Much to his disappointment, Raph wasn’t first up. But after seeing what happened to the candidates he realized he might have been wrong. The people who went up in the first ten got destroyed, it wasn’t the power difference between the two but the skill and techniques of the officers eclipsed the candidates. The first ten fights were over in less than a minute, giving Raph and the rest quite the shock.

‘Alright, so the training these guys have is clearly impressive. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to take the candidates out so quickly. So the question is can I last for two minutes? Can I win?’ Raph was mid-thought as his name was called out for the next lot.

He walked into the arena and got a look at his opponent.

Identify

??? -- Vanguard Lv.90

‘Ah, ah strong one.’ Raph thought for a moment.

“Sir! I have a question, sir!” Raph turned towards Ellis.

“Go on, Raphael.” Ellis said.

“Sir! What happens if we win, sir?” Raph asked.

Silence.

He was met with silence, then one of the officers began to laugh, then all of them laughed. Finally Ellis broke the commotion.

“You won't win.” Ellis said.

“Sir! Please humor me, sir!” Raph asked again.

Ellis took another good look at Raph “Hmm.” He started. “Well, If a candidate did, by some miracle managed to triumph in combat against someone 30 levels higher than them. I imagine they would have their pick of squads, as most leaders would want that candidate in their team.” Ellis then coughed. “Of course, this is all hypothetical.”

“Sir! Of course, hypothetical, sir!” Raph said and smiled while he turned to face the Vanguard.

“Candidates ready!” Ellis shouted.

“Sir! Yes sir!” The group of ten shouted.

“Officers Ready!” Again Ellis shouted.

“SIR! YES SIR” The officers returned the call with more gusto.

“Begin.” Ellis said calmly.

Raph squared up with his opponent, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move. They slowly began sidestepping around the arena, keeping equal distance with each other.

“So, you think you can beat me?” His opponent said in a deep voice.

“I never said that.” Raph answered innocently

“Hmmm.” The Vanguard grunted in response.

The circling went on for around thirty seconds until Raph’s opponent decided to make a move, he started edging up towards Raph drawing in the distance between them. Raph was patient, he knew that letting the vanguard make the first move would give him the upper hand. The distance between the two grew smaller still, until the vanguard made a move. He darted forward, throwing a punch at Raph’s chest. Raph countered, swatting the man's arm out to his side and dodging back towards the middle of the circle. The vanguard shook his arm that Raph brushed off like nothing as he moved again. This time he used a feint. He threw an empty swing to one side, but the real punch was from his other arm. Raph only just managed to block the hit with his arm but he still took a big hit when the vanguard followed with a third punch. He hit Raph clean in the stomach to which Raph backed away, he was shocked to find out the hits weren’t as hard as he imagined. No, the shock was nothing like what he was used to when he used his hammers to forge.

Raph kept some distance between him and his opponent as a smile formed on his face.

“What’s so funny? You like being hit?” The vanguard was getting angry, his time was running out.

“You know.” Raph said “I thought you’d be stronger.”

Fury flashed in the face of the vanguard pounced on Raph and began a barrage of hits. He was throwing hooks and jabs left, right, and centre and Raph was blocking as many as he could.

“TEN SECONDS LEFT” Ellis’ voice boomed.

Raph continued to soak up the hits, he knew what he had to do.

“FIVE, FOUR.”

Raph moved and dropped his guard, he had one chance to get a hit in.

“THREE , TWO”

He held back earlier and it might have been a mistake, but not this time. This time he put everything into the punch, he couldn’t risk using skills, but everything nonetheless.

“ONE”

In the single second window Raph’s fist moved at unbelievable speed towards the vanguard's chest and connected.

BANG.

A horrific impact followed immediately by a crunch took the attention away from Ellis’ voice briefly.

“TIME” Ellis practically screamed. What followed was a skidding sound and the slump of a body.

The ground was silent as everyone stared at the now unconscious vanguard and Raph who was still standing in the area, looking at his fist.

“Get him to a medic!” Ellis commanded a couple of the officers in the other rings as he ran up to the fallen vanguard. The officers quickly responded and picked him up off the floor one on either end, carrying him off towards the tents.

Smoke was practically blowing out of Ellis’ nose as he stormed up to Raph.

“What did you do!?!” He screamed in Raph’s face.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Uhhh.” Raph froze a little. “I won.”

“You w-,” Ellis took a second to collect himself. “You almost killed him!” He screamed again.

“I only hit him once?” Raph said in defence.

“Ohhh, only hit him once is it?!” Ellis’ face was bright red by now, he looked about ready to fight Raph.

“Sergeant Ellis.” A controlled voice said.

“WHAT DO Y-- Commander?!” Ellis was about to go ballistic until he realized who had just called him. Commander Whitlock was standing with the other candidates.

“Sergeant, I think you should take a moment to collect yourself.” The Commander suggested. “Raphael did in fact complete the task you set him, albeit with significant overkill.”

“Raphael, you have passed, congratulations. Carter, you have also lasted two minutes, congratulations.” Commander Whitlock said. Raph turned towards Carter who was a few circles away, still staring in shock at Raph.

The Commander continued. “Sergeant, I will take over here for the last bout. Why don’t you accompany the officer in the medical ward.”

“Sir! Yes, sir!” The sergeant said as he ran off towards the tents.

“All right, where were we?” The Commander said as he clapped his hands together. Few more officers came over to fill in for those missing and everyone got back into their places. The last set of candidates lined up in the arenas ready for the fight.

“Begin.” Commander Whitlock said as he turned towards Raph and Carter. “Again, congratulations are in order for the both of you. Carter, that was extremely well fought. Raph, well that was quite the spectacle to say the least.”

“Thank you sir.” Carter said.

“Thanks, Commander.” Said Raph with a smile,

The commander rolled his eyes at Raph as they continued to watch the fights. It wasn’t long until Commander Whitlock started the countdown, and at the end one more candidate prevailed. The winner was a woman maybe in her mid twenties, with red hair that had won using evasion and lasting the two minutes out.

“Congratulations candidate Veronica, well fought.” Commander Whitlock clapped at the end of the fight. “As for the rest of you, you are dismissed.” He said and turned back to the three victors.

“You three, with me.” As he said this he strode off back towards the officers tents. He led them through the maze of tents towards the back where a slightly larger one was erected, they entered.

What Raph saw as he entered the room was a large number of people all with slightly different uniforms on, he assumed they represented the different special squads.

“Everyone, I would like to introduce to you the three winners of today's fights.” Whitlock said as he stepped to the side, presenting them into view.

Whitlock started from left to right. “ First off, Veronica James. She outlasted her opponent using fast footwork and guile.” There were a few murmurs in the room and some nodding heads.

“Second we have Carter Brown. Carter held steady and stood until the bell using a mixture of defensive stances and counterattacks.” Again, more murmurs and nods with the occasional whisper.

“And last, Raphael Smith. Raphael knocked his opponent out of the ring.” There was a pause after the commander finished his sentence, then the room erupted.

The officers in the room began shouting and pointing at each other and Raph, apparently it was quite the feat to knock down your opponent in the combat exam.

“QUIET.” Commander Whitlock demanded. “Civility gentlemen, please.”

The noise died down, but the conversations didn’t stop. As the conversations didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon, Raph looked around the large tent until he spotted a familiar face sat way in the back almost out of sight. Major Leah Raycraft was sat quietly on a chair in the back seemingly waiting for this all to die down, she had in her hand a rolled up piece of paper that rested on her lap.

After five or so minutes Commander Whitlock broke up the noise. “Alright, alright. We haven’t got all day. So to start things off, do we have any takers for Miss James?”

There were a few more murmurs until a lady popped up from one of the rows. “The Wings would like her.” She said succinctly.

“No one else?” The commander looked around, no one objected. “Thank you, captain.”

“Next, Mr. Brown.” There was hesitation on some of the faces of the officers until one very large man stood up. “Ox Squadron wants him.” He said in a deep voice.

“Perfect. Thank you, Major.” The commander said as he turned towards Raph. Before he could say anything however everyone stood up and began to shout.

“QUIET.” The Commander shouted again, controlling the crowd. “Ok, what we’re going to do is-” He was cut off by a female voice.

“Bishop wants him.” Major Raycraft said. As she did Raph felt something from the commander stood next to him, he turned to look him in the eye. He was scared. No, not just scared, the Commander was terrified by the thought of this person.

The room was deathly silent for an uncomfortably long time, until Major Raycraft walked over to Raph and led him out of the tent.

“Uh. Leah?” Raph said, As she took him out of the tent. “What’s happening?”

“You’re an idiot.” Leah said as they walked through the rows of tents, eventually getting to her own. “Inside,” she said.

Raph walked inside to find it barren; there was a cot, a desk, and a small chest in the corner.

“What just happened?” Raph asked her again.

“You actually knocked him out?” Leah asked, shocked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because Raph, you shouldn't be able to do that. He had thirty levels on you, and he was a trained soldier.”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t very strong.” Raph replied innocently.

Leah looked at him and her mouth hung open. She unraveled the paper in her hands and read it again.

“It says here you punch 2146kg, which would be around the same as your opponent. So why are you telling me he wasn’t very strong?” She asked.

“Ahhh that.” Raph scratched his head. “I um, used around half my power I guess..”

“HALF?!” Leah exclaimed, she had to take some deep breaths to calm down. “Ok, get up. You’re doing that test again.” And she led him back to where the machine was.

They walked through the rest of the tents back to the open area where the strength tester was still sitting, thankfully no one else was around.

“Alright, go on.” She said impatiently.

“Uhh, I won't break it will I?” Raph asked seriously.

She looked at him in wonder. “No Raph, It goes up to 10000kg of force, so unless you think you can hit harder than that.”

Raph did some quick mental maths for a second as he gave an estimate of his power. “No.” He said rather unsure.

Leah thought to herself as she looked at him.’He actually had to think about whether he might punch that hard?’

Raph took a big swing, with all of his power this time.

BANG.

The machine trembled quite significantly but held up fine. Raph’s fist hurt a little from the impact, he pretty much gave everything he had with that. Leah walked over to the side of the machine and checked the number.

“4452kg” she said absentmindedly. “That’s the highest I’ve ever seen by a recruit.”

Raph was curious when she said that and decided there was no better time than to try something out as no one else was around.

“Uhh, Leah. Is it alright if I try that again?” He asked.

“Again? Didn’t you use all your power again?” She asked.

“Well I did, but I have some skills that could increase it a bit.” He said.

“Ah, alright then.” She said sceptically. ‘How much more does he think a skill can give him? 100, 200kgs?’

Raph took a step back from the machine and prepared for full power. He activated Destruction and then Eruption and finally he punched, skin glowing like magma he stuck the target.

BAANNGG.

The impact was significantly louder than the last time and the machine shook more violently. Leah thought it was about to break when Raph hit it for the second time, then she checked the number.

“7206kg!” She shouted, astounded.