Chapter 111| We’re Getting Cooked Or Not"

Chapter 111: Chapter 111| We’re Getting Cooked Or Not"

Zane moved toward the posted list on the side wall.

He scanned it.

TEAM A:

TEAM A — 6 students:

Zane Calloway — 1-A — C-rank

Maren Cass — 1-A — C-rank

Nyx Hale — 1-B — B-rank

Cole Brennan — 1-A — B-rank

Dario Marsh — 1-A — B-rank

Jinn Park — 1-A — C-rank

TEAM B:

TEAM B — 6 students:

Ryan Castellan — 1-A — B-rank

Sera Dunne — 1-B — A-rank

Trace Carter — 1-A — B-rank

Reid Cross — 1-B — A-rank

Reeves Dash — 1-A — B-rank

Marco Ellis — 1-B — A-rank

He looked at the list.

’Same team as Nyx,’ he thought. ’And Maren. Opposing team has Ryan and Sera.’

’Ryan and Sera on the same side,’ he thought. ’Which meant Pressure Wave and Heat Sense working together. That’s not a combination anyone wants to defend against.’

The system surfaced.

『 Team composition noted. Nyx Hale within operational proximity for the first time in a live drill context. Kinetic Force deciphering already complete. Acquisition prompt available on host’s command. 』

『 Recommendation: observe output before deciding on acquisition timing. 』

’Chill definitely in plans already,’ he said mentally.

He glanced at the list a second time, his eyes scrolled automatically down to Team B.

His expression didn’t change.

’Ryan. Sera. Reid. Marco. Three A-ranks on the opposing side.’ He looked at the ceiling briefly. ’Why does my luck suck. What do you mean A-ranks swimming on the opposition like that.’

The system surfaced.

『 The system notes Team B has three A-rank operators. The system also notes Team A has Nyx Hale and the host himself. The system considers this an interesting calibration exercise. 』

’Calibration exercise,’ he thought. ’You mean we’re getting cooked.’

『 The system prefers optimistic framing. 』

’Of course you do,’ he thought.

He moved to Team A’s zone.

Nyx was already there. Standing at the edge of the marked boundary, arms crossed, eyes moving across the floor with the specific assessment of someone mapping the engagement space before it started.

She looked up when he arrived.

"Calloway." A brief nod.

"Hale." He stopped beside her. Close enough that the aura range was active. The system ticking quietly in the corner of his vision.

He looked at the opposing zone where Ryan was organizing Team B with the focused efficiency of someone who had been doing this longer than most people in the room.

’Ryan and Sera,’ he thought again. ’This is going to be interesting.’

Then... from above.

Movement in the observation gallery.

He looked up.

Nil Valkyrie.

She was in casual wear — dark shorts and a white crop top with a small kitten logo printed on the front. The crop top sitting exactly where crop tops sat when the person wearing them had Nil Valkyrie’s figure and had clearly stopped negotiating with fabric about what it could and couldn’t show. Her small boobs elevated the eyes of the logo which were extremely visible because Zane had clocked she had no bra on.

Nil Valkyrie’s consistent wardrobe philosophy was fully in effect. She was settling into a gallery seat with the easy energy of someone who had nowhere specific to be and had decided this was where she was spending the time. She spotted Maren on the floor immediately and raised a hand.

Maren raised hers back.

Zane watched from below.

The system surfaced.

『 NIL VALKYRIE — detected in observation gallery 』

『 Emperor’s Touch — B-rank — partial deciphering initiated 』

『 Distance: approximately 3.3 meters — edge of aura range 』

『 Deciphering progress: 34% — full decipher requires sustained proximity 』

’She’s right at the edge of the range,’ he thought. ’Gallery is barely close enough.’

Nil’s eyes moved from Maren across the floor.

Found Zane.

She tilted her head slightly in recognition. The corridor version of her sitting in a gallery seat looking down at a drill floor like she owned the observation rights to it.

He glared for a while then looked away.

Reyes’s voice cut across the floor.

"Two minutes are up. Teams to your zones. Phase one starts now."

The floor reorganized.

Zane moved to Team A’s zone boundary.

Maren on his left. Nyx on his right. Cole Brennan, Dario Marsh and Jinn Park spread out behind them, the rest of Team A taking their positions at the back of the zone boundary.

Across the floor Ryan was already directing Team B into position with the white hair and the focused efficiency and the Pressure Wave that had placed him fourth in trials and hadn’t gotten slower since.

Zane looked at the zone boundary.

Then at his hands.

’Two B-rank Sigils,’ he thought. ’Nyx beside me for the first time in a live context. Ryan and Sera on the other side.’

’Let’s see what this floor looks like,’ he thought.

Reyes raised her hand.

Dropped it.

Phase one began.

THOOM!.

A sharp sound emanated from the direction of the observation gallery, not from the drill floor. Zane glanced up briefly. A few spectators who had filtered into the gallery seats were already reacting to the energy of the combined session before anything had actually happened. The specific noise of people who had no stake in the outcome and were therefore free to be enthusiastic about it.

Nil was up there somewhere in the white crop top and dark shorts glaring softly at the view, maybe here to root for her friend, he guessed.

He looked back at the floor.

Team B was already moving.

Not chaotic, somehow typically coordinated in the way that came naturally to someone who had been reading drill floors since before most people in this room had their Sigils registered. Ryan directing from the back with the focused efficiency that had placed him fourth in trials.

His hand came up.

A visible surge of compressed air built around his palm in under a second. The specific visual of Pressure Wave at B-rank gathering before release, the air around his hand distorting slightly like the space itself was being asked to hold something it couldn’t contain much longer.

Then he released it.

The wave rolled across the floor with a low resonant sound. Not loud, just present. The composite surface vibrated faintly where it passed. Not aimed at a specific target but at the zone boundary itself. A wide dispersal shot designed to push Team A baced from their line before they’d settled into position.