If monster hunting was a puzzle, then a Ranker’s battle was a 30 second chess match. Everyone with skills had several ‘moves’ they can make to defeat their opponent. That meant in a fight, there were two things that a Ranker must do—use their moves to disable their opponent, and defend themselves against their opponents moves. Both required intimate knowledge with all skill cards, the skill combinations, and some innovation when met with a unique skill or Augmenter.

Distance and speed were the pillars of dueling. Being in someone’s ‘distance’ meant you were within striking range of their skills. Being inside their speed meant they could execute their attack faster than you can execute your dodge, block, or counter-attack.

An example is where to hit your opponent with the axe. The distance to strike the chest was longer than the distance to strike an out-stretched arm. A common move was stepping back when attacked, getting out of distance of a chest or head attack, while still being within distance to strike the opponent’s arm.

It was a game of prediction, and that is to say, it was a game of cards. The one who can predict how their opponent will use their moves will be able to counter them. Most of the fight was in the head. The simplest, though the hardest part for some, was the execution.

Luna stalked towards him with a fireball in hand. Her knees were bent. She kept as low to the ground as she could without hindering her balance. Wary of Kinetic Shells. He did have one in his palm. His Bone Skewer was also fully charged, but Luna had one arm in front of her. The Skewer is too fast to dodge at close range, so she’ll take it on the arm. With the difference in weight, the Retract option would only pull him closer. It wouldn’t deal enough damage.

They fought as if those two were his only skills. His healing and pain immunity were too rare to train her for.

He watched her carefully. He knew he shouldn’t have, but for the sake of training he did.

Luna held the fireball from the bottom. She flicked her wrist down and the fireball remained hovering in the air. Light shot through her palms directly into his eyes, severely hindering his sight for a second. With her palms pointed at Nico, she could have shot her fireball forward.

Nico jumped back, putting the Locust in between its trajectory and him.

Luna did not shoot it. Instead she jumped after him with an extended hand, palm pointing at him.

“Stop,” Nico said. She stopped. His eyes recovered to see the fireball an inch away from the Locust’s outstretched palm. “What did you do wrong?”

“Should I have shot it?”

“Better, but I would have blocked it with the Locust. If I had a weapon, I would have blocked it with it. Why is this decision worst?”

She paused. “Because you would have crushed the kinetic shell in front of you, blasting you back, while blasting me with my own explosion.”

“Right. Remember, it’s easier to counter a skill than it is to land it on someone. Even if I was blinded, fireballs are predictable. Use them in unpredictable ways. Let’s go back to when you blinded me. This is where you left it.”

Luna’s face instantly spread into a smile.

“…and don’t let your opponent know that you just came up with a plan,” Nico said, huffing. “I thought you were a diplomate. You know—poker face and all?”

“There are many types of diplomates,” Luna said, still smiling.

They returned to their original positions. She blinded him, and he jumped back.

Luna jumped after him, palm extended through her fireball to throw, and thrust his arm at him.

Nico jumped back, positioning the Locust between it and him. Her fist struck his guard. She stepped after him with a poorly aimed barrage. Nico just stepped out of range or blocked them with his forearm, combining his blurry sight with his Life Sense to guide him through it. Being a Rank lower than Luna meant he was around 15% slower and weaker. He took a step back with each block to account for that.

Nico couldn’t spot the fireball. She must have moved it during one of her swings. Well, this is suspicious. The fire into a light blind was a nearly unavoidable move that was going to work on the best Rankers out there, but so far she wasted most of the that time with simple attacks. Luna wasn’t dumb, but she was making a dumb move.

The act of punching wasn’t bad—with their superhuman strength one punch to the face can knock someone out, but jabs were too simple. That means her attacks is masking a different purpose. The missing fireball was hidden either behind her, or behind him. Possibly above.

Luna swung wide around Nico’s guard, aiming for his face, but it was way too slow. He’d taught her to punch straight with her forearm, not shoulders. Nico stepped back, tilting his back slightly. Her hands went past his nose. In the same movement Luna spun around and kicked out. His eyes mostly recovered as her foot came towards him.

Okay form, and that’s a good opening—many would have ducked under the kick and attacked. Nico jumped back and took the kick on the Locust. She sent him skidding another two feet back. When Luna faced him again, he saw that she had her fireball in her palm.

“Pause,” he said. Not all skills were made equal, and they most definitely didn’t hit the same. Generally, the slower the attack, the stronger it would hit.

While Luna left her lower body open, her fireballs would have struck her opponent’s upper, where most of the important stuff was. Being Immortals, and especially among Rankers who had easy access to red potions, trading damage and even suicidal attacks to get the head, an eye, or an arm holding a main weapon weren’t that uncommon. Blood management was just another lesson.

So in total, Luna feinted with a fireball emission attack, turned it into a blind by tapping into her transmutation abilities, and then followed it up with series of punches that would get most people that solely relied on their sight. For those that were able to dodge, she left an opening in which she can inflict heavy damage while receiving some in return.

Overall, it was a solid strategy. And to cook this up in an hour as I rambled? Nico was impressed. Given a year she’ll make a formidable opponent.

But that’s the issue, isn’t it? They didn’t count time in years. They counted it in hours. Being good wasn’t enough. They needed something more, and they needed it now.

“Go ahead.”

She took off running towards him. He glanced behind him, counting four meters until the edge. What should I show her? How to defend maybe? Or what a counterattack looks like?

He couldn’t decide on a concrete plan, but he did want to use the Kinetic Shell somehow. He ran along sides the edges of the summit. Luna cut him off, but she didn’t rush in. She had the Fireball in her hand again. He narrowed his eyes and kept them at the ground. Uncharted territory here. Anything she came up with she did so by herself. He looked forward to seeing what else she had.

Luna swung at Nico with the flames in her hand. Nico stepped back and ducked, aiming the Locust at her head, and forcing her free hand to block. Nico could have alternated between her heart until she messed up, but that would hardly give her a chance to try something new.

Surprisingly, though, she swung wide with it. She left her self-open to the Bone Skewer, but he didn’t take it either.

Nico was aware of where her fireball was. He always kept one thing in front of it—the Locust, or a hand, in case it shoots at him.

She shot the Fireball, but not at Nico. She shot it to his upper right side. When she swung her right hand, she caught it then shot it again towards Nico.

“Close,” he said, in a crouch. The fireball went over his head. He held Luna’s wrist in the Locust. He’d tipped it up. Luna looked down at him, panting. He could almost see the cogs turning in her brain.

“What did I do wrong?” she asked.

“Not much,” Nico said, shrugging. He stood up. “Good use of your shoot mechanic. Are you starting to see how you can really use your skill now?”

“I can think of a dozen different ways to use it,” she said. “But I can’t execute any of them.”

Nico nodded. “Thermal Orbit has a long range, but it’s only effective up-close against fast targets. Where you position the fireball, where you position yourself, where your palm is pointing, where the enemy is and whether they can pop it he moment you activate it—even for a veteran it takes a ton of practice to memorize all the different moves.”

The way around that is using your power in creative, or unpredictable, but simple ways. This only matters in duels—monsters are quite a bit simpler than that.”

She nodded.

“Let’s do it again,” he said, pointing the Skewer at her. She thrust one arm forward, pointing the fireball at Nico, while still placing it in a way that protected most of her head. That made stepping back risky, as she can just launch the fireballs forward. Now he had to dodge sideways more, which meant he had to stay in the range of her swings.

Nico’s smile widened until his teeth showed. He felt…excited. Glad, happy, or maybe he was proud…he was proud. It was an odd feeling. He felt personally proud of someone’s else’s progress.

Nico ducked under a swing and jumped back, tossing a Kinetic shell behind her. Don’t launch it. Nico had the Bone Skewer pointed at the fireball, ready to blow it.

Luna jumped after him, with both feet off the ground and body horizontal to the ground. She pointed her fireball at him as he pointed his Bone Skewer at her. I’m out of the range of the Kinetic Shell and you’re not. Luna pointed directly below her. Wait—

She launched the fireball straight under her. It struck the ground, creating an explosion of fire. Luna was barely out of the radius of the flames. Only the blast of hot air reached them, but that same blast of hot air also reached the kinetic shell. It pushed it back, blowing Luna forward and slightly up, rather than straight up. Her outstretched hand caught the Locust by the wrist.

She flew above him and yanked him with her. The next thing he knew he was looking up to the clear blue skies. There was no ground below him anymore. He was flying. As he flipped in the skies, he saw Luna on her back right at the edge. She looked at him, eyes wide and just as surprised.