After a few moves, Calista and Lílitha were able to advance. A couple of pawns finally met and grabbed each other by the arms, thrashing back and forth as they struggled to throw their opponent down. The Mearthian from the other team finally won after managing a judo throw. Harrison’s team won the second and third fights between pawns, leaving more room for the more powerful players.

  “Calista, advance three spaces,” he said through his earpiece, which could only connect to his teammates’. Calista obeyed, nervously glancing at Hillary, who was directly across the square from her. Rosalina didn’t really care that much about Calista, only wanting to mess with her to assert her dominance, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t humor Hillary. Rosalina hated Socializers as much as most fighters did, and Harrison knew she considered Calista undeserving of her place in the academy.

  Rosalina gave her order and Hillary moved diagonally towards where Calista was. Harrison sighed. It appeared she was humoring Hillary after all. He’d prefer to avoid having Calista fight her; she wouldn’t go easy on her like Rosalina did.

  On the other hand, being protective of her wouldn’t benefit her at all. She’d have to face people like Hillary throughout her career. As long as their meeting didn’t jeopardize the team, Harrison had no reason to deliberately steer her away from an enemy. What would that say about him as her Student Coach? What would that say about his confidence in her abilities?

  He was very confident, but… Hillary was over a hundred Levels ahead.

  After a few more moved, Hillary had been placed directly in Calista’s pathway. Harrison didn’t have a choice; he was trying to make a path for Medusa to reach Rosalina, and Calista was blocked on all sides. She had to go forward.

  “Calista, move to Gravity; engage,” he ordered.

  Her green eyes looked over her shoulder discreetly, full of pleading. He gave her a discreet nod of encouragement. With a deep breath, she proceeded forward. A vulpine grin spread across the Paeseoan’s mustard-yellow face.

  The hologram above the map flashed to indicate the confrontation:

  Calista Medley (Red Tower) VS. Hillary ‘Gravity’ Kaye (Blue Knight)

  Hillary wasted no time, swiping at Calista’s head saying, “Humie glitch!” The slur made Harrison’s blood boil. He hated how people like Hillary were allowed to use it so freely. If he said anything similar on Paeseo’s turf, he’d be hanging by his toes in their prisons.

  Calista’s reflexes thankfully kicked in and she ducked quickly. She stayed on defense, blocking and bending every which way. They weren’t allowed to leave their squares, which severely limited their movements. Harrison nodded in approval at her maneuvers so far; he’d taught her to learn her opponent’s patterns before going for a strike herself.

  Hillary gave her a shove, nearly throwing her off. She stood on her heels and leaned back, her body just barely having enough strength to pull herself back upright. Harrison caught some raised brows and impressed nods, making his chest swell with pride at his student.

  “When did she learn that?” Lílitha asked him through their earpieces.

  He shrugged with a huge smile. “It’s just some tips.”

  Calista finally made her move, avoiding an arm grapple, and struck Hillary’s neck with a knifehand. The strike surprised her, but evidently didn’t pack enough strength to hurt her. Harrison sighed lightly. She needed to shake off her old habits.

  “You’re one of us, eh?” Hillary said as she caught Calista’s fist and twisted it. Calista reached down, practically folding in half as she followed the movement and avoided flipping into the next square, which would eliminate her from the game. She used Hillary’s grip as leverage and lifted her foot, kicking the Paeseoan in the chest.

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  Murmurs rippled across the map. Hillary stepped back, pausing to regain her balance, and looked at Calista with a contemptuous smirk. “You’re really tryin’, are ya?” she said. “Pretty little wannabe. Did you make yourself elastic to fold in half?” She kicked Calista’s ankle and caught it as she fell back, holding it up straight. Calista gasped and kept her body upright, hopping on one foot as she tried not to fall.

  “You should forfeit her. This won’t end well,” Lílitha advised him.

  “It hasn’t even been a minute, Li.”

  “Let’s see it again!” Hillary pushed against Calista’s leg, trying to throw her off-balance. Calista was struggling, her body tipping back, but her standing leg wasn’t budging.

  “Come on, maneuver around…” Harrison muttered under his breath, watching tensely.

  She brought her standing leg up to kick Hillary. She missed and nearly fell off her square, but Hillary let go and leaned back, Calista grabbing her arm to avoid being eliminated. Harrison glanced up at the timer; less than a minute left to finish. If the timer ran out, both would have to return to their previous positions and wait three minutes to duel again.

  “You seem tense,” Hillary continued as she punched at Calista. “Your sister is still in prison, isn’t she?”

  Harrison shook his head. Hillary always resorted to petty, cheap insults like that when she wanted to provoke her target. It was usually reserved for targets that didn’t go down so easily, so it sparked some pride in Harrison. However, with Calista’s Self-Control level, he hoped she wouldn’t take the bait. Her sister still wasn’t allowed to contact anyone, so it hit home.

  “Shut up.” Calista threw a punch, which Hillary dodged with a giggle.

  “Ooh, the Socializer has some fire to her, eh?”

  Thirty seconds left. Harrison didn’t think Calista would kick Hillary, but he hoped the timer could run out so she could stay in. “Don’t listen…” he said quietly through his earpiece. He wasn’t technically allowed to interfere in the duels during the game.

  “So, is she disowned? Disgraced? Sold?” Hillary kept a smile on her face as she dodged Calista’s strikes. “Don’t your kind sell your failures? Maybe your mum sold you to Kalley, eh? Would make more sense.”

  “Shut up.”

  “I imagine she’s modded herself into another person. You do that, right? Mod until you’re a whole Mask of yourself? Makes me wonder if any bit of you is even real.” She chuckled. “Hilarious. You mod your whole life to be perfect and pretty, and yet you still fell short.”

  “I said, shut up!” Calista got on her pointes, spun, and high-kicked at Hillary’s face. Her Health Bar had a slight demerit. A pop-up emerged above the two:

  +3 Damage

  Hillary’s head jerked backwards and she stumbled, her arms jutting out to maintain balance. The force behind the kick had also pushed Calista back, unfortunately throwing her off-balance. Her foot landed on the square beside her, automatically eliminating her with twelve seconds to spare.

  Winner: Blue Team— Hillary ‘Gravity’ Kaye

  Hillary had recovered her balance, but her hand covered her face. She looked outside of the game barrier, where the eliminated students were standing, and glared straight at Calista. Harrison’s brows knitted with concern when he saw Calista sitting down on the floor, wincing as she massaged her foot.

  “Did she…?” Harrison’s other teammates were staring at Hillary with curiosity, even while the game resumed with Rosalina commanding a Bishop to move. Hillary eventually gave up and put her hand down, sniffing as green accumulated in her nostrils. Soft gasping resounded around the map.

  “Did she break her nose?” a girl whispered.

  “No way,” a boy said. “I think she just tagged it.”

  “How’d she do that?”

  “I’ve never seen a kick like that before. All girly and spinny.”

  “What has he been teaching her?” Eyes turned to Harrison.

  He felt a large smile creeping on his face, but he tried to look humble as he ordered, “Medusa, move three spaces forward and hold.”

  “What exactly have you been doing in Guild Training?” Lílitha discreetly said to him through his earpiece.

  “If you were a member, you’d find out,” he said mirthfully, looking over his shoulder with a mischievous smirk. Lílitha only rolled her eyes.

  He’d hoped her morbid curiosity would convince her to join his Guild, as he’d tried to do since he was established as an SC. Lílitha was proud, though, and preferred doing everything herself with little to no help. She was extremely capable on her own, and Harrison respected her greatly, but he wished she could try and put her trust in someone else.

  Maybe it was for the best. She was an Ilamikoan, so he wouldn’t be able to adequately teach her with his limited experience. Only professionals could provide her with good training, using their multi-species studies and experiences fighting her people. She wouldn’t find many pros of her species on this planet.

  He had to focus on Calista. He looked at her through the game barrier as he sent another teammate forward. She was still seated, waiting as she nursed her hurt toes. The Medic drone would heal everyone’s minor injuries after the game was over.

  When she looked in his direction, he made sure she’d see his beaming, proud smile.

  +10 Rel-P