Chloe glanced back at the waiting room and made eye contact with Rein. He was looking at her with a seemingly warm smile, which was interrupted by the loud, booming voice of the announcer.

“Now that both of our contestants are in the ring, allow me to explain the rules. Lethal weapons will need to be either sheathed or covered with a softening cloth as to not cause any casualties. There will be a 5-minute timer on each match. If the time runs out and there is no clear winner, the audience will vote on who should advance. If the time runs out and the principal, mistress Julianne, can make a clear verdict on the winner, then that person will advance to the next round. Conversely, matches can be won if the opponent is incapacitated, if they simply surrender, or if the match is called due to an overwhelmingly large difference in power. Killing is not allowed, and it will result in an immediate disqualification and expulsion from Ranger academy. And with that explanation out of the way, let the second match begin!”

“Yaaay!! Go Chloe! You’ve got this!” Cheered Emria from the audience, her and Saphrilla showing their support for Chloe. This fueled Chloe’s determination, seeing the two girls’ cute faces.

“Sorry, I don’t know what happened with your friend, but I’m not gonna go easy on you.” She said as she assumed a fighting stance. Rein had to rub his eyes, thinking that he saw Leona out there in the ring, Chloe’s fighting stance being identical to that of his sister.

“Well, whatever. Not like we were that close anyways. He was just a part of my gang back in Zacrozir. I left all of that shit behind coming here.” Quint readied his battleaxe.

Once the both of them assumed a stance, Chloe ran at Quint with incredible speed. As she approached him, he put up his battleaxe to block her incoming attack. Predicting his action, she ducked under, accelerating in speed and surprising him from behind, winding up a strike with her sword. He barely reacted in time, turning around and jumping back to dodge, but tripping on something stuck in the ground.

Chloe’s sword was unsheathed and stuck into the space between the tiles in the ground. She held the sheath, making it seem like she was still holding her sword. Quint fell on his bottom, immediately trying to recover, but Chloe didn’t give him a chance. She dashed towards him, grabbing her sword out of the ground and sheathing it while running. She slashed down at him, causing him to block with the handle of his battleaxe. Chloe continued to apply force on him while he was on the ground, not allowing him to get up. Quint used his feet to kick Chloe away, allowing him to roll away and briefly recover. It was not long before Chloe continued her attacks, backing him into the corner of the arena, right under the audience. Quint wasn’t able to keep up with her swift attacks. Whenever he tried to retaliate, she would land a direct hit. He was being overwhelmed by Chloe’s power and speed. At this rate, the match would be called.

All of a sudden, Chloe jumped back on an impulse, releasing Quint from the barrage of relentless attacks. Chloe was panting from exhaustion, and so was Quint.

“It looks like you’re ready to use your Spring.” She said while smiling, reassuming a fighting stance.

“You’re leaving me no choice here.” He smiled, as his legs began growing in size, and large quantities of hair began appearing on them. He had partially transformed his legs into beast legs. The people in the waiting room were watching attentively as Quint activated his Spring.

“Dang, the girl is really in trouble now…” Said Reggie, the 4th qualifying participant.

“Yes, it would seem this is going to end poorly for her if she does not activate her Spring. It’s only a matter of time until she does.” Remarked Clyde.

“You’re wrong.” Claimed Rein. “She won’t show her Spring no matter what.” He proclaimed confidently.

Quint was now the one applying pressure. He dashed with incredible speed towards Chloe, leaving a small crater from his starting point. Quint’s speed and power now surpassed that of Chloe’s, allowing him to land so clean blows on her waist and legs, but none on her face. When it came to that area, she was extra careful. Quint would sometimes attack her face, attacks that could be dodged if she just slightly moves, but instead, she would opt to get hit in the waist or legs to avoid a risk of her hood coming off. Quint did not notice this weakness and continued attacking normally, which wasn’t going to work for long. As Chloe familiarized herself with Quint’s attack patterns, she began finding opportunities to counter-attack. She dodged one of his attacks and reversed it back at him, her sword making contact with his face. He reacted by transforming the point of impact, cushioning the damage greatly. He responded by transforming his arm and throwing a right jab at her, which sent her flying, her having barely blocked in time. She landed unsteadily, panting from exhaustion and pain, as even though she blocked in time, the attack still did large amounts of damage.

“Heh, so what do ya think? This is the Vossen family’s partial beast transformation Spring. Pretty damn strong isn’t it?” Quint gloated.

“Yeah, it’s amazing. What animal is that though? A bear? A tiger? Whatever it is, it smells really bad.” She said as she covered her nose jokingly, making Quint blush from embarrassment.

“Well, you’re gonna lose unless you show your Spring soon! No way you’re gonna keep up with me as you are now.” He retorted.

Chloe didn’t say anything. She assumed a different fighting stance this time, one that Rein knew very well. Whenever he would spar with Leona, if she went into this fighting stance, it meant she was focusing. It also indicated to Rein that he no longer had a chance of winning the match.

Once again, the two dashed towards each other, clashing weapons. They began barraging each other with attacks, with Quint having the upper hand once more. However, Chloe found another opening in Quint’s attacks and attacked his face yet again.

“Haven’t we already been through this?” He uttered as the sheath made contact. He focused his beast transformation on the impact point and negated the damage. But surprisingly, the sword bounced off of him, revealing that it was an empty sheath. He realized what she had done. She had used her sheath as a feint yet again and taken the sword out, distracting him from her main action. Chloe ducked back under his arm and turned her sword over so that she would attack with the handle. She struck his shoulder pressure point with great force, which he hadn’t transformed because of the diversion. This immobilized him for a few seconds and reverted his body back to normal. Chloe took the opportunity to unleash a full power punch to the face, knocking Quint out and ending the match.