to the naked eye. She had no weapons in plain sight, so Nathan assumed she must be a close combat fighter.
"Aston and Maya, they're pretty good. Not as good as me, obviously"
Nathan looked at Syril, who was still eating the skewers with no interest. He didn't know if she was joking or not.
In any case, the fight was about to start, so Nathan stopped paying attention to the young woman and concentrated on Aston and Maya.
Another cadet's whistle sounded, signaling the start of the match, and the two stood still as they studied each other. At first glance, Aston seemed to have the upper hand, but Nathan had never met a melee fighter before, so he had no way of knowing how powerful Maya could be, but if she was a third-category fighter, there had to be a reason.
The first to move was Maya, who quickly ran headlong towards Aston.
'She's fast...'
In a second, Nathan realized the difference between third and second category. In a single move, Maya had been faster than all the second-category fighters he had seen today.
The young woman swung a fist forward as soon as she reached Aston, who only swung his sword to block her fist. His body was pulled back a few centimeters and Nathan couldn't help but be surprised.
'Not only is she fast, but her punches are strong too'
Nathan couldn't be sure of the power behind Maya's punch, but the fact that Aston had been pulled backwards was an indication that the young woman's punches were not common.
Over the years he had received many blows from Boreas, how different would one from Maya be?
Pushing these thoughts aside, Nathan continued to watch the fight.
Maya landed another blow and then another, while Aston simply blocked them, stepping back further and further.
Then Maya retreated and walked slowly sideways, studying Aston with her eyes. The young man raised his sword and brought it to his shoulder as if it were too heavy for his body.
Maya lowered her center of gravity and raised her fists. A second later, Aston shot towards the young woman and swung his sword vertically.
Maya dodged the sword by moving sideways, then countered. Aston controlled his sword, still falling vertically, and turned his body, swinging it horizontally, forcing Maya to duck and dodge.
The fight continued and Nathan could not help but be surprised. With every exchange they made, he got an idea of how strong they were.
Their attacks were powerful and well thought out, they didn't just move for the sake of moving. They knew what they were doing and reacted accordingly to their opponent's moves.
The fight lasted twenty minutes and ended in victory for Maya, who at one-point overpowered Aston by capitalizing on a mistake he made.
The young man was sent flying a few yards away by the blow to the stomach, and Nathan could only feel a sense of compassion for him. He certainly didn't want to feel a blow like that.
Maya sighed and fixed her fiery red hair before looking up and staring at Nathan.
Nathan frowned at the irritated expression on her face.
"Did I do something to her?"
Syril just scoffed lightly.
"She's a loyal follower of Lloyd's"
"Ah..." Nathan could only sigh.
It's not as if he'd done anything to them to make them feel threatened by him.
Apart from that last part, Nathan felt he'd learned enough from the fight. He had finally gotten an idea of the power of the third categories, and his conclusion was simple.
If he faced one, he would lose easily.
His katana skills were still excellent, but the difference between using essence or not was simply overwhelming.
Nathan knew that Boreas had never used essence against him, only his physical strength to train him. He didn't want to imagine how strong the old man would be if he used his essence.
He thought he would be strong because he had trained under such conditions and for such a long time. But Nathan was wrong, there were people his age who were much stronger than him.
But at the same time, he was not entirely wrong. In his mind, Nathan thought he could beat a second-category cadet, using his strength in katana skills to make up for his lack of essence control.
Knowing that it was enough, Nathan stood up and turned to leave. Syril looked at him and smiled slightly.
"Aren't you going to watch the other fights?"
"No need, I've already seen what I needed to see" Nathan shook his head and left the arena.
Syril sighed and looked around the arena again.
"Playing the big shot"
The young woman stood up and a small chuckle escaped her lips before she left the arena.
***
Nathan spent the rest of the day in his room, meditating on what he had learned. Compared to the others, he had a long way to go. But there was no hurry, he was training with Dilliard and still had time to understand the essence and learn how to use it.
Suddenly the communicator he had been given rang and Nathan opened his eyes before looking at it. There was a new message, so Nathan picked it up and read it.
The message was from Dilliard saying that he had something to tell him.
Nathan got out of bed and got ready to leave, he walked through the room complex and out, then went to the place where he always met Dilliard.
The man took a few minutes to arrive with his cigarette and when he saw Nathan, he raised his hand and greeted him.
"Did you enjoy your day off?"
Nathan returned the greeting.
"I took the opportunity to watch the other cadets"
Dilliard smiled slightly.
"Did you go to the arena? It's interesting to watch the cadets spar with each other, did you learn anything?"
Nathan hesitated to answer, but remembered that the man was helping him, so he saw no reason to lie to him.
"I can't win against the third categories, the difference in our essence control is too great. But I haven't understood how to use it yet, and I haven't had a chance to use my technique to guide me a bit"
His technique only worked when he had a target to attack, he couldn't just strike fear into the air.
Dilliard smiled at Nathan's explanation.
"It's good that you recognize your mistakes and failures, that's the first step towards improvement. Fortunately for you, you have a chance to improve'
Nathan looked at the man in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Dilliard crossed his arms.
"You've been assigned your first mission as a cadet, in a week you'll leave with your assigned group"
"What?" Nathan replied in disbelief.
"Just like you heard, you thought you could just sit around and do nothing?"
Nathan knew he would be assigned something sooner or later, he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.
"No, I mean, what do I have to do?"
Dilliard put a hand on his shoulder and said goodbye.
"Don't worry, you'll get all the information you need this week"
The man left, leaving Nathan alone and pensive.
It was actually a very good opportunity to practice his technique, if Dilliard had said so, it was for a reason. So, until the day came, all Nathan could do was train as much as he could.