Ascending the tower with my SSS class

Uriel, Miguel, and the other two Paladins of Soliel were the only ones standing on a platform, with the Oracle as witness to the battles that were about to take place.

At the same time, Uriel was able to ask for the names of his future companions: the man was called Gabriel, and the woman was named Althea. The first time he heard them, he scratched his head; honestly, he felt like there was a pattern in those names.

In this situation, Uriel was supposed to be the one tested in combat, but Althea and Miguel couldn’t come to an agreement and decided to settle who would conduct the trial through a fight. He didn’t think it was a bad idea, to be honest; now he would be able to see each of their capabilities.

Even so, he was still surprised by their eagerness for battle.

Both Miguel and Althea wore golden armor; however, they couldn’t have been more different from one another. On one hand, Miguel’s armor, while fairly simple, still looked imposing, with a sun adorning his chest.

Althea’s, however, stood out even more despite being the same color and tone; its cadaverous decorations and images of screaming ghostly faces, along with the helmet that covered her entire face, gave her a terrifying appearance.

She wasn’t particularly tall—probably around five foot three—but with the armor on, she stood about the same height as Uriel.

To Uriel, she looked less like a warrior and more like a warlord.

"They’re about to start."

Gabriel pulled him out of his trance. Uriel focused on the two of them and saw that he was right—they were about to make a move.

Miguel summoned two weapons. One was a sword with a strange shape: it was quite long, and the tip curved in an odd way, almost appearing flat. In his left arm, a golden spear materialized; it was the first time Uriel had seen someone fight with two weapons at the same time.

Althea, on the other hand, materialized a greatsword whose blade shone.

What the hell? Why did these people have such good equipment? That was all Uriel could think. He, at best, had a small steel mace and a shield—though one of them had already been lost forever.

The first to make a move, surprisingly, was Miguel. Uriel hadn’t expected it; honestly, when talking to him, he seemed like the kind of person who wouldn’t rush headfirst at his opponent. Yet he was proving otherwise.

Althea—the one Uriel expected to lead the attack—was forced onto the defensive. Miguel’s spear moved swiftly through every opening in her guard.

The attacks struck her armor, producing strange sounds. When Miguel pulled back his spear, holes appeared in Althea’s armor.

Uriel didn’t understand how, but Miguel’s spear seemed to completely ignore his opponent’s armor. For now, Althea was falling far behind.

But then, in an instant, Althea’s sword began to glow far brighter than before—almost too bright. She moved her hands quickly and unleashed a slash.

It was strange: she was clearly out of range to hit Miguel, yet she attacked anyway. But Miguel’s reaction was even stranger to Uriel—he dodged.

However, Uriel quickly understood why Miguel had been so cautious: a fierce energy shot forward. Miguel finally used his right-hand sword, perfectly clashing with Althea’s attack and deflecting it toward one of the walls.

A powerful explosion followed, leaving behind the mark of a horizontal cut.

Uriel knew it—if one of those attacks hit him, he would be in serious trouble.

This time it was Althea’s turn, taking advantage of the small opening Miguel had given her.

She charged forward with her sword raised, like a furious beast. She wanted to end the fight in a single strike, if possible.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

Miguel was ready to react. His sword collided directly with Althea’s, deflecting it once more to the side along with the beam of light it released.

Miguel’s spear thrust forward mercilessly, aiming to pierce Althea’s chest.

Wait... this wasn’t a friendly duel. Why did these two seem like they were trying to kill each other?

Uriel watched everything unfold, astonished by the level of violence in what was supposed to be a friendly match.

With that, Althea should have been finished; however, her next move surprised him. She deliberately let go of her sword and instead threw a punch at the side of the spear.

The force of the impact left Uriel stunned. The moment Althea’s fist collided with the spear, it was sent flying out of Miguel’s hand. Somehow, the blow was powerful enough to knock it away.

Althea didn’t stop. A second punch was aimed at Miguel, who had lost his balance—but it only took a second for him to recover his stance. Instead of retreating, he stepped in, dodged the punch, and delivered a slash with his sword, which struck Althea’s armor. However, it failed to cut through; the blade couldn’t penetrate her defense like the spear had, so the attack amounted to nothing.

Even so, both of them halted their attacks.

Uriel was relieved that they had; he had begun to worry that they had actually started some kind of death match without telling anyone.

Miguel spoke with his usual calm, cheerful expression.

"Well, it looks like I’ll be the one testing Uriel." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Althea, on the other hand, didn’t respond immediately. Uriel could bet she was a bit irritated.

"Hahhh... whatever. Anyway, I was a bit closer this time than the other times."

Miguel nodded as he went to retrieve his spear.

"That’s true, not bad at all. In fact, you’ve improved quite a bit; I still remember when you couldn’t even get close to me."

Althea’s armor disappeared, leaving behind her terrifying figure and revealing the young beauty with green eyes beneath.

"Just wait. In a couple more fights, I’ll have you begging on the ground."

Miguel simply laughed. Uriel sometimes suspected that, in a way, he did it on purpose to irritate others, but he wasn’t sure—maybe that was just how he was.

"I look forward to it. It’s always good for the Paladins of Soliel to grow stronger."