Metal groaned as the Sedmo-class unit powered on, towering, broad-shouldered, its fists humming with stored force.
Marza's voice cut through the hum.
"Next: Einstera."
Einstera exhaled and dropped to all fours.
Her body folded and reformed in a breath, sleek onyx wolf, eyes sharp, muscles coiled.
The Sedmo swung.
Einstera vanished.
She streaked beneath the blow, claws scraping sparks off steel as she circled, darted, cut away again. The robot adjusted, faster now, blows hammering the ground where she'd been a heartbeat earlier.
Xiu crossed her arms. "She's fast, but she can't keep that up forever."
Jah Jah frowned. "Bro... this doesn't look good."
Roxer smirked. "She's a Morpher. Great against living targets. Against a machine like that? She's stalling."
He glanced sideways. "Some matchups just aren't meant for ladies."
Einstera heard none of it.
She ran the robot, not away from it, around it.
Every pass was precise. Every dodge intentional.
She clipped a knee joint. Then the ankle. Then the other knee.
The Sedmo compensated, overcorrected.
Einstera leapt, rebounded off its shoulder, and hooked her weight around its neck, wrenching hard as the robot stepped forward.
The ground gave.
The Sedmo's foot sank into a fractured plate, just enough.
Its center of mass shifted.
Too late.
The machine toppled, crashing forward in a thunderous collapse.
Einstera didn't attack.
She waited.
The Sedmo tried to rise, servos screamed, then locked.
Incapable of standing.
Marza nodded once. "Victory."
Roxer clicked his tongue. "...Clever."
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Einstera shifted back to human form, breathing hard. "You don't beat a wall by punching it," she said quietly. "You make it fall."
Plum rushed over, embracing Einstera with a warm hug
Wow big sis, that was amazing."
Einstera "Thanks."
"Next," Marza said, "Xiu."
The Sedmo rose again, fresh unit, pristine armor.
Xiu rolled her shoulders, grinning. "Alright."
The robot charged.
Xiu stepped in.
One punch.
The impact echoed like a cannon. The Sedmo flew backward, skidding, tearing trenches through the floor.
It stood.
Xiu was already there.
Second punch.
The robot slammed down again.
It rose—slower.
Third. Fourth. Fifth.
Each strike shorter. Heavier.
On the sixth attempt to stand, the Sedmo's leg buckled. It collapsed and stayed down.
Xiu dusted her knuckles. "Told you."
Marza's tone was approving. "Amazon."
Jah Jah whistled. "That was... brutal."
Silence.
"Next," Marza said, and for the first time, her voice hesitated, "Plum."
Plum stepped forward.
The Sedmo powered up, larger than the others, plates overlapping like armor scales.
It struck.
Plum dodged, barely.
She tried to punch, nothing.
Tried to lift, too heavy.
Roxer frowned. "Bad matchup."
Einstera murmured, "She doesn't have my speed."
Xiu shook her head and chuckled. "Or my strength."
The Sedmo connected.
A full-force blow.
Plum's body shattered against the simulation wall, bone snapping, form crumpling, the impact ringing the arena.
Gasps.
Einstera "Plum!"
Roxer took a step forward. "Babe!"
Marza barked, "Medical team, now! Scytherians are only."
"Wait," Einstera shouted.
Plum moved.
Cracks sealed. Bones knit. Flesh reformed.
She rose, slow and steady.
Marza stared. "...Impossible. Since when can Scytherians regenerate like that?"
Plum opened her hand.
Claws extended, large, curved, glowing.
Red Abi pulsed along their edges.
Marza's eyes widened. "Red Abi."
Roxer's jaw clenched. "Where the hell did she get red abi from, that's literally unheard of?"
Einstera whispered, "Red Abi, did she get this from Burajiru?"
Roxer's face darkened. "So Burajiru is behind her getting this power. I received information from some of my student informants but it was all speculation but I know for sure Scytherians don't have red abi. On top of that I fought him in the school a few months ago and he doesn't have abi so how does Plum have this power, how did she de-age from a poor apatite."
A snarl. "I'll break his face and make him tells me."
Plum didn't hear him.
She launched.
Not running, pouncing.
She tore into the Sedmo with surgical fury, carving joints, peeling armor, ripping core lines free.
She bounced off its frame, reappeared at impossible angles, claws singing through steel.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a dismantling.
In seconds, the Sedmo collapsed into shredded metal.
Silence.
Plum landed, breathing steady.
Finally.
"Roxer," Marza said.
The last Sedmo activated.
Roxer stepped onto the field, rolling his wrist. "You should be honored," he said calmly. "Powering up like you have a chance."
The robot drew back its fist.
Roxer mirrored it.
"Ten tons of pressure," he said softly. "Release."
He punched.
The shockwave impaled the Sedmo from the inside out, armor exploding, frame collapsing into fragments that clattered across the floor.
No cheers.
Just awe.
Even Plum stared.
Marza exhaled once. "All candidates... advance."
And somewhere beyond the walls, something listened.