Absolutely. The meeting is limited strictly to the squad leaders, with no other squad members or representatives present.
Everything was normal in the conference room, as it should have been, as it always was supposed to be.
Except for the two shades of unnaturally brilliant white hair and the royal blue uniforms.
The leaders of the Royal Class Squads were present.
Squad One's leader, Ethan Azeroth, sat at one end of the conference table, while his sister, Rayln Azeroth, leader of Squad Two, occupied the seat beside him. Kagami Ryuzen, leader of Squad Three, was present as well.
And representing Squad Four was Nathaniel.
Normally, either Ria or George would have been chosen to attend. Ria held the distinction of being the squad's lone noble, while George was its official team leader. However, due to certain obligations that had pulled both of them away from today's responsibilities, the matter had ultimately fallen to Nathaniel.
Which was how he found himself sitting among the leaders of the Royal Class squads.
The reason for today's meeting was a recent announcement, or rather, a summons, passed directly down to the squad leaders through their respective overseers.
A grand bout between the squads.
The winner would determine which squad received certain benefits being offered by the higher-ups, making the upcoming competition considerably more important than an ordinary exhibition match.
Nathaniel's eyes slowly crossed the room as he observed the other leaders, eventually settling on the man who carried the title of the strongest of their generation.
Ethan Azeroth.
Son of the Empress herself.
Ethan stood a few inches shorter than Nathaniel, measuring around 180 centimeters compared to Nathaniel's 190. Despite the difference in height, his muscular frame gave him a commanding presence that was difficult to ignore.
His white hair framed both sides of his head, shaggy and almost gravity-defying in its quality. There was something strangely familiar about it, reminding Nathaniel of Erementaru's own unusual hair.
His pale gray eyes were partially obscured behind sleek, black, semi-rimmed sunglasses with rectangular frames.
Like the others of Royal Class status, Ethan wore a premium royal blue combat undersuit, accompanied by additional combat gear that reinforced the regal authority of his position. Long white gauntlets covered both of his arms completely, their pristine appearance contrasting sharply with the darker portions of his uniform.
His sister, Rayln Azeroth, leader of Squad Two, was dressed in a similar royal blue combat undersuit. Her equipment was noticeably heavier, however, with larger arm guards and greaves containing some form of condensed crystal within them.
Unlike her brother, Rayln wore no glasses.
Her long white hair fell around her shoulders as she sat with a composed expression, her height noticeably shorter than both Ethan and Nathaniel at roughly 169 centimeters.
Kagami Ryuzen remained largely as Nathaniel remembered him, his presence carrying the quiet weight expected of Squad Three's leader.
Alyssa was similarly familiar.
Four squads.
Four leaders.
And now, all of them were gathered around the same table.
Nathaniel couldn't help thinking about just how absurdly strong the Azeroth bloodline was.
Among the noble houses, the Azeroths possessed one of the stronger and more versatile augment lineages. Most, if not all, members of the family manifested some form of primary Esper-type ability, with even the weakest among the noble houses generally falling no lower than low A-rank.
And that was without accounting for their secondary augments.
Those were unique to the individual, meaning that even within the same bloodline, an Azeroth could possess an entirely different set of abilities from another.
It was maddening, honestly, just how gifted some of the noble lines were genetically.
Though Nathaniel could hardly complain.
Why would the pot call the kettle black?
He was sitting on a pile of accumulated tricks himself.
The difference was that nobody in this room knew about them.
Nathaniel's attention drifted toward Rayln's equipment.
A soft turquoise glow permeated the cores embedded within her gauntlets and greaves. He could tell immediately what they were.
Batteries.
Not conventional ones either.
They were saturated with her own Uratsu, allowing her to store and presumably release energy through her equipment when needed.
He could determine that much without resorting to Meta Vision, his modified Rainbow Mantis Shrimp Sight. His ordinary senses were already enough to pick up the difference, particularly with his enhanced Sense stat.
His gaze briefly traveled over Rayln's physique.
Her build was well toned, compact muscle distributed across her frame without excessive bulk. The greatest concentration of development appeared around her thighs and hips, suggesting that her physical conditioning emphasized lower-body power, stability, and mobility.
Interesting.
Nathaniel's attention eventually shifted toward Kagami.
She was calm today.
That alone was somewhat unusual.
Kagami's personality tended to be considerably more abrasive, especially when her pride was involved. Yet today, that pride seemed to have been deliberately put aside. She appeared almost cowed, maintaining a controlled expression as she listened to the discussion.
Nathaniel wasn't sure whether that was because of the circumstances or simply because she understood the weight of having every squad leader gathered together.
Then there was Alyssa.
She was wearing much the same expression, though Nathaniel caught her purple eyes meeting his for a brief moment.
A small acknowledgment passed between them.
Nothing more.
Still, Nathaniel could tell immediately that she had changed since their last major confrontation.
She was stronger.
Considerably so.
Whatever she had done since the battle involving Magnum and Polaris, her overall Uratsu potency had increased.
Nathaniel leaned back slightly.
The entire situation felt rather biased.
From what he understood, there was a distinct power gap between Squads One and Two and the remaining squads.
Both were composed entirely of nobles, meaning their members possessed complex augments, specialized bloodline abilities, or even dual-type augments.
Their squad ratings reflected that disparity.
Squads One and Two were positioned within the higher second tier of S-rank, S2.
Most of the other squads were sitting around the upper end of A3.
The difference wasn't subtle.
As a rough approximation, Nathaniel viewed the overall progression as something closer to:
A3 → S1 → S2.
Not every individual followed that progression, of course.
There were exceptions.
Kagami was one.
Alyssa was another.
And, inconveniently, Nathaniel himself belonged on that list.
He had never seen Kagami truly go all out during their initial confrontation, so he couldn't confidently determine her actual ceiling.
Alyssa's increase in Uratsu potency only made the comparison even more difficult.
Squad Four, meanwhile, had only recently achieved an A3 rating following the Battle of Kephra.
Strong enough to participate.
Not strong enough to make the arrangement feel particularly fair.
Nathaniel understood why the higher-ups had arranged the bout regardless. Perhaps the disparity was intentional. Perhaps the benefits were meant to give the lower-ranked squads something worth fighting for.
Or perhaps the higher-ups simply wanted to see what would happen when these particular people were placed against one another.
Either way, Nathaniel had one rather significant problem.
He couldn't exactly fight the way he normally did.
Not here.
Not in front of these people.
His arsenal had accumulated far too many abilities, techniques, combinations, and tricks for him to casually reveal everything he had.
He preferred being discrete.
The less people knew about him, the better.
Unfortunately, that meant that if this bout actually happened, Nathaniel would have to participate while deliberately keeping a considerable portion of his arsenal hidden.
He stared across the table at the Azeroth siblings.
That was going to be annoying.
What was certain was that this event had already become one of the most talked-about subjects across the entire Azeran Empire.
The announcement had spread far beyond the Knight Association.
In addition to the squads represented in the conference room, several squads from friendly regions would be participating as well, bringing the total to ten teams, each consisting of five or six members.
Whatever the higher-ups intended to accomplish with the tournament, it was going to be enormous.
Once the talks finally concluded, Nathaniel rose from his seat and began making his way out.
He hadn't gotten far when he noticed someone approaching from behind.
Rayln Azeroth.
She stopped beside him, her expression carrying the same composed authority she had maintained throughout the meeting.
"You're Squad Four's representative, right?"
Nathaniel turned toward her.
"Yes, Your Highness."
His tone was humble, deliberately so. First impressions mattered, particularly when dealing with members of the Imperial family.
Her steel-gray eyes met his silver ones.
"Name and rank?"
"Nathaniel Alderman. Rank A3."
Technically, it was the truth.
His official rating reflected what he could demonstrate using only Kinetic Muscle and Hellcharge, the two augments already known to the Knight Association.
His recent training with Arete and Erementaru had pushed his actual capabilities considerably further, but Squad Four's official power assessment following the Kephra operation had been based on what he had publicly demonstrated.
Rayln stared at him for a moment.
"Weak."
The word came so casually that Nathaniel almost wondered if he'd heard her correctly.
Then her eyes ignited turquoise.
The cores embedded within her gauntlets and greaves flared simultaneously.
Nathaniel's expression barely changed.
His eyes shifted.
Silver.
Then cyan.
Then orange.
Rayln moved.
The attack came with enough force to make the air snap.
Yet instead of being thrown backward by the telekinetic force that accompanied her strike, Nathaniel's armored fist met hers head-on.
BOOM.
The floor beneath them groaned.
Nathaniel hadn't relied solely on his physical strength.
The moment Rayln's Esper ability attempted to impose itself upon him, he had activated a concealed application of Authority [Lv. 15], forcing his influence through the telekinetic pressure and bypassing the ability's attempt to control his movement.
His eyes narrowed.
Interesting.
Even without Meta Vision, he could feel the function of the artifact cores.
Each one was connected to Rayln's own Uratsu.
They weren't merely decorative equipment.
They were storage units.
Batteries.
She was accumulating excess Uratsu within them, then funneling that stored energy back through herself like a generator, amplifying both her physical attributes and her Esper abilities.
Nathaniel understood the mechanism almost immediately.
He tightened his grip.
With a sharp motion, he pulled the cores loose from their housings.
But he didn't remove them entirely.
He kept them connected to their sockets, holding them in place with his hand.
Rayln's eyes widened slightly.
Nathaniel's mood had soured.
"Your Highness."
His voice remained controlled.
"With all due respect, it would be wise to treat fellow knights of the Empire with respect."
His eyes remained fixed on hers.
"Even you are bound by the code of conduct."
As he spoke, Nathaniel released a deliberately weak field of influence.
The pressure settled over Rayln.
Her body suddenly felt heavy.
Not enough to injure her.
Not enough to restrain her.
Just enough to make the difference clear.
Then the field vanished.
Rayln staggered backward half a step, catching herself as she glared at him.
Nathaniel released the cores and allowed them to settle back into their housings.
His expression remained calm.
You've got a superiority complex, you high-horse royal.
He didn't say it aloud.
He didn't need to.
Across the room, Ethan had watched the entire exchange.
The psychic pressure that had filled the area moments ago slowly dissipated.
His gaze remained fixed on Nathaniel.
So this was Nathaniel Alderman.
Squad Four's representative.
Officially an A3.
Yet the man had just resisted Rayln's telekinetic assault, disrupted the amplification system built into her equipment, and forced her backward without displaying anything close to his full strength.
Ethan's expression remained unreadable behind his sunglasses.
That's not A3.
His assessment of Nathaniel shifted immediately.
The difference wasn't simply physical strength.
It was efficiency.
Nathaniel had identified the function of Rayln's equipment almost instantly. He had countered her Esper pressure without exposing the full nature of his own ability, physically stopped her attack, and then applied another unknown technique that had temporarily increased the weight pressing against her body.
And he had done all of that while deliberately holding back.
Ethan's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
He's S2.
Not officially.
Not according to the Association's records.
But Ethan had enough experience to distinguish between someone punching above their rank and someone whose recorded rank simply hadn't caught up with them yet.
Nathaniel belonged in the S2 bracket.
At the very least, his combat capability had reached that level.
Perhaps even more importantly, he was hiding something.
Ethan could sense it.
The way Nathaniel moved, the restraint in his attacks, the fact that he immediately returned to a neutral stance rather than capitalizing on Rayln's stagger.
That wasn't the behavior of an A3 knight suddenly overwhelmed by a superior opponent.
It was someone carefully controlling how much of himself he allowed another person to see.
Interesting.
The Knight Association had been watching Nathaniel's growth for some time.
But seeing it firsthand was different.
The fastest-growing knight in Azeran.
A man whose official rank no longer seemed to tell the entire story.
And now Ethan had a much more accurate personal assessment.
Nathaniel Alderman.
Combat classification: S2.
At least in Ethan's mind.
Then Ethan noticed Nathaniel walking toward his sister.
Nathaniel extended an arm toward Rayln.
An offer to help her regain her balance.
Rayln looked at the outstretched hand.
Then she looked at him.
Her expression could have killed a lesser man.
Nathaniel simply waited.
The tournament hadn't even started yet.
And already, Squad Four had made its presence known.