Jake remained standing for only a moment, then his legs turned to jelly as he collapsed. He grabbed his shirt as he gasped for air. No matter how hard he breathed, it seemed he couldn't get enough air. "What… The… Hell… What the hell… Is happening?" He could barely get the words out between each desperate breath. What had happened, he thought. Besides maybe a scratch or two, he hadn't taken any real damage. So why did it feel like his body was on fire?
He lay crumpled on the floor, no strength left within him. Whatever was happening was beyond him. As Jake lay there on the ground, a sound over the loudspeaker came on. The familiar, loud voice of the announcer, Moon D, had come back. "Yo yo yo, ladies and gentlemen, we are now halfway through Phase 2, so you better get a move on and make sure you snag yourself some 100 points!"
The applicants around Jake were in an uproar, fighting more violently than before. Jake heard the words from the announcer, but they didn't inspire him to magically jump to his feet. But he knew he had to get a move on. He couldn't afford to fail the exam. Not now. His mother… she needed him.
Jack, still holding onto the katana, slammed it down, using it to support his weight as he struggled to get to his feet. Soon, the young man was back on his feet. He wasn't stable, his legs ached, he had to arch his back like an old man because his back was on fire, but he managed to get back to his feet. Using the sword like a cane, Jack made his way closer to the Sun brother.
He looked down, gazing at the unconscious man, then he bent his knees a little and grabbed the armband around his arm. He looked at it. The color was blue. "Blue, ugh, that means 5 points, right?" He was about to walk away till a thought crossed his mind. He bent his tired knees again. He had to go a bit lower than the first time, which felt like torture, but he managed to get it done.
While kneeling down, Jake rummaged through the knocked-out man's pockets. From one, he pulled out four armbands, and from the other, three. What he saw were four white armbands, two more blue ones, and one red. Jake counted the total up. Now, including the one he just snagged, plus his own armband, Jake now had accumulated 30 points. "Well, that's a start," he said, raising back up. It was just as torturous going up as it did going down, but he got through it. He got to his feet, but he wasn't finished yet. He still had one brother left.
As applicants raged on around him, Jake made his way to the Moon brother. It took longer than it should have, but the boy made it to his destination, even in his current predicament. He first took the man's armband. "His was red. Cool, now I've got 40 points." He then went through both his pockets. Jake pulled more armbands from this brother than the last one. But he paused. Pulling out these armbands gave Jake pause, as each one was stained with blood. Jake's mind went back to the applicant that died when he ran away.
"Holding all of these bloody armbands confirmed that they weren't the only one… and I would have been just like them," he said softly under his breath. The thought of ending up as just another victim sent a chill down his spine. But he had to snap himself back. He had no time to waste.
Within his hands, Jake counted 15 armbands - 11 of which were white, 2 were blue, one was red, and among all of them, there was a single green worth 20 points. Altogether, Jake had accumulated 91 points. "Great, just my luck," he said to himself, chuckling. "All I need is 9 more points. I just need to beat up someone else and get 9 more." While crumpled over like an old fart, he laughed out loud during all the chaos.
But the idea of gaining the points he needed didn't scare or intimidate him. He simply stood back up, put all the armbands he had gathered into his pocket, and hobbled his way forward in search for his final points. "Just 9 more. I just need 9 more."
Elsewhere in the exam, but before Moon D's announcement, we return to the blonde-haired young man wielding the giant rental broadsword and the short purple-haired young woman. The two still locked in combat. The young man brought his sword down hard, but the girl dodged, doing backflips as she did. Seeing her dodge him effortlessly ticked him off. He charged forward, slashing. Again, she dodged. But this time, she jumped upward. The blonde-haired young man's attack missed his target but did manage to slash two random unsuspecting applicants. The two dropped to the floor, but the young man wasn't focused on them. No, he was focused on little miss acrobat.
While still in the air, the purple-haired girl kicked the young man, striking him right in the temple. The boy was surprised, but… "He didn't waste time," he immediately lifted the massive blade, swinging it upwards. "Yet again," the girl dodged it, this time by a hair. She landed on the ground, but with one hand, while doing a single-handed handstand, she spun, then kicked her opponent in the back of the head.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
This blow threw the young man off more than the first, but he pushed through it. He couldn't focus enough to lift his large weapon, so he swiped at the girl with his hand. She dodged this too, even though the attack was far from lethal.
The young man just stood there, eyeballing the 50-point girl as he regained his bearings. But even while doing so, he never once took his eyes off her.
"How strong," she thought, analyzing the battle. "Much stronger than me. If even one of his strikes had even grazed me, I'd been in real bad shape right now."
The purple-haired young woman started to walk slowly, circling around the blonde young man like a lion, or lioness, stalking her prey. But even as she did, the young man didn't take his eyes off her.
"But what he has in strength, he doesn't have in skill. He's still a noob. A very strong but still fresh and green."
She stopped walking, getting ready to use her rapier. "I need to cut his arms. If I do that, he won't have the strength left to lift his hunk of a sword. Then all I need to do is hit him in his fatal points, and he'll fall."
The girl took a stance, ready to pounce. As she did, her opponent readied his sword. In a flash, she took off towards him. As she did, the young man swung the massive blade at her with grace and no hesitation. She slid under his attack. As she slid, the young man started to look down at her, but before he could react, it was too late.
She thrusted her sword up, slashing his right arm. The young man screamed a little, then held his sword in his left hand, barreling it towards her, but he missed. The girl dodged, spinning as she did. The size and weight of the young man's sword started to pull him. If he was holding it with his right hand as well, he could stop it, but with one hand, he couldn't help that the sword was pulling him in a direction he didn't want to be.
As his sword pulled him, it exposed the young man's back, and as the girl landed behind after her dodge, she took advantage of the opportunity. She thrusted her sword again, this time piercing into the young man's right shoulder. His body tensed up; his eyes plunged. He did his best to swallow the pain.
With all his strength, still holding his blade, he spun, swinging it desperately to hit her. But as before, he hit nothing. The girl was already ducking his swing before he had been spun fully around. Once again, his sword started to pull him, leaving him wide open.
The girl smirked as she readied another attack. "Choosing a blade that big was foolish. Now it's time to suffer the consequences," she thought.
The girl thrusted her sword forward. At the angle he was in, the blade would strike his neck. Seeing this, the young man entered survival mode. He let go of his sword, let it fly away, and as the girl's sword drew closer, the young man turned his head, opening his mouth wide.
When the sword should have pierced his neck, it didn't, because the young man bit down hard on her sword, stopping its movement instantly. The girl was shocked. "The hell is he doing? He'll lose his teeth!" But that didn't happen. The young man held the sword strongly with his teeth, glaring violently at her. Then he jerked his head, pulling the girl closer to him.
As she was pulled towards him, the girl saw him gearing up a punch with his left hand. He had his fist clenched and ready. "Uh-oh," was the only thing she could think of. Then she was punched square in the face.
The young woman was right, he was strong. It wasn't even the strongest punch he could give, but he still managed to break her nose, fracture her skull, and on top of that, loosen a few teeth. Once the punch was followed through, the girl was knocked back, skipping on the ground like a skipping stone on water.
The moment she stopped, she instantly had her sword ready, expecting a follow-up attack. But none would come, as the young man hadn't left where he was standing. They only stared at each other until the voice of Moon D announced that they were only five minutes out before the second phase was over.
At hearing this, the blonde-haired young man grumbled, irritated. "I don't have time to waste on this." He turned, retrieving his sword, then ran off in a different direction.
Seeing her opponent running away, the girl smiled as her body relaxed. "He may not be that skilled, but that doesn't make him dumb. He knew I wasn't going down without a fight, so decided not to waste his time." She chuckled to herself as she rubbed her face. "Still, that was one heck of a punch," she said as she spit out a few teeth.