Chapter 57| The Drill Begins

Chapter 57: Chapter 57| The Drill Begins

Instructor Vael walked them through the rules of the day’s drill. Territory control exercise, two teams facing off at a time, points scored by holding zones, fifteen minute rounds, full Sigil usage permitted within safety parameters.

"First matchup," she said, looking at her tablet. "Will be Team Three versus Team Six."

Zane looked at Team Six.

Then his eyes found Dex. He was on Team Six. Standing with his three teammates with the relaxed energy of someone who had done this kind of exercise enough times that the novelty had worn off years ago. He didn’t know if it was some sort of coincidental plot or not but it doesn’t really matter thinking too much about it.

He caught Zane’s eye.

’Team Three versus Team Six,’ Zane thought.

’Of course,’ he thought.

Maren appeared beside him.

"What a coincidence," she said quietly. Not about the teams. About the draw that had put them together again.

"Same here," Zane said.

She almost smiled. Then went back to surveying the terrain.

The round started.

Team Three — Zane, Maren, Cole Mercer and Jade Osei. Two C-rank classmates. One of whom Maren had already put on the floor in Round One, which made the team introduction slightly awkward for exactly one person.

Cole Mercer looked at Maren.

Maren looked at Cole Mercer.

"No hard feelings," she said.

"None," Cole replied. Convincingly enough.

They moved into the elevated platform zone. Maren had called the strategy in under a minute. Hold the high ground. Use my Overdrive burst sequences to maintain position. Let the C-ranks cover the flanks.

Solid plan. Clean. Exactly the kind of thinking he’d watched her apply to everything since week one.

Then Team Six entered from the opposite side.

Dex at the front. His hero suit on, the NSA emblem catching the facility lighting, the easy energy of someone who had done this kind of drill enough times to stop finding it interesting. Behind him his three teammates fanned out.

Behind him — Wren Hale. B-rank. A broad shouldered, short blonde hair girl with the specific build of someone whose Sigil was physically output adjacent. She moved like she knew exactly how much space she occupied and had made peace with it.

Beside her Dario Marsh — B-rank. Lean, quiet, eyes already mapping the terrain rather than looking at the opposing team. The kind of student who processed environments before people.

And on Dex’s right — Kai Rowe. C-rank. Stocky, red hair, cracking his knuckles with the pre-match energy of someone who had been waiting for this part of the day since morning.

Four people. One of them was Zane’s roommate. One of them carrying the Sigil Zane had been running in his slots for weeks.

Zane looked at Dex.

Dex looked at Zane.

’Of course,’ Zane thought. ’Perfectly balanced team.’

『 It is actually fair. You all picked ballots. The system had no involvement in the draw. 』

’I know,’ Zane thought. ’Just noting the coincidence.’

『 Noted. Now focus. Dex is warming up and he looks serious. 』

Four people. One of them just happened to be Zane’s roommate.

Instructor Vael raised her hand from the observation point at the edge of the facility.

Dropped it.

"Begin.

Pwooosh!!

You could already hear the tension from the air.

Dex moved differently here.

Not the dorm room energy. Not the casual second year who named heating vents and updated hentai collections. Something else entirely had switched on. The specific posture shift of someone who had been in actual field situations and knew what focused application felt like.

He activated Impact Breaker.

Not the passive discharge from denting the desk. Full deliberate activation. Both palms. The composite floor under his feet compressed slightly with each step. The output was significantly more than Zane had been running in his slots. Obviously it was his sigil and he had full control.

’What the..’ Zane thought.

He stared.

’That’s the same Sigil I’ve been running for weeks,’ he thought. ’At 65% output I thought I had a decent handle on its ceiling.’

Got it. Here’s the updated section:

Dex was the only one on his team who hadn’t ascended the platform yet.

While Wren and Marsh climbed the side walkways and Kai held the base, Dex stayed at ground level. Both palms pressed flat against the support pillar holding the elevated platform up.

He activated Impact Breaker.

The shockwave rolled through the pillar and up through the entire platform structure. The composite surface vibrated hard. Zane caught the railing. Maren activated Overdrive and adjusted her footing in under a second.

’He just shook the whole platform,’ Zane thought. ’From the base. Without climbing it.’

He glanced at Instructor Vael at the observation point.

She hadn’t moved. Arms crossed. Expression neutral. No whistle. No flag. No intervention.

’Isn’t this cheating,’ Zane thought.

He looked at her again.

She still hadn’t reacted.

’Apparently not,’ he thought.

Then started moving toward the walkway at a pace that had nothing casual about it anymore.

’He’s coming up,’ Zane thought. ’Without any speed enhancement. Just Impact Breaker and whatever base physical ability a second year field operative carries underneath the noodle eating and the Gerald naming.’

He watched Dex cover the ground to the walkway base in clean deliberate strides.

’Actually fast,’ Zane thought. ’Just naturally fast.’

Then he noticed it.

A slim piece of equipment strapped to Dex’s forearm, something compact, fitted flush against the suit, easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. Some kind of acceleration assist device. Not a Sigil enhancement, something mechanical. NSA field gear by the look of it.

’I see,’ Zane thought. ’So that’s what he’s running. Uses Impact Breaker to send shockwaves through the device and converts the output into momentum. Channels the Sigil’s force into directional speed rather than surface impact.’

’So the shockwave doesn’t just hit outward,’ Zane thought. ’It propels him forward.’

’That’s why he seemed unnecessarily fast for someone without a speed Sigil.’

’My roommate,’ Zane thought, ’built a workaround for not having a movement Sigil and never mentioned it once.’

He watched Dex reach the walkway base and start climbing.

Fast. Clean. The equipment on his arm pulsing faintly with each step.

’Smart,’ Zane thought. ’Genuinely smart. Don’t underestimate people who look unbothered.’

Dex looked up at him from the ground level.

The easy energy was still there. But underneath it something that had clearly been there the whole time and just hadn’t needed to come out in a dorm room.

’So he might actually be good,’ Zane thought.

’He said that,’ he thought. ’He literally said that. I may not look it but I’m really good.’

’I didn’t fully believe him,’ Zane thought.

He was starting to believe him now.

The platform shook again. Not from a second strike. Just the resonance from the first shockwave still moving through the structure, the composite material carrying the vibration longer than the initial impact.

Maren grabbed his arm to steady him and activated Overdrive at full chain output simultaneously. Multitasking what Zane filed under things that look easy and aren’t.

"Focus," she said.

"I’m focused," Zane said.

’I’m focused on the fact that my roommate has been sandbagging this entire time,’ he thought.

’Completely focused,’ he thought.