“Shall we get started then, people?” Eik asked.

“No!” Mushroom Head screeched and turned to regard the other D-rankers. “I heard his teammates are also trying for the tournament spots! They’re here somewhere. He’s going to make sure they’re the ones who get the spots we want!”

The hopeful test takers eyed Eik with a mixture of suspicion and a clear distaste for Mushroom Head. His hysterical demeanor didn’t sit well with any of them, it would seem.

“You’re right,” Eik said.

“See!” The others frowned.

“They were participating. They lost their matches already.”

“What?” the blonde jerk asked with confusion.

Eik rolled his eyes. “My teammates are still in E-rank. And the fact that they’re both out proves that I didn’t advance them unfairly, don’t you think?"

“They’re still E-rank? Makes sense. And I should have known they were already out by now. I seem to remember the Great Raid ending in complete disaster for you guys. You all got what you deserved if you ask m—”

Eik was in front of Mushroom Head instantly, staring the bastard down. “Yeah, well, nobody did ask you, did they, asshole?” Profound Toxin was pushing hard to be let out for a walk. He’d had just about enough of this guy. What the hell was pushing him to these lengths? Was he just pissed because Eik beat him up last time they met? He sure as hell wasn’t doing himself any favors by acting like this now.

Mushroom Head swallowed hard, having lost some of his steam. He hadn’t lost all of it, though. “I don’t need to be asked to call out a piece of garbage like you when I see one. And you better be the one to fight me. I’m going to wipe the floor clean with your face this time!”

Fuming, Eik glanced over at the referees who signaled for his attention. They were ready to begin the D-rank tests. “Who’s first up?” he asked.

A woman raised her hand and one of the C-ranked volunteers took her to the ring and prepared for the first match. Eik coordinated the order with the other participants. He would personally fight Mushroom Head in the third fight.

Unlike the F-rank and E-rank preliminaries, from D-rank and up, the tests would be conducted as spars against an assistant one rank above the test taker, with the exception of Eik, who had volunteered to help with the D-rankers because his potions could enable him to act in more or less the same capacity.

He had even argued that if another D-ranker could beat him, then they should be automatically passed. That it would be excellent promotion for his product he had conveniently forgotten to mention.

All of the fights would be observed by a panel made up of the martial leaders of Forest and in the end the two participants to join the real Championship would be announced. C-rank would work the same way.

The first two fights went well. The C-ranked volunteers went easy on the test takers so they had opportunity to demonstrate their skills as fully as they could in a simulated environment. In order to get as comprehensive an impression as possible they mixed in enough offense to test the D-rankers’ defensive abilities as well.

It was finally time for Eik’s first fight and as he stepped up to face Mushroom Head Profound aggression coursed angrily through his veins once more, urging him to let loose.

“You’re dead today, bro,” Mushroom Head sneered as he drew his twin blades. The daggers came out of their sheaths with a wet sheen that looked like a foreign substance but Eik didn’t bother mentioning it. He simply drew Viper Fang and took a ready stance. Just before the fight began he chomped on three doses of home brewed poison and washed them down with a vial of Potion of Mighty Strength class 2.

The two C-rankers had started out gently, letting the test takers make the first few moves to showcase their openings.

Eik did not follow their example.

He charged.

Mushroom Head didn’t even have the time to raise his daggers defensively before Eik’s fist rammed into his stomach in an uppercut that sent him two meters into the air and knocked all air from his lungs.

Eik caught him by the collar before he could hit the ground again, holding him out in an outstretched arm. “Defenses…” Eik muttered as he tilted his head contemplatively. “A little slow, I would say. I recommend working on that. Let’s see your offensive capabilities then.”

He tossed the man to the ground and waited for him to get to his feet. “Stop taking me lightly! We’re the same rank, you piece of shit!” the bowl cut raged and whirled toward him with an ability that looked very similar to Movement Boost.

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Side stepping, Eik tripped his furious opponent and, before he could regain his balance, seized him by the ankle and hurled the man in a tall arch above his head and slammed him into the ground. “That’s simply not fast enough, my friend,” Eik said as Mushroom Head charged him once more only to be sent into the dirt once more. “All of that anger is not going to make you capable of winning against me. It just doesn’t work like that.”

“Shut up!” Mushroom Head gasped, frustration clear in his voice. He leapt and tried to stab his dagger through Eik’s foot but the alchemist simply raised his leg and placed a dirty boot on the downed man’s face.

“That’s not going to work either,” Eik said and stared down at a face that was a mask of enraged humiliation. “Look, despite what this might look like to you, I have nothing against you personally.”

“Fuck you!”

“Yeah, okay, you’re right. Even I didn’t believe that one. I don’t like you and I’m being an asshole to you on purpose. You branded me a traitor and giggled as my friend was dying.

Mushroom Head flitted about, trying to get at Eik from every conceivable angle. He was quick — there was no doubt about that — but his strength was nowhere near sufficient to penetrate Eik’s defenses. After deflecting several blows with Viper Fang, Eik sprouted a single tendril, complete with a barrier of blue, from his shoulder with which he blocked everything else.

“Why were you even so hostile in the first place?” Eik asked as the flurry continued, genuinely puzzled. He understood having suspicions about the Nidafjeld Alliance and all that but it felt like the bowl cut had been excessively aggressive, even for someone in the pocket of the Fist faction.

It was almost as if… No, that would be too much of a coincidence. Wouldn’t it…?

Actually, maybe not. He had been in cahoots with Rock Fist Bart after all, and Bart had definitely been overtaken by a mind skulk. Why couldn’t this guy be? Eik was widely acknowledged as an ally of the Nidafjeld Alliance at best, and a tool to be used to gain an advantage on Earth at worst. He was exactly who the Moon Shall Swallow cult would try to rally people against now.

“Hey, have you experienced anything, I don’t know… weird lately, or something along those lines?” he tried. How the hell was he supposed to ask about the mind skulk if he couldn’t talk about it in the first place. Supposedly, even the host had no idea.

“Shut,” his opponent hissed as the knives tinked uselessly against Eik’s solid shield, none of the desperate test taker’s maneuvers allowing his attacks to connect properly. His frustrations grew visibly with every move. “it!”

Eik would have to check for the mind skulk later in some other way. He couldn’t do it now. There were too many people here to try for something like that. And he couldn’t even be sure yet that the theory of Profound Toxin’s ability to cause the worm to flee its host was correct in the first place. It was really just a hopeful guess at this point.

For now he should probably just get this farce over with.

“Whoops, it would appear that my Potion of Mighty Strength class 2 is running out of juice,” he shouted loudly enough for everybody to hear and fished out a fresh vial from one of the slots in his belt. He held the vial aloft for all to see as he nudged the stopper out with a thumb and hopped a horizontal slash aimed at his knees at the same time.

“Better refresh the effect with another Potion of Mighty Strength class 2 created exclusively by me, Eik Magnasen, owner of Eik’s Excellent Elixirs!” He downed it in one, resisting the urge to pull a face at the taste.

Renewed power surged through him and he thrust forth the barrier of toxin, slamming it into Mushroom Head’s annoying face.

Blood gushed from the man’s nose as he was flung backward. Before he could come to a stop, however,, Eik was there, grasping him by the collar of his shirt and tossing him into the air. Taking inspiration from the video games of Old Earth, Eik jumped and seized Mushroom Head by the ankle as he let himself be spun around the axis of his opponent’s body.

Using the momentum, he hurled the man back into the ground with force that sent soil flying everywhere.

The alchemist rocketed down in pursuit, winding up for a punch. Miraculously, the bowl cut now managed to get his blades up to protect himself but Eik saw it and let Profound Toxin flow around his fist where it hardened into a makeshift gauntlet.

He rammed it into and through the defense, flattening Mushroom Head’s already bloody nose against his face.

Absorbed in the carnage as he was, Eik only barely heard the cheering voices of the audience. In this day and age, even if many were still averse to throwing themselves into the pit of lions, getting to watch a bit of blood shed could certainly get the crowd riled up.

Maybe there was a sense of relief in watching acts of super powered violence that wouldn’t lead to someone turning pale as they bled out in the dirt. It was difficult to say why but Eik also didn’t feel Profound Toxin urging him to let loose in the back of his head right now.

Or rather, he did feel it, but it wasn’t the same hunger that sometimes became so strong that it almost dominated his mind. It was subdued and obedient, almost as if the little bugger knew that there were no plans for it to invade any systems in this fight so there was no real reason to put in the effort.

But there was still rage.

There were so many frustrations locked away inside Eik’s mind. So many insecurities. So many fears. And they just kept building and building on top of each other like a castle of sand. He feared that it would crumble one day soon and leave behind rubble that he couldn’t clear so easily.

One way to alleviate it, albeit slightly, was to vent. Eik needed a foot to kick down a tower of that castle of sand. Just to take the edge off.

He could make this fight that foot.

It was crude and barbaric. And most certainly cruel. But... oh, well.

With decisive precision, Eik delivered six more blows to Mushroom Head’s body while he futilely attempted to protect himself. Allowing him to stand back up on trembling knees, Eik avoided a few attacks before going back on the offensive.

Even as the effects of the potion began to wane, the fight continued. Mushroom Head’s pride didn’t allow him to back down despite being overwhelmed, and Eik wasn’t going to stop voluntarily either.

He’d only begun to go all out now that he was back at something resembling D-rank equivalent strength. A mix of fear and defiance shone in the bowl cut’s eyes and his aggressive demeanor never wavered, even as Eik delivered the most satisfying, skull-rattling roundhouse kick to his cheek.

Bloodied, he lost consciousness, hanging by the collar of his undershirt now firmly clutched in Eik’s hand.