"It was a fluke!" One of the remaining kids screamed at Alexa while pointing at her and pretending that he wasn't trembling.

  "Yeah! No way one of the spoiled brats can be this good!" The other kid said, but Alexa was confused by that.

  "Aren't they also of our age?" Alexa asked turning to Glory. "I mean, the round one looked older by a couple years…and those at the back seem bigger too…."

  And they did seem bigger, now that Alexa was paying closer attention the kids fnking Glory seemed to be around 20 to 30 centimeters taller than Glory.

  "They are in our grade, yes, but at worst, they are repeating grade," Glory said with a shrug as she looked at something on her hair. Had something got tangled in her hair?

  No wait, important data!

  "Repeating grades?" Alexa asked, how could someone repeat a grade? Wasn't that against the rules? Every time she repeated a test, Alexa was getting better and better. After all, at some point, they stopped sending her to simir tests, or they stopped her fighting against the same type of test subject. "Isn't that…counterintuitive to the testing?"

  "No?" Glory said confused, "They do that because they didn't get the grades, if they moved to the next year they would only increase the amount of things they need to learn, so instead they repeat the grade, since they already know what to expect its easier for them to pass."

  That had been the reason why Alexa didn't got to repeat tests tho. And these kids could do that?

  "Gnuuu…." Alexa didn't envy them, no sir. Imagine having the option of going again in a test that she already knew the questions, the diffciulty…imagine how much she could benefit if she could go again at an encounter…

  Like if she was to fight against [Chrysalis] with her current [Blueprints] or [knowledge], she could probably manage to at least wound her, and get some samples of her….

  But these entitled brats compined and said that it was luck?

  "Alexa…?" Alexa was not happy, she had fought to be here, granted, she had been somewhat zy about her progress, unlike what her main directives stated she had slowed down on her advance to power.

  Her trajectory on the Path of Ascension had slowed down greatly; the only great change she had made(Biologically) tely was the fact that she had multiple ages to which she could jump at needed, on the add-on side, however. She had made some progress with her Pounce Armor and her Arm-mament.

  She had plenty samples of exotic materials and her [Core Power] had advanced further allowing her to even store these blueprints!

  Core even had said that she could produce her own [Gun] type weaponry…

  But was that enough to say that she had [Evolved] after leaving the testing ground? Alexa would answer to that question with: Nay.

  "But even so…" Even with all of this evidence against Alexa, "...Alexa is still proud of what she achieved!"

  She was proud of being able to stand here, "Alexa? Hello?" Of being able to stand here as a [Human], even if she wasn't one. Alexa was still a person! "Someone there?No?"

  Alexa would not let other people say that she didn't deserve what she achieved! Even if she could have done so much more! She was still going to say that what she had done was the best! Even if it wasn't! Besides, Main Core could always run some design updates to her Blueprint in parallel!

  "So with that said, Alexa will show you that it wasn't luck or a fluke!" Alexa decred raising her finger and pointing at the annoying one that had said that!

  "And there we have it, folks, a decration of war from the Golden Eggs!" The announcer person said, Alexa turned to look at where the voice was coming from and found that she was being projected on the big screen, so she waved at it, and her reflection there did the same.

  Yes, Alexa was the cutestest of them all, and now she had evidence! Recorded evidence!

  "And the other team says…" The announcer person said panning the camera away from Alexa (A poor move if someone was to ask Alexa), "....Silence from the Fuzzy Cats! It seems they are still regrouping!"

  The other side wasn't regrouping or anything. Instead, they seemed to be discussing something and motioning to Alexa's side of the court.

  Alexa didn't bother with that. Instead, she bounced the ball against the floor; she wanted to test the limits and strengths of this sphere, for her next attack would depend on it.

  "Hmph!" One of the remaining kids hmped and pointed at Alexa, as soon as the kid did the camera focused, "I'm Beatrice Starcroft!"

  The kid said in a higher pitch voice, it seemed that this kid was some kind of….girl.

  "I demand a duel with you Saintsworths!" And said as much pointing at Aelxa, why was she pointing at Alexa twice? "My mom taught me martial arts and Mother teached me to always return what was done to me twice! So both my mom's teachings demand that I wipe that smirk from your face!

  The girl had two [Mom] entities? One [Mom] and another [Mother]? How did that even work?

  "What do you say Saintsworths?!?!? Are you woman enough to fight me one on one?!?!?!?" The girl said standing forward, she stood with her legs firmly pnted on the ground, it seemed that this was some kind of especial way to stand, as Alexa hadn't seen anyone else like that.

  "She is one of the…not noble or aristocratic kids, but part of a family that was pretty average till one generation ago," Glory said from the back, "Her Mother became a martial artist and married a world-css actress."

  So…her Mother…married her Mother? Did the [humans] have a problem with following the normal genotype? How did she even manage to gestate an offspring if they only had half of the [Blueprint] to generate?

  "So she is dangerous?" Alexa said, still bouncing the ball against the floor.

  "Fifty seconds!" The teacher person with little clothes covering her body said.

  "Yes! Whatever you do, do not fight her head-on!" Glory screamed from the back, "She is as dangerous as a low D-List Hero! Especially if she gets time to use her martial arts! Attack the other one, then we can plot to get the ones with me!"

  So…Attacking the Beatrice Starcroft person would mean putting herself at risk.

  "Forty seconds!" The teacher person said with glee on her voice, was she enjoying this? Of course she was, she was seeing her students fight and develope in real time, she probably was very happy about this.

  No doubt.

  "What would it mean this 1 v 1 you asked about," Alexa said hanging to the ball and pointing it at the Beatrice girl.

  "You throw the ball at me with all your strength, and I'll send it back to you with more strength, knocking you out." The Beatrice girl said with a smirk.

  "Alexa!" Glory screamed from the back, "No!"

  Alexa Yes!

  "Fair," Alexa said smiling, "Main Core, start recording, categorize target and emute the movement and composition of the muscles on the target Martial Artist Desgination: Beatrice Starcroft."

  “[Awknowledged, startint analyzis mode.]”

  "Don't disappoint me; show me what you got," Alexa said as she put as much strength into her arm, upper torso, and waist. She made one swift motion and threw the ball at the girl with as much strength as she could.

  This was twice or almost three times more strength than a normal kid her age could output, so this would surely put the girl at great risk…Unless she could deliver that is.

  “[Slowing down perception….starting analyzis of muscle composition, position and movement.]”

  The Beatrice girl person fell into a lower position, her legs extended to the side and she stood with her legs on a wide stance, her knees were bent significantly, closer to almost 90 degrees.

  And while her back was straight she kept what seemed a stable position, as soon as she saw Alexa prepare for her throw, the girl raised her right fist and pced it in a forward position, then as if she was loading it, she pulled it back and it was at this moment that Alexa had thrown the ball.

  When the fist was on the further back position, but almost at the same time that the ball was about to arrive to her, the girl screamed "YAH!" and with that her fist shot forward the ball.

  “[No mana fluctuations detected.]”

  It was only the fact that Main Core was saying that there wasn't any mana on that movement because if not for that, Alexa would never believe this; the girl's fist hit the ball that was moving at an almost impossible to percieve speed with her bare fist.

  She not only cancelled the kinetic energy that Alexa had given the ball, but counteracted it and prepared to send it back. Speaking off sending the ball back…

  “[Finished optimal calcution to deal with a counter attack, implementing it, full energy burn 300%]”

  Alexa felt that she was doing too many of those 300% energy burns, how much energy was she wasting by abusing of this feature? Should Alexa restrain the use of this? But this was what was saving her…

  Never mind that.

  Alexa's body reacted by itself following the instructions that Main Core had prepared, her legs moved into a position simir to the one the girl had done, only instead of going for stability, it seemed that Alexa's position was closer to one designed to be used as an attack since her knees bent in a way that would allow her to jump as if she was a spring.

  Her hands joined and stood in front of her body, by the position that Main Core had put her at, the ball would probably hit her right head on…

  "Alexa!!" And the scream of Glory from behind meant that she wasn't even able to dodge, since if that ball hit Glory…well, she would end with several parts damaged if not outright broken.

  "DIE!" And the other person screaming here was the Beatrice girl, so much spite and hate…yikes.

  Either way, the ball went straight to Alexa's hand as if guided by a magnet, but in the position that Alexa was in, her body moved with the motion of the impact. First, her torso was pushed back thanks to the strength of the impact.

  Her legs worked as a spring and guided her fall back and low, making her body spin as if she had done a flip backward, and what happened to the ball and Alexa's hands, you ask?

  Well, as if it was a windmill, Alexa's hand guided the energy upward, and while the ball went upward, the energy and momentum that was transferred to Alexa got sent halfway to the ball, flying to the ceiling, and the other half got sent to the ground.

  All that was left was an Alexa doing a flip and a ball slowly losing momentum and peaking on the air as if it was no one's business.

  "AND THE SAINTSWORTH'S GOLDEN EGG KILLED THE DEADLY ATTACK FROM STARCROFT!" The announcer person suddenly started screaming, "She has shown us why The Saintsworths are at the top of the food chain! Not only brains but also brawn!"

  Brawn?

  "So you were a martial artist too, huh?" The Starcroft girl said.

  "You worried me Alexa! Tell us sooner that you know martial arts!" Glory compined from behind.

  "But Alexa doesn't know martial arts?" Alexa said confused, "Alexa just imited what the Starcroft girl did."

  And really, Alexa had done just that, let Main Core analyze how she moved and make a response based on that. After all, she had found someone who was very efficient in moving, why not use them as a base.

  "....what?" The Beatrice girl asked confused.

  "Hahahahahahahaah," All the while An ughed from the back, "Monkey does what Monkey sees."

  He said with malice in his voice, whatever that meant, made the faces of the two remaining kids on the court turn slightly white, "Face forward; the ball is still on our side."

  And really, An didn't need to say that, Alexa had been preparing for the next part after all.

  "Is that…..?" The Beatrice girl said as she took a step backward, "My…Stardestroyer fist?"

  The star what fist?

  Alexa had taken the same position the Beatrice girl had taken before she attacked, and the only difference was that she didn't had an Alexa to donate the kinetic energy, the ball was falling from the momentary reprieve, and while it would gain some speed, it wouldn't be nearly enough.

  Besides it would have speed towards the wrong pne, Alexa needed horizontal speed and this would have vertical speed, converting it would mean less overall momentum on her attack. Not that it would matter, "Alexa's turn at using fancy [Human] martial arts."

  Just like how the girl had pulled the arm back, Alexa did the same with her right arm. She tensed the muscles as the other girl did, and when the ball was at her eye level, Alexa let her fist fly. She could swear to have heard the sound of the wind breaking, but surely that was her imagination right?

  “[It is host’s imagination, current Blueprint doesn’t have enough strenght to break the sound barrier.]”

  Dang it!

  Even so, Alexa's fist hit the ball straight head on, and sent it flying against the other team, the Beatrice girl panicked and tried to compose her stance, but it was too te and she could barely put her arms in form of an X in front of herself, the ball of course cared not for what the Beatrice girl was doing.

  The ball merely hit her head on and against everything that Alexa knew about physics…The Beatrice girl got pushed back as her feet dragged across the floor.

  “[Detecting Mana waves coming from Martial Artist Designation: Beatrice Starcroft.]”

  "Time out!" The teacher with little clothes said as the Beatrice girl finished moving, she was breathing hard and for some reason her breath was coming white.

  Her eyes shone in azure light, and…there was blood coming out of her mouth?

  Why?

  She had been hurt in her arms! It didn't make sense for her to bleeding out from her mouth!

  No, wait, mana wavelengths?

  "[Confirming condensation of mana within Martial Artist Designation: Beatrice Starcroft. Host is watching a Core Trigger event. Recording...]"

  Core trigger event huh...

  "Beatrice Starcroft!" The voice of the teacher person, the one that was in charge of Alexa's css came bearing down on everyone. "Focus on my voice!"

  Alexa was doing her best effort to do the opposite, why you ask?

  "[Detecting mana pressure bearing down, starting analyzis...preparing countermeasures...sending request upward.]"

  Upward? Alexa attempted to follow that request and found it going into the void... There was nothing there. Well, there was Core but Alexa didn't got the feeling that Core was even paying attention.

  "Huh?" The Beatrice girl said as the ball fell to the side, considering the amount of strength that had been pced on the ball, it should have broken, and yet...It fell to the side as if nothing had happened, "What? Is...this?"

  The Beatrice girl looked around as she stretched her arms, Alexa could see her arms mending themselves to her naked eye, and what was worse was the fact that the wounds didn't match the amount of damage that she should have gotten.

  Alexa knew better than anyone how much kinetic force she had put on the ball, it wasn't nearly enough to cause as much damage as it showed on the girl.

  At worse, it should have caused some bruises, but this girl's arm had been bloodied, she had been pushed back, and the floor had burnt marks as if something had pushed her with great force.

  Her teeth were bloodied and she was sweating all over, her arms looked as if Alexa had broken them, and yet... they were also healed on real time.

  Nothing of that made sense.

  "Focus Beatrice Starcroft," The voice of the teacher person resounded, "Think, what happened?"

  "I...stopped the Stardestroyer fist that Alexa did using my Heart Seeking guard?" The Beatrice girl said confused, "Then...I felt a warm feeling on my chest, like how Mom and Mother said it felt when they fought for their friends...and felt as renewed strength coursed through my body. Just enough to survive the attack..."

  The what now? That...that didn't make sense though.

  "So I barely managed to survive this...but...what happened?" Beatrice said turning to the teacher person.

  Alexa felt the mana within the area try to get a hold on her, but Core managed to divert it and absorb it.

  "What happened Beatrice, is that you have joined the ranks of the powerful." The teacher person said as the cracks started extending all around the pce, the world seemed to start turning gray as the people seemed to be frozen.

  Alexa looked down at herself and saw her body starting to turn gray as everyone else.

  "[Fighting influence...not enough resources...limiting area of effect, safeguarding Counsciousness Stream.]"

  "You have awakened as a Core User in a dangerous pce, in public." The teacher person said as he turned to stare at Alexa, "And you have the bad luck of having a Core that is easily recognizable, so you are out of luck."

  Then the teacher person...no...The Theater Master fully manifested as Tristan De'Medicci shed his disguise and walked fully as who he was to stand in front of Beatrice Starcroft.

  The world was a scales of gray where the only color was that of The Theater person and the Starcroft girl, all the while Alexa was attempting to move but was unable to do so.

  "[Error, Consciousness Stream was removed from host's body to prevent being affected by Mana phenomena.]"

  Dang it.