The massive woman laid eyes on the two little rats she had been looking for. The sight of them filled her with hate, but even still, she couldn't help but smile at them. It wasn't a gentle smile filled with warmth and love; no, it was a smile filled with bad intentions.

"There… you… are," she said in her thick accent. Both Zack and Jake, two young men who seemingly were the only two today to survive an encounter with this woman, knew they weren't in a good spot.

"Shit, she sees us, alright," said Zack nervously, laughing as he did. The woman started to move forward towards the direction of the boys.

Her first step landed on the poor female assistant that she had ruthlessly beaten to a pulp. She was still laying on the ground, unable to move, still coughing up blood, but alive. Without caring to watch her step, the massive woman stepped on the defenseless assistant and crushed her under her foot, killing her instantly.

Seeing another act of violence made applicants back up and run even more. This only thinned out the crowd of people that surrounded Jake and Zack. They were now exposed and seeing them all weak and helpless made the woman smile even harder.

"Jake," Zack whispered under his breath, "can you move?"

"No, I can't. I'm all tapped out."

"You? I'm right there with you, buddy. I might have a little gas left in the tank, but it ain't much."

As the woman neared, looking like the devil himself, both boys prepared to die in this moment. Each step she took quickened their hearts by a few beats. The closer she got; the slower time seemed to move. Their incoming deaths felt like centuries.

But as quick as the sinking feeling of death came, it left as the boys saw someone come from behind, then stand in front of them standing between them and the beast woman.

The person standing in front of them was another assistant, but not just any assistant. It was the same bald male assistant that told all the applicants about the rules before the second phase of the exam had even started. He stood in front of them without a hint of fear, holding a sword in his hands.

The monstrous woman took another step forward as she glared at the assistant. "Move," she snarled.

"I will not," the man responded in a deep but calm and measured voice.

She gritted her teeth as she took one large step that cracked the ground underneath her. "I… said… move."

"And I said I will not. I think you've done quite enough today with your little temper tantrum."

Those words agitated the woman as she got closer to the man, refusing her order. Yet he still stood calmly where he was. "Not only did you strike an assistant when you were told that you failed the second phase, which made you ineligible to ever retake an exam, but you've killed two other assistants, crippled another, and brought severe bodily harm to two others. Now you're trying to harm or probably kill two applicants, which means you'll have to go through me a further assault to your growing list of crimes."

As the woman neared, the bald assistant's grip tightened on his sword's hilt. "Your actions these last few moments qualify you to be arrested, but I'll settle for putting you down like a rabid dog."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The man's eyes narrowed as he was getting serious. The look in his eyes surprised the woman. She knew that he knew he was confident in his skills, even though this man had witnessed, like everyone else, what she could do. It mattered nothing to him.

The warrior woman smiled, looking at him. Her teeth stained with blood. She was about to rush him empty-handed, about to charge at the bald assistant like a bull, until a voice screamed out a name loudly.

"NEBULA!"

That was all that was shouted. The moment the woman heard it, she froze in place. Her eyes softened, her muscles seemed to loosen, and a single bead of sweat fell from her forehead. This was a surprise. The assistant that stood in front of her was shocked, and he wasn't the only one caught off guard. So was Jake and Zack, who fully expected the woman to continue her rampage.

But she didn't. She simply turned her head in the direction of where the voice came from, her body slightly shaking in fear. As her head turned to where she believed was the voice's origin point, all she saw was a sea of applicants trying to keep distance away from her. But as she looked at them, she saw something, a figure coming up through the crowd. Her eyes couldn't fully focus on whatever it was, but she knew who it was.

As the figure started to rise up, the crowd that surrounded them started to disperse. And when they did, the woman saw exactly who she knew was there. She saw the person who had called out her name, stopping her in her tracks. She couldn't help but stutter, then she screamed out their name.

"Heracles!"

She screamed out the name in fear and panic towards a man with silky black hair, green eyes, wearing similar armor to her own. He was big, very big—somehow even taller and more muscular than the woman. He was so tall that even in their position when Jake and Zack looked over, they could clearly see the man's head and shoulders, towering over the applicants that surrounded him.

"Holy shit," came from Zack. "There's another one."

Once the man was standing tall, he took a step forward, walking in the direction of the giant woman named Nebula. Each step he took was heavy, as if a god himself was walking amongst mortals. As he stepped closer and closer to Nebula, the applicants and assistants around him couldn't help but marvel at the man. From his arms to his legs, his neck to his torso, he was perfect—like marble or gold, he was simply beautiful. He was perfection. Many thought they both were. What are they? Many of the applicants thought as the man named Heracles cleared the crowd.

Every person there got a good look at him. The bald assistant that was confident in dealing with Nebula felt a flutter of hesitation hit his heart as he laid eyes on the man. The assistant knew just by looking at Nebula that she was at least 7 feet tall, but the man called Heracles was clearly a few inches taller than her. The assistant knew he couldn't take on that man, and it wasn't because of his size or how strong he looked. It was the aura he gave off—the aura Nebula oozed to the assistant was like that of a spoiled child. That's why he had no fear. It's why he thought he could take her on. But Heracles was different, and the assistant knew it to be so. That's why he knew he stood no chance against him.

And he wasn't the only one because Nebula, the wild woman who was going crazy only seconds ago, thought the exact same thing.

"What… what are… you doing… Heracles?" she asked as the man as he closed the distance. But the man answered her question with a question.

"The real question is, what are you doing, Nebula?" he said with a thick accent similar to Nebula's but his came out smooth and formulated, not choppy like hers.

The woman couldn't answer the question; confusion overcame her. So, Heracles answered for her. "I'll tell you what you're doing—embarrassing yourself," he said as he stood directly in front of her, looking down at the woman, the only person here that could do such a thing. "Not only are you embarrassing yourself, but you're also embarrassing our people, throwing a tantrum like some child."

The man looked at the woman with disgust, and that look hurt Nebula's pride. She nearly bowed her head and begged him for forgiveness, until she caught a glimpse of those two rats behind him. "I'm… throwing no… tantrum," she said, anger giving her the strength to talk back in defiance to the man. "I'm… fighting for my… justice."

"Your justice?" the man said, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Yes… Those rats," she said, pointing her finger behind Heracles. "Deceived me."

The large man turned his head and shot a glance towards the direction the woman was pointing. He saw Jake and Zack, both still on the ground. When his eyes met theirs, the blood in their veins went ice cold. "Those two deceived you?" he asked.

"Yes… they faked… fighting… an honorable… battle but… stole my… points."

"I see," the man said. "Yes, they are… shameful."

The man turned his head, facing Nebula once more. "And… My… actions are… justified."

"No, they are not. The goal of the second phase was simply to collect 100 points, was it not?" The woman nodded her head. "But it wasn't specified on how we should go about collecting said points, meaning stealing is a strategy that some could use, correct?" The woman nodded once more. "You had your point stolen, meaning you failed, meaning you have no one to blame for your failure but yourself. Now, isn't that correct?" He stared at the woman intensely, but she didn't answer him, not verbally nor with a head shake. She just stared at the man, running what he said throughout her mind. Was he right? Was she wrong? Did she fail?

Guilt and shame started to grasp her heart as she looked at Heracles. But the man said, snapping her out of her daze, bringing his face closer to hers, "If you truly feel the need to fight for the justice you speak of, then by all means, fight. Fight to your heart's content. But this time, why don't you fight me instead?"

The woman's eyes widened as tears started to well up in her eyes. The fire she had in her stomach was gone, the anger she had was diminished. It was over now; the temper tantrum from Nebula was over.