As they entered an unoccupied cubicle, Kai was amazed by the amount of work put in to not only create but also maintain the technological marvel before him. Yuri began introducing how the VR system operates, as she helped Kai to create an account stored within a metallic card.

Kai asked, "So what exactly does this card store?" Yuri replied patiently, "Well, this card contains all your combat data, on top of all your win-loss records and ranking. You can still edit your combat data right before every match though, if, for instance, you want to use a different weapon. The only things you can't alter is your mana amount and magic affinities since those are determined by the scanners within the pod."

Kai noticed on the screen that Yuri was working on furiously that there was a number "#5" next to her name. He pointed to the number and commented, "Wow, you're ranked 5th in your cohort, that's pretty good!"

Yuri appeared momentarily offended before regaining her composure as she clarified, "Ah, the ranking system has changed already, brother. In the past, you guys were ranked within your cohort based on your performance in examinations and quests.

Now, on top of these criteria, we are also now ranked according to our performance in Ranked VR battles, which are official matches presided by a formal official, as the school has gradually shifted its focus to preparing students for combat. In addition, students are now ranked within the entire school population, so the "#5" here is with respect to the entire school."

Kai's jaw dropped. His sister, a 1st year student, becoming one of the top 5 students in the entire school? Kai stammered, "S-Sorry for my misunderstanding earlier. However, if the ranking system is now covering the entire school, won't it be unfair for other freshmen who know nuts about magic or combat?"

Yuri nodded, "Yes, it is indeed unfair, which is why the rankings are essentially split onto 4 quartiles. The top quartile is where Year 4 students are expected to be in and so on. The purpose of the combined ranking system is to not only motivate those who are lacking behind by comparing them to their juniors, but also to sieve out the extremely talented for the school to groom further.

You should know that the school's Mentorship Programme would select its students based on their rankings right? Ah well, enough of the chit-chatter, let's get down to business, brother!"

Kai wiped the sweat away from the furrow of his eyebrows as he contemplated, "Maybe it was for the better that I didn't stay here, such a stressful system…" After Kai had entered the pod and placed the visor over his head, he slowly felt his consciousness drifting away.

The next thing he knew was that he was whisked away into the virtual world. Kai scanned his surroundings. It seems like Yuri had picked a City Stage, as he was surrounded by several buildings and roads in between them. Kai touched all over his body including his face. It certainly felt very real, and his mask was still present. At the top left hand corner of his vision, he could see a green-coloured bar with the number "100%" beside it.

"This is probably my hitpoints before I 'die'. What a peculiar system." Kai thought before his attention returned to the battlefield as he heard a robotic voice that was similar to a public address system. "#5 - Yuri Veridian VS Unknown Rank - Eclipse. Time Limit: 10 minutes. Battle Stage: City Stage A. 3, 2, 1, BEGIN!"

Yuri, who appeared exactly like herself in real life, with the exception of her clothes which were tailored for combat, declared, "Brother, I didn't set any official limitations for our battle, but how about we settle this with solely magic? No Enigma Abilities allowed, what do you think?" Kai replied confidently, "Sure, anything you say. Bring it on!"

Kai then adopted a boxing stance, ready for close combat. Yuri, who was approximately 15m from Kai, crouched down as she directed her palms backwards. To Kai's surprise, Yuri disappeared in a flash and the next thing he knew was that she had instantly closed the gap between them. Yuri then unleashed a barrage of flame-coated punches as she cried, "Don't go underestimating me, brother! I've trained in close combat under Dad too!"

Kai was momentarily stunned but soon regained his composure as he expertly deflected all her incoming attacks with his electric-filled hands. Looking back, Kai realised that the hidden secret behind Yuri's sudden acceleration earlier must have been the use of her Fire magic to propel her forward like the thrusters of a plane.

Yuri's control of Fire magic on top of her vastly improved skill in close combat was definitely worthy of praise. However, if that was all she could offer, Kai reckoned that he could wrap this up without much difficulty. Maybe the students had grown a little weaker when he was away for his sister to earn the #5 rank with such skill.

Sensing her brother's complacency, Yuri hissed, "I told you NOT to underestimate me, didn't I?" as she quickly used one of her hands as a thruster, directing her flames towards the ground as she used her newfound momentum to twist rapidly in mid-air. Kai was taken aback by the sudden movement, but he didn't have time to contemplate further as Yuri had already brought her heel down towards his head, its power augmented by the spinning motion she had undergone earlier.

Yuri cried, "Eat this! [Burning Wheel]!" as her foot was encased in heinous flames. Kai barely blocked her fierce attack with his [Lightning Fist], which he supplied more mana to sufficiently negate the power of his sister's attack. Flames hissed and electricity cackled as both refused to relent.

Kai smiled and said, "Not bad, to trap me in such a situation." A devilish grin appeared on Yuri's face as she cried, "If you thought this was good, you haven't seen my next move." Kai was horrified to learn that Yuri was gathering mana in both hands while he couldn't move a single inch.

Placing her hands before Kai, Yuri muttered, "[Flame Explosion]." as she ignited the large amount of mana she had gathered. The resultant explosion was pretty huge, and Yuri barely avoided getting caught in her own attack by using her [Flame Thruster] spell, propelling herself swiftly out of danger and into the sky.

There, she kept herself afloat while waiting for the smoke to settle, giving her time to plan her next move. She thought, "Big Brother may not like to rely on power to win battles, but an Expert tier spell like [Flame Explosion] probably isn't going to hurt him much."

Meanwhile, the Training Hall was becoming packed as students started flooding in upon hearing the news that the #5 in school, "Flame Witch" Yuri was engaged in a VR battle. Even Julian and Julia, who were attracted by the commotion, couldn't help but join the crowd as they instinctively knew that Yuri, who was Kai's sister, was most likely engaging the man himself.

As they watched the battle from the display screen, Julia teased, "What kind of nickname is Eclipse? Man, couldn't he come up with a cooler name? And that mask, it's totally horrible fashion sense!" Julian shook his head and sighed, "Come on, we're here to watch a battle, not a fashion parade. Kai must have his reasons for concealing his identity."

Unbeknownst to them, a single student was listening to their conversation. He had blonde hair and was pretty well-built, his muscles barely concealed by his uniform. Upon hearing the name "Kai", he tensed up and gritted his teeth, whispering, "Finally, the time for vengeance has come after 3 years…"

Back in the VR world, Yuri wasn't shocked that her brother emerged largely unscathed from her earlier attack, as he shielded himself from the explosion with his arms coated in concentrated black mana armament. Kai took a quick glance at his status bar. His hitpoints had dropped slightly to 95%, implying that his defence was breached after all.

Kai muttered, "Wow, I'm sure I set my pain sensors to 100%, for me not to feel the effects of an attack that chipped off 5% of my health, is my threshold for pain really that high?"

Meanwhile, Yuri started to contemplate on her subsequent strategy. She thought, "Brother may not possess an immense amount of magic power, but it is his speed and incisiveness that makes him lethal. Once he starts getting serious, letting him near me even once may prove fatal. I guess the only way for me to win would be to overpower him in a surprise attack before he can get into melee range."

Yuri redirected her [Flame Thruster] spell to her feet to free her hands to cast magic. She then taunted, "Brother, you know even you can't win me in a magic shootout. Ranged magic just isn't your specialty after all. Enough said, eat this, [Flame Vulcan]!" From her palms, Yuri began shooting condensed bolts of fire rapidly, compelling Kai to avoid them by weaving like a snake, leaving a trail of destruction behind him.

Kai cursed, "Man, she's a real tough nut to crack! That spell may only be Intermediate tier, but by refining it further, it would consume too much of my mana just to defend against one of those fire bolts, since I can't defend against them individually! I see that she's trying to wear me down by forcing me to be on the run continuously, but is there something she's trying to distract me from?"

True enough, Yuri was actually secretly preparing another more fearsome spell with her left hand while her right hand continued firing her [Flame Vulcan]. Once she noticed an opening, having supposedly lulled her brother into a certain rhythm, Yuri immediately launched the Master tier spell [Grand Fireball] towards Kai, hoping to catch him off guard.

Kai only had time to face the incoming attack before the spell crashed into the ground, creating a far larger explosion than Yuri's [Flame Explosion] earlier. The audience went wild as someone commented, "There it is! The sure-kill combo of the "Flame Witch"! Thanks to this combo, she has attained a victory rate of 85%, insane!"

However, much to the surprise of the audience, Yuri began preparing a far larger spell than the [Grand Fireball] she had cast earlier, creating a humongous sphere of fire before slowly compressing it to the size of an orb.

A student enquired, "Hey, why is she preparing another attack? Not to mention that that's not any ordinary spell, it's the strongest one she has in her arsenal, the [Compressed Novasphere]! The last time she used it, she took out about half the entire stage! I sure won't want to see her use it in real life!"

Before the smoke had even dispersed, Yuri, with her spell in her right hand, demanded, "Come on out, brother, I know you're hiding behind that building. If you don't want to be burnt to a crisp immediately, I suggest you show yourself."

True enough, Kai stepped out from behind the building Yuri was referring to, laughing, "Wow, you're pretty observant! I wonder how you managed to read my move though?" Yuri smiled as her right eye glowed blue with a unique pattern on her iris.

Kai chuckled, "You're a cheeky one indeed, using the visual prowess of your Luminos. Well, technically that's not an Enigma Ability, so it's totally 'legal'. Seems like Mother taught you well."

In truth, what actually transpired before Yuri's [Grand Fireball] had landed was the activation of Kai's [Lightning Body] spell, enabling him to react in time to narrowly avoid Yuri's spell. However, Yuri had activated her Luminos prior to releasing her spell, thus, she was able to see Kai leaping towards the back of a building, something invisible to everyone else watching.

Amidst the audience, Julian exclaimed, "Wow, that was insane! Both of them are really monsters!"

Yuri gloated, "Brother, it's over! The moment you spared me time to prepare this spell, you had literally spelt your own doom. No matter how fast you can move with your [Lightning Body] and how fast you can react with the enhanced visual prowess of your Luminos, the effective range of this spell is far too overwhelming for even someone like you! Time to end this!"

Kai replied calmly, "You sure? Care to try me?" before he leapt off the ground, a [Lightning Blade] in hand. Yuri thought, "He must be trying to catch me off guard by suddenly changing pace with his [Lightning Body]. Too bad I'm not going to let it happen!" She threw the orb at Kai and just before he could flicker away, Yuri ignited the spell mid-flight.

The resultant explosion was enormous, almost as if a nuclear explosion had rocked the stage as everything within a large radius was incinerated to ashes. Yuri had barely avoided being torched by her own spell, though she still received substantial burns from it, reducing her hitpoints to 40%.

Yuri panted as she surveyed the damage done by her devastating spell. Most of the landscape was charred and a majority of the buildings were burnt down. Her brother was nowhere to be found. Yuri gasped as she landed on the charred ground, deactivating her [Flame Thruster] spell as she mumbled, "It's over, I won, I guess…"

Suddenly, to her astonishment, the ground below her burst open and before she could react, all she felt was a thrust through her heart with sharp electricity cackling furiously. Yuri coughed as she slowly went limp, barely muttering, "How…did you…"

Kai replied, "You weren't the only one preparing something big, my little sister. I wasn't simply catching my breath when I was hiding behind that building. I knew that you'd probably take all possible precautions against my [Lightning Body], so a direct assault against you would probably be suicidal.

Thus, I devised a way to get you to lower your guard at the most opportune moment, and which better time to do so than after your attack? For my plan to work, I had to make you believe that you truly got me, thus, I put a new spell that I had learnt a while back to perfect use. Yes, I created a [Lightning Clone], a pretty expensive spell if you ask me, since more mana has to be expended to make it resemble me more.

As I sent my doppelganger to distract you, I was busy tunnelling through the ground using Earth magic to get as deep as possible to minimise the damage received from your attack. Regardless, your attack really turned the ground into a furnace, I felt as though I was going to be roasted alive."

Yuri chuckled, "Seems like I was the one who sorely underestimated you, brother. I never thought you would use elemental magic outside Lightning magic…" before her body disintegrated into innumerable sparkles, signalling her defeat.

The entire hall was silent as everybody tried to make sense of the outcome of that intense duel. One student exclaimed, "I didn't think you could avoid the [Compressed Novasphere] in such a manner, it's the first time I've seen the "Flame Witch" lose after using her trump card."

Julian and Julia rushed down to the cubicle where both Kai and Yuri emerged from. Julia chirped, "Great duel, you two! Looks like you've got some new tricks up your sleeve, eh, Eclipse?" The masked man could only nod before a loud voice shouted, "Humph! If you're really that great, why do you hide your face, national hero? The moves you've kindly displayed, especially your [Lightning Blade], have clearly revealed your identity, "Lightning Edge" Kai!!"

The voice came from a male student with blonde hair, as he pushed his way forward, attracting several murmurs from the crowd. Yuri appeared shocked as she recognised the newcomer. Before she could warn her brother, Kai removed his mask and hood, speaking jovially, "Wow, you got me there, kid! You're pretty sharp, so sharp that my disguise is rendered useless, hahaha! What business may you have with me, kid?"

The blonde hair boy snapped angrily, "I'm no kid, we're the same age, you cretin! We enrolled in the same year too but because we were in different courses, we rarely saw each other. Not that it matters. More importantly, you're Arkad's son right? I presume you're his successor when it comes to his Spear style. The time has come for us to settle our differences, the Veridian Spear Style against my Edgecliff Lance Style!"

Kai appeared confused as he asked, "Huh? What bone do you have to pick with my father? Anyway, it's my father you're angry with, so why are you challenging me? Who are you anyway?"

Yuri tugged her brother's arm anxiously, explaining, "He is Jibril Edgecliff, the #1 student in the entire school! He challenged me before, but upon realising that I didn't learn the way of the spear from Father, he gave up his challenge. It seems like he's got a certain vendetta against Father for reasons unknown."

Jibril interjected, "Let me explain. Your father, Arkad, was the reason why my father, Black Lance Jireh, had to leave his beloved Nirvanian Black Ops back when both were still serving in that elite unit. This is because both were selected as candidates to be the next leader of the Black Ops, and since my father was unfairly deemed weaker than your father, he lost the top job and was forced to resign from the job he'd loved so much.

Thus, I swore to set things right in my own way, to prove that my family's Edgecliff Lance Style is superior to your family's Veridian Spear Style! This way, I can address all the grievances my father felt when he was unfairly dismissed!"

Kai, who appeared intrigued rather than stunned, replied calmly, "Wow, that's some history indeed. I'm sure there's more to this than the story you've recounted, as I know my father well enough to understand that he wouldn't abandon a comrade just because they had been competing for the same post. Nonetheless, if it makes you feel better, I gladly accept your challenge. No magic and Enigma Abilities allowed. Just a simple, old-fashioned weapon duel. You game?"

Yuri shook her head anxiously as she tugged her brother's arm furiously, warning, "Big Brother, you idiot! No matter how skilled you're with the spear, against the #1 student who's the finest warrior among us students, without your Lightning magic nor your Luminos, you don't stand a chance! Don't be stubborn and just renounce the duel! It's pointless anyway!"

Upon hearing Yuri's remark, Kai's expression suddenly turned grim as he turned to stare at his sister, intimidating her. Her brother had never stared at her in such a way before. He whispered coldly, "It may seem pointless to you, but restoring his father's honour means everything to him. Don't belittle a man's pride when he fights for his loved ones!

I can see from those resolute eyes of his that he's literally begging me to accept his challenge. If I simply refuse his challenge, it's as good as trampling on his pride and treating him like dirt! That's not what Father would have wanted, you understand?

If there're any misunderstandings, it can be resolved later but right now, a challenge issued with such strong emotions on the line must be answered with equally strong feelings! Come on, Jibril! Let's settle this once and for all!"

The 2 fighters quickly inputted the necessary data and entered their respective pods. They were then promptly whisked into the VR world, where this time, the stage was set in an open canyon. Kai fiddled with his weapon of choice, an ordinary lightweight steel spear, much to the surprise of Jibril.

Jibril asked, "Where's your [Cavalier]? You sure you can win with an ordinary spear?" Kai replied coolly, "If you can use an ordinary lance, why should I give myself an unfair advantage by using a magic weapon? This way, we can properly pit both of our styles against each other, right?"

Jibril smiled before replying, "Don't regret your choice when I begin whooping your ass." The public address system interrupted their conversation, announcing, "#1 - Jibril Edgecliff VS Unknown Rank - Kai Veridian. Time Limit: None. Battle Stage: Rocky Canyon. 3, 2, 1, BEGIN!"

Kai thought, "Using a heavy weapon like that lance, power is most likely his specialty. In contrast, due to the bulky nature of a lance, speed should be…" Kai's thoughts were disrupted by Jibril's instant disappearance. Relying on solely instincts, Kai had barely avoided being skewered by Jibril's lance, his lightning-fast thrust generating so much power that a large hole was created on the face of a distant mountain.

Kai cursed as he recovered his balance, "Tch! That's some insane speed with a weapon as heavy as his! Combined with his immense strength, it's no surprise that his thrusts are like cannon blasts! This is the power of the #1 student of Zion Academy, amazing!"

Kai gripped his spear more tightly as he readied himself against Jibril, whose lance was covered in black mana armament poised to kill…