In the span of a blink, Nico found himself standing in... woodlands? Before he could process anything, the blue screen popped up in front of him.The words rung clearly in his head, and not missing a beat, Nico scanned his environment. Beyond the new environment he was in, there was a much bigger factor to take into account–standing next to him was a stranger.She stood a few inches shorter than himself, with caramel-brown hair that went down to her lower back. She was facing away from Nico, so he couldn't tell what her face looked like–but that wasn't the only thing that mattered. In front of them, about twenty yards away, a pair of people had spawned in as well at the same time that Nico had.And instantly, it clicked; Arthur had said that it was a battle royale, and Nico was now guessing, based on the quest that the system just issued him, that it was a two-on-two battle royale of some sort. He wasn't sure if there were other pairs spread throughout the birch forest, but right now, it was clear to see that his immediate enemies were the two people right in front of him. He had no clue this player's skillset, or even her name, and she didn't know as well who Nico was. But this meant that it was likely that the other pair was also unfamiliar with one another, so they could use the element of surprise to their advantage. But before any introductions can take place, [Danger Premonition] lit Nico's brain ablaze, and his eyes spotted the two individuals charging at them. Almost subconsciously, his body reacted to the oncoming danger and Tear manifested in his right hand once again. Before he could open his mouth, the girl next to him took a quick glance at him, revealing her blazing-amber eyes that shone with determination–it reminded him that they were in a competition where winning was the requirement to their goals. And suddenly, all traces of anxiety was erased from Nico, as his mind quickly adopted a new mindset. She shouted, "You take the right, I'll take the left!" Nico merely nodded, silently acknowledging the order; by now, their two opponents had closed the distance. One of them, a larger, bulkier boy, held a large axe in both is his arms and swung them behind his back, ready to slam it down onto Nico with no remorse; it was true–in player combat, mercy was often not a factor. People often aimed to seriously hurt, maim, or even kill. It was the way of players, where one's life was constantly on the line. But without missing a beat, Nico darted to the left, creating room between him, his teammate, and the axe-wielder who brought down the heavy weapon, creating a soft sound as it slammed into the forest floor's dirt. Of course, he didn't even need his detection skill to see the slow-moving attack coming. Nico pulled back his sword, ready to counterattack in the time that it took his opponent to recharge an attack. Calling upon [Eldritch Swordsmanship], Nico sprung forward, his sword slicing through the warrior's ribcage, followed by a roar of pain as his opponent stumbled backward, letting go of his axe in the process. A torrent of blood poured upon contact, and Nico got into position once again. Nico took this advantage to continue forward, slamming the hilt of his blade into the bulky boy's already-injured ribcage, sending another shriek of agony coming from the now-incapacitated berserker. He dropped to one knee, clutching his side as he was unable to get up and move. That was one opponent down.Then, the Witchblade looked over at his opponent, ready to turn his attention to help her–but what he saw shocked him. She already had her target on the ground, no trace of anything happening apparent; it was just her standing over the other boy, who looked like he was either unconscious or unmoving at the very least. The girl met Nico's gaze, as she had been watching the last second or so of their fight. "That was fast." She said once again, knocking Nico out of his astonishment. "The name's Amelia." "Nico," He managed to get out without stuttering, "How did you–"But before he could get his words out, the world went black once more. And in another blink, the pair of them were transported once again; now they were in a different setting. This time, it was a colossal boxing ring, but the seats on the outside were empty, and with the exception of Amelia, two strangers appeared in front of them once more. It became more clear that this gauntlet meant that he would be with the same partner for a number of two-on-two duels, and so it would test the players' abilities to adapt on the spot with a comrade that they didn't know anything about, as well as how they could fight others who they also did not have a clue about. "Cover me." Nico directed, once again focusing, narrowing his eyes on his enemies. This time, it looked like two magic-type players, as their hands both started to glow with traces of magic that he detected from [Danger Premonition]. He could tell that this girl was quick-thinking and competent enough, so he wanted to see if his day of training paid off. "You got it, Nico." Amelia's voice came from behind him as he started to dash forward, and he could see a faint purple glow emanating from her. Tear in hand, Nico rushed towards them; he still wanted to hold back on using any spells if he could, so he was opting to fight with pure swordsmanship for now. With fast speeds, chains of purplish energy came from behind Nico, shooting forward past his right and left side. It intercepted a fireball and ice arrow respectively, the attacks meeting each other, resulting in a small smokescreen. In the disarray of smoke, something happened to Nico's eyesight. Suddenly, he felt his vision automatically become upgraded to superhuman capabilities. Everything became instantly multifold sharper, and the smoke felt like it wasn't even there; he could see through the particles of smog and spotted the silhouettes of his opponents clearer than if they had a light illuminated upon them. It was another ability he was familiar with, and one of the reasons why the combination of passive skills of the unique Witchblade class made him the strongest character in the entire game. [Danger Premonition], [Arcane Vision], and [Eldritch Swordsmanship] were exceptional passive skills on their own, but when combined together in one individual, it turned him into a physical fighting machine, capable of predicting enemies' movements and dishing out massive damage on his own. Without hesitation, Nico launched himself at the mage-type on the right, Tear plunged into the player's right leg. A scream of agony erupted, and in the smokescreen, no one could see. Another ball of fire shot towards Nico from his target's opponent. Being a magic-conducting blade, Tear was capable of wielding magic as well as slicing through it; therefore, with no issue, Nico flicked his wrist once again, the magic scimitar dicing the fireball in half with ease. For a quick moment, he felt the heat of the flames near him, and it was almost enough to make him succumb to his carnal fear of being hurt by dangers like fire, but a calm mind allowed him to know his strengths, and slicing that fireball was no harder than cutting through Ingrid's roots. Before Nico had to incapacitate the other mage, however, another pair of purple chains shot through the air through the now-dissipated smoke, wrapping around the enemy. It restricted itself, tightening until its target was once more debilitated, their body dropping to the ground; the chains then dissipated into thin air. When they weren't immediately teleported to the next match, Nico assumed that there must be something they were waiting for, or perhaps another pair to finish fighting so that they could take them on. "You're fast." Amelia echoed, her chains having vanished like they were never there. Judging from her spells, Nico could tell she was a mage-type player, perhaps specializing in lockdown or control based on her restrainment magic. Though, she hadn't used another spell other than the one, so he couldn't be sure. "It's rare for a Knight to be so fast." She added after a short pause. Nico, on the other hand, had only used pure physicality and swordsmanship, so it was natural for her to assume he was a pure Knight class; after all, in something with as much stakes as tryouts for EPS, who in their right mind wouldn't go all out? He gave her a brief nod and said, "Your spell is quite fast, too." Her amber eyes glowed with a mixture of curiosity and fascination, but it didn't seem like she was impressed by the compliment–this either meant that she was haughty, or that she simply knew her strengths. "Thanks." Amelia uttered before once again, the world went blank.After Nico blinked, he found himself standing on a beach this time, the sun setting in the horizon, the water about ten yards to his right. In that same direction, but only a few feet away, Amelia stood, poised for combat like she wasn't taken aback by the sudden transport. It was an interesting viewpoint, as Nico had never before fought on sand, let alone at that time of day. In front of him, Nico happened to see a face he finally recognized–it was none other than Saniya, the girl who was roommates with Gracelyn, his own roommate's girlfriend. The two of them made eye contact, and she looked a little surprise and taken aback to find him there. To her left, his right, was a stranger he hadn't seen before; a short, stockier girl with a bow and arrow in her hand.Saniya wielded a long, thick claymore, evidence of her Knight class. Nico summoned Tear instantly, a sword-on-sword battle about to take place. But before the two blade-wielders could rush at each other, Nico heard from his right, "You take the Archer, I'll take the Knight. They won't expect it." Without a second's hesitation, Nico bluntly nodded and dashed toward the girl with the bow. It made sense, after all. He knew that Amelia could probably handle herself–she seemed quite competent–and an archer's advantage against a melee fighter was their distance and element of spatial control. If the melee fighter could close the gap quickly, as Nico was able to do with his quick, natural movements, then there was no way an inexperienced Archer could react. Blade in hand, Nico tore across the sand, leaving an imprint in the ground with each step. It barely took him a handful of steps to cross the divide between them, and by that time, the Archer had drawn her bow, nocking an arrow. She aimed it at him, but it was too late. [Danger Premonition] activated, and he could predict where the girl aimed the tip of the projectile. It was headed right for his chest.With [Arcane Vision], Nico's enhanced eyesight honed in on the Archer's hands, as he was trying to see the second her hand would let go of the arrow. Even the twitch of a muscle was enough movement for his passive skill to detect. So as the girl's hand let go, Nico's brain was already working overtime to catch the motion. Preemptively, he leapt to the side, right as he could see her hand start the signal of release. With the motion already taking place, there was no room to change the trajectory or release point of the arrow, and therefore, the shorter girl's arrowhead shot out straight–it was fast, but by the time it reached where Nico had been standing, he was already by the Archer's side. To her credit, the Archer was fast, as well–a well-placed swing from Tear would've done the job to deal enough damage so that he can knock her out, but his edge met her bow instead.The wooden longbow was slashed, the impact of the scimitar tearing splinters of wood apart. Though it wasn't cleanly cut all the way through, the then-bow might as well just be a long, bendy stick now. The girl's eyes widened, stunned that her primary weapon was now rendered useless. Before anything else could happen, Nico's free hand shot forward, grabbing her wrist and twisting it suddenly, making her drop the bow entirely. "Sorry about this," He muttered, using his heel as a pivot to slam a knee into the girl's midsection, making her double over, gasping for air after letting out a sharp yelp of pain. He felt bad hurting her, but he also knew that players were durable and could take a lot more punishment than the average person. Then, he took the hilt of Tear and struck the back of her neck with it, making sure he did it as gently as possible but exerting enough force so that she would fall to the sand, properly knocked out. His suspicions, he found out, were more than confirmed–something happened with the awakening, where he gained already learned levels of fighting skills. The Witchblade didn't have any previous knowledge of martial arts or fighting, and he wasn't sure if awakening gave one the ability to fight, but it wasn't like his body was inserted with new expertise. It was more like he could see all of the opponent's movement in his head, and willing his body to move the way he envisioned was much easier now. Nico then turned to check on Amelia, who was supposed to be fighting Saniya. But all he saw was the latter's body on the sand, the sunlight turning her black hair a light brown color. Nico's eyebrows raised in admiration; Amelia had managed to take out her designated opponent in such a short amount of time, even faster than it took him to defeat the Archer.In a two-on-two match, it only followed logical sense that designating one-on-ones was a dangerous task, as if one partner was to ever falter or be beaten, then the remaining fighter would be at a severe two-on-one disadvantage. Therefore, the idea of starting the battle with an opponent already chosen was a high risk, high reward strategy that could only pay off if both combatants were capable of handling themselves, which Amelia and Nico apparently were so far. Nico swiped the sweat from his brow, his weapon returned back to its place in his subspace inventory. He was breathing heavy, now the previous three bouts taking great amounts of energy from him. These initial rounds seemed to be quick, with a clear power difference, but Nico wondered if he is opponents would get stronger with each ascending duo that he and Amelia would have to fight. On the other hand, he could feel the ache in his muscles, fatigue and tiredness murking their vigor. Although their setting contained a blazing-orange sunset, he couldn't feel the heat from its rays, meaning that it was most likely just an illusion and not a true teleportation to somewhere where the sun was actually setting on a beach. There was breeze or wind either, which would normally have occurred if the environment they were in was real. He could feel his hands twinge with soreness, not being used to using his weapon on real people so much; and while he could react fast and move quickly thanks to his unique circumstances, Nico was probably far behind many of these players on fighting experience, which he could only make up for via raw physical dynamism–meeting adversaries who could overcome that gap would spell the end for him, though. He turned to Amelia to say something, but it was too late. The world faded around them once again, Nico felt himself tensing up, like his body was automatically preparing for the next challenge. When his reality reformed, Nico found himself in the interior of a stone structure. Assessing his surroundings, he realized that he was in a vast, ancient-looking temple of some sort, with stone pillars reaching up towards the ceiling. On the very top, there was a square hole that let in bright moonlight to illuminate the inside of the building. The inside of the temple was empty, with him, Amelia, and their opponents separated the same distance as the other pairings. But upon first glance, Nico saw someone he recognized again–this time, it was none other than Kadin, his roommate. Next to him was a short woman with spiky red hair, wielding a pair of twin daggers in her hands; they glinted in the moonlight menacingly, and Nico's [Danger Premonition] flared up instantly. "He's a Magic Archer, watch out." Nico instinctively announced to Amelia so that his partner would have more an understanding of their foes. "They're strong, but we can beat them; play defensive for now." Amelia responded quickly, their opponents wasting no time–the girl with the daggers dashed towards him in blinding speeds, much faster than anyone could using mere muscles.It made him assume she had a skill to close the distance between her and an enemy, somewhat similar to his very own [Flash Step] that he had kept hidden up until this point. But he had already adopted a defensive stance, both hands gripping his scimitar. The blade's tip pointed at the ceiling in a protective manner, ready to block any attacks coming at him. But the girl wasn't aiming for Nico. One step had her pivoting toward Amelia, and Nico felt himself clench his teeth, thinking that he should've seen that coming. But he didn't need to worry–the brown-haired girl wasted no time casting her signature spell. [Void Shackles] was activated, and two purple chains of void energy flew out of Amelia's palms, wrapping themselves around the knives-wielder instantly. The redhead struggled, squirming and exerting as much of strength as possible to break out of the snare, but it seemed like she couldn't. Nico was once again amazed, first at just how fast Amelia's reaction was, and at how forceful her bridles were that they could contain a physical-type player with no room for movement whatsoever. But it wasn't all easy. By the time that his partner had been restrained, Kadin had fired a magic-imbued arrow, aimed at Amelia. Her hands were preoccupied with the chains, and so Nico attempted to intercept the projectile. Using Tear, he dashed in front of his partner, blade outstretched in order to impede its trajectory. What he didn't expect was the sheer force that the arrow contained.It met the face of his curved blade, sending a shockwave of impact running up Nico's right arm, which was currently gripping Tear's hilt. The collision force was almost enough to make him drop his weapon, but Nico remained holding on as tight as he could, feeling his hand loosen at the vibration that the impact caused. If each arrow contained that much kinetic energy, then it was going to be a much harder fight than him and Amelia's previous bouts. "Not bad, roomie." He heard Kadin say from across the battlefield before the by nocked another arrow to his bow. This time, his weapon was much more ornate and complex-looking than the previous Archer he faced; instead of a regular bow made of brown wood, Kadin's looked more of an ivory shade, with delicate carvings and curvature and a perfectly balanced groove to nock his arrows at. Before Nico had time to react again, his risk detection skill told him that another attack was coming. But using [Arcane Vision] was pointless; his right hand was still trembling from the force of the previous attack, and Kadin was charging up another one. Next to him, Amelia swung her arms suddenly, the chains following–the girl with the daggers, who was still restrained by them, followed suit, being flung into the nearby wall, a loud crash reverberating throughout their arena. Without skipping a beat, the mage held her now-free left hand up."Use your speed to get to him, Nico." Amelia said, and he could hear her voice more determined and focused than before. Not wasting another second, Nico took off. Kadin fired another enhanced arrow, generating the ammunition from thin air, and Nico knew that if he wanted to be useful, blocking the attack would leave his hand quivering once again. But right as the arrow left its notch on the bow, Nico saw a small, dark-purple blob appear on the ground next to Kadin.It was only a few feet away from him, but it was like a humongous magnet had appeared next to the Magic Archer. The taller boy was swept off his feet almost, being sucked into where the purple blob was. The magnetic force of the spell pulled Kadin toward it, knocking him off balance. As Nico's roommate stumbled, the release of the arrow became interrupted toward the end. The slight change in speed and trajectory was what Nico needed. He could infer the flight path of the projectile through the and so he ducked preemptively, the arrow whizzing above his head in real-time at an extraordinary blur. Being from a crouched position, Nico then tensed his legs, springing forward with Tear in hand. His blade struck Kadin's bow and the two met each other in gridlock.But of course, a physical-type player was going to prevail over a ranged-type player, granted they were on equal footing, when it came to close combat. And Kadin's off-balance stature made it easy to slash the boy across the leg, with Nico making sure to not make the incision too deep. Kadin attempted to bring down his bow upon Nico, who was lower than him, still in a semi-stooped position. Luckily, the Witchblade was faster. With a fast sweep of his feet, Nico hurtled Kadin to the ground, his bow flying away from his hand at the sudden forced motion. Nico looked at his roommate, the two of them locked in an intense fight; he could see the boy was struggling and on his last leg.Usually, combat between players, like between regular people, lasted in short bursts; only when it was two extremely competent players fighting against each other could a match go on for longer than at most a few minutes. Usually, it didn't take long for bursts of combat to occur, and for the winner to be decided through either split-second decisions that gave them the upper hand or through overpowering their opponent, as their initial baselines were already too unequal for the fight to be fair anyway. That was the reality of wielding such powerful capabilities. Nico finished Kadin off, muttering a quick, "Sorry for this," before slamming his free, left elbow into his roommate's temple, rendering him unconscious instantly. Nico then looked over at his own teammate; out of nowhere, the red-haired girl was sprinting toward her, apparently not fully incapacitated by the throw from earlier. But Nico didn't need to react. Amelia, with her right hand, summoned a singular chain and used it as a weapon this time. She flung the chain in a whip-like fashion, the tip of the tether crashing against the dagger-wielder's chest, sending her flying once again into the wall, where she had just arrived from, for sure knocking her out this time.