"By the way," Juniper began.


    Every trainee snapped their head up, their minds still buzzing from the shocking disy. They had lost to a young girl. The shame was immense.


    "I''m a student at Era University," Juniper said casually, dusting off her hands. "Ebony Fox was our chief instructor for the training camp, and I just learned a bit of shooting from her over a few days."


    Learned a bit? Over a few days? And she could shoot like that? Were her words just another, more creative way to insult them?


    "So..." Juniper raised an eyebrow, her cold gaze sweeping over the humbled men. "You can''t even beat me, and you dare to question Ebony Fox?"


    A deep red blush crept up the necks of every trainee. Their pride had been utterly crushed. They had no rebuttal; she was right. They had lost in both hand-to-handbat and marksmanship. The humiliation was absolute.


    "It really makes you wonder if you''re in the right ce," Juniper continued, ignoring their crestfallen expressions. "A boot camp for new recruits might be more your speed."


    The trainees lowered their heads, wishing the ground would swallow them whole. With that final, cutting remark, Juniper returned to her sister''s side.


    "Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Ebony Fox asked, gently wiping Juniper''s hands with a tissue.


    Shanley had wanted to be the one to fuss over her, but Ebony Fox beat him to it, leaving him standing awkwardly to the side.


    "Self-taught," Juniper mumbled.


    "Self-taught?" Ebony Fox''s voice rose in disbelief.


    "Yeah," Juniper confirmed with a nod. "When I was little and living with Grandpa at the monastery, my seniors always took me hunting in the mountains. I just sort of... picked it up."


    Ebony Fox''s lips twitched. That was certainly one way to put it. She knew her sister was brilliant, but this was on another level.


    "You must be tired," Ebony Fox said, ncing at the trainees in the distance. "Sit here and rest. I''m going to deal with them."


    The once-arrogant soldiers now


    stood with their heads bowed,


    unable to meet her gaze. They finally understood why the military had gone to such lengths to bring her here.


    "You lost," Ebony Fox''s voice was like ice as she stood before them, hands sped


    behind her back. "And when you lose, you face punishment."


    The trainees'' hearts lurched. A terrible feeling washed over them.


    "Starting now, two hundred pull-ups each," Ebony Foxmanded, her tone sharp


    and unforgiving. "No dinner until you''re finished."


    Two hundred? Would they even be alive when they were done?


    "Begin!"


    "... Yes, instructor."


    Not daring to argue, the trainees trudged over to the pull-up bars, their faces masks of impending agony.


    ...


    "Have some water." Shanley opened a bottle and held it to Juniper''s lips, his voice a low, maic hum. "Your shooting style is very special, and very deadly."


    "Special?" Juniper nced at him, a flicker of interest in her eyes. "Don''t tell me you''ve seen a style simr to mine before?"


    Her technique was one of a kind.


    There couldn''t be a simr one.


    Besides, only the old geezer who led


    Sigma Network had ever


    faced it


    head-on. No one else should have


    had the chance to see it.


    At her question, Shanley''s gaze turned cold for a fleeting moment. He had seen it, of course. He''d almost lost his fife fighting The memory was seared into his mind.


    enecter