Today was the 16th of September, the day before the X-Warrior Championship tournament begins, and I was currently training by myself in one of the facilities in the X-Warrior Zone. And I was kinda torn...if I use my Anomaly powers in the tournament, I think I could get close to winning the whole thing...actually, if I use Tier Two, I'm guaranteed to win every round so long as my opponent isn't an Anomaly too.

But do I really want to reveal my powers? No, I don't...however, it's inevitable that I'll eventually have to do so...in which case, I'll try to avoid using them if possible, but I'm not going to rule out using them. However, Tier Two is off limits...it's my trump card, so from here on, I'm going to save it as a last resort.

Especially because Tier Three gives me so many options to work with...teleportation, switching positions with something or someone, cloning, instant crippling or decapitation, creating copies of objects or attacks, and so on. But it also has a few weaknesses that I really need to work on.

First off, it takes accurate concentration and focus to 'select' something, especially on a moving target. And once I've 'selected' something, it only stays 'selected' so long as it's in my sight. For example, if I 'select' a person and they manage to run to the side and leave my field of vision even for an instant before I can recite the activation chant, they'll be out of danger as far as my Tier Three powers are concerned.

Switching places with something is also kinda difficult...'selecting' two things, myself and a separate target, takes a really steady level of focus, so it takes a couple of seconds to activate...that's why I didn't use it during my team duel against Kilella, it was too difficult to pull off on a moving target.

Hopefully, I should be able to do it well enough by the end of this training session, I'll keep going at it for a couple more hours and then rest up for the remainder of the day.

And then there's the clones I can create by Copy-Pasting myself...creating one costs a full five percent of my XFE, but that's not the main problem...no, the clones I create are just empty shells, so I need to control their movements in addition to my own.

In other words, just by creating one clone, that's two lines of sight and hearing that I need to keep track of, two sets of movements I need to control and it only gets more complicated with the more number of clones I create. I was currently training with five clones, so I was controlling six bodies including mine. This is insanely confusing and complicated, but if I can get the hang of it, it'll be a pretty big game changer.

For now, I can confidently control upto two clones, and I doubt that I can increase that amount by tomorrow, so I'll have to limit myself to a maximum of two clones if I do opt to use my powers in the tournament. And well, if I am giving myself the option to use my powers...then I might as well aim to win the tournament, right?

Also, I had to say, sparring with my clones was really effective...it let me see where I could improve my technique on and gave me a lot more insight into my own fighting style...understanding how my attacks could be countered is a good way to avoid being countered or to know how to react when I am countered.

I've only come this far thanks to the regular training I've been doing, without it I'd have never made it to this point...just because I've got more Anomaly tricks up my sleeve now doesn't mean that I'm going to slack off on my training...and tomorrow, I'll find out if my efforts have paid off or not...

...

...

It was a few minutes to 10 AM in the morning, the next day, the X-Warrior Championship moments away from commencing...

"Hey, you look kinda nervous...you good?" I asked Katie.

We were currently in a room in the stadium with the other four students that were selected for this tournament. The only one I really recognized was Sakura, I think I'd seen the other three in some of the interschool tournaments from a few years ago, but I don't really remember much of anything about them beyond that.

"I'm fine," Replied Katie, though it wasn't very convincing.

The tournament line-up was already settled, so we knew who we'd be facing and stuff. The first two rounds were going to be held today, and the remaining four rounds, including the final, would be tomorrow.

"I still can't believe that they're letting Level Q students participate in the X-Warrior Championship," Scoffed one of the Level A students, a tall guy with short curly black hair and a bad-tempered looking face.

The two Level K students voiced their agreement with looks of disapproval directed at Katie and I.

"Hey, now, come on, we're all fellow students here, no need to be so hostile," Remarked Sakura, trying to ease the tensions, but they just ignored her.

"Selecting Level Q students is one thing, but I still can't believe that they actually selected a freaking Dud for this tournament, what a joke," Scoffed one of the Level K students, a girl with short blonde hair and pale skin.

Well, whatever, I'll just prove them all wrong by finishing in a higher position in the tournament, should be easy. Also, did they not see the whole thing where I proved that those asshole X-Warriors tried to frame me and stuff? Pretty sure that was trending for a while.

"Heh, my second round fight might be against him, assuming the little Dud can make it past the first round," Chimed in the other Level K student, a girl with brown hair tied in shortish ringlets and a blue tattoo of a teardrop below her left eye.

"And that's assuming that YOU can make it past the first round yourself," I replied dryly.

"Huh, excuse me? Big words from a Dud...you have no idea who you're talking to, do you? I'm widely regarded as the most talented Prodigy in the Academy right now, you don't stand a chance against me," She laughed confidently.

"Oh...never heard of you...whatever your name is," I responded in a mockingly polite tone.

"You little shit...," She growled angrily.

Well, guess I might as well check what her name is...not that I care, but I suppose I'm curious enough to give it a quick look...I opened the copy of the tournament brackets I'd received and looked at the first round match-ups. She said that I'd be facing her if I made it past the first round, so let's see...

Okay, my match is the seventeenth of round one...and if I win that, in the second round I'll be fighting whoever wins the eighteenth match of round one. Ah, here it is...

"Sorry if I offended you, Miss...Donald Wilson."

"Wha-...that's obviously a guy's name, you fucking idiot, that's not my name!" She snapped, as Sakura stifled a laugh and covered it up with a cough.

"Hey, come on, Jane, don't let the Dud provoke you, it makes you look easy to bait," Muttered the other Level K girl, calming her down.

Right, so her real name is Jane Blairs, I didn't think that such a dumb joke would trigger her so much. I hope I do get to fight her in the second round, she seems like she'd be fun to toy with, the type that gets angrier and angrier the longer the fight goes on.

You know, since most of my classmates are relatively nice to me and treat me normally, I might have kinda forgotten about the fact that most Prodigies are high and mighty jerks. Man, I really lucked out and got a good batch of classmates...it'd have been a pain if more people had sided with Asshole than just Makoto, Bytra and the now-dead Misaki.

"By the way, do you know why we're in a separate waiting room to the full-fledged X-Warriors?" The other Level A student asked Sakura, "Isn't it usually all in the same room?"

"Uh...I don't know, maybe?" She replied uncertainly.

Yeah, that was my doing...I requested to Director Silva to have the students in a different waiting room, because I'd rather not have to put up with verbal abuse from every direction. I mean, there's just six people here, and half of them have been irritating me this whole time, it'd definitely be much worse in a room full of over sixty people, with nearly all of them being Prodigies.

Anyway, we were now about five minutes from the start of the tournament and it was going to be a while before my first match, but that wasn't true for all of the others...

"Hey, you sure you're okay? You're looking kinda pale," I said to Katie, nudging her side.

"I said I'm fine," She replied defiantly.

"Remind me when your match is?" I inquired slyly.

"...shut up."

Yeah, so she was going to be fighting in the very second match of the tournament...

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