◆Rank 2◆
“Alright, this is a high-powered paintball gun,” Nachi waved the firearm in front of them. “You can probably judge by the honking size of the thing that it’s not the standard one used for fake war fun-time. This one shoots paintballs about the size of my fist. So if you want to know what it’s like to be punched by me before I actually do it, now’s your chance.”
“We’ll go by race since I can adjust the strength of this thing’s output accordingly. So let’s start with… humans!” The grin that grew on Nachi’s face as she stared at Crucion showed absolutely no remorse and was borderline bullying. The poor boy’s eyes shot open as he slowly struggled to his feet.
“Go to the middle of the log and we’ll show them how it’s done,” Nachi instructed him. After he barely made it a few steps with his legs shaking like a baby Freer, Nachi relented. “Alright, whatever, that’s far enough in. It doesn’t really matter where you stand as long as you’re directly over the pool.”
“So this is how it will work: I’m going to take shots at each of you, and you just have to not fall in the lube. Simple, right? The amount of shots for each of you will vary based on my own prejudices and mood. The randomness is to keep you alert. For the rest of these, there’ll be more of you up there, so I’ll alternate shots between all of you to keep up the surprise. I’ll let you know when you’ve passed.”
“If you fall off, you fail, that’s it. I don’t care if you get hit. I don’t care if you dodge or jump. I don’t care if you block or reflect the shots. Just don’t get knocked in. Alright, I don’t want to be seen as completely heartless, so I’ll give you all the time you need to prepare, human. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Crucion shifted his feet around a bit, trying to get what little possible firm footing he could. He then blocked his face with his arms. “Ready,” he shouted with clear hesitation in his voice.
A single shot was all it took; right to the center of his forehead, just above his obstructing arms. Crucion’s whole body recoiled as he flew backwards into the pool. After a few seconds without him resurfacing, Itsy reached into the pool, able to touch the bottom without jumping in. She grabbed him and hoisted him back onto the grass where he immediately regained consciousness and spat up some lube.
Nachi relented further and let him take a break to recover while everyone else went. Lessers were up next, and they all lined up on the slippery log. It was convenient to split them up racially this way since there were about as many Lesser members as there were Fiends, and they could all stand comfortably on the log with room to operate.
Tize blocked any shots coming his way effortlessly with his shield and was the first that Nachi let pass. Kaizu seemed to take this as a bit of training on her own, throwing her daggers at any shots that came near her even if she wasn’t their intended target. Admittedly, she was getting fairly accurate by the time Nachi passed her.
Gatrim was one of the Lessers to struggle the most. He initially took the shots with pride—meaning completely unguarded—as he tried to stay standing from sheer will. After two dips in the slimy bath, though, he abandoned his pride and stabbed his rapier into the log, clutching onto it while crouching as he desperately tried to stay topside.
In the end, only one Lesser failed. She was thrown into the goop three times which appeared to be the limit of Nachi’s patience. Even Jaid had to worry about her future if this woman was already failing at the second test, but Nachi only provided encouragement. “Go ahead and cry about it if you want. Let those tears flow until you can’t stand it. By the end of this week, you WILL pass this test. I’ll make sure of it.”
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“Alright, let’s get the simple one out of the way first,” Nachi sighed once the Fiends had taken their positions as she’d cranked the paintball gun up to its maximum. She shot Itsy right in the boob, obviously on purpose. Itsy didn’t flinch at all when the other boob was shot either. Then, there was rapid-firing along her torso. “Look, I made a smiley face!” Nachi amused herself. “Alright, Itsy, you pass.”
The rest of the try-outs weren’t so simple since the other members didn’t have Itsy’s absurdly solid physique. Jaid did very well and was the next to pass. She didn’t get very many shots, likely impressing Nachi with her first move. Jaid had summoned two clones. One helped her keep balanced while the second grabbed the sword from her back—swinging it around and slapping the ball right at Nachi with the flat of the blade. It had exploded on impact, coating her sword, but still managed to reflect most of it towards the attacker.
Even though she was done so early, she posted up next to Itsy to observe the rest of the group. This would be the first time Jaid was seeing most of them use their powers if they felt so inclined, and she wanted as much first-hand visuals as possible to include in her reports.
Roque and Chorus both had it easy with their Curses, and Nachi gave up on them almost right away too. Roque had a floating piece of paper in front of him the whole time, and while Jaid wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, she assumed the paper was absorbing them somehow. There was a picture of the paintballs on the sheet that increased by one accordingly with each new absorption.
It looked like Chorus planned to tough it out in the beginning. But, the moment a single drop of collateral paint splatter got on their clothes, they summoned their wardrobe and hid inside for the remainder of the test until Nachi passed them.
Niloy also fully relied on her Curse, but it wasn’t as smoothe or painless as the other two. She took several shots head on, flung backwards from their unimpeded power, but her feet remained. Jaid deduced that she’d glued her feet to the log by altering the lube. If she wasn’t a Fiend, her ankles would have shattered by now after taking the full force of that trauma.
“One little ducky left to pop.” Nachi smirked once Rezin was the only Fiend left. It seemed she had been saving him for last after her first few failed shots. He’d made an illusion of himself standing normally as he crouched or stood slightly to the side, making her miss entirely thus far. With her focused attention though, it’d be harder for him to hide.
Or so it seemed. After a bit of cat and mouse with his single illusions, Rezin got clipped in the shoulder and barely stayed standing. That pain must have triggered something in him, because the look in his eyes changed. Next thing, there were dozens of copies of himself along the log, vanishing and reappearing at random, almost taunting Nachi as she continued to miss.
The copies of Rezin suddenly vanished and were replaced with several soldiers, all carrying the same paintball gun as Nachi. They fired an endless volley at her, causing even her to duck and flinch from the realism. Jaid was unsure why he’d chosen to share this illusion with everyone else, maybe to prove that his Curse wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Crucion was up again after that, and his attempt was both inspiring and pitiful at the same time. He laid flat on the log, clutching onto it with his limbs for dear life. Nachi didn’t hold back as she fired into his side. Even at its reduced power, it must have hurt like hell, and he’d be bruised for months. But he never let go. He stubbornly remained and took every hit until Nachi finally ran out of ammo.
[Rank 2 Results]
Passed: Gatrim, Niloy, Tize, Chorus, Kaizu, Roque, Itsy, Jaid, Rezin, Crucion
Failed: