The objective of part one of the exam was an obstacle course, and one of the many obstacles had landed in front of Jake and a few other exam takers. But they weren't the only ones in a pickle. Other applicants that entered through different entrances were facing their own blockades.
Every second that passed inside the maze set in how dangerous and dire the exam truly was. After the giant robot had successfully defeated the woman that was able to challenge it, the metal machine turned its attention back to the other applicants in its presence. It scanned each of them, from the scarred man shaking in fear right in front of it to Jake, who was all the way behind the pack.
In all, there were 10 applicants, including Jake, that the robot had scanned. But they weren't the only ones caught by the machine's sensors. The giant metal man scanned each of their weapons. With each one it scanned, it analyzed that they were rental weapons. It was coming up with scenarios on how to deal with each one, but when it landed on Jake's katana, it had no information on it. Every time it scanned the sword, the info came back negative. It wasn't a rental weapon; it knew that much. But no info was coming up on the katana. It was an anomaly, a problem that needed to be dealt with immediately.
The giant robot charged toward Jake's position, and fast. The boy saw the machine barreling towards him like a rocket. All others that stood in the way of Jake and the machine either moved out of the way or were moved forcefully. Jake was nervous, but he took a slightly crouched stance, getting ready for battle. He grabbed his katana's hilt, and the robot halted its progression. It stopped about two feet in front of Jake. It had no data on Jake's combat ability and no data on his blade, so it was wary. Jake's actions had the machine waiting and watching his every move. They both just stood where they were, staring each other down, neither of them making the first move.
The other applicants who managed to get out of the machine's way decided to take advantage of the situation and continue on deeper into the maze. And unlike the last time with the woman, the robot did not retaliate against them. They ran for dear life, no different than the slum kids ran away when the Sullivans had arrived back home. And just like those slum kids, they left Jake behind to face the danger alone.
Jake was sweating, his mind racing. What should I do? Should I fight? Can I win? Doubt locked Jake where he was. He made no action, but the robot, still observing the entire encounter, was about to strike. The machine could see the beads of sweat falling down Jake's face. It could see how unsure his eyes were. It analyzed his body language. All this was calculated, and the machine knew the boy was not experienced; he was afraid, unsure of himself.
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The machine swung its pipe at Jake. The boy saw it coming, but he reacted too slow. He went to pull the sword out, but he paused, and that hesitation was a miscalculation on his part. It was done. The boy's journey came to an end before it had even gotten started… or had it?
A loud "yahoooooo" could be heard, then the slashing of a sword followed. The sword slash was a downwards sword slash that cut the arm off the robot used to hold its metal pipe. As the metal appendage went flying and the machine reeled back, a figure landed in front of Jake. The person's back was to him, but he could see they were a little bit taller than him, and they had jet black spiky hair.
The figure that saved Jake and landed in front of him was the spiky haired kid with blue eyes who was the first out of anyone to enter the maze.
"Ha ha ha! I got you, chrome dome," he said. "You should have been expecting attacks from on high," the young man snickered. "Come, you bucket of bolts, make this fun for me."
The spiky haired kid pointed his sword towards the machine, then took a battle stance. The robot didn't move at first; it was analyzing the situation the way it was made to do. After a moment, it spoke with the same automated voice it did before.
"Analysis complete. Skipping to level six," the announcement came.
"Oh, level six! How fun," the spiky haired young man said. Then he rushed the machine, and in turn, the machine rushed him.
The young man swung his sword at the robot, but it dodged the attack. The robot jumped high in the air, then bounced off the walls back down. It landed behind spiky hair, then tried to kick him, but the kid was just as fast as the robot. He jumped, dodging the kick without even having to look, as he evaded the attack, he swung the blade backwards. But the robot wasn't underestimating him; the large machine pulled itself back, dodging the strike but only barely.
The robot's next action was to spin, then kick the young man that was still hovering in the air because there was no way to dodge with his feet off the ground. Spiky hair used his rental sword to block the blow. The robot's kick cracked the rental blade and sent the young man flying backwards, but the young man landed with grace. He shot a quick glance at his sword's blade. He acknowledged the damage dealt to the sword wasn't joking around anymore. His attitude seemed to be so lax a moment ago, but at this current moment, he was serious.
The robot rushed towards him even faster than when it ran at Jake. As the machine passed the still downed body of the woman it defeated earlier, it swiped her rental weapon, taking the sword for itself as it approached.
It spoke again in that automated voice, switching to level eight. The spiky haired man just told the machine to bring it on. As they clashed blades, Jake was captivated by the battle before him. The young man didn't seem much older than himself, yet he was squaring off with this machine like it was nothing. He was doing a thousand times better than the woman, who was the only one out of all the applicants that was present to even hit the machine. And he was doing a million times better than what Jake could do, which was nothing.
But it wasn't all his fault. Even though his reaction to the robot's incoming attack was delayed, he did intend to react. He was going to unsheathe the sword just like he did that night. But when he went to do so, he stopped. But that stop wasn't out of hesitation or fear; it was because he couldn't do it. When he tried to unsheathe the katana, he couldn't do it, and that made him freeze.
As the spiky haired savior and the robotic obstacle kept fighting, a pit started to form in Jake's stomach. As the realization hit him, the one thing that was keeping himself and his mother from not being killed was the fact that Jake, Jake himself and him alone, was the only person that could unsheathe the katana. And now, at this very moment, he couldn't even do that.