If there was one thing the boot camp made people forget, it was that they weren’t in any serious competition.

Granted, the ranking system was brought about to create tension but ultimately, it helped those who could advance do better, thus widening the gap.

To an onlooker, it might have seemed unfair but that was simply the way the world worked. The Utra nation was rapidly entering a war so they couldn’t waste time and resources on soldiers.

They had to make sure that the best amongst their recruits had their best foot forward. Even if that meant abandoning people.

And it was for this reason that Trevor realized he had to stop holding back. Sure, it would make future challenges and matches harder but not impossible to handle.

It was better than flunking his chances of amounting to anything in the boot camp.

He had a simple task of watching over Sarah and wouldn’t be able to do that if he were deployed to the front lines as a mere disposable pawn.

"... and that is how I knew he was about to stop pulling his punches," Dale concluded his narration and train of thought to Austin.

The redhead nodded. "Oh, I guess it makes sense. Though I don’t feel good talking about it when he’s here." He pointed at Gustav.

The latter gave a sideways glance at Austin but said nothing as though still processing Dale’s words.

Not that Dale cared who heard him. Trevor had stopped holding back so why should he care who listened in on his analyses?

’It isn’t like there’s anything he can do with the information.’

Down at the arena, more waves of energy rolled off Trevor. This was completely different from when he had forced his way into Ascension.

This time, he was unmistakably pumping his energy out into the world. What he was trying to do, though, was unknown to all watching. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The recruit who Trevor was facing charged in. It would be beyond foolish to let his opponent finish whatever he was attempting.

Trevor shifted back slightly, watching as the recruit swung his fist.

He bent slightly, letting the fist brush against his hair. Without hesitation, he gripped the recruit’s hand, using his weight to flip him.

The recruit slammed hard against the ground, disorienting his focus and allowing Trevor to succeed in his endeavor.

The world itself seemed to ripple as Trevor’s energy seeped into it, blending with its fabric.

From the stands, General Malcolm leaned forward slightly as he watched the effect Trevor seemed to have on the world... or vice-versa... or both.

Dale couldn’t even remove his eyes from their scuffle even if he wanted to. It was simply too alluring.

Trevor smiled and calmly wiped his uniform of dust.

He adjusted his stance and threw out his fist, aiming for the recruit’s jaw.

His mouth opened mid-swing, releasing an adjective upon himself.

"Quick." The word had barely left his mouth when he followed it with a command to himself, "Strike true."

The fist slammed into the recruit’s ribs, knocking out the air from his lungs.

The recruit clutched his stomach, bending over as tears filled his eyes, yet Trevor wasn’t done. He spun about his heel, swinging his elbow to the temple of the recruit.

"Disorient." The new command slipped from his mouth just before the elbow slammed into the recruit’s temple, snatching all form of mental cohesion from him.

Dale watched in awe as Trevor used all sorts of martial arts to fight with the recruit. He shuddered at the thought of receiving such nighty blows.

And to worsen things, Trevor seemed to actively switch commands to whatever helped him deal the most damage.

There was no denying it, the recruit would have to be hospitalized.

’I wonder who he learned these many battle styles from.’ From afar, it seemed to be mixed martial arts but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

What was actually happening was that Trevor switched between Kung Fu, Judo, and Taekwondo almost as much as he did adjectives and verbs.

It most definitely had something to do with his job and the very nature of it.

Dale didn’t have to watch the recruit be whooped for too long. Eventually, he ran away from Trevor and jumped off the arena.

’And I thought I was brutal? Damn.’

Nonetheless, there were now merely five people left in the arena.

General Malcolm adjusted slightly and announced loudly, "And so, we are down to the final five!"

Trevor sat on the spinning ground of the arena. The constant rotation didn’t even seem to disturb him.

Instead, he kept his eyes on Sarah and Gary’s fight.

Gary was facing a tall, muscular guy with four arms. Each arm was the size of a tree trunk and arguably as thick.

Every swing of his fist generated strong winds and enough force to flatten anybody’s ribs. Needless to say, it was at times like these that Gary was lucky to have a forcefield.

His green hair fluttered as he conjured the tenth forcefield in less than a minute. The recruit’s fist landed on it, causing the construct to tremble.

Unlike the previous times, it didn’t shatter immediately. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t.

In fact, every onlooker doubted it would last for much longer.

Gary cursed as he jumped back, the shield around him shattering as another fist punched it.

He stared at the quadribrachial recruit in front of him and kissed his teeth, gasping for air.

His lungs burned and his muscles ached but there was a limit to how much he could let himself rest.

Gary’s eyes twinkled as an idea evidently formed in his mind.

He ran forward and slammed his body into the recruit. As he hit the wall of muscle, he wrapped his arms around the recruit’s torso.

Without wasting a breath, he conjured a force field around them.

Gary’s eyes steeled as he forced the pentagonal construct to expand as quickly as possible.

The recruit raised his arms ready to smash Gary into oblivion but as he swung his arms down, his muscles lost their strength and he passed out.

Dale raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. He created a vacuum."

Gary’s plan was extremely straightforward. Since he knew he couldn’t withstand the recruit for too long, he had first created a force field around them.

Then he proceeded to expand it as quickly as he could manage.

Without any external sources of air, a vacuum was naturally created. This not only starved them of oxygen but ensured that those with a larger body — like the recruit — felt the effects faster because their bodies required more oxygen.

Gary dragged the boy out of the arena, effectively eliminating him.

Trevor stood and joined Sarah. The two of them made quick work of the other recruit in the arena.

As the fourth recruit was thrown out of the arena, a sort of silence fell amongst the original Awakened trio.

Dale was sure that other people in their year had also noticed that. The first people to Awaken in their year were the very last people left.

Gary and Sarah smiled and she raised her hands in surrender. "I’m not willing to fight you. I know when I’m beat."

She was certainly lying. There were a lot of tricks she had yet to use but none of them were going to argue.

Gary nodded. "She’s right. I’m far too tired." And he took a bow, jumping out of the arena.

Sarah winked at Dale as she also jumped off.

Trevor was the last in the arena. He was the winner.