The muscular woman stared at Jake the way a lion would stare at a gazelle. Watching as this beast of a woman stared him down made Jake's knees stiffen up. His palms were sweaty, his heart beating a thousand times a minute. He was in danger. Jake's body was trying to tell him he was in danger, but he didn't leave or run because he couldn't. This was his only chance to get the rest of the points he needed to pass to the next phase. So, he had to. He couldn't turn tail and run; he had to stand in the lion's den and face the hungry beast in front of him.
Jake swallowed, trying to clear his mind, mustering as much courage as he could. When he did, he took half a step forward, as he clutched the sheathed katana he held in his hands. But that proved to be the wrong move. The act of taking a step forward signaled to the warrior woman that their battle had begun. She was fast. I mean, real fast. She pounced quickly towards Jake, as she was swinging her sword. Her quick movement made Jake hesitate, but he had to push through it. This was no time for hesitation, but it was hard. His body hadn't snapped back; it was still drained and tired. It wasn't moving the way he wanted it to. He struggled. Jake struggled to dodge the incoming attack. He was fighting both his fear and his own body.
"I have to move," he thought. "I have to move now."
Veins were popping in his head as the woman's blade was nearly inches from him.
"Move, body, move," he shouted in his head.
Jake used what strength he had to jump to the side, but not nearly fast enough. The warrior woman's blade slashed his right arm as he dodged. Jake slid to the ground, blood dripping down his arm, as he rolled on his back trying to catch his breath. He would realize he had no time to do so. She was already over him. In the time it took Jake to dodge and roll over, the warrior woman was already towering over him, already in the act of swinging her blade down. Jake's eyes went wide. There was nowhere to go. He couldn't dodge. Shit, he couldn't even move. His mind started to race as he watched the woman's sword plummet.
"Block, I have to block," is all his mind was filled with.
As the warrior woman's sword was brought down, Jake managed to place his sword in front of himself as his opponent's sword crashed into it. The moment her sword met his, Jake was pushed deep into the ground. She didn't just look strong; she was strong. The strength she wielded from swinging her sword with a single hand was greater than anyone else Jake had faced: greater than the Sun and Moon brothers, the machines, maybe even greater than the mountain of a man, Judas, he faced that night.
The woman brought her sword back up but didn't continue her attack. She paused for a moment, gazing downwards. She wasn't looking at Jake, though. The woman had already made up her mind that this boy was no warrior, just a tiny ant, just like all the others she was seen having the time of her life crushing. No, the boy was the same as all of them, but what made him stand out was his weapon. The warrior woman had no problem destroying every rental weapon she came across with zero effort, but now she was faced with a weapon that did not break.
"Your weapon… is still… intact," she said with a thick, heavy accent, as her eyes glimmered with excitement. "It… did... not… break," she spoke again, putting great emphasis on each and every word.
She smiled as she placed both hands on her weapon, gripping it tightly as she lifted it high.
"If weapon… won't break… with one… hand, then… maybe it… will for… two," the woman smiled brightly, making a game out of the situation.
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Jake's eyes went wide again as he saw the woman preparing to attack once again. The first one slashed his arm, and the second not only pushed him to the ground but also rattled his bones, and both those attacks were only her using one hand. Now she aimed to use both, and Jake wasn't sure if he could take another one. If his sword didn't break, he was pretty sure he would. As the woman geared up for her next attack, smiling as she did, Jake gripped his katana tight.
"I can't move, so there's no point in trying to escape or dodge, so I have to block this next attack," Jake thought, beads of sweat falling from his face as he couldn't help but look straight up at the muscular woman. "But I need more," he thought, "more. I need shadows like before. I need the shadows I had on that night."
Jake's grip on his katana was so tight that his knuckles started turning white.
"If only I could pull the sword out, then maybe I'd have a fighting chance like before."
But still, he couldn't do it. But he kept trying. Jake Focused as hard as he could, and as he did, a similar stream of darkness came out of the sword. But Jake wasn't satisfied. He needed more, more. He kept struggling, his veins now bulging. The more he pushed himself, the more darkness started to pour out. The more darkness he saw, the more he continued to tell himself more. As the woman brought her weapon down, lightning fast, darkness from the katana started to surround not only the sword, but Jake himself. His constant pushing allowed the boy to create a black sphere, fully shielding him from the incoming attack.
The woman was surprised with what she was seeing, and it excited her even more. "What an interesting little ant," she thought, as her weapon was brought down hard on the sphere. Streams of shadows poured from the sphere the moment the sword clashed with it, but it did not budge. The woman was frustrated, but she smiled through her frustration, getting more and more into this little game.
She lifted her weapon high once again, then brought it down even faster this time, clashing into the black sphere once again. Still, it didn't budge, but her own weapon cracked when it clashed with the black sphere. The woman didn't stop; she kept slashing over and over at the sphere, becoming more lethal as she did. And feeling every impact from each blow was Jake, even within the sphere. He was still pushing himself. He didn't know what he was doing, but he knew if he relaxed, it would be over.
But with each attack that landed on the protective sphere, Jake's focus slipped a little. As the warrior woman landed attack after attack, she laughed. "Beautiful… Very... beautiful… Magic sword…. Little ant has magic sword," she said. She lifted her sword as high as she could once more, then slashed down. Somehow, this attack was stronger than any of the previous ones, and Jake couldn't help it; he lost what little grip he had. After that attack, Jake lost focus, and the very moment he did, the sphere exploded. The force of the explosion forced the woman back, but she was undamaged. The explosion not only pushed her back but broke the ground that was under it. Dust and debris were all the woman could see.
Through the heavy dust, she saw a figure stand up. When the dust settled, she saw the little ant, Jake, standing up. The force of the explosion cracked the ground, so he managed to escape from his former position, but he wasn't looking the best. He was as white as a ghost, his face full of sweat, his eyes were hazy. He swayed back and forth. He was only on his feet for a moment, then he crashed to his knees as he vomited. It was back, the fiery pain was back with a vengeance. His body quivered as he was there on his knees.
"What hell is happening?" he thought, as he started falling forward. Jake fought his wobbling arms to keep himself from falling face-first into his own vomit.
"He reached his limit," she thought. And this wasn't the warrior woman thinking this, no, the warrior woman was thinking about the katana, on how she wanted it, how she wanted to make it hers. The warrior woman licked her lips as she pounced, ready to cut Jake down. No, her mind wasn't even focused on the little ant in front of her, but the other her that was there knew it was over for the young man. He had forced himself to draw power from the sword too many times, and he had reached the end of his rope. It was over, and he started to believe it himself.
While still fighting himself to stay upright, Jake angled his head up, seeing the woman's sword being brought down. It was going to split his head in two like a watermelon. After a moment, the woman's sword was brought down, splitting the ground as it did, but what wasn't included in the splitting was the head of the little ant. She aimed to kill, then take his sword. The warrior woman was shocked. She knew there was no way he could move, but now he was gone, disappearing into thin air.
The woman looked around wildly, searching for the little ant. As she did, her eyes eventually landed on a figure. Her eyes landed on a young man with spiky black hair and cool blue eyes. This young man had three armbands strapped to his arm as he held a sword in his left hand. He had the limp body of Jake flung over his right shoulder. Zack had arrived, reuniting with Jake... well, not in the way he thought he would, but the spiky-haired young man had returned.
The warrior woman looked at the new arrival with irritation, the first she felt since the start of the exam. She gritted her teeth, spouting out the word "You," as she glared at Zack. The young man smiled back at her as he spoke, "Well, looks like I made it just in time."