I’ll be the Red Ranger
Chapter 95 – Arena 12

- Oliver -

A piercing alarm sounded in the arena when he was just a few meters from the mecha. Oliver stopped abruptly, confused about what had happened. The metallic giant in front of him had completely frozen. Still, under the adrenaline rush, he hadn't noticed a crucial detail: the position of the mecha's left arm. It was mere centimeters away from hitting the boy when the match was interrupted.

‘I would have been hit,’ Oliver thought, feeling a chill run down his spine at the thought of what could have happened.

"IMPRESSIVE!" the commentator's shout echoed, snapping Oliver out of his thoughts. "I completely missed my prediction. The champion of this arena is Oliver Nameless. Who would have thought we have a Nameless automatically advancing to the second phase!"

Oliver looked around, still not understanding what had happened; it hadn't sunk in yet.

He only noticed that some soldiers were starting to enter the area; some went straight to the mechas, helping the pilots out of their cabins, while others approached the boy.

"You need to exit through that door. Nice match," one of the soldiers pointed to the arena's exit.

Still dazed, Oliver began to walk in the indicated direction. In the distance, he heard the sound of the mecha's pneumatic doors opening and saw an officer emerging from inside the machine. It was the pilot he had fought against. Despite the helmet hiding his features, he didn't seem much older than Oliver.

The pilot came out supported by another soldier. As Oliver walked slowly, observing the arena, the pilot passed by his side. "Good fight, kid. Great shot on the right arm."

"Thank you," Oliver replied, surprised by the compliment.

As soon as he entered the corridor after exiting the arena, the boy turned his attention to the holograms on his gauntlet that showed the last minutes of the match.

"Let's go! A brief recap of this last stage while the recruits of the next group are arriving," the commentator explained.

The camera presented a top-down view of the arena, showing each zone. As he had explained, only four people remained in the arena. Each was face-to-face with the mecha they were about to confront—an Earthbreaker.

The camera cut to present Sophie Laurent's perspective. Oliver didn't know the girl's boon, but she seemed to have some ability related to metal manipulation, as her hands were enveloped in a silver metal shaped like scythes.

As soon as the round began, Sophie advanced toward the back of the mecha. However, when she tried to slide underneath it, one of the giant's hands came down sideways. She was fast but not quick enough to dodge completely. The impact threw her against the wall of the combat zone.

‘That pilot took the girl much more seriously,’ Oliver noted. He wondered if the fact that he didn't have a visible combat boon made others underestimate him.

"What a pity! Sophie was unlucky. The pilot anticipated that someone might use speed to try to pass between the mecha's legs," the commentator explained.

The camera then switched to Max Cruz, who had grown gigantic, almost to the same height as the Mecha, but lost all his speed advantage. In the mecha's first attack, the boy could barely defend himself and was knocked down.

After that, Max tried to grab the maecha's hands, which promptly attacked him with its legs. He even attempted to shrink abruptly to dodge, but it was too late. His body was thrown against the wall, and after that, it only took two more attacks from the Mecha to faint and be removed from the arena.

Finally, it was Cale Thorn's turn, the boy who controlled insects. Unlike the others, he didn't try to run toward the Mecha. Swarms upon swarms kept coming out from within his clothes.

The camera inside the pilot's cabin showed his concern as thousands of flies and other small insects began to cover the mecha's cameras. The pilot maneuvered the mecha to remove the insects but with no luck.

Meanwhile, Cale began controlling some centipedes to climb the mecha's legs slowly and gradually restrict its movements.

"This was the boy's mistake that led to the end of the match," the commentator explained.

Inside the cabin, the pilot could be seen giving up on using the cameras to fight and switching to radar. Instead of trying to attack the opponent, he used the radar to locate the pillar. Without a way to combat the boy, he moved the robot directly toward his objective.

Cale's expression showed his surprise upon seeing the Earthbreaker running in his direction. Just a few meters away, he decided to jump to dodge the mecha, thinking he was the target of the attack. But his assumption was wrong; the mecha went straight and touched the Defense Pillar, ending the match.

Cale remained wide-eyed, surprised by the pilot's action and unable to understand how he had discovered where to move since his cameras were obscured. Unfortunately, he didn't know this version of the mecha well and wasn't aware that they came with radars.

His elimination occurred at the exact moment when Oliver would have been hit by his opponent, crowning him the champion of his arena.

"What luck," Oliver was surprised at how his arena had concluded. Even so, he was pretty happy; all this had been a combination of effort, planning, and the right amount of luck.

As he walked back to the dormitory, Oliver noticed new notifications. As soon as he lowered his head to see what he had received, his vision darkened, and his armor quickly dissipated.

The boy leaned against the wall on the third floor to stay upright. Even so, he could feel himself getting worse; he felt like vomiting, and his vision was blurry, as if everything around him was spinning.

‘What's happening?’ Oliver thought, worried.

"Let me help you."

The boy heard someone speaking; he didn't need to ask who it was. He had heard that voice hundreds of times.

"Thanks, Kath," Oliver extended one of his hands for the girl to help him up.

"First time experiencing Energy exhaustion?" Katherine asked.

"Yes, I never imagined it would be so bad," the boy explained.

“There’s always a first time. You’re lucky to have a lot of energy, so you’ve never had to suffer this until now,” she said, assisting him in taking the next step.

Katherine accompanied him back to the dormitory. He sat on the bed, with Isabela and Katherine watching him closely.

"Take this; it'll help," Isabela handed over some strange substance.

Oliver read the front of the package: "EnerGelee."

Upon opening it, he found an orange liquid with an almost battery-acid taste.

"It's one of the best supplements for energy recovery; I take it all the time," Isabela explained happily.

"I'm heading up; it's my turn," Katherine said, hurriedly leaving the dormitory.

Oliver was slightly worried about his friend, wondering if she'd find her arena, especially in a rush.

"Which arena is hers?" Oliver asked Isabela, who was once again glued to one of the holograms on her gauntlet.

"Arena 12. There are still several recruits missing; she has plenty of time," Isabela explained.

Oliver nodded, returning his attention to the notifications before watching the exam broadcast.

| The Last Man Standing

| Reward: +1 Constitution

| Be the last one remaining in Tower Defense

| ■■■■■

| Destroy a Mecha

"Shit. I didn't get the other achievement," Oliver thought. "Increasing a stat isn't as good as evolving a boon, but I'll take it."

The boy saw a notification from Athena upon hearing his thoughts.

| ><

He let out a slight laugh before viewing his total status.

| Stats

| Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]

| Agility: 19 [Knight] [Buy for 200 Exp]

| Constitution: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]

| Energy: 16 [Knight] [Buy for 1600 Exp]

Oliver closed his notifications and tables, switching his hologram to watch Arena 12. As soon as he finished setting it up, he could already hear the commentator shouting.

"What an arena we have here! We have two royals participating today. Do you know what the chances of that are?" the commentator asked. "Actually, they're quite high; my assistants just informed me that this semester, we've had four royals entering the Academy. Even so, two of them are in the same arena simultaneously."

The camera, which had previously shown the entire arena, focused on Katherine's face.

"On one side, we have Katherine York, the third heir of Mars," the commentator explained.

Immediately after, the camera cuts to present a boy. He looked young, but his gaze, hidden behind his visor, shone with a cold intensity, radiating determination. His angular face, marked by scars, was a sign of how much he had trained and sacrificed. His short, wavy hair seemed a vestige of humanity, contrasting with the calculated coldness of his armor.

Unlike many other recruits, his Artificial Ranger Armor seemed to fit him perfectly. Every line of the armor appeared designed to maximize his lethal efficiency. Sharp shoulder pads and a stylized helmet that looked more like a battle crown made him resemble a warrior prince.

"And on the other side, we have Mordred Lot, the first heir of Enceladus."